The addition of the transfer portal has made college football interesting for a couple of reasons. For one, it gave players at smaller schools and FCS schools a chance to land with a bigger program and get a shot at stardom. When the transfer portal is used correctly, that’s why it can be beneficial, but when it's used as an ego trip, it causes some players to make mistakes and ultimately end up in a worse situation than before.
When you look at this transfer portal class, most of them are playing well with their new teams, but there’s quite a few that are already drawing some red flags with their new teams and headlining that list is Nico Iamaleava; he’s not the only one. Here’s a look at the transfers that haven’t quite panned like we thought they would with their new teams.
Nico Iamaleava, UCLA Bruins
It truly can’t be stated enough how bad Nico Iamaleava's tenure is going at UCLA. It was so bad it got his coach fired just three games into the season, and truthfully, there’s nothing he’ll be able to do to save this season. He’ll probably land in the transfer portal again in January, only this time, he’ll be a lot humbler and instead of chasing a paycheck, he’ll chase a situation that will actually help him grow.
That was always the problem with his move to UCLA, nothing against DeShaun Foster, but we’ve seen in three games how much more Josh Heupel was able to get out of Iamaleava. It’s hard to believe Iamaleava led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff a year ago. This wasn’t an ideal move, but he can still have his collegiate career.
I guess now that the pressure is off of him because of such a horrible start, he will be able to get back to playing football and not worry about having to do it all for the Bruins. Nonetheless, it’s been a horrible start with his new team.
Darian Mensah, Duke Blue Devils
The least thing you could do is beat your former team, right? Darian Mensah transferred from Tulane just to lose to them as a Power 4 team at Duke. I can’t put the full blame on him because he did throw for over 300 yards with three touchdown passes, but the fact is you can’t leave a team you thrived at and lose to them with a “better” team. Mensah will have a lot to prove this season after consecutive losses.
Stats wise, Mensah is proving he’s talented, but he’s not winning and Tulane is a game the Blue Devils are supposed to win and if you look at the Illinois game, the Blue Devils should have looked much better offensively than they did. Turnovers have been a reoccurring problem, and that’s not all on Mensah. But I guess I would have liked to see the Illinois game not get out of hand, and certainly would have wanted to see him beat Tulane. If he can start stringing together some wins in the ACC, maybe he’ll prove me wrong, but for now, he doesn’t look like the upgrade he was supposed to be.
Kaidon Salter, Colorado Buffaloes
I had high hopes for Kaidon Salter this season. He regressed last year after a strong 2023 season with Liberty, but landing at Colorado was the perfect situation for him. He should have immediately made Colorado’s offense better, yet he may not even start another game this year, three games into the season.
Against Georgia Tech, which for the record, is looking like a better loss than it did, he missed some easy throws, ones that somebody of his caliber should be making. He was in the position to show Julian Lewis what it takes to survive as a college quarterback and right now, he’s looking like a big mistake. I thought that maybe as a veteran, landing with a team like Colorado would have been good for him and it turns out he was better at Liberty.
Makhi Hughes, Oregon Ducks
Maybe I put too high expectations on Makhi Hughes after a standout 2024 season at Tulane. That or I just didn’t know how deep Oregon’s running back room was going to be. I am shocked he’s not been used more in this offense. He hasn’t really gotten that chance to showcase his skills like he did a year ago. Is he not good enough, or has he just not made that big of an impression?
He’ll probably hit the portal again because it doesn’t make sense for him to land at Oregon if he didn’t think he would get a bigger role. But the fact that he hasn’t been awarded that, maybe he’s not quite the player he should be.