Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Spring camp outcomes have clearly defined early leaders and stragglers in the college football offseason.
- Ole Miss and Indiana capitalized on key personnel decisions while UCLA made historic recruiting strides.
- Texas Tech and Florida face major setbacks that could haunt them when the regular season begins.
The college football offseason is always interesting. We look at teams at this early stage, speculate about how good they are and get reminded why offseason talk is highly speculative. But that’s what makes it exciting, right? One thing we won’t have to speculate about is who the winners and losers are of spring ball around the country. Did we touch on every single one of the 130-plus FBS schools? Absolutely not. But we did touch on the teams that either benefitted the most or were hit the hardest.
Spring ball's biggest winners
Ole Miss Rebels
Getting Trinidad Chambliss back was priority No. 1 for Ole Miss. Chambliss was originally deemed ineligible after exhausting his eligibility. He won his eligibility case against the NCAA and will get to play in 2026. That means Pete Golding doesn’t have to fret over not having a spring portal window to revamp this offense. The Rebels returned 143 starts worthy of offensive players in 2026; that’s a massive win itself in today’s era of college football.
Indiana Hoosiers
What’s the best way to build toward another national championship? Finding one of the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal in Josh Hoover. If Fernando Mendoza was able to turn Indiana around in a year, I’m sure Hoover will be able to keep pace with the expectations. Of course, it depends on the rest of the team, not just Hoover. But between he and Nick Marsh, this offense is already ahead of the game. I'm not going to doubt Curt Cignetti in the slightest. The Hoosiers are national contenders, and if he can continue to nearly monopolize the transfer portal the way he has, everyone else will be in his rearview.
UCLA Bruins
Bob Chesney is already taking UCLA back to the heights they wanted to get to when they leapfrogged to the Big Ten. Per On3, the Bruins have the No. 3 recruiting class for 2027. Chesney has signed more four- and five-star players (nine) in the 2027 class than UCLA has signed in the four previous years combined. He already takes over a team more talented than James Madison, and now he’s proving he can recruit with the heavyweights.Â
Spring ball's biggest losers
Texas Tech Red Raiders
There are certainly some teams that wish they were in a better spot this spring, but no team is in as bad of shape at Texas Tech. Not from a roster perspective, but the fact that they pledged nearly $6 million to Brendan Sorsby and now he’s essentially ineligible for this season thanks to a gambling scandal. The quarterback position was the most important for them this portal season and they got their guy and won’t ever get to see him play. It can’t get much worse than that. Will Hammond returns for 2026 and is the probable starter now, but if Texas Tech truly wanted him, they wouldn’t have gone after Sorsby in the first place. It doesn’t help he’s coming off of a torn ACL either.
Florida Gators
In a similar way as Texas Tech, Florida was hit by the change in transfer portal windows. How it affected Jon Sumrall, though, is the spring transfer window was where he capitalized at Tulane last year. According to CBS Sports, he landed both Jonathan Edwards and Micah Robinson and both were not only key contributors, but also ended up getting drafted into the NFL. That window helped Tulane reach the College Football Playoff and it proves how important that window can be. Florida will probably be fine and had Sumrall not joined Florida late, might be fine with just the January window.
More college football news and analysis
Add us as a preferred source on Google