The top QB transfer portal targets with LaNorris Sellers staying at South Carolina

The College Football Playoff is still a full week away, but the reality of college football in the year 2025 is that preparations for next season are already well underway. The transfer portal is just a few weeks away, opening on Jan. 2, and odds are your favorite team is already busy putting feelers out to try and find necessary upgrades once the firing gun goes off.

Unfortunately for everyone outside of South Carolina, one of the biggest potential portal targets has taken himself out of the running, as star QB LaNorris Sellers has reportedly agreed to a new deal to stay in Columbia for the 2026 campaign. But if you need a new passer for next season, fear not: While Sellers' obvious first-round upside would've been a dream for just about any program, there's still a ton of talent that should be available.

The honorable mentions

G5/FCS fliers

Colton Joseph, Old Dominion

Joseph has already declared for the transfer portal, and it's not hard to see why given the eye-popping numbers this season at Old Dominion: 1,627 yards and 7.3 yards per attempt through the air to go with over 1,000 yards on the ground. That latter total included 179 on just 10 carries in a season-opening game at Indiana, too. He's got physical tools to dream on, even if he's still pretty raw as a passer and we don't know how his game will play above the Sun Belt.

Jaden Craig, Harvard

Craig put up sensational numbers for a Harvard team that got to the doorstep of an FCS playoff berth and an Ivy League title. He's not the most explosive athlete, but he's a very polished passer with two years of very good starting experience.

Intriguing Power 4 talents

CJ Bailey, NC State

Catch Bailey on the right day, and you'll wonder why he's not talked about as a potential first-round pick. He's got arm talent to spare and loves to go big-game hunting down the field, and he's got more than enough athleticism to hurt you with his legs as well. Of course, if you catch him on the wrong day, it's ugly: He combined to go 34-of-60 for 306 yards with one TD and five INTs against Notre and Miami this season, and it's fair to wonder whether there's a hard ceiling on his game.

Aidan Chiles, Michigan State

If Bailey's inconsistency makes you want to tear your hair out, wait until you get a load of Chiles. A former four-star recruit who followed Jonathan Smith from Oregon State to East Lansing, he's got all the physical tools you could possibly ask for. Exhibit A:

That sort of arm talent doesn't come around every day, much less with a dangerous set of legs. The problem is that these highlights are few and far between, and Chiles spent most of his two years with the Spartans taking sacks and turning the ball over. Then again, the infrastructure around him has been subpar to say the least, so who knows what he might look like?

The Wild Card

Bryce Underwood, Michigan

It feels a bit premature to consider Underwood a portal target; he's yet to give any inkling that he wants to leave Ann Arbor despite the dismissal of Sherrone Moore, and he has many millions of reasons to see things through at Michigan. Then again, things are awfully uncertain around the Wolverines program right now, and it feels like everything depends on who the team hires from here.

Of course, given that AD Warde Manuel hasn't exactly covered himself in glory (he hired Juwan Howard in addition to Moore, after all), it's unclear who will even be making this hire. Michigan is no doubt talking to Underwood regularly, and they probably won't make a move without his blessing. If everything goes well, it's more likely than not that he'll be back in Maize and Blue next season. That's not a given, though, and every program in the country would love to make a run at him.

The top five

5. Dylan Raiola, Nebraska

It's tough to know just how much stock to put into the rumors swirling around Raiola's future at Nebraska right now. But there's enough smoke to believe that there has to be some fire, and he brings two years of Big Ten starting experience with him in addition to the recruiting pedigree.

Then again, those two years were not always particularly smooth; Raiola has the arm talent you'd expect from a former five-star, but his decision-making leaves much to be desired, and he's liable to get happy feet when pressured and occasionally heave up the most inexplicable interception you've ever seen. Still, he comes with a Power 4 floor, and that's far from nothing.

3. Drew Mestemaker, North Texas

Mestemaker is a true Cinderella story, an afterthought as a recruit who came out of nowhere to put up video game numbers under Eric Morris at North Texas this season. Seriously: 4,129 yards, nearly 10 yards per attempt and a 70.2% completion rate with 31 touchdowns and just seven picks.

Now Morris is off to Oklahoma State, and it's unclear just what that means for Mestemaker's future as he weighs his options. It feels unlikely that he'll stick it out with Neal Brown in Denton, but will he follow Morris to Stillwater or see what the market will bear for his services? He looks the part at 6-foot-4 and 211 pounds, and this was his redshirt freshman season. There are questions about to what degree he was a Morris merchant and how he'll look in a different scheme against better competition, but he's earned a shot at a Power 4 gig. The upside here is tremendous.

4. Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati

Sorsby is in a lot of ways a rich man's version of Bailey, capable of scintillating highs and head-scratching lows. He brings even more athleticism to the table, though, rushing for 580 yards this season, and he's battle-tested across two solid years at the helm for Cincinnati. Some top Power 4 teams could come calling with a very large bag; this sort of dual-threat upside doesn't come around all that often, and we know that at the very least Sorsby will guarantee you above-average play under center. There are questions about the consistency of his arm, but there are very few things on the market this year.

2. Sam Leavitt, Arizona State

It felt like Leavitt and Arizona State were a match made in heaven after he led the Sun Devils to within an eyelash of the CFP semifinals last season. But he was banged up for much of 2025, and now he seems destined for the transfer portal despite Kenny Dillingham's best efforts.

Leavitt is a true dual-threat, more than capable with his legs with 749 combined rushing yards over the last two seasons. He also averaged 8.2 yards per attempt with 24 touchdowns and just six picks in 2024, meeting the moment in the toughest games on ASU's schedule. He's got a bit of Diego Pavia gamer to him, only bigger and with more arm strength (if not quite as much moxie or athleticism on the ground.) He just finds ways to win, and that should grab the attention of many Power 4 suitors given the success he's already had in Tempe.

1. Byrum Brown, South Florida

After years of teasing us, we finally got the full, healthy Byrum Brown experience in 2025, and what an experience it was: 3,158 yards on 9.3 yards per attempt with 28 touchdowns through the air, plus a whopping 175/1,008/14 on the ground. He was a walking, talking big-play machine, combining the athleticism of a running back with the size of a linebacker and some pretty good passing chops to boot.

There are some red flags. Injuries have been an issue in the past, and it remains to be seen what he looks like outside of the extremely QB-friendly Josh Heupel system he ran under Alex Golesh at USF. But if you're looking for the next best thing to Sellers in this portal cycle, Brown checks a whole lot of those boxes given his jaw-dropping physical tools and his production to this point.