Predicting the 5 best QBs who will hit the transfer portal this offseason and why

The college football season is quickly coming to a close. And as it does, speculation on who will enter the transfer portal is dominating all the non-College Football Playoff discussions. We all know quarterbacks are a premium. 

And several quarterbacks are looking at finding a new place to either grow or revive their careers. It should be a loaded transfer portal for quarterbacks, so let’s take a look at five potential signal callers that could end up with a new team. 

5) Conner Weigman, Texas A&M

Conner Weigman came into the season as the sure-fire player to lead the Texas A&M Aggies to the College Football Playoff under first-year coach Mike Elko. But after falling flat against LSU, he was benched mid-game and then lost his starting spot to Marcel Reed. 

Reed started every game the rest of the way and will most likely start the bowl game too. That means Weigman, a former five-star prospect, either reluctantly accepts his backup role or looks to start elsewhere. 

With several teams in the market for a new quarterback, he’ll most likely hit the portal. Wiegman had a drop off from his first two seasons, but can still help a program succeed. As teams like Ohio State, Miami and potentially LSU look to retool at quarterback, Weigman could be a name that circulates as a feasible replacement.

4) John Mateer, Washington State

John Mateer will be one of the most sought-after quarterbacks in this transfer portal cycle in my opinion. He had a phenomenal year at Washington State and will have two more seasons of eligibility. 

I’m not sure if he will immediately make the jump to an SEC or top-tier Big Ten school. But he could land at a Big 12 school to get one more year against better competition before making the leap. Maybe he ends up at a smaller Big Ten school. 

Indiana could be a team that looks at adding him, or even a school like Wisconsin as they look to bounce back as well. He could even be an intriguing option for Lincoln Riley who’s biggest question mark is the quarterback. Marcus Freeman could also pluck a quarterback from a for the third-straight year too. 

Mateer threw for 3,129 yards and 29 touchdowns in the regular season this year against seven interceptions. Wherever he lands, he will be a prime candidate for QB-needy teams this winter. 

3) Maddux Madsen, Boise State

These next few games are going to be critical for Boise State. It’s going to be equally as critical for Maddux Madsen. He’ll have a chance to show everyone Ashton Jeanty isn’t the only talented player on the offense. 

He’s thrown for 2,556 yards with 21 touchdown passes and just three interceptions this season. While his numbers aren’t screaming Power 4, he also had a generational talent in the backfield that dominated the offense. 

If Madsen can light up UNLV as well as make a strong showing in the CFP, he could perk some ears up on luring him away from Boise State. A former five-star prospect in Malachi Nelson transferred last season from USC. Madsen ended up being him out for the starting job. 

This could be a similar situation to Texas where Boise State has two quarterbacks it would like to play. And the decision could be made for them via the transfer portal. 

2) Haynes King, Georgia Tech

Don’t let this season’s stats fool you, Haynes King is one of the top quarterbacks that could be on the move this winter. If nothing more, his game against Georgia proved he can compete with the best of them. 

Not even Quinn Ewers or Arch Manning looked as good as King, who threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns in the eight-overtime game. This season, King has a shade under 2,000 passing yards, 11 touchdown passes with one interception. 

What makes King intriguing is his dual threat ability. He has 578 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns as well. If he manages to lead Georgia Tech to a win in its bowl game like he did with two top-10 wins over Florida State and Miami, he could be playing his way into the portal too. 

Georgia Tech has a logjam at quarterback with both Aaron Philo and Zach Pyron getting playing time this year as well. King hitting the portal could clear that up. 

1) Quinn Ewers, Texas

At this point, I’d be shocked if Quinn Ewers ends up in the NFL Draft this April. While he was heralded as one of the top prospects in college football to start the season, his draft stock hasn’t quite taken off. 

According to Mel Kiper, he’s the sixth best quarterback prospect with both Carson Beck and Drew Allar ahead of him. While that doesn’t mean a team drafts him before either, it also means he’s probably not a first or even second round pick. 

And with NIL, he could probably make more with another season in college than if he was drafted outside of the first round. If he does come back to college, he would have no problem finding a new team. 

Texas seems like they’ve pretty much committed to Arch Manning moving forward so it’s not likely he’ll play with the Longhorns. With Steve Sarkisian going back and forth between the two multiple times, he seems less committed to Ewers. 

The draft isn’t out of the question by any means, but Ewers may value another year of development to improve his draft stock and can still get paid in college. That said, it's a very different story if Texas goes on a College Football Playoff run.