Top available transfer QBs find new homes for 2023

This past weekend, QBs DJ Uiagalelei and Kedon Slovis announced their transfer portal decisions. After they decided on their homes for 2023, the portal for teams looking for a starting QB next year is beginning to close.

On Saturday, Uiagalelei announced he was transferring from Clemson to Oregon State. The Beavers are coming off a 10-3 season despite subpar QB play. Of course, Clemson had an 11-2 record despite Uiagalelei's struggles, so there's no guarantee Oregon State's upgrade on paper will translate on the field. 

Per 247 Sports, Uiagalelei was a former five-star prospect, the 10th-ranked player in the class of 2020. Beavers QBs this season -- Ben Gulbranson and Chance Nolan -- were former three-star prospects and haven't changed their narratives in college. If Uiagalelei can dig into his untapped potential, the Beavers will be a team to watch.

Slovis joins BYU after previously being QB at both USC and Pittsburgh. The Cougars were 8-5 in 2022 and are moving to the Big 12 in 2023. Slovis had his best season in his freshman year at USC in 2019. He had a career-low 10 touchdowns in 2022 despite playing in the second-most games of his four-year career.

Florida was in need of a QB when Anthony Richardson declared for the NFL draft and backup Jalen Kitna was cut from the team after being arrested on child pornography charges.

Former Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz saw an opening at a major SEC program and made the leap. The Gators sputtered to a 6-6 record, so there is a lot of work ahead for head coach Billy Napier as he heads into year two, but he solved a key question at the QB position with a player trending in the right direction.

Mertz had his best season in 2022 with career-highs in yards (2,136), yards per attempt (7.5), touchdowns (19), and passer rating (135).

A couple of new head coaches are likely to find their success next season tied to the play of their transfer QBs.

Former Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne is headed to Arizona State after a strong 2022 season where he went 164-of-254 (64.6 percent) for 2,021 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions. He played in 11 games after playing in just four games during his first two seasons. 

Pyne will join first-year head coach Kenny Dillingham. Dillingham was a finalist for the 2022 Broyles Award for top college assistant after doing phenomenal work at Oregon with Auburn transfer QB Bo Nix.

Haynes King struggled at Texas A&M this year, but he wasn't the only one during an ugly year in College Station. He's moving to Atlanta and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets started 1-3 with Geoff Collins as head coach. He was fired and the team went 4-4 in its final eight games under Brent Key, who was then given the keys to the program full-time on Dec. 9.

Jeff Sims was the primary QB at Georgia Tech this past season and heads to Nebraska to link with new head coach Matt Rhule. Sims has 1,152 rushing yards in three seasons. In Rhule's last season as a college head coach at Baylor in 2019, QB Charlie Brewer only had 344 rushing yards but finished the season with a team-high 11 rushing touchdowns. Sims will allow Rhule to do the things that made him so successful in college.

The Cornhuskers, like all these teams, have no guarantees that their offseason moves will translate to success. Even with the uncertainty, these programs now have something most lacked this time last year: hope.