LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels. Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Transfer QBs making big impact on college football's top conferences

By Ethan Petrik | Last updated 5/23/23

Transfer quarterbacks are having a profound effect on college football, especially in the two most powerful conferences in the sport, the Big Ten and SEC.

Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald noted in a recent column that six of seven Big Ten West programs will rely on transfer quarterbacks this season.

“Only Minnesota, embracing the Athan Kaliakmanis era, will roll with a quarterback it recruited out of high school,” McKewon wrote.

The Big Ten West is a land of transfer portal quarterbacks, even at Iowa, where Kirk Ferentz stopped being stubborn and signed a transfer of his own, writes @swmckewonOWH. https://t.co/djCU8zpeKf #Huskers
— World-Herald Huskers (@OWHhuskers) May 21, 2023

Additionally, transfer quarterbacks have been named starters or appear to have the inside edge in quarterback battles in the SEC, including at Alabama (Tyler Buchner), Kentucky (Devin Leary), Auburn (Payton Thorne) and Florida (Graham Mertz). Transfer quarterbacks are already in place as starters at LSU (Jayden Daniels), Ole Miss (Jaxson Dart) and Tennessee (Joe Milton).

Transfer QBs could also have a huge impact on the next NFL Draft.

Pro Football Focus recently released its top 10 2024 draft-eligible quarterbacks. Seven—Caleb Williams (USC), Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), Quinn Ewers (Texas), Sam Hartman (Notre Dame), Bo Nix (Oregon State), Milton and Daniels —find themselves at a school different than their initial college choice.

High-profile, successful quarterback transfers such as Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields, Baker Mayfield and Will Levis—to name a few—provided the blueprint for transferring and subsequently landing in the NFL.

Even Northern Iowa quarterback Theo Day, who transferred from Michigan State, put himself in the 2024 NFL Draft discussion despite transferring down from FBS to FCS with a strong second season at UNI.

The sheer volume of transfer quarterbacks in starting jobs and at the top of draft discussions answers the question of whether the transfer portal deemphasized the importance of an initial college choice for quarterbacks or not.

It absolutely has.

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