Winners and losers in the 2026 college football transfer portal

The college football transfer portal opened on Jan. 2, and things have already gone wild.

In fact, on the very first day of the transfer portal being open, over 4,500 Division I football players entered their names. This portal window will close by Jan. 16, so we're not yet halfway home. 

There have absolutely been winners and losers, though. Let's start with the winners and go from there. 

Winners so far in the college football transfer portal

Indiana Hoosiers

There's a trend happening in college football among the programs that have seemingly figured out the NIL and transfer portal era: bringing in established quarterbacks for a one-year run. 

That's what the Indiana Hoosiers did with Fernando Mendoza, and now they're doing the same thing with TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, who threw for 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions this season.

Michigan State's top wide receiver, Nick Marsh, also transferred to Indiana, as did Turbo Richard, who was Boston College's leading rusher this past season. 

Curt Cignetti may be building a powerhouse for years to come.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are another college program that has embraced the NIL and transfer portal era, and they're building yet another transfer class that could be considered among the best in the nation. 

The top quarterback target this cycle was Cincinnati's Brendan Sorsby, and the Red Raiders threw the bag at him to bring him in via the portal. 

Sorsby threw for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns compared to five interceptions this past season for the Bearcats. The Red Raiders are hoping he can be the quarterback that puts them over the top.

Penn State Nittany Lions

The Penn State Nittany Lions have a new head coach in Matt Campbell, and it's no surprise that the former Iowa State Cyclones head coach is bringing a ton of his old players with him to Happy Valley.

In fact, Penn State has already landed 23 players in the portal, 20 of whom have come from Iowa State.

That includes quarterback Rocco Becht, who threw for 2,584 yards and 16 touchdowns compared to nine interceptions. 

Losers so far in the college football transfer portal

Iowa State Cyclones

If Penn State is a winner in the portal because the Nittany Lions poached a ton of players from Iowa State, then it stands to reason that the Cyclones are one of the losers worth mentioning

Again, 20 players followed Campbell out the door, but in all, new Iowa State head coach Jimmy Rogers is going to have to replace 50-plus players (and perhaps counting) who have bolted into the transfer portal.

North Texas Mean Green

The North Texas Mean Green finished 12-2 this season and played in the American Conference title game.  

It was a banner year for North Texas, but the new reality for Group of Five schools is that good years will lead to a ton of poaching.

Head coach Eric Morris was tabbed as Mike Gundy's replacement at Oklahoma State. Following him were star quarterback Drew Mestemaker, star running back Caleb Hawkins and star wide receiver Wyatt Young.

Mestemaker led college football with 4,379 passing yards this season, and he was tied for second place with 34 passing touchdowns. Hawkins rushed 231 times for 1,434 yards and 25 touchdowns. Young caught 70 passes for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Losing those three players, in particular, will cripple North Texas in 2026.

Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers have had a tough go of things, even after hiring Alex Golesh from USF to be the new head coach.

Many felt that freshman quarterback and former five-star Deuce Knight was the future of the program, but he entered the transfer portal and is now one of the top quarterbacks available.

The Tigers also lost sophomore wide receiver Cam Coleman to Texas, who caught 56 passes for 708 yards and five touchdowns this season.