The movement from the 2026 NCAA transfer portal in college football reached a stopping point in late January.
College football players had a two-week window to enter the portal beginning on Jan. 2 and ending on Jan. 16. Of the thousands of entrants, none dominated the headlines more than the quarterbacks moving around the Power Four landscape.
One prominent quarterback entry was former TCU starter Josh Hoover, who committed to Indiana amid its run to a College Football Playoff National Championship victory. He has one season of eligibility with the Hoosiers.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder was a part of TCU’s 2022 signing class, redshirting amid the run to the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Injuries to 2023 starter Chandler Morris thrust Hoover into action in 2023. He finished the season with 2,206 pass yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions over the course of eight games for the Horned Frogs.
Hoover broke out for 3,949 pass yards, 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions during the 2024 season at TCU. He was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention by the league’s coaches, as Shedeur Sanders and Sam Leavitt were the quarterbacks named to the All-Big 12 First and Second Teams.
Hoover’s last season at TCU saw him pass for 3,472 yards, 29 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He guided the Horned Frogs to an 8-4 regular season but decided to transfer prior to their trip to the Alamo Bowl.
The possibilities with Hoover in the Hoosiers’ offense are of national intrigue heading into the 2026 season. Cody Nagel of CBS Sports released a list of bold predictions for each team in fellow CBS college football reporter Brandon Marcello’s way-too-early top 25 rankings for the 2026 season.
Indiana was No. 8 in the rankings, and Nagel’s prediction was that Hoover would play his way into the No. 1 overall pick of the 2027 NFL draft.
“Just a few years ago, the thought of Indiana producing a No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft would have seemed impossible. Doing it twice in a row would have been absurd.” Nagel wrote.
“With Fernando Mendoza widely viewed as the favorite to go first in 2026, quarterback transfer Josh Hoover steps into an offense that has already proven it can elevate quarterbacks to the very top of the draft board.”
While Hoover is capable of putting up big numbers in a system that just won a national championship, there is strong competition for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL draft. Before he decided to remain at Oregon in January, Dante Moore was considered the No. 2 quarterback in the 2026 NFL draft and will likely be near the top again in 2027.
Texas starter Arch Manning is also gathering plenty of attention as a future No. 1 choice with his resurgent finish to the 2025 season.
