When the spring transfer portal period opens for business Wednesday, all eyes will be on former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
There are still some Power 4 programs that could use an upgrade at quarterback, and Iamaleava, who led the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff and a 10-3 record, would likely serve as one. But his asking price — and the new financial structure in college football — complicates things.
Most P4 programs have already locked themselves into financial deals with their starting quarterbacks, having made those decisions during the winter portal window in December.
Iamaleava is a rare example of a Power 4 starting quarterback who has become available in April. But he’s hardly the first quarterback to search for a new school in the spring window.
In the 2024 cycle, more than 80 Division I quarterbacks entered the transfer portal after April 1. Only a dozen ended up starting an FBS game last fall. Only five did so at Power 4 schools.
For the most part, the spring transfer window is filled with inexperienced backups looking for a fresh start. Few win starting jobs right out of the gate.
We took a look back at the previous four cycles to study how some spring moves worked out for notable players and programs. It’s obvious, though, that the best quarterbacks are no longer waiting until the spring to make a move, which is why the market is usually dry this time of year.
2021
TJ Finley, LSU → Auburn
Finley recently ran into some legal issues and is at his fifth school (Tulane), but he began his career at LSU, where he started the final five games of a 5-5 season for Ed Orgeron in 2020. He left Baton Rouge in May 2021 for Auburn and was the backup on The Plains until Week 12. He started three games late in the season for Bryan Harsin. Finley began the 2022 season as Auburn’s starter but ended up leaving the program in May 2023 for Texas State, where he played his best football.
Joe Milton, Michigan → Tennessee
Following a disappointing 2-4 pandemic-shortened season in Ann Arbor as the Wolverines’ starter, Milton announced in mid-February he was entering the portal and ended up signing with Tennessee at the end of April. He beat out Hendon Hooker and Harrison Bailey for the starting job in Knoxville but was injured and replaced by Hooker. Milton took over as the starter late in 2022 and was the starter in his final season at Tennessee in 2023.
Artur Sitkowski, Rutgers → Illinois
Sitkowski started 15 games in three seasons for the Scarlet Knights, including 11 in 2018 as a freshman, before eventually losing his job. He entered his name into the portal in April 2021 and ended up starting three games for Illinois in Bret Bielema’s first season in Champaign for a 5-7 team. He was a backup in 2022.
2022
Gerry Bohanon, Baylor → USF
After leading the Bears to a 12-2 record in his only season as the starter, Bohanon lost the starting job in the spring to Blake Shapen and entered the transfer portal in late April 2022. Bohanon started the first seven games of the 2022 season for Jeff Scott on a 1-11 USF team before Scott was fired. New coach Alex Golesh made Byrum Brown USF’s starter in 2023. Bohanon spent his final year in college football at BYU as the backup last fall.
Billy Edwards Jr., Wake Forest → Maryland
Edwards spent only one season with the Demon Deacons and entered the portal in April after it became clear he had no shot at playing until Sam Hartman was gone. Edwards served as the backup in 2022 before Taulia Tagovailoa was injured. He started three games and then served as the backup until the 2023 bowl win over Auburn, when he earned MVP honors. Edwards started 11 games this past season before entering the portal in December and signing with Wisconsin.
Emory Jones, Florida → Arizona State
Not long after Jayden Daniels left Arizona State for LSU, Jones departed Florida, where he started 12 games in 2021, for Tempe. Jones started seven games in 2022 for a 1-9 team during Herm Edwards’ final season. Jones transferred to Cincinnati the following season and quarterbacked the Bearcats in Scott Satterfield’s first season to a 3-9 record.
Emory Jones replaced Jayden Daniels as the starter at ASU. (Jordon Kelly / Getty Images)
2023
Ben Bryant, Cincinnati → Northwestern
After starting 11 games at Eastern Michigan in 2021, Bryant returned to Cincinnati, where he began his college career, and led the Bearcats to a 9-2 record in 2022 before suffering a season-ending foot injury. But once it became clear that Emory Jones was taking over in Cincinnati, Bryant hit the portal on April 20 and spent his final year at Northwestern. He went 6-3 as the starter in 2023.
Thomas Castellanos, UCF → Boston College
Castellanos played a total of 61 snaps at UCF before he decided to enter the transfer portal in April 2023 once it became clear John Rhys Plumlee would be the starter. Castellanos didn’t win the job at Boston College in fall camp but became the starter by Week 2. He led the Eagles to a 7-6 season and remained the starter, even after Bill O’Brien took over, but he was eventually replaced in mid-November. Castellanos is expected to be the starter at Florida State this fall.
Casey Thompson, Nebraska → FAU
Thompson went 4-6 as the starter at Texas in 2021 and 4-6 as the starter at Nebraska in 2022 before he decided to leave Lincoln in April 2023 following the coaching change to Matt Rhule. Thompson won the starting job at FAU out of camp in Tom Herman’s first season in Boca Raton but suffered a season-ending torn ACL three games in and reentered the portal following the season. He spent last season as a backup at Oklahoma.
Payton Thorne, Michigan State → Auburn
Thorne started 26 games for the Spartans but decided to enter the portal on the final day of the spring window in April to join Hugh Freeze in his first season at Auburn. He led Auburn to a 5-7 record and finished 73rd nationally in passing efficiency in 2023. He spent most of 2024 as Auburn’s starter and improved to 21st in passing efficiency.
Hayden Wolff, Old Dominion → Western Michigan
Wolff didn’t win a lot as the Monarchs’ quarterback — he went 3-9 as a full-time starter in 2022 — but he was one of the more experienced arms available (22 career starts) in the spring of 2023 when he entered the portal. Wolff took over as the starter in the middle of the 2023 season and led Western Michigan to a bowl game this past season as the full-time starter.
2024
Jacolby Criswell, Arkansas → North Carolina
Criswell began his career at North Carolina, transferred home to play for Arkansas, where he served as the backup in 2023, and then returned to Chapel Hill last summer to compete with Max Johnson and Conner Harrell for the starting job in fall camp. Johnson won the job, but Criswell eventually beat out Harrell after Johnson suffered a season-ending injury in the opener. He started 10 games, including the bowl game, before leaving Chapel Hill for East Tennessee State after Mack Brown was fired.
Nick Evers, Wisconsin → UConn
Evers attempted one pass in his first two seasons in college football, at Oklahoma and Wisconsin, and eventually won the starting job at UConn last season. He started eight games for the Huskies in 2024.
Collin Schlee, UCLA → Virginia Tech
Kent State’s 2022 starting quarterback spent the 2023 season at UCLA backing up Dante Moore and Ethan Garbers before deciding in April 2024 to leave the West Coast for Blacksburg. He backed up Kyron Drones for most of the season before taking over as the starter for three games late in the year.
Christian Veilleux, Pittsburgh → Georgia State
The former Penn State Nittany Lion started five games for Pat Narduzzi in 2023 before the Panthers plucked Eli Holstein from Alabama out of the portal, prompting Veilleux to decide in April to find a new home. He landed at Georgia State and won the starting job, throwing for 2,047 yards and 13 touchdowns in eight starts.
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
