What I learned from studying 3,300 FBS transfers in the college football portal

The transfer portal has been closed since mid-January. Rosters aren’t completely set — players in the portal can sign with a new school up until the start of classes in the fall — but the majority of transfers have selected their next destination.

So it’s a good time to crunch some portal numbers and compare the findings to what transpired in previous years.

The NCAA has tracked FBS football transfers since 2023 but hasn’t released its numbers for 2026 yet. We’ll share our own calculations shortly, but one thing is clear: Despite a narrative to the contrary, scholarship football players are finding homes.

Last year, of the 3,264 FBS scholarship players who entered the transfer portal, 85 percent (2,762) transferred and received aid at their next school, 12 percent remained active in the portal (399) and 3 percent (103) transferred to a new school and did not receive aid. (The players who remained active in the portal either returned to school or stopped playing football.)

That 85 percent represents an increase from the 81 percent of transfers who received aid at their new schools in the 2024 cycle and the 77 percent who did so in 2023.

This year, close to 76 percent (2,556) of the more than 3,300 FBS scholarship players who entered the portal have signed with a new school, according to SportSource Analytics and Tracking Football. More than 450 are still in the portal and can sign with a school until classes begin in the fall.

Where did the departures end up?

Of the 1,760 players who left Power 4 schools, nearly half (859) ended up staying at the P4 level, roughly 32 percent (559) moved down to the Group of 6 and a little under 8 percent (135) signed with programs below the FBS level.

No Power 4 program signed more transfers than Oklahoma State’s 53. New coach Eric Morris brought 16 players from his former school, North Texas, headlined by star quarterback Drew Mestemaker and standout running back Caleb Hawkins.

Six of the next seven teams on the list — Iowa State (47), Colorado (43), Arkansas (42), UCLA (41), LSU (40), Auburn (39) and Penn State (38) — are led by new head coaches as well. Colorado’s Deion Sanders, who has signed 171 transfers combined since landing in Boulder in 2023, is the only returning coach in the top eight.

No program lost more players to the portal than Oklahoma State, which saw 66 players leave Stillwater after the coaching change. Less than half (29) signed with other P4 programs. Iowa State was next on the list with 55 departures, with 23 following coach Matt Campbell to Happy Valley. No program was a bigger feeder to other P4 schools than the Cyclones, with 37 ending up in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or SEC.

West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez said goodbye to 50 players via the portal following his first season back in Morgantown. Only nine of those players ended up at other P4 programs.

Penn State (47 departures) and Michigan State (44) were the only other P4 programs to lose more than 40 players to the portal.

Of the 1,506 players who left Group of 6 schools, 31.6 percent signed with a Power 4 school, 27 percent moved to another G6 school and 12.5 percent ended up going below the FBS level.

Memphis, which lost coach Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas, lost more players to the portal (49) than any other G6 program. UConn (44), Coastal Carolina (39), Appalachian State (38), Georgia State (38) and Arkansas State (38) are next on the list.

Among G6 schools, Washington State (21) sent the most transfers to the P4 ranks, followed by North Texas (20), James Madison (19), South Florida (18), Tulane (16) and Memphis (15). On a related note, all six of those schools lost their coach to a Power 4 program.

No FBS team reeled in more players via the portal than UConn. Jason Candle, who replaced Jim Mora at UConn, signed 56 transfers, including 22 from the Power 4 ranks (tied for second-most among G6 schools). Candle also brought 22 players from Toledo.

Memphis (53), North Texas (49), South Florida (41), James Madison (41) and Coastal Carolina (40) round out the list of G6 programs that signed 40 or more transfers.

Which G6 programs pulled in the most P4 players? South Florida (24), UConn (22), North Texas (22), Memphis (19), Appalachian State (17) and Utah State (17).

In all, 114 Group of 6 players who earned all-conference honors in 2025 transferred to Power 4 schools, including 48 who were first-team selections. That number was down, though, from last year’s total of 66 first-team selections who left.

Which G6 teams had the hardest time restocking with FBS talent via the portal?

• Louisiana: 5 transfers/1 from FBS
• Louisiana Tech: 11 transfers/4 from FBS
• Central Michigan: 15 transfers/3 from FBS
• Northern Illinois: 17 transfers/1 from FBS

Plus/minus winners

Penn State led the way in net career starts gained in the portal with 206. Next on the list are Oklahoma State (201), Texas Tech (189), Kansas (181), Arkansas (179), Texas A&M (175), LSU (161), UCF (160), Kentucky (156) and Florida State (147).

A dozen Power 4 teams lost more combined career starts than they gained: California (92), Mississippi State (43), BYU (42), Iowa State (42), Boston College (38), Virginia Tech (31), Clemson (30), Michigan (28), Utah (24), Auburn (10) and Oklahoma (4).

Where you get your starting experience from definitely counts for something, which is why LSU, Indiana, Texas, Miami, Texas A&M and Penn State were ranked in the top 10 of The Athletic’s team portal rankings.

Colorado and West Virginia led all Power 4 programs by signing 16 transfers who started at least six games for their former FBS programs in 2025, but the majority for both schools came from the Group of 6 ranks or below.

Coaching pipelines

As mentioned above, several coaching changes resulted in significant roster movement. Here are the coaches who took the most players with them to their new school.