College football transfer portal: Top 10 players after a few major additions
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The 2025 college football season is beginning to wind down, but the NCAA Transfer Portal is just beginning to heat up. Only a handful of bowl games — including the College Football Playoff — are left. And for most schools and their fans, all eyes have turned toward their rosters as CFB free agency kicks off in less than 48 hours when the calendar turns to January 2.
More than 1,400 players have already announced their plans to enter, with even more expected in the coming days and weeks as teams’ seasons come to an end. There is already a wealth of talent looking for a new home though, headlined by a strong list of quarterbacks and talented skill players.
Multiple former 5-star recruits headed to the transfer portal
Below are the top 10 players currently set to hit the portal as of December 31:
1. WR Cam Coleman
Previous School: Auburn
Coleman was the crown jewel of Auburn’s 2024 recruiting class after he flipped late in the cycle from Texas A&M. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder was an athletic specimen as a high schooler and only blossomed more in that regard at the college level. However, he was held back by the Tigers’ lackluster quarterback play in both 2024 and 2025 with Payton Thorne and Jackson Arnold at the helm.
Still, he managed to haul in 84 passes for 1,215 yards and 12 touchdowns across his two seasons and is currently the No. 1-ranked player in the portal.
2. EDGE John Henry Daley
Previous School: Utah
Daley was a second-team AP All-American in 2025, playing in the Utes’ first 11 games of the year before sustaining an injury against Kansas State. He finished the season with 48 tackles, including 17.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. Before going down with his injury, Daley was tied for the FBS lead in tackles for loss. He was also ranked second in the country in sacks.
3. EDGE Chaz Coleman
Previous School: Penn State
An On3 True Freshman Midseason All-American, Coleman showed immense upside as a true freshman in 2025. Coleman played in nine games this season. In that stretch, he recorded eight tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. And did so while playing behind one of the country’s top pass-rushers in Dani Dennis-Sutton.
With three years of eligibility left and a tremendous amount of potential, he is expected to be one of the portal’s most-wanted prospects.
4. QB Sam Leavitt
Previous School: Arizona State
Leavitt entered the 2025 season as a darkhorse Heisman candidate after a breakout campaign as a redshirt freshman, where he completed nearly 62 percent of his passes for 2,885 yards and 24 touchdowns to just six interceptions. He was riddled by injuries though, missing the team’s final five regular-season games. If he’s healthy, Leavitt could be one of college football’s top players next season.
5. QB Drew Mestemaker
Previous School: North Texas
A former walk-on, Mestemaker played in five games as a freshman — including a standout showing in UNT’s bowl game — before taking over the starting role as a redshirt freshman this fall. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder set the college football world on fire with his second act, completing 70.2% of his passes while throwing leading the FBS in passing with 4,129 yards in 12 games. On top of that, he threw for 31 touchdowns to just seven interceptions and was named the American Athletic Conference’s offensive player of the year.
6. RB Caleb Hawkins
Previous School: North Texas
Another young star for the Mean Green, Hawkins totaled 1,236 yards and 23 touchdowns while helping North Texas to an 11-2 record this season. He scored three or more touchdowns in five different games, including 16 touchdowns during the month of November. His best performance of the season came against Navy, where he totaled 197 yards and four touchdowns and a career-high 33 rushes. Hawkins earned 2025 true freshman All-American honors from On3 and was named as the 2025 American Conference Rookie of the Year.
7. QB Brendan Sorsby
Previous School: Cincinnati
The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder transferred into the Bearcats’ program following two years at Indiana, where he played in 11 games for the Hoosiers. Sorsby has been the Bearcats’ starter each of the past two seasons, developing into one of the country’s premier quarterbacks in 2025. Across 12 games this season, he completed 62% percent of his passes while throwing for 2,800 yards, 27 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Cincinnati started the season 7-1 and looked like a potential College Football Playoff team, but lost each of its last four games to drop to 7-5.
LSU and Texas Tech are looked at as the favorites to land Sorsby.
8. QB Byrum Brown
Previous School: USF
Brown has spent the last four years, including a redshirt year, at USF. In his career in Tampa, Brown has appeared in 35 games for the Bulls. He has been one of the nation’s most productive quarterbacks in that time, completing 65% of his passes for 219.7 passing yards per game with 61 touchdowns and 19 interceptions while rushing for 31 more scores.
With the departure of Bulls head coach Alex Golesh to Auburn, the Tigers are seen as the odds-on favorite to land Brown.
9. QB Dylan Raiola
Previous School: Nebraska
Few, if any, quarterbacks in recent memory had higher expectations put on their shoulders than Raiola did at Nebraska. Seen by many as the program’s next superstar and the kind of player who could get the Huskers back to championship-level heights, he started as a true freshman in 2024 and then returned again in 2025.
Despite season-ending injuries in both seasons, Raiola has completed 69% of his passes while throwing for 4,819 yards, 31 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
10. DL Mateen Ibirogba
Previous School: Wake Forest
In 12 games, Ibirogba recorded 21 tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss. He added two sacks and had three quarterback hurries for the Demon Deacons. A redshirt junior, he is expected to have one year of eligibility left at his next stop, which will be his third as a college player. He began his career at the FCS level playing for Georgetown, then later transferred to Wake Forest. The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder playing sparingly during his first season in the ACC, but had a strong campaign in 2025 that will have a host of Power 4 teams interested.c
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