QB carousel will be worse than anything coaching carousel could ever become
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
This latest round of college football nonsense began Saturday when we heard star quarterback LaNorris Sellers was negotiating a return to South Carolina.
A perfectly positioned leak — between the beginning of the College Football Playoff and the opening of the transfer portal — just in case another interested school could, you know, come up with some make-me-think-twice-cash.
On Monday, the quarterback carousel — not to be confused with its older and more genteel cousin, the coaching carousel — hit full crazy mode.
Ready for this?
DJ Lagway, Florida’s star sophomore quarterback, came to an agreement with the new Gators coaching staff that it wasn’t going to work, and entered the portal. The same Lagway who Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin a year ago fretted over losing ― while debating the pros and cons of firing coach Billy Napier.
If he fired Napier, he could lose Lagway, the future of the program. Now neither are in Gainesville.
Later in the day on Monday, Nebraska star sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola announced he was entering the portal — six weeks after Huskers coach Matt Rhule declined the Penn State job, in part, because he couldn’t walk away from what he promised Raiola individually, and the rest of the team specifically, that Nebraska is home.
If you think the quarterback carousel ends here, I’ve got a gently-used four-team playoff to sell you.
Before the afternoon was complete, Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby — who may be the best of the early entries — announced he was looking for a new home.
Don’t be shocked when more big names hit the portal, knowing full well there are only so many elite jobs. The only difference between the two carousels: coaches use agents to shop for jobs while still under contract, players use social media.
It’s debatable which has the greater impact.
The two-week transfer portal opens Jan. 2, and it may as well be the NFL’s version of legal tampering prior to free agency. The quarterbacks aren’t technically in the transfer portal, they’ve just let it be known they will be.
And if any program looking for a quarterback is interested, please reach out — or better yet, reach out to their representation. In a back-channel world, of course.
It’s the Wild, Wild West on steroids, everyone.
A year after leading Arizona State to the CFP, Sam Leavitt left Tempe and is looking for a new school. Sellers, meanwhile, is negotiating instead of leaving for the NFL with a first-round NFL draft grade.
The money is there, and it’s only growing with each passing season. The same administrators complaining about a “unsustainable system”, are the same group cheering on private equity’s involvement in the sport.
You better believe every quarterback in college football saw the game-changing, $400-500 million private equity investment move from Utah last week, and has heard over and over about the unfolding magical season at Texas Tech and its $25 million roster.
Why wouldn’t every player — and specifically, quarterbacks, the most important position on the field — do everything in their power to get it?
We’ve complained over and over how college football has become the NFL, and now that it’s staring directly in our faces, it’s time to see it for what it is. A cash grab.
For schools, for players. And that means the foundational truism with the NFL now holds firm with college football.
Get your money while you can. Because if you get hurt or can’t play, the team is moving to someone who can. And they’re always available.
The nation’s leading passer, Drew Mestemaker, is projected to be new Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris’ top target — because Morris coached Mestemaker at North Texas. But Mestemaker would have other options should he enter the portal.
So would Josh Hoover (TCU), Darian Mensah (Duke) and CJ Bailey (NC State). Many in the coaching fraternity believe Michigan’s Bryce Underwood could be available.
Those who embrace the uncertainty of the portal when it comes to the most important position on the field, are those who can greatly benefit. Seven of the 12 teams in the CFP (Oregon, Oklahoma, Tulane, Ole Miss, Miami, Ohio State, Indiana), are using transfer quarterbacks, and the three quarterbacks who were Heisman Trophy finalists were transfers.
Fernando Mendoza played at Cal in 2024, and led Indiana to its first unbeaten season and No. 1 ranking. Then won the Heisman by a whopping 927-point margin.
The past four quarterbacks to win the Heisman transferred from another school.
“It’s a different world now,” Mendoza said. “When I left Cal, I knew exactly what I wanted. I looked for the coach who could develop me as a player. More and more now, a lot of (quarterbacks) will be looking for that.”
That’s not so crazy after all, is it?
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA Today Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DJ Lagway, Dylan Raiola, latest to join expanding QB transfer carousel
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos