Ranking the best college football quarterbacks in the transfer portal
Half of the teams in this year’s College Football Playoff are starting a transfer quarterback, including both teams in Friday night’s playoff opener between Indiana and Notre Dame.
The pervasiveness of the transfer portal and the team and individual success produced by these new quarterbacks has erased the stigma that was long attached to transfers across all positions. Last year’s transfer class included Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke, Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Ohio State’s Will Howard and Miami’s Cam Ward. Gabriel and Ward were Heisman Trophy finalists.
The crop of top passers in this year’s transfer cycle has much less star power but could carry a similar impact on the 2025 season.
Here’s the best of the best on the transfer market, including quarterbacks who have already signed with new schools:
John Mateer (Washington State)
Mateer is the jewel of this transfer class and the one addition capable of matching Gabriel and Ward — himself a former WSU transfer — as a top-level Heisman contender on a playoff contender. Playing off the national map in Pullman, the rising junior threw for 3,139 yards, ran for 826 yards and had 44 total touchdowns. Mateer could be a transformative addition for a quarterback-starved program such as Oklahoma, which recently hired his former offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle.
Darian Mensah, Duke (Tulane)
Mensah checks the boxes for Manny Diaz and the Blue Devils as a proven starter with multiple years of remaining eligibility. The rising sophomore led all eligible passers in the American Athletic in completing 65.9% of his throws on 9.5 yards per attempt and is only scratching the surface of his potential.
Devon Dampier, Utah (New Mexico)
Dampier is a work in progress as a passer, though there were enough bright spots as a first-year starter in 2024 to show the rising junior’s potential in the right system. Utah hired his former coordinator at New Mexico, Jason Beck, and will find a way to lean on his game-changing ability as a runner: Dampier ran for 1,166 yards, third among FBS quarterbacks, with 19 scores.
Fernando Mendoza (California)
Mendoza will have several high-profile suitors after leading California to six wins as new members of the ACC. Last seen leading the Bears the length of the field to beat rival Stanford, Mendoza is an accurate and proven passer Power Four passer with two more years of eligibility.
Miller Moss, Louisville (Southern California)
Moss couldn’t hang onto the starting job at USC amid another disappointing year for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans. But the rising senior still threw for 378 yards against LSU, three touchdowns against Michigan, 336 yards and three scores against Maryland and averaged 278.3 yards per game in Big Ten play. That experience makes him a valuable get for Louisville. But Moss will have to trim his turnovers after throwing nine interceptions in seven league games.
Connor Weigman, Houston (Texas A&M)
Weigman’s production has yet to match his potential. Injuries cost him most of the 2023 season but ineffectiveness was to blame for his permanent demotion from the Aggies’ starting job this past October. There’s no doubting the arm talent and ability, though, and Weigman will have a chance to reboot his college career under Houston coach Willie Fritz and new offensive coordinator Slade Nagle.
Maalik Murphy (Duke)
Murphy is a definite Power Four starter after throwing for 2,933 yards and 26 touchdowns in his single season with the Blue Devils. The former Texas transfer threw for at least 235 yards eight times and had a flair for the dramatic, leading Duke to six wins decided by a single possession. Look for Murphy to land in the SEC, potentially with Kentucky.
Chandler Morris, Virginia (North Texas)
Morris is a high-volume passer with a high floor, making him an immediate upgrade on the Cavaliers’ ragtag quarterback options this past season. The fourth and final stop in a college career that began at Oklahoma and TCU provides a reunion of sorts with Virginia coach Tony Elliott, who previously worked with Morris’ father, Chad, under Dabo Swinney at Clemson. The Cavaliers also signed a promising developmental option in Nebraska transfer Daniel Kaelin.
Jackson Arnold, Auburn (Oklahoma)
The rising junior has yet to resemble the five-star recruit who held offers from many of the top programs in the FBS. But Arnold does bring assets to the table for Auburn, namely starting experience in the SEC and enough dual-threat ability to broaden Hugh Freeze’s RPO-based offensive scheme. He has ample room for improvement, though.
Beau Pribula (Penn State)
Pribula was the first player in the 12-team playoff era to opt into the portal in advance of postseason play, robbing the Nittany Lions of an offensive wild card heading into Saturday’s matchup with SMU. The rising junior ran for 242 yards with four touchdowns and threw for another 275 yards and five scores, doing most of his damage in replacement of an injured Drew Allar in October’s win against Wisconsin. Pribula will have Power Four options but could definitely land as the starter at one of the top programs in the Group of Five.
