The College Football Playoff National Championship game to end the 2024 season featured starting quarterbacks at Ohio State and Notre Dame who arrived via the transfer portal. Arizona State, Indiana and SMU all got into the inaugural 12-team Playoff by embracing the portal to build their rosters. These days, if you want to get better faster, you better know how to find and develop transfer talent.
Now that the winter transfer portal season has finally come to a close (it fires up again in April) and more than 2,000 FBS scholarship players have made moves, it’s time to assess the key pickups for each Way-Too-Early Top 25 team who’ll have an opportunity to shine in 2025.
The defending national champs are dealing with some significant offensive changes for 2025 with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, offensive line coach Justin Frye and eight starters moving on to the NFL.
Replacing starting offensive tackles Josh Simmons and Josh Fryar was a serious need for the Buckeyes during the portal window, and they landed two promising prospects in Onianwa and Minnesota transfer Phillip Daniels. The experience Onianwa brings to the table, as a three-year starter who has played more than 2,200 career snaps, makes him an essential piece of the puzzle for an Ohio State offensive line that had to overcome injuries and depend on inexperienced depth during their title run.
Texas had few needs during this portal cycle, but defensive tackle was an obvious concern with six of the team’s top seven contributors graduating or transferring. The Longhorns remade this room with veterans Brevard, Travis Shaw (North Carolina) and Hero Kanu (Ohio State) all coming in to compete for snaps. Brevard, a former top-100 recruit who began his career at Penn State, brings the most experience of the trio as a 23-game starter for the Boilermakers who recorded 5.5 tackles for loss and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition in 2024.
