Few things in this world move faster than college football.
Three years ago, we wondered if the newly unrestricted NCAA transfer portal would impact the first round of the NFL Draft. Last year, we wondered when — not if — a transfer would go in the first round. And this past spring, we wondered which transfer would go No. 1 overall. Not only is the transfer portal here to stay, but its impact on football has been as monumental as we all knew it would be.
While the portal has done more than its share of damage to university teams and brands, it has helped athletes find better situations for themselves to maximize their pro potential. College football is now, almost completely, in the hands of the players.
Here are my favorite 2025 NFL Draft prospects from the portal this year …
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Quarterback
Cam Ward, Miami (from Washington State)
I never take issue with a player wanting to return to school. Still, I’ll admit to being bummed when Ward, who’s already made 44 career starts and thrown for nearly 14,000 career yards, opted to remove his name from the draft last winter. He wasn’t going to crack the top six at his position in the ’24 class, but he’d have been selected. Ward was a good all-star game/combine throwing session away from flirting with the top of Day 3.
Same time, this feels like such a good decision. From an accuracy standpoint, Ward is not the same player who left Incarnate Word for Washington State in 2022. He’s improved mechanically, both in the pocket and in general with his on-target throws. At 22 years old, he’s still in position to improve his standing with scouts while trying to help Mario Cristobal kickstart the Hurricanes.
My two other favorites at this position are Riley Leonard (Notre Dame) and Dillon Gabriel (Oregon). Leonard, who gets a much-needed reset after an injury-impacted 2023, has a blend of arm talent, size, athleticism and age (he’s still just 21) that will keep him on scouting radars. And Gabriel, a player nobody should ever count out, is back for a sixth year (with his third team).
Running back
Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State (from Ole Miss)
Ohio State hit the transfer-portal jackpot this offseason with a number of terrific additions, none better than Judkins. A 215-pound hammer with burst, balance and laser-sharp cutting ability, Judkins enters 2024 as, in my estimation, the most physically complete back in the 2025 draft class.
Judkins was better as a freshman than a sophomore at Ole Miss, with better blocking in front of him, and he will have an opportunity to continue working on his vision and consistency as an inside-outside threat with true three-down potential. Ohio State’s Judkins-TreVeyon Henderson combination is pretty easily the most talented 1-2 RB punch in America. Both of those players will enter the season with opportunities to grow as individuals while also showing the ability to work with a running mate — something every back in this class will have to get used to at the next level.
Two others to keep an eye on: Trevor Etienne (Travis Etienne’s brother), who moves to Georgia from Florida, and Raheim Sanders, now at South Carolina after starting with Arkansas.
Wide Receiver
Isaiah Bond, Texas (from Alabama); Evan Stewart, Oregon (from Texas A&M); Colbie Young, Georgia (from Miami)
Texas will fill the Xavier Worthy-shaped hole inside its offense with Bond, a burner who had nearly 700 yards last season as a sophomore. He comes with world-class speed. It’ll take a lot to top Worthy’s 4.21-second 40 time at the NFL combine, but Bond did notch a ridiculous 21.04 in the 200 meters in 2022 and can run sub 4.3 in the 40. This is a perfect fit for both parties.
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Stewart caught a combined 91 balls in two years at Texas A&M before heading to Oregon, where he’ll team up with Gabriel, Tez Johnson and the rest of the explosive Ducks attack. Like Johnson, Stewart (6-foot, 175 pounds) comes with size concerns — but he also can run a sub 4.4 40.
Young comes to Georgia as a big (6-3, 215), explosive prospect with balance and burst. After not playing football for a year out of high school and getting lost in the COVID-19 scholarship shuffle, Young turned one great year at Lackawanna (Pa.) College into a shot first at Miami and now with arguably the top program in America.
Others to monitor at WR: Antwane Wells Jr. (Ole Miss from South Carolina via James Madison) and Deion Burks (Oklahoma from Purdue).
Tight End
Benjamin Yurosek, Georgia (from Stanford)
The Bulldogs are replacing Brock Bowers with two impressive prospects — junior Oscar Delp and Yurosek, a senior transfer from Stanford. At 6-4, 242, Yurosek’s blend of vertical speed, route awareness and body control will give Carson Beck another dangerous weapon down the middle and in the air.
Yurosek caught a combined 108 passes for 1,342 yards in three years at Stanford, which included an injury-shortened (shoulder) 2023 season. He — like Delp — is a perfect fit inside Georgia’s offense and should have ample opportunity to prove as such. Michigan junior Colston Loveland feels rather safe as TE1 in the 2025 class, but both Yurosek and Delp have the chance to push into the top five.
A few other tight ends to watch: Jalin Conyers (Texas Tech from Arizona State), Jack Velling (Michigan State from Oregon State) and Jake Johnson (North Carolina from Texas A&M).
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Offensive line
Parker Brailsford, C, Alabama (from Washington); Jonathan Mendoza, OT, Louisville (from Yale); Jalen Travis, OT, Iowa State (from Princeton); Seth McLaughlin, C, Ohio State (from Alabama); Gerald Mincey, RT/LT, Kentucky (from Tennessee)
The biggest win of Kalen DeBoer’s first offseason at Alabama was convincing his old center, Brailsford, to come with him. Brailsford (6-2, 275) played over the ball for Washington’s Joe Moore Award-winning unit last season. Though he’s still too light — and will have to get stronger to deal with the SEC — his quickness, explosion and awareness are off-the-charts good for his age (20). If Brailsford improves upon his showing as a first-year starter, and does so while playing in the country’s toughest conference, he’ll explode up draft boards.
Another high achiever on the move here is Travis, a former Princeton tackle. The younger brother of ex-Kentucky basketball standout Reid Travis and cousin of former Penn State hooper-turned-NFL tight end Ross Travis, Jalen Travis picked up football a bit later in high school and hasn’t stopped growing — literally or figuratively. He’s now 6-9, 315 and still bends and moves like a basketball player. Not unlike Brailsford, a big year versus better competition will only help Travis with evaluators.
It’ll be a fascinating year for McLaughlin, who is starting over at Ohio State after a rough close to 2023 with Alabama. McLaughlin had better stretches as a part-time starter with the Tide in 2022 and will have a chance to regroup with Ryan Day’s new-look Buckeyes.
Defensive line
Nic Scourton, Edge, Texas A&M (from Purdue); Princely Umanmielen, Edge, Ole Miss (from Florida); Walter Nolen, IDL, Ole Miss (from Texas A&M); RJ Oben, Edge, Notre Dame (from Duke)
Umanmielen is another player who could have entered this year’s draft and heard his name called. But, thanks to NIL, he got to stay another year in school and work on the finer points of becoming more than just a pass rusher — something he’s great at, by the way, having posted a 21.1 percent win rate in 2023. At 6-5, 255 with terrific length, burst and agility, Umanmielen has all the tools to be a three-down edge (not just a third-down specialist) in the NFL.
Scourton (6-4, 280) is a heavy edge who put up 45 pressures and a 21.1 percent win rate at Purdue last season, and he’ll now test himself against the SEC.
Nolen, once ranked as the No. 1 recruit nationally, was better as a sophomore after a quiet freshman campaign and still has the athletic potential at 6-4, 290 to be a complete game-wrecker inside.
Oben, a lengthy, twitched-up edge who won with quickness at the point of attack at Duke, will challenge himself with Notre Dame’s 2024 slate.
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Linebacker
Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Kentucky (from Georgia); Jaishawn Barham, Michigan (from Maryland)
Kentucky didn’t take nearly as many transfers as some of its SEC brethren (Ole Miss and Texas A&M combined for 52), but the quality of prospects added — including Dumas-Johnson, running back Chip Trayanum, OL Gerald Mincey and others — is impossible to ignore. Dumas-Johnson (6-1, 245) had his share of coverage and tackling issues at Georgia, but he’s the exact type of athletic thumper NFL teams covet but don’t see much anymore. He’s not a sideline-to-sideline guy, but he’s absolutely capable of being a difference-maker in the box.
It’s a pretty similar situation for Barham, who runs even bigger at 6-3, 248. He moved from Maryland to Michigan, where he’ll take over for Junior Colson, one of the few NFL-sized stack linebackers drafted this spring. Not unlike Colson, there are also edge qualities to Barham’s frame (length, explosion, lateral quicks) that made him one of the top transfer prospects on the market this year.
Secondary
Jabbar Muhammad, CB, Oregon (from Washington via Oklahoma State); Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama (from USC); Andrew Mukuba, S, Texas (from Clemson); Keon Sabb, S, Alabama (from Michigan)
Few people have taken advantage of the portal quite like Muhammad, who started his career at Oklahoma State before finding a better fit in 2023 at Washington. There, he wound up notching a program-record 16 pass breakups during the Huskies’ run to the National Championship Game. Despite being a key member on one of the best teams in the history of Washington football, Muhammad entered the transfer portal after DeBoer’s exit and wound up at rival Oregon. Business decisions — and this is a fine one — are now officially on the table at the collegiate level.
Sabb, meanwhile, was another big get for the Crimson Tide.
Courtney Morgan, DeBoer’s general manager and director of all things recruiting at Alabama, was part of the Michigan staff that landed the big, long and explosive Sabb out of IMG Academy in 2022. And then Sabb was part of a very talented (and very crowded) Michigan secondary last season. He was especially outstanding in extended work in the slot, at free safety and in the box during the national championship — against DeBoer and Washington. Small world.
(Top photos of Cam Ward and Quinshon Judkins: Alika Jenner, Justin Ford / Getty Images)