College football transfer portal live updates: Spring commitments, latest moves, analysis

Notre Dame's starting punter Bryce McFerson has entered the transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining. McFerson, a North Carolina native, was a one-time commitment to Wake Forest before flipping to Notre Dame late in the process. He averaged 45.1 yards per punt last fall during his sophomore season and had no serious competition for the starting job heading out of spring practice, which wraps up on Saturday.

Miami backup quarterback Jacurri Brown is entering his name into the transfer portal, according to multiple reports. Brown started Miami's Pinstripe Bowl loss to Rutgers and twice as a true freshman in 2022, including a win at Georgia Tech. The former four-star recruit from Valdosta, Ga. has three years of eligibility remaining.

Miami has four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster: grad transfer Cam Ward, junior Reese Poffenbarger, sophomore Emory Williams and freshman Judd Anderson.

This probably won't happen, but let's get it out there just in case: Kent State DT CJ West, who entered the portal on Tuesday, once sacked Stetson Bennett during a 2022 game at Georgia. West, playing over the middle, blasted right guard Tate Ratledge (still Georgia's starter two years later) and brought Bennett down for a 10-yard loss in the first quarter. What does Georgia happen to have an eye out for in the portal? A defensive lineman. More likely, the Bulldogs are hoping a higher-profile lineman will get in there, but they've also seen other power programs benefit by elevating Group of 5 front-seven players.

Iowa's inability to retain scholarship receivers once again comes to the forefront with redshirt freshman Jacob Bostick hitting the portal this morning. Bostick, a 2022 recruit, was oft-injured during his two seasons and did not record a statistic last fall while seeing action in five games. But in the big picture, it's yet another pockmark on Iowa's receiver resume.

From the 2018-22 recruiting classes, eight of the 10 receiver recruits now have hit the transfer portal and a ninth (Brody Brecht) went exclusively to baseball. Then you add transfers who later left over that span — Oliver Martin (Nebraska) and Charlie Jones (Purdue) — it's 11 of 12 signed receivers who didn't finish their college eligibility as Hawkeyes. The attrition is part of the reason receivers coach Kelton Copeland was replaced in the offseason, but the numbers are beyond troubling.

Last year, nearly 650 FBS scholarship players transferred during the spring window, including more than 300 from Power 5 schools. It’s reasonable to expect we’re going to see more players become available in this year’s cycle since this is sort of a free-for-all with the NCAA’s one-time transfer rule currently suspended. What that’s going to lead to, and we’re already seeing it early on, is a lot of repeat transfers and even players who are going back in the portal after joining a team in January. Most of the contenders I’ve checked in with the past few weeks say they don’t need much this spring barring some surprise attrition, but the expanded Playoff is going to motivate more top-25 caliber teams and their NIL collectives to be post-spring buyers looking for upgrades or depth at certain positions.

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Another intriguing G5 defensive lineman is now on the market: Kent State DT CJ West. The 6-foot-2, 315-pound senior has been a three-year starter for the Flashes and graded out as the top defensive tackle in the MAC last season in PFF's grading. West recorded 40 stops, seven TFLs and two sacks as a junior and picked up third-team All-MAC honors. West has two more seasons of eligibility.

We're seeing several backup QBs go back in the portal for a second time this morning after failing to earn starting jobs at their current schools. Jacolby Criswell (Arkansas/North Carolina), Christian Veilleux (Pitt/Penn State) and Nick Evers (Wisconsin/Oklahoma) are all back on the market and hoping to find a better fit and an opportunity to start.

Arkansas State DE Keyron Crawford has entered the transfer portal. The 6-foot-4, 243-pound junior edge defender put up 44 tackles, 39 pressures, 10.5 TFLs, 5.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in his first season as a starter. In this spring portal window, we're going to see some intriguing G5 talent try to make the move up just as we did last year.

Alabama football closed one door on Monday with a highly anticipated spring transfer portal window opening on Tuesday. The Crimson Tide football team held its annual post-spring practice dinner featuring steaks for the winning team and beanie weenies for the losing team, and members of the 2023 roster received their SEC championship rings. The next time the team’s together en masse it’s going to be a different-looking roster with some existing players exiting and new ones entering the fold.

Alabama is one of the most high-interest teams in the spring transfer window given the attrition it saw following Nick Saban’s retirement. Now the Tide will be able to backfill open scholarship spots to fill out the 2024 roster. As it stands on Tuesday morning, Alabama has 83 scholarship players, leaving two open spots to the 85-man limit — and for every Alabama player that exits, one more spot can be filled via the transfer portal. Here’s a breakdown of scholarship numbers by classification (including redshirt players):

Freshmen: 46

Sophomores: 11

Juniors: 18

Seniors: 8

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Georgia State DE Javon Denis has entered the portal as a grad transfer. The senior was a three-year starter for the Panthers and has produced 121 tackles, 110 pressures, 25 TFLs and 11.5 sacks in his career according to Pro Football Focus. Denis earned honorable mention All-Sun Belt recognition in 2022 and should have good options for his final season of eligibility.

Colorado State WR Justus Ross-Simmons has entered the transfer portal. Ross-Simmons has been the Rams' No. 2 wideout for each of the last two seasons and put up 45 catches for 724 yards and three touchdowns in 2023 while playing in a top-10 passing offense. The 6-foot-3, 203-pound wideout earned honorable mention All-Mountain West honors last season and has two more seasons of eligibility.

“In this era of NIL, who knows what’s behind all this stuff, but he will no longer be part of our team moving forward," Colorado State coach Jay Norvell told reporters on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES — The spring transfer portal window opened Tuesday. USC has roster holes to fill and a track record of making splashes in the spring, adding Jordan Addison in 2022 and Bear Alexander in 2023.

Expect USC to be active, and here are some of the Trojans’ areas of need.

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Dear NCAA, Greg Sankey, Tony Pettitti and whoever is running college sports these days:

Psst. We, the people of the world interested in common sense solutions, ones that won’t be struck down by a court, have an idea for you.

We bring it to you as the football transfer portal opens for the spring. The basketball portal window is already open. And we know you’re already hearing from your upset coaches. They’re upset about a lost investment, about players who signed with them, were the focus of their time and expense and are now leaving for another place. Maybe to cash in. Well, almost certainly to cash in.

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The first big portal move for Colorado is starting left tackle Savion Washington. The former Kent State transfer who came to Boulder alongside former head coach Sean Lewis is in the portal. The 6-foot-8, 320-pound tackle started 10 games for the Buffaloes in 2023. The Buffaloes did add five-star left tackle Jordan Seaton from IMG Academy during this year’s signing period, and when you land a big fish like that, generally the writing is on the wall.

Last October, CU head coach Deion Sanders praised Washington saying he was "a future pro,"

Lewis left after one tumultuous year as OC at Colorado to accept the head coaching job at San Diego State. Washington is off to look for a new start and let’s see if this is the first of many dominoes for Sanders in Year 2.