The quarterback carousel in college football isn't just spinning - it's picking up speed. If you watched the 2025 College Football Playoff, you saw it in action: 7 of the 12 teams had starting quarterbacks who arrived via the transfer portal. By the time the dust settled and the final four were set - Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss, and Miami - every single one of them was led by a transfer QB.
This isn't a blip. It's a trend. And it’s reshaping how top-tier programs approach the most important position on the field.
Indiana and Miami: Portal Powerhouses
Let’s start with the two teams that battled it out in the National Championship: Indiana and Miami. Both leaned hard into the portal - and it paid off.
Indiana’s title run was fueled by Fernando Mendoza, who didn’t even begin his college career in Bloomington. He transferred in from Cal and didn’t just fit in - he thrived, winning the Heisman Trophy and leading the Hoosiers to the top of the mountain.
That wasn’t Indiana’s first dip into the portal, either. The year before, they brought in Kurtis Rourke from Ohio, and he took them to the College Football Playoff.
Now, they’re keeping the momentum going by bringing in Josh Hoover from TCU to take the reins next season.
Miami’s blueprint? Nearly identical.
They grabbed Cam Ward from Washington in 2024, then followed that up by landing Carson Beck from Georgia. Now, they’ve brought in Darian Mensah from Duke to steer the ship next season.
It’s a clear pattern: find experienced, battle-tested quarterbacks who can step in and compete right away.
Who’s Still Building the Old-Fashioned Way?
While the portal is clearly the go-to for many, there are still a few programs choosing to develop from within.
Georgia is one of the holdouts. They’ve stuck with Gunner Stockton, a homegrown talent they signed out of high school.
He’s set to return next season as their starter. Notre Dame also dipped back into high school recruiting this past season with CJ Carr, after previously bringing in Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard via the portal in consecutive years.
So even the traditionalists are blending old-school development with modern-day flexibility.
The Hybrid Model: Best of Both Worlds?
Then there are the programs threading the needle - using the portal to fill gaps, but still investing in long-term development. Ohio State and Oregon are two prime examples.
Ohio State brought in Will Howard from Kansas State, and he helped them win a national title in 2024. This past season, they turned to Julian Sayin, a highly touted prospect who originally landed at Alabama before transferring to Columbus after Nick Saban’s retirement.
Sayin redshirted in 2024, then took over this season and played lights-out. Behind him?
Tavien St. Clair, a top-tier high school recruit, is waiting in the wings.
The Buckeyes are clearly building a pipeline that mixes experience with upside.
Oregon’s approach mirrors that. They had Dillon Gabriel under center in 2024, then handed the job to Dante Moore - a UCLA transfer who redshirted that year.
Moore’s returning next season after passing up the NFL Draft, but the Ducks are already planning ahead. They’ve landed Dylan Raiola, who started for Nebraska this past season.
He’s expected to redshirt and be the next man up once Moore moves on.
The Portal Pathway: A New QB Roadmap
So what does all of this tell us? Simply put, the transfer portal has become the quarterback factory for college football’s elite. More and more, the top programs aren’t waiting to develop a freshman over three or four years - they’re looking for plug-and-play guys who’ve already taken snaps, made mistakes, and learned from them elsewhere.
And for quarterbacks, the playbook is changing too. The new ideal?
Start at a smaller program, develop your game, then hit the portal when the time is right. It’s a fast track to the big stage - and it’s working.
The bottom line: if you’re a blue-blood program with national title aspirations, odds are your next quarterback isn’t walking into campus straight from prom. He’s arriving with a suitcase, a highlight reel, and a chip on his shoulder - ready to win now.