10 Most Impactful Upcoming Transfer Players in College Football This Season

Last season, college football fans watched a handful of transfers that had an instant impact on the programs that they transferred to, including Cam Ward's help in the Miami Hurricanes' 10-win season and a national ranking for the first time since 2017. To Will Howard and Quinshon Judkins, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to another national championship. We also can't forget to recall seeing how Kurtis O'Rourke performed for the Indiana Hoosiers and what Diego Pavia did for the Vanderbilt Commodores—two quarterbacks who transferred from Group Five conferences performed successfully in Power Five conferences. Once again, we will see a bevy of transfer players with some destined to make a similar impact with their new teams. Who will those players be? I got seven for you and here's why.

John Mateer, QB, from Washington State to Oklahoma

At the top of the list of impact transfer players is a guy who became Cam Ward's successor for the Washington State Cougars last season. John Mateer threw 29 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions on 3,139 passing yards in 2024. His playmaking skills and arm talent, similar to Cam Ward, led the Cougars to an 8-5 record and to becoming the 12th-highest scoring offense in the FBS. This likely Heisman Trophy candidate shall bring that same pizzazz to Oklahoma. Mateer can become a true commander of the Sooners' offense because it will be the same offense he flourished in at Washington State.

His offensive coordinator from Washington State, Ken Arbuckle, is tagging along with him to the land of the Sooners to be his offensive coordinator again. It's also the same Wazzu offense that Cam Ward first flourished as one of the most thrilling playmaking quarterbacks in the country when he started at Washington State in 2023. Ward threw for 25 touchdowns to seven interceptions on 3,736 passing yards, with eight additional touchdowns he scored himself. Mateer and Arbuckle together could make this Oklahoma offense an offense that nobody in the SEC is ready for and could lead the Sooners back to college football prominence.

Makhi Hughes, RB, from Tulane to Oregon

One of the most productive ball-carriers in the nation brings his talents from the American Athletic Conference to the Big Ten. Makhi Hughes has rushed for over 13 hundred yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry in each of the past two seasons. With a new quarterback taking first-string snaps this season, Hughes will be expected to produce similar or better statistics than the previous two seasons at Tulane, even though Dante Moore is a veteran who has NFL-level talent and the right demeanor to succeed as the signal caller for the Ducks. Makhi Hughes gives the Ducks the toughness and grind mentality needed for a highly competitive conference.

He's a running back who can do it all, take the football through the fire of the trenches just as well as he takes it with him outside the tackles and straight to the sidelines. He would come out of the backfield and catch some first downs and touchdowns as well. He looks like a young Ezekiel Elliott in the way he plays his position. Hughes and Whittington together are good enough to match any RB duo out there, including Penn State's Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. This combination could set the tone for the entire team in crucial games, especially the one against the Nittany Lions at Happy Valley. Helping the Oregon Ducks football program gain a new attitude that would eventually dominate the rest of college football.

Tacario Davis, CB, from Arizona to Washington

A guy who could have been the first cornerback drafted last April instead returns for another season in college. Tacario Davis remains one of the top defenders in all of college football. Davis will resume his weekly missions of shutting down the best receivers in college football, no longer for the Arizona Wildcats, but for the Washington Huskies. He once again comes into this season as the number one cornerback prospect for the draft class of 2026. He also comes into the season to become the anchor of the Washington Huskies' defense.

The Huskies got themselves a cornerback who can neutralize the rest of the defense. His presence is just what a team like the Huskies needs, a team that won more games last season than expected after losing so many key players from their championship-qualifying squad from 2023 due to graduation and the pro draft. Having a 2-0 head start and finishing 2024 with six wins. They already have an offense that could become dangerous so that this transfer grab could give their sometimes-solid defense consistency. This guy hasn't allowed a touchdown thrown his way for the past two seasons.

Zachariah Branch, WR, from USC to Georgia

Georgia's new starting Quarterback, Gunner Stockton, is a redshirt sophomore who will demand a lot of help from ex-Trojan dynamo Zachariah Branch. One of the most dangerous playmakers in the Big Ten last season is expected to become the most dangerous playmaker in the SEC. Zachariah Branch will automatically be WR1 for the Bulldogs. Georgia hasn't had a player with such skill and marvelous playmaking ability in their program since Todd Gurley. In just two years of his collegiate career, he has scored touchdowns in as many ways as possible. Whether it was catching, running, or on kick/punt return, an offense that struggled to put points on the board and lacked consistency throughout last season, Branch can become the spark needed for this offense to explode, or at least move the chains during crucial games.

There wasn't a clear go-to guy in the passing game for Carson Beck or Gunner Stockton to throw to last season. Kirby Smart's offense was missing a legit deep threat wide receiver, making it difficult for the passing game to take off. Branch could be the reason that changes in 2025

Thomas Castellanos, QB, from Boston College to Florida State

The Seminoles program just had a complete makeover with so many transfers coming from left to right after having its worst season in school history. For them to accomplish this turnaround from being 2-10 in 2024 to becoming a possible playoff team in 2025, it will start with their new quarterback, Thomas Castellanos, formerly of the BC Eagles. His talents were on full display with the Eagles last season, showcasing his dual-threat skills. Castellanos led BC to a 4-1 start to the season and their first top 25 ranking since 2018. He threw 18 touchdown passes to five interceptions while completing 61.5 percent of his passes and averaged 8.5 yards per completion in 2024. He was showcasing skills that make him a similar talent to Charlie Ward, Florida State's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback of 1993. A mixture of scrambles that could last for hours and downfield throws is what you're going to see when watching Castellanos play.

Castellanos will receive calls from Florida State's new offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn. Malzahn is a longtime offensive guru who has developed some good offenses and great players in the past, before becoming one of the winningest head coaches in Auburn history. That includes the breakout season of Darren McFadden in 2006 and the Heisman season of Cam Newton in 2010, when he served as offensive coordinator at Arkansas and Auburn during those years. He also served as offensive coordinator for Tulsa in 2007, helping them rank first in the nation for total yards per game, and helped Tulsa become the first offense in college football history to have a five-thousand-yard passer, a one-thousand-yard rusher, and three one-thousand-yard receivers in the same season. This Castellanos-Malzahn pairing is destined to perform the Lazarus effect on Florida State football this season.

Justice Haynes, RB, from Alabama to Michigan

The Wolverines are expected to get back to their ground-and-pound style with a legitimate running back who can excel in that role. Justice Haynes brings that smashmouth ball from the Southeastern Conference to Michigan, where their offense might need a lot of help from. Despite only touching the football a total of 96 times last season, he averaged 5.7 yards per carry and scored a total of eight touchdowns. If he didn't have to share carries with Jam Miller, his stats sheet could've looked more impressive. Alabama's offense also revolved around Jalen Milroe, who became the team's leading rusher in 2024. This explains Justice Haynes' skills being underutilized in Bama's offense.

True freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood is highly touted. But, like every other freshman quarterback, Underwood needs as much guidance and support as possible to get through a tough first year of college football. Since he will be responsible for the passing game being efficient, he would need Haynes to do his part and make sure the rushing attack is in shape to support the passing game. That means the more Justice Haynes touches the football, the more you will be convinced that Justice Haynes is one of the best running backs in college football. Michigan's rushing attack is guaranteed to get back up and running again if Haynes handles the heavy load.

Jake Retzlaff, QB, from BYU to Tulane

The Tulane Green Wave might be the Group of Five program that makes it to the playoffs this season, riding on the arm of Jake Retzlaff. The gunslinger leaves BYU and comes to Tulane for a fresh start. Retzlaff nearly brought the BYU Cougars to postseason salvation until the last minute of a close game with Arizona State last season. He did lead the Cougars to 10 wins, and they finished the season with a national ranking for the first time since 2021. All of this while throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdown passes to 12 interceptions in just the first season in the Big 12 conference. He will now play in the AAC for a team that has been knocking on the door of the elite club of college football programs for the past three seasons.

This is a match made in heaven, a gunslinger of a quarterback who can reflect the attitude of a football that wants to become elite so badly. This is a team that is getting closer and closer to becoming elite, and now they could finally enter the elite club with the quarterback to do so with. Retzlaff bettered the Green Wave's chances of becoming playoff-bound in 2025. He has a legit receiving core to work with, so he could instantly become that upgrade over Darian Mensah, who won nine games for the Green Wave last season as a freshman. They are suddenly looking like the clear favorites to win the American Athletic Conference and the G5 school to make it to the college football playoffs with Retzlaff as their QB1.

Darian Mensah, QB, from Tulane to Duke

Speaking of Darian Mensah, the freshman quarterback who threw for 22 touchdown passes to six interceptions and led the Tulane Green Wave to a third consecutive American Athletic Conference championship appearance. He finished his first season as a starting quarterback with a 9-5 record with the 19th-best quarterback rating in the nation (76.3). He now takes the starting reins for the Duke Blue Devils as the needed upgrade at that position. Maaalik Murphy was a solid starter for the Blue Devils last season, transferring from Texas. But he didn't bring much to the table for Duke in terms of skillset. Darian Mensah has the arm talent to make any crucial throw and the athleticism to improvise on broken plays. For a young quarterback, he has the intelligence to generate long scoring drives and minimize turnovers.

Over the past two seasons, the narrative of Duke University being only a school for academic scholars and basketball phenoms has been wearing thin, with the football team experiencing a dramatic increase in wins. Their new quarterback, Mensah, could be the reason why this could be the year that Duke's football program makes that sharp turn towards its most successful season ever. A 10-plus-win season for the Duke Blue Devils is a high possibility. They won nine games in 2022, eight wins in 2023, and nine wins in 2024. The spread offense will be in effect, with Mensah under center. He ran that same scheme at Tulane last season, so this season, playing for a new team should be smooth sailing for the young signal caller. Don't be surprised if these guys earn the title, 2025 Atlantic Coastal Conference champions.

Carson Beck, QB, from Georgia to Miami (FL)

Carson Becks brings championship experience to a squad that has been dying for that taste of championship atmosphere since the early to mid-2000s. Cam Ward nearly took the Hurricanes towards that feeling last season until the Orangemen of Syracuse took them down in the last game of the regular season. Helping the Clemson Tigers take their place in the ACC title game and eventually capture a spot in the college football playoffs as the ACC champions of 2024. Beck leaves Georgia with a 24-3 career record as the starter for them to remember and comes to Miami with the hunger to bounce back after ending a second straight season without a national championship.

Beck will have other notable transfers that he will rely on in receivers Keelon Marion from BYU and C.J. Daniels from LSU, plus sophomore Joshisa Taylor. His new offensive line is bringing back three key starters from last season and will play in an offensive scheme similar to the one he played in Georgia. An efficient, run-heavy, but well-balanced attack that offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson installed. He and the rest of the Hurricanes' coaching staff, headed by Mario Cristobal, will do their best to give Beck the support he needs to succeed in this new regime. The Hurricanes will have a new defensive system that should be more aggressive and ball-hungry than the one from a year ago, with new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman installing the new system to help out Beck and the offense. These new installments should make Beck feel right at home with a great shot at a conference title, a playoff spot, and possibly a national title for the Miami Hurricanes.

Devonte Ross, WR, from Troy to Penn State

Between Devonte Ross, Kyron Hudson, and Trebor Pena, Ross is the one I expect to be the number one option for Nittany Lions' quarterback Drew Allar to throw the football to, often. The Troy transfer wideout could be the one who makes this Penn State offense more explosive than it has ever been. He has outstanding vertical speed, marvelous versatility to make plays in any way possible, and the toughness to make contested catches regardless of the coverage. The combination of great hands, spectacular route running, and ball awareness is precisely what Ross needs to succeed as the number one wide receiver in Penn State's offense. His talents can make Drew Allar a better quarterback and give Penn State a better football team than the season before.

A game I can recall where he showcased his skills was in the third game from last season against the Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa. Ross was the sole reason Troy was able to keep the score tight with a Big Ten opponent. Ross caught five passes for 142 receiving yards and two touchdowns against a solid Iowa defense. He scored the third touchdown in that game on a 77-yard punt return. Speaking of yardage, both of his two receiving touchdowns that game went for over 60 yards. During his three-year span at Troy, Devonte Ross averaged no less than 10 yards per reception. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will have a lot of things in mind for how to utilize Ross. Andy's system needs an explosive speed demon like Ross.

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