The 12 Most Impactful Transfers In College Football History

The transfer portal has forced college football teams to deal with a revolving door of players looking to take their talents to another team. However, there’s only so much those programs can do to land guys who are capable of making the same kind of impact as the best transfers in the history of the sport.

No college football players have excelled after transferring more than these guys

2021 marked a turning point for college football, as that year was the start of the NIL Era and the introduction of the one-time transfer rule that allowed players to suit up for a new team immediately after transferring instead of being forced to sit out a year before being added to the roster.

Things have gotten even more chaotic since an antitrust lawsuit led to the NCAA allowing unlimited transfers without a waiting period starting in 2024, and it’s now easier than ever for teams to lure big names with piles of cash in the hopes they’ll end up making a splash.

As a result, there will undoubtedly be a spike in the number of transfers who end up having a massive impact after trading one team for another while joining the list of the standouts who’ve previously done the same, including…

Joe Burrow

The nature of the quarterback position means they’re going to be overrepresented on this list, and while I’m not ranking these players in any particular order, it would be very easy to argue Joe Burrow would deserve the top spot if I were.

Burrow spent his first three seasons as a backup at Ohio State before transferring to LSU in 2018. He earned the starting job and led the Tigers to 10-3 record, but we’d soon learn he hadn’t even come close to reaching his potential.

In 2019, Burrow led the nation with 5,671 passing yards and 60 touchdowns after recording 2,894 and 16 in those respective categories the previous year. LSU went 15-0 and won a national championship, and Burrow took home the Heisman Trophy before taking his talents to the NFL.

Cam Newton

Cam Newton spent a couple of seasons riding the bench at Florida at the end of the 2000s, and he ran into some disciplinary issues that led to him leaving the program and spending a season playing JUCO football at Blinn College in Texas.

He got a second chance at the FBS level with Auburn in 2010, and it’s safe to say he took full advantage. The dual-threat QB won the Heisman Trophy during a campaign where he ended up with 2,854 yards and 30 touchdowns in the air along with 1,473 and 20 on the ground, and Auburn won a national championship while going 14-0.

Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield grew up rooting for Oklahoma but ultimately decided to attend Texas Tech as a walk-on after turning down scholarship offers from some smaller programs. He was slated to start the season as a backup in 2013 before an injury to Michael Brewer landed him the starting job, and he posted a 5-2 record in that role.

Mayfield decided to transfer to Oklahoma and was forced to sit out for a year after unsuccessfully lobbying the NCAA for immediate eligibility. He made his debut with the Sooners in 2015, and they went 11-2 three years in a row while appearing in the College Football Playoff on two occasions as he steadily improved before winning the Heisman on the back of his 4,627 passing yards and 43 touchdowns in the air in 2017.

Kyler Murray

Oklahoma had another transfer waiting in the wings after Mayfield’s departure in the form of Kyler Murray, who began his college career at Texas A&M and sat out a year before serving as Baker’s backup in 2017.

He had some big shoes to fill during his first year as the starter for the Sooners. However, they once again went 11-2 while securing a spot in the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row with the help of the Heisman-winning QB who had 4,361 passing yards and threw for 43 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,001 and punching it in on his own 12 times.

Caleb Williams

We’ve got yet another entry where Oklahoma was involved, as that was where Caleb Williams started his college career before heading to USC to link back up with Lincoln Riley.

The Trojans reaped the benefits, as Williams ended up with 4,537 passing yards and 42 touchdowns (along with 10 more on the ground) while leading his new team to an 11-3 record and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2022. He wasn’t able to match those stats during USC’s disappointing 7-5 showing in 2023, but he still made enough of a mark to be drafted by the Bears with the first overall pick.

Jayden Daniels

We’re heading back to the LSU well thanks to Jayden Daniels, who spent his first three seasons at Arizona State before taking his talents to Baton Rouge during Brian Kelly’s first year at the helm in 2022.

The dual threat finished with a total of 3,798 yards and 28 touchdowns as the Tigers went 10-4 a year after going 6-7. Those numbers improved to 4,946 and 50 during his second and final year with LSU, and he also ended up with a Heisman Trophy.

Russell Wilson

All of the guys I’ve mentioned so far are relatively recent history, but I also want to look at some less contemporary transfers.

That includes Russell Wilson, who played football and baseball at NC State before butting heads with head coach Tom O’Brien over his decision to accept an invitation to spring training with the Rockies in 2011.

That dispute led to the QB (and second baseman) transferring to Wisconsin, and he had 3,175 passing yards and threw 33 touchdowns as the Badgers went 11-3 and beat Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game during his only season in Madison.

Troy Aikman

Thought I was done mentioning Oklahoma? Think again!

Troy Aikman started his college career with the Sooners in 1984 and was named the starter the following year before his season was cut short by a broken ankle. Jamelle Holieway stepped up and ended up helping the Sooners win a national championship, and Aikman decided to head to UCLA instead of being relegated to a backup role.

He had a 20-4 record during his two seasons with the Bruins and earned the Davey O’Brien Award as a senior in 1988 while capping off a college career that preceded an even more successful one in the NFL.

Scott Frost

Scott Frost is remembered much more fondly at Nebraska for what he achieved as a player as opposed to a head coach, as things did not pan out as hoped after he reunited with the program he transferred to in 1995 after spending his first two seasons at Stanford.

He made an impact as a dual-threat QB before it was cool, and the Cornhuskers went 24-2 during his two seasons as the starter while winning a national championship with a 13-0 record in 1997.

Roger Staubach

This is firmly the biggest throwback on this list, as Roger Staubach began his college career at the New Mexico Military Institute before earning a spot on Navy’s roster in 1962 after being nominated for enrollment at the academy in Annapolis.

He entered the 1963 season as the starter after showing plenty of promise in his appearances as a sophomore, and he won the Heisman as Navy went 9-1 before losing to Texas in the national championship game.

Randy Moss

All of the players I’ve mentioned so far were quarterbacks, but I do want to mention a couple of guys who made an impact at other positions.

The first is Randy Moss, who initially committed to play at Notre Dame before he was denied admission over a high school fight that led to him being charged with a misdemeanor. The NCAA officially classified him as a transfer student when he got the chance to play at Florida State, but he never played a snap for the Seminoles after ending up in jail over a drug test that triggered a probation violation.

He finally got the chance to play at Marshall (then a D-II team) in 1996, and he tied Jerry Rice’s record for the most touchdown catches in a season with 28 while racking up 1,709 receiving yards. He “only” had 26 TD passes the following year, but his receiving total improved to 1,820 before he embarked on his Hall of Fame career in the NFL.

O.J. Simpson

O.J. Simpson initially enrolled at the  City College of San Francisco in 1965, and he attracted the attention of a number of bigger schools before deciding to play at USC.

The running back debuted with the Trojans in 1967, and he ended up with 1,543 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns while contributing to a national championship. USC failed to defend that title the following year, but Simpson had 1,880 yards and 23 TDs on the ground en route to winning the Heisman.