College Football Transfer Portal Winners and Losers: How Lane Kiffin, Curt Cignetti Fared

The Hoosiers again loaded up after their magical title run, while a handful of teams with new coaches struggled to make waves in the January window.

New LSU head coach Lane Kiffin was aggressive in the portal. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

It’s been two weeks since the 2025 college football season fully came to a close with Indiana’s victory in the national championship game in Miami, but much has happened in the days since Curt Cignetti raised that legendary trophy to cap off a perfect season for the Hoosiers.

Namely, the transfer portal briefly opened for the handful of Indiana and Miami players who took part in the title game and also fully closed for the sport at large in the intervening few weeks. As a result, we’ve seen rosters remade, new coaching staffs revamp entire programs, leave others in precarious positions and plenty of player movement that will take months to get used to. 

Who won from the new-look single portal window this year? Who lost out big time? Here are a handful of teams who used January to their advantage for the upcoming campaign and a few others who have a lot of work left to do before kickoff in September.

Winners

LSU

Lane Kiffin was the story the last few months of the season, and he continued that momentum with what was widely hailed as the consensus top portal class. That influx to Baton Rouge includes several of the coach’s former players at Ole Miss (edge Princewill Umanmielen and linebacker TJ Dottery among them), the best offensive tackle available (ex-Colorado star Jordan Seaton) and a completely remade quarterback room that is headlined by Heisman Trophy contender Sam Leavitt. The group of 40 players isn’t a huge surprise in terms of quality or quantity given the chatter around their new coach and how much he was promised in roster spend, but there was a notable focus up front on both sides of the ball that should help the team’s fortunes look much different than it did a year ago when the Tigers went heavy into the portal looking for upgrades.

Linebacker TJ Dottery followed Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss to LSU. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Indiana

If Cignetti can go 16–0 with a bunch of fairly unheralded transfers from his old school and the likes of the old Pac-12, what is he going to do when he gets some top-tier options out of the portal? This year’s haul has clearly bought into the budding power in Bloomington, Ind., having some staying power because it includes proven starters from other Big Ten teams like WR Nick Marsh (Michigan State), the leading active returning passer in college football in Josh Hoover (TCU) and several other plug-and-play guys who have the film to back up their capabilities like pass rusher Tobi Osunsanmi (Kansas State) and tailback Turbo Richard (Boston College). Sure, this group will look much different from the winningest team in the sport from the past two years, but it appears to be a quality contingent that can help Indiana remain in the College Football Playoff chase in 2026.

Miami

Mario Cristobal may have fallen just shy of taking The U all the way back to the top of the sport but his program clearly isn’t going anywhere. Lose a veteran quarterback like Carson Beck? No problem, just—rather controversially, admittedly—bring in Darian Mensah from ACC champion Duke. Need a sharp route runner to pair next to Malachi Toney? Here’s Mensah’s former top option in Cooper Barkate. Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor off to the NFL? In come Damon Wilson II (Missouri) and Jarquez Carter (Ohio State). Combined with the normally stellar high school recruiting crop already on campus, this group of incoming transfers should once again help the Hurricanes remain the team to beat in the league and a consistent CFP threat. 

Texas

Credit to Steve Sarkisian and his front office staff because the Longhorns clearly understand they have a window of opportunity with Arch Manning’s trajectory finally ready to live up to the hype in 2026. They brought in star wideout Cam Coleman (Auburn) to the 40 Acres and landed an underrated option in the passing game in tailback Raleek Brown (Arizona State). Swiping Hollywood Smothers (NC State) away from Alabama at the last minute was huge in helping fortify the backfield. The Longhorns really got some great players in the front seven between LBs Rasheem Biles (Pitt) and Justin Cryer (Florida State) plus mammoth DT Ian Geffrard (Arkansas). Given the way things went last season you probably would have liked to see a few more options along the offensive line, but Melvin Siani (Wake Forest) is an instant starter and they may just have enough in this transfer class (and on campus) to get over the hump this postseason. 

Wide receiver Cam Coleman transferred from Auburn to Texas to fortify the receiving corps for quarterback Arch Manning. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kentucky

It’s truly a new era in Lexington, Ky., and that was quite evident by the first transfer class that Will Stein was able to bring in while juggling a run to the CFP semifinals as Oregon’s offensive coordinator. Folks at Notre Dame really spoke highly of incoming QB Kenny Minchey, and it was notable that he’ll have some improved protection from what the Wildcats offered last season thanks to Lance Heard, Max Anderson (Tennessee), Coleton Price (Baylor) and Tegra Tshabola (Ohio State). If they can stay healthy, wideout Nic Anderson and tailback CJ Baxter are difference-makers who have All-SEC potential as featured guys. It’s not all that often you see Kentucky go out and spend enough to haul in a top 10 transfer class—in football—but it was quite an offseason statement from the new Wildcats brass. 

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Losers

Duke

It should be a banner spring in Durham, N.C., from the highs of an ACC title to all the success the basketball teams are having in looking like Final Four threats. But it doesn’t feel that way after the protracted drama involving Mensah’s departure and the school taking the abnormal step of having to sue one of their own players. It was probably made worse by the quarterback and Barkate showing up at rival Miami hours after the lawsuit had been rendered moot. San Jose State’s Walker Eget isn’t a bad last-minute replacement under center, and you do have to trust in Manny Diaz’s evaluation skills with many of the defensive guys, but instead of building for another run in 2026, it seems like the Blue Devils are hitting reset on their roster.

Iowa State

You could tell the emotions ran high surrounding the departure of Matt Campbell for Penn State and the Cyclones trying to balance an appreciation for what he did in Ames, Iowa, with the realities of needing to begin anew with the program after such a successful run. That latter point really was hammered home in the team’s roster getting absolutely raided the past month, with upwards of 30 players going to the Big Ten alone (most following Campbell to State College, Pa.). Jimmy Rogers was naturally going to bring in plenty of his own guys from Washington State, but it’s never a comforting sign when most of the outgoings are headed to one of the Power 2 leagues and all of the incoming replacements are of the Group of 6 or FCS variety. 

Michigan State

The Spartans’ roster was in a precarious situation even before the surprise dismissal of Jonathan Smith, but it will wind up as an interesting test case amid the coaching change to Pat Fitzgerald. A number of headliners (Nick Marsh, Aidan Chiles, Alex VanSumeren and Aydan West) wound up at other schools in the league while the ones joining the project in East Lansing, Mich., ranked near the bottom of classes among all Power 4 schools this year. Some of that is attributable to the way their new coach likes to build the roster but also portends some more rough times ahead in 2026. 

Stanford

Yes, the portal is never going to be kind to the Cardinal given the inherent limitations the school has with getting guys through the admissions process, but it’s never a good sign when UMass hauls in a more highly rated class according to pretty much every recruiting service. Cornerback Leroy Bryant (Washington) and wide receiver Carter Shaw (UCLA) could wind up turning into solid starters, but it’s clear new coach Tavita Pritchard is going to be working with one arm behind his back for a while given how far back high school recruiting already was on The Farm.

Ex-Washington cornerback Leroy Bryant could become a solid starter for Stanford. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

Clemson

It’s a sign of progress out of Dabo Swinney that he’s managed to land a majority of his transfers from other power conference schools. The issue, as ever, means that’s just five of nine guys coming into the program this year and didn’t include a single quarterback either—a glaring flaw with Cade Klubnik out the door and precious little faith in the options already on the roster. If ever there was a glaring red warning light that said a change of approach was needed, it should have been this past season for the Tigers. Instead, we got only slightly more of the same from a coach dug in on his way being the way out of the current hole the program finds itself in.

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