Breaking Down Percentage of Transfer Portal Players on Each CFP Semifinal Team

It's a new era of college football and remaining teams showcase that fact.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) and defensive lineman Will Echoles (52) interact with the fans after the Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) and defensive lineman Will Echoles (52) interact with the fans after the Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff quarterfinals. / Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When Ole Miss and Miami get College Football Playoff semifinal action going on Thursday night, each team will feature a high-profile quarterback who transferred into the program. For the Rebels, it's Trinidad Chambliss, who went from the bright lights of Big Rapids, Mich., to a national powerhouse. For the Hurricanes, it's Carson Beck who previously starred for Georgia.

The sport, quite obviously, is evolving fast. This is the second year of the 12-team playoff and pretty much everyone thinks that number will grow. All four of the remaining teams—with Oregon and Indiana on the other side of the bracket—have bolstered their rosters through the transfer portal. The Ducks' Dante Moore and Hoosiers' Fernando Mendoza are also excelling after transferring earlier in their careers.

So which of the remaining four teams have relied on the transfer portal the the most? Here's a look, using each team's official roster pages.

Team

Rostered Players

Transfers

Percentage

Ole Miss

117

50

42.7

Indiana

100

34

34.0

Miami

109

31

28.4

Oregon

99

23

23.2

Ole Miss has been more active than the other three programs. Indiana ranks second, which makes a lot of sense considering the fact that Curt Cignetti brought seven of his current players with him from his previous stop at James Madison. Oregon has been the least reliant on the practice yet still almost a quarter of its roster comes from those who began their careers elsewhere.

Before the season started, ESPN put together a list of transfer portal talent added between years as well as that relative experience. Indiana came in 11th on that; Miami was 16th, Ole Miss 17th and Oregon all the way down at 33rd.


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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.