BYU Brought in the Smallest Transfer Class in the Big 12

Roster turnover in college football is at an all-time high. In the transfer portal era, players are free to transfer multiple times without penalty. While some programs rely heavily on the transfer portal to fill out their rosters, BYU prefers to use the portal sparingly.

Rosters are mostly set for the upcoming season. Now that the dust has settled on roster movement, BYU is the clear outlier in the Big 12 and one of the outliers in the Power Four.

The Cougars signed nine incoming transfers, the smallest transfer class in the conference. 12 out of 16 Big 12 schools signed 20 or more transfers. BYU was one of only four Power Four schools to sign less than 10 transfers: Stanford (6), Notre Dame (7), BYU (9), and Georgia (9).

Oklahoma State was on the opposite end of the specturm. After firing Mike Gundy, the Cowboys brought in 54 transfers. That was the second highest number of incoming transfers in college football, second only to UConn. Iowa State, Colorado, WVU, Baylor, Kansas, and UCF brought in more than 30 transfers each.

Below are the Big 12 transfer classes sorted by the number of incoming transfers.

Team	Incoming Transfers
1. Oklahoma State	54
2. Iowa State	47
3. Colorado	43
4. WVU	34
5. Baylor	31
5. Kansas	31
5. UCF	31
8. Kansas State	27
9. ASU	25
10. Arizona	24
11. Cincinnati	22
12. Texas Tech	21
13. Houston	19
14. Utah	16
15. TCU	12
16. BYU	9

BYU's transfer portal recruiting is intentional. In fact, this is the second consecutive year that BYU has brought in one of the smaller transfer classes in the Big 12. It's probably not a coincidence that the best teams in the league last year (Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, Houston, TCU) brough in the fewest transfers. High roster turnover can be a sign of a program in turmoil - Oklahoma State and Iowa State are prime examples of that.

BYU defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga explained BYU's portal strategy on the last day of Spring Camp.

"We don't want to live in the portal," Poppinga said at the conclusion of Spring Camp. "We want to be a team that recruits out of high school and develops within and it helps these guys grow and develop in the culture and, and every now and again take a guy from the portal if we have to."

That doesn't mean BYU doesn't need the portal to win - they certainly do. Just last year, BYU was led by a transfer quarterback in Bear Bachmeier. One of Bachmeier's top targets was transfer tight end Carsen Ryan. The starting offensive line in front of Bachmeier? Four of five starters came to BYU via the transfer portal.

BYU certainly needs the transfer portal. However, the focus has been on quality over quantity. The Cougars are expecting a lot out of their incoming transfer class. Of the nine transfers that BYU brought in during the offseason, we project at least five of them to be in the starting lineup. Furthermore, we expect at least eight out of nine to contribute in a meaningful way in 2026.

Smaller transfer classes, combined with high-end high school classes, will be the goal for BYU. So far, BYU is sticking to its plan.

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