Iowa State Cyclones Unsurprisingly Not Seen as Top 25 Transfer Class in 2026

The Iowa State Cyclones didn't get placed in the Top 25 for their efforts in the transfer portal.

Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers speaks during a timeout in the first half in the Iowa State and Iowa men’s basketball Cy-Hawk series at Hilton coliseum on Dec. 11, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones have been a very active team over the past couple of weeks, with both players leaving and coming to the program. However, will they be as competitive in 2026 with all of the new faces?

As soon as Matt Campbell took the job with the Penn State Nittany Lions, it was going to be a wild winter for the Cyclones. With how college football operates now, the transfer portal has basically become free agency, and players can elect to head into the portal whenever they choose. 

When a coach like Campbell leaves a program after 10 years, a lot of the players that he brought in are going to want to follow him. That ended up being the case for Iowa State, with a lot of their talent heading to Penn State. 

However, others sought opportunities elsewhere as well, forcing new head coach Jimmy Rogers to completely rebuild the program. Considering the Cyclones don’t have a ton of financial backing, Rogers had to be creative with some of his additions. Unfortunately, the portal class that he brought in didn’t stack up against some other top programs. 

Craig Haubert of ESPN recently ranked the Top 25 classes in the portal this winter. Unfortunately for the Cyclones, they didn’t make the list. 

Iowa State’s Portal Class Doesn’t Crack Top 25 

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Not seeing the Cyclones in the Top 25 in transfer portal rankings is certainly disappointing, but not surprising. Rogers and his coaching staff were trying to add some talented three-star portal players to provide depth and upside. Even when Campbell was coaching, the team rarely pursued five-star talent, and with some of the financial constraints they have, that likely won’t change. 

However, even though they might not have had a Top 25-ranked class, three-star talent can take a team a long way, as shown by the Indiana Hoosiers. The Cyclones very well might look to follow a model like this, and that could be a recipe for success. 

When looking at the class coming in, it is impressive how many players Rogers has been able to bring over not only from his former school, the Washington State Cougars, but also from around the country. 

As Iowa State starts to recruit for the 2027 class more heavily, it will be interesting to see if that mindset continues. While they would undoubtedly like to have one of the best portal classes this winter, they will have to be content with what they have been able to accomplish.