All-conference EDGE with 18 career sacks to enter college football transfer portal

College football EDGE rushers from Gardner-Webb close in on Coastal Carolina RB | David Yeazell-Imagn Images

The college football transfer portal doesn't officially open for business until January 3, but that won't stop hordes of college football players from publicizing their decisions on whether to stay or go ahead if time. At least, that's the case for one potential major EDGE target out of the FCS ranks.

According to On3's Pete Nakos, a mammoth-framed Gardner Webb EDGE named Antonio O'Berry has pledged to enter college football's transfer portal once it opens in early 2026. That's a name few power conference college football fans know right now, but given O'Berry's track record, it may be a name SEC or ACC fans are fairly familiar with come next season.

O'Berry will enter the portal as a graduate student, assuming he has eligibility left. Though On3 tweeted out that O'Berry had seven sacks this past season, ESPN tagged him with just 4.5 sacks this year along with seven pass breakups, which are the same numbers as Gardner Webb's athletics website has for O'Berry. Regardless of the stats, O'Berry did earn All-Conference honors for the OVC-Big South — conferences that for some reason were combined at the FCS level.

Gardner-Webb all-conference EDGE Antonio O'Berry is entering the transfer portal, his rep @ParkerSt_Pierre tells @PeteNakos.

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound EDGE posted 52 tackles, 10.5 TFLs, 7 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in 2025. https://t.co/kSYG7dZ8sR pic.twitter.com/AEyA28T153

— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) December 9, 2025

O'Berry wasn't some third-down pass-rush specialist, though. The big fella recorded 52 total tackles in 2025, a strong number for a guy on the end of the defensive line, while he also forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles, and deflected seven passes, as we mentioned. Plus, somehow, O'Berry even wound up returning two kickoffs in 2024 for a grand total of 35 yards.

Before Gardner-Webb? Boy, that took some digging, but after reaching way back into O'Berry's twitter timeline, I discovered that he used to play for a school called the Tiffin Dragons. After two years hardly seeing the field, O'Berry exploded in 2023 for 35 total tackles and 8.5 sacks. Through his time at Tiffin plus G-Webb, Antonio O'Berry has 18.5 career sacks — nine total at Tiffin and 9.5 through two years with the Runnin' Bulldogs. He could crack 20 for his career next fall.

So, what are teams getting here? Well, it looks like a grizzled veteran of the lower-level college game who's finally found production with that NFL-type frame he's got at 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds. Arkansas and Georgia fans were already salivating in the comments section over O'Berry, and he certainly fits the mold for the type of EDGE player SEC teams have liked out of the portal.

But as a Dayton, Ohio native, perhaps the Buckeyes approach to try and make O'Berry the next great Buckeye EDGE prospect — and buddy, they've had quite a few of those pan out at the next level. Either way, expect a competitive recruitment for this talented defender.