Top college football quarterbacks still available in the NCAA transfer portal

How crazy is the transfer market for college football quarterbacks?

Former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt, ranked by On3 as the top QB in the transfer portal, sat courtside Tuesday night at an LSU basketball game with Tigers coach Lane Kiffin.

Meanwhile, Washington QB Demond Williams Jr. stunned everyone that same night by entering the transfer portal just days after signing a deal "near the top of the market" to return to the Huskies in 2026.

The ensuing buzz was that LSU was the favorite to then land Williams, except the Huskies prepared to pursue legal action to uphold the NIL deal their QB had signed and Williams' agent, Doug Hendrickson of Wasserman Football announced he was cutting ties with Williams over "philosophical differences," all leading to Williams deciding (or realizing) he wasn't transferring after all and announcing his return Thursday.

Demond Williams is returning to Washington. I assume it's because he saw all the tweets. pic.twitter.com/16dGnUwgcp
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) January 9, 2026

Got all that?

Yes, the pursuit of transfer quarterbacks has already reached new levels of chaos, less than a week into the transfer portal officially opening last Friday.

Already, Texas Tech has landed former Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby for a reported $5 million deal, with the school publicizing the move on a big sign in Times Square in New York City.

Drew Mestemaker, who a little more than a year ago, was an unknown walk-on at North Texas, has followed his head coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State for a lucrative NIL deal.

Former South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown followed his coach Alex Golesh to Auburn. Ditto for former Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht, who followed coach Matt Campbell to Penn State.

Former TCU quarterback Josh Hoover is headed to Indiana to succeed Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, assuming Mendoza moves on to the NFL.

Former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway picked Baylor.

And many more QB dominoes have tumbled, with schools moving quickly to address the most important position on their rosters for 2026.

But plenty of productive high-profile quarterbacks remain in the portal. Here are the top 5 who have yet to announce their landing spots as of Wednesday morning.

Former Arizona State star Sam Leavitt is a top quarterback in the transfer portal. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

1. Sam Leavitt

Before Williams hit the portal, Leavitt was considred the top quarterback still available after a successful last two seasons at Arizona State.

Leavitt, who was a four-star prospect out of West Linn, Oregon, in the 2023 recruiting class, started his college career at Michigan State before transferring to Arizona State and enjoying a breakout 2024 season in which he passed for 2,885 yards, 24 TDs and 6 INTs while rushing for 443 yards and 5 TDs to lead the Sun Devils to a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff berth.

Leavitt was limited to seven games in 2025 due to a Lisfranc foot injury. Before that, he passed for 1,628 yards, 10 TDs and 3 INTs and rushed for 306 yards and 5 TDs. That included a season-high 319 passing yards and a TD in a 26-22 win over Texas Tech -- the Red Raiders' only loss before the CFP quarterfinals last week.

After initially being linked to Texas Tech and Kentucky, which have since landed transfer QBs, Leavitt had his visit to LSU on Tuesday and is drawing interest now from Tennessee, Volquest's Austin Price reported.

Former five-star prospect Dylan Raiola is in the transfer portal after two years at Nebraska. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

2. Dylan Raiola

Raiola was a five-star prospect ranked No. 3 overall QB in the 2024 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite rankings and was one of Nebraska's biggest recruiting wins in a long time.

But after two seasons as the Cornhuskers' starter, Raiola hopped in the transfer portal looking for a fresh start and new opportunity.

Raiola was limited to nine games as a sophomore before breaking his right leg, but he showed improvement from his freshman season while completing 72.4 percent of his passes for 2,000 yards, 18 TDs and 6 INTs. His best game came against Michigan when he passed for 308 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT in a narrow 30-27 loss. He also threw for 364 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs vs. Akron.

Raiola's transfer recruitment has progressed more slowly than others, but there could be a reason for that.

There is buzz that two College Football Playoff contenders are involved in pursuing Raiola -- Miami and Oregon.

The Hurricanes are losing QB Carson Beck and have gone to the portal for a high-profile QB the last two years, with Cam Ward and then Beck.

Oregon, meanwhile, needs to first see whether its QB Dante Moore is leaving for the NFL or returning for another season.

Former Auburn quarterback Deuce Knight is an intriguing option still available in the transfer portal. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

3. Deuce Knight

Knight is another former five-star QB still available. He was ranked the No. 5 QB prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, per the 247Sports Composite, and still has four years of eligibility remaining after playing in just two games as a true freshman.

Knight did get to flash his upside late in the season for Auburn, completing 15 of 20 passes for 239 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs along with a whopping 162 rushing yards and 4 TDs on just 9 carries vs. Mercer.

On3's Pete Nakos reported that Ole Miss was the favorite to land Knight, who is from Lucedale, Mississippi, and was prominently involved in his initial recruitment out of high school.

But if star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss receives an extra year of eligibility and returns to Ole Miss, that would complicate things there. As QB-needy teams miss out on others on the list here, Knight will only look more and more enticing.

Former Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula is in the transfer portal. — Beau Pribula has already been with Penn State and Missouri, starting for the Tigers this past season, but he's on the move again in the transfer portal. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

4. Beau Pribula

Pribula is working on quite the well-traveled collegiate career, spending his first three years at Penn State in a reserve role before getting his chance to start this past season at Missouri.

Pribula passed for 1,941 yard, 11 TDs and 9 INTs over 10 games while rushing for 297 yards and 6 TDs, missing time with a lower leg injury. He has a lot to prove as a passer still, but his dual-threat ability (868 rushing yards and 16 TDs total in 34 games) and his SEC experience should be attractive to QB-needy programs.

Pribula was linked to Washington during the brief Demond Williams saga before that option went off the table. There's also been a lot of buzz linking him to Georgia Tech, which makes perfect sense given how the Yellow Jackets used mobile QB Haynes King with great success.

Former USC QB Husan Longstreet never got a chance to start for the Trojans and is now in the transfer portal. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

5. Husan Longstreet

Husan Longstreet was considered one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2025 recruiting, rated a five-star prospect and ranked the No. 4 QB in the class by the 247Sports Composite. He flipped his commitment from Texas A&M to USC late in the process, once fellow five-star Julian Lewis flipped from USC to Colorado.

But Longstreet was stuck behind incumbent starter Jayden Maiava at USC, and with Maiava returning to the Trojans for another season the big-armed Longstreet is now on the move, entering the transfer portal Thursday.

He got into parts of four games off the bench this season, completing 13 of 15 passes for 103 yards and a TD while rushing 11 times for 76 yards and 2 scores.