The 6 Most Interesting Quarterbacks In The Transfer Portal (Plus Others)

The 12-team college football playoff has thrown the off-season schedule into a loop. It was already fucked up. It fucked over Michigan last year. By the time they won the National Championship, and their head coach bailed for the NFL to avoid potential cheating sanctions, half the available head coaches already had jobs, half their team left for greener pastures, and they were a month behind the rest of college football in an off-season where they had to rebuild the entire program.

But this year it seems more fucked up than ever. Ohio State might end up keeping Ryan Day simply because there's nobody left to hire by the time Ohio State inevitably loses in the semi-finals. I didn't even know until this morning that today is National Signing Day. I'm not even sure how much that matters anymore. Nowadays it seems like players have committed and de-committed to 10 different schools before they even start their senior season of high school. But regardless, the off-season is underway, and all the good teams are just now getting to the most important part of their season. Throw in the transfer portal on top of that, and the whole thing is a mess. 

As a casual fan of a couple schools who will be losing their starting QB after this season (Bowling Green & Indiana), I've been keeping an eye on any potential transfer portal QB's who are in need of a home, and don't mind playing the latter half of the season in sub-freezing temperatures. 

Running through the list, there's tons of talent available already. Multiple quarterbacks who could walk in and be the starter for more than half the teams in college football. 

Conner Weigman - Texas A&M - 819 YDS, 3 TD's 5 INT's (6 games played, started 5)

It's surprising to me that Weigman wasn't able to hold his starting position at Texas A&M. I was told he was great. But after a lot of back and forth all season, he inevitably lost the job to redshirt freshman Marcel Reed. Kinda rough for a QB who has his own logo if you ask me. But he was 5-star recruit out of high school. Has 2-years of eligibility left. 13 games of starting QB experience against top competition. And despite a pretty rough showing all year long, the sentiment out of Texas A&M seems to be that they're extremely thankful for what he did for the Aggies. There are plenty of teams who would sign him pay him to be their 2025 starter at the drop of the hat. According to On3, some schools on his radar are Syracuse, Wisconsin, Missouri, Louisville, and Iowa. I never trust how much accounts like that are actually plugged into the situation. For all we know, they could be pulling schools out of a hat. But I'd imagine Weigman is looking at a major program who believes they're a QB away from making a legitimate playoff run. 

Miller Moss - USC - 2,555 YDS, 18 TD's, 9 INT's (9 games played)

Barstool Sports' Liam Blutman, the world's #1 ball watcher who I always trust for my college football opinions, told us at the start of this season that Miller Moss would be a Heisman contender & a top pick in the NFL draft. That hasn't been the best take so far. Miller Moss didn't even finish the season with USC. He entered the portal after a Week 10 loss to Washington. But he has one more year of eligibility to prove himself, and climb back up the draft boards to where he was at earlier this season. He's a pocket passer with a pro arm. Any team interested in Weigman should be interested in Miller Moss. I've seen Michigan and Auburn thrown out for him as well.

Matt Sluka - UNLV - 138 YDS, 6 TD's, 1 INT, 254 RUSH YDS, 1 TD (3 games)

You probably remember Matt Sluka as the QB who accused UNLV of not meeting the stipulations of his NIL agreement. He alleges UNLV promised him $100k, and when he realized they were not about to pay that, he took his ball and went home. If he's telling the truth, then you can't blame the guy. At the time he left, UNLV was rolling. They were 3-0 with wins over Houston and Kansas. But for what it's worth, when he left, UNLV didn't miss a beat. Many would say they got better. Sluka is very much not a good passer. He's a big 6'3" running QB. 

I'm not sure how many teams are actually interested in that. I think he could be a solid QB for the right offense, I just don't know how many of those are out there. I'm afraid he could be in for a serious humbling. He's most certainly NOT a fit for a team with elite receivers who should be frequently getting opportunities to catch the ball downfield. So naturally, Ryan Day will probably bring him to Ohio State to try and prove some weird point about how tough the Buckeyes are.

Thomas Castellanos - Boston College - 1,366 YDS, 18 TD's, 5 INT's, 194 YDS RUSH, 1 TD (8 games)

Even more so than Sluka did, Castellanos fits the mold of a QB who took his ball and went home. At least Sluka may have had a good reason. Castellanos jumped ship the second he faced a lick of adversity. He started the season with a bang beating Florida State in Dublin (back when we thought Florida State was a national championship contender). He had the Eagles rolling at 3-1, with their only loss being by 6 points to #6 Missouri. But then he suffered an injury and was never quite the same when he came back. They dropped 3 in a row. Castellanos' was benched during a game against Syracuse, which BC inevitably won. Then Castellanos called it quits. Wasn't interested in being a backup. Wasn't interested in fighting to win his spot back. 

But he has 2 years of eligibility left, and according to Castellanos himself, there are some big schools inquiring about in his services.

He definitely showed flashes of greatness. He's a dual threat guy. And for a stretch there, Boston College was by all accounts overachieving with him at QB. If he's healthy, and in the right head space, I don't see why he couldn't be the guy for a major contender. 

Kaidon Salter - Liberty - 1,886 YDS, 15 TD's, 6 INT's, 587 RUSH, 7 TD's

Unlike every other QB on this list so far, despite a wildly disappointing season, Kaiden Salter actually stuck with his team and played all 11 regular season games (until he was benched in their final game). Personally, I can't stand Liberty. I hate that they have a good football team. Their school is weird as shit. They play a schedule that makes Indiana look like they're in the NFC North. But they're had some damn good teams. 

However, this year was a shit show. Nothing ever clicked. Kaiden Salter had some moments, but never fully got that offense humming the way it needed for Liberty to be the top tier G5 team they were expecting to be. It seemed like he just didn't quite have the weapons he needed this season.

But 2023 was a different story. They still didn't play a soul. But Salter threw for nearly 1,000 more yards (2,876), and had more than double the TD's (32). Yes, when they finally got a chance to play Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, they lost 45-13. Liberty turned out to be a massive fraud all along. But Kaidon Salter was legit. If he can get back into form, it would be very interesting to see how he can stack up with better team around him against more serious competition.

Anthony Colandrea - Virginia - 2,125, 13 TD's, 11 INT's, 227 RUSH YDS, 2 TD's

Shoutout Liam Blutman for reminding me of his existence. Colandrea is a delight to watch play football. A true gunslinger, if you will. There's no throw he doesn't think he can make. He has the confidence of 1,000 Jameis Winston's. He definitely fancies himself the coolest, hottest, "swaggiest" QB in college football every time he steps onto a field. And he had Virginia off to a hot start. But once the level of competition stepped up they fell flat on their face. Whoever ends up taking a chance on Cordrea is in for a wild ride.  

I'm not saying those are necessarily the 6 best QB's in the portal, but they're all QB's who jumped out to me this season for one reason or another. Other (possibly better) QB's who have entered the portal are

Cade McNamara - Iowa (formally Michigan's QB, just hang it up dude)

Justyn Martin - UCLA (Blutman pick so he's probably really good)

Malachi Singleton - Arkansas (Blutman pick so he's probably really good)

Conner Harrell - North Carolina (Don't know much about him but apparently he's fast as shit)

Honorable Mention: Chubba Purdy - Nevada 

I only learned about Chubba Purdy today. Turns out he's Brock Purdy's brother. He was a 4-star recruit out of high school. Sat the bench for 2 years at Florida State. Sat the bench for 2 years at Nebraska. Sat the bench this year for Nevada. I feel like he's the perfect example of a guy who should have just gone to the MAC where he could play football. With a name like Chubba, if he'd have gone to Bowling Green and stuck with it… he'd probably have started at least 3 years, and would have gone down in #MACtion history… but it's not too late Chubba… you got one more year left… come home to where you belong…. (if you're good).

One More Who Entered Yesterday & I Just Now Realized It - Noah Fafita - Arizona

UPDATE: Turns out that might have been fake news from Barstool Sports very own Unnecessary Roughness account

There are plenty more out there, but I have to end this blog somewhere. There will probably be a new big one by the time this is posted. The transfer portal is just chaos. And you can track the entire thing in real time if you so choose. There are still a ton of problems with it, but I think it's great for college football. At minimum it's fun. And that's what college football is all about. Fun. Say what you want about the quality of play in comparison to the NFL, but the NFL will never be as fun as college football is.