Today marks one week since the college football transfer portal winter window opened, and nearly 1,800 players have already entered their names into the database, with hundreds more still expected to test the waters before December 28.
While the portal action is far from over, there are rosters across the country that have already been transformed heading into 2025, and the Big 12 is no exception.
The Big 12 has some of the biggest winners and losers of any conference in college football through the first seven days of madness, and how they respond from here on will determine what things feel like when spring football gets underway in a few months.
Here’s a look across the Big 12 at the biggest winners and losers from the first week of the college football transfer portal window:
Winner: Texas Tech
There might not be a team in the country that’s fared better in this portal cycle than Texas Tech, and outside of Ole Miss, there’s really no debating it. Joey McGuire and staff have built a strong culture in Lubbock, and with strong NIL support surrounding the program, there’s never been a more fruitful time on the trail for the Red Raiders.
Tech maintains the No. 1 transfer class in the country according to On3, the No. 2 class in the country by 247Sports’ metrics, and the No. 6 class according to Rivals. The trio of Hunter Zambrano, Reggie Virgil, and Brice Pollock give the Red Raiders three of the highest-graded transfers at their respective positions, and TTU had to fight off some big-time programs to land them. TTU has ended every season under Coach McGuire on a high note, and with the buy-in at an all-time high, it appears they’ve found a formula that’s turning Lubbock into a destination program.
Loser: Arizona
A 4-8 campaign was not what the Wildcats had in mind for their first year under Brent Brennan, and the roster’s reaction when the portal opened up paints a mighty strong picture. No matter how you spin it, there’s not a Power Four team in the country that has lost equivalent talent to what Arizona has watched walk out the door in the past seven days. The Wildcats have the most portal entries of any P4 school in the country (28) and have just two commitments offsetting those losses.
However, the incoming talent hardly makes up for significant pieces of the roster that are searching for greener pastures. Names like Tacario Davis, Genesis Smith, Gunner Maldanado, Jacob Manu, Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, and Dalton Johnson will all garner attention from major programs, and that’s just on the defensive side of the ball. There were plenty of people who believed Arizona should’ve moved on from the Brennan project at the end of the year, and now, in the midst of a portal exodus, it’s hard to see how this team is going to turn things around in 2025.
Winner: Iowa State
While the Big 12 Championship Game didn’t go the way Matt Campbell and company would’ve liked, the Cyclones have made the most of their first 10-win season in program history. Iowa State has produced some incredibly successful wideouts over the past three seasons, with Xavier Hutchinson, Jayden Higgins, and Jaylin Noel all going over the 1,000-yard mark.
That production has clearly caught the attention of wide receivers across the country, as they landed a top-50 overall player in Chase Sowell (ECU) and Xavier Townsend (UCF), who showed signs of being a special teams star during his time with the Knights. Additionally, Iowa State was able to avoid losing Rocco Becht to major programs throwing around NIL cash, and that could pay major dividends with some new weapons in town next season.
Loser: Utah
Utah entered the Big 12 as the favorite to win the league in its first season but fell flat when Cam Rising was unable to stay healthy and Isaac Wilson couldn’t make up the difference. The 5-7 season was well below expectations for this roster, and with 20 portal entries through the first week, it’s clear that there was some major disappointment with the direction that this year went.
Wilson and CB Cameron Calhoun are the big names that have entered thus far, but the amount of talent and depth that the Utes have lost will be difficult to overcome. Seven of the 20 portal entries are former four or five-star players, and position groups like running back and cornerback will need to be completely rebuilt. The one positive that Utah has going for it is landing Devon Dampier, one of the most explosive quarterbacks in the country last season. His addition alone was almost enough to keep them off the “losers” list, but the overall loss of talent is just a bit too much to overcome just one week into things.
Winner: Kansas
Deshawn Warner has a bright future, and his portal entry does sting for the future of the KU defense, but overall, the Jayhawks have put themselves in a great position going into the stretch of offseason roster building. Jalon Daniels is back for one more season and will have a couple of new weapons to work with in Cameron Pickett (Ball State) and Leshon Williams (Iowa), but the real additions for Kansas have been on the defensive side of the ball.
Lance Leipold and company are loading up on SEC defenders in this cycle, bringing in former four-star LB Bangally Kamara (South Carolina) and four-star defensive back Jahlil Hurley (Alabama), as well as three-star defensive lineman Gage Keys (Auburn). Additionally, the Jayhawks add Lyrik Rawls, a multi-year contributor at Oklahoma State who brings experience and versatility to a defensive backfield that will look a lot different in 2025. KU took too long to start playing good football in 2024, but with a hot start in the portal, there’s hope that this offseason will lead to a better fall.
