On Saturday: Winter Transfer Portal Refresher – Part 2
We are back with part two of the On Saturday winter portal refresher. I covered the teams that made the most waves in my previous article, which you should have read by now unless you’re a fool who doesn’t like elite-tier college football analysis. Now it is time to talk about the QBs that left their universities for greener pastures over the winter. As of today, 161 QBs have made their way through the portal, and I’m going to talk about each one
…that I find notable.
Darian Mensah, Tulane to Duke
Former Tulane head coach Willie Fritz took over in 2016 and eventually built the Green Wave into a Group of Five powerhouse. His team went 12-2 in 2022, won the American Conference, and capped the year off by beating the Caleb Williams-led USC Trojans in the Cotton Bowl. They kept the same pace the following season, going 11-2 and making it to the AAC title game. Per usual, when a G5 coach starts having a high level of success, a Power Four team comes calling and scoops the coach up, which is exactly what happened when Fritz left Tulane for Houston following the 2023 season. Not only did they lose their head coach to the Big 12, they also lost their starting QB of the past two years, Michael Pratt, to the NFL Draft. With all that changeover in mind, Tulane managed to exceed expectations in 2024. A big part of that was making the smart hiring of John Summeral, a young, upcoming name, as their head coach. Summeral spent the previous two seasons at the University of Troy, where he put up an impressive overall record of 23-4, including winning back-to-back ships in the Sun Belt Conference.
Along with the new HC, something else that played a part in Tulane keeping things steady in 2024 was their redshirt freshman QB Darian Mensah. The 112th-ranked QB of the 2023 recruiting class, Mensah, beat out returning senior Kai Horton in a training camp QB battle to be named the starting QB for 2024. Mensah showed why he won that battle as the QB who only received one FBS offer coming out of high school had a breakout year. In his first season as a college starter, he completed 66% of his passes, threw for over 2700 yards, tossed 22 tuddies, and only had six picks as he led Tulane to their third straight AAC Title game appearance. He impressed throughout the season showing off his arm strength and talent with dazzling deep balls. Unfortunately, just like with head coaches, when players at G5 schools excel, a bigger P4 team comes calling. In this case, it was the Duke Blue Devils, who were also coming off a year where they managed to exceed expectations after losing their head coach and starting quarterback from the previous season. Mensah will be taking over for Maalik Murphy, who had just transferred to Duke in 2024 before once again entering the portal and transferring to Oregon St. Mensah showed a lot of promise this past year and looks to have a higher ceiling than Murphy. It will be interesting to see how he handles facing the step in competition by going from the AAC up to the ACC. If he takes another step forward and gets better in his sophomore year, he’ll play a big part in head coach Manny Diaz building on the success he had in his first year with the Blue Devils, who went 9-4.
Jackson Arnold, Oklahoma to Auburn
From “the guy” to “goodbye.”
A five-star recruit, Arnold was the crown jewel of Oklahoma’s sixth-ranked recruiting class in 2023. He was seen as the future star QB for the Sooners. The program felt so confident that they let their starter of the past two years, Dillon Gabriel, walk in the portal so they could start the Arnold Era. One season later, that Era is over. Oklahoma’s offense was not only among the worst in the SEC last season, it was among the worst in the country. They struggled to move the ball all season as Arnold failed to show signs of the potential scouts saw in him. He finished the season throwing for just 1400 yards and 12 touchdowns. He only threw three picks, but part of that could be attributed to him usually not throwing the ball very far. He averaged a lowly 5.7 yards per attempt, accompanied by an ADOT of 7.8. To be fair to the young QB, he was not exactly set up for success. For example, it may have helped Arnold if he had someone to throw the ball to. The Sooners’ wideout group was dismantled by injuries to an otherworldly level. The team’s four most productive returning receivers played a combined 51 snaps in 2024 across a mix of four games. On top of that, Oklahoma’s O-line last season was weaker than store-brand toilet paper. They got chewed up all year long, which may have played a factor in Arnold taking 36 sacks.
Whether it was clear to Arnold that OU was going to go in another direction under center or he opted for the change of scenery, he has now transferred to Auburn. In making the move, he’s put himself in a situation where he will have no excuses for poor play. The Tigers opened the checkbook during the winter transfer portal, and Arnold will have weapons. The teams brought in Georgia Tech leading receiver Eric Singleton Jr., along with Horatio Fields from Wake Forest. The pair will team up with the returning Cam Coleman. As a true freshman, the five-star recruit showed why he was the fifth-ranked prospect in his high school recruiting class and looks primed to have a monster year two. Auburn will also have a good returning offensive line, so theoretically, Arnold shouldn’t be immediately under pressure after the ball snaps.
I’m still holding onto some of my Jackson Arnold stock as he enters a put up or shut up season with a better team around him. He will for sure be the starter going into the year, but if he struggles like he did last year, he may need to start looking over his shoulder. I think it’s unlikely Auburn would rush things, but there’s always the non-zero chance they decide to hand things over to their heavily hyped QB recruit Deuce Knight.
John Mateer, Washington St. to Oklahoma
Now we move on to the man who will be replacing Arnold at Oklahoma, Washington St. transfer John Mateer. The junior QB did very well for himself as a starter. He was accurate, threw for over 3100 yards, and protected the ball, throwing only seven picks to 29 touchdowns. He was also the Cougars’ leading rusher as he put up over 1000 yards and scored another 15 tuddies with his legs. You could make the argument that the former Cougar was the best QB in the portal this winter, and I wouldn’t argue. However, I have to be honest, some things make me fear for Mateer this year.
Sooners fans would hope that having actually healthy receivers would help spark their offense. Unfortunately, two of those missing wideouts from last season won’t be back this year as they left via the portal. Most notable is the team’s WR1, Nic Anderson. There’s also a concern over the increased level of competition. In the wake of the Pac-12’s collapse, Washington St. was one of the two teams left without a home. To fill out their schedule, they played a MidWest Conference schedule last season. No offense to the MWC, but going from that to facing eight SEC teams is a different world. Lastly, he’s going to a team with a head coach who just posted his second 6-7 record in three seasons, and could very likely find himself unemployed if things don’t turn around. Turmoil off the field affects a program’s environment, and as a result, it affects how a team performs on the field. With that said, if Mateer performs like he did last season while saving Brent Venables’ job, it means he was probably one of the best QBs in all of College Football in 2025 and a Heisman contender.
Carson Beck, Georgia to Miami
The former Bulldog QB decided to wait on the NFL draft and jump into the portal after Georgia was eliminated from the playoffs. Returning to college for another year was the best route for Beck, because after the year he had, his draft position would not have been what we thought it could’ve been going into the 2024 season. Yes, life without Brock Bowers and Ladd McKonckey was not kind to Beck, as he looked like a different player at times than he was in 2023. He wasn’t as accurate, dropping 8% from the previous year, and most notably, he had a turnover problem highlighted by an abysmal stretch in the middle of the season where he got picked off in five out of six games, four of them being multi-INT performances. To be fair to the Miami Hurricanes’ new QB, his wideout group was inconsistent. Whether it was Beck or the receivers’ fault is somewhat of a chicken and the egg scenario, but what we do know is that the team’s leading receiver, Arian Smith, had 10 drops on the year. The team also lost their reliable backfield duo from the previous season of Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton, who combined for over 1500 yards plus 27 touchdowns. You could look at the numbers and form an argument that Beck at times may have tried to do too much. He went from being a reliable, accurate QB who didn’t take risks to a playcaller who made poor decisions and slung the ball more at times. For example, his number of deep shots ballooned compared to his prior season, and while he posted a career high in big-time throws, his number of turnover-worthy plays also saw a hefty increase.
Now he heads to the U in an attempt to bounce back. Head coach Mario Cristobal and the Hurricanes will hope to strike transfer portal lightning in a bottle twice after the success they had with Cam Ward last year. Beck’s profile as a QB is different from Ward’s, so I imagine we’ll see some tweaks to the Hurricane offense compared to 2024. A question mark for his success will once again be the receiver room. Miami lost their top receiving duo from last season to the draft, which included their Stud WR1 for the past few seasons, Xavier Restrepo, and starting tight end Elijah Arroyo, with WR Isaiah Horton headed to Alabama via portal.
There appears to be some pass-catching cavalry coming in via the spring portal, but we’ll cover that in a future article
Other QBs in New Places
Fernando Menadoza: Hoosier Head Coach Curt Cignetti hit when he recruited former Ohio QB Kurtis Rourke out of the portal last season, who played very well operating OC Mike Shannan’s offense and was probably the second or third best Big Ten QB in 2024. In the former University of California QB Mendoza, they got a player who was efficient last season, completing just under 68% of his passes for over 3000 yards. He was also safe with the football, only throwing 6 picks. Mendoza chipped in some in the Golden Bears’ run game, 52 carries for 344 yds. At 6’5” 225lbs, I’m curious if we see Shannahan try to work in some design QB runs with Mendoza as a big-bodied runner.
Miller Moss: Jeff Brohm took over as HC at Louisville in 2023. Since then, Brohm’s QB strategy has been to go to the portal and take an experienced guy. First, it was graduate transfer Jack Plummer, last season it was Tyler Shough (pronounced Shuck) who was entering his SEVENTH year of college football, and this year it will be former USC Trojan QB Miller Moss. Last season, he took over for Heisman winner Caleb Williams and played okay, but Lincoln Riley didn’t think he had the skills to help make USC a Big Ten contender. Moss was benched for the final four games of the season so Riley could get a look at what he had in sophomore Jayden Maiava. Moss doesn’t come in with as much starting experience as Brohms’ last two portal QBs, but he fits the profile. He’s a solid college-level QB who won’t lose the Cardinals many games, but also not the kind who will take over and win them many.
Beau Pribula: A portal entry that caused a lot of discussion, as it took place before Penn State’s first-round playoff game. Unlike SMU backup Preston Stone, Pribula entered the portal and would not play for the Nittany Lions throughout their playoff run, something that caught the ire of some and also fueled the growing frustration when the Portal opens up on the calendar. A Pennsylvania native, Pribula had patiently waited in the wings, hoping to be the eventual starter in Happy Valley; however, with the announcement that Drew Allar would be returning to PSU for another season, he had to make the tough choice to move on from the program. We’ve seen a little of what Pribula can do in his first two seasons. The Nittany Lions offense did have a package installed for him, mostly utilizing his legs as a runner. Now we get to see a full picture of the junior QB as he looks to take over at Mizzou for departing long-time starter Brady Cook.
Joey Aguilar: During the winter portal Aguilar opted to leave Appalachian State and go to UCLA for his junior year. The question is however, just how long did he stay there? Oooh epic foreshadowing for my spring portal article.
