College football is changing rapidly.
Over 1,000 Division I players entered the transfer portal within a week of its opening in December. Some of those players will get lost in the shuffle. Others may reach the peak of the sport.
Three of the last five Heisman Trophy winners were transfers and three of this year’s four finalists are on their second school.
LSU is no stranger to transfer quarterback success either.
Joe Burrow won a Heisman at LSU in 2019 after spending three years at Ohio State. Now, Jayden Daniels looks to do the same after transferring to LSU following three years at Arizona State.
There’s always a risk that comes with transferring, but for Daniels and other high-level quarterbacks, the decision has been career-changing.
“Life has unknowns, there’s other good football players there so you’re stepping into uncomfortable environments,” Daniels said. “Everybody’s journey is different. Obviously, it worked out for three out of the four finalists this year.”
Daniels’ journey was different from Burrow’s. Both spent three seasons at their previous school, but Daniels came to LSU with three years of starting experience.
For Daniels, the transfer came as he was looking for a fresh start. The Arizona State program was trending downwards and Daniels’ production on the field regressed from his freshman season.
The risk came when he walked into a situation at LSU that guaranteed him nothing. Not only did he join a program at the beginning of a rebuild, he had to compete with two other returning players for the starting quarterback job.
There are countless examples in college football of quarterbacks transferring into a similar situation and seeing their careers fizzle out. But with Daniels’ experience, he got the nod over Myles Brennan and Garrett Nussmeier.
What followed was an SEC West Championship, a chance at back-to-back 10-win seasons and a potential Heisman for Daniels.
The other two quarterback finalists, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix, also made their way to the top of college football through the transfer portal. Nix looked for a fresh start at Oregon after going through two coaching searches at Auburn. Penix suffered numerous injuries at Indiana before taking his talents to Seattle and starring for Washington.
“It’s definitely a big time decision,” Penix said about entering the transfer portal. “You’re really betting on yourself whenever it comes to that.”
The success of Daniels and other high-profile transfer quarterbacks has changed the way teams build their rosters and how players make career decisions.
Power Five starters such as Dillon Gabriel, Cam Ward and Will Rogers are a few of the quarterbacks that make up this year’s portal class and are part of a growing culture of movement and pseudo-free agency in college football.
With Daniels out of eligibility, LSU faces the decision again of whether to pass the reins down to Nussmeier, the incumbent who has waited his turn in the program or pursue another option out of the transfer portal.
“The most important thing here is what’s in the best interest of the LSU football program. Not what’s in the best interest of the singular person,” Brian Kelly said when asked about pursuing a quarterback in the transfer portal. “So everything that we do in the portals is going to be to that end. And just like I mentioned relative to coaches, it’s not personal.”
This creates a tough decision for Kelly and many coaches around college football.With the ability to go from one experienced quarterback to another from year-to-year, some find the choice easy.
However, it can discourage top high school quarterbacks from signing with these schools, knowing that their school would rather opt for an experienced transfer when it comes to competing for a starting job.
That’s a situation LSU faces with a quarterback like Nussmeier who has sat behind two different starters, waiting for his opportunity as he develops. But if LSU went the other route, there’s no shortage of talented quarterbacks to choose from.
Transfer portal quarterbacks seem to be the future of successful college football programs. How that affects the way teams recruit the position remains to be seen long term, but what Daniels, Burrow and countless others have accomplished in recent years sets a successful precedent both at LSU and around the sport.
