How the QB dominoes fell in college football's transfer portal: Recapping 2026's wild cycle of movement

Early in the 2026 quarterback transfer cycle, the entire landscape seemed to pause.

Brendan Sorsby planned trips to Texas Tech, LSU and Miami. Those schools stood pat as they awaited his decision. All the QBs behind Sorsby on the board? They waited too. The tentacles of Sorsby's process extended to everyone from the top-ranked QB in the portal, Sam Leavitt, to Harvard transfer Jaden Craig. 

During that time, CBS Sports heard a common question from agents, coaches and general managers alike: "What's Sorsby going to do?"

It wasn't just curiosity. They needed to know whether to pivot, hold tight or push someone to commit.

That's the quarterback domino effect: One decision can cause an earthquake thousands of miles away as teams adjust on the fly when their targets come off the board.

Going into the cycle one offensive coordinator called the depth of the quarterback crop a "buyer's market." It quickly morphed into something different with salaries flying past the $5-million mark.

Exiting one of the most chaotic quarterback transfer cycles in history, this is an in-depth look at how the dominoes fell and the reverberations from each decision.

The winners and losers of the 2026 college football transfer portal

Chris Hummer

Top of the board

Brendan Sorsby, QB, Cincinnati

Cincinnati initially hoped to retain Sorsby. But after stumbling down the stretch it became clear by early December he'd enter the transfer portal. 

Texas Tech and Indiana were initially the schools on Sorsby the hardest. The Red Raiders were his home-state program. The Hoosiers, pushing toward perfection, were a familiar option given that Sorsby began his career in Bloomington. 

Eventually, the Red Raiders emerged as the team to beat.

But a few days before his visits were scheduled to begin, a source close to the situation indicated LSU had quietly pulled ahead. Lane Kiffin and the Tigers were recruiting Sorsby aggressively. Miami had joined the mix, too, and had the biggest offer on the table -- at the time over $5 million.

What once seemed a certainty -- Sorsby to Texas Tech -- created uncertainty in the rest of the market.

Texas Tech got the first visit and scrambled to find a backup plan when Sorsby left campus without committing. That pulled in Sam Leavitt -- who those like Kentucky were pursuing hard -- and TCU's top target Jaden Craig, and put them in wait-and-see mode based on what Sorsby would do.

The Red Raiders quickly scheduled a visit with Leavitt while Sorsby saw Baton Rouge. Craig's camp wondered whether Texas Tech would miss on both. Craig ultimately committed to TCU before Sorsby's decision was final. Gotta take a spot when there is one. 

In the end, Sorsby landed at Texas Tech for an NIL deal a source said was worth up to $6 million a year.

Sam Leavitt, QB Arizona State

Despite ranking as the No. 1 player in the 247Sports portal, Leavitt didn't have a robust market -- at least at first. He had two things working against him: 1. A foot injury that could keep him out through spring practice. 2. Arizona State did not provide kind feedback on him behind the scenes.

Top-of-the-market teams like Indiana, Texas Tech, Miami and LSU looked elsewhere. But talent tends to win out eventually, which led the latter three teams to join the race.

Texas Tech pushed for Leavitt as a Sorsby contingency. So did LSU. Miami joined the fray and Tennessee, at the last minute, did too.

LSU eventually zeroed in on Leavitt as its priority target. Then things went slightly awry when Demond Williams Jr. dropped a bombshell into the cycle with his intention to enter the portal.

The Tigers were a prime contender for Williams, and news they planned to pursue him broke while Leavitt was on LSU's campus. That caused some tension, per a source familiar with the matter. That meant Leavitt left for a visit to Tennessee and then to Miami with LSU potentially missing out on another top QB target.

LSU brought in USC's Husan Longstreet on a visit as a contingency, but Lane Kiffin went to Knoxville to speak with Leavitt and convinced him to pick LSU.

Then, in one of the bigger surprises of the cycle, LSU managed to get Longstreet, too.

Josh Hoover, QB, TCU

It was an open question around Fort Worth for most of December if Hoover would stick around for his senior season. He didn't, turning down a very competitive offer to hop in the portal.

Several teams were in pursuit of Hoover, including Texas Tech, Kentucky, Missouri and Louisville. But the two main contenders were Indiana and Ole Miss.

The Hoosiers were the heavy favorite from the moment Hoover hopped into the portal. The Rebels, believing Trinidad Chambliss' waiver was a long-shot effort, began recruiting Hoover aggressively as a replacement. Hoover was scheduled to visit Ole Miss but canceled that trip and committed to Indiana that same day.

Dylan Raiola, QB, Nebraska

Raiola had some dialogue with Louisville, but his focus never really turned away from the Ducks. Sources indicated to CBS Sports in November that Raiola wanted Oregon. He did to such a degree he was willing to back up Dante Moore for a season.

That's exactly what he did. Oregon liked some other quarterbacks. They looked at those like Ty Simpson, Drew Mestemaker and Williams. Ultimately, Moore came back to school while the Ducks got the most qualified backup in the country.

The Trinidad Chambliss reverberations

Chambliss' future hung over the quarterback carousel. The Rebels were doing a delicate dance. They were selling their players and skill players in the portal that Chambliss would get his waiver for an extra year. At the same time, they were recruiting starter-turned-backup Austin Simmons to stay.

That was a consideration for Simmons. But with few answers about Chambliss' future available and Missouri -- which had missed on several targets -- in need of a starter, Simmons suddenly and decisively entered the portal with a do-not-contact tag. CBS Sports reported Missouri was the team to beat within minutes of the initial report he planned to enter.

That meant the Rebels had to pivot.

Ole Miss inked Chambliss to a huge contract for the 2026 season, but sources familiar with the situation considered Chambliss' waiver a longshot. Chambliss may get an injunction to play in 2026 from the courts, but that's a big "IF."

Thus the Rebels turned to transfer quarterbacks.

Ole Miss looked at several but given how late it was in the cycle they were forced to move with Chambliss' waiver situation undecided, they mainly focused on two: Auburn's Deuce Knight and Florida's DJ Lagway.

Knight, a top 100 recruit in the 2025 class, left Ole Miss after just one season. He entered the portal and many teams reached out -- Boston College made a big push -- yet his home-state Rebels always seemed like the likely pick.

With just one game of starting experience, however, Knight was considered a risky addition on his own. So, Ole Miss zeroed in on Lagway.

A five-star passer in the 2024 class and a two-year starter for the Gators, Lagway entered the portal in a weird place. He's an ultra-talented passer with No. 1 draft pick upside. He's also coming off a series of major injuries and regressed in 2025. Plus, as one SEC coordinator put it to CBS Sports: "He's DJ Lagway. He's a huge name. He can scare off the rest of your room."

Lagway received calls from those like LSU and Missouri. Mostly, however, it was a smaller group of schools pushing for him: Florida State, Virginia, Baylor and Stanford.

He'd visit the first three. Those around Lagway always considered it a long shot he'd pick the 'Noles. Virginia made a very strong impression. Then he made it to Baylor's campus -- the school his dad played for -- and committed to the staff.

Done and done.

Except the Rebels had been pushing for a visit. Once the excitement wore down -- and when his initial outreach to potential portal receivers went largely unheeded -- Lagway opted to visit Oxford.

Ole Miss had to juggle Knight and Lagway on campus at the same time. Knight committed on his trip. Lagway did not. Instead, after a long delay and a brief pursuit by Duke, he signed with Baylor.  

The Rebels scrambled again. They added former Ole Miss backup Walker Howard from Louisiana to give the room some experience. They also continued to tell potential portal additions Chambliss would get an injunction from the Mississippi court system. 

A path forward emerges in Trinidad Chambliss' eligibility case

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A major coaching connection

An interesting wrinkle this cycle is all the coach-quarterback connections that happened because of coaching carousel movement. We've seen in recent years the power of the right quarterback-coach combo -- think Ben Arbuckle as OC and John Mateer as QB at Oklahoma last offseason -- and it happened a ton in 2026.

Mestemaker gave some consideration to Oregon. But it was a half-hearted exploration at best. He instead committed to Morris, his North Texas head coach, and gave him a building block for Oklahoma State's future.

Alex Golesh left South Florida for Auburn, and it was the worst-kept secret in college football circles that his Bulls QB, Byrum Brown, would join him on The Plains.

You could say the same of Matt Campbell and his quarterback Rocco Becht, both of whom left Ames for Happy Valley.

It happened with James Franklin and Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, too. The Hokies considered other QBs like Missouri's Beau Pribula -- more on him in a bit -- but ultimately zeroed in on Grunkemeyer as the answer.

Not long after Florida hired Buster Faulkner came Georgia Tech backup QB Aaron Philo's announcement that he planned to enter the portal. Faulkner was quite comfortable with Philo fronting the room along with returning freshman Tramell Jones. 

It happened with Arkansas, too. Ryan Silverfield and his staff recruited East Carolina QB Katin Houser hard, but he ended up picking Illinois. So, the Razorbacks took a familiar face in AJ Hill from Memphis, who, just one cycle ago, was a blockbuster signee out of high school for the Tigers.

Bluegrass State machinations

Kentucky didn't necessarily have to find a starter in the 2026 transfer portal. The Wildcats returned Cutter Boley, a Lexington native who had a promising redshirt freshman campaign. But Kentucky was also interested in taking a big swing to capitalize on the momentum created by Will Stein's hiring, and they made pushes for those like Leavitt and Hoover.

That spooked Boley, who found an interested suitor in Arizona State, itself in need of a QB thanks to Leavitt's departure. Before the cycle started Boley said of his options: "I'm just trying to find the best place ... wherever I can kind of showcase what I can do in the best system for me."

With Kentucky swinging big, Nebraska emerged as the top suitor for Notre Dame transfer Kenny Minchey, who had also been recruited hard by those like Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Minchey to Nebraska emerged as a done deal shortly after the transfer portal opened.

When it became clear the Wildcats wouldn't land Leavitt or Hoover, they pivoted back to Minchey, which led to one of the more stunning flips of the cycle as Minchey picked the Wildcats after being publicly committed to the Huskers.

Then Nebraska had to scramble.

Within 24 hours the Huskers had UNLV transfer Anthony Colandrea -- a Florida State target -- on campus. They also brought Pribula for a visit at the same time.

Colandrea committed first, so he got the spot.

Florida State pivoted to Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels -- another backup plan for Kentucky -- as Colandrea made his Huskers push.

Things were no less calm at Louisville, which disrupted the QB cycle for a few teams, too.

The Cardinals considered a few quarterbacks but eventually -- and quietly -- zeroed in on Ohio State backup Lincoln Kienholz. Previously, Cincinnati and South Florida were battling for Kienholz, who was all but committed to the Bearcats earlier in the portal window.

But Kienholz pivoted when Louisville pushed. He flew for a visit and committed the same day.

This meant the Bearcats had to change course. They turned to Hauss Hejny, who South Florida and Colorado State were also courting. The Rams had just had him on campus, and they got him to sign before he could visit elsewhere. That led the Bearcats to Georgia Southern QB JC French.

Meanwhile, South Florida, which had also hoped to land Hejny or Kienholz, earned commitments from the combination of LSU's Michael Van Buren and Mississippi State's Luke Kromenhoek.

A Wisconsin, North Carolina connection

Wisconsin had one of the messiest quarterback rooms in the country this season. Billy Edwards Jr. suffered a major injury early in the campaign that basically kept him out all season, which led to the Power Four's worst-ranked passing offense starting four different quarterbacks in 2025.

The Badgers always planned on adding a starter in the portal and it made sense for Edwards to move on, too.

Wisconsin looked at several quarterbacks in the portal, including Minchey, but they eventually zeroed in on Old Dominion's Colton Joseph as their top target. Joseph was a popular name with those like Florida State and UCF recruiting him hard.

But the Badgers were able to land the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year, their fourth straight portal quarterback.

With Joseph off the board, UCF turned its focus to James Madison QB Alonza Barnett III, who was also a person of interest for South Florida.

North Carolina loved Edwards and quickly landed on him out of the portal. That led to the Tar Heels' 2025 starter, Gio Lopez, transferring to Wake Forest.

Beau Pribula's winding path

If you're looking for a singular example of the craziness of the portal quarterback cycle, look no further than Pribula, who took the following visits before finding a home:

• Virginia Tech: The Hokies were long considered Pribula's likely landing spot upon his entry to the portal. It would have been a reunion for Pribula with James Franklin and most of the old Penn State staff. When it became apparent it'd be either Grunkemeyer or Pribula for the Hokies -- Grunkemeyer wasn't going to transfer and sit -- Virginia Tech chose the younger QB. That sent Pribula scrambling.
• Nebraska: Colandrea committed first while both he and Pribula were on campus, and the Huskers were only going to take one QB.
• Washington: The Huskies contacted Pribula within an hour of Williams announcing his intent to enter the portal. But they were always open with Pribula's camp that their preference was to take Williams back. That they did.
• Georgia Tech: Following the missed connection in Seattle, Pribula headed back to the South for a visit with Georgia Tech. Pribula opted to take a SEC visit following the trip. The Yellow Jackets ended up with Indiana backup Alberto Mendoza as their portal take. 
• Tennessee: When the Vols missed on Leavitt, they brought in Pribula for a visit to campus. It didn't end up being a fit. The Vols instead went with a cheaper option and added Colorado's Ryan Staub to complement the rest of its much younger room. 
• Virginia: Finally, a match! Pribula visited Charlottesville and committed shortly after.

Two days later the Cavs also took former Pittsburgh starter Eli Holstein.

A late quarterback domino

As Miami made its championship push a fascinating subplot occurred: Who the heck would play QB for the Hurricanes in 2026?

For the third offseason in a row Miami opted to go big-game hunting. The Hurricanes wanted Sorsby. He picked Texas Tech. They wanted Leavitt. He went with LSU. They wanted Williams. He couldn't get out of his Washington contract. They wanted Ty Simpson once he left Alabama for the NFL, but he spurned a huge Miami offer to stay in the draft.

Duke files lawsuit against star QB Darian Mensah in wake of last-minute transfer portal entry request

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Miami's options dwindled as the days counted down on the portal. By deadline day the top 26 players in the 247Sports quarterback rankings were off the board. The Hurricanes were out of options.

Then came a late earthquake -- Duke star QB Darian Mensah opted to enter.

The Hurricanes had always liked Mensah, and when they needed a QB most, he opted to break a once record-setting contract and jump into the open market. Problem solved for Miami, which is the clear favorite to land him.

All the problems in the world were created for Duke. Another domino. Another team feeling the aftereffects. Except, in this case, there aren't any really starting-caliber dominoes left in play.