By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The transfer portal has changed college football drastically.

Players seem to hop from school to school now without much thought. Any team that wants to be a contender has to get talent from the transfer portal.

The 30-day winter transfer period ended January 2, 2024. Let’s take a look at the schools with the best transfer portal classes.

Ole Miss has the top ranked transfer portal class for 2024. The Rebels have 17 commits. The five-star player is defensive lineman Walter Nolen (Texas A&M). He was the #1 football recruit in the class of 2022 as a senior in high school. He played for the Aggies for two seasons, totaling 11 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.

The rest of the class consists of seven four-stars and nine three-star players.

Some of the top players are defensive end/edge Princely Umanmielen (Florida), wide receiver Antwane Wells (South Carolina), linebacker Chris Paul Jr. (Arkansas), corner back Trey Amos (Alabama), safety Yam Banks (South Alabama), running back Logan Diggs (LSU) and tight end Daequan Wright (Virginia Tech).

Texas A&M has the #2 class. The Aggies have 23 commits and 8 of them are four-star players. That’s great, considering they lost two five-stars in the transfer portal.

We already discussed Walter Nolen leaving for Ole Miss but they also lost wide receiver Evan Stewart to Oregon. Four-star defensive lineman LT Overton transferred to Alabama, tight end Jake Johnson transferred to UNC and wide receiver Raymond Cottrell transferred to Kentucky.

Four-star right tackle Chase Bisontis started all 12 regular season games for the Aggies last season. He entered his name in the portal but withdrew it and decided to return to College Station.

The top incoming players are edge rusher Nic Scourton (Purdue), corner Dezz Ricks (Alabama), wide receiver Cyrus Allen (Louisiana Tech), defensive end Cashius Howell (Bowling Green), corner Will Lee III (Kansas State), safety Marcus Ratcliffe (San Diego State), corner Donovan Saunders (Cal Poly) and linebacker Scooby Williams (Florida).

Florida State has the #4 transfer portal class.

The last time we saw the Seminoles was in the Orange Bowl where Georgia demolished them, 63-3. That did not stop them from getting 15 new transfer players and ten of them are four-stars.

Something that is very interesting is the amount of players coming in from Alabama.

The five incoming Crimson Tide players are linebacker Shawn Murphy, running back Roydell Williams, corner Earl Little II, offensive lineman Terrence Ferguson and receiver Malik Benson.

They also have two Oregon State players; defensive lineman Sione Lolohea and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. Uiagalelei started his career at Clemson so he is at his third school.

They are also receiving edge rusher Marvin Jones Jr. (Georgia), wide receiver Jalen Brown (LSU) and defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye (West Virginia).

South Carolina has the #9 class. The Gamecocks class only has four four-star players.

The top player is running back Raheim Sanders (Arkansas). Sanders had a breakout year in 2022 as a sophomore, rushing for 1,443 yards, 10 touchdowns and he averaged 6.5 yards per carry. Unfortunately, in 2023 he tore his labrum in November. He also suffered a knee injury in Week 1.

South Carolina is also receiving linebacker Grayson Howard (Florida), linebacker Demetrius Knight (Charlotte) and edge rusher Kyle Kennard (Georgia Tech).