College Football Teams With the Most Turnaround Potential in 2023
The 2023 college football season wasn't kind to some teams.
Long-standing powers such as Oklahoma and Miami were blasted back to reality during subpar campaigns. Proud programs Auburn and Nebraska found themselves picking up the pieces after failed coaching regimes.
Still others experienced duds. In Kentucky's case, recent success fell by the wayside into mediocrity. Then some, like a certain Pac-12 team in the desert, took a major step forward.
But coaching changes abounded in the offseason, springing optimism to life. With the transfer portal a game-changer, other programs have newfound hope for 2023.
Several teams are primed—or "Prime," in Colorado's case—for a bounce-back season. Let's take a look at those that could experience major turnarounds in 2023.
Arizona Wildcats
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Everybody in the desert is excited for the Arizona Wildcats' 2023 season following a major step forward in 2022.
After experiencing just one win in his debut season, coach Jedd Fisch's team leapt to 5-7 a year ago—one that was characterized by some terrific offensive numbers from quarterback Jayden de Laura and his receiving corps, led by Jacob Cowing and Tetairoa McMillan.
All three of those will be back for next season, as will a quality running back room, led by Michael Wiley.
Offense won't be the issue. The Wildcats need major defensive returns to make a bowl game next year, and while they suffered some transfer-portal losses, they also got back a potential program-changing talent in Justin Flowe at linebacker.
Fisch needs to hit on some portal gambles such as linebacker Daniel Heimuli (Washington) and Orin Patu (California), as well as defensive linemen Tyler Manoa (UCLA) and Bill Norton (Georgia), who haven't produced much on the college level yet.
If they can get better on defense after the unit finished 11th in the Pac-12 a season ago, expect a bowl game. This team is good enough to make it to improve by a couple of wins, at least.
Auburn Tigers
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The embarrassment of Bryan Harsin's 9-12 record over less than two seasons won't be forgotten, but Hugh Freeze has flipped the Auburn Tigers roster in a short time.
He's done terrific work on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal, and the Tigers fully expect not only to make a bowl game in 2023, but also to perhaps be a dark-horse contender in the SEC West.
To do that, they've got to find an answer to their quarterback woes, and Freeze didn't hit any portal grand slams at that position.
Still, the moves he made were exceptional. The Tigers went from no-man's-land in recruiting to securing the nation's No. 18 class, flipping star prospects Keldric Faulk (Florida State), Kayin Lee (Ohio State), Darron Reed (LSU) and Sylvester Smith (Tennessee).
Additionally, Auburn added 12 transfers, bolstered by defensive linemen Justin Rogers (Kentucky), Lawrence Johnson (Purdue) and Mosiah Nasili-Kite (Maryland), as well as offensive tackle Gunner Britton (Western Kentucky) and running back Brian Battie (South Florida).
This is the type of talent infusion that will equal a quick turnaround.
Colorado Buffaloes
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The Colorado Buffaloes were one of the nation's most miserable programs last year and arguably the worst in the Power Five, winning just a single game.
But the splash coaching hire of Deion Sanders is already paying dividends.
Everybody around the college football world is talking about the Buffaloes, and while making a bowl game this season is a long shot, flipping the roster to respectability isn't. 247Sports has them with the No. 21-ranked infusion of total talent, including recruiting and portal wins.
Flipping 5-star Cormani McClain from Miami to pair with Travis Hunter (last year's top-ranked player) in the defensive backfield was massive, and CU already looks like it should be much better on that side of the ball.
It's no guarantee Sanders' son, Shedeur, will star at quarterback while making the leap from Jackson State to the Pac-12, but he has to be a major upgrade from J.T. Shrout and Owen McCown.
Getting recruiting wins in running back Dylan Edwards, receiver Adam Hopkins and Omarion Miller was big for perception and roster bolstering.
Adding big portal victories in linebacker Demouy Kennedy (Alabama), cornerback Kyndrich Breedlove (Ole Miss), safety Myles Slusher (Arkansas) and edge-rushers Jordan Domineck (Arkansas) and Taylor Upshaw (Michigan) was huge, too.
Look out for Coach Prime.
Kansas Jayhawks
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The biggest story of the season's first half was coach Lance Leipold's Kansas Jayhawks.
They won their first five games and were in a dogfight with TCU on Oct. 8 before losing star quarterback Jalon Daniels to a shoulder injury and the game. Before long, the season tumbled to a 6-7 finish, with four straight losses to end the year.
Even though Daniels returned and was spectacular in the Liberty Bowl, Arkansas rallied to win 55-53 and send a once-promising Jayhawks team to a losing record.
Daniels is back in '23, though, and you'd better believe Leipold will have quality players around him. They return 17 of 22 starters from the 2022 season, so production won't be an issue.
As good a coach as Leipold is, he's never really experienced long-term losing, having made a strong six-year run at Buffalo, so the longer players are in his program and bought in, the better the team will be.
Getting offensive tackle Logan Brown (Wisconsin), running back Dylan McDuffie (Georgia Tech), cornerback Damarius McGhee (LSU) and others will help them too.
How high can the Jayhawks rise? This team will at least go to the postseason, which is worthy of a spot here. Kansas hasn't experienced a winning season since 2008.
Kentucky Wildcats
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Nobody would mistake Kentucky for a football powerhouse, but coach Mark Stoops has taken the program from nothing to a respectable eight or more wins in three of the past five seasons, including a pair of 10-win campaigns.
The Wildcats limped to a 7-6 record a year ago with an impotent offense, but quarterback Will Levis is gone to the NFL after a pedestrian final year in Lexington, and offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello got fired.
Enter an old friend in Liam Coen, who helped lead the 'Cats to 10 wins a couple of years ago as the offensive coordinator before he headed to the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. He will get to mentor one of the best transfer quarterbacks in Devin Leary.
Uncertainty abounds whether Leary, who suffered a season-ending torn pec in October, will return to his pre-injury form after transferring from N.C. State. But he is a worthy gamble, especially with receiver weapons such as Barion Brown and Dane Key.
If Stoops can get production out of transfers such as running back Ray Davis (Vanderbilt), cornerback JQ Hardaway (Cincinnati) and defensive lineman Keeshawn Silver (North Carolina), the Wildcats could experience a rebound.
They won't surpass Georgia or Tennessee in the SEC East, but battling South Carolina for third and getting to nine wins is a possibility.
Memphis Tigers
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It may be a sink-or-swim season for Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield.
After Mike Norvell headed to Florida State, his former assistant hasn't found the same traction in the win column for the Tigers, going 21-15 in three seasons.
There are no excuses next year.
Not only do the Tigers have a returning two-year starter at quarterback in Seth Henigan, the American Athletic Conference will also watch Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida head to the Big 12, watering down the playing field a bit.
While Tulane is still around, and UAB, Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, UTSA, Rice and North Texas are incoming, Memphis could be a sleeper to head back to the conference championship game.
It wouldn't be an out-of-nowhere surprise to see the Tigers contend for a New Year's Six bowl game, even if it is an outside shot.
Getting 4-star transfer offensive tackle Marcus Henderson from Arkansas was a big pull, and the wide receiver trio of DeMeer Blankumsee (Toledo), Tauskie Dove (Missouri) and Corey Gammage (Marshall) will bolster that room.
Memphis needs to find more playmakers on offense than it had in '22, when neither its leading rusher nor receiver eclipsed 700 yards, but there's talent on this roster.
A big leap from seven wins a season ago is a major possibility.
Miami Hurricanes
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Mario Cristobal's nightmarish first season in Coral Gables is one the Miami Hurricanes would like to seal up in a box and throw into the Atlantic Ocean.
But maybe the 'Canes needed to experience rock bottom before they could turn back into The U.
Though Cristobal hasn't really shown the propensity to win the big game as coach of the Oregon Ducks or in his only season in Miami, the man can recruit his polo off, and the 'Canes put together an exceptional class that is firmly in the top 10.
Major recruiting wins such as 5-star offensive linemen Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola should pay immediate dividends on the field, and defensive linemen/edge-rushers like Rueben Bain, Jayden Wayne and Collins Acheampong could find their way into the rotation too.
After an injury-plagued '22, quarterback Tyler Van Dyke should return to his original form that made him one of the most productive quarterbacks in the ACC. And while there is a deep running back room in Coral Gables, the 'Canes could use someone, such as true freshman Mark Fletcher, to become a true difference-maker.
Cristobal also used the portal to fill offensive line gaps, bring in quality players at all levels of the defense and secure almost-certain starters in linebacker Francisco Mauigoa (Washington State) and defensive lineman Branson Deen (Purdue).
This team isn't ready to contend for the ACC, but getting to eight or nine wins is possible.
Michigan State Spartans
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Arguably the biggest disappointment in college football in 2022 were the Michigan State Spartans.
Yes, they lost Ken Walker III after he won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back, but nobody would have predicted the Spartans would go from 11-2 in 2021 to a 4-8 thud.
While head coach Mel Tucker said he wasn't using injuries as an excuse in a recent radio interview with The Drive with Jack's Jack Ebling (via Spartan Tailgate's Justin Thind), Tucker went on to do just that. Still, injuries were a major issue for the Spartans a season ago, and they have to be able to absorb those better.
Tucker landed difference-makers in the '23 class such as edge-rusher Bai Jobe, defensive lineman Andrew Depaepe and linebacker Jordan Hall, all of whom are talented enough to step onto the field and help improve a terrible defense.
As always, Tucker seemed to do a bang-up job in the portal, too, convincing former Texas A&M top prospect Tunmise Adeleye to head to East Lansing, as well as running back Jaren Mangham and edge-rusher Jarrett Jackson.
Payton Thorne will need to improve at quarterback, because he will have some guys pushing him, while Mangham will be asked to upgrade the competition in a running back room that took a massive dip when Jalen Berger led the team with 683 rushing yards a season after Walker left.
MSU looks like at least a seven- or eight-win team. Tucker's getting paid too much money to trot out four-win squads.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
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Everybody is interested to see what the Nebraska Cornhuskers will look like with quality coaching.
They never got that under Scott Frost, who—despite having an exceptional run at UCF and was a no-brainer hire to return to his alma mater—was never the right fit. He upgraded the talent level in Lincoln but was the king of close losses.
Athletic director Trev Alberts hired one of the nation's most shrewd coaches in former Baylor skipper Matt Rhule following a failed tenure with the NFL's Carolina Panthers. He steps into a situation where the cupboard is hardly bare.
Yes, the Huskers must replace star receiver Trey Palmer, but getting back quarterback Casey Thompson and running back Anthony Grant (along with the next three rushers behind him) is huge.
Rhule also upgraded the defense by recruiting the edge-rushing tandem of Princewill Umanmielen and Cameron Lenhardt, as well as keeping in-city star receiver Malachi Coleman in big red.
Thompson will have plenty of competition in Georgia Tech transfer signal-caller Jeff Sims, and Nebraska hit it big in the portal with guys like the Georgia trio of edge-rusher MJ Sherman, tight end Arik Gilbert and offensive tackle Jacob Hood. Texas A&M defensive lineman Elijah Jeudy and former Virginia receiver Billy Kemp IV will play right away too.
Rhule will have Nebraska in a bowl game in 2023.
Oklahoma Sooners
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Winning six games is unacceptable at Oklahoma, no matter the circumstances. Watching former coach Lincoln Riley excel in his first season at USC made things even more dicey for first-year coach Brent Venables in Norman.
The bottom line is Venables has to win more games quickly, but this program had to be rebuilt from scratch following mass defections when Riley left. Venables rallied things toward the end of the '22 season, but he missed a major opportunity by losing a close bowl game to Florida State.
Even so, momentum is surging after an elite recruiting campaign. Adding edge-rusher Adepoju Adebawore and safety Peyton Bowen gives the Sooners two potential young starters right away, and Makari Vickers looks like he'll team with Bowen on the back end too.
Jackson Arnold is one of the top quarterback prospects in the nation, and he will battle incumbent starter Dillon Gabriel right away.
Venables really upgraded the team through the transfer portal, too, getting one of the biggest impact defenders in the nation in outside linebacker/edge-rusher Dasan McCullough, who will team with Adebawore to give the Sooners two impact newcomers there.
Defensive linemen Davon Sears (Texas State), Jacob Lacey (Notre Dame) and Rondell Bothroyd (Wake Forest), wide receiver Andrel Anthony (Michigan) and offensive tackle Walter Rouse (Stanford) also are instant-impact rotation guys, if not starters.
Nobody had a talent injection like Oklahoma. Look for it to pay dividends in the win column right away.
Texas A&M Aggies
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Nobody lost the number of transfers that Texas A&M experienced following a dismal 5-7 season that had everybody around the nation talking about Jimbo Fisher's job security.
But Fisher is on a megacontract, and money talks in College Station. So do wins, which is why he made a splash offensive coordinator hire in getting Bobby Petrino back in the SEC.
Fisher was once known as an offensive mastermind, but he couldn't work any magic in '22, so it's Petrino's turn to see if he can get quality quarterback play from Conner Weigman or Max Johnson.
Getting 5-star running back Rueben Owens will be huge right away for an Aggies team facing life without Devon Achane, who is off to the NFL. Even though A&M lost star power in the receiving corps, Petrino will find ways to get the ball to explosive sophomore Evan Stewart.
A&M signed another strong recruiting class in this past cycle, and while the team was decimated by portal departures, it also experienced several wins too.
Cornerbacks Tony Grimes (North Carolina) and Sam McCall (Florida State) will add a pair of the most talented transfers at their position to the Aggies, and recruiting wins such as defensive lineman David Hicks and offensive lineman Chase Bisontis will upgrade the roster too.
Talent isn't an issue in College Station. Maybe Petrino can help unlock some potential, and the Aggies can get back to seven or eight wins.
Wisconsin Badgers
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You had to know a program like Wisconsin wouldn't stay down for long. There's too much fan support and pageantry surrounding things in Camp Randall for the Badgers to keep plodding along.
The athletic department had visions of grandeur when it fired Paul Chryst after a 2-3 start last season, and while interim Jim Leonhard was a fine option to replace him, the Badgers hit one out by convincing Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell to head to Madison.
Much like at Nebraska, the coaching upgrade was massive, and positive things have followed.
A program known for its three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense over the tenures of Chryst, Bret Bielema and Barry Alvarez will open things up in 2023. Getting offensive coordinator Phil Longo from North Carolina was brilliant. Things really escalated when SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai transferred to Wisconsin for his final year.
Mordecai will help them groom transfer Nick Evers (Oklahoma) and Myles Burkett (already on the roster) to follow in his footsteps.
Running back Braelon Allen could be a first-team All-American with Longo at the helm, and the Badgers are always going to have a stellar defense. This could be one of the biggest turnarounds in college football.
Wisconsin is a sleeper to win the Big Ten.
All stats courtesy of cfbstats and Sports Reference. Player rankings courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brad Shepard on Twitter, @Brad_Shepard.
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