Ranking the Most Impactful Transfers of the College Football Playoff Era
The beginning of the transfer-heavy era has partially coincided with the rise of the College Football Playoff.
After the sport introduced the CFP in 2014, the portal soon followed in 2018. Since then, the season-ending championship tournament has often featured a key player who began his college career elsewhere.
The latest example is Washington's Michael Penix Jr., who previously spent four seasons at Indiana.
Soon enough, we'll understand his place in this thread of history. Before kickoff of the national championship, though, we're looking back at some of the most impactful transfers of the CFP era.
The list is subjective but considers an individual's total production in both the regular season and College Football Playoff. Positional value—in short: Are they a QB?—is also considered.
Honorable Mention: Stetson Bennett, QB, Georgia
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Technically speaking, Stetson Bennett is a transfer. He also never played anywhere other than Georgia in the FBS. Including him in the ranking feels improper, but so does leaving him out entirely.
As a result: Honorable mention!
Bennett initially went to Georgia as a walk-on in 2017. He headed to Jones College—a junior college in Mississippi—after that season but returned to UGA after Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State
The reunion was not immediately fantastic. Bennett served as Jake Fromm's backup in 2019 and didn't perform especially well as a half-time player in 2020. It seemed that he'd be the backup for JT Daniels in 2021 but ended up starting a memorable rise.
Bennett guided the Dawgs to back-to-back national titles and thrived in the College Football Playoff.
During the 2021 CFP, he totaled 537 passing yards and five touchdowns in wins over Michigan and Alabama. The next season, he racked up 702 yards and seven scores as a passer while rushing for three more touchdowns in victories against Ohio State and TCU.
7. Derion Kendrick, CB, Georgia
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Derion Kendrick spent the 2018-20 seasons at Clemson, but the program dismissed him in February 2021 over what he explained to be a miscommunication with the coaching staff. He landed at Georgia and quickly became a key contributor on a star-studded defense.
The corner received second-team All-SEC recognition during the regular season, making 33 tackles and two interceptions.
Kendrick put together a career-best showing in the Orange Bowl, intercepting two passes in a 34-11 rout of Michigan. He also posted five tackles with one for loss.
Georgia defeated Alabama to win the national title, a game in which Kendrick had three tackles and didn't allow a catch.
6. Dylan Horton, Edge, TCU
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Dylan Horton enrolled at New Mexico in 2018 and played two seasons with the Lobos in the Mountain West.
After hitting the portal, he picked TCU and played three fascinating years in Fort Worth. He registered eight tackles in the shortened 2020 campaign before a breakout 2021 with 51 stops—including nine for loss—and honorable mention All-Big 12 recognition.
Horton put together a heck of a send-off in 2022.
Along with a second honorable mention All-Big 12 award, he set a CFP record with four sacks in the Fiesta Bowl win against Michigan. Horton piled up six tackles, one forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Georgia steamrolled TCU in the national championship, but Horton at least provided four stops and another tackle for loss.
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5. Jalen Hurts, QB, Oklahoma
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Jalen Hurts boasts the unique honor of being the starting quarterback in the CFP for a pair of programs.
First, he helped Alabama make the national championship in 2016 and 2017—winning the latter game, although that victory over Georgia is remembered for Tua Tagovailoa's heroics. Hurts served as Tagovailoa's backup in 2018 and wisely bolted to Oklahoma for 2019.
Hurts joined a prestigious line of impact transfers at OU—more on them shortly—and took the Sooners to the CFP again.
Unfortunately for Hurts, they encountered a buzzsaw in the Peach Bowl and lost to LSU. Still, the Heisman Trophy runner-up guided OU to the fifth of six straight Big 12 titles and a fourth CFP trip in five seasons.
4. Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma
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Baker Mayfield left a significant void in Oklahoma's offense, but Kyler Murray filled in nicely as his successor in 2018.
The dual-threat quarterback put together an electric season, joining former Clemson star Deshaun Watson as the only players with 4,000 passing and 1,000 rushing yards in a campaign. Murray won the Heisman Trophy and propelled the Sooners to a Big 12 title and CFP bid.
While the Orange Bowl didn't go as well as hoped for OU—Alabama rolled to a 45-34 win—Murray threw for 308 yards, scampered for 109 and totaled three touchdowns.
Murray, like Mayfield one year before, parlayed his Heisman triumph into being the No. 1 overall pick of the next NFL draft.
3. Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
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While a CFP victory is missing from Baker Mayfield's stacked trophy case, his impact at Oklahoma is undeniable.
Mayfield, a walk-on at Texas Tech in 2013, left for Oklahoma and—due to transfer rules—sat out the 2014 campaign. He earned the starting job in 2015 and embarked on a stellar three-year run with the Sooners.
While winning a Big 12 title each season, Mayfield took OU to the College Football Playoff in 2015 and 2017. Clemson and Georgia, respectively, beat the Sooners, but Mayfield had an especially memorable day in the latter game. He threw two touchdowns and caught a third in a double-overtime loss to UGA in a thrilling Rose Bowl.
Also in every year, Mayfield secured a top-four finish in Heisman Trophy voting and hoisted the prestigious award in 2017.
2. Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State
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One season as a backup at Georgia preceded a superb two-year stretch with Ohio State for Justin Fields.
In 2019, he amassed 3,757 yards and 51 total touchdowns as the Buckeyes won a Big Ten title. They lost to Clemson in a Fiesta Bowl that is remembered for a controversial overturned fumble.
The next season, he led the Buckeyes to another conference crown and a redemptive CFP win. Ohio State toppled Clemson in the Sugar Bowl as Fields scorched the Tigers for 385 passing yards and six touchdowns, adding 42 yards on the ground in a 49-28 rout.
Alabama hammered OSU in the national championship, but Fields put the program back in the sport's biggest game for the first time in six years.
1. Joe Burrow, QB, LSU
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Look through the CFP record book, and it's practically a tribute to Joe Burrow and the 2019 LSU offense.
His production was absolutely absurd.
Burrow, a reserve at Ohio State from 2015-17, left Columbus for Baton Rouge in the summer of 2018. It was largely a quiet year—he totaled just 10 touchdowns in LSU's first nine games—until Burrow popped off for 418 yards and four touchdowns in a Fiesta Bowl win over UCF.
That outstanding performance set the stage for a jaw-dropping 2019 in which Burrow obliterated the record books.
Along with winning the Heisman Trophy, he steered the Bayou Bengals to a perfect 13-0 record and SEC title. They entered the CFP as the championship favorite and backed it up.
Burrow dismantled Oklahoma with 493 passing yards, 21 rushing yards and eight total scores in a 63-28 Peach Bowl blowout. LSU smacked Clemson in the championship as Burrow threw for 463 yards and five touchdowns, adding 58 yards and a sixth score on the ground.
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