College football free agency — that’s essentially what the transfer portal has become with the new one-time transfer rule that allows every player in the country an opportunity to change schools without sitting out a year once in their collegiate career.
The ramifications of that rule were felt this year, as more talent than ever entered the transfer portal to find a new home. Most of those highly regarded players have already found their spot over the last few weeks, including several starting quarterbacks.
Today, we are going to focus on the most important position on the field and break down each of the top quarterback transfers. Below, you will find the top transfer quarterbacks and whether each team got better or worse at the position from that addition.
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Spencer Rattler → South Carolina Gamecocks
Former School: Oklahoma
Sentiment: Biggest upgrade in the nation by a country mile
At times during the 2021 season, South Carolina was forced to start a quarterback who came to the program last offseason as a graduate assistant. Now they have a former Heisman favorite and projected first overall pick leading the way with Spencer Rattler.
Rattler still has an opportunity to right the ship and return to star status. He has an ultra-quick, effortless release with jaw-dropping arm talent and elite playmaking outside of the offense's structure. At the same time, he is prone to fleeing clean pockets, invites pressure, has so-so footwork and is too willing to pass up the checkdown for a home run.
Rattler’s collegiate production is truly some of the best that PFF College has seen, despite the fact that many believe Rattler isn’t a good passer. The former Sooner is actually still college football's highest-graded passer since 2020. His deep ball struggled in 2021 due to more conservative play-calling — he earned a 45.5 passing grade on 20-plus yard throws this year after a 98.1 passing grade on such passes in 2020. Still, Rattler was pinpoint on every other throw. His No. 1 ranking in negatively graded throw rate and completion percentage over expectation (CPOE) for the 2021 season back that up.
Rattler isn’t perfect, but his ceiling is higher than any other quarterback in the country, which is why he received so much preseason hype this year. He produced the highest passing grade PFF has ever seen by a non-draft-eligible quarterback in 2020, though that mark is about to be broken by Bryce Young. Rattler still can be a star next season at South Carolina. He has some recruiting to do on his end with some players still hanging out in the transfer portal to help the current pass-catching and pass-protecting situation at South Carolina, but either way the Gamecocks will have one of the most improved passing attacks in 2022.
Quinn Ewers → Texas Longhorns
Former School: Ohio State
Sentiment: Significant upgrade
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