2025 Transfer Portal Shopping List
College football free agency is kinda fun???
PROGRAMMING NOTE: With the transfer portal movement happening pretty fast for Nebraska, I wanted to get something out as soon as possible on what areas Nebraska needs to address in the portal from what I’ve seen watching and charting all of NU’s snaps this year. The Iowa game recap post will be out early next week; the portal stuff was just a bit more time sensitive with the first official day Monday, and without an impending game this week I figured it’d be smarter to prioritize this and have it out ASAP for people to read. Apologies for the switched posting schedule.
Hey, has anything happened with Nebraska football in the last week?
Following another 13-10 loss to Iowa, defensive coordinator Tony White announced his departure from the program for a different coordinator job, a huge chunk of NU’s defensive returnees decided to transfer, the program agreed to a deal to bring Dana Holgorsen back as offensive coordinator, and the team brought in a new receivers coach. All sandwiched around national signing day for prep prospects and the steady stream of news about who is entering the transfer portal.
This stuff moves fast now.
There will be more time to evaluate all the coaching drama and scheme changes later in the offseason, but for now, let’s talk the portal. For whatever the current and obvious flaws with the transfer portal system, what has essentially become college football’s free-agency period gives programs the chance to dramatically remake the makeup of their rosters in ways that are generally exciting, hopeful, and enjoyable to speculate about. I get some of the angst about certain elements of it, but personally, I find this to be … pretty fun? Beyond the benefits for player freedom, roster movement is just exciting to follow and discuss. Cool and good, in my opinion.
Strategies for attacking a free-agency period are more proven successful than others. Good teams — in college and the NFL — approach free agency not from a place of need but as a chance to add raw or undervalued talent. Chasing to fill a ton of holes generally ends with stretching to sign worse players. Nebraska’s overarching goal for the portal period should be to add the best and most talented players it can, regardless of position.
But there are also undeniably some holes NU’s staff will need to fill. Coach Matt Rhule in his signing day presser finally adopted a much more aggressive posture on the portal than in his first two offseasons; whereas NU had augmented its current roster around the margins or added longer-term developmental players through the portal in the past, Rhule on Wednesday sounded like a man who wanted to go on a shopping spree at the high-end stores.
I have some ideas on where he should spend the money.
I’ve loosely categorized what areas NU should address into four tiers of Needs, Probably Should Gets, Nice To Haves, and Developmental Plays. Some of this is light speculation — I don’t have access to the staff’s evaluations of the young players who haven’t seen the field; they could have a gem on the roster that no one knows about. I don’t know what the new defensive scheme will be. I’ve tried to provide caveats on the younger/inexperienced players where they were more prominent factors. For the defensive scheme, I just approached it as NU needing to address the basic defensive structure of 2024: two edge rushers, two interior defensive linemen, two box linebackers, two cornerbacks, two true safeties, and a nickel. Basically every defense functions like this no matter if it calls itself a 3-3-5 or 4-2-5 or whatever; obviously there are some nuances to positions in certain schemes, but we don’t know what that scheme will be at the moment.
NEEDS:
As Many Box Linebackers As You Can Get
Between the graduations of John Bullock and Javin Wright and the transfer portal departures of Mikai Gbayor and Stefon Thompson, Nebraska will lose four of its top five players who manned its two interior linebacker spots this season. The second level was already the clear weakness of the defense over the last two years, and Bullock and Gbayor are the only truly good, well-rounded players walking out the door, but losing nearly 2,300 combined snaps of experience and institutional knowledge from the past two years hurts pretty much no matter what.
The good news is that Vincent Shavers Jr. is still on the roster, and he looked like a potential future superstar as a true freshman in 2024, albeit raw at times. Keeping him from hitting the portal should be one of the team’s top priorities, and he’ll almost certainly man one of the two starting spots next season if NU can hold onto him. Nebraska also has a ton of young linebackers on the roster who haven’t really played, and presumably a couple of them can serve as depth pieces. Top 2025 signee Christian Jones looks possibly capable of playing right away, too.
But even with that, Nebraska will probably need to dip into the portal for at least one starting linebacker and a couple more Day 1 playable pieces. Banking on some of the younger players’ development is fine, and you don’t want to block anyone from a breakout, but Nebraska’s top priority in the portal is probably to bring in a linebacker with proven solid Power 4 starting experience. Bringing back Gbayor would be ideal, but he appears likely to follow White to Florida State based on the rumor mill. In addition to one stone-cold-lock starter, NU probably wants a couple more linebackers with some playing experience in college football, either rotational P4 guys or lower-FBS-conference or FCS starters. The defense has rotated five guys at these two spots while operating the 3-3-5, and right now it has one on the roster who has seen any real playing time. This has be multiple solid vets or younger players with upside.
A Proven Edge Rusher, And Depth
Similar to the linebacker spot, Nebraska’s edge room will lose a ton of snaps, with starting JACK linebacker MJ Sherman graduating, defensive ends Jimari Butler and Kai Wallin transferring, and rush specialists James Williams and Princewill Umanmielen also hitting the portal. Sherman and Butler were both solid if unspectacular contributors whom you probably don’t want to lose but also shouldn’t theoretically be difficult to replace, and Wallin was a non-factor in his time at Nebraska. But Umanmielen and Williams as sophomores were the team’s two best pure outside edge rushers, with 17.6% and 16.9% pass rush win rates per Pro Football Focus that were 26th and 39th nationally among all edge defenders to have at least 100 rushes last season. Their sack totals weren’t high, but the underlying numbers and film say both are very valuable players who were better than their counting stats. Those two sting the most of probably any losses NU has had in the last week.
Willis McGahee IV played 117 snaps as a true freshman at JACK despite all the edge depth NU had last season, avoiding a redshirt and producing great underlying numbers in a small sample. He’s likely the favorite to replace Sherman at the starting JACK spot, or whatever the hybrid rusher/APEX is called in the new defensive system. McGahee certainly isn’t the pass rush threat Umanmielen or Williams is, but he’s a physical player who held up on the edge as an 18-year-old against Big Ten teams and has a knack for causing havoc plays. Likewise, Cameron Lenhardt has been a rotational player as a true freshman and sophomore at the defensive end spot and is a pretty logical replacement for Butler. McGahee and Lenhardt are two fine early-down starters to bank on off both the underlying numbers and the film.
But what Nebraska completely lacks are pass rushers. Williams and Umanmielen were both poor players against the run and weren’t really on the field often on early downs, subbing in for passing situations or pressure packages as rush specialists. And without them, Nebraska has a severe lack of proven pass rush juice or ability to win one-on-one against Big Ten linemen. Among returnees to play at least 100 snaps, McGahee and Lenhardt have the two highest pass rush win rates … at 8.8% and 3.2%, respectively. That’s not going to cut it.
Elite edge rushers are like gold, and the ones that do hit the portal are going to be chased by everyone. But Nebraska’s No. 2 priority is to somehow find at least one edge defender who can win pass rush reps one-on-one. Could any of the transfer departees come back? This would be another spot to push for it. Williams seems very personally close with departing defensive line coach Terrance Knighton, and is already getting predictions to follow him to Florida State. But could Umanmielen be persuaded with a big NIL deal? I’d try it!
And beyond the need for a pass rusher, edge is just the position where NU lacks bodies and depth. After Lenhard and McGahee, the only edge players even on the roster currently are Maverick Noonan, Ismael Smith-Flores, David Hoffken, Leslie Black, and Mason Goldman. Those players are mostly first- and second-year freshmen who have played a combined 10 game snaps in their careers. High-profile signees Dawson Merritt and Malcolm Simpson will likely play at the spot, but that’s seven players to provide depth who have no collegiate experience. A couple established rotational bodies wouldn’t be the worst thing to bring in, either.
A Rover Safety
Priority No. 3 is also on defense, which should tell you something about where these two units stand: The defense is in flux, while the offense returns mostly young pieces with clear roles.
In the secondary, midseason injuries built depth in Nebraska’s corner and safety rooms, to the point both units will return some good experience heading into 2025. Malcolm Hartzog Jr., Marques Buford Jr. and Ceyair Wright are multi-season veterans and locks to start somewhere in Nebraska’s two corner and three safety spots, and Blye Hill and Jeremiah Charles both saw meaningful reps at corner with the starters this year and also probably are safe bets to be in the mix. NU also played true freshmen safeties Mario Buford and Rahmir Stewart for some real snaps, even burning Buford’s redshirt.
But, assuming Nebraska is sticking with the 3-3-5 defense, one place it doesn’t have a readymade replacement is at the Rover safety position that’s been manned by Isaac Gifford over the last two seasons. The Rover is the hardest job on a 3-3-5 structure, asked to alternatingly play deep over the top of routes like a true free safety, as well as come down and fill like a box linebacker in some Tampa 2 or Cover 3 variants. You need an athlete who can run well enough to stay over top of receivers deep down the field and who can also convincingly come up and play the run and tackle well in space. Gifford hasn’t been a superstar player by any stretch, but he’s been smart, physical and competent over 1,300 snaps in the last two seasons in the role, rarely giving up big plays in the run or pass games despite the strain on him. Stewart was the No. 2 Rover on the depth chart at the end of the season, but he also only appeared in three games while redshirting, and I think you probably want a more veteran option than a second-year freshman with 53 total snaps to his name to man such a key spot if you’re sticking with the 3-3-5.
There are already some good safeties hitting the portal. Purdue’s Dillon Thieneman is probably the platonic ideal of a Rover player, but he’s also probably going to have suitors better than Nebraska. FCS All-American Cole Wisniewski at North Dakota State but seems like a good fit for his size, ranginess, and history as a linebacker. Lower-end options would include Louisville’s Devin Neal — who NU already contacted when he entered the portal midseason — and New Mexico’s Tavian Combs, who’s been a previous safety starter in a 3-3-5 scheme before.
A High-End Outside Receiver
Elite receiving weapons do hit the portal but typically end up at the best programs or offenses; last year’s receivers in the top 50 overall of On3’s transfer rankings went to Oregon, Texas, Ole Miss, Louisville, and Notre Dame.
Nebraska has done well in recent years at pulling quality transfer receivers out of the bargain bin: Samori Toure, Trey Palmer, and Marcus Washington were all unheralded transfers who ended up being starting-caliber or better options out wide for the Scott Frost staff, and Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor this year helped bring a substantial floor-raise to a receiver room that arguably was the worst in the major conferences in 2023.
But you only have to shop on the cheap when you don’t have money. Nebraska now has real currency to attract a top receiving weapon in the portal: An elite young quarterback who will be playing in a prolific passing scheme.
These top receivers want to play with the best passers in the sport and in the best offenses so that they can put up numbers that catch the attention of the NFL. NU hasn’t had a quarterback or offensive identity really able to draw any of these types of players in at any point in the transfer portal era, but with Dylan Raiola showing exciting improvement as a processor over the final three games of the regular season and Dana Holgorsen installing the Air Raid, NU should be able to actually put itself in the mix for high-impact receiving targets toward the top of the portal. And not a, “Oh, this guy could probably start for us,” find late like the staff has gone after in the past — NU should seek a weapon out wide that scares defenses and can tilt coverage.
Receivers have become the most dependable offensive currency in college football outside of quarterbacks, and Palmer is the only real scary wideout weapon Nebraska has had in the last five years. Most truly elite offenses have two or three in one season. Jacory Barney Jr. probably has NU’s slot role locked up and seems to be on-track to be one of these difference-maker types of wideout, and Jaylen Lloyd also seems likely to be the starter at the Z position next year and has been hyper-efficient in a small sample size through his true freshman and sophomore seasons. Carter Nelson is too talented to not be involved somehow. Janiran Bonner is an interesting move/matchup piece, but he essentially operated as a tight end after Holgorsen took over, and it’s unclear if a position change could be coming there. There are a bunch of other young receivers who haven’t seen the field and no one has evaluations on.
So, overall, right now the room looks like it has one plus player in Barney, and two or three more solid receiving weapons, depending on how you classify Bonner. That’s probably functional/fine, but if the goal for this offense is to make a big leap under the Air Raid, going into the portal and snagging a high-end option seems necessary. A bigger body/ball-winner type who can play at the X spot or on the outside would probably be the best fit for the room; NU doesn’t really have a player type like that after Banks leaves and has plenty of smaller, fast guys.
Raiola alone might not let Nebraska shop at the very top of the market, but it should aim for an already productive Power 4 player or a hyper productive lower-conference player who can come in with bona fides right away. Kentucky transfer Dane Key would seem to make a lot of sense; Key is a 6’3 outside target who has over 1,800 career receiving yards in the SEC, and he had his most productive season last year under receivers coach Daikiel Shorts, who was just hired to the same position by Nebraska.
Snagging one of these players may seem like a luxury than a need, but when you have a quarterback like Raiola, you have a rare chance to draw these types of players in to your program. Nebraska needs to take it.
A Starting-Caliber Interior Defensive Linemen (Or Two)
Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher formed one of the best interior line duos in the country over the last two years, and their graduation will leave a big hole in the defense. NU probably isn’t going to find 1:1 replacements for the disruption those two caused, but it also has to make sure there isn’t a huge drop-off or that its interior line doesn’t become a liability, as what happened in 2022.
A few interesting pieces are already on the roster: Elijah Jeudy, NU’s No. 3 interior defensive lineman over the past two season, has already said he’ll return and is a fine/functional rotational player. Riley Van Poppel improved his play strength from his true freshman season and impressed me in his limited action while redshirting in 2024. True freshman Keona Davis saw the field for almost 100 snaps as a true freshman this year in some key games on a unit stacked with upperclassmen; the play wasn’t always great, but his athleticism and explosiveness is evident. Those three form an interesting starting core, and Brodie Tagaloa, Sua Lefotu, and Dylan Parrott all saw the field as depth in blowouts. There’s not nothing here, and plenty of room for any of these players to make a big leap.
But I think there’s still a big need, though, to add a reliable veteran — or two — to the IDL spot. You don’t need to court a superstar — you don’t want to block breakouts from Van Poppel or Davis — but getting someone you reliably know can play competent Big Ten would go a long way toward stabilizing the room after the losses of Hutmacher and Robinson. If Van Poppel and Davis are good to go right away? Great, the transfers can be depth. But if not, you’ve got an insurance policy on your A and B gap defense not going off a cliff in 2025.
And, anecdotally, interior defensive linemen would also seem to be a market inefficiency in the portal. The top guys go to the big programs, but bargain hunting in the IDL ranks seems to net teams good players. Indiana snagged CJ West and James Carpenter — two all-conference players from smaller G5 leagues — in the dregs of the portal; both ended up being good starters for them in the Big Ten. It seems as if IDLs get pushed down transfer boards by more exciting positions.
Cole Brevard of Purdue and Enyce Sledge of Illinois are both nose tackles with starting Big Ten experience, and James Thompson of Wisconsin is a 3-tech who was a competent starter for the Badgers in 2023 before an injury cut his season short this year. I can’t imagine any of those players will be out of Nebraska’s price bracket?
PROBABLY SHOULD GETS:
A Veteran Backup QB, And Maybe A Younger Developmental QB, Too
Daniel Kaelin’s transfer will leave Nebraska with just three scholarship quarterbacks for 2025: Raiola, Heinrich Haarberg, and incoming true freshman T.J. Lateef. If the plan is to redshirt Lateef, then it’s really two, and Rhule said on signing day that Haarberg was going to explore playing other positions, so there may just be one playable scholarship QB on the roster?1
That makes it imperative for NU to at least go find a veteran quarterback to come in and be the No. 2 behind Raiola. And it may also want to add a younger redshirt freshman or sophomore-type, too, to replace Kaelin.
I doubt any high-end option would sign up for either of those jobs, but there should be some veteran cast offs from bigger programs who know they don’t have a starting or NFL future and would be willing to come in and serve as depth. Maybe with the help of some small NIL funds or a fast-track into a grad assistant spot after they’re done playing? I think this is a lesser priority right now, as it may be easier to find in these QBs in the spring window, but there are already dozens of quarterbacks in the portal and not that many open starting spots. There should be opportunities to add some depth here and not have it be a horrible player.
A Good Kicker
Poor placekicking alone arguably cost Nebraska wins in the Illinois and Iowa games. John Hohl seemed to stabilize at some points down the stretch, but he also missed plenty of makeable kicks even in that stretch that proved costly. Tristan Alvano is still on the roster, but what we saw from him wasn’t much better. I don’t think any kicker we’ve seen has earned the right to come back without high-level competition.
Good, proven placekickers hit the portal each year. Lots of schools will want them, but, at this point, Nebraska can’t afford to not get a dependable option at this spot, whatever the cost. NU trusted its in-house development last year, and it backfired to the tune of two losses. Rhule can’t afford to have special teams be this much of a continued drag on the program. It’s time to stop screwing around with this and go pay a good player.
NICE TO HAVES:
A Right Offensive Tackle
Much like the secondary, midseason injuries and turmoil turned the offensive line from a group that would face a mass exodus this offseason into one that will return a lot of experience. Injuries to Teddy Prochazka and Turner Corcoran meant that redshirt freshman Gunnar Gottula made eight starts at left tackle, and Micah Mazzccua’s midseason discipline installed junior Henry Lutovsky in as the starter at right guard for almost all of conference play. If Corcoran comes back for his COVID-19 year, four of the five spots on the projected starting line are pretty clear: Prochazka or Gottula at left tackle, Corcoran at left guard (his more natural position), Justin Evans-Jenkins at center (also his more natural position), and Lutovsky at right guard.
That would leave just one question mark, at the right tackle spot. One of Prochazka or Gottula could flip to the right side (though offensive linemen switching sides is hard), and Nebraska seems to have some in-house tackle options it likes already in Grant Seagren, Brock Knutson, and Tyler Knaak. It’s also got some young, former high-profile recruits in Grant Brix and Jacob Hood who could emerge at the spot.
But it may not be the worst thing to go out and get an experienced option as insurance should none of those things happen. Elite tackles are also hard to come by in the portal, but if NU could find a functional/average senior looking for a one-year chance to compete — similar to what it did with Mazzccua at guard last offseason — that could solidify the line, or offer quality depth should one of the younger players emerge.
A Home-Run Hitting Tailback
Dante Dowdell and Emmett Johnson are probably installed as NU’s two main ball-carriers entering 2025 after strong seasons as sophomores. But neither has great straight-line speed, with Dowdell more of a power option and Johnson shifty in a phone booth but also not a burner. Rhule has talked about turning more 20-yard runs into 80-yard runs, and to do that Nebraska probably needs a back with more juice.
Incoming freshman Jamarion Parker could be that guy, with track speed. Freshman can certainly play early at running back, but with Rahmir Johnson graduating and Gabe Ervin transferring, adding another veteran player to the tailback room also would make sense. And the more explosive option the better for the composition of the room.
DEVELOPMENTAL PLAYS
Receiver Depth?
If you’re switching to the Air Raid, you need as many good receivers as you can possibly get. Most Air Raid teams seem to operate with five or six wideouts getting consistent targets through a season.
Nebraska will currently return 16 receivers on its roster, 13 of whom were in their first or second year of college football this season. Most of those players haven’t played actual snaps to evaluate, and I’m not privy to the staff’s internal grades or opinions, but if NU doesn’t feel good about at least a handful of those players being able to contribute in 2025, it probably needs to go snag some functional depth for the immediate future. Look at Wisconsin the past two years for an example of what happens when you don’t have the receiving talent to switch to a pass-heavy scheme.
Safety Depth?
This one will also depend more on the staff’s internal evaluations that none of us are privy to. Mario Buford and Stewart seemed to be the top two backup safeties off the bench this year as true freshman, and Nebraska also has Koby Bretz, Gage Stenger, Roger Gradney, Rex Guthrie, Derek Branch, D’Andre Barnes, and Caleb Benning at the spot. It also added two true freshman in its recruiting class in Jeremiah Jones2 and Tanner Terch. There are plenty of numbers on the roster.
But the staff also pretty much never took Gifford and DeShon Singleton off the field in 2024. Each played over 640 snaps in the regular season — the two highest snap-getters on the defense — which tells me they didn’t really trust much of that depth. Singleton at times did not seem like a Big Ten-caliber player and almost never left the field the past two years; if he’d had a reliable backup on the roster, I think we’d have seen them.
It could have just been as simple as preserving redshirts or some other reason we don’t know about. But if the staff doesn’t feel comfortable with at least a handful of these guys being playable options in 2025, it should look for some immediate depth in the portal.
NAIA walk-on Jalyn Gramstad could also return for a COVID season, if I’m reading his situation correctly.
I don’t get much into recruiting, but Jones is my pick to be my hipster favorite player in the class. I love a safety who looks like he should be playing on the defensive line!