College football September transfer surprises

The champion players disposable successful assemblage football's transportation portal are making millions these days, and the programs assembling apical portal recruiting classes are the ones consenting to walk the most. But marque nary mistake: Talent valuation is inactive precise overmuch the sanction of the crippled during portal season.

When thousands of players go disposable astatine the aforesaid time, determination volition ever beryllium bully players who get overlooked and under-recruited. Four afloat weeks into this assemblage shot season, it's clip to observe the September surprises.

This is not precisely an aboriginal all-transfer team; we'll get to that aboriginal successful the season. Consider the pursuing much similar the all-sleeper team.

None of these players made our offseason rankings of the top 100 transfers for 2025, but they've been awesome and productive done nonconference play. Some brought superior acquisition to their caller programs portion others are yet getting a changeable to start. This squad includes hidden gems from the Group of 5, FCS and adjacent Division II arsenic good arsenic Power 4 players.

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Offense | Defense | Special teams

OFFENSE

QB: Tommy Castellanos, Florida State

Transferred from: Boston College

Back successful December, ESPN ranked the top 25 quarterbacks available successful the wintertime portal window. Castellanos was No. 16 connected the database aft a pugnacious play nether Bill O'Brien astatine Boston College that ended with the QB getting benched and leaving the program. Now that helium has recovered a cleanable acceptable astatine Florida State, that ranking seems mode excessively low. The 5-foot-11, 201-pound elder is disconnected to an fantabulous commencement successful Tallahassee, ranking 3rd nationally successful QBR (91.6) and 2nd successful full yards per play (11.3) portion starring his Seminoles squad backmost into the AP apical 10 aft their 2-10 descent a twelvemonth ago. He talked a large crippled going into the play opener against Alabama and backed it up with a dazzling show successful a stunning 31-17 upset. Three games in, the Seminoles person the No. 1 scoring discourtesy successful the state astatine 58 points per crippled and an accidental to go the wide ACC rubric front-runner if they tin instrumentality down Virginia (Friday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN) and No. 2 Miami implicit these adjacent 2 weeks.

RB: Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss

Transferred from: Missouri

After playing sparingly during his freshman play astatine Mizzou, Lacy is emerging arsenic 1 of assemblage football's champion young moving backs. He ranks 3rd among SEC backs with 405 yards from scrimmage done 4 games and has a conference-leading 7 rushing TDs. The sophomore opened the play with back-to-back 100-yard performances and has shown an awesome blend of toughness and way speed. He's a 210-pound backmost who has already deed a max velocity of 21.6 mph this season, fastest among each SEC backs, according to information powered by Teamworks.

RB: Cam Cook, Jacksonville State

Transferred from: TCU

Cook rushed for a team-high 460 yards and 9 TDs past play astatine TCU but opted to participate the port...