Gators head coach Jon Sumrall has hit the ground running this week to build next year's roster with help from the transfer portal, which opens on Friday. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
Carter's Corner: A Deep Dive Into Gators' History in Transfer Portal Era
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The fight is an unfair one, and frankly, not great for business for college football programs constantly battling perception vs. reality drama.
Since the regular season ended, social media has been flooded with players across the country announcing their plans to enter the transfer portal, which opens Friday and closes Jan. 16. For now, all fans see are players leaving, with none arriving.
That includes Gators fans, who, after a 4-8 season, probably shouldn't be as concerned as perhaps other fan bases. Still, there is comfort in the familiarity of the roster and uncertainty about the future under new head coach Jon Sumrall and a staff still finding its way around the Heavener Football Training Center.
I've shared my sentiment several times with fans who've asked what's going on via social media. If players don't want to be here or are told they are not wanted here, they should move on for everyone involved. And we're not exactly talking about the 1996 or 2006 Gators. The Gators are 29-34 over the past five seasons.
Of course, there is much more going on behind the scenes, and transparency in the process is limited due to a lack of regulation. Agents are working overtime to get the best deals for their clients. That is how the game works, like it or not, and until big-time college sports make the full-fledged leap to professional sports, contract terms and details that are public in the pros remain shrouded in mystery in the current collegiate landscape.
The transfer portal launched on Oct. 15, 2018, and changed college sports forever. Who would have imagined that a former teacher in Charleston, S.C., a graduate of a now-defunct private Baptist school named Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi, W.Va., and the former NCAA Director of Governance would alter college athletics more than, say, Nick Saban or Mike Krzyzewski?
Well, you're not alone.
Chart: ChatGPT.com based on information provided in Florida player charts below.
Most people have never heard of Susan Peal. I know I hadn't until this week while watching ESPN's "Paid to Play: Understanding College Sports in 2025."
Peal is the creator of the transfer portal, a project she began in 2016 to ease communication among athletes, coaches, and administrators when a player is interested in transferring to another school.
"It amazes me,'' Peal told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap during the show. "I created something that I thought, 'Hey, this is a database that is going to help people out.' I never dreamed of the popularity, and just the word 'transfer portal.' I didn't realize it would be on signs at GameDay. It exploded."
Once the transfer portal launched, it altered the landscape and opened unforeseen possibilities. Even more so when, in April 2021, the NCAA instituted a one-time transfer rule that allowed student-athletes to transfer once without having to sit out a season. When the NCAA changed that policy in 2024 to allow athletes to transfer without restrictions on eligibility, a tidal wave formed and continues to swell.
The transfer portal, coupled with the name, image and likeness (NIL) legislation that went into effect in July 2021, created the pay-for-play market that currently exists but without the real-world guardrails of professional sports.
There are no tampering rules. The College Sports Commission was created to monitor revenue sharing and the NIL space, but it remains a work in progress. For now, everything appears transactional day by day until the portal closes and movement is halted.
With that backdrop established, I thought I would take a look at how the Gators have been impacted during the transfer portal era.
And since transfer season is dominating the daily news cycle in college football, I want to have a little fun, too. In the charts below, I have compiled data from a combination of sources – most notably the online transfer databases of 247Sports.com and On3.com, and reliable social media sources – to chart every UF player who has come and gone via the transfer portal since October 2018.
If I missed anyone, please let me know. Meanwhile, since everyone has an opinion on every player, here are a few of mine to add a light touch to this detail-overloaded piece.
Here goes:
Best player the Gators have signed via the transfer portal? It seems lazy since he is the first player the Gators added after the portal became a thing, but Jonathan Greenard gets my vote. Remember, he was a grad transfer, and for the first couple of years, many of the players in the portal were veterans seeking a fresh start in their final year of eligibility. Greenard made a significant impact in his only season, helping the Gators go 11-2 and win the Orange Bowl. He is in his sixth year in the NFL and has 38 career sacks.
Jonathan Greenard after his final game with the Gators in the 2019 Orange Bowl. (UAA file photo)
Second-best player to sign with Florida from the portal? Offensive lineman O'Cyrus Torrence is my choice. He played only one season with the Gators after following former head coach Billy Napier from Louisiana, but he earned first-team All-American honors and earned a brick outside The Swamp.
My favorite player Florida has signed from the portal? I've got to go with quarterback Graham Mertz, who, from the time he stepped on campus, was nothing but a professional, and while his time at UF was cut short due to a season-ending knee injury, he played well enough during the 2023 season to silence some of the critics.
The player I thought would have a significant impact and didn't? Offensive lineman Kiyaunta Goodwin had the physical tools to be a star. He also had a difficult upbringing, and when his mother, who was back in Louisville, passed away not long after he arrived, Goodwin left before playing a game.
The player who left, I thought, would become a star? Defensive lineman Khris Bogle began to make his presence felt in 2021 and reminded me of Greenard in many ways. He opted to transfer in the transition from Dan Mullen to Napier and landed at Michigan State. He was a contributor with the Spartans, but never reached the level I had envisioned.
The player I never could understand the fuss about from those obsessed with recruiting? Running back Demarkcus Bowman was a five-star out of high school and signed with Clemson. He transferred to UF and could never crack the lineup. He was small and not especially flashy, and when he transferred to UCF, I didn't expect much to change. It didn't.
The player who most benefited by leaving Florida? My vote goes to receiver Caleb Douglas, who was underutilized with the Gators and has proven his case over the past two seasons at Texas Tech. Douglas has flourished with the Red Raiders and, based on their NIL collective's reputation, has probably been paid handsomely. Oh, and he is also playing in the College Football Playoff.
Receiver Caleb Douglas has blossomed in two seasons at Texas Tech. (UAA file photo)
The player I knew was a significant loss the moment I saw he was in the transfer portal: Linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper was good player at UF on the verge of being a standout. He left for Missouri and, after a pair of strong seasons with the Tigers, has proven his worth in three seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
The player who could have helped but was gone? I'll go with edge rusher Antwaun Ryland-Powell, who tore up the Atlantic Coast Conference in two seasons at Virginia Tech. The previous staff undervalued Ryland-Powell because he was undersized. But if you watched him play and listened to what he said, you could tell he had a hunger to be great. He fulfilled his potential with the Hokies.
The current player who has announced plans to transfer that I'd most like to see the Gators keep? The new staff flipped tight end Amir Jackson back onto the roster, which was a very good move in my opinion. Maybe they can do the same with freshman edge rusher Jayden Woods. It will likely be costly since Woods started to flash on the field late in the season, but he could be worth the investment. There are no guarantees, and it took me a while to warm up to Woods since many had anointed him a future star in preseason camp without any real sample size, but it's clear he has a huge upside and can be a very good player at the collegiate level.
OK, here is a look at Florida's history with the transfer portal. As you can see, defensive backs and receivers move the most, and Florida's best acquisitions have typically come along the offensive and defensive lines.
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