SEC Transfer Portal Update: Day 5

By Chris Marler

The 2026 NCAA transfer portal opened Friday, Jan 2 and has been open for five days now. 

By the Numbers 

The first weekend of the portal ended with nearly 4,000 players entering the portal. That’s nearly 1,300 more players than a year ago. It’s also roughly 31.5% of all scholarship FBS players. 

QB Chaos in the SEC 

The coaching carousel was wild in the SEC this year, but the quarterback carousel may be just as crazy from the looks of the first few days in the portal. 

On Sunday, Nebraska landed a commitment from former Notre Dame QB Kenny Minchey. Less than 24 hours later he flipped his commitment to Kentucky. That started a potential domino effect because of the rumors swirling over the weekend that Sam Leavitt, the No. 1 overall quarterback in the portal, may be taking his talents to Lexington. Leavitt then cancelled a trip to Texas Tech and went to LSU for an official visit that continued into Tuesday. 

On Tuesday morning, former Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons announced he was committing to Missouri. Less than an hour later, former South Florida QB Byrum Brown finally made his commitment to Auburn official. 

Copy Paste on the Plains 

We’ve seen that bringing a large portion of a roster from a Group of Six program along with a new head coach to a Power Four school can work. Look no further than when Curt Cignetti went to Indiana from James Madison and brought 13 of his players from JMU with him. 

Alex Golesh seems to be taking that blueprint and using it at Auburn. So far, eight players from South Florida have committed or signed with Auburn. 

Exodus by SEC Teams 

These numbers will fluctuate rapidly, but here are the total players that have entered the portal for each SEC team according to 247Sports as of Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 6:00 p.m. CT.

330 players from the SEC have entered the portal, and 100 players have committed and/or signed with SEC teams. 

SEC Players Entering the Portal

• Auburn – 33
• Florida –  31
• Mississippi State – 30
• Arkansas – 30
• LSU – 26
• Tennessee – 24
• Oklahoma – 23
• Missouri – 22
• South Carolina – 21
• Texas – 18
• Alabama – 17 
• Kentucky – 17
• Vanderbilt – 14 
• Texas A&M – 13
• Georgia – 8
• Ole Miss – 3

Players Signed by SEC team 

• Arkansas – 12
• Florida –  10
• Texas A&M – 10
• Auburn – 9
• Oklahoma – 9
• Ole Miss – 8
• Kentucky – 7
• LSU – 7
• Mississippi State – 5
• Vanderbilt – 5
• Missouri – 4
• South Carolina – 4
• Texas – 4
• Alabama – 3 
• Tennessee – 2
• Georgia – 1

After the first weekend of visits for teams, some commitments to new schools are finally starting to roll in. Beginning tomorrow, we’ll have a daily update of how many commitments each school has landed, so far.