The college football transfer portal officially opens Jan. 2, though countless players have already announced their transfer intentions and there is plenty of buzz where the biggest names might land.
Hitting on the right transfers can transform a program into a national contender — see Texas Tech’s transformation this year — and we already broke down the 10 most impactful transfers at the Power Four level (plus 20 honorable mentions to be thorough).
But for many players, the right move is to the best Group of Five-level opportunity to showcase their abilities and cash in later with a transfer up — or back up — to the P4.
So here we look at the 10 transfers who made the biggest impact at Group of Five schools in 2025.
Top 10 G5 Impact Transfers In 2025
1. Jacksonville State RB Cam Cook
Cook spent two seasons at TCU and showed he was a capable Power Four back, rushing for 460 yards and 9 TDs in 2024, but he wanted a bigger opportunity to showcase his full potential and found it at Jacksonville State.
This season with the Gamecocks, Cook led all FBS players with 1,659 rushing yards while averaging 5.6 yards per carry and scoring 16 touchdowns. He added 286 receiving yards.
Cook was named a third-team AP All-America selection and the Conference USA MVP.
He is set to re-enter the transfer portal and will surely get another chance to show he can be a star at the P4 level as well.
2. Tulane QB Jake Retzlaff
Retzlaff didn’t even make AAC third-team — with North Texas’ Drew Mestemaker, South Florida’s Byrum Brown and Navy’s Blake Horvath taking the quarterback honors — but that doesn’t deter us from giving the high-profile BYU transfer some shine here.
Let’s face it, Tulane won the most competitive Group of Five conference and played in the College Football Playoff, leaning heavily on its dual-threat quarterback every step of the way. That’s more than enough to merit inclusion near the top of this list. What could be more “impactful” than that?
Retzlaff passed for 3,168 yards, 15 TDs and 7 INTs, and while the TD/INT ratio is gaudy, how about 634 rushing yards and 16 TDs on the ground from the QB (including 4 in a 34-27 win over eventual ACC champion Duke)? That’s 31 total TDs while leading a team to 11 wins, a conference championship and the CFP, where he completed 20 of 35 passes for 306 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT in the 41-10 loss to Ole Miss.
3. Western Michigan DE Nadame Tucker
After three quiet years at Houston, where he totaled just 10 tackles and 0 sacks, Tucker transferred to Western Michigan and found the opportunity he was seeking in a move that paid huge dividends for both himself and the Broncos.
Tucker broke in a big way this fall, leading the entire FBS with 21 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks, along with 55 total tackles and 4 forced fumbles. He was an absolute menace for the Western Michigan defense, as the Broncos won 10 games, the MAC championship and capped their season with a dominant 41-6 win over Kennesaw State in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
Tucker was named a third-team AP All-America selection, a second-team Walter Camp All-American and the MAC defensive player of the year.
4. UNLV QB Anthony Colandrea
After starting 17 games over two seasons at Virginia, Colandrea transferred to UNLV and had a career year while passing for 3,459 yards, 23 TDs and 9 INTs and rushing for 649 yards and 10 TDs. His 4,108 yards of total offense ranked third nationally behind only North Texas QB Drew Mestemaker and Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia.
Colandrea led UNLV to 10 wins and was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.
He has since re-entered the portal and will look to move back up to the P4 ranks for his senior season.
5. San Jose State WR Danny Scudero
After a terrific redshirt freshman season at Sacramento State, Scudero made the short move to San Jose State in 2025 and led the entire FBS with 1,291 receiving yards while ranking fifth with 88 catches and tied for 12th with 10 receiving TDs.
He was a second-team AP All-America selection (also second-team All-American by AFCA and Walter Camp) and first-team All-Mountain West pick.
Scudero had three games with at least 180 receiving yards — 7 catches for 215 yards and 2 TDs in a win over Hawaii, 9 catches for 189 yards and 1 TD in a loss to Central Michigan and 10 catches for 180 yards and 4 TDs in a loss to Wyoming.
He is back in the transfer portal again looking for his next opportunity and ready to cash in on that success.
6. UConn LB Bryun Parham
Parham spent three years at San Jose State, one at Washington and then balled out in his redshirt senior season at UConn, posting a career year with 125 total tackles (62 solo), 14.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and an interception.
UConn is an independent and not part of an actual G5 conference, but we’re counting him here because he deserves the recognition.
Parham helped UConn to 9 wins and delivered big in the biggest games. In the Huskies’ 37-34 upset win over eventual ACC champion Duke, he had a season-high 16 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and recovery and an interception. He also had 14 tackles and 2 sacks vs. ACC foe Boston College, 15 tackles and a sack vs. Rice, 10 tackles and 3 sacks vs. Delaware and 7 tackles and a sack vs. Syracuse among other big games.
7. Liberty RB Evan Dickens
After two years at Georgia Tech, Dickens transferred to Liberty for a bigger opportunity and went on to rank third in the entire FBS in rushing yards per game (121.7) this season, ninth in total rushing yards (1,339) and tied for fifth with 16 rushing TDs (plus a receiving TD).
Even more impressive, he did the bulk of that over the second half of the season. After averaging 13 carries through his first six games, Dickens averaged a ridiculous 30.2 carries over the final five games while totaling 945 rushing yards and 12 TDs in that span.
That included 22 carries for 217 yards and 4 TDs vs. Delaware, 30 carries for 228 yards and 2 TDs vs. Louisiana Tech and 43 attempts for 267 yards and 4 TDs in a double-overtime loss to Kennesaw State.
Just imagine if he’d gotten that workload all year? Dickens is also set to re-enter the transfer portal and will be an intriguing addition to a Power 4 program.
8. New Mexico LB Jaxton Eck
New Mexico matched its best win total (9) in more than four years in coach Jason Eck’s first season, and his son Jaxton Eck had a major role in making that happen.
The younger Eck earned FCS All-America honors at Idaho last season and was just as good in moving up to the FBS level this season. He was named the Mountain West co-Defensive Player of the Year, posting 128 tackles (65 solo), 6.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and a safety, while helping New Mexico to the biggest improvement in the country in rush defense (100.15 yards per game better) as the Lobos went from 131st in total defense last year (492.1 YPG) to 42nd this season (341.9 YPG).
Talk about impact!
9. Georgia Southern WR Camden Brown
After three quiet seasons at Auburn, Brown finally got his chance to flex a bit at Georgia Southern and leads all FBS receivers with 14 TDs. He finished with 65 catches for a program-record 1,079 yards and earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound playmaker had five 100-yard games and scored touchdowns in 9 of 13 games for the Eagles. That included 75 yards and 2 TDs vs. USC, 111 yards vs. James Madison, a season-high 12 catches for 158 yards and a TD vs. Southern Miss, 5 catches for 133 yards and 3 TDs vs. Coastal Carolina and 9 receptions for 157 yards and 2 TDs vs. Marshall.
10. Bowling Green LB Gideon ESPN Lampron
After three years at Dayton, including FCS All-American honors in 2024, Lampron transferred to Bowling Green, was named a team captain and led the team with 119 tackles (65 solo), 17.5 tackles for loss (tied for 3rd in the FBS), 2.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles to earn first-team All-MAC honors. He was 10th nationally in tackles per game at 9.92 with seven double-digit tackle performances.
And, yes, his middle name is actually ESPN.
Lampron is also headed back into the transfer portal to seek a bigger opportunity.
