Black Friday Bargains: The Best College Football Transfer Portal Pickups of 2025

College football’s newest holiday tradition isn’t the rivalry-week fireworks or the coaching carousel; it’s transfer portal shopping season. With NIL, relaxed transfer rules, and unprecedented player movement, programs are retooling their rosters like NFL franchises, hunting for undervalued assets, instant-impact stars, and players who simply need the right home to unlock their potential.

While the portal has created bidding wars and rapid turnover, it has also given under-recruited standouts and late bloomers a path to stardom. And in 2025, several transfers didn’t just thrive — they reshaped the national landscape.

Here are the best “Black Friday bargains” of the 2025 college football season.

Fernando Mendoza, QB: Indiana (from Cal)

The most impactful transfer of the year and one of the best players in America, Fernando Mendoza has elevated Indiana into true national title territory. Mendoza has guided the Hoosiers to an 11–0 start and a No. 2 ranking in the College Football Playoff, all while showing outstanding command of Curt Cignetti’s offense. He shattered IU’s single-season passing touchdown record and has been ruthlessly efficient and composed.

According to PFSN, Mendoza carries a stunning 96.1 QB Impact Grade, the second-highest of any quarterback in the country, while leading the No. 1-ranked offense in college football.

Most expected Mendoza to excel under Cignetti. No one expected this — a near-lock for a Heisman seat in New York and a genuine candidate to be one of the first quarterbacks selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Trinidad Chambliss, QB: Ole Miss (from Ferris State)

No story in college football this year has been more compelling — or more improbable — than that of Trinidad Chambliss.

After starring at Division II Ferris State with over 3,000 yards and 51 touchdowns in 2024, Chambliss made the jump to Ole Miss in April. When Austin Simmons went down injured, Chambliss took control of the offense and never looked back. His savvy, maturity, and dual-threat ability have the Rebels on the brink of their first-ever College Football Playoff berth.

PFSN grades Chambliss at 92.4, making him the seventh-ranked quarterback nationally — a staggering rise for someone playing Division II football less than a year ago.

Under Lane Kiffin, his development has been one of the most impressive arcs of the season, and he’ll be must-watch television once the postseason arrives.

David Bailey, EDGE: Texas Tech (from Stanford)

It’s not just quarterbacks dominating the transfer portal headlines. David Bailey, the former Stanford edge rusher, has transformed Texas Tech’s defense into one of the most feared units in the country.

Ranked the No. 12 overall portal prospect by 247Sports, Bailey has delivered on that hype and then some. With 12.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, he’s been the defensive engine behind the Red Raiders’ 10–1 season, a potential Big 12 championship berth, and legitimate CFP contention.

Texas Tech needed a game-changing pass rusher. Bailey has been exactly that — and arguably the best defensive portal addition in the nation.

Ahmad Hardy, RB: Missouri (from Louisiana Monroe)

If there’s a theme among 2025’s best transfers, it’s this: when you bet on talent, you win big. Missouri struck pure gold with Ahmad Hardy, who flashed star potential as a freshman at Louisiana Monroe and has become one of the SEC’s most dangerous weapons. Hardy ranks second nationally in rushing with 1,403 yards and 15 touchdowns, and he delivered a 300-yard masterpiece — the second 300-yard rushing game in program history.

PFSN grades Hardy at 88.2, ranking him the sixth-best running back in the country and the leader of a Missouri ground attack that sits in the top 10 nationally in total rushing yards. Explosive, durable, and consistent, Hardy has elevated Mizzou’s offense to one of the nation’s elite rushing units, and he still has time left to build an even bigger legacy in Columbia.