The new college football season is starting to take more and more shape as time for its official kick off gets closer and closer. While all preseason practices as well as media rounds are almost upon us, most teams are already looking to finish up their roster trimmings before getting down to the nitty gritty of getting ready for a new season of college football action. All across the internet you can already find NCAA football odds lists and predictions as to which teams are looking best to make this season one that really counts and stands out in everyone’s books, with one new advantage making headlines for this upcoming season.
With the NCAA allowing football players to be able to transfer from one school to another and automatically be able to be eligible for playing, instead of having to wait a certain amount of time, this upcoming season has already seen a massive exodus of players moving from one school to another looking for better chances to upgrade their status towards being able to make a career out of playing pro football. With all this said, here are our top three picks for college football transfer players that will have an immediate impact on their new teams.
Henry To’oto’o, LB, Tennessee To Alabama
Former Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Henry To’oto’o and Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide football team seem like a match made in heaven. By all means, if any player, both on the defensive and offensive side of the ball wishes to have a clear shot at making it big in the pro’s, playing under Nick Saban’s guide will always be a perfect way to get that train rolling. To’oto’o, the former Volunteer’s linebacker who’s coming off two seasons in Tennessee that saw him put up numbers of 140 tackles, 12,5 of which were tackles for a loss, will be the newest addition to the defending national champions Alabama defense, not bad, not bad at all.
While To’oto’o was originally slated to play for Alabama at the beginning of his career, he ended up taking Tennessee’s offer where he became one of the most solid defenders in the game. A move to Alabama, where he can become a pivotal piece of a defensive unit that is lining up to be one of the best in all of college football will only help To’oto’o’s chances to strengthen his NFL draft stock much more come 2022.
Eric Gray, RB, Tennessee to Oklahoma
This season is looking more and more as the one where Tennessee had to be the team to take the hardest blows when it came to seeing players leave through the transfer portal to other schools. Just like with the previously mentioned To’oto’o leaving Tennessee for Alabama, star RB Eric Gray, who can easily be considered as the Vols’ top offensive weapon last season decided to pack his bags and take his offensive talents to Oklahoma for a spot with the Sooners.
While he was the one, true shining spots in a rather bad offense in Tennessee, Gray will now have a chance to play for a team known for pushing out offensive pro ready stars year in and year out. While he’ll have to share the RB duties with returning Oklahoma all-star Kennedy Brooks, there should be more than enough touches for both of them to rake up true draft enticing numbers. A great move by both Gray and Oklahoma.
Arik Gilbert, WR, LSU To Georgia
While officially committing to Florida as a tight end, the top tight end prospect in the 2020 class, Georgia native Arik Gilbert decided that while going to Florida sounded like a good idea, there’s no better place than home. Gilbert decided to transfer to the Georgia Bulldogs and also switch his position from tight end to wide receiver, a move that could see him seriously benefit moving forward, especially in a Georgia team that is known for being an offensive scoring machine.
While Gilbert originally passed on Georgia and Alabama as well to go play for LSU, his time to come back to Georgia and have a true go at a career that could see him flourish as a Bulldog is coming. Having a player as versatile as Gilbert pairing up next to Georgia’s tight end Darnell Washington already sounds like one of the most lethal combos in the upcoming college football season.