By Tony Thomas
Teams are jockeying for position in the sweepstakes of humanity as they try to upgrade their rosters with the best players available in the portal. Here are the players that entered the portal today and their possible destinations-
QB Riley Leonard
Duke Blue Devils
6’4′ , 205 lbs
Not surprisingly, Leonard’s decision comes in the wake of his coach Mike Elko taking the Texas A&M job. 2023 was down year for Leonard as he only played in seven games after suffering an ankle injury in the loss to Notre Dame. This season, Leonard passed for only 1,102 yards, three touchdowns, and three INTs.
https://twitter.com/TheHQNerd/status/1642532561963368449
In 2022, Leonard threw for 2,967 yards, 20 TDs, and six INTs, completing 63% of his passes. He was 4th in the ACC in passing last year, passing for 228 yards per game. Leonard threw at least one touchdown pass in 12 of 13 games in 2022 and posted three games with over 300 yards passing.
Potential destinations for Leonard include Notre Dame, Auburn (he is an Alabama native), and he could reunite with Elko at Texas A&M.
QB Grayson McCall
Coastal Carolina
6’3′, 220 lbs
A grad transfer, McCall played in just seven games this season for the Chanticleers, throwing for 1,919 yards, 10 touchdowns, and six INTs. He completed 67% of his passes. He was injured against Arkansas State and missed the rest of the season after being taken off the field due to a head injury.
More Sports News
https://twitter.com/CoachTTrickett/status/1648870584351174657
In 2022, McCall threw for 2,700 yards, 24 touchdowns, and just 2 INTs. He eclipsed the 300-yard passing mark four times last season and went seven weeks straight without throwing an INT.
For his Coastal Carolina career, McCall passed for 10,005 yards, 88 touchdowns, 14 INTs, and completed 69% of his passes.
Possible landing spots for McCall are UCF, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Michigan State, Auburn, Nebraska, and Ohio State.
McCall was a 3-time Sun Belt the Conference Player of Year (2020-2022).
DL Joey Slackman
University of Pennsylvania
6’4′, 300 lbs
Slackman racked up 50 tackles, four sacks, one pass breakup, and four quarterback hurries this season in helping lead the Quakers to a 6-4 record. He made 11 tackles and recorded a sack in the game against Brown. In 2022, Slackman was named Honorable Mention All-Ivy League in 2022.
https://twitter.com/PennFB/status/1713279902785372232
For his Quaker career, Slackman recorded 115 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, two forced fumbles, and blocked a kick.
Interest in Slackman has come from Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Duke, Ga. Tech, Oregon State, Rutgers, UConn, Houston, Illinois, Louisville, Miami, UNC, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Florida.
OL Jalen Travis
Princeton
6’9′, 315 lbs
Travis helped Princeton to a 5-5 record in 2023. He was named 2nd Team All-Ivy League in 2022 and helped the Tigers rank #1 in passing offense and #2 in scoring offense.
https://twitter.com/PrincetonFTBL/status/1701294776270893094
Travis has garnered attention from Rutgers, South Carolina, Houston, Duke, Kansas, and Iowa State.
Hundreds of players have and will continue to enter the transfer portal in the coming weeks. Which teams will come out winners and which teams will be losers in the pigskin sweepstakes remains to be seen. The winning ticket number is…
