We know Michigan’s class worked out to perfection, but what about the rest of the conference’s transfers?
We’ve discussed at length how the Michigan Wolverines utilized the transfer portal in recent years. The 2023 portal class was one for the record books, as Michigan brought in five starters (Josh Wallace, James Turner, LaDarius Henderson, A.J. Barner, Drake Nugent) and three players that might as well have been starters (Josaiah Stewart, Myles Hinton, Ernest Hausmann).
No other Big Ten transfer class could stack up to that. But how did the rest of the conference do in retrospect?
According to 247Sports, Indiana had the second-best transfer class in the conference, though that appears to be mainly due to quantity, not quality, as the Hoosiers brought in 23 transfers. Keep in mind, also, that these rankings are offseason rankings and not indicative of how they played in the 2023 season.
Tom Allen essentially replaced his entire defensive line with the portal. He had one definite hit in Western Michigan edge Andre Carter, but had a bunch of misses. Indiana also brought in quarterback Tayven Jackson, who struggled mightily and was benched in favor of Brendan Sorsby following the Michigan game.
After Indiana, Maryland had the next highest ranking. Maryland tried to rebuild the offensive line and wide receiving corps via the portal and didn’t have much success. The offensive line’s troubles caused Taulia Tagovailoa to backslide quite a bit in his final year, and the wide receivers were simply average.
Ohio State sat at No. 6 in the conference with nine transfers. They had quite a few transfer recruiting wins over Michigan such as cornerback Davison Igbinosun (Ole Miss ), safety Ja’Had Carter (Syracuse), and linebacker Nigel Glover (Northwestern). Igbinosun turned out to be one of the better corners in the conference, so he and offensive lineman Josh Simmons (San Diego State) were the crown jewels of Ohio State’s class. Carter and Glover have since re-entered the transfer portal.
Mel Tucker attempted to save his job by bringing in the No. 8 ranked Big Ten transfer class, highlighted by edge Tunmise Adeleye (Texas A&M ) and running back Nathan Carter (UConn ). Carter was a moderately productive Big Ten running back, but Adeleye flamed out and has since transferred to Texas State.
At the bottom of the Big Ten rankings was Northwestern. With only four transfers, the class was small but it proved to be much better than anticipated. The Wildcats brought in starting quarterback Ben Bryant (Cincinnati), who threw for 1,807 yards in nine games and had 13 touchdowns compared to six interceptions. The Wildcats also picked up wide receivers A.J Henning (Michigan) and Cam Johnson (Arizona State ). Picking up your starting quarterback and two of your top three receivers from the portal is not too shabby when your class is only four players.
Individually, the Big Ten did not bring in a large portion of the top players via the transfer portal, but those top end players seemed to produce well. In 247Sports’ top-25 players to transfer in the 2023 offseason, the Big Ten is represented by No. 4 Ernest Hausmann (Michigan), No. 13 Davison Igbinosun (Ohio State), No. 17 Hudson Card (Purdue), No. 18 LaDarius Henderson (Michigan), No. 21 Andre Carter (Indiana), and No. 24 Ja’Had Carter (Ohio State). All those players represented a position of need and had at least moderate amounts of success.
Card managed to throw for 2,387 yards at Purdue, good for fifth in the conference last year. Fellow quarterback transfers Tanner Mordecai (Wisconsin) and Luke Altmyer (Illinois) finished sixth and seventh in the Big Ten in passing yards, respectively.
To recap, the Big Ten West (R.I.P.) had some moderate success at the quarterback position, but a high amount of players who transferred into the conference in 2023 hopped right back into the portal in 2024.
Michigan’s transfer portal class was far and away the best in the conference last season, as it propelled them to the National Championship.