Four ACC schools made The Athletic’s ranking of the top 25 transfer portal classes.

It’s no surprise Miami, Louisville and Virginia Tech were on the list.

The Hurricanes and Cardinals have traditionally done well in offseason free agency, and with James Franklin taking the reins in Blacksburg, it was expected the Hokies would cash in on some additions from Penn State and other Power 4 programs.

The surprise? The Cal Bears. Coach Tosh Lupoi brought in some talented offensive weapons to pair up with his young quarterback, Jaron-Keawe Sagaplutele.

How did everyone in the league fare? Here’s a closer look.

Note: All portal player and snap count data is from Pro Football Focus. Players and snaps added or lost are via the portal only (numbers do not include players lost via exhausted eligibility or draft declarations).

Boston College
2025 record: 2-10
Portal players added/lost: 25/29
Career snaps added/lost: 9,114/11,423
Top players added: QB Mason McKenzie (Saginaw Valley State), RB Evan Dickens (Liberty), OG Owen Snively (Eastern Michigan), OT Reggie Jackson (Jacksonville State), LB Anthony Palano (Washington State)

Six starters departed for fresh starts elsewhere, including QB Dylan Lonergan (Rutgers). The bulk of the experience from the transfer additions comes from the Group of 6 and FCS ranks, including four offensive linemen who started in 2025. The Eagles did sign 13 players from Power 4 schools, but only two were at least part-time starters: receiver Javarius Green (North Carolina) and guard Kristian Phillips (Michigan State). Coach Bill O’Brien will need some players from the lower levels to prove ACC-worthy.

Grade: C

Cal
2025 record: 7-6
Portal players added/lost: 30/32
Career snaps added/lost: 14,011/17,099
Top players added: RB Adam Mohammed (Washington), WR Ian Strong (Rutgers), WR Chase Hendricks (Ohio), TE Dorian Thomas (New Mexico), OT Jimothy Lewis Jr. (Mississippi State)

New coach Tosh Lupoi has to replace 14 full-time starters from last year’s team, most notably — and most newsworthy — linebacker Luke Ferrelli (Ole Miss). The good news: Lupoi and general manager Ron Rivera have surrounded young star quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele with quality offensive weapons. The bigger question is what Lupoi does with Cal’s defense. The Bears signed 15 defensive players in the portal, including 12 from P4 programs, but only two started a game last season: cornerbacks Ricky Fletcher (Ole Miss) and Daniel Harris (Georgia).

Grade: B+

Clemson
2025 record: 7-6
Portal players added/lost: 9/13
Career snaps added/lost: 3,775/4,965
Top players added: RB Chris Johnson Jr. (SMU), edge London Merritt (Colorado), S Jerome Carter (Old Dominion), S Corey Myrick (Southern Miss)

The Tigers signed more transfers this cycle (nine) than the previous five years combined (six). Still, Clemson didn’t do enough. The Tigers lost three defensive starters to the portal — lineman Stephiylan Green (LSU) and safeties Ricardo Jones (Vanderbilt) and Khalil Barnes (Georgia) — and a dozen other starters to expired eligibility or the NFL Draft. Merritt (14 pressures in 2025 as a freshman at Colorado) brings high-level upside. The Tigers have big shoes to fill on the defensive line, though, with the early departures of Peter Woods and T.J. Parker for the draft.

Grade: D

Duke
2025 record: 9-5
Portal players added/lost: 16/17
Career snaps added/lost: 11,364/6,374
Top players added: QB Walker Eget (San Jose State), WR Javen Nicholas (Charlotte), TE Nate Kurisky (Louisville), OT Braden Miller (Cal), S Patrick Smith-Young (North Texas)

Losing star quarterback Darian Mensah and 1,000-yard receiver Cooper Barkate to Miami right before the transfer portal closed left the defending ACC champions in a serious pickle. Eget is a quality last-second replacement for Mensah, but he still needs to receive an NCAA waiver to play next season. The rest of the pickups are on par for coach Manny Diaz, who has had success turning former FCS and G6 players into quality pieces. Nicholas, who caught 60 passes for 740 yards at Charlotte in 2025, and Jared Richardson, an FCS All-American at Penn, will try to make up for the loss of Barkate and Que’Sean Brown (Virginia Tech). The bigger issue: Duke needs to improve on defense after ranking 14th in the league in points allowed (29.4 ppg) and 15th in yards allowed per play (6.28).

Grade: D

Florida State
2025 record: 5-7
Portal players added/lost: 23/35
Career snaps added/lost: 17,717/10,824
Top players added: QB Ashton Daniels (Auburn), RB Quintrevion Wisner (Texas), TE Desirrio Riles (East Carolina), OT Xavier Chaplin (Auburn), LB Chris Jones (Southern Miss)

Mike Norvell had to replace 15 starters from last year’s team, including seven who left via the portal. The Seminoles might be okay on offense. Of the 10 imports on that side of the ball, seven have played more than 1,000 career snaps, and all five of the new offensive linemen started at least 12 games in 2025. Defensively, only three of the eight portal additions started at least six games last season, and only four arrived from other P4 schools.

Grade: D

Georgia Tech
2025 record: 9-4
Portal players added/lost: 19/17
Career snaps added/lost: 9,174/4,052
Top players added: QB Alberto Mendoza (Indiana), RB Justice Haynes (Michigan), WR Jaylen Mbakwe (Alabama), TE Gavin Harris (New Mexico State), edge Vincent Carroll-Jackson (UConn)

The post-Haynes King/Buster Faulkner era begins in Atlanta with the younger brother of Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza presumably taking over as the starting quarterback. The most impactful offensive player, though, could end up being Haynes, who ran for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns last season at Michigan before his season was cut short by a foot injury in late October. In all, 16 full-time starters need to be replaced, including two lost via the portal — receiver Isiah Canion (Georgia) and center Harrison Moore (Florida). Four of the eight portal additions on defense started at least five games in 2025, including three defensive linemen.

Grade: C

Louisville
2025 record: 9-4
Portal players added/lost: 30/31
Career snaps added/lost: 17,426/9,637
Top players added: QB Lincoln Kienholz (Ohio State), WR Tre Richardson (Vanderbilt), WR Lawayne McCoy (Florida State), TE Brody Foley (Tulsa), S Koen Entringer (Iowa)

Instead of pursuing a quarterback with starting experience, as he has in the portal each of the last three years, coach Jeff Brohm opted for the untapped potential of Kienholz, a redshirt junior who played 130 career snaps at Ohio State. Expectations, however, remain high with leading rushers Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown back for their junior years after combining for 1,584 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. Richardson averaged 17.5 yards per catch at Vanderbilt last season, and McCoy caught 37 passes for 528 yards at Tulsa. Of the 14 portal additions on defense, only one (Entringer) was a Power 4 starter last season.

Grade: B+

Vanderbilt WR Tre Richardson is a Louisville Cardinal. Averaged 17.5 YPC and caught 7 touchdowns in 2025. Jeff Brohm’s offense 📈pic.twitter.com/DJJzXzZnh2

— Dalton Pence (@dpence_) January 9, 2026

Miami
2025 record: 13-3
Portal players added/lost: 12/19
Career snaps added/lost: 8,031/4,586
Top players added: QB Darian Mensah (Duke), WR Cooper Barkate (Duke), DL Keona Davis (Nebraska), DE Damon Wilson Jr. (Missouri), S Omar Thornton (Boston College)

Miami signed the third-smallest portal class in the ACC because it didn’t have many holes to fill. Of the Canes’ 19 portal defections, only two started a game last season: receiver Jojo Trader (NC State) and linebacker Popo Aguirre (NC State). Wilson, an elite SEC edge rusher, will help fill the shoes of Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor. Thornton, an 11-game starter last season, is expected to start in the secondary. Miami, which lost four offensive linemen to the NFL, pursued Colorado transfer Jordan Seaton, but the former five-star recruit signed with LSU. Still, there’s confidence that Mario Cristobal and position coach Alex Mirabal can get the job done with the players they have recruited over the last few seasons.

Grade: A

NC State
2025 record: 8-5
Portal players added/lost: 18/22
Career snaps added/lost: 8,747/7,331
Top players added: WR Victor Snow (Buffalo), WR Joshisa Trader (Miami), OT Jimarion McCrimon (East Carolina), edge Harvey Dyson (Tulane), S King Mack (Penn State)

Six of the portal additions were full-time starters at their previous stop, but only one, Mack, comes from a P4 program. Dyson should provide a big boost to NC State’s defensive front after the Pack ranked 16th in the league last season with 1.54 sacks per game. He led Tulane with 11.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks. The Wolfpack lost four quality starters to the portal in running back Hollywood Smothers (Texas), receiver Noah Rogers (Alabama), left tackle Jacarrius Peak (South Carolina) and linebacker Kenny Soares Jr. (Michigan State), plus receiver Terrell Anderson (USC), who led the team in receiving yards. Snow is the most decorated of the five receiver additions (62 catches, 815 yards).

Grade: C

North Carolina
2025 record: 4-8
Portal players added/lost: 19/30
Career snaps added/lost: 10,189/11,287
Top players added: QB Billy Edwards Jr. (Wisconsin), WR Trech Kekahuna (Wisconsin), OT Shaq McRoy (Arkansas), edge Donovan Hoilette (Richmond), LB Peyton Seelmann (Richmond)

After bringing in 41 transfers in their first offseason, GM Mike Lombardi and coach Bill Belichick signed the second-largest high school recruiting class in the country (39) in the 2025 cycle. The Tar Heels’ portal haul includes a few veteran starters from the FCS ranks, but this mostly feels like a Band-Aid class with the main focus being player development among the holdovers. The problem: The Tar Heels weren’t able to hold onto many of the talented young players they brought in last year.

Grade: D

Pittsburgh
2025 record: 8-5
Portal players added/lost: 16/21
Career snaps added/lost: 10,641/9,794
Top players added: TE Elijah Lagg (UAB), iOL Keylen Davis (Akron), LB Alex Sanford (Purdue), LB DeMarco Ward (Memphis), CB Raion Strader (Auburn)

Pat Narduzzi brought in six former starters via the portal, but five come from FCS or G6 schools. Sanford (46 tackles, 3.5 TFLs) and Ward (63 tackles, three TFLs) were productive last season, but replacing Rasheem Biles (Texas) and NFL-bound Kyle Louis will not be easy. Strader, the MAC Cornerback of the Year at Miami (Ohio) in 2024, didn’t start a game last year at Auburn. In addition to Biles, the Panthers lost three other starters who signed with P4 schools.

Grade: D

SMU
2025 record: 9-4
Portal players added/lost: 15/24
Career snaps added/lost: 11,753/4,217
Top players added: RB Kendrick Raphael (Cal), WR Yannick Smith (East Carolina), TE Randy Pittman (Florida State), CB Jarvis Lee (South Florida), S Jimmy Wyrick (UTSA)

SMU has gotten pretty good at retaining its key players while filling some needs in the portal. Only three players who started a game last season — and none who started more than three — were among the departures. The offense, meanwhile, picked up some key skill-position talent, headlined by Raphael, a workhorse who ran for 943 yards and 13 touchdowns last season at Cal. Wyrick, who spent three years at Stanford and two at UTSA, will be a plug-and-play replacement for Isaiah Nwokobia in the secondary.

Grade: B

Stanford
2025 record: 4-8
Portal players added/lost: 7/11
Career snaps added/lost: 3,546/2,954
Top players added: WR Nico Brown (Yale), iOL Aidan Kilstrom (Harvard), CB Leroy Bryant (Washington)

Stanford’s portal class is tied with Notre Dame’s for the smallest among P4 schools. Six of the Cardinal’s 11 departures via the portal started at least three games last season and seven ended up at other P4 programs. GM Andrew Luck did fill some holes. Brown caught 71 passes for 1,085 yards and 11 touchdowns last season at Yale. Kilstrom, who started 21 games in his career at Harvard, should help replace Emeka Ugorji, a talented freshman offensive tackle who bolted for Florida after starting eight games.

Grade: D

Syracuse
2025 record: 3-9
Portal players added/lost: 18/28
Career snaps added/lost: 10,249/7,234
Top players added: QB Amari Odom (Kennesaw State), WR Cole Weaver (Miami of Ohio), TE Noah Meyers (Western Kentucky), DL Dillan Fontus (Maryland), DL Tunmise Adeleye (UNLV)

Fran Brown lost quarterback Steve Angeli to a knee injury and proceeded to lose eight straight games to end the season. He didn’t mess around with the position this cycle, signing three quarterbacks, including Odom, who led Kennesaw State to the 2025 Conference USA championship. Adding Weaver (45 catches, 642 yards) and Meyers (32 catches, 357 yards) helps relieve the sting a little of losing top receivers Darrell Gill Jr. and Johntay Cook II to Ole Miss. It’s on defense, though, where Brown and general manager Tommy Caporale did their best work, adding four former FBS starters to a unit that struggled mightily in 2025.

Grade: B-

Virginia
2025 record: 11-3
Portal players added/lost: 29/20
Career snaps added/lost: 18,121/12,789
Top players added: QB Beau Pribula (Missouri), RB Jekail Middlebrook (Middle Tennessee), WR Jacquon Gibson (UMass), S Brandyn Hillman (Michigan), CB Jacobie Henderson (Rutgers)

Virginia hit the portal hard for the second straight offseason. Last year, it paid dividends, helping the Cavs reach the ACC Championship Game. General manager Tyler Jones and coach Tony Elliott landed 13 former starters in this year’s cycle, including four from other P4 programs. That should help offset the losses of three key portal losses: receiver Trell Harris (Oklahoma), safety Ja’son Prevard (Kansas State) and cornerback Emmanuel Karnley (Washington). Hillman and Henderson are quality reinforcements in the secondary.

Grade: B

Virginia Tech
2025 record: 3-9
Portal players added/lost: 27/26
Career snaps added/lost: 9,013/11,171
Top players added: QB Ethan Grunkemeyer (Penn State), WR Que’Sean Brown (Duke), TE Luke Reynolds (Penn State), CB Jaquez White (Troy), CB Cam Chadwick (UConn)

New coach James Franklin brought over a dozen players from Penn State, including Grunkemeyer and Reynolds, who should play key roles on offense. Virginia Tech returns four receivers and two tight ends who started at least seven games last season as well as four offensive linemen who started at least 10 games. So, it probably won’t take long to see improvement on offense. Defense might be another story. Only one of the six portal additions on the D-line has started a game in college.

Grade: B+

Wake Forest
2025 record: 9-4
Portal players added/lost: 24/24
Career snaps added/lost: 14,186/7,388
Top players added: QB Gio Lopez (North Carolina), RB KD Daniels (Florida),  OL Tolu Olajide (New Hampshire), OT Ryan Berger (Oregon State), CB Brian Blades II (FIU)

Jake Dickert had a stellar first season in Winston-Salem but has to replace 14 starters, including three lost to the portal: receivers Sterling Berkhalter (Texas) and Chris Barnes (Oklahoma State) and left tackle Melvin Siani (Texas). He also lost a huge piece on defense in lineman Mateen Ibirogba (Texas Tech). But Dickert is adding 13 players who started at least six games last season, including reuniting Lopez with offensive coordinator Rob Ezell, who was with him in 2024 at South Alabama. The offensive line, which needs to replace four starters, picked up four new players. Blades, with 36 career starts, is the most experienced of the five defensive back imports.

Grade: B-