Good, bad and ugly: Grading college football’s transfer QBs at the midway point

In the era of the transfer portal and one-time transfer exception, player movement is more prevalent than ever. That’s especially true at quarterback, where the search for playing time moves QBs from one school to another.

Players like Joe Burrow have shown us that these quarterback transfers can have a major say in the College Football Playoff race. How has this year's crop of transfer QBs performed?

Here are our midseason grades:

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

It was fair to wonder how Sanders’ game would translate from the SWAC to the Power Five, but he has compared favorably to some of the best signal callers in the Pac-12. He has been guilty of holding the ball too long behind a porous offensive line, but his poise, accuracy and decision-making have all been impressive as he leads the nation with 2,420 passing yards. Grade: A-

Sam Hartman, Notre Dame

Hartman has represented a massive upgrade and a steadying presence for Notre Dame compared to what the Irish had in 2022, but some of the turnover issues he exhibited at Wake Forest resurfaced with the Irish in the loss at Louisville. The Irish aren’t exactly brimming with talent at receiver, so a lot has been asked of Hartman, who has thrown for 1,838 yards and 18 touchdowns. On the whole, he has been up to the task despite a few uneven performances. Grade: B+

DJ Uiagalelei, Oregon State

Uiagalelei has found a nice landing spot at Oregon State after leaving Clemson. He’s struggled with accuracy at times, but has definitely been an upgrade for the Beavers, who improved to 6-1 with a win over UCLA on Saturday. Uiagalelei has helped in the running game and is averaging just under nine yards per attempt to go with 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Grade: B+

Mikey Keene, Fresno State

After transferring in from UCF, Keene has been a nice fit at Fresno State after Jake Haener left for the NFL. He helped the Bulldogs start the season 5-0 with road wins over Purdue and Arizona State. Before he left the Wyoming game with an injury, Keene threw for 1,692 yards and 15 TDs and only four interceptions. Keene missed Friday’s win over Utah State. The Bulldogs have a bye this week and Keene could be back Oct. 28 vs. UNLV. Grade: B

Graham Mertz, Florida

Mertz is having the best season of his career. That’s not saying much after his underwhelming output at Wisconsin, but he’s been a steadying presence for Florida after Anthony Richardson left for the NFL. Mertz is completing 76.2% of his passes, though he didn’t really throw downfield much until he went off for 423 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s win over South Carolina. Florida, now 5-2, is still a flawed team, but Mertz has been a nice addition. Grade: B

Donovan Smith, Houston

Smith had previous Big 12 experience from his time at Texas Tech and has been pretty solid as Houston plays its first season in the conference. Smith has thrown for 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns with only three interceptions. He also has 197 yards and four scores rushing and threw the game-winning Hail Mary in the win over West Virginia. Grade: B-

Haynes King, Georgia Tech

After multiple injuries at Texas A&M, King got a fresh start at Georgia Tech. He’s had some good performances along the way, but his best moment was the game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. On the whole, King has thrown for 1,631 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions for the 3-3 Yellow Jackets. Grade: C+

Luke Altmyer, Illinois

Illinois hoped to open up its offense this year with the Ole Miss transfer Altmyer stepping in at QB, but it hasn’t worked out that way. The Illini are off to a 3-4 start and Altmyer’s play has been up-and-down playing behind a bad offensive line (he's been sacked 26 times) and without many weapons. On the year, Altmyer has thrown for 1,571 yards and eight TDs, but he also has nine INTs. That included four interceptions in the loss to Penn State. Grade: C

Alan Bowman, Oklahoma State

Early in the season, Oklahoma State was curiously shuffling between three quarterbacks. Eventually, the coaches decided on the well-traveled Bowman and the Cowboys have looked much better on offense the last three weeks, including wins over Kansas State and Kansas. Bowman hasn’t been spectacular. He’s completing only 56.8% of his throws, but he’s been pretty steady in Big 12 play. Grade: C

Hudson Card, Purdue

Purdue is off to a 2-5 start in its first season under Ryan Walters and Card has had to shoulder a heavy load. The Texas transfer hasn’t gotten a lot of help as the Boilermakers have struggled up front and don’t have many weapons at receiver. The results have been inconsistent as Card has thrown for 1,617 yards and with seven TDs and five INTs. He’s also been sacked 17 times. Grade: C

Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s transition to an Air Raid offense led by Mordecai, an SMU transfer who began his career at Oklahoma, was given a lot of publicity in the offseason. The results have been mixed so far, and Mordecai has just been OK as he’s averaged just 187.8 yards per game. He broke his hand in Saturday’s loss to Iowa and will be out for a while. Grade: C

Kedon Slovis, BYU

Now onto his third school, Slovis has had a few nice moments to help BYU get off to a 4-2 start, but he hasn’t been a seamless fit into the Cougars’ offense. Slovis has struggled throwing downfield and can sometimes be a sitting duck in the pocket. BYU has really struggled to run the ball, so it hasn’t been a great recipe for offensive success. Grade: C

Devin Leary, Kentucky

Leary was one of the best QBs in the country a few years ago at NC State, but he just hasn’t quite looked right during his time in a Kentucky uniform. He’ll still occasionally wow you with an NFL-level throw, but he misses too many open receivers and has been inconsistent with both accuracy and decision-making. His two interceptions Saturday vs. Missouri were costly. He's up to seven interceptions and has a completion percentage of 54.4% on the year. Grade: C-

Jack Plummer, Louisville

The main draw for Plummer to Louisville was his connection to coach Jeff Brohm. Brohm coached him at Purdue, but he also benched Plummer in favor of Aidan O’Connell during their time with the Boilermakers. Louisville is 6-1, but Plummer has thrown an interception in five of those games and has three games with multiple INTs. He’s just not very trustworthy. Grade: C-

Emory Jones, Cincinnati

Now at his third school, Jones looked to be a solid fit in Scott Satterfield’s offense as Cincinnati started the season 2-0. Since then, the Bearcats have lost four straight and Jones has been quite bad. He had five TD passes and no interceptions in the Week 1 win over Eastern Kentucky. In the five games since, Jones has six touchdowns and eight INTs, including at least two in three of the last four games. Grade: D+

Brennan Armstrong, NC State

After five years at Virginia, Armstrong reuniting with his former offensive coordinator Robert Anae at NC State felt like a great fit. It just did not go according to plan. Armstrong threw for 971 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions while completing just 58.8% of his attempts and was benched after five starts. Grade: D

Payton Thorne, Auburn

Hugh Freeze was desperate to add a quarterback, but Thorne has struggled in his transition from Michigan State to the SEC. In four games against Power Five competition, he’s averaging a whopping 80.5 passing yards per game with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Tigers are off to an ugly 0-3 start in SEC play. Grade: D

Phil Jurkovec, Pitt

After a few brutal, injury-plagued seasons at Boston College, Jurkovec returned home to his native Pittsburgh for his final season. It ended up being a disaster. Jurkovec struggled mightily in his five starts, throwing for just 818 yards while completing 50.9% of his attempts. That included going 10-of-32 vs. Cincinnati and 8-of-20 at West Virginia. After Pitt’s 1-4 start, Jurkovec was benched. Grade: F

Jeff Sims, Nebraska

Sims was Nebraska’s starter to open the season, but he threw three costly interceptions in an ugly loss at Minnesota and then had four more turnovers in the loss to Colorado. He hurt his foot in the Colorado game and has barely played since. Grade: F

Cade McNamara, Iowa

McNamara helped Michigan get to the CFP in 2021 but ended up losing his job to J.J. McCarthy. Hoping for a fresh start, he transferred to Iowa to try to give a boost to the Hawkeyes’ anemic offense. Things have not gone well. McNamara injured his quad during the preseason and just did not look healthy. He threw for just 505 yards and four TDs with three interceptions in five starts before going down with a season-ending knee injury. Grade: Incomplete