The college football transfer portal has over 1,000 players. Spencer Sanders could choose to give Florida football a fresh look for 2023. What other things might happen? It is natural to think about the 2023 landing spots for a number of high-profile quarterbacks. Let's make some predictions for the current transfer portal cycle.
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3 Bold College Football Predictions For The 2023 Transfer Portal
Quarterbacks, quarterbacks, quarterbacks. At Florida football and elsewhere, let's take a look at the transfer portal landscape, which is very fluid and could cut in a lot of different directions:
3. Spencer Sanders to Florida Football
Quarterback is a position of acute need for Florida. Not only has Anthony Richardson chosen to turn pro and enter the 2023 NFL draft; quarterback Jalen Kitna was arrested and dismissed from the program after being arrested over a week ago on two charges of distribution of child exploitation material and three charges of possession of child pornography. Florida not only needs a quarterback; it needs a veteran quarterback who won't be a project, someone coach Billy Napier has to teach throughout the season. Florida needs a quarterback who arrives in Gainesville knowing the ins and outs of how to read defenses. Richardson, as talented as he is, needed very intensive instruction and was clearly learning on the job as he went along. Florida needs a fully-formed quarterback, not an apprentice. Spencer Sanders has struggled at previous points in his career, most notably the 2021 Big 12 Championship Game in which his turnovers helped Baylor beat Oklahoma State. However, Spencer Sanders would enter 2023 as a guy who has soaked up a lot of knowledge and would not need training wheels at the start of the season. He would certainly make sense for the Gators as an option, though Florida could just as certainly look elsewhere.
2. Bo Nix will not transfer out of Oregon
The natural and understandable rumor in the portal is that Bo Nix will join the swelling numbers in said portal and will make a trip to the desert, switching Pac-12 schools. Nix could follow Kenny Dillingham — his offensive coordinator at Oregon in 2022 — to Arizona State, where Dillingham is now the coach of the Sun Devils. Remember that Nix and Dillingham worked together at Auburn under Gus Malzahn before Dillingham went to Florida State to work for Mike Norvell (who was previously an Arizona State assistant coach). Nix's familiarity with Dillingham was a big reason Nix enjoyed such a good 2022 season. The two men worked well together, so it's natural to think Nix will move to Tempe for 2023.
Nope. The transfer portal will not get Bo Nix. All signs point to Nix playing for Oregon in the Holiday Bowl against North Carolina, which would very likely mean that Nix will not join Dillingham at Arizona State. Nix also will stay in Eugene for 2023 instead of going into the NFL draft.
1. Graham Mertz will not play at Purdue, and Jim Leonhard will not coach there, either
Graham Mertz ruined two coaching careers this past year: Paul Chryst got fired, and Jim Leonhard was not hired as permanent head coach at Wisconsin. Mertz's lack of development led the Badgers to hire Luke Fickell, who subsequently brought aboard North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo to give the Badgers a pass-centric offense, a total change in philosophy from the past 30 years of Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, and Chryst.
Mertz is a fascinating transfer portal mystery. Purdue's job is open now that Jeff Brohm went to Louisville. Some think Jim Leonhard would be a great hire for the Boilermakers … but they saw that Leonhard does not coach offense well enough to be trusted. Purdue will probably look for an offense-first head coach. This means no Leonhard, and it means no Mertz in West Lafayette. Mertz will go elsewhere in the college football transfer portal … but not to Florida. That's where Spencer Sanders could go.
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