Grading 46 college football quarterback transfers in 2023 - ESPN

It's no secret college football coaches are increasingly using the transfer portal to find starters and contributors at quarterback.

This season alone in the FBS, transfer quarterbacks have started 53.4% of games. Those transfers have accounted for 53.3% of all passing yards thrown this season, and we have seen some outstanding performances by transfers who switched schools this past offseason.

Shedeur Sanders, the nation's leader in passing yards, has helped lead Colorado to a 4-2 start, setting a team single-game passing record in his debut and holding his own against Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and USC. Sam Hartman started the season at 5-1 with 14 touchdowns and no interceptions before struggling last week at Louisville. Both quarterbacks have been success stories from the portal and already have helped put their teams in the national spotlight.

Because there have been so many signal callers to change schools, we decided to grade each starting quarterback who switched schools prior to this season. For our grades, we looked at current starters along with some notable names from this past offseason that have yet to make a big impact and why.

Here are the grades for 46 of the first-year transfer quarterbacks so far this season:

Jump to a grade tier:
A | A- | B+ | B | B-
C | C- | D+ | D | D-
Incomplete

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes

Transferred from: Jackson State

2023 stats: 2,020 passing yards, 16 TD passes, 2 interceptions, 3 rushing TDs

How he has fared so far: Sanders put up impressive numbers in two seasons at Jackson State — 70 touchdown passes and 6,963 passing yards — but there was uncertainty about how he'd fare in a power conference. He put all the doubts to rest in his Colorado debut, setting a