In last week’s 2023 NFL Draft roundtable — on the prospects we can’t wait to see this season — wide receiver Jordan Addison earned a little love. A prolific playmaker at Pittsburgh, Addison transferred this offseason to USC. There, he’ll team up with another big-name prospect who recently shifted schools: QB Caleb Williams, formerly of Oklahoma.
But there were a ton of transfers over the past few months. The portal was absolutely wild (and probably will be every year, barring further rule changes). So, this week, our team of draft experts — Dane Brugler, Nate Tice, Diante Lee and Nick Baumgardner and editor Chris Burke — are tackling this question:
Which 2023 draft prospect stands to gain (or lose) the most after transferring this offseason?
Brugler: A year ago, Jameson Williams transferred to Alabama and had a breakout season, which led him to be the No. 12 overall pick in the first round (even with an ACL injury). This year, it might be running back Jahmyr Gibbs who sees a boost in his draft grade by transferring into the Alabama offense.
Alabama has to replace its leading rusher Brian Robinson, who posted 1,343 rushing yards last season, and five of its top six pass catchers from a year ago, so Gibbs will see plenty of carries and targets. The Georgia Tech transfer is already a well-known NFL prospect based on his explosive plays with the Yellow Jackets. But his new quarterback, Bryce Young, along with Alabama’s offensive line and the rest of the supporting cast in Tuscaloosa will be a monumental upgrade from what Gibbs had the last two seasons.
As the new spark plug of the Alabama offense, Gibbs will have his chance to blossom — and NFL scouts will have a front row seat to see it happen.
Tice: The Gibbs transfer is such a great call, because that pairing could be incredibly beneficial for him and for Alabama. He provides some juice in the backfield that just wasn’t really there for the Crimson Tide in 2021. And that’s a scary thought considering how well that unit played last season.
Zach Evans rushed for more than 1,000 career yards at TCU, on just 146 carries. (Jerome Miron/USA Today)
Lee: Based on his current stock and trajectory, who knows if it’ll even be in his interests to declare after the 2022 season? But I’m going with Ole Miss’ new running back, Zach Evans. One of the nation’s best prospects in 2020, Evans has already had quite the football journey. He was dismissed from Houston high school powerhouse North Shore right before a state-title game, for violating team rules. A murky recruiting saga ensued, with Georgia releasing Evans from his letter of intent after the Under Armor All-American Game.
Eventually, he landed at TCU and went on to average seven-plus yards per carry in two seasons — but he only played six games last season due to a toe injury. Now, it’s Ole Miss.
Evans has exceptional balance through contact and is an adept receiver out of the backfield, but he lacks elite top-end speed in the open field. He also needs to prove his durability against a tough SEC West schedule, to raise his draft stock. If he misses games due to injury or sees a dip in production while on one of the best spread offenses in college football, Evans will have a hard time using his film as justification to look past questions about his character.
Baumgardner: Dane mentioned Williams and Gibbs. I’m going with another Crimson Tide skill player: former Georgia WR Jermaine Burton. Burton had 26 catches and five touchdowns in 14 appearances last year and was able to get rolling with Alabama during spring drills. Nick Saban’s already singled him out as Alabama’s most consistent WR this offseason. We’ll see how that all translates throughout fall camp and what type of relationship he builds with Bryce Young. But talk about a player who could go from nowhere to somewhere real quick: Burton could be that player.
Burton ran a verified 4.43 and logged a 39-inch vertical leap at The Opening in the summer of 2018. The 6-foot, 200-pounder has the type of savvy and toughness to take a huge opportunity and run with it this season. Easier said than done in a talented crowd like Alabama, of course.
Tice: A player whose stock could swing wildly in either direction is one who has been on the radar for seemingly forever. And that’s South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler. Rattler is getting a fresh start in Columbia after his time in Oklahoma. While he did show flashes of top-tier arm talent that led to his high ranking as a recruit, his play and decision making were frustratingly inconsistent — leading to Rattler losing the starting job midseason to Caleb Williams (who’s now at USC) and subsequent transfer .
If Rattler displays more polish in his play and chops down on his mistakes while playing in the SEC, NFL teams will be more than willing to bet on the “wow” throws that have cropped up in his career. But if he continues his sporadic play outside the confines of a Lincoln Riley offense to prop him up, then that gamble becomes far less appetizing for NFL front offices to make.
Spencer Rattler lost his starting job at Oklahoma last October, but he’s now the unquestioned No. 1 at South Carolina. (Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)
Burke: Yeah, I’m very, very interested to see how Rattler looks. The Gamecocks open with a sneaky-tough test against Georgia State, then go back to back against Arkansas (on the road) and Georgia. This time last year, we were talking about Rattler as the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft — I find it hard to believe that Rattler’s positives won’t show up again, to some extent, and help reestablish him as a prospect.
Another QB transfer who could shoot up boards is Washington State’s Cameron Ward, who put up some silly passing numbers (4,648 yards and 47 TDs) last season for Incarnate Word. He’s got legit, natural arm talent, and more than enough athleticism to qualify as a “dual-threat” option — he ran for 1,000 yards as a Wing-T high school quarterback.
Lee: Texas tight end Jahleel Billingsley is in a similar spot to Evans and Rattler, in that he needs to work past some lingering questions about him. He left Alabama to reunite with his old offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian, who is now the Longhorns’ head coach.
Physically, you’d have a hard time coming across a better athletic prototype, regardless of position — Billingsley is fast, capable of running a complete route tree, flexible enough to align anywhere, has great hands and is smooth enough as a ball carrier to create offense after the catch. But he also could never climb out of Nick Saban’s doghouse long enough to maintain any positive momentum. Saban rarely gets in front of a podium and explicitly calls out a player for his behavior, but he made an exception for Billingsley, calling attention to the former blue-chip prospect’s work ethic and discipline in practice.
Billingsley has all the talent in the world, but if he has real aspirations of being a high-level receiving option at tight end, it might be now-or-never.
Baumgardner: A lesser-known prospect who will now be playing on the big stage in the SEC is guard O’Cyrus Torrence. He developed into an NFL prospect at Louisiana Lafayette before following Billy Napier to Gainesville this past offseason. Torrence would have been drafted if he stayed with the Ragin’ Cajuns, but with a standout season at Florida this season, he has a legitimate chance to be one of the first interior line prospects drafted in April.
Burke: Dane has Torrence ranked as his No. 2 interior O-lineman headed into the season, so allow me to plug those positional rankings. He also has Florida State edge Jared Verse as a top-10, draft-eligible underclassmen. That dude looks every bit of his listed 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, and he showed an impressive closing burst en route to 9.5 sacks for Albany last season. Keep an eye on him.
Baumgardner: One Big Ten offensive lineman to watch here would be Michigan center Olu Oluwatimi. A Rimington finalist last year at Virginia. Oluwatimi was a three-year starter at UVA for Bronco Mendenhall, logging 32 straight starts at center (he actually started his career at Air Force). He transferred to Michigan last winter, before the 2021 season was officially over, as Jim Harbaugh and OL coach Sherrone Moore’s replacement for captain Andrew Vastardis.
Oluwatimi showed up this spring with a deep understanding of Michigan’s offense (from self study) and is expected to be a major addition for another talented front five in Ann Arbor. The 6-3, 307-pounder will slide in between a pair of talented young guards (Trevor Keegan, Zak Zinter) and have plenty of opportunities to show what he can do as a run blocker and defensive table-setter in Harbaugh’s offense.
Same drill as last roundtable: We’ve had our say, so now it’s your turn. Which player on a new team will everyone be talking about as a premier 2023 draft prospect come April?
(Top photo of Jahmyr Gibbs: Gary Cosby Jr. / USA Today)
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