Five transfers from non-SEC schools who will have a huge impact this fall

The SEC has become the behemoth of college football conferences over the years by virtue of its recruiting excellence alone. The league can dominate and do it proudly without inviting any outside forces in to help.

But that doesn’t mean talent from elsewhere isn’t welcome.

And this fall there will be a strong influx of it streaming into the SEC to help bolster rosters and championship dreams. This list could be longer, but we’ll go with five transfers from non-SEC schools who could have a huge impact in 2016.

Trevor Knight, QB, Texas A&M

Knight is merely one-half of the talent pipeline stretching from Norman, Okla., to College Station. Before getting deep into Knight, we need to mention former five-star running back Keith Ford as a sort of honorable mention, as the former Oklahoma Sooner will be reunited with Knight this fall at Texas A&M.

But while Ford’s impact could be huge, we’ll limit this countdown to one Sooner-to-Aggie story. Back to Knight, who is a graduate transfer, meaning he didn’t have to sit out a season after departing Oklahoma and also meaning he isn’t far removed from being in a game situation.

Knight was a starter for most of his first two seasons as a Sooner but lost the job to Baker Mayfield last season. He did play in six games last fall, including a dramatic 30-29 victory over TCU when he stepped in for an injured Mayfield during the Sooners’ late-season push to a College Football Playoff berth. But Oklahoma held on for dear life in that game, and Knight couldn’t hold onto the feeling that he wanted to be a Sooner for much longer.

It was Mayfield’s team, and so Oklahoma’s loss was Texas A&M’s gain. The 6-1 Knight won the Aggies’ starting job this spring and he appears to have a new lease on life in College Station.

This is someone who just three seasons ago, as a redshirt freshman, was named Sugar Bowl MVP as he led the Sooners to a 45-31 win over an Alabama team that was the two-time defending national champion.

Luke Del Rio, QB, Florida

This is a tricky one, and a long-winding one, as Del Rio arrives in Gainesville from Oregon State, which seems like it’s a world away from the SEC. Before he was a Beaver though, Del Rio was a walk-on in 2013 “down the road” at Alabama, where a guy named Doug Nussmeier was the offensive coordinator.

But his dreams of winning at Bama stayed just that. And when Nussmeier, a close friend of his father — Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio — from their playing days with the New Orleans Saints, left Tuscaloosa, so did Luke. He went to Oregon State, but the stay was short and bittersweet, as he threw all of 18 passes in 2014 before coach Mike Riley bolted for Nebraska.

When that happened, Del Rio had to reboot — again. His old friend Nussmeier was the offensive coordinator at Florida, and Gators head coach Jim McElwain had recruited Del Rio while at Colorado State. So Del Rio felt Gainesville was his next option — and his best option, knowing Nussmeier’s offense so well.

Now all he has to do is win the starting job, which is not a given. Del Rio did have a strong spring game, throwing for 176 yards and two touchdowns and completing 10 of 11 passes. But Austin Appleby, another non-SEC import from Purdue, is in the mix as well.

While the Gators’ starting job is still technically up for grabs, Nussmeier told the Palm Beach Post that Del Rio has the lead going into fall camp. The guy who has never started a game in college could achieve his dream at a school begging for good quarterback play.

Gehrig Dieter, WR, Alabama

Hard to believe but so true, that mighty Bama could get a shot in the arm this fall from someone from Bowling Green. Last year, it was Richard Mullaney who came to Tuscaloosa from Oregon State and gave the Crimson Tide a possession receiver option to go with burners Calvin Ridley and ArDarius Stewart.

“Well, Dieter is actually better than Mullaney, promising news for whoever wins the quarterback battle in Tuscaloosa,” wrote Rich Cirminiello of campusinsiders.com. “The 6-3 Dieter possesses the size and the sticky mitts to quickly become a reliable go-to target in the passing game.”

After starting his career at SMU, the senior graduate transfer put up an eye-popping 94 catches for 1,033 yards and 10 touchdowns last fall at Bowling Green. Dieter is from South Bend, Ind., so he has been around big-time college football. And he was named after Yankees legend Lou Gehrig, so you could say he was destined to hit the big stage at some point in his college career.

Now, the stage is his.

T.J. Neal, LB, Auburn

The Tigers lost linebackers Kris Frost, Justin Garrett and Cassanova McKinzy to graduation, so getting the graduate transfer from Illinois wasn’t just a nice little addition, it was kind of a necessary one.

Neal was a two-year starter for the Illini, and last season he was second on the team with 109 tackles and 14 tackles for loss to earn honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. “He’s a rugged 6-1, 235-pound run stopper, a particularly valuable cog in an SEC West division loaded with north-south running teams like Alabama, LSU and Arkansas,” wrote campusinsiders.com.

Last year, Auburn added Michigan import cornerback Blake Countess. And this year’s potentially prime defensive addition from the Big Ten is already turning heads and raising hopes.

Courtney Love, LB, Kentucky

Love has taken a curious path, too, transferring from Nebraska, a tradition-rich program, to Kentucky, which struggles just to win games every season in the rugged SEC. But he’s here, and the fans in Lexington will be happy to have him on a defense that will struggle a little bit less in 2016 with Love’s presence.

The Wildcats lost six of their top seven tacklers from last year, and three of their four starting linebackers have departed from a unit that tied for 12th in the SEC in scoring defense last year.

The 6-2, 245-pound junior from Youngstown, Ohio, got offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma coming out of high school. He felt comfortable joining Mark Stoops, who is also from Youngstown and who met Love when he was in high school.

It didn’t take long for Love to become a leader in Lexington after he transferred. And it shouldn’t take long for that leadership to translate to the field.

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a sports copy editor at the Miami Herald, lives for Saturdays. He especially enjoys the pageantry, tradition and history of SEC football.