Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Beau Pribula will make an immediate impact in Kirby Moore's offense at Mizzou.

SEC Football

Ranking the SEC’s top 5 transfer quarterbacks (so far)

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:


Diego Pavia did it, as did Jarrett Stidham, Chad Kelly, and a guy by the name “Cam Newton” that you might’ve heard of.

Those are the 21st-century quarterbacks who transferred to an SEC program and earned All-Conference honors in their first season. Mind you, that excludes someone like the late Ryan Mallett, who sat out the 2008 season due to previous NCAA transfer rules before earning All-SEC honors as a first-time starter in 2009.

That list is small, but with the loosened transfer restrictions, you can expect it to grow. Shoot, Pavia just joined the club of 3. He did so after transferring from New Mexico State, which was a different path from the JUCO route that Stidham, Kelly and Newton were all forced to take. Ergo, Pavia was the first FBS quarterback transfer to earn All-SEC honors in his first season in the conference.

What we’ve never seen is a Power Conference transfer do that. Maybe that’ll change this year. There are plenty of candidates.

For today’s discussion about the best SEC quarterback transfers this cycle, we’ll even include the intra-conference transfer like Jackson Arnold or Michael Van Buren.

So far, here are the SEC’s best transfer additions at QB:

(Note that this list will be updated throughout the offseason. It doesn’t really make sense to do this once and then not circle back if we get more significant transfers.)

5. Luke Kromenhoek, Mississippi State

Previous school — Florida State

I mean, how can we fault a true freshman quarterback who had to play in that mess in Tallahassee? Kromenhoek was put in a different situation than the one he signed up for as the No. 5 QB recruit in the 2024 class, so I won’t hold it against him that he was sacked 8 times by Florida in his first start vs. FBS competition. In his first college start, albeit against FCS Charleston Southern, you saw his ability to stay on schedule and slide the pocket. He has size (6-4, 208 pounds) and mobility that’ll benefit him in the Jeff Lebby offense. His ability to attack downfield will be a weapon if and when he’s ready to become a starter.

For now, Kromenhoek will likely wait behind the ageless Blake Shapen, who announced that he was returning for his final year of eligibility after he missed the final 2 months with a season-ending shoulder injury. Kromenhoek can master Lebby’s tempo concepts and be billed as the quarterback of the future. He’ll win over the Mississippi State faithful if he can continue to make plays like this.

https://twitter.com/ESPNCFB/status/1850329471863193670

4. Michael Van Buren, LSU

Previous school — Mississippi State

Van Buren was a somewhat surprising portal entry after he took over for the injured Blake Shapen in Year 1 of the Lebby era at Mississippi State. While Van Buren certainly had some freshmen tendencies — he was a 31.1% passer on throws 20-plus yards and he only had 5 touchdown passes on throws that traveled at least 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage — he still showed promise as a first-year player. Not many people can claim that they threw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns against Georgia in Athens. Van Buren can.

He can be shifty enough to make people miss in the pocket, but he’s not a dual-threat quarterback yet. Ergo, he needs to find more consistency as a downfield passer. Perhaps a year of sitting behind arguably the best pure passer returning in the sport, Garrett Nussmeier, will do him wonders. Either way, LSU will back up a top-5 QB in America with someone who just got a year of SEC starts.

3. Beau Pribula, Mizzou

Previous school — Penn State

Ah, yes. Penn State’s Swiss Army knife made major headlines when he left a Playoff-bound squad to pursue starting job opportunities in the portal. Mizzou was fortunate enough to land their Brady Cook replacement early. It’s easy to see why Pribula could be an ideal fit for what Kirby Moore likes to do as an offensive play-caller. With Cook nursing injuries for the majority of the season, the quarterback run game wasn’t there as much in 2024 as in 2023. Pribula will bring that back and be a true running threat with the RPOs.

https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCFB/status/1857923952561029351

The quarterback draw will be a big part of Pribula’s game, and the arm strength is certainly there, though he wasn’t asked to attack downfield at Penn State (he only completed 1-of-4 passes of 20 yards downfield in 2024). It’ll be a different set of circumstances for defenses to prepare for him as the starter instead of him being the change-of-pace guy for Drew Allar. Pribula’s ability to extend the passing game beyond more of a 1-read quarterback will determine the upside of Mizzou’s offense in 2025.

2. Jackson Arnold, Auburn

Previous school — Oklahoma

Two things can be true at the same time. One is that Arnold didn’t always live up to that lofty 5-star billing with his decision-making, and ultimately, he didn’t show enough in his first season as a starter that warranted Brent Venables trusting him to take that next step in what’ll be a pivotal season for the coach’s future. But the other thing is that no redshirt freshman quarterback would like to enter a situation with an entirely new offensive line, and it couldn’t get much worse than losing your top 5 receivers before October.

Go figure that another coach entering a pivotal season, Hugh Freeze, won the Arnold recruitment. How much of Auburn’s interest was the byproduct of Arnold’s 24-3 win against Alabama is up for debate — the guy also averaged 44 rushing yards/game even though sack yardage counted against that total — but what’s not up for debate is that he’s getting a reset of sorts. He’ll have some big-time returning weapons in Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons, as well as coveted Georgia Tech transfer portal addition Eric Singleton, who figures to step in for the valuable KeAndre Lambert-Smith. It wasn’t long ago that Arnold’s outside weapons at Oklahoma were seen as a massive boost for him as a first-year starter, but injuries got in the way of seeing a full sample size of that. Here’s hoping Arnold gets relatively normal circumstances with his new SEC opportunity.

1. John Mateer, Oklahoma

Previous school — Washington State

Oklahoma had to get it right at offensive coordinator and at quarterback. Go figure that in order to do that, Venables followed the Vandy playbook. If you recall, Clark Lea overhauled his offense by poaching New Mexico State OC Tim Beck and the aforementioned Pavia as a packaged deal. Venables first got Washington State OC Ben Arbuckle on board, and once Mateer entered the portal, it felt like only a matter of time before he was Norman-bound. Mateer arrives as neither a retread quarterback nor a project.

In a way, Mateer will have some continuity with Arbuckle after he led FBS in quarterback rating in November (183.9). His first season replacing Cam Ward included just 3 games vs. Power Conference competition — don’t forget that Washington State was basically playing a Mountain West schedule — saw him finish No. 8 in FBS with a 164.1 QB rating (he had a 136.1 QB rating in those 3 Power Conference games).

Mateer must be more willing (and able) to stretch the field vertically than Arnold or Michael Hawkins Jr., who led OU to a No. 131 finish in FBS with just 20 pass plays of 20 yards. The return of Deion Burks will be huge in the short-to-intermediate passing game, but OU will need some more help at wideout after Nic Anderson (LSU), JJ Hester (Kentucky), Andrel Anthony (Duke), Jalil Farooq (Maryland) and Brenen Thompson (Mississippi State) all left for Power Conference destinations. With some post-spring additions, the right play-caller and perhaps some better injury luck, Mateer can be part of a bounce-back year for the OU offense.

And keep in mind … Air Noland at South Carolina

I’m a big-time LaNorris Sellers fan, as you should also be. I don’t say this in an attempt to pretend that Noland could steal his job for performance-based reasons, so let’s eliminate that. Shane Beamer called Sellers “the best player in college football” after he ran through Clemson’s entire defense en route to a comeback victory in Death Valley. The guy’s job is among the safest in the sport.

But it’s because of Sellers’ contact-enducing playing style that perhaps Beamer was willing to get a splashy underclassman addition like Noland. Beyond his All-World quarterback name, Noland came from Ohio State facing the reality that he likely wasn’t going to beat out former Alabama transfer and No. 1 QB in the 2024 class Julian Sayin, who transferred during the 30-day transfer window after Nick Saban’s retirement. That shouldn’t be seen as an indictment on Noland, who was the No. 4 QB in the 2024 class. The southpaw was a Georgia high school star, and he helped Langston Hughes High School to a 6A Georgia state title. There’s a reason Noland was coveted as a potential starter by Power Conference foes, but the prospect of working behind Sellers and getting a year to grow with limited reps could be best for all parties.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.

You might also like...

2025 RANKINGS

presented by rankings

Read our Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Cookie Policy and

© 2025 Saturday Down South. All rights reserved

We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. We support responsible gambling. If you feel like you're losing control over your gambling experience, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-888- 532-3500(Virginia) 1-800-522-4700 (NV, TN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO, TN), 1-855-2CALLGA (IL), 1-800-270-7117 (MI). global.footer.legal