It’s inevitable. In this era of the transfer portal, some players will leave the SEC and become stars.

Take Jermaine Johnson. If you recall, Johnson was part of Georgia’s rotation in 2019-20, but he sought more reps. He ended up transferring to Florida State and became a 1-year wonder for the Noles. He had 18 tackles for loss en route to ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors and ultimately, he established himself as a legitimate first-round prospect.

Speaking of legitimate first-round prospects, there’s also Malik Willis. He left Auburn after Gus Malzahn put him third in the pecking order to win the starting job in 2019. Then Hugh Freeze worked with Willis on his accuracy, and nearly 3 years after he transferred to Liberty, he could be the first quarterback selected in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The goal today is to highlight those types of players. That is, the guys who just left the SEC who could become stars in 2022. That’s limited to players who entered the transfer portal since the start of the 2021 season.

These are the 5 who could end up being the ones who got away:

1. Tiyon Evans, Louisville RB

Clearly there was some sort of a disagreement between Evans and the Tennessee staff. Evans saw limited reps after his midseason ankle injury, but when he was on the field, he was explosive. In his first 5 games, the former JUCO star averaged 97 rushing yards and he reached the end zone at least once per contest. That included 100-yard showings against Mizzou, South Carolina and Bowling Green.

Had Evans stayed at Tennessee, he likely would’ve entered 2022 as one of the league’s better backs. Instead, he’ll go to Louisville, where he’s expected to share a backfield with Jalen Mitchell, second-year back Trevion Cooley, who had 431 rushing yards in 2021, and the promising Jawhar Jordan.

But Evans showed last year that he doesn’t need a ton of volume to establish his presence. There should be plenty of instances in which Tennessee fans have to stomach highlights of long Evans touchdown runs.

2. Henry Parrish, Miami RB

I loved, loved, loved the Ole Miss backfield in 2021. That 3-headed attack with Parrish, Snoop Conner and Jerrion Ealy had a little bit of everything. Go figure now that all 3 guys are gone. Conner and Ealy are off to the NFL while Parrish is off to Miami.

The move made sense on a couple of fronts. His position coach, Kevin Smith, just left Ole Miss for Miami. On top of that, Parrish is a Miami native. He gets to return home to a backfield in need of a serious facelift after it finished No. 97 in rushing and Cam’Ron Harris left for the NFL. Now, we’ll see Parrish operate without so much competition around him, and he’ll do so in Josh Gattis’ offense, which finished No. 15 in FBS in rushing last year at Michigan.

The good news for Ole Miss is that Kiffin made a major portal move himself by landing TCU transfer Zach Evans to lead the backfield. Still, though. Parrish has all sorts of breakout potential in Coral Gables.

3. Mohamoud Diabate, Utah LB

OK, so I’ve got a confession. It’s possible that Diabate doesn’t make quite as loud of an impact as others on this list, but he’s on here for a couple of reasons.

One is that he was listed as a breakout candidate seemingly every year, and even though he was the team’s leading tackler in 2021, he never became that All-SEC linebacker in Todd Grantham’s system that many thought he would be. Part of that was the position fit. He shifted from edge to middle linebacker as an undersized guy because Florida’s depth at the position was somehow lacking when Ventrell Miller was lost for the season. If Diabate takes off at Utah with an all-conference season as the Devin Lloyd replacement in Kyle Whittingham’s defense, that would be tough for Florida fans to watch.

Of course, they could have a chance to watch it up close because Utah kicks off the season in The Swamp.

If that’s not “one that got away” vibes, I don’t know what is.

4. Jahleel Billingsley, Texas TE

Speaking of reunions, Billingsley is going to get one with Alabama in Week 2 of the 2022 season. He’ll welcome his former team to his new home. You can bet that’ll be discussed once or twice in the state of Alabama.

After spending the 2021 season in and out of Nick Saban’s doghouse because of his practice habits, Billingsley opted for a reunion with former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian … which surprised no one.

Billingsley’s disappointing 2021 could be wiped away if he reverts to the player he was in the latter half of 2020 in Sarkisian’s offense. He was a hybrid force who became a key weapon after Jaylen Waddle went down. Surely Sarkisian will want to move him all over the place like he did in 2020. It wasn’t long ago that we were watching Billingsley do stuff like this:

Billingsley clearly needed a fresh start. Perhaps a change of scenery will allow him to get right and become the matchup nightmare he was as an underclassman at Alabama.

5. Jacob Copeland, Maryland WR

To be fair, Copeland’s mom never wanted her son at Florida:

Jokes aside, Maryland got a nice new weapon for former Alabama quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. Despite the inconsistency Florida had at quarterback in 2021, Copeland managed to lead the Gators with 642 receiving yards. Considering that Dan Mullen has only ever had 1 receiver hit 1,000 yards in his offense, that’s by all means an above average season at the position.

Mike Locksley added a veteran who can line up inside or outside. Copeland is more versatile than he gets credit for, which we saw at times in 2020 even though he played in an offense that featured Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes. Copeland will fit in well with Rakim Jarrett and Dontay Demus Jr.

A Florida team with some pretty significant questions at the pass-catcher positions might have a tough time watching Copeland become a new go-to target for Tagovailoa.

And 1 for the road … John Rhys Plumlee, UCF QB

There’s an alternate universe in which Plumlee could’ve played quarterback these past 2 years. I don’t exactly know where that would’ve been because Lane Kiffin’s offense wasn’t an ideal fit, and Malzahn had Bo Nix, who was in Plumlee’s 2019 class. But now at UCF, Plumlee is going back to the position where he made dazzling plays as a 1,000-yard rusher in Rich Rodriguez’s offense in 2019.

The fit at UCF made perfect sense. The Knights lost Dillon Gabriel to the transfer portal this offseason. Malzahn added former Auburn/Kentucky quarterback Joey Gatewood last year, but he was seldom used while incumbent starter Mikey Keene threw for 17 touchdown passes and 6 interceptions in relief of Gabriel. We know that Malzahn typically uses a more mobile quarterback, which Keene isn’t known for being. Plumlee is.

I’m not saying it’s a lock, but Ole Miss fans need to mentally prepare for all sorts of 2019 flashbacks this season in Orlando.

Oh! And if JT Daniels transfers outside the SEC …

Well, brace yourselves, Georgia fans. He could finally take the sport by storm. But hey, at least that pill will be easier to swallow with a ring!