USA Today’s Austin Curtright named the top 10 most impactful transfers in the SEC for the 2026 college football season. There are a lot of impact positions in this group of course.
Now, will all these transfers pan out? Not necessarily. But, these teams took some big swings in some cases to fill roster holes and it could be boom or bust. Not to mention, there are a few quarterbacks on this list.
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So without further ado, let’s take a look at the 10 most impactful transfers in the SEC for 2026. We’ll start with one player who actually went across state lines to find his new home for the fall!
A former Wolfpack star transferred into the SEC and will help out the South Carolina offensive line. He crossed state lines! His biggest job is protecting QB LaNorris Sellers.
In 2025, Peak was Honorable Mention All-ACC and back in 2023, he won the Jim Ritcher Award for Most Valuable Offensive Lineman and the Alpha Rising Award for Most Improved Player. The Gamecocks hope that trend continues.
Despite three years at Notre Dame, Minchey did not start for the Irish and has 29 career pass attempts. Still, the raw talent is there and there are expectations first-year head coach Will Stein will unlock a lot in this quarterback.
Minchey was 23-of-29 passing for 212 yards across three seasons for Notre Dame. If Kentucky is to make a splash as Stein suggested, Minchey will have to lead the charge among their transfers.
Alex Golesh needed a guy right off the bat to stabilize the QB position at Auburn when he came over from USF. Enter Brown, who transferred to the SEC to follow his head coach.
Last year, Brown had his best year with 3,158 yards, 28 touchdowns, seven interceptions, a 66.3% completion percentage, 1,008 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. Brown had 93 touchdowns in four years at USF.
Leavitt says he’s 100% healthy and that’s been the biggest question all offseason. After a breakout 2024, Leavitt took a step back, due to health, for the Sun Devils last fall.
Now that he transferred into the SEC and will play in Lane Kiffin’s scheme, a lot rides on his improvement. Kiffin is a known QB whisperer so Leavitt should thrive. At ASU, Leavitt had 4,513 yards, 34 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a 61.3% completion percentage in 20 games.
Umanmielen followed Kiffin to LSU from Ole Miss to bolster the pass rusher. He’s yet another in-SEC transfer and should have an instant impact for a Tigers’ defense that definitely needed some help from the new regime.
After starting his career at Nebraska, Umanmielen broke out with the Rebels last year. He had 44 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, nine sacks and one interception across 15 games.
Biles is a man amongst boys and Texas got a big time transfer when he decided to leave Pitt and come to Austin. He’ll be right in the middle of that defense and expects to be one of the best overall defenders in college football.
Not only does Biles have three defensive touchdowns in his career, he’s a tackling machine. At Pitt (31 games), Biles had 185 total tackles, 31.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and three interceptions.
Another LSU transfer on the list. Seaton went from Big 12 to SEC football, so it’ll certainly be an adjustment. But Seaton’s been solid through two years as a starter, initially starting as a true freshman under Deion Sanders.
Now, he’ll anchor the offensive line to protect Leavitt. And we already mentioned how important his health was to the success of the offense. Seaton was Second-Team All-Big 12 last year and was a Freshman All-American.
Now on the third school of his career, Smothers transferred back to the SEC after starting his career at Oklahoma. Smothers was highly productive for Nebraska the last two years, particularly in 2025.
Now, he’ll be a focal point to the Texas offense featuring Manning and a previously mentioned transfer in Coleman. Smithers ran 160 times for 939 yards, six touchdowns, 5.9 yards per carry, 37 catches, 189 receiving yards and a touchdown reception last fall.
After just one year at Alabama, Horton hit the transfer portal again and ended up staying in the SEC with Texas A&M. He spent three years at Miami and his best work came in 2024 with the Hurricanes.
As a fifth year player, Horton should be experienced enough to provide a lot opposite Mario Craver to help QB Marcel Reed. Horton has 112 career catches, 1,301 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11.6 yards per catch across 44 career games.
Coleman should have an instant impact for the Longhorns as he transferred within the SEC. He gives Arch Manning a new No. 1 target for the 2026 season after two productive years with the Tigers.
Last year, Coleman reeled in 56 catches for 708 yards, five touchdowns and 12.6 yards per catch. Overall, Coleman has 93 catches for 1,306 yards, 13 touchdowns and 14 yards per catch, so he should thrive in Steve Sarkisian’s offense.
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