Portal Rumor Mill: Transfer season kicks off with a bang
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday and hundreds of players have already entered looking for a new home and a fresh start. Here’s what Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney is hearing so far in this Portal Rumor Mill.
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The former Florida defensive end who’s now a four-star in the portal rankings is hearing from “a lot of schools” but the only visit planned so far is to Texas A&M.
The Aggies are definitely a team to watch and this could be a quick flip unless Collins wants to wait and see some other programs before a decision.
Cooper does not have any visits finalized yet but the three-star defensive back from Florida State is hearing most from Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State and Memphis so far.
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None of those programs were in Cooper’s top six before he chose the Seminoles coming out of high school.
Two official visits have been set up for the former Arkansas defensive end who finished with 23 tackles and one sack this season. Davillier is planning to see UCLA and Mississippi State before making any final decisions.
After one season at Nebraska, the former four-star is looking for a new home but the word is that the Huskers are not giving up on keeping him and continue to stay in communication about staying in Lincoln.
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So far, the other main competitor has been Florida State but others are expected to jump in as no visits have been set yet.
Despite not putting up big numbers at USC, Eldridge is seeing major interest from Duke, Washington, Washington State, San Diego State, Boise State, Cal and Eastern Washington so far.
The former Bellingham (Wash.) Lynden Christian three-star tight end will visit Washington on Dec. 13 as the only visit planned so far. New interest from Georgia Tech and Ole Miss is also coming in now.
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The four-star offensive lineman put up impressive PFF numbers at Harvard this season and it’s now given him offers from Virginia, Memphis, James Madison and a host of other programs with a ton of new interest coming in as well.
Programs from all Power Four conferences have reached out so Gentle’s list could change dramatically in the coming days. Gentle was at Memphis on Monday and then has trips to Virginia, Tulane and James Madison soon.
Nebraska will get the first visit from Graham on Thursday and the former Florida State linebacker will be at Kansas on Saturday as those two programs have emerged early on in Graham’s portal recruitment.
Many others are expected to get involved in the coming days.
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After it didn’t work out at Texas Tech after one season, the five-star receiver was at Texas A&M on Monday and if all goes well the Aggies could be loading up majorly at wide receiver through the portal. Hudson is definitely one to watch as the Aggies were involved late in his high school recruitment.
Kelly caught 53 passes for 869 yards and four touchdowns this season and so the four-star receiver has received significant interest since entering the portal.
Michigan State and Louisville are Kelly’s visits that are set in stone and then Cal, Washington, Kansas, Memphis and North Carolina are reaching out most.
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Key led Kentucky with 47 receptions for 715 yards and two touchdowns. Louisville, Nebraska, Georgia and South Carolina are the most involved in his recruitment now. The four-star is planning a visit to Louisville early next week as there continue to be rumors that Vince Marrow could join that staff so the Cardinals will be one to watch.
After backing up Ethan Garbers at UCLA this season, Martin is on the move and has a host of programs reaching out already for the former Inglewood, Calif., quarterback. Stanford, in particular, has reached out but eight or nine others will get involved with the talented QB as well.
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The three-star linebacker from Dartmouth was a stat stuffer this season with 30 tackles, five sacks, five pass breakups, and Mullen is getting significant interest now.
Memphis, Georgia Tech, Nevada, UAB and a host of MAC programs are reaching out to Mullen as he’s finalizing visits at this point.
The four-star offensive lineman who was impressive at Cal Poly this season has five visits coming up before Christmas with four of them in the ACC.
Norton will be at Wake Forest on Dec. 14 and then every two days after that he will see Virginia, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Kansas State to close things out on Dec. 22.
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A four-star defensive end in the 2023 class, Osborne did not make much of an impact at Alabama this season but after jumping in the portal he’s seeing some significant interest already.
USC, LSU, Penn State and SMU are reaching out but Osborne has not finalized any visits yet.
The former four-star running back in the 2023 class signed with Iowa State but then bounced to New Mexico this season, and he rushed for 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
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Sanders was at Michigan State on Monday and he’ll be at Arizona on Wednesday and Thursday. More trips could be coming as Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Memphis have offered in recent days.
Texas Tech, Pitt, Florida State, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Alabama will all receive visits over the coming weeks as Simmons is one of the most wanted offensive linemen in the portal coming out of Western Carolina.
Oklahoma offered Simmons on Monday and then Vanderbilt and Nebraska are also talking a lot, along with Michigan and Auburn.
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With former coach Gus Malzahn leaving to be the offensive coordinator at Florida State, a whole bunch of UCF players have hit the portal including Threats, who has Nebraska, Northwestern, Michigan State, UCLA and Syracuse reaching out most.
The only visit the three-star defensive back has planned so far is with the Bruins this week.
The Philadelphia 76ers selected Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr. with the 22nd overall pick of the 2026 NBA draft Tuesday night.
Philon is the first pick of the Mike Gansey era after he replaced Daryl Morey as the team’s president of basketball operations.
Who is Labaron Philon Jr.?
Philon, 20, led the Crimson Tide in scoring last season, averaging 22.0 points on nearly 40% shooting on 3-pointers. He was the focal point of one of the nation’s most potent offenses, as Alabama led the country in points per game in the 2025-26 season. The Crimson Tide (No. 16) finished the season with a 25-10 record and went 13-5 against conference opponents.
Philon, who helped lead Alabama to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, earned Third-Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC honors in his sophomore season.
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In 33 games last season for Alabama, Philon scored 725 total points, which is ranked third-most by a player in a single season in program history.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver shakes hands with Labaron Philon Jr. after he is drafted twenty-second overall by the Philadelphia 76ers during Round One of the 2026 NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 23, 2026 in New York City.
Arturo Holmes / Getty Images
Philon was the 34th-ranked basketball recruit in the country entering his freshman season at Alabama, according to 247sports. The four-star guard initially committed to playing at Auburn, but decommitted. He then signed a letter of intent to play at Kansas, but didn’t play there, either. He then committed to the Crimson Tide in April 2024.
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Philon impressed as a freshman at Alabama and averaged 10.6 points in 37 games. He declared for the 2025 NBA draft but then withdrew and returned for his sophomore season, where he saw his scoring average jump more than 10 points.
Philon is a Mobile, Alabama, native and played at Baker High School in Mobile County, where he scored 2,334 points in three seasons. He was named the Class 7A Player of the Year twice.
As a junior, he averaged 35 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists and was named Alabama Mr. Basketball, which is given to the best high school boys’ basketball player in the state. Philon transferred to Link Academy, a boarding school in Missouri, for his senior year of high school.
Philon now joins a backcourt headlined by Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe heading into the 2026-27 season. Quentin Grimes could return to Philadelphia next season and add even more depth, but he’s an unrestricted free agent.
The pick the Sixers used to pick Philon was acquired in the deal that sent Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the trade deadline.
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Labaron Philon Jr. scouting report
CBS Sports had Philon ranked as the 14th-best prospect in the 2026 NBA draft.
Here are his strengths and weaknesses, according to CBS Sports:
Strengths
On-ball creator who made an extreme leap as a sophomore, ranking in the 99th percentile in isolations (was 24th percentile as a freshman) and 94th as a pick-and-roll handler (was 32nd percentile as a freshman). Combines smooth attack with sudden change of speed and direction, dexterity, and finishing craft in the lane.
Shot-maker who can make tough shots off both the catch (36% on contested catch-and-shoot 3-pointers), dribble (38% from deep), and has extreme gravity when he’s spacing the floor (46% on unguarded catch-and-shoot 3-pointers).
Shown pliability to thrive in different roles over the years and is a similarly versatile creator, because he’s a scoring threat at multiple levels and also an accurate, and somewhat creative, passer with both hands off the dribble.
Weaknesses
Inconsistent defensive approach. Showed more engagement and potential as a freshman, but couldn’t maintain that as a sophomore when taking on a bigger offensive role.
Lacks overwhelming physicality or highest level explosiveness, and didn’t add any notable muscle mass between his freshman and sophomore seasons (175 pounds at 2025 combine and 176 at 2026 combine).
Unclear how well his creation scales to the NBA level when he will have less usage and volume coupled by more physicality in opposing defenders.
Alabama football hosted a hometown kid for an official visit last weekend when it got Jeremiah Beverley on campus for an official visit.
Beverley attends Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and ESPN currently has him rated as a four-star recruit. He is considering Alabama, Cincinnati, Wake Forest and others.
The Crimson Tide offered Beverley earlier this month and got him on campus for an official visit last weekend. The Alabama target told Touchdown Alabama he used the visit to learn what the Tide has planned for him if he commits.
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“I’m truly happy that I went on that official visit,” Beverley said. “Blessed for that. All I was talking about was the next step, what I got to do? So, just knowing what they have planned for me, knowing what they have set for me.”
At 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, Beverley makes plays for Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa as a defensive end. Alabama has plans to use him similarly at the next level.
“They’re going to have me at wolf mostly,” Beverley said. “I know coach (Kane) Wommack and coach (Christian) Robinson, I think they see me at other positions, but I know it is guaranteed they’re going to see me at Wolf and me working my way up on special teams, and they expect that out of me.”
Beverley is expected to announce a commitment decision on Friday.
Watch Jeremiah Beverley’s Highlights Below:
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Justin Smith is the Managing Editor and Lead Writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine with over 10 years of writing experience & expertise. Smith has consistently delivered high quality, extensively researched information on the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team that fans can trust. Smith is official credentialed media with the University of Alabama under Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He is also the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Enterprises, specializing in scouting and analyzing high school recruits around the nation, specifically focusing on recruits within the state of Alabama.
Alabama football is hiring Noah Fisher to be its assistant tight ends coach, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.
Fisher spent two seasons as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line and tight ends at Louisville before joining the Tide’s staff. He played three years on the offensive line at South Alabama and spent one season with Tulane. The Jaguars started Fisher along its offensive line when he was a player for multiple games.
The Crimson Tide appear to want to use their tight ends in multiple ways in the future including as extra blockers along the line of scrimmage. Fisher looks as if he can assist the Tide with this mission.
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Justin Smith is the Managing Editor and Lead Writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine with over 10 years of writing experience & expertise. Smith has consistently delivered high quality, extensively researched information on the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team that fans can trust. Smith is official credentialed media with the University of Alabama under Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He is also the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Enterprises, specializing in scouting and analyzing high school recruits around the nation, specifically focusing on recruits within the state of Alabama.
