How many transfers are on the preseason All-SEC teams?

Nineteen of the 66 offensive and defensive players on the 2025 preseason All-SEC teams once started at different schools.

[Sign up for Inside Texas for $1 and get PLUS access up to the Ohio State game!]

The transfer portal has taken over the college football world—there’s no question about it—but the SEC continues to exemplify the idea that the best teams and players are developed.

Over 70% of the elite players in the conference have remained true to the team they originally committed to, and just three of the 22 first-team players started their college careers somewhere else.

This may be the case due to a few factors. Simply, the ones deciding these teams may have an inherent bias to select the players who have been doing it in the SEC longer. The three first-team selections who were once transfers—Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy, Missouri OL Cayden Green, and Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers—have all played in the SEC for multiple seasons. Green and Stowers, funnily enough, started their careers at Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

Bias may be the case for certain selections. Someone like Jack Endries, Texas’ transfer from Cal this spring, is almost universally agreed upon as a top-three tight end heading into the year. Despite that, Georgia’s Oscar Delp, who had under 250 receiving yards last season, made the list ahead of him. A similar case can be made for Auburn’s Eric Singleton Jr., a player who has nearly eclipsed 1,500 yards as an underclassman in the ACC but is sitting on the third team.

Two positions specifically lack any transfers, and they’re probably ones you could guess. QB is completely made up of players who have stuck at one school, with South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, and Texas’ Arch Manning. The other position is the leader of the defense—the linebackers. Eight of the nine selected linebackers have stuck with one school, and the sole example, Ole Miss’ Princewill Umanmielen, is listed as an edge rusher pretty much everywhere you look. Running back and safety are also positions with just one transfer selected.

Another interesting note is the ratio between first-year and multi-year transfers. Just seven of those 19 players, guys like Endries and Umanmielen, played for different teams last season. Two of these players, LSU’s Aaron Anderson and Missouri’s Kevin Coleman Jr., played for other SEC schools in 2024. Really, just five players on these teams played outside of the SEC in 2024: two from Cal, one from Nebraska, one from Virginia Tech, and one from Georgia Tech. No one from the Big 12.

The All-SEC teams didn’t include top-20 transfers like Oklahoma QB John Mateer, Missouri EDGE Damon Wilson, Georgia WR Zachariah Branch, Texas A&M WR Kevin Concepcion, LSU WR Barion Brown, and LSU EDGE Patrick Payton.

Texas is well represented on the list generally, but their successes in the transfer portal have also been noted. Endries is, of course, a part of the third team, but former UTSA EDGE/LB Trey Moore was also selected as a defensive lineman. P Jack Bouwmeester also made his way onto the list as a second-teamer. Unsurprisingly, players like Maraad Watson, Cole Brevard, and Emmett Mosley didn’t quite make the list, but they all have the potential to elevate from transfer sleeper to All-SEC by the end of the year.

[Want to be the most informed Texas Longhorns football fan? Order the 2025 edition of Thinking Texas Football today!]

Transfers have become an integral part of team building, but the current era may be more focused on using these transfers to fill weaknesses, not to become star players. While the likes of Oklahoma and Auburn spent big this cycle to add star players at major positions, the majority of the elite teams in the conference have stars that were brought in the old-fashioned way: the recruiting trail.

2025 Preseason All-SEC Football Team Selections:

First Team — Offense

QB – LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
RB – Quintrevion Wisner, Texas
RB –  Le’Veon Moss, Texas A&M  
WR – Ryan Williams, Alabama    
WR – Cam Coleman, Auburn
TE – Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt
OL – Kadyn Proctor, Alabama
OL – Cayden Green, Missouri
OL – DJ Campbell, Texas 
OL – Austin Barber, Florida
C – Jake Slaughter, Florida  

First Team — Defense

DL – Keldric Faulk, Auburn    
DL – Dylan Stewart, South Carolina    
DL – Colin Simmons, Texas  
DL – Christen Miller, Georgia 
LB – Anthony Hill Jr., Texas       
LB – Whit Weeks, LSU    
LB – CJ Allen, Georgia 
DB – KJ Bolden, Georgia   
DB – Michael Taaffe, Texas    
DB – Daylen Everette, Georgia    
DB – Jermod McCoy, Tennessee

First Team — Specialists

P – Brett Thorson, Georgia  
PK – Peyton Woodring, Georgia   
LS – Beau Gardner, Georgia 
KS – Peyton Woodring, Georgia 
RS – Zachariah Branch, Georgia     
AP – Zachariah Branch, Georgia  

Second Team — Offense

QB – Garrett Nussmeier, LSU  
RB – Jaydn Ott, Oklahoma
RB – Caden Durham, LSU
WR – Aaron Anderson, LSU
WR – Ryan Wingo, Texas
TE – Oscar Delp, Georgia
OL – Ar’maj Reed-Adams, Texas A&M    
OL – Trey Zuhn III, Texas A&M    
OL – Jaeden Roberts, Alabama   
OL – Fernando Carmona Jr., Arkansas
C –  Parker Brailsford, Alabama

Second Team — Defense

DL – Caleb Banks, Florida
DL – Tim Keenan III, Alabama   
DL – LT Overton, Alabama
DL – R Mason Thomas, Oklahoma
LB – Deontae Lawson, Alabama
LB – Harold Perkins, LSU    
LB – Suntarine Perkins, Ole Miss    
DB – Malik Muhammad, Texas    
DB – Domani Jackson, Alabama    
DB – Will Lee III, Texas A&M  
DB –  Jalon Kilgore, South Carolina  

Second Team — Specialists

P – Jack Bouwmeester, Texas
*PK – Trey Smack, Florida  
*PK – Lucas Carneiro, Ole Miss
LS – Rocco Underwood, Florida
KS – Trey Smack, Florida
RS – Barion Brown, LSU    
AP –  Zavion Thomas, LSU

Third Team — Offense

QB – Arch Manning, Texas 
RB – Nate Frazier, Georgia  
RB – Jam Miller, Alabama
WR – Eric Singleton, Auburn
WR – Kevin Coleman Jr., Missouri
TE – Jack Endries, Texas     
OL – Earnest Greene III, Georgia 
OL – Chase Bisontis, Texas A&M
OL –  Xavier Chaplin, Auburn
OL – Trevor Goosby, Texas
C – Connor Lew, Auburn 

Third Team — Defense  

DL – Tyreak Sapp, Florida
DL – Trey Moore, Texas
DL – Cam Ball, Arkansas
DL – Zxavian Harris, Ole Miss  
LB – Taurean York, Texas A&M   
LB – Arion Carter, Tennessee    
LB – Princewill Umanmielen, Ole Miss 
DB – Keon Sabb, Alabama  
DB – Boo Carter, Tennessee  
DB – Bray Hubbard, Alabama
DB – Isaac Smith, Mississippi State

Third Team — Specialists

*P – Devin Bale, Arkansas
*P – Aidan Laros, Kentucky  
PK – Alex McPherson, Auburn  
LS – Ben Anderson, Oklahoma
KS – Will Stone, Texas
RS – Zavion Thomas, LSU    
*AP – Eugene Wilson III, Florida
*AP – Jadan Baugh, Florida

* – Indicates a tie