A detailed view of an ESPN College Football broadcast camera during the game between the BYU Cougars and the UCF Knights at LaVell Edwards Stadium on November 29, 2025 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

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Tyler Erzberger

By Tyler Erzberger

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The transfer portal officially opens up on Jan. 2 of the new year, but that hasn’t stopped a slew of the nation’s top college players from jumping into it before Christmas.

Quarterback, the most important single position of all North American sports, is the prime position for every program trying to make it to the top of the College Football Playoff, and that has only doubled in 2025 with some of the biggest names declaring their intent to transfer.

After Fernando Mendoza left California in 2024 for Indiana and the Hoosiers became the top team in the country, every coach, from Lane Kiffin to Dan Lanning, wants to find their next ace of the program.

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On Saturday, this was never more personified than when one of the biggest shocks of the transfer portal season occurred: a 26-win, 9,200-yard quarterback announced they would be playing for a new school next fall.

More news: Michigan Coaching Search Loses Another Top Candidate

STILLWATER, OK - NOVEMBER 29: Quarterback Rocco Becht #3 of the Iowa State Cyclones passes the ball before a game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium on November 29, 2025 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Iowa State won 20-13. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

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More news: 5-Star SEC Quarterback to Enter Transfer Portal Following Bowl Game

Iowa State’s Rocco Becht will be wearing a new helmet next season, as he put out a statement on social media that, with much love and consideration, he’ll be leaving the Cyclones to sign with a new team for the upcoming 2026 season.

In his four years at the school, Becht became the face of the program, having three incredible years under center during which he dazzled in the Big 12 Conference. Over three years as the main man for the Cyclones, he threw for 64 touchdowns and rushed for 19 more, almost putting up 10,000 total scrimmage yards during his tenure.

Becht led Iowa State to three-straight winning seasons, with the peak coming in 2024 when the Cyclones won 11 games and defeated the Miami Hurricanes in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, where he threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions

As he enters the transfer portal, look for teams such as LSU, Indiana and the team he defeated in last year’s Bowl game, Miami, to look into the veteran playmaker.

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