On3's Andy Staples crowns one Big Ten Coach 'The Portal King'

On a recent podcast of "The Andy and Ari Show," On3 Sports college football analyst Andy Staples set out to find which coach had the most success mining the Transfer Portal.

Dan Lanning has put more transfer players in the draft than any other coach in the portal era. He has had 17 taken in the past four drafts.

"I knew they had a lot of transfers but they recruit so well out of high school," Staples said. "They've had so many homegrown draft picks."

Staples elaborated. "They definitely had the most of one specific kind, which is, 'I have an immediate need, I'm going to find this person who has all these physical attributes," he said.

Staples is right that Marshall Malchow and Lanning do a great job of identifying traits that fit the program, but those traits are mental as well as physical.

Tremendous transfer successes include Bo Nix, Christian Gonzalez, Derrick Harmon and Dillon Thieneman, all drafted in the first round. Their work habits and competitiveness stand out as much as their arm strength, ball skills and technique.

All four were a big part of Lanning's immediate and sustained success as Ducks' head man. The team has gone from 10-3 to 12-2 to 13-1 to 13-2, advancing from reaching the PAC-12 Championship in 2023 to winning the Big Ten Championship in 2024, winning two playoff games in 2025, including a 23-0 shutout of No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl before getting crushed 56-22 by eventual champion Indiana in the College Football Playoff Semifinal by Curt Cignetti and Indiana.

Some of the programs lesser-known transfers weren't NFL prospects before being developed at Oregon. Ajani Cornelius and Alex Harkey came to Eugene from Rhode Island and Texas State to play their way into the league. Malik Benson was a castoff from Alabama and Florida State before blossoming with the Ducks.

Indiana fans will want a recount

Looked at another way, Cignetti has to be (for now) the Transfer King. Or just the king, period. His Hoosiers steamrolled to the title 16-0 and did it with a formidable nucleus of transfer players, many of whom followed the 64-year-old coach from James Madison.

Cignetti found former two-star quarterback Fernando Mendoza at Cal and transformed him into a Heisman Trophy winner and the MVP of the national championship win over Miami, vaulting over for the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 4th and 5 keeper.

Results matter most, so Cignetti earns this mythical title from Autzen Zoo based on wins and titles. But kings can be uncrowned. A new season starts in 123 days, 116 if the count starts at Week Zero. Lanning and the rest of the Big 10 will be gunning for Cignetti's title.

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