-1600x900.webp)
College football rosters spin like a frenzied laundromat across the sport. Change is the norm.
Every program has some NCAA Transfer Portal presence, both on rosters and in personnel departments.
Some, such as North Carolina and first-year coach Bill Belichick, have nearly a full travel roster's worth of newcomers -- as the Tar Heels with 70, just 10 short of the ACC's mandated 80-person travel roster. Colorado and Deion Sanders have churned the Portal on an almost nonstop-cycle; the Buffs added some 50 newcomers this year, after adding 55 in 2024 and a record-breaking 86 newcomers in 2023 -- Coach Prime's first at the helm.
Penn State, the nation's preseason No. 2 team in the AP Top 25 after a run to the College Football Playoffs Semifinals after last season, has just eight new players on its roster via the Portal plus its high school signing class.
But the Nittany Lions' opening foe this week, Jeff Choate's Nevada Wolf Pack, have 53 total newcomers, 27 rostering for Nevada after transferring into the program.
Franklin says this type of roster churn throughout the sport makes games more difficult. Kickoff Saturday is 3:30 p.m. (CBS) inside Beaver Stadium.
"These games, I think for everybody in college football now, they're a little concerning," Franklin entering Year 12 at PSU, said Monday. "What I mean by that is when you have 54 (53, per 247Sports) new players, it's hard to really have a good understanding and a feel of who you're going to play. This could be a team that could go on and have a phenomenal year. It's hard to really project when there is that amount of turnover.
"Obviously, we see this across college football. We're not a huge Transfer Portal team, although we do go into the Transfer Portal and do what we need to do. There are some programs out there. I saw something the other day, 84 new players in a program in one year, so it is crazy."
Choate, a former Montana State head coach who spent three years as Steve Sarkisian's defensive coordinator at Texas before taking over at Nevada prior to last season, has worked with general manager Bobby Merritt, a longtime NFL veteran also with SEC ties, to fortify the roster.
The Wolf Pack brought in transfers this year numerous Power Conference programs, including Indiana, Michigan, Arizona, Texas Tech and Nebraska. Though he's a second-year player in the program, quarterback Chubba Hubbard has previous stops at both Florida State and Nebraska -- where he earned starting nods for both programs.
"Chubba Purdy, the quarterback, obviously a name everybody is familiar with, Nebraska and FSU transfer at the quarterback position," said Franklin, reiterating such a large volume of newcomers was hard to prepare for in a "Week 1" contest. "And, then, wide receiver Marcus Bellon, who's a UTEP transfer.
"They're guys we've heard and seen good things from."