ASU football big loser in college football transfer portal; Arizona Wildcats among winners
The college football transfer portal has not been kind to Herm Edwards and the Arizona State football team.
Not kind at all.
ASU lost a lot of key contributors from a year ago to the portal, including quarterback Jayden Daniels, who is now at LSU.
The exodus of players from Tempe prompted CBS Sports to include the Sun Devils in a story of the eight biggest winners and losers in the 2022 college football transfer portal.
And ASU was not included in the winners section.
Shehan Jeyarajah led off his section of the "losers" with ASU, of which he wrote: "The Sun Devils might as well put up a 'Help Wanted' sign after the vast majority of their top players decided to leave the program in the midst of NCAA troubles. Quarterback Jayden Daniels left the program for LSU in a surprising decision, which set off another round of transfers. Top receiver Ricky Pearsall and star defender Eric Gentry were expected to play central roles, while DeaMonte Trayanum left for Ohio State. Linemen Spencer Lovell, Ezra Dotson-Oyetade and Jermayne Lole all entered the portal in the last weekend. In all, 14 key scholarship players entered the portal. Granted, the Sun Devils got some help back in the form of a top-15 transfer class, but it features only one blue-chip transfer prospect (Miami DL Nesta Jade Silvera). Ultimately, the transfer portal was a net loss for ASU."
Ouch.
More: LSU QB Jayden Daniels on leaving ASU football, locker video
The CBS Sports story talked about the "mass exodus" from ASU football and it's an accurate description with Gentry, Pearsall, Lovell and Dotson-Oyetade among the latest to move on from the Sun Devils.
What likely makes matters worse for ASU is one of the teams included among the four "winners" of the transfer portal so far this season resides in Tucson.
Yes, Jedd Fisch's Wildcats were listed among CBS Sports' biggest winners of the portal.
Of Arizona, Jeyarajah wrote: "It's flown under the radar at a relatively anonymous program, but coach Jedd Fisch is recruiting his butt off. The Wildcats pulled in the the Pac-12's No. 3 recruiting class for 2022 and followed it up with a dynamic transfer class. Wazzu quarterback Jayden de Laura will emphatically answer the glaring question under center, and he will have the freakishly dynamic Jacob Cowing from UTEP to target. Linebacker Anthony Solomon (Michigan) and edge Hunter Echols (USC) bring some dynamic play on the defensive end. The Wildcats went 1-11 in Fisch's miserable first season, but players don't seem dissuaded from his plan. That alone makes Arizona's signing class one of the most important in the Pac-12."
More: Jayden Daniels transfer reaction: Arizona State football 'a mess' under coach Herm Edwards
USC, the team which landed Gentry, is also listed among the winners on CBS Sports' list, as is Mississippi and Nebraska.
Virginia, West Virginia and Colorado are the other teams listed among the losers.
So, four of the Pac-12 South's six teams made the list, with just Utah and UCLA not being included among the winners or losers of the college football transfer portal.
We're guessing that USC and Arizona fans feel a little better about their inclusion on the list than Arizona State and Colorado fans.
Click here to catch up on some of the latest transfer news for the ASU football team.
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football big loser in college football transfer portal
