It wasn’t that long ago when conducting a Sun Belt transfer portal audit was a quick and simple exercise. For example, in 2022 the Red Wolves imported about a dozen guys from the portal (remember King Mwikuta?). This year, Coach Butch Jones and his staff have lassoed 30 players – and will likely acquire a few more before spring. As of this writing, we count 313 new players entering the Sun Belt (and eight players moving from one Sun Belt team to another). That’s remarkably close to the 323 Sun Belt players we count portaling out.

Taking The Most Portal Dips: James Madison Dukes

Southern Miss (36) wasn’t far behind, but the 38 dips for the Dukes makes JMU and new head coach Billy Napier the Biggest Portal Pounder in the Belt. Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina and Georgia State were also busy-bees, taking 32 plunges apiece.

Only Dipping A Toe: Louisiana Ragin Cajuns

Despite annually losing a great deal of talent to the Portal, the Cajuns rarely partake, and this season is no different, with Coach Mike Desormeaux taking just five souls. Maybe it’s a State of Louisiana thing – Sun Belt newcomer Louisiana Tech tied South Alabama with the second fewest selections with 11.

Where Are All These Dudes Coming From?

Well, son, they come from all over. By our count, 103 hail from Power 4 conferences. About 48% originate from FCS or lower conferences, and just 18% arrive from peer G5 conferences. The school that lost the most talent to the Sun Belt? Arkansas, with eight payers.

Who is Bringing Bona Fides to the Belt?

So far, we haven’t see any 24/7 Sports 4-star transfers sliding into the Belt. In fact, only two rated as high as 0.8700. What does this mean? Nothing.

The Most Common Name Entering the Sun Belt: Josh

I’m not joshing around. Six Josh’s are arriving to the Sun Belt. Also: 4 Andrew’s, 4 Jaylen’s and 4 Jaden’s.

The Most Popular Position Coming In: Beef

Clearly, the emphasis is on line-of-scrimmage, defensive back depth and wide receiver weaponry.

The Takeways

Without thinking too hard, 1) the FCS is becoming a developmental league for the Sun Belt, 2) trench beef remains the coin of the realm, 3) players aren’t transferring very far, with Sun Belt schools recruiting from neighbor and regional programs.

Behold! The Players!

Player	Team	Pos	Formerly	24/7 Rating (T)
J’Marion Burnette	App St	RB	Houston	0.86
Semaj Fleming	App St	WR	Boston Co.	0.86
Jakob Gude	App St	S	UCF	0.86
Malachi Singleton	App St	QB	Purdue	0.85
Greydon Grimes	App St	OT	Kansas	0.85
Keshawn Thomas	App St	LB	ODU	0.85
Ja’Cari Henderson	App St	CB	UCF	0.85
Alex Mitchell	App St	LB	MTSU	0.85
Kaleb Purdy	App St	S	Tenn Tech	0.85
Khalil Conley	App St	CB	NC	0.85
Devin Henderson	App St	S	Liberty	0.85
Kamron Burris	App St	OT	Anderson	0.84
Jehchys Brown	App St	DL	SEMO	0.84
Henry Hasselbeck	App St	QB	UCLA	0.84
Dazmin James	App St	WR	Cal	0.84
Aaron Clark	App St	DL	Towson	0.83
Dre Walker	App St	CB	Virginia	0.83
Sam Pickett	App St	WR	Samford	0.82
Zach Taylor	App St	WR	Arkansas	0.82
Josh Williams	App St	CB	Dayton	0.8
Sam Lofton	App St	WR	Gardner-Webb	NA
Eric Adams	App St	S	NCC	NA
Kevin Henderson	App St	LB	Findlay	NA
Ki’Shawn Harvey	App St	DL	E Tenn St	NA
Devon Manuel	App St	OT	Florida	NA
Treyaun Webb	App St	RB	Florida	NA
Cary Grant	App St	S	Charlotte	NA
Joe Reddish	App St	CB	VaTech	NA
Jaxon Dunn	App St	P	Arkansas St	NA
Parker Stone	App St	LS	Tulsa	NA
Tommy Ulatowski	App St	QB	Kennesaw St	NA
Luke Douglas	App St	TE	Florida St	NA
Tre Owens	Arkansas St	QB	Texas	0.86
Makai Shahid	Arkansas St	S	Youngstown	0.86
Manasse Itete	Arkansas St	OL	Florida St	0.86
Joshua Ofer	Arkansas St	LB	NC St	0.86
Tyeland Coleman	Arkansas St	DL	Florida St	0.85
Jeremy St-Hilaire	Arkansas St	QB	Vanderbilt	0.85
Boski Barrett	Arkansas St	WR	Vanderibilt	0.85
Talan Chandler	Arkansas St	OL	Northwestern	0.85
Shakai Woods	Arkansas St	DL	MTSU	0.84
Five Hamilton	Arkansas St	CB	Kennesaw St	0.84
Jaden Hamm	Arkansas St	TE	Kansas	0.84
Jaylen Heyward	Arkansas St	S	UCF	0.83
Bryson Ross	Arkansas St	CB	Portland St	0.83
Corey Reddick Jr.	Arkansas St	RB	Valdosta St	0.83
Landry Cannon	Arkansas St	OL	Tulane	0.83
Drew Dickey	Arkansas St	QB	Vanderbilt	0.82
Kam Moore	Arkansas St	LB	UCF	0.82
Dontrae Henderson	Arkansas St	CB	Indiana	0.79
Tre Stevens	Arkansas St	LB	Lafayette	NA
Jaden Haly	Arkansas St	CB	Sacred Heart	NA
Nicolas Kalume	Arkansas St	Edge	Maine	NA
Sultan Badmus	Arkansas St	Edge	Temple	NA
Daniel Vuckovic	Arkansas St	P	N Illinois	NA
AJ Thomas	Arkansas St	Edge	McNeese	NA
Riley Smith	Arkansas St	LS	Furman	NA
Donquarius Parker	Arkansas St	Edge	NCC	NA
Noah Flores	Arkansas St	CB	Utah St	NA
Sterling Wiggins	Arkansas St	OL	NC A&T	NA
Elias Sherman	Arkansas St	DL	Maine	NA
Josh Burrell	Arkansas St	TE	Furman	NA
Tristan Gardner	Coastal	WR	Missouri St	0.86
Donavan Grayson	Coastal	Edge	Samford	0.86
Jalen Lee	Coastal	S	South Dakota St	0.86
Trever Jackson	Coastal	QB	Arkansas	0.86
Azarel Juste	Coastal	LB	Bryant	0.85
Daelen Alexander	Coastal	RB	Rice	0.85
Tyler Woodard	Coastal	S	Miss State	0.85
Jackson Kohl	Coastal	TE	Missouri St	0.85
Deuce Bailey	Coastal	QB	Missouri St	0.85
Mason Barton	Coastal	OL	Jackson St	0.85
Marcellius Pulliam	Coastal	LB	Michigan St	0.85
Jesse Powell II	Coastal	LB	Elon	0.84
Krosse Johnson	Coastal	WR	Arkansas	0.84
Dezmond Barnes	Coastal	DL	Missouri St	0.84
Rodney Hill	Coastal	RB	Arkansas	0.84
Jaden Allen-Hendrix	Coastal	RB	Ok. State	0.83
Cam Williams	Coastal	DL	Clark Atlanta	0.82
Reggie Jean	Coastal	DL	N. Illinois	0.82
Mason Moore	Coastal	S	Lehigh	NA
Nico Cavanillas Alti	Coastal	K	S. Carolina St	NA
Goldie Lawrence	Coastal	WR	Florida A7M	NA
Daughtry Richardson	Coastal	OT	FAU	NA
Clayton Coppock	Coastal	WR	Kennesaw St	NA
Cyrus Ellison	Coastal	TE	S. Carolina St	NA
Gabe White	Coastal	CB	Bethune-Cookman	NA
Mitchell Toney	Coastal	DL	Missouri St	NA
Apisa Poumele	Coastal	OL	Central Mich	NA
Jordan Thompson	Coastal	LB	Western Carolina	NA
Roland Podesta	Coastal	P	Boise St	NA
Chandavian Bradley	Coastal	Edge	Ok. State	NA
Xzavier Booker	Coastal	DL	Alabama A&M	NA
Damill Bostic Jr.	Coastal	CB	Villinova	NA
Rashon Myles Jr.	Ga Southern	LB	Abilene Christian	0.87
Kam Mikell	Ga Southern	WR	Colorado	0.86
O’marion Brown	Ga Southern	DL	Woffard	0.85
Mo Clipper Jr.	Ga Southern	OL	Charlotte	0.85
Noah Mangham	Ga Southern	CB	Abilene Christian	0.85
King Phillips	Ga Southern	WR	TX A&M Kingsville	0.84
Noble Johnson	Ga Southern	WR	Arizona St	0.84
Josh Raymond	Ga Southern	OL	Florida St	0.84
Anthony Bynum	Ga Southern	Edge	MTSU	0.83
Aidan McCowan	Ga Southern	CB	Nicholls	0.82
Ashton Hollins	Ga Southern	WR	Illinois	0.82
Aaron Sears	Ga Southern	CB	SFA	NA
Andre Greene Jr.	Ga Southern	WR	Virginia	NA
Gregory Delaine Jr.	Ga Southern	CB	Syracuse	NA
Cam King	Ga Southern	WR	Auburn	NA
Blake Ford	Ga Southern	K	Arkansas	NA
Cole Norred	Ga Southern	OL	E Tenn St	NA
Max Johnson	Ga Southern	QB	North Carolina	NA
Festus Davies	Ga Southern	Edge	West Georgia	NA
Jakyri Jones	Ga Southern	S	SE Louisiana	NA
Diego Aviles	Ga Southern	LB	Wingate	NA
Connor Jones	Georgia St	OT	Michigan	0.85
Donovan Faria	Georgia St	CB	Gannon	0.85
Marcus Mascoll	Georgia St	OL	Florida	0.85
Deuce Lee	Georgia St	S	Monmouth	0.85
Jordan Brown	Georgia St	OL	Arizona	0.85
Andre Jocelyn	Georgia St	CB	Benedict	0.85
Chase Allen-Jackman	Georgia St	WR	Washburn	0.85
Darius Johnson Jr.	Georgia St	CB	Gardner-Webb	0.85
Toby Bolton	Georgia St	CB	Tenn Tech	0.85
Rodshaun Dorsey	Georgia St	WR	Erskine	0.84
Lanear McCrary Jr.	Georgia St	RB	Shorter	0.84
Keith Adams Jr.	Georgia St	RB	Clemson	0.84
Deylin Hasert	Georgia St	OL	Iowa St	0.84
Jaydon Hood	Georgia St	LB	Michigan	0.84
Ayden Pereira	Georgia St	QB	Merrimack	0.84
Tre Mittman	Georgia St	S	NC A&T	0.84
Xavier Esquillen	Georgia St	Edge	Savannah St	0.83
Mandjou Berte	Georgia St	DL	Wingate	0.83
Peter Diaz	Georgia St	OL	Shippensburg	0.83
Samer Layous	Georgia St	K	Marist	0.83
Gage Stanaland	Georgia St	OL	Ok. State	0.83
Matt Buron	Georgia St	TE	Fordham	0.83
Jaylen Poe	Georgia St	RB	N Illinois	0.83
Owen Dupree	Georgia St	WR	West Georgia	0.83
Savion Hart	Georgia St	RB	Georgetown	0.82
Braylon Alexander	Georgia St	CB	Washburn	0.82
Ryan Green	Georgia St	LB	Wingate	0.82
Isaiah Stone	Georgia St	WR	LSU	0.82
Brad Menhorn	Georgia St	LB	St. Joseph	0.82
Christian Teeter	Georgia St	P	Wingate	0.8
Kelton Smith Jr.	Georgia St	OL	Georgia	NA
Kelze Howard	Georgia St	DL	Oregon St	NA
Jeremiah Harrison	JMU	WR	E Tenn St	0.87
Kylan Billiot	JMU	WR	LSU	0.86
Jayon Harvey	JMU	S	Findlay	0.86
Damier Minkah	JMU	CB	Shepherd	0.86
Corey Scott	JMU	WR	W Florida	0.86
Ernest Willor Jr.	JMU	Edge	Wisconsin	0.86
Mason Purham	JMU	Edge	Emory & Henry	0.85
Tyler Brown	JMU	OL	Colorado	0.85
Noel Portnjagin	JMU	OL	Florida	0.85
Terrence Jones II	JMU	CB	Fordham	0.84
Kevin Roberts	JMU	DL	W Florida	0.84
JT Hooten	JMU	LB	West Alabama	0.84
Nick Herman	JMU	RB	Drake	0.84
Arrington Maiden	JMU	QB	Memphis	0.84
Chukwunedu Okeke	JMU	DL	WKU	0.84
Kei’Trone Simpson	JMU	Edge	Lamar	0.83
Seth Cromwell	JMU	RB	Northern Arizona	0.83
Danny Royster	JMU	Edge	Indianapolis	0.83
Rasheed Lovelace	JMU	DL	Nicholls	0.83
Davi Belfort	JMU	QB	UCF	0.83
Josh Manecke	JMU	OL	Army	0.79
Thatcher Miller	JMU	TE	West Chester	NA
Micah Matthews	JMU	WR	Va Tech	NA
KD Mosley	JMU	TE	Howard	NA
DJ Fox	JMU	OT	WI River Falls	NA
Terell Thomas	JMU	Edge	Washburn	NA
Malachi Fannin-Render	JMU	RB	Liberty	NA
Nakian Jackson	JMU	LB	Nevada	NA
Kaedin Massey	JMU	OL	Kansas St	NA
Frankie Tinilau	JMU	OL	E Tenn St	NA
Noah Grevious	JMU	WR	VMI	NA
Lathan Croley	JMU	LB	Holy Cross	NA
Javis Mynatt	JMU	S	Texas St	NA
Andrew Bennett	JMU	P	Charlotte	NA
DJ Kelly	JMU	CB	Toledo	NA
Jakolbi Wilson	JMU	DL	Fort Hays St	NA
Baylen Woodman	JMU	K	MTSU	NA
Daniel Michel	JMU	OL	FIU	NA
Jayce Mitchell	Louisiana	OL	Tulane	0.84
Princeton Malbrue	Louisiana	LB	LSU	0.82
Anthony Reagan Jr.	Louisiana	RB	Howard	NA
Tito Chikere	Louisiana	Edge	East Texas A&M	NA
Brodrick Stewart	Louisiana	DL	Tarleton St	NA
Jamarion Wilcox	Marshall	RB	Kentucky	0.86
Christian Hamilton	Marshall	WR	W Virginia	0.86
Robby Martin	Marshall	OL	W Virginia	0.86
Jaquez Joiner	Marshall	OL	UCF	0.85
Terry Nwabuisi-Ezeala	Marshall	DL	Vanderbilt	0.85
Kelvon McBride	Marshall	LB	NC State	0.85
BJ Carter	Marshall	DL	Iowa St	0.85
Chris Culliver	Marshall	WR	North Carolina	0.84
Cole Funderburk	Marshall	Edge	Wake Forest	0.84
Xavier Bausley	Marshall	OL	W Virginia	0.84
Eddie Pleasant III	Marshall	CB	Buffalo	0.84
Mickel Williams	Marshall	DL	UTSA	0.84
Terrente Hinton	Marshall	S	NC State	0.84
TJ Lester	Marshall	RB	West Georgia	0.83
Logan Greer	Marshall	OL	California (PA)	0.83
Chase Ortiz	Marshall	LS	Stetson	0.83
Khalil Wilkins	Marshall	QB	W Virginia	0.83
Kenyatta Hardge II	Marshall	DL	Kentucky	0.83
Josiah McLaurin	Marshall	RB	Maryland	NA
Jorge Diaz Nicolas	Marshall	K	Virginia	NA
Brayden Hall	Marshall	CB	Central Conn St	NA
Aumad Edwards	Marshall	CB	Kentucky	NA
Simeon John	Marshall	DL	UVA Wise	NA
Keydel Painter	Marshall	Edge	Virginia Union	NA
Charles McCartherens	Marshall	CB	Buffalo	NA
Kendell Anderson	Marshall	S	Morgan St	NA
Hunter Patterson	ODU	RB	W Liberty	0.86
Jaxon Potter	ODU	QB	Washington St	0.85
Jivan Baly	ODU	CB	NC State	0.85
Bubba Craig	ODU	OL	Arkansas	0.85
Bucci Farmer	ODU	DL	App St	0.84
Zion Agnew	ODU	WR	Lenoir-Rhyne	0.84
Trey Hall	ODU	RB	Ole Miss	0.84
Martez Curry	ODU	OL	Lincoln (MO)	0.83
Khi’len Gates	ODU	OL	Lincoln (MO)	0.83
Leon Haughton Jr.	ODU	TE	Maryland	0.83
Montrell Chapman	ODU	LB	Miss State	0.83
Brayden Walker	ODU	OL	Elon	0.8
Raykwon Goldthwaite	ODU	OL	N Alabama	NA
Andrew Nelms	ODU	K	FAU	NA
Kendall Harris	ODU	WR	Mercer	NA
Ja’Mez Drummer	ODU	LB	Towson	NA
Shalik Hubbard	South Alabama	OL	Monmouth	0.83
Masey Lewis	South Alabama	Edge	McNeese	0.83
Jaylen Moson	South Alabama	CB	Utah	0.82
Everett Hunter	South Alabama	TE	Nicholls	0.82
Andrew Hines	South Alabama	DL	Eastern KY	0.82
D.J. Moore	South Alabama	S	Georiga Tech	0.82
Peyton Argent	South Alabama	K	South Carolina	NA
Dylan Chiedo	South Alabama	Edge	Furman	NA
Seidrion Langston	South Alabama	LB	ULM	NA
Dylan Freebury	South Alabama	K	Colorado St	NA
Khayree Lee Jr.	South Alabama	OL	LSU	NA
Will Smith	Southern Miss	Edge	North Texas	0.86
Jonah Martinez	Southern Miss	CB	TCU	0.86
Jamarice Wilder	Southern Miss	RB	Louisville	0.86
Christian Young	Southern Miss	OL	Emory & Henry	0.85
Jordan Pride	Southern Miss	S	Texas A&M	0.85
Jyaire Brown	Southern Miss	CB	UCF	0.85
Kelby Hampton	Southern Miss	CB	New Hampshire	0.85
Kaden Saunders	Southern Miss	WR	Penn State	0.85
Laquan Robinson	Southern Miss	S	Kansas	0.84
Jeffery Rush	Southern Miss	Edge	Ole Miss	0.84
Mario Sanders II	Southern Miss	WR	Illinois	0.84
Toby Mealer	Southern Miss	OL	LA Tech	0.84
Champ Lewis	Southern Miss	CB	Tulsa	0.84
Hiroshi Carr	Southern Miss	CB	Morgan St	0.83
Kobi Albert	Southern Miss	S	UConn	0.83
Jeremiah Beck	Southern Miss	TE	Arkansas	0.83
Da’Jy’Quwan Jackson-Payne	Southern Miss	OL	Liberty	0.82
Josh Johnson	Southern Miss	DL	Nicholls	0.8
Jackson Banks	Southern Miss	DL	Western Carolina	NA
Michael Robinson III	Southern Miss	CB	UConn	NA
Xavier McIver	Southern Miss	DL	E Carolina	NA
Baron Taylor	Southern Miss	S	Southern Utah	NA
Andrew Martin	Southern Miss	LB	Stetson	NA
Joe Rounds	Southern Miss	OL	Virginia Union	NA
Preston Kilgore	Southern Miss	TE	East Texas A&M	NA
A.J. Little	Southern Miss	WR	Chattanooga	NA
Brandon Hood	Southern Miss	RB	UMass	NA
Jaylen Himes	Southern Miss	WR	Wingate	NA
Melvin Spriggs	Southern Miss	LB	Akron	NA
Landon Sylvie	Southern Miss	S	SEMO	NA
A’mari Wilson	Southern Miss	Edge	Campbell	NA
Dusty Zimmer	Southern Miss	P	Washington	NA
Braden Cain	Southern Miss	OL	Texas Southern	NA
Kolby Peavy	Southern Miss	S	Alabama	NA
Ethan Hampton	Southern Miss	QB	Illinois	NA
JR Stegall	Southern Miss	DL	Towson	NA
Marcus Goree Jr.	Troy	CB	Tennessee	0.85
Jaheim Merriweather	Troy	RB	Purdue	0.84
Ty Clemons	Troy	DL	Boston College	0.84
Keno Jones	Troy	LB	Barton	0.83
Darion Rivers	Troy	OL	NC State	0.83
TJ Lott	Troy	WR	ODU	0.83
Luke Petit	Troy	OL	Furman	NA
Jonathan Pennix	Troy	CB	Southern Miss	NA
Kavion Henderson	Troy	Edge	Arkansas	NA
Jordon Jones	Troy	OL	Ohio	NA
Knai Cook	Troy	S	Charleston Southern	NA
Jalen Ballard	Troy	K	Ole Miss	NA
Bryce Steele	Troy	LB	Boston College	NA
Ethan Head	Troy	K	W Virginia	NA
Donald Chaney Jr.	ULM	LB	Charlotte	0.86
Bryce Anderson	ULM	TE	Memphis	0.86
Austin Carlisle	ULM	QB	Houston	0.86
Taijh Overton	ULM	S	Arkansas	0.86
Le’Kell McGowan	ULM	Edge	Memphis	0.85
Damarcco Blanton	ULM	WR	Arkansas St	0.84
Larell Howling	ULM	CB	Coastal	0.84
Parker Fulghum	ULM	WR	Clemson	0.82
Abram Murray	ULM	K	California	0.8
Armoni Rue	ULM	CB	Michigan St	0.79
CJ Wilson Jr.	ULM	Edge	Butler	NA
Bryson Roland	ULM	RB	Arkansas Tech	NA
Derrick Jameson	ULM	RB	Utah St	NA
Bright Fagbamiye	ULM	OL	Tiffin	NA
Cade Callahan	ULM	TE	Merrimack	NA
Jase Hoath	ULM	TE	Tennessee St	NA
Sean Dugery	ULM	OL	Memphis	NA
Talyn Shettron	La Tech	WR	Ok. State	0.86
Joshua Brantley	La Tech	Edge	Tulane	0.86
Tye Hylton	La Tech	OL	Florida St	0.85
Ahkhari Johnson	La Tech	CB	Arkansas	0.85
MJ Moultrie II	La Tech	S	Hampton	0.83
Marcus Calwise Jr.	La Tech	WR	Eastern KY	NA
Harrison Williams	La Tech	RB	Harding	NA
Ty Jones	La Tech	S	Norfolk St	NA
Jaden Miller	La Tech	RB	Keiser	NA
Demario Bookhart	La Tech	CB	South Carolina St	NA
Justice Williams	La Tech	DL	West Florida	NA

This list was assembled with information made available by 247 Sports.

IMAGE: An AI monstrosity