Big Ten Roundup (Aug. 25): 16 Big Ten Football Players Named to The Athletic's Top 100 Transfers List

Bruce Feldman and Max Olson of The Athletic published their list of the top 100 incoming transfers at new schools for the 2023 college football season. Of that top 100, 16 will be playing for teams in the Big Ten, including Andre Carter, who transferred from Western Michigan to Indiana this offseason.

College football in the 2020s has been defined by just how much its changed. 

Conference realignment has grown out of control to the point that the Pac-12 is literally about to die. NIL has become a hot button talking point for every fan and media member alike just years after it was instituted as the legal norm in the sport. 

But perhaps the most radical change that has altered the on-field product of the sport is the transfer portal. Now free to immediately play for whatever school they transfer to without being forced to sit out an entire season, college athletes are often on the move in the offseason.

This is just as true in the Big Ten, where almost each and every team will be starting transfers they acquired in the past calendar year. Over at The Athletic, Max Olson and Bruce Feldman ranked the top 100 incoming transfers in the sport for the 2023 season, and 16 players from the Big Ten made the cut.

Here's everything you need to know in today's Big Ten Roundup: 

16 Big Ten Transfers in The Athletic's Top 100

• Drake Nugent, OL — Stanford to Michigan (Ranked No. 6 overall in Top 100)
• Tanner Mordecai, QB — SMU to Wisconsin (Ranked No. 7 overall)
• Davison Igbinosun, CB — Ole Miss to Ohio State (Ranked No. 9 overall)
• Josh Simmons, OL — San Diego State to Ohio State (Ranked No. 17 overall)
• Josaiah Stewart, EDGE — Coastal Carolina to Michigan (Ranked No. 24 overall)
• Josh Wallace, DB — UMass to Michigan (Ranked No. 35 overall)
• Jeff Sims, QB — Georgia Tech to Nebraska (Ranked No. 36 overall)
• Hudson Card, QB — Texas to Purdue (Ranked No. 43 overall)
• Dante Cephas, WR — Kent State to Penn State (Ranked No. 46 overall)
• Tunmise Adelaye, DL — Texas A&M to Michigan State (Ranked No. 53 overall)
• Sean Tyler, RB — Western Michigan to Minnesota (Ranked No. 55 overall)
• Bryson Green, WR — Oklahoma State to Wisconsin (Ranked No. 56 overall)
• Andre Carter, DL — Western Michigan to Indiana (Ranked No. 59 overall)
• Cade McNamara, QB — Michigan to Iowa (Ranked No. 64 overall)
• Nick Jackson, LB — Virginia to Iowa (Ranked No. 65 overall)
• Erick All, TE — Michigan to Iowa (Ranked No. 79 overall)

Some highlights from the piece:

• Starting center Drake Nugent moving from Stanford to Michigan might not have been the sexiest move of the offseason, but it was the most impactful according to Olson and Feldman. He's filling gigantic shoes for Jim Harbaugh's team, replacing Rimington and Outland Award winner Olu Oluwatimi from a year ago. But considering the Michigan coaching staff called him a "little pit bull," Nugent seems more than up to the task. 
• Four new Big Ten quarterbacks in Tanner Mordecai, Jeff Sims, Hudson Card and Cade McNamara cracked the top 100 here, all of which will be starting. Notably missing from this list are Luke Altmyer, Ben Bryant and Tayven Jackson, who transferred into Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana, respectively, this offseason. Altmyer has already been named Illinois's starter, while Bryant and Jackson are considered the nominal favorites to win their jobs. Yet, the two authors of this top 100 seem to think none of that trio are quite good enough to be considered in the ranks of college football's best incoming transfers. 
• Ohio State's secondary was one of the few weaknesses on the team that I identified in my preseason preview, so expect Davison Igbinosun to play a good bit right away. The Buckeyes might need a stellar season from the Ole Miss transfer to hit their ceiling in 2023. 
• Indiana's Andre Carter was the only new Hoosier to make the list, which is unsurprising considering the preseason hype he has generated. He was named to the watch list for the Bednarik Award, which recognizes the best defender in all of college football. Additionally, despite having spent less than a year in Bloomington, Allen felt comfortable naming Carter as one of Indiana's five captains for the 2023 season. Expect big things from the Western Michigan transfer in Bloomington this year. 

Indiana Defensive Lineman Andre Carter made @max_olson and @BruceFeldmanCFB's list for the top 100 CFB Transfers entering the 2023 season.

Here's what they had to say about the #IUFB DL from Western Michigan: pic.twitter.com/k5rq0dp1sL

— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) August 24, 2023

• It's objectively funny that Cade McNamara and Erick All — the two players directly responsible for Michigan's game-winning touchdown against Penn State in 2021 — left for Iowa during the same offseason. If the Ferentz coaches just force McNamara to sling the ball at All the entire game, that honestly would probably result in a better offense than what the Hawkeyes had in 2022. 

If you want to check out the rest of Feldman and Olson's Top 100 Transfers article in The Athletic, click on the link right here. 

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