For years, ESPN's Future Power Rankings were compiled through two primary streams: existing rosters and recruiting classes. The transfer portal has sent waves through both personnel pools, and made the exercise here -- sizing up the next three seasons -- even more challenging.
No position has been transformed more by the rise of the portal than quarterback. Every December and January (and May) features a flurry of quarterback moves, and not just for clear-cut starting jobs. Both Texas and USC, for example, lost notable reserves to the portal -- Texas' Maalik Murphy to Duke and USC's Malachi Nelson to Boise State -- while not adding portal quarterbacks this winter.