When the 2025 college football season kicks off for BYU and Utah on Aug. 30, it won’t be a big surprise if both the Cougars and the Utes are led by quarterbacks who transferred from Group of Five programs.
Devon Dampier is by all accounts the guy up on the hill after transferring from New Mexico. He was a dual-threat star for the Lobos in 2024 who is hoped — maybe even expected — to have a major impact at Utah.
“He’s obviously got a great grasp of the offense having been in it in years past, and so it’s nothing new to him,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in the spring. “He’s like having another coach on the field right now. He’s just completely versed in what we’re doing and so he’s doing a great job.”
It won’t be a shock if either Treyson Bourguet or McCae Hillstead is QB1 for BYU, meanwhile, with Jake Retzlaff’s status in question after a civil lawsuit was filed in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court on May 21 that accused the Cougars’ incumbent starting quarterback of sexually assaulting a Salt Lake County woman in late November 2023.
Whether Bourguet or Hillstead would get the nod in Retzlaff’s place is still very much a question, but BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick expressed some optimism about the pair coming out of spring camp.
“They are both improving. Both of them are better players now than they were last season,” Roderick said. “And I think we could win a game with either one of them. I don’t know which one of them that would be yet. ... It has been close. They have both had more good days than bad, and I think they are both good players.”
All of which is to say there is a very real chance that both BYU and Utah are quarterbacked by G5 transfers in 2025, players who for one reason or another were largely overlooked by the more monied and storied college football programs coming out of high school.
Who are these guys?
Dampier’s most notable scholarship offers came from Arizona — the only Power Four conference school to offer him, per 247 Sports — along with Air Force, Nevada and New Mexico.
Bourguet’s offers were from Western Michigan and Ohio. And Hillstead’s offers included Washington State, Utah State, Nevada and FIU.
Each of those quarterbacks has, by virtue of landing at BYU or Utah, moved beyond what many thought was possible for them when they started their college careers. But do Group of Five QB transfers succeed at the Power conference level? Do they have what it takes to get the Cougars and Utes to where they want to go in 2025, like a Big 12 championship game and a berth in the College Football Playoff?
What history says
Since October 2018, when the NCAA transfer portal was first instituted, 44 quarterbacks have transferred from Group of Five programs to Power conference programs, per 247 Sports, and that includes Dampier, Bourguet, Hillstead and BYU’s backup QB last season, Gerry Bohanon.
The number of G5 quarterbacks who’ve landed at P4 schools has steadily increased year after year, from none in both 2018 and 2019, to two in 2020, three in 2021, five in 2022, 16 in 2023 and 18 in 2024 (which also includes this spring).
Some have been stars, G5 transfers who’ve excelled at the highest level of the sport.
Just this past season, there was Diego Pavia at Vanderbilt, who threw for 2,293 yards, 20 touchdowns and four interceptions after transferring from New Mexico State.
There was also Kurtis Rourke, the former Ohio standout who led Indiana to its best season ever. Rourke threw for over 3,000 yards, 29 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2024, all while playing on a torn ACL, per ESPN.
There was also Taylen Green, the former Boise State standout who had a career year at Arkansas. In his first season with the Razorbacks, Green threw for 3,154 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions, and also rushed for 600 yards and eight touchdowns.
For every Pavia, Rourke or Green, transfer quarterbacks who became more than many imagined they could be, there were also players like Hank Bachmeier, a former standout at both Boise State and Louisiana Tech, who had a solid year at Wake Forest.
In his final season of college football, Bachmeier threw for 2,593 yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was a solid QB, but not a real difference maker for the 4-8 Demon Deacons.
Jayden Maiava transferred from UNLV to USC and for much of the year was the backup to Miller Moss. By the end of the season the starting job was his, however, and he showed flashes of greatness, the very reason the Trojans picked him up in the first place.
There were also those transfers undone by injury, guys like Houston’s Zeon Chriss (a transfer from Louisiana); Baylor’s Dequan Finn (a transfer from Toledo); and Boston College’s Grayson James (a transfer from FIU). If those three stayed healthy, they may have had seasons on par with Bachmeier, and maybe even Pavia and Green. Alas, injuries hit and their seasons became what-ifs.
For every G5 transfer who starred this past season at a Power conference school — who has ever starred, really — there have been twice as many who didn’t.
Of the 44 QBs who’ve transferred from the Group of Five to Power conference programs since 2018, more than a third didn’t or haven’t played in a game for the Power conference team they transferred to.
Searching for greener grass, playing time
Multiple quarterbacks wound up leaving the team they transferred to, some for the junior college ranks like Gunnar Smith (USF to UCF to Highland Community College), others to the FCS programs, like William Haskell (San Diego State to Washington to Portland State).
One player, Cincinnati’s Xavier Williams, is on his third school now and is a defensive back.
The successful G5 quarterback transfers at the Power conference level have largely been the most proven ones. The players who starred at the Group of Five level before making the leap to the Power Four.
Pavia spent two seasons at NMSU, and during his final year with the Aggies, he threw for 2,973 yards, 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Rourke spent five seasons at Ohio and combined to throw for 5,257 yards, 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions over his last two years with the Bobcats.
Green was at Boise State for three years and in the two years where he actually saw playing time threw for nearly 4,000 yards, 25 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and also rushed for over 1,000 yards and 19 scores.
Of course, production at the G5 level isn’t a guarantee of success.
Ta’Quan Roberson was good to great at UConn in 2023, throwing for 2,075 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions, but he was a seldom-played reserve at Kansas State this past season.
Clay Millen threw for 1,910 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions with Colorado State in 2022, but has yet to see the field at Florida.
Chandler Rogers was an absolute star at North Texas (and Louisiana Monroe before that) prior to his time at Cal. In 2023 while at UNT, Rogers threw for 3,382 yards, 29 touchdowns and five interceptions, but he failed to win the starting job at Cal last year.
Perhaps the most notable of all is Grayson McCall. The best quarterback in Coastal Carolina history — the player who put the Chanticleers on the map — McCall had little impact at NC State last season, his final year of college football cut short due to injury.
Injuries have plagued many G5 transfers to the P4 level. McCall is the most notable example, but Chriss, Finn, James, Grant Wells (Marshall to Virginia Tech) and Jack Abraham (Southern Miss to Mississippi State) all looked like potential stars, only to have injuries cut seasons short, or in some cases, careers.
Of the three G5 transfers who will or could start in the state of Utah this year, only Dampier has the sort of track record that suggests stardom. But even that is tenuous.
Dampier had one great season at the G5 level. Last year with the Lobos, he threw for 2,768 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, while also rushing for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns. Those stats suggest Dampier could thrive at Utah, but if he does, he’d do what few G5 transfers have done. The successful ones, thus far, have all had many more years of proven success.
Neither Bourguet nor Hillstead have much of a track record either, and far less of one than Dampier.
Bourguet played in nine games over two seasons at Western Michigan and accounted for 713 passing yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Hillstead, meanwhile, played in eight games during his one and only season at Utah State, and though he showed flashes, injuries and mistakes proved problematic. He did manage to throw for 1,062 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions with the Aggies.
It has clearly proven possible for Group of Five transfer quarterbacks to star at the Power Four level. Pavia, Rourke and Green have all proven that, with more than a few others having shown similar potential before injuries got in the way.
Dampier and either Bourguet or Hillstead may end up starring for Utah and BYU, respectively.
Dampier’s offensive coordinator at New Mexico — Jason Beck — followed him to Utah, making the transition as easy as it could’ve been. And Bourguet and Hillstead have been in Roderick’s system for a while now and neither has left for another opportunity. Growth is probable for both players, even if the general public hasn’t seen it yet.
Right now, though, all three transfers will have to buck precedent to get BYU and Utah where they want to go — starting Aug. 30.
