From John Mateer's arrival to Diego Pavia's return: 10 moves that shaped the SEC offseason

It sure is nice to be a member of the Southeastern Conference.

Even though the league is suffering through its longest national championship drought since Florida State and Ohio State won back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014, the SEC continues to dominate the transfer portal.

SEC teams plucked 58 of the top 200 transfers, as rated by 247Sports, and lost only 25 players on the same list.

The SEC, at plus-33, came out a clear winner when compared to the Big Ten (plus-18), Big 12 (plus-15) and ACC (minus-7) in portal gains and losses.

Advertisement Heres a look at the leagues most significant moves coaches and recruits included since the end of the 2024 season.

1.

QB John Mateer follows his OC to Oklahoma The Sooners had one of the worst offenses in college football last season.

Coach Brent Venables is betting on Mateer and new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle to turn things around quickly.

The duo led a potent offense at Washington State last season, ranking sixth in scoring offense (36.6 ppg) and 10th in yards per play (6.6).

Mateer ranked eighth nationally in passing efficiency in 2024, tops among returning SEC quarterbacks.

Lets watch some John Mateer shall we? pic.twitter.com/FczXLi61sr Jay (@unfairsports) May 24, 2025 Oklahoma won 10 games in 2023 with a mobile and accurate Dillon Gabriel under center but managed only six wins in Venables other two seasons.

The Sooners lost three offensive starters to the portal tight end Bauer Sharp (LSU) and receivers Brenen Thompson (Mississippi State) and J.J.

Hester (Kentucky) as well as Nic Anderson, a former starting wide receiver who missed all but one game in 2024 with an injury.

He joined Sharp at LSU.

The majority of their replacements came from the FCS ranks.

Oklahoma did, however, add Jaydn Ott, who rushed for 1,315 yards at Cal two years ago before being slowed by injury in 2024.

2.

Tennessee swaps quarterbacks with UCLA Tennessee and Florida were the least active SEC teams in terms of portal additions (seven each).

But some big transfer news definitely trickled out of Knoxville.

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava left at the end of spring ball in search of a bigger pay day and ended up back home in California at UCLA.

The Volunteers countered by saving themselves some money and signing Joey Aguilar, a two-year starter at Appalachian State who had recently transferred to UCLA.

Aguilar is the fifth-most-experienced quarterback in the SEC (25 career starts) and threw four more touchdown passes in two fewer games than Iamaleava last season.

Joey Aguilar can sling it pic.twitter.com/LzMlyJBcO2 Rocky Top Now (@rockytopnow) April 21, 2025 The Vols also picked up three other offensive starters from Power 4 schools: running back Star Thomas (Duke) and guards Sam Pendleton (Notre Dame) and Wendell Moe Jr.

(Arizona).

3.

LSU wins the portal Its hard to declare a winner of the transfer portal before games are played, but the Tigers are about as close as you can get to one.

Advertisement LSU signed 18 transfers, including 11 Power 4 starters from last season and 10 who ranked among the top 160, according to 247Sports.

Anderson, the receiver from Oklahoma, and edge rusher Patrick Payton (Florida State) top the list.

On the flip side, LSU lost only two starters to the portal: receiver CJ Daniels (Miami) and safety Sage Ryan (Ole Miss).

With veteran Garrett Nussmeier back at quarterback, LSU should be in the thick of the SEC title race.

4.

Texas wins the recruiting crown Recruiting rankings might not seem to be as important in todays landscape, thanks to the transfer portal, but something notable happened in the Class of 2025.

For only the second time since 2010, neither Alabama nor Georgia finished with the No.

1 class.

Texas claimed the top spot, with a class that includes five five-star prospects and five other top-100 players (seven of whom play on defense).

The Longhorns also added some talent from the portal, most notably receiver Emmett Mosley (Stanford), tight end Jack Endries (Cal) and defensive linemen Cole Brevard (Purdue), Maraad Watson (Syracuse) and Travis Shaw (North Carolina).

Also, Texas didnt lose a transfer who ranked in the top 200.

5.

Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss pass on portal QBs Three prominent SEC programs had an opening at quarterback yet opted not to hit the portal and will allow players who have been in the program to compete for the job.

Well soon find out whether Alabama (Ty Simpson), Georgia (Gunner Stockton) and Ole Miss (Austin Simmons) made the right call.

Georgia and Ole Miss built strong supporting casts for their new quarterback.

Georgia added receivers Zachariah Branch (USC) and Noah Thomas (Texas A&M), and Ole Miss added offensive lineman Patrick Kutas (Arkansas), tight end Luke Hasz (Arkansas) and receivers Harrison Wallace (Penn State), DeZhaun Stribling (Oklahoma State) and Traylon Ray (West Virginia).

Advertisement Alabamas big addition was offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who has been with head coach Kalen DeBoer at several stops but spent the 2024 season with the Seattle Seahawks.

6.

Auburn signs top-10 recruiting, portal classes Auburn has endured four consecutive seven-loss seasons, but you can argue that Hugh Freeze is making progress as he heads into his third season on The Plains.

The Tigers have signed back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes and have been especially effective in their home state.

They signed nine of Alabamas 19 blue-chip prospects in the 2025 cycle after signing eight of 27 in 2024.

Freeze also signed a top-10 transfer class.

Twelve of Auburns 19 portal additions started at least six games at an FBS program last season, and six rank among the top 200 transfers.

The group is headlined by receivers Eric Singleton (Georgia Tech) and Horatio Fields (Wake Forest) and offensive linemen Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech) and Mason Murphy (USC).

Former five-star prospect Jackson Arnold, who spent two years at Oklahoma, is one of four new quarterbacks on the roster.

7.

Missouri lands top edge rusher and 1,000-yard back Edge rushers with the ability to get to the quarterback are something every head coach wants, and Damon Wilson II was one of the best in the SEC at doing it last season at Georgia.

The former five-star recruit didnt put up gaudy sack numbers (he had three), but he did have as many QB pressures (26) as the 11th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Mykel Williams, his former teammate at Georgia.

Now, Wilson will be chasing down quarterbacks for Missouri, which has put together back-to-back 10-plus-win seasons under sixth-year coach Eli Drinkwitz.

The Tigers signed seven transfers ranked among the top 200 nationally.

Among the notable additions are edge rusher Nate Johnson (Appalachian State), linebacker Mikai Gbayor (Nebraska) and running back Ahmad Hardy, the 2024 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year at Louisiana-Monroe.

8.

South Carolina retools offense Shane Beamer promoted veteran Mike Shula to take over the South Carolina offense after Dowell Loggains was hired to be the head coach at Appalachian State.

With SEC Freshman of the Year LaNorris Sellers back at quarterback, there isnt much to fix on that side of the ball.

Yet, the Gamecocks put in work to add depth, landing four offensive linemen from the portal who started double-digit games last season.

They also added 1,100-yard rusher Rahsul Faison (Utah State) to the backfield and 21-game starter Jordan Dingle (Kentucky) at tight end.

Faison is still awaiting word from the NCAA to find out if an extra year of eligibility will be granted.

Advertisement 9.

Texas A&M fills some holes Texas A&M went into the offseason intending to add some targets for returning quarterback Marcel Reed.

Mission accomplished.

The Aggies signed receivers KC Concepcion (NC State) and Mario Craver (Mississippi State) and tight end Amari Niblack (Texas).

The question is whether second-year coach Mike Elko did enough to solidify a defense that allowed an average of 32.3 points in the Aggies five losses.

Texas A&M signed six defensive players out of the portal, but only three started at least six games last season at a P4 program: defensive lineman Tyler Onyedim (Iowa State) and cornerbacks Julian Humphrey (Georgia) and Jordan Shaw (Washington).

10.

Diego Pavia returns to Vanderbilt with a revamped line The 2024 regular season was one to remember: The Commodores beat No.

1 Alabama and celebrated their first winning season since 2013, and Clark Lea was named the SEC Coach of the Year.

Then, Pavia picked up a huge postseason win in court to extend his college playing career .

Can Vanderbilt get back to a second straight bowl game for the first time since 2013? Itll likely come down to whether or not theres enough talent on the offensive line which lost four starters from a year ago to protect Pavia.

Vanderbilt signed five veteran linemen who have started at least 10 career games: Jordan White (Liberty), Sterling Porcher (Texas Tech), Isaia Glass (Oklahoma State), Bryce Henderson (South Dakota) and Orion Irving (Sam Houston State).

If that group comes together, the Commodores have a chance to return to the postseason.

(Photo of Diego Pavia: Brandon Sumrall / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.