WHEN SHANNON DAWSON began coaching quarterbacks 20 years ago at Millsaps College in Mississippi, he never thought he would oversee a QB operation such as the one he does now as Miami's offensive coordinator.
"Back then, you better get the guy to develop, and he better be the guy," Dawson told ESPN. "You can miss on a high school quarterback now and not lose your job. If people don't pan out the way you think they're going to pan out, then the transfer rules exist in a way where you can go get one."
Or, in Miami's case, go get one-and-dones.
Many FBS programs scour the portal each winter for quarterbacks, but only some pursue a subset of transfers -- accomplished, coveted QBs who are likely to spend only one year on campus before departing for another team or the NFL. Miami has become the epicenter for such quarterbacks, from Cam Ward (Washington State) to Carson Beck (Georgia) and now Darian Mensah (Duke). Since Ward arrived in 2024, Miami ranks second nationally in yards per play, third nationally in passing and total QBR, and fourth in scoring.
Miami and the team it lost to in last season's College Football Playoff national championship, Indiana, have built their offenses around one-year transfer quarterbacks. After bringing in Kurtis Rourke in 2024, Indiana hit the jackpot in 2025 with Fernando Mendoza, a Cal transfer who won the Heisman Trophy before being selected No. 1 in April's NFL draft. Before Indiana's championship run was over, coach Curt Cignetti had already secured his next one-year transfer, Josh Hoover, from TCU.
Other teams have found success with one-year transfer QBs, but few have done so season after season, either mixing in a multiyear transfer or developing one of their own recruits. Those teams have variances in how they select players: the preparation process, schematic adjustments and other areas, including how teams approach QBs leaving for the NFL. Some coaches and coordinators have familiarity with the transfers they select, while others are working together for the first time.
But every team that brings in one-year transfer quarterbacks recognizes the clock is ticking the moment they arrive on campus, and the urgency for results is real.
"They're hungry," said Louisville coach Jeff Brohm, who has brought in one-year transfer quarterbacks such as Jack Plummer, Tyler Shough and Miller Moss. "Sometimes, when you just have one year left, hey, they know the time is up. You've got to either produce, or eventually do something else."
WHEN MIAMI TRANSFER quarterbacks first reach campus, Dawson usually isn't there to greet them. He's recruiting at that time of year. Instead, they huddle with Max Drisko, a senior offensive analyst who has worked with Dawson for years. Drisko guides each quarterback through the offense, including each protection call and how to change them. Then, Dawson returns, and the group repeats the process before spring practice begins.
The goal is for the transfers to absorb everything Miami does on offense but also incorporate elements they had executed at previous schools, and ultimately, focus on the playbook.
"I love cutting," Dawson said. "I want the package to be condensed. We dump it all on them, and then I get back and dump it on them again. Then, we go through, 'Hey, man, I really like this stuff. This stuff, maybe not as much. And hey, what about this stuff I did at whatever school? I really liked that.' Ultimately, it is about them. I'm not an ego-driven person.
"I'm very aware that I'm not the one taking snaps on game day, and so it doesn't really matter what I'm comfortable with."
When transfer quarterbacks come to Louisville, Brohm spends as much time as possible with them from the moment they arrive. Together, they watch film of what players did at previous stops, reviewing Louisville's system and also studying the great college and pro quarterbacks.
A former quarterback at Louisville, the NFL and the XFL, Brohm wants to understand the game through each player's eyes.
"Just make them verbalize everything," Brohm said. "... When they talk through things, you want them to feel confident when they take the field.
"You have to do that because of the time crunch and the lack of time you have with them."
Added Dawson: "Taking a one-year guy, the learning curve had better be quick. You better have a system that's fairly friendly to learn, or you're going to be behind."
The intake process with transfers is also shaped by familiarity. Brohm had coached Plummer for three seasons at Purdue before reuniting with him at Louisville in 2023. Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert has twice had transfer quarterbacks who came in knowing their offensive coordinators. In 2022, Dickert coached Washington State when Ward arrived from Incarnate Word with his coach, Eric Morris, who served as the Cougars' offensive coordinator.
This season, Wake Forest is starting North Carolina transfer Gio Lopez, who had played under Demon Deacons offensive coordinator Rob Ezell at South Alabama in 2023 and 2024. Lopez, who struggled for much of the 2025 season at North Carolina, is thriving under Ezell again, completing 67.4% of his passes with 13 touchdowns, only one interception, and six rushing touchdowns in the first six games.
"Gio comes here one day in January, and Rob's just chewing his ass," Dickert said. "When you go through that together and you had success like Eric Morris and Cam Ward did, and Ezell and Gio did, there's just such a bond and a trust that they pick up on, and I think the rest of the offense feels it."
When a previous connection doesn't exist, the first six months together are what Dickert calls "the discovery zone." No game-planning takes place. Dickert and the offensive staff must assess how their new QB wants to be coached, how he processes the game and, ultimately, how he can be most successful.
"Not enough people in coaching go into situations and leverage players' strengths enough," Dickert said. "They just have these ideals of what they want to do, and they try to fit square pegs in round holes. Every place we've been, every quarterback we've had, it's always been a little different. I think that's great coaching."
CIGNETTI HAS HAD three distinct quarterbacks at Indiana.
Rourke transferred in from Ohio, where he had 7,651 career yards and 50 touchdowns, earning Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2022. Mendoza was a lightly recruited player out of high school who had spent a year and a half as Cal's starter, generating solid but not spectacular numbers, while showing snippets of mobility for a middling team. Hoover was a productive multiyear starter for TCU, setting the team's single-season passing record in 2024 with 3,949 yards and firing 71 career touchdown passes, but his interceptions total had crept up.
"All these guys had talent; they were all different," Cignetti said. "Some were pocket, some were dual, and some were in-between. And then you build around what [the quarterback] does well. But you've got a core system, which about 70% of that doesn't change a whole lot. And they develop within that."
The common thread?
"Great competitiveness," Cignetti said. "You've got to want to be great."
Coaches who annually take transfers emphasized that the offense must be shaped around each quarterback's skills, not the other way around. But some elements are prioritized in the evaluations. Dickert wants an element of mobility. Not every quarterback has to run as John Mateer did for him at Washington State -- 826 yards, 15 touchdowns in 2024 -- but the ability to take off is important.
Wake Forest also wants "snap throwers," Dickert said, who can get the ball out quickly to operate an offense built around run-pass options.
"You have to be able to layer the football," Dickert said. "We don't want to just see [deep] throws. We want to see [intermediate] throws and how fast you can get it out on bubble screens and quick game."
Brohm took a series of primarily pocket passers in Plummer, Shough and Moss, none of whom reached 35 net rushing yards during their seasons at Louisville. His latest transfer, Lincoln Kienholz, fit a different profile -- a gifted runner who lacked experience, attempting only 36 passes in two seasons at Ohio State.
Kienholz has clicked so far under Brohm, completing 69.5% of his pass attempts with 15 touchdowns and only one interception, while adding a team-high eight rushing touchdowns. Louisville leads the nation in plays of 50 yards or longer (10) and is tied with Indiana for the highest percentage of 20-yard plays (11.5%).
"Lincoln's a different quarterback than we've had," Brohm said. "... At the same time, we've got to make sure we get him through the whole season healthy. You have to be creative enough to have a big library that you condense down as you get into fall camp and during the season."
The most important traits aren't always physical. Every successful quarterback must establish his voice and leadership style, and gain the trust of his teammates. The timeline is just quicker for short-term transfers.
Some master the process easily, as Ward did at Miami.
"A very alpha mentality, extreme," Dawson said. "He brought an edge that we needed, especially offensively."
Dickert saw the same thing from Ward at Washington State, despite him moving from the FCS to the then-Power 4. Lopez made a similar impact as soon as he got to Wake Forest, bringing the team together in winter workouts. Mateer's intensity and competitive drive permeated the Washington State offense. But Wake Forest's quarterback in 2025, Robby Ashford, had been a journeyman, spending two seasons at South Carolina and one at Auburn before joining the Deacs.
He had to win the starting job first, and only truly settled in as the leader by midseason, Dickert said, but still had his best year in college as Wake Forest won nine games.
"I've changed plenty of jobs, and it's that Day 1: Do you feel comfortable being yourself? How long does it take before we get the authentic you?" Dickert said. "Those four guys that I've worked with, it's taken certain guys longer to get to that stage. The faster you get there, the faster they can lead authentically, the faster your program can really accelerate forward."
QUARTERBACKS TRANSFERRING LATE in their college careers often do so with a clear goal in mind: the NFL. Mendoza projected as a 2026 NFL prospect after his 2024 season at Cal, but what he did in his season at Indiana placed him at the top of draft boards.
When Ward talked with Miami about transferring, he believed he was a first-round NFL draft pick. Dawson saw him more as a fourth-rounder, based on the data he had studied. Rather than relay that to Ward and risk upsetting the QB, Dawson outlined how Miami's offense could accelerate his draft outlook.
"I had to prove to him, 'I'm going to put you in a system that's very appealing for the NFL,'" Dawson said. "My background's Air Raid, but you look at what we evolved to, we look like an NFL offense a lot of times with our condensed sets and the way we move receivers around and block people. We're not just going to RPO, like a lot of these offenses are. We're a progression-based offense that sits in the pocket and makes checks and all the rest. I said, 'You could be the first pick overall.'"
Ward was the first player selected in the 2025 draft, after recording 4,313 passing yards and 39 touchdowns, completing 67.2% of his passes, in his lone year with the Canes.
Beck projected as a high draft pick after the 2023 season at Georgia, but took a step back in 2024, and underwent surgery on his throwing elbow after the season. After an improved 2025 season at Miami -- he had the same completion percentage (72.4) as he did with Georgia two years earlier -- Beck was the first pick of the third round in April's draft, and the third QB off the board.
Similar to Beck, Shough came to Louisville after a significant injury, a broken leg that had cost him most of the 2023 season at Texas Tech. A sixth-year player at his third school, Shough finally started an entire season and had 3,195 passing yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions for Louisville. He was a second-round draft pick of New Orleans and is now starting for the Saints.
"With us, you get a track record of helping quarterbacks achieve their goals and get to the next level," Brohm said. "You get between myself and my brother [Louisville offensive coordinator Brian Brohm] two guys that have played the position. We try to identify at least a handful, maybe a little bit more, of guys that if we can get them in here, we think we can win. Sometimes, you have to be broader than one or two because of the financial part of it."
Miami has had the resources to pay for transfers, including Mensah, who moved from ACC champion Duke just before the portal closed. Dawson credits Ward for Miami's run of transfers, saying he "believed before he saw," and chose a program coming off a seven-win season with the No. 42 passing offense.
"After him, it was a lot easier to be appealing to people," Dawson said. "The success led to the rest. This program and myself and everything needed Cam to get over the hump."
Mensah is off to a blistering start for Miami, leading the nation in QBR (92.5) and completion percentage (84.2), while passing for 15 touchdowns and no interceptions. As a fourth-year player, Mensah could return to the U in 2027, giving Miami its first returning starter at quarterback since Tyler Van Dyke in 2023.
If Mensah leaves for the NFL -- Jordan Reid projects him as the No. 14 player and No. 2 quarterback -- Miami could be back in the QB transfer market, possibly looking for its next one-year star.
"Every year is so independent," Dawson said. "You've got to constantly keep getting talented guys because players are going to leave, players are going to go to the NFL, and if you don't have guys that are ready, then that's when you have a year that you don't want to have."