The college football season buzz has been toning down, with just three games left on the card. But no worries. CFB never lets you sit still and count the stars without freaking out on X. The latest red-hot discussion is the transfer portal. The growing NIL lure, unhealthy competitive air, and insane flipping have made it a mess lately. Well, schools are still walking on their lane, micro-detecting talents to fill in their plate.

As a conference, the SEC didn’t have the best of 2024. Just one representative in the final year of the playoffs. Of course, the 9-3 teams from the SEC are still arguing in some corner of the internet that they should have been in the playoffs. We are talking about you, Lane Kiffin. Alabama, LSU, South Carolina and Ole Miss had disappointing games in 2024. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it will repeat in 2025. Every SEC team can challenge a top program from other conferences, and one, in particular, is trying to improve on its 2024 season. How? Well, the transfer portal.

Michigan Transfer DL garners strong interest from $129M SEC school

Michigan Transfer DL Owen Wafle hit the portal last week following the gruesome trend. Well, Sherrone Moore couldn’t feel the loss at all, as the 6 ft 2 didn’t see the field this fall. The recruiting and transferring process of the New Jersey athlete has been faster than a rocket. He snubbed Notre Dame after sticking for a year to join the Wolves in the 2024 class. But soon, he realized Ann Arbor wasn’t the right place for him to flourish. He might have had a thought that staying with the Irish might have provided him with better room for career growth, but currently, it’s not an easy job to re-roll, although Notre Dame still needs a DL. But Oklahoma Sooners seems to offer a greater slot to him to chisel out the best.

”I know that the Sooners are pushing for another defensive lineman. If you get a guy like Owen, who was a freshman at Michigan red shirt. He did not play a snap last season. You may be wondering, Jay, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you go after a player like that?” insider Jay Smith said.

And that’s a great question. Why would you? Well, for starters, Brent Venables’ team finished with a 6-7 record. Of course, that drubbing of the Crimson Tide helped the program, but still, it was a losing season. Smith goes on to explain why the Sooners may be after Wafle. “Well, you only took in one defensive tackle in the recent class with Trent Wilson. So kind of makes sense to add somebody in the back to go with that means that you’ll have him and Trent are ready to play. Trent will still have his four years,” Smith said. Despite not being a fluke to the Wolverines, Wafle’s stats with the Irish were more than impressive. However, it was not just the numbers that The Hun School alumni brought to the table.

The intangibles are crazy. He showcased a benchmark of work ethics in the Irish camp. He is such a kid who needs to be reminded of how hard he’s working occasionally. Hun School head coach Todd Smith revealed that he is the guy who used to do all the work during the track season. He practiced all of the drills the skinny guys do. He used to do hurdle drills for flexibility and footwork drills for leg mobility and whatnot. The concept of rest and unwinding for a while is kind of foreign to the DL.

Also, it can be a double-win deal for the Sooners. ”There’s a good chance you could also win Luke to come in, so if you get Owen and Luke they’ll have three years together. They can potentially play ball because, you know, Luke’s most likely going to R shirt, or at least they at least be on campus with each other for three years, and that’s a pretty huge opportunity,” Smith added.

Luke, Owen’s younger brother, is also looking for a home. He felt ecstatic when he saw his brother land in Michigan last year. So, the prized four-star edge rusher can join his big bro in the next destination and mount a marquee season together, maybe, just maybe.

So, Coach Venables knows now what to expect at all. But the grass is also greener on the other side.

Penn State has been eyeing the Hun School Bulldog since 2022

On Friday, BWI’s Sean Fitz mentioned that defensive tackle Owen Wafle was throwing himself to the free market and was now open for a talk. Penn State Nittany Lions lurked behind the door for a while. As soon as the prodigy hit the portal, they confirmed that the former Michigan defensive tackle made it to campus Sunday to meet with Penn State’s staff.

The Nittany Lions didn’t extend an offer to Wafle out of high school but found him quite a fit back in 2022. They hosted a visit in April that year. However, Owen didn’t seem to be pleased with what he was offered and then locked the deal with Notre Dame about a month later.

He then ultimately moved to Ann Arbor in June 2023. Boston College, Duke, Iowa, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Rutgers, and West Virginia were among the schools to offer out of high school. So, the competition is pretty high.

It will be interesting to see whether Notre Dame can pull in an off-field victory over Penn State amidst the lofty semi-final clash.