The transfer portal is often overlooked in College Football 25, but you can find some really impactful players in there if you know what to look for.
Today we’ll break down how to figure out overall ratings for players in the transfer portal simply by looking at the data that EA Sports gives us.
The transfer portal works very differently than the in-season recruiting window. When you are recruiting during the normal in-season recruiting window, 4 star recruits can come in higher rated than 5 star recruits, 3 stars can be higher rated than 4 stars, and national rank doesn’t mean much.
However, that all goes away in the off-season transfer portal, which is extremely straight forward. Here is the breakdown:
| Recruit’s Star Rating | Overall Rating |
| 5 Star | 91+ Overall |
| 4 Star | 81-90 Overall |
| 3 Star | 71-80 Overall |
| 2 Star | 61-70 Overall |
| 1 Star | Below 61 Overall |
This will get you a general sense of how good a player is rated without ever scouting them but you can easily go further by looking at the “National Rank” column.
The #2 ranked player will have the same overall or better than the #3 player. In this case, because they are 4 stars, they are both likely either 89 or 90 overall at this point.
We know the top of the range for 4 star transfer portal player is 90 overall. We also know the bottom of the range for 4 star transfers is 81 overall. So if we go all the way to the bottom of the 4 star prospects, we know that player is likely an 81 overall (or possibly 82 overall if there were no transfers this year that were 81 overall).
At that point you can kind of use logic to figure out where a player will be ranked. You will normally only be off by no more than 1 or 2 overall.
To take another example, if you see a 2 star player in the transfer portal that is near the top of the national rank for 2 stars. You can be pretty confident that they’ll be either a 69 or 70 overall.
If you see a middle of the pack 3 star player, they are likely around a 75 overall.
It is important to note that EA Sports’ transfer portal system does not take into account years remaining of eligibility.
For example, a 79 overall player transfering after his freshman season will be rated as a 3 star recruit, when a 4th year transfer that has an 82 overall rating will be listed as a 4 star recruit.
With how progression works, that 79 overall freshman would normally be much more in-demand than the older player that is just slightly better. Details like that are not considered by the rating system but nevertheless should be at the forefront of your mind when recruiting in the transfer portal.
There are still valid reasons to try to recruit older 4 star transfers rather than younger 3 star transfers. You may have a specific need at a position or are trying to get the highest recruiting class score possible in order to end up with a top recruiting class.
Recruiting pitches for hard sell and soft sell are also much different in the transfer portal than they are during the in-season recruiting window. Transfer players have very different interests than in-coming freshman or JUCOs, so that should be reflected in your recruiting strategy as well.
Another strategy that works great in online dynastys is to take a quick video of the best players at each position right before the offseason. Quickly scroll through 50-100 players at each position. The video should take no longer than a few minutes.
Once you hit the offseason and see who is in the transfer portal, you can then go back to your video and see things like overall rating, speed rating, player abilities, etc. It’s definitely a borderline tactic but if you are in extremely competitive leagues, it can give you a slight edge.
