Once the 2026 college football season ends months from now, it's a guarantee that the Oklahoma Sooners will lose players to the transfer portal. Some will come as surprises, while others will be seen coming miles away.
Based on their situations heading into this season, there are already five OU players that fans can consider on transfer watch to take the first flight out if nothing changes by December. And if you think it's crazy to already start seeing transfers coming, when I made this list last year, four of the five players mentioned ultimately entered the portal once the season ended.
Sooners most at risk of transferring after the 2026 season
Daniel Akinkunmi redshirted in 2024 and last year appeared in just six games, mostly on special teams. Although he could have a bigger role as a depth piece this season, it will still be limited as a backup, and that won’t change anytime soon.
Three starting sophomores along the offensive line earned time over Akinkunmi last season as freshmen, and he’ll be a senior by the time they’re gone at the earliest. Then, Bill Bedenbaugh has an absolutely loaded 2027 class assembled that features a pair of five-star prospects who will join the team next year and are expected to contribute immediately.
Although it’s a good problem for the Sooners to have, they’re about to be pretty stacked up front, so some will be run out of town to find more playing time somewhere else. Considering he could start plenty of other places, Akinkunmi seems like a good bet to transfer instead of possibly being a career backup in Norman.
Ivan Carreon was actually already in the transfer portal this past offseason, but then, in a surprise move, did a 180 and signed a new deal to return to Oklahoma instead. However, Carreon’s situation won’t change much over the next year. He’s caught just 12 passes in two years at OU, and only two of those came in 2025 during his first season in Ben Arbuckle’s system.
Carreon ultimately leaving would also be right on cue for wide receivers coach Emmett Jones. Carreon is the last receiver left from OU’s 2024 signing class and is the first player that Jones has recruited out of high school to OU to stick around more than two years, other than Jacob Jordan, who got here as a walk-on.
At this point, it’d be more an anomaly if Carreon didn’t transfer.
After starting as a freshman at Mercer in 2024, Whitt Newbauer was a late spring transfer addition last year when the Sooners needed quarterback depth. He appeared in three games in 2025 for the Sooners — against Kent State when Michael Hawkins Jr. was starting in place of an injured John Mateer and twice more while OU was trying to maintain Hawkins’ redshirt late in the season.
Newbauer will never be the guy for Oklahoma, and his role now might be even less than expected for 2026. Incoming freshman Bowe Bentley seems to be the heir to the throne, and now, thanks to the new 5-in-5 rule, the Sooners don’t have to worry about burning a redshirt, so they can use Bentley as a backup to gain experience. Then, when Bentley likely takes over in 2027, look for 2027 commit Jamison Roberts to back him up.
If he wants to get on the field, Newbauer will have to go somewhere else.
This would go down as one of the Sooners’ most devastating portal blows, especially if he lives up to all the hype somewhere else. However, especially again considering Emmett Jones’ track record retaining players, no one should be blindsided by Elijah Thomas leaving if his situation doesn’t drastically change this season.
Thomas signed with the 2025 class as a four-star recruit out of in-state Checotah High School and had fans immediately buzzing. There was a lot of noise last offseason about Thomas, and Jones even compared him to New York Giants star Malik Nabers. But then, he barely sniffed the field last season while playing mostly on special teams and catching only one five-yard pass.
Read more: Elijah Thomas is Oklahoma's most exciting addition from 2025 signing class
There’s hope Thomas breaks out in 2026, but Isaiah Sategna III returns as the No. 1 receiver while OU brought in Trell Harris, Parker Livingstone and Mackenzie Alleyne from the transfer portal. Jer’Michael Carter is also back and there were already signs during the spring of freshman Jahsiear Rogers getting early playing time as Arbuckle will likely favor the guys he brought in.
Thomas is a phenomenal talent, but he might be somewhere else by the time he unlocks his potential if the Sooners don’t give him the opportunity to.
Although he has said he has trust in Oklahoma as a program, DeZephen Walker signed with the Sooners because of his relationship with former running backs coach DeMarco Murray, who left for the Kansas City Chiefs right before Walker got to campus as a 2026 addition. That alone is enough writing on the wall for Walker, but if his classmate, Jonathan Hatton Jr., breaks out this season with Xavier Robinson and Tory Blaylock also ahead of him, plus top-10 recruit Keldrid Ben on the way next year, then Walker has a list of reasons to head out.
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