Final 2024 Transfer Portal Rankings: Who won on defense?

The 2024 transfer portal cycle closed on Aug. 1 and now it’s time to name some award winners. Colorado finished No. 1 in the Transfer Team Rankings but which team recruited each position best?

Let’s take a look at which team won at each position. Friday, the focus was on the offensive side of the ball so today it’s the defense’s turn.

2024 RANKINGS ARE FINAL: Who won the transfer portal on offense? | Alabama wraps up the 2024 cycle with Comprehensive Team Rankings crown | Breaking down the top 10 in the Comprehensive Team Rankings | Final 2024 comprehensive rankings | Final 2024 transfer portal rankings

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Defensive line: Ole Miss (Walter Nolen & Princely Umanmielen)

Lane Kiffin loves to recruit the transfer portal and he reeled in a great class this year that finished at No. 3 in the transfer portal team rankings. The defensive line group Ole Miss signed is as good as it gets in the 2024 transfer portal cycle.

Five-star Walter Nolen was the No. 2 overall prospect in the Rivals250 when he signed with Texas A&M as part of the 2022 class. He was a five-star and No. 2 overall in the transfer portal rankings this year. Now that he’s transferred to Ole Miss, Kiffin and his staff are hoping the big defensive tackle can be a disruptive force on the interior of the defensive line and make teammates around him all that much more effective.

Ole Miss also landed Florida defensive line transfer Princely Umanmielen, the No. 21 overall prospect in the transfer rankings. The versatile four-star prospect racked up seven sacks last season at Florida and the Rebels expect him to contribute in a similar fashion this season.

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Linebacker: Wisconsin (Tackett Curtis, Jaheim Thomas, & John Pius)

No other team this year landed as many four-star linebackers in the portal as Wisconsin did. Tackett Curtis, Jaheim Thomas and John Pius were some of the best linebackers available this offseason and the Badgers did an excellent job reeling in these three difference makers.

Curtis, the No. 6 transfer linebacker and No. 66 overall transfer prospect, left USC after last season and followed former Trojans defensive coordinator Alex Grinch to Madison.

Thomas’s arrival at Wisconsin is also a reunion of sorts. He originally signed with Luke Fickell while he was the head coach at Cincinnati as part of the 2020 recruiting class and transferred to Arkansas when Fickell left to take the job at Wisconsin. Now the two are back together again in Madison.

Wisconsin quickly targeted Pius when they learned he was entering the transfer portal. The FCS All-American at William & Mary announced that he would be transferring to Wisconsin after taking an official visit to the Madison campus in early December of 2023.

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Defensive back: Oregon (Jabbar Muhammad, Kameryn Alexander, Kobe Savage, Peyton Woodyard)

This was a really close call between Oregon and Alabama but the Ducks got the nod because they signed four top 100 defensive backs out of the portal.

Former Washington standout Jabbar Muhammad leads the way for Oregon’s 2024 defensive back transfer class. The No. 18 overall prospect in the transfer rankings and the No. 2 defensive back, Muhammad is already making his presence felt in Eugene.

The same can be said of Kameryn Alexander, No. 61 overall, and Kobe Savage, No. 63 overall. Alexander was a standout at UTSA last season while Savage arrived at Oregon after playing for Kansas State last year.

Oregon very nearly got Peyton Woodyard to sign as a high school recruit but the No. 89 prospect in the transfer rankings transferred out of Alabama after the retirement of Nick Saban and the Ducks were an obvious fit for him.

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