Grading every SEC team's transfer portal haul: Texas A&M lost numbers, gained quality

Let's go through and look at what every SEC team, including Texas A&M football, has accomplished in this portal window.

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko during warm ups before Auburn Tigers take on Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.
Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko during warm ups before Auburn Tigers take on Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | Jake Crandall/Montgomery Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Grading every single SEC team's portal haul: How did Texas A&M football do compared to conference opponents?

With the first— and most major— transfer portal window now all but over with, Texas A&M football fans are largely satisfied with where the team stands. The Aggies have done a good job at addressing their major needs, especially at wide receiver, but there are still some holes to fill.

The conference as a whole has seen a lot of players make a move into the portal. It seems as though teams have had less high-profile players make the jump this cycle compared to last, though you also have to factor in that there have been no coaching changes in the SEC this cycle— Saban and Jimbo's departures led to some five-stars in the transfer ranks that we haven't yet seen this time around.

Some teams— Ole Miss in particular, and now it appears Mississippi State as well— have made a habit of bringing in an inordinate amount of players via the portal. Whether this is a strategy that works in the long term remains to be seen— though the Rebs have been the best practicioners of this strategy, building a high-quality squad, they've had some strange losses mixed in there.

So which teams have leveraged the portal the best? Who has replaced depth with better quality? Let's hand out some grades.

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