By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network

On the first day of the 2024-25 early transfer window, four starting quarterbacks from the Atlantic Coast Conference either officially entered the NCAA portal or announced their intention to do so at some point this week.

Maalik Murphy (Duke), Thomas Castellanos (Boston College), Anthony Colandrea (Virginia) and Ashton Daniels (Stanford) were the primary QB starters at their respective schools during the 2024 regular season.

Neither Murphy nor Castellanos will participate in his team’s bowl game. Virginia and Stanford fell short of the six victories required for automatic bowl eligibility.

Murphy, a Texas transfer, started all 12 regular-season games for the Blue Devils this season. Daniels started 10 times for the Cardinal this season and 20 times over the past two years. Colandrea started the first 11 games for the Cavaliers this season (but not the finale at Virginia Tech) and 17 games over the past two seasons. Castellanos also was a multi-year starter, although he lost his starting job to Grayson James in November, after starting 20 times for the Eagles over the past two seasons.

All but Castellanos would have had at least a chance to start for his current team again in 2025.

Murphy, a redshirt sophomore with two seasons of eligibility remaining, had a break-out campaign with the 9-3 Blue Devils this season. He completed 254 of 421 passes (60.3 percent) for 2,933 yards, a school-record 26 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. He threw game-winning TD passes in the Devils’ narrow victories at Northwestern and at Wake Forest.

Murphy’s departure from Duke is tied at least in part to his pursuit of bigger Name-Image-Likeness money. Riley Leonard, Duke’s starting QB in 2023, reportedly made more than $1 million in NIL money at Notre Dame this season. Although Murphy did collect significant NIL compensation during his single season at Duke, he is expected to get a much bigger payday at a higher-profile program whose boosters and athletic department pour more resources into football.

Meanwhile, although Colandrea (a smaller QB who often struggled with downfield passing) is expected to transfer to a school outside the Power Four conferences, Daniels is hoping to transfer within the Power Four. A three-time state champion at Buford High in Georgia, he’s looking at options much closer to home, including Auburn, where second-year coach Hugh Freeze is searching for a new starting quarterback.

In football, NCAA rules provide for two transfer windows each year. For the 2024-25 cycle, the early window opened Monday and runs through Dec. 28. The late window, designed to follow spring practice, will run from April 16-25 in 2025. Both windows were shortened from those in the 2023-24 transfer cycle.

Under NCAA rules, a player who puts his name in the portal retains the option to stay at his current school without jeopardizing his eligibility. Each year, a very small percentage of potential transfers withdraw from the portal and are welcomed back to their current teams.

ACC Starting Quarterbacks’ Status
(Most 2024 Starts)

Boston College: Thomas Castellanos (Jr.), entered transfer portal
California: Fernando Mendoza (r-So.), eligible to return
Clemson: Cade Klubnik (Jr.), eligible to return (honorable mention All-ACC)
Duke: Maalik Murphy (r-So.), entered transfer portal
Florida State: DJ Uiagalelei (Ss.), exhausted eligibility
Georgia Tech: Haynes King (r-Jr.), eligible to return
Louisville: Tyler Shough (Ss.), exhausted eligibility (honorable mention All-ACC)
Miami: Cam Ward (Ss.), exhausted eligibility (1st-team All-ACC)
North Carolina: Jacolby Criswell (r-Jr.), eligible to return
NC State: CJ Bailey (Fr.), eligible to return
Pittsburgh: Eli Holstein (r-Fr.), eligible to return
SMU: Kevin Jennings (r-So.), eligible to return (3rd-team All-ACC)
Stanford: Ashton Daniels (Jr.), entered transfer portal
Syracuse: Kyle McCord (Sr.), exhausted eligibility (2nd-team All-ACC)
Virginia: Anthony Colandrea (So.), entered transfer portal
Virginia Tech: Kyron Drones (r-Jr.), eligible to return
Wake Forest: Hank Bachmeier (Ss.), exhausted eligibility