The ACC's Most Valuable Transfers of 2026, Ranked by NIL Value

Updated 2026-07-30

The biggest NIL valuation in college football does not belong to Arch Manning anymore. It belongs to a quarterback who was throwing for Duke last November. Miami's addition of Darian Mensah reset the ACC's price ceiling and headlines a portal cycle in which the conference's contenders did most of their roster building after the season ended.

These are the highest-valued players joining a new ACC program for 2026, ranked by their current valuation in our database. Ranges are shown here; the exact figure, projected range and breakdown live on each player's page. Valuations blend published figures from services such as On3 and The NIL Standard with our own modeled estimates. Deals noted as reported reflect published dollar figures; everything else is an estimate.

The top ACC transfers by NIL value

1. Darian Mensah, quarterback, Duke to Miami. Range: $5.5 million to $7.5 million. Mensah threw for 3,973 yards with 34 touchdowns against six interceptions in 2025, and his reported Miami package tops On3's NIL 100. He is the most valuable player in our entire database.
2. Damon Wilson II, edge rusher, Missouri to Miami. Range: $1.3 million to $1.7 million. Wilson recorded nine sacks in Columbia in 2025 after beginning his career at Georgia. His deal, like Mensah's, was publicly reported.
3. Beau Pribula, quarterback, Missouri to Virginia. Range: $1.1 million to $1.5 million. Pribula passed for 1,941 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025 and projects as Virginia's starter on a reported deal.
4. Xavier Chaplin, offensive tackle, Auburn to Florida State. Range: $1.1 million to $1.55 million. Chaplin started all 12 games at left tackle for Auburn in 2025 after three seasons at Virginia Tech, and he anchors an FSU line rebuilt almost entirely through the portal.
5. Nate Pabst, offensive lineman, Bowling Green to Florida State. Range: $975,000 to $1.35 million. Pabst projects to start on the interior alongside Chaplin.
6. Rylan Kennedy, edge rusher, Texas A&M to Florida State. Range: $950,000 to $1.3 million. Kennedy arrived in January and projects as the starting JACK, a bigger role than he held at any earlier stop.
7. Davis Warren, quarterback, Michigan to Stanford. Range: $950,000 to $1.25 million. A leukemia survivor who walked on at Michigan and made nine starts in 2024, Warren transferred west as a graduate and is projected to start for new-look Stanford.
8. Marques White, edge rusher, UMass to SMU. Range: $800,000 to $1.1 million. White posted 11 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2025 and made the All-New England first team.
9. Billy Edwards Jr., quarterback, Wisconsin to North Carolina. Range: $800,000 to $1.1 million. The headline addition of Bill Belichick's second portal cycle in Chapel Hill, Edwards threw for 2,881 yards as Maryland's starter in 2024.
10. Ashton Daniels, quarterback, Auburn to Florida State. Range: $675,000 to $925,000. Daniels won the FSU job out of spring. He has started 23 of his 37 career games across stops at Stanford and Auburn.

Missouri paid the exit bill

Two of the top three names on this list left the same locker room. Missouri lost Wilson to Miami and Pribula to Virginia in the same cycle, a reminder that in the revenue-share era, developing a player and keeping him are now separate line items.

Two notes on who is missing. Florida State's Duce Robinson, the league's most productive transfer receiver, moved from USC a year earlier, so he is not a 2026 arrival. His 1,081-yard 2025 season is exactly why programs keep paying portal prices. And Notre Dame, which added Alabama edge rusher Keon Keeley in January, remains independent in football despite playing most other sports in the ACC, so Keeley is not on this list either.

Look up the exact numbers

Every player above has a profile with his current valuation and range. Browse the database or look up any athlete in the calculator.

Ranges reflect current valuations in our database as of late July 2026. They are estimates of 12 month earning potential, not confirmed salaries or contract amounts.

Sources

• On3 NIL Valuations
• On3 Transfer Portal rankings
• The NIL Standard team valuations