DALLAS – SMU Director of Player Personnel Jeff Jordan is curious. Sitting at his on-campus desk, Jordan turns to the computer and opens a place of magic and intrigue: The transfer portal. College football’s buzz word of the offseason, the transfer portal is merely an NCAA regulated landing page that lists every available FBS transfer – sorry folks, no wormhole.

Jordan wants to know exactly how many players were listed in the 2019 iteration of the portal, which ran from Oct. 15, 2018 to Aug. 1, 2019. When Jordan sees 2,000-plus names, even he, SMU’s portal czar, is a bit surprised.

“There’s a lot of guys,” Jordan told 247Sports. “A lot.”

As it happened, SMU signed more of those players than almost anyone. Fifteen to be exact. The Mustangs began the season against Arkansas State with a graduate transfer quarterback (Shane Buechele, Texas) and a graduate transfer corner (Brandon Stephens, UCLA). SMU also drew heavy contributions from an Auburn (Richard McBryde), Arkansas (Chevin Calloway) and Rice (Zach Abercrumbia) transfer.

Don’t forget SMU’s starting punter (Luke Hogan, West Virginia) and kickoff specialist (Russell Roberts, Middle Tennessee).

Tally it up, and the Mustangs added five former four-star prospects through the transfer portal. That’s four more four-star prospects than the Mustangs had on their roster for the 2018 season, leading to a jump from 78th to 67th in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite Rankings.

“It’s been a good thing for us,” Mustangs head coach Sonny Dykes told 247Sports. “And it’ll continue to be a good thing for us.”

What exactly allowed a 5-7 team from a season ago to partially transform its roster in just a single offseason? 247Sports traveled to Dallas to ask that exact question. As it turns out, it came down to that old real estate principle: “Location, location, location.”

“We were a really a beneficiary of where we are,” Jordan said.

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Nobody really knew what the portal would mean to college football when it debuted on Oct. 15, 2018. Jordan and SMU thought there would be a lot of kids. But looking at that number, upwards of 2,000, Jordan said what most of the coaching community thinks: “It was more than anybody anticipated.”

Still, SMU thought it’d be well positioned to take advantage.

The Mustangs are the only FBS college located in Dallas, a city and metropolitan area that produces well over 100 FBS prospects each year. Some of those players will leave the state. Jordan also knew many would come back. Dykes hired a staff full of coaches with Texas-area ties. That positioned SMU to not only recruit high players from the state but also to target transfers looking for a chance to come home.

“I was a high school coach in this area for 29 years,” Jordan said. “These kids would come back and they were like, ‘You know coach, going to the University of Florida was really cool on an (official visit). But I get done after a game and there’s nobody there to see me.'”

That hypothesis proved correct.

Of the 16 transfers SMU initially signed – DeAndre McNeal eventually transferred back to FAU – 10 of them were from the DFW area. Overall, 13 of the 16 transfers that came to the Mustangs hail from the Lone Star State.

“Being at home and being with my family was a big thing on my radar,” Abercrumbia told 247Sports.

So much so that Abercrumbia put himself on SMU’s radar. The Mustangs hadn’t considered Abercrumbia, a Rice transfer, a possibility until he reached out to the staff; Michigan, Iowa and Mississippi State went after Abercrumbia hard early in his process. Buechele popped up for SMU in the same way. Yes, the Mustangs knew the former Longhorn starter had entered the portal. But they didn’t reach out.

Instead, Buechele’s high school coach called and said, “He’d be really interested in coming home.”

“It’s crazy,” Jordan said. “So much of it is just geography.”

SMU isn’t alone with this.

Metropolitan-based or adjacent Group of Five programs scooped up former Power Five players at an extreme rate this offseason. Houston added 12 players, 11 of which came from the Power Five. Cincinnati took players from Ohio State, Michigan and Alabama. San Diego State took on a trio of Pac-12 expats. Even UCF, which has as strong a roster as anyone in the G-5, snagged eight transfers from the Power Five level, including a quarterback (Brandon Wimbush, Notre Dame).

This is not to say every Power Five player looking for a bounce-back opportunity will land at G-5 program in a large city. SMU certainly can’t accept everyone. Background checks play a part – the Mustangs spoke to everyone from college to junior high coaches during their process – and ultimately schools will only add players who’ll make them better.

But when it comes to getting the first crack at high-end talent, math tends to work in schools like SMU’s favor.

“I think all of us are uniquely positioned for that in big urban, metropolitan areas,” Jordan said. “It’s just a numbers game. You’re going to have more kids from Dallas or Houston coming back than if you’re in Oklahoma or New Mexico. It’s just going to be different.”

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Adding 15 transfers in a single offseason is akin to bringing in an additional recruiting class.

Not all of the additions are on scholarship, and some aren’t eligible for the 2019 season. Alabama tight end transfer Kedrick James and Nebraska safety transfer Cam'ron Jones are still awaiting word from the NCAA on his appeal.

SMU planned for this eventuality, but it also shows the volatility that comes with the portal. As much success as the Mustangs had with it this offseason, Jordan doesn’t view the portal as a sustainable alternate roster-building strategy to high school recruiting.

“High school recruiting will still be our bread and butter,” Jordan said. “You can’t really depend on (the portal) a whole lot because of the very nature of it. It’s so random. You don’t know who’s going to be in there. There’s so much variance. … We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it.”

Jordan admits the portal rewarded creativity. On more than one occasion this offseason Jordan moved numbers around to take a player who SMU never thought it’d have a shot at. “The wasn’t a grand plan,” Jordan said.

Ultimately, the future of the portal is a mystery.

There are some warning signs the extreme movement of last cycle isn’t sustainable; many players remain without homes while others didn’t find the bevy of opportunities they expected. There’s no telling how players will approach the option this offseason. Jordan would’ve laughed last January if you told him his roster would look like this. “It just took a life of its own.”

But as long as the portal is active, SMU and other G-5 programs located in large cities have an opportunity to improve their roster with players seemingly out of reach as high school recruits.

“It’s a chance to raise our talent level,” Jordan said.