The NCAA transfer portal opens Friday. The programs at the top of college football’s food chain are dipping into their vaults, while everyone is bracing to lose the talent they found and developed. Many schools spent the past hiring cycle searching for the next Curt Cignetti, who turned Indiana in to an overnight national power with key transfers. But the transfer portal OG — original genius — was San Diego State’s Don Coryell. The coach turned the Aztecs into a small-college powerhouse  from 1961-72 by using junior college transfers. Coryell’s “transfer portal” differed, of course. Coryell sifted gold out of the 1960s junior college ranks when it was deeper than it is these days. Defensive end Fred Dryer and cornerback Willie Buchanon were junior college recruits who two years later were NFL first-round draft picks. San Jose State’s quarterback is harassed by Carl Weathers (50) and Fred Dryer (77), who became Hollywood stars after their NFL days. (Ernie Anderson, SDSU athletics) Dryer played for the Aztecs from 1967-68 after transferring from El Camino College in the Los Angeles area. He’s a College Football Hall of Famer who was the 13th overall pick in 1969 by the New York Giants. He played 13 NFL seasons. Buchanon came to SDSU in 1970 from MiraCosta College in northern San Diego County. He was the seventh overall pick in 1972 by the Green Bay Packers and was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He played 10 NFL seasons. “Coryell and his coaches knew what positions they needed to fill, and they could bring in a more mature player from the junior colleges,” Buchanon said. “Guys wanted to play for Coryell and his coaches because they sent so many players to the NFL.” But talent doesn’t always equal cohesive teamwork. Buchanon said Coryell fostered competitiveness that led to camaraderie. “We loved to compete, and that made everything good,” Buchanon said. “We had great quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs going against each other in practice.” Dryer liked to tell a story about a USC player interested in transferring to San Diego State. Dryer and teammates took him to Tijuana one night on the weekend of his recruiting trip. “When Coryell asked me about how the visit went, I told him the guy was a jerk,” Dryer recalled. “Coryell replied, ‘Well, then we don’t want him.’” Added Buchanon: “Coryell always said he wanted good guys and good students.” Brian Sipe, San Diego State University quarterback. (U-T file photo) Plenty of Coryell’s other JC transfers made their mark in the NFL. Brian Sipe played for Grossmont College in eastern San Diego County before enrolling at San Diego State in 1969. He was a 13th-round pick, but he defied expectations as the 1980 NFL MVP. Don Horn and Dennis Shaw were two SDSU quarterbacks who began their careers as freshmen at Pac-8 Conference schools before taking junior-college detours and landing with the Aztecs. Horn began his college career at Washington State, transferred to Harbor College and then played the Aztecs from 1965-66. Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers made Horn their first-round pick in the 1967 draft. He played eight NFL seasons. Shaw started out at USC and transferred to Mt. San Antonio College before coming to SDSU in 1968. He was a second-round pick by the Buffalo Bills in 1970 who went on to play nine NFL seasons. Another four-year school transfer was Isaac Curtis, who started his career at Cal before he finished with Coryell in 1972. He played 12 NFL seasons. Steve Duich (76) and his Aztecs teammates carry coach Don Coryell off field after capping 11-0 season in 1966. Coryell won 104 games at San Diego State, going 11-0 in 1966 and 1969, 9-0-1 in 1968 and 10-1 in 1967 and 1972. The 1960s Aztecs played in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association at a time when programs were closer to a today’s lower Group of Five conferences. Nevertheless, Coryell’s Aztecs defeated schools from the WAC, Big Eight and Pac-8. In 1970, SDSU beat WAC member Brigham Young, 31-11, and in 1971 the WAC’s Arizona, 39-10. In 1972, SDSU opened with a win over the Pac-8’s Oregon State, 17-8, and closed with a victory over the Big Eight’s Iowa State, 27-14. Another notable SDSU victory was in 1970 over Southern Mississippi, then an Independent. Southern Miss lost its fifth game of the year at SDSU, 41-14. But a week later, Southern Miss traveled to Ole Miss and beat the Southeastern Conference member, 30-14. Coryell’s left San Diego State for the NFL, where he coached for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1973-77 and San Diego Chargers from 1978-86. San Diego State continued restocking through the junior college ranks under Coryell’s successor, Claude Gilbert. Gilbert was 9-1-1 in 1973 and posted back-to-back 10-1 records in 1976 and 1977. The 1977 season included routing Florida State and coach Bobby Bowden, 41-14. SDSU quarterback Jesse Frietas started his career at Stanford before he transferred to the Aztecs. He played one year for Coryell (1972) and one for Gilbert (1973). He spent one NFL season with the Chargers as a sixth-round pick in 1974. Herm Edwards played at Cal (1972 and 1974), Monterey Peninsula College (1973) and for Gilbert at San Diego State (1975). Undrafted, Edwards nonetheless played 10 NFL seasons before getting into caoching. He was in charge of the NFL’s New York Jets (2001-05) and Kansas City Chiefs (2006-08) and ran the program at Arizona State (2018-22). Don Warren, an NFL tight end for 14 years, competed for the Aztecs (1977-78) after playing at Mt. San Antonio College. Ironically, San Diego State’s dominant run came to an end when the school joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1978 and determined it needed to build through high school talent rather than JC players. Enthusiasm was high at the time. The Holiday Bowl was founded in 1978, and the expectation was that the Aztecs would be frequent participants in the local game. But the Aztecs’ talent and winning records dropped off. San Diego and Southern California talent picked Pac-8 schools over the new WAC member. Lincoln High School’s Marcus Allen, for example, went to USC, where he won the 1981 Heisman Trophy. The Aztecs went 4-7 in their first season in the WAC, and didn’t win their first WAC title until 1986. The talent dropped off, too. Curtis was Coryell’s final NFL Draft pick in 1973; SDSU didn’t have another one until 1990, when Dan McGwire was taken by the Seattle Seahawks. San Diego State never found another Don Coryell to find future NFL talent. And now the game has moved on to a modern transfer portal that requires money and an eye for talent to execute. All-Star quarterback Dennis Shaw (12) sets to throw a pass in the first quarter of action against the Kansas City Chiefs in the College All-Star game, Friday, July 31, 1970, Chicago. Shaw got the pass away ahead of the rush, but throw fell incomplete. The rest of the players are unidentified. (AP Photo/James Palmer) Coryell’s cast of college transfers Coach Don Coryell built many of his San Diego State football teams with junior college transfers and bounce-back players. Here’s a look at some of the best: Name (years at SDSU), previous school(s), in the pros Henry Allison (1969-70), College of the Sequoias, 7 NFL seasons Willie Buchanon (1970-71), MiraCosta College, 11 NFL seasons Kern Carson (1961-63), San Diego City College, 1 AFL season Isaac Curtis (1971), No JC, but played at Cal, 12 NFL seasons Tim Delaney (1969-70), Mt. San Antonio College, two World Football League seasons Rod Dowhower (1963-65), San Barbara City College, college and NFL head coach Fred Dryer (1967-68), El Camino College, 13 NFL seasons Gary Garrison (1964-65), Long Beach City College, 12 NFL seasons Joe Gibbs (1961-62), Cerritos College, NFL head coach Don Horn (1965-66), Washington State/Harbor College, 8 NFL seasons Haven Moses (1966-67), Harbor College, 14 NFL seasons Neal Petties (1961-63), San Diego City College, 3 NFL seasons Tom Reynolds (1970-71), El Camino College, 2 NFL seasons Dennis Shaw (1968-69), USC/Mt. Antonio College, 9 NFL seasons Nate Wright (1967-68), Monterrey Peninsula College, 12 NFL seasons ...read more read less