This is what FIU Panthers coach Butch Davis had to say about college transfer portal
Athletes transferring from one university to another — which has long been part of college football — has seemingly become an epidemic this winter.
Look no further than the Miami Hurricanes, who have added transfers at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, left tackle and safety so far in the Class of 2019.
FIU coach Butch Davis has added transfers at running back, offensive guard, linebacker and defensive back.
The Herald asked Davis about the transfer epidemic, and he gave a nuanced answer.
“I think every coach in America supports grad transfers,” Davis said. “If a kid comes to your program … and he gets his diploma, he should have the opportunity — if he wants to continue to play collegiately — to go anywhere he wants.
“The thing that more people are a little bit against is the portal, and this is the sad thing. There are going to be a lot of kids who are heartbroken. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
“In the first of January, there were 1,400 kids who hit the [transfer] portal. In the middle of January, there were 1,700. Now there are close to 2,000. There are only 350 scholarships available … so where are those other kids going to go?
“They left a scholarship thinking they were going to get a scholarship. Now they are on the street thinking, ‘uh oh’. Now they can’t go back.”
FIU has not added any grad transfers for this class. Their transfers include two players who left the University of Arkansas — running back Maleek Williams and linebacker Alexy Jean-Baptiste — and one from Iowa (defensive back Josh Turner).
Junior-college offensive guard Logan Gunderson has also been added to this class.
Davis said he and his staff have done their “homework” on these transfers.
“Some of them I had actually recruited my first year [at FIU],” Davis said. “We looked at their high school tape. We looked at how they played collegiately. We talked to guys on their staffs. We vetted them pretty significantly to make sure they are good players with good character.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Davis said offensive linemen are a “big focus” of this class. FIU lost four blockers off the 2018 team to graduation. Davis hopes to sign “three or four” o-linemen as part of his 2019 class, and, so far, he has two: Gunderson and incoming freshman tackle Julius Pierce.
Two offensive tackles visited FIU on Jan. 18: William Rogers, a 6-3, 310-pounder from Georgia, and James Price, a 6-5, 295-pounder from a Texas junior college.
If FIU signs both of them on Feb. 6, that could complete Davis’ wish list on the o-line.
▪ Former FIU quarterback Christian Alexander, the offensive MVP of the Bahamas Bowl, has landed at Wagner College in New York City as a graduate transfer. Wagner is a small school that competes in NCAA Division I FCS.
Alexander has already begun work on a master’s degree in business management and will begin spring ball in March, hoping to win the QB job.
Contact Walter Villa at wvilla07@yahoo.com.