Murray State WR, former Colorado transfer Willie Gaines enters NCAA transfer portal

Former Murray State and Colorado receiver Willie Gaines is back in the NCAA transfer portal, On3’s Pete Nakos has learned.

Gaines entered the transfer portal back in January after one season with the Buffaloes. He started his college career at Toledo in 2019 and has made several different stops along the way.

The 5-foot-9 receiver spent one season with the Rockets before entering the transfer portal for the first time. He did not play at Toledo in 2019.

Willie Gaines spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons at Dodge City Community College. Across two years there he played in 13 games, catching 25 passes for 509 yards and two touchdowns.

Following two seasons at Dodge City, Gaines came to Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders. He had a really nice year in 2022, appearing in 13 games and catching 27 passes for 446 yards and five touchdowns.

When Sanders left for Colorado, Gaines went with him. He played in five games last season at Colorado, catching two passes for 12 yards.

Willie Gaines entered the transfer portal back in January in search of more playing time and ended up at Murray State. However, he is now back in the transfer portal without ever playing in a game there.

A native of Florida, Gaines was ranked as a three-star recruit in the class of 2019, per the On3 Industry rankings.

Former Florida A&M, LSU OL Kardell Thomas joins Colorado roster

While Willie Gaines is a former Colorado receiver who is now headed elsewhere, the Buffaloes have also brought in plenty of players from the transfer portal this offseason to help bolster the roster.

One of those players is former Florida A&M and LSU offensive lineman Kardell Thomas, who recently joined the Buffaloes roster.

The former four-star recruit entered the portal in April and announced his commitment to Central Missouri in July but did not enroll. A 6-foot-3, 310-pound guard played in four games for LSU during the 2022 season, including the Citrus Bowl win over Purdue.

In 2021, Kardell Thomas played in a career-high six games with two starts. Those starts came against Louisiana-Monroe and Texas A&M. The former top-100 recruit has one year of eligibility remaining. Thomas was on the roster as the Tigers won a national championship during the 2019 season.

Adding Thomas gives Colorado another depth option on the offensive line. Colorado picked up four linemen in OL Ethan Boyd (Michigan State), OL Payton Kirkland (Texas), OL Zechariah Owens (Clemson), OL Wyatt Hummel (Villanova) this spring.