Georgia offers transfer portal RB Bhayshul Tuten from North Carolina A&T
Georgia extended a transfer portal offer on Friday to North Carolina A&T running back Bhayshul Tuten. As a sophomore for the Aggies, Tuten totaled 1,363 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground while also adding 342 yards and four scores receiving. He enters the portal with two seasons of eligibility remaining at the collegiate level.
Tuten went for over 100 yards rushing in all but one game for the Aggies in 2022 including a 256-yard outing against Campbell. He also scored a pair of touchdowns in three straight games before having five in a two game stretch, including a three-touchdown day against Norfolk State.
The previous season Tuten played in 11 games as a freshman and ranked eighth in the Big South for all-purpose yards per game with 71.5. Twice that year did he earn Big South Conference weekly honors. Tuten attended Paulsboro High School in New Jersey where he finished his career with 3,768 yards rushing and 77 touchdowns.
Georgia currently has five scholarship running backs on its roster with one likely to leave. Kenny McIntosh has been on campus for four years, and while he has one year of eligibility left is expected to declare for the 2023 NFL Draft. Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards both are in their third seasons and could declare if they chose to do so but neither seems all too likely. Instead the transfer portal would be a bigger fear for either of them.
The Bulldogs didn’t sign any running backs in the Class of 2021 meaning there are no sophomores but two did put pen to paper with Georgia in the Class of 2022. Branson Robinson was the No. 2 ranked running back coming out of high school, and Andrew Paul was a fast-riser late in the cycle before signing with Georgia in February. As it stands, Georgia is only slated to add one running back this offseason with Roderick Robinson, the No. 9 running back in the country, committed to come on board.
“You’re always going to look, and people try to reach out once they go in the portal. It’s there,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said during a College Football Playoff press conference about the transfer portal and his program’s approach. “They have people on staff at Ohio State, and we’ve got people on our staff that are going to be constantly looking through there and watching tape, evaluating it. But the focus is on our team. It wouldn’t be fair to all the guys playing if you weren’t focused on your team.”
“You can’t put a ton of focus and attention to looking for kids in the portal and things like that,” he added. “For us, it’s really about who do we know? Who do we trust? Who do we think fits our culture? And find the right people. But our focus will be on ourselves.”
Georgia has taken players out of the portal before but not every season. This past offseason, the Bulldogs went after transfer portal targets but did not land any. However, the year before they landed three (Derion Kendrick, Arik Gilbert and Tykee Smith). Other transfers in the portal era include Tre’ McKitty, JT Daniels, Jamie Newman, Lawerence Cager and Eli Wolf.
