Transfer portal notebook: Transferring ‘down’ can be as big a deal as transferring ‘up’

One of the criticisms of the transfer portal is that it punishes lower-level schools: Those schools find and develop a player, then he transfers to a Power 5 program.

There’s no question that occurs, especially in basketball. But two big upsets by Sun Belt Conference schools last Saturday showed that transferring “down” can work out in a big way, too.

Take Marshall’s stunner at Notre Dame. Running back Khalan Laborn, a former five-star signee at Florida State, keyed the upset by rushing for 163 yards and a TD. The Herd started four former Power 5 players, including starting quarterback Henry Colombi, a Texas Tech transfer.

And take Appalachian State’s shocker at Texas A&M. Quarterback Chase Brice, originally a four-star recruit for Clemson who also played at Duke, tossed a TD pass, and running back Ahmani Marshall, a Wake Forest transfer who was a three-star recruit, scored the Mountaineers’ other touchdown. App State started two former Power 5 players; Marshall is a backup.

Laborn was the spotlight player in the Marshall upset. He was the No. 25 player nationally in the On3 Consensus rankings for the 2017 recruiting class, serving as one of the centerpieces for Jimbo Fisher’s final class at Florida State; five-star running back Cam Akers also was in that class. Laborn redshirted that fall, then suffered a dislocated kneecap in the second game of 2018 and missed the rest of the season. He was Akers’ top backup in 2019, rushing for 297 yards and four TDs.

Then came more adversity. Laborn was dismissed from the program in 2020 and didn’t play anywhere in ’20 or ’21. He stayed at FSU to get his degree and entered the portal in October of last year. Marshall was looking for a veteran backup for 1,400-yard rusher Rasheen Ali and signed Laborn out of the portal in December.

“I finally get to do something I love doing and I’ve been working trying to get back to this. Now that I’m here, I’m just trying to work to get better and get to the next level,” Laborn told West Virginia Metro News in April.

Ali took an indefinite leave from the team in August, and Laborn won the starting job in the final week of camp. He has taken advantage of the opportunity, in more ways than one.

After 4 transfers, 2016 signee finds home

Staying with the same “transfer down” theme, look at Incarnate Word quarterback Lindsey Scott Jr., a seventh-year senior.

He signed with LSU way back in 2016 as a three-star prospect from Zachary (La.) High; he was the state Gatorade Player of the Year as a prep senior after rolling up 5,002 total yards and accounting for 61 TDs in guiding Zachary High to a 14-1 record and a state title.

Scott redshirted at LSU in 2016, then led East Mississippi CC to the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship in 2017. He signed with Missouri in the 2018 recruiting class, when Barry Odom was coach. Scott moved on from Mizzou after that season and transferred to FCS Nicholls State. He sat out the 2019 season as per NCAA rules in those pre-transfer portal days, but Nicholls’ 2020 season was postponed by COVID. So, that made four seasons of Division I football with zero FBS snaps for an LSU signee.

(Still with us? OK, there’s more.)

Things turned around for Scott in 2021. He started all seven games at quarterback during Nicholls’ spring season in 2021, averaging 320.1 yards of total per offense per game and accounting for 24 touchdowns. Scott also started all 11 games in the Colonels’ ’21 fall campaign, averaging 279.4 yards of total offense and accounting for 25 TDs. In 18 career games at Nicholls, he threw for 3,767 yards, which is sixth on the school’s career list.

Because of the NCAA’s COVID rule regarding eligibility, Scott still had one season to play and chose to use it at Incarnate Word, like Nicholls State a Southland Conference school. UIW changed coaches in the offseason, with former coach Eric Morris leaving to become offensive coordinator at Washington State. G.J. Kinne, a former Texas and Tulsa quarterback, is the new coach; he had been OC last season at UCF.

Scott has adapted quite well to Kinne’s offense. He has thrown for 797 yards and 10 touchdowns in two games for the Cardinals, including a six-TD performance in a 64-29 upset of No. 9 Southern Illinois in the season-opener. Scott and UIW pulled another upset this past Saturday, with Scott throwing for 406 yards and four TDs in 55-41 victory over Nevada. Scott had 18 completions, which means he averaged 22.3 yards per completion. Not bad considering he threw a pick on his first pass of the game. UIW wide receiver Darion Chafin had seven receptions for 262 yards (including 163 yards after catch), an astounding 37.4 yards per catch.

During spring practice, Scott told the San Antonio News that “I think I’m very malleable when it comes to learning different offenses.” Hey, playing at four previous schools probably helped in that regard.

What a throw to finish off a shock 55-41 win over Nevada 🎯

Lindsey Scott Jr: 18/25, 406 yards, 4 touchdowns 🤯

Congratulations to @UIWFootball

pic.twitter.com/rRSBbQINrv

— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 11, 2022

FSU QB Jordan Travis faces former school

Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis began his career at Louisville and Saturday he will start for the second time against his former team. His first start against the Cardinals, in 2020, did not go well. More is on the line this season

Travis and the Seminoles are off to a 2-0 start. As expected, they easily beat FCS Duquesne in the first game. But Travis led the Seminoles to an upset in Game Two, when FSU edged LSU 24-23, and now they play Friday night at Louisville.

In 2020, Travis was awful against the Cardinals in a matchup of teams that came in a combined 3-7. Travis finished 14-of-32 for 141 yards, a TD and a pick in a 48-16 loss. He was injured and missed last season’s matchup, a 31-23 Louisville win.

Friday’s game will be the ACC opener for the Seminoles. With tougher league opponents Clemson, Miami, NC State and Wake Forest later in the season, losing to the Cardinals would put FSU in a potentially tough spot. And Travis told reporters Tuesday that playing against his former team was on his mind.

“I’m not going to sit here and say it’s not on my mind,” he said. “It’s definitely on my mind a little bit.”

He also said he was playing with more confidence this season.

“The coaches, my teammates, they give me a lot of confidence,” he said. “Everything comes with confidence and confidence comes with work, so watching film, staying after, studying the playbook, just little things like that.”

Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham is 2-1 vs. the Seminoles as a starter; he has averaged 309.7 total yards of offense per game and accounted for nine touchdowns against FSU. It’s not a stretch to say Friday’s winner will be determined by which dual-threat quarterback puts up the most yards.

Transfers in the spotlight

Travis going against his former team isn’t the only interesting portal story with this week’s schedule. Here are some others.

+ BYU RB Chris Brooks vs. Oregon: Brooks basically had zero success against Oregon while at Cal; he rushed for 124 yards on 39 carries (3.2 yards per attempt) in four games, including three starts. This season, he’s running behind a better line than he had at Cal and he’ll be going against an Oregon defense that allowed 5.3 yards a carry and four rushing TDs in a season-opening loss to Georgia.

+ Purdue WR Charlie Jones vs. Syracuse: Jones is on his way to becoming one of the best transfer portal pickups of the offseason. He caught 21 passes in two seasons at Iowa; he has matched that total in two games with the Boilermakers. He also has four TD receptions after having three in his Iowa career. He’ll be going against a good secondary this week, with Syracuse CBs Duce Chestnut and Garrett Williams one of the best duos in the ACC.

+ South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler vs. Georgia: Rattler threw for 371 yards and a TD last week in a loss to Arkansas, but all 85 came in the second half. Indeed, Rattler threw for 199 yards after the Hogs took a 35-16 lead early in the fourth period on the way to a 44-30 win. Rattler can’t wait that long to get going against Georgia – which, by the way, is better than Arkansas defensively.

+ Nebraska QB Casey Thompson vs. Oklahoma: This will be Thompson’s fourth game against his dad’s alma mater – Charles Thompson was the Sooners’ starting quarterback in 1987 and ’88 – but just the second in which he has played. He started last season’s game while at Texas and had the Longhorns leading 41-23 near the end of the third quarter before OU mounted a furious rally behind Caleb Williams after Rattler was benched. Obviously, Scott Frost’s firing is the major storyline in this game, but if Thompson somehow can resurrect his magic from last season’s Red River Shootout … .