WVU Football Recruiting

West Virginia eyeing transfer quarterback

Published

5 years ago

January 13, 2019

One week into the new job and new Mountaineer head football coach Neal Brown is hitting the ground running on the recruiting trail.

If you haven’t noticed, the one big issue with next years depth chart is the lack of depth at quarterback. Currently, there are only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, Jack Allison & Trey Lowe.

There is not a single quarterback committed, signed, or even close to signing with West Virginia in the 2019 recruiting class. That leaves it down to two options- transfer or grad transfer at the position.

This morning following an Instagram post by Tate Martell, former Ohio State quarterback showing that he was in Morgantown, we reached out to our source to see if it was indeed for a visit. Martell spent the day on campus and plans to also visit Louisville and Miami prior to making his decision.

Martell was expected to be the Buckeyes starting quarterback next year before Justin Fields transferred into the program. Martell is a dual-threat quarterback and saw success when he got his chance. He completed 23 of 28 passes for over 200 yards and three total touchdowns (2 on the ground).

Martell will have to get a waiver from the NCAA to gain eligibility immediately. With Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer retiring, that could be a loophole for him to get that immediate eligibility.

Another potential option is Oklahoma quarterback Austin Kendall. Our source noted that Oklahoma is unable to place a block on Kendall to transfer, due to the fact that he will have graduated. He will have immediate eligibility and have two years remaining.

Kendall completed 12 of 17 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. He spent the last three seasons learning and backing up two Heisman winners, Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray.

According to our source, it is more likely that West Virginia will land Kendall before they would land Martell. That would be unless Jalen Hurts goes to Miami. If that’s the case, then the Mountaineers have a decent shot of landing the former Buckeye.