Texas Football: OU’s Austin Kendall WVU transfer block impacts Longhorns?
What does the latest bit of Big 12 quarterback transfer drama mean for Texas football, this time involving former Oklahoma backup Austin Kendall?
The quarterback news surrounding the Oklahoma Sooners football program hasn’t slowed down in the past few weeks. Between projected 2019 starting quarterback Austin Kendall putting his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal and Heisman-winning quarterback Kyler Murray potentially passing up the Oakland Athletics offer and declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft, the Sooners are staying in the thick of storylines lately.
However, Oklahoma took this one step further by blocking the potential transfer of Austin Kendall to the West Virginia Mountaineers this off-season. Austin Kendall was looking to throw his name into the hat to become the next West Virginia quarterback to contend in the Big 12 after the departure of superstar Will Grier.
The plan for Kendall was to graduate and then become immediately eligible for the 2019 regular season as a transfer to the West Virginia football program. But, a rule that the Big 12 does allow led Oklahoma to block his transfer attempt to Morgantown, WV. That created some added controversy in what has already been a turbulent off-season for the transfer market.
The newly instituted NCAA Transfer Portal wreaked havoc on quarterback retention in the nation for the 2019 off-season. One of the biggest names that hit the NCAA Transfer Portal since the end of the 2018-19 college football season was Austin Kendall.
ESPN first reported the visit of Austin Kendall to Morgantown with West Virginia. That translated into his transfer attempt being blocked according to various reports on Jan. 16. This is a wild plot line that could signal what lies ahead for some of the more prominent quarterback transfers this off-season.
Moreover, it does make sense that Kendall is trying to transfer out of the Oklahoma football program and join West Virginia. He would get to stay in a similar offense, with West Virginia’s high-octane attack in the Big 12. Kendall would also get to move closer to home since he is a North Carolina native. West Virginia is the closest school geographically to North Carolina.
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However, the real question for this process in relevance to the Texas football program is how this could impact them moving forward. An internal graduate transfer in the Big 12 to West Virginia would be more detrimental to Texas football than if he left the conference entirely. In a weird way, Oklahoma blocking his transfer could actually help the Texas Longhorns.
To clarify, #Sooners can’t block Austin Kendall from transferring to West Virginia, but from being eligible immediately. Still a chance Kendall winds up at WVU even if OU’s stance doesn’t change
— Ryan Aber (@ryaber) January 16, 2019
Ahead for the Horns during the 2019 regular season is a difficult road matchup against West Virginia in Morgantown. The less experienced the quarterback West Virginia starts, the better for the Horns.
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Yet, this is still going to be an interesting process to follow for fans of any team in the Big 12, and any school that Austin Kendall has interest in transferring to. It could also play a role in how the two true freshmen Texas quarterbacks decide to handle their transfer process this off-season.