3 Big 12 football destinations for NC State transfer QB Devin Leary

Possibly the biggest quarterback name in the NCAA Transfer Portal at the moment is someone that could very realistically land with a Big 12 football program at his next stop. Former NC State Wolfpack standout redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary has some options in the Big 12 that could make sense for his next stop out of the transfer portal this coming offseason.

Leary was one of the surprise portal entrants as part of the 2023 class upon the transfer window opening up on Dec. 5. He was a big part of the success that NC State found last season, and why head coach Dave Doeren and the Wolfpack had so much hype in the ACC coming into the 2022 campaign.

Last season, Leary emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the Power Five. He tossed 35 touchdowns and just five picks to go along with 3,433 passing yards and two rushing scores in 2021.

But after suffering a torn pectoral muscle with the Wolfpack back in early October, Leary missed the rest of the 2022 season.

Sensible Big 12 football landing spots for NC State transfer QB Devin Leary

And just a couple of months after Leary suffered that season-ending injury, he elected to test the waters in the transfer portal. He is now one of the most highly-sough-after quarterbacks in the portal and will have a large number of suitors to choose from for his next stop.

Here’s a look at three potential Big 12 destinations for Leary out of the portal this coming offseason.

West Virginia

Of the Big 12 programs that pursued Leary as a recruit out of high school, the West Virginia Mountaineers are the only option that would keep the New Jersey native even somewhat close to home. And there are some past connections on this staff that could be reignited for Leary and the Mountaineers if he would be interested in taking his talents to Morgantown in 2023.

For Leary to even consider a landing spot out of the portal such as West Virginia, though, two things would have to happen.

The first is that West Virginia would to be willing to keep head coach Neal Brown around for another season. Brown entered the regular season one on of the hottest seats of any Power Five head coach.

And his seat will be really hot heading into the offseason after West Virginia fell short of bowl eligibility this fall.

But I don’t think Leary would be willing to consider a landing spot such as West Virginia without Brown and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell remaining in place in Morgantown.

The second thing that would have to happen for Leary to consider West Virginia is some other Power Five programs filling quarterback needs (i.e. Notre Dame, Oregon, etc.) with other options in the portal.

Let’s say Hudson Card lands at Notre Dame, DJ Uiagalelei goes to UCLA, and then Spencer Sanders goes to Oregon. Leary would then be left looking at some schools such as West Virginia as a potential next stop out of the portal.