Is Purdue the favorite to land Texas football transfer QB Hudson Card?

Among the best quarterbacks that are still available in the NCAA Transfer Portal at the moment is the former Texas football junior Hudson Card. Following the conclusion of the regular season, Card announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal.

This was a move that was expected since redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers beat out Card in fall camp for the starting quarterback job for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns.

While Card was beaten out for the starting job coming out of fall camp, he was extremely valuable to the Longhorns during the regular season. After Ewers suffered a shoulder injury in Week 2 against the Alabama Crimson Tide, Card was called upon to lead the offense.

Card was solid in the starting quarterback role for a few weeks during the front half of the regular season. He was his last start, in a career game where he tossed three touchdowns and went off for more than 300 passing yards.

The solid run for Card on the field this season makes him one of the more appealing quarterbacks on the transfer market heading into the 2023 offseason. And it looks like he’s got plenty of suitors since putting his name in the portal a few weeks ago.

Chris Hummer of 247Sports recently reported that some of the top contenders of note to land a commitment from Card out of the portal are the Purdue Boilermakers, Illinois Fighting Illini, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and Oregon State Beavers.

Oregon State is probably out of the running at this point, though, since the Beavs just landed a commitment from the former Clemson Tigers starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.

Purdue is a very viable destination for the Texas football transfer QB Hudson Card

However, one school that appears to have a lot of traction at the moment with Card is Purdue. A piece from BoilerUpload (part of the Rivals network) on Dec. 24 noted that Card was the top transfer target at the quarterback position for the Boilermakers.

Purdue could be an appealing destination for Card. The Boilermakers would give the Austin native a shot to start right away given how Purdue doesn’t have a single quarterback with any sort of meaningful live-game action coming back in 2023.

New head coach Ryan Walters also brought in an offensive coordinator, Graham Harrell formerly of the West Virginia Mountaineers, that runs a system that fits Card’s style of play. Harrell runs the air raid offense, which is a natural fit for Card.

There is also some familiarity between Card and Harrell given that the former Texas quarterback started against West Virginia when these two teams met during the regular season.

In terms of scheme fit, I believe that two of the options mentioned by Hummer in his report of possible destinations for Card are better than the other. Notre Dame and Purdue both run offensive systems conducive to Card’s skill set.

It’s also worth noting that Card would be a much more natural fit for the Purdue offensive system than he would in the Illinois offense that emphasizes getting the ground game going more than it does airing the ball out.

Card finished out his time at Texas amassing more than 1,500 passing yards, 11 passing touchdowns, two interceptions, 74 rushing yards, and one rushing score over the course of three seasons. He will still have two or three years of eligibility remaining depending on if he utilizes the COVID-19 redshirt season.