Danes’ star QB enters portal
Poffenbarger threw 36 TD passes, led Danes to FCS semis
University at Albany quarterback Reese Poffenbarger won’t return to try to lead the team back to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals or even beyond.
Poffenbarger, a redshirt sophomore, has entered the NCAA transfer portal, ESPN’S Pete Thamel tweeted Wednesday evening.
Poffenbarger told ESPN he has already received “a flurry of interest, including from multiple P5 (power-five) schools.”
A Ualbany football spokesman confirmed the report and said the school would have no further comment.
Poffenbarger, from Middletown, Md., led the FCS with 36 touchdown passes and 3,603 passing yards this season. The Great Danes (11-4) ended their season with a 59-0 loss to South Dakota State in Ualbany’s first FCS semifinal appearance last Friday. He threw three interceptions in that game.
He passed for 5,969 yards and 56 touchdowns over two seasons at Ualbany.
Poffenbarger already transferred once, moving down from Old Dominion of the Football Bowl Subdivision two years ago to come to Ualbany. Under NCAA rules, second-time undergraduate transfers are required to sit out a year. However, several states have filed a lawsuit against the NCAA to challenge that rule, which is currently not being enforced because a West Virginia federal judge issued a preliminary injunction which goes through the spring semester.
It’s clearly a significant blow to Ualbany’s hopes of sustaining this year’s unprecedented success. Trey Lindsey, Poffenbarger’s backup this season, is out of eligibility. Redshirt freshman quarterback Aeden Mcdermott has already entered the portal. Freshman Jordan Rae is also on the roster.
Ualbany signed a quarterback on Wednesday, Van Weber of Rutherford (N.J.) High School. The Great Danes would appear likely to go into the portal to find another quarterback.
Poffenbarger talked last week about how he chose Ualbany two years ago out of the portal. Poffenbarger was drawn to play for Great Danes offensive coordinator Jared Ambrose, who attended the same high school as Poffenbarger in Maryland.
“When I first went into the portal and Coach Ambrose called me within like five minutes, he told me, he knows that I know football and I know he knows football,” Poffenbarger said. “He told me, ‘We’ve got the guys to do it and we need you up here to finish it off.’ I believed him. He’s been my rock through this entire process of personal struggles, life struggles, football struggles, school struggles. No matter what it is, he’s always there.”