The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
PORTAL PROBLEMS
For ex-Cards running back, others transferring doesn’t always bring rewards
Running back Peny Boone showed maturity and spoke with insight when he appeared on Player Exchange podcast in December when he told the hosts, “guys get caught up into the hype, looking what other people got. Don’t do that, just focus on you.” Too bad he didn’t take his ● own advice. Boone became a cautionary tale for any player who views ● the transfer portal as a panacea for more name, image and likeness (NIL) money and less competition for playing time. The Toledo transfer, who ● led the Mid-American Conference in rushing last season and was the league’s 2023 Offensive Player of the Year, signed and played at Louisville through spring drills.
The Cardinals needed a replacement for their top two rushers from last season — Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo — who are now chasing NFL glory with the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers, respectively. Boone seemed to be a perfect fit to take over the rushing load.
He didn’t make it to the spring game. Boone was back in the transfer portal. Caught up in the hype of what it potentially represents.
There’s no question he was being challenged by U of L coach Jeff Brohm, who recruited Boone out of high school when he was still the head coach at Purdue. Brohm wanted Boone, who was nicknamed “Baby Bus” because he shares the same hometown of Detroit as Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis.
Brohm wanted the 6-foot-1, 242pound Boone to be in better shape.
There was speculation that he was unhappy with his playing time, to which he posted a video clip on his Instagram account proclaiming that he wasn’t practicing as a backup.
There was also talk that he was unhappy with his NIL deal at U of L.
Or maybe, he just got bad advice. Boone has an agent to conduct NIL deals on his behalf. But right now, in the NCAA, anybody can be an agent.
Seriously. You don’t have to pass a test to be certified. You don’t have to have a college degree. In Kentucky, you just need $300 to pay for an initial application fee and I’d imagine you must be able to sign your name somewhere. Some states including Michigan and Massachusetts don’t even require that much.
At this point, it doesn’t matter what drove him to leave. Players in the portal need to be certain of where they’re headed.
Boone turned his sights to Kentucky. The Wildcats wanted him, too; with Ray Davis becoming the Buffalo Bills’ fourthround pick in the NFL draft, they have an open competition at running back.
Boone was not going to be admitted to
UK because the university would not accept all of his credits. That’s an underreported topic in transferring. Many students who do not play sports encounter the same quandary.
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics conducted a study in 2014 that said students lose an average of 13 credits transferring from one university to another.
Acceptance rates vary among institutions and majors, but transfers being denied admission has claimed higherprofile casualties. Caleb Love played last season for Arizona men’s basketball after transferring from North Carolina because his initial commitment to Michigan didn’t get past its admissions office.
Boone played in the Big Ten his first year at Maryland. One of his reasons for transferring to Toledo in the first place was to be closer to home and his newborn son.
He committed to UCF, which may not have been his intention to play farther away from home.
And although the Knights are in the Big 12, and that’s supposed to be a step up in level over the MAC, with Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC this season, we’ll see.
He’s likely going to have to fight for playing time as UCF returned leading rusher RJ Harvey, who had 1,416 yards and 16 touchdowns last season.
That’s not a better football situation than he entered at Louisville. The grass in the portal isn’t guaranteed to be greener.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com , follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/clbrowns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.