Buffs QB Noyer enters portal
Colorado will have a new starting quarterback in the fall.
On Monday, CU announced that senior Sam Noyer, who started all six games last season for the Buffaloes, has decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Named second-team AllPac-12 by coaches last season, Noyer has one season of eligibility remaining and hopes to play elsewhere this fall.
“We all wish him well and while we’re sad to see him leave, the parting is certainly amicable,” CU head coach Karl Dorrell said in a news release.
CU (4-2 in 2020) will go into this season with returning freshman Brendon Lewis and sophomore JT Shrout as the top candidates to take the reins of the offense.
“I’ve obviously enjoyed my time here at CU, and deciding to come back here (last year) was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Noyer said in the news release. “The (2020) season was everything I thought it would be and more. But at the same time, I didn’t finish the season well, partly due to my shoulder injury. So now I’m looking forward to a new opportunity and a fresh start, a place where they need a veteran quarterback who has the added experience of playing on both sides of the ball.”
Noyer’s rapid rise was one of the great stories of the Pac-12’s pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
A member of CU’s 2016 recruiting class, Noyer spent his first three seasons in Boulder as a backup at quarterback, playing behind Sefo Liufau and then Steven Montez. In 2019, then first-year head coach Mel Tucker moved Noyer to safety. He spent that season as a backup at safety before putting his name in the transfer portal, hoping for the opportunity to return to QB.
When Tucker left and Dorrell was hired in February of 2020, the coaching staff lured Noyer back to Boulder with the promise of competing for the starting job at quarterback.
CU’s last player link to the Pac-12 South title team of 2016, Noyer graduated with a degree in strategic communication in December of 2019. He then made the most of the opportunity.
After winning the starting job in preseason camp, Noyer completed 88-of160 passes for 1,101 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions, while also rushing for 208 yards and five touchdowns. The first CU quarterback since Mike Moschetti (1998) to win his first four career starts, Noyer was named Pac-12 offensive player of the week after a 35-32 win at Stanford in the second game.
“Sam came back when he didn’t have to after graduating over a year ago and helped the program greatly get back on the right track,” Dorrell said. “As a veteran, he offered us some stability and depth at the position.”
Noyer, however, played the bulk of the 2020 season with an injured shoulder. Injured during the second quarter of the season opener against UCLA, Noyer fought to lead the Buffs to the Valero Alamo Bowl.