Veteran college football QB makes major transfer portal decision

A quarterback with almost 7,000 career passing yards has made a late decision after entering the college football transfer portal.

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A quarterback with nearly 7,000 career passing yards has made his decision coming out of the college football transfer portal by suiting up for what will be his fourth team.

Veteran signal caller Reese Poffenbarger has signed with Akron for the 2026 college football season, according to a report from CBS Sports.

He can help this offense

Poffenbarger will look to resurrect an Akron passing attack that was decidedly mixed this past season, ranking 79th nationally in total output through the air.

The offense averaged just 219 yards passing per game this fall and was responsible for completing just over 51 percent of its total attempts throwing the ball.

That latter figure represents the second-worst such mark in college football this past season, with Miami (Ohio) ranking the worst in the country at 46.3 percent.

Poffenbarger is a 60.2 percent passer in his career so far.

Akron finished with a more respectable touchdown-interception ratio of 20 to 9, but also posted a meager 6.5 yards per pass attempt over the course of the season, placing 105th in that category.

His best production so far

Poffenbarger had his two best overall outings in the 2022 and 2023 seasons when suited up for Albany, where he transferred to in the FCS ranks.

He was named the starter at Albany after competing with two other candidates for the position and established a school record with 412 passing yards in a game against Fordham.

That year, Poffenbarger finished with one yard shy of 3,000 yards with 24 touchdowns and was named the Colonial Athletic Conference Offensive Rookie of the Year.

He led Albany to the FCS playoff semifinal round the following season, and elected to transfer away after leading the FCS with 36 passing touchdowns and 3,603 passing yards.

The quarterback finished as the school’s touchdown passing record-holder in his time with the program.

Where he's been more recently

Poffenbarger transferred to Miami ahead of the 2024 season, ultimately serving as the backup to Cam Ward, himself a transfer to the school who went on to lead college football’s top-ranked passing attack that year.

From there, Poffenbarger transferred to the Group of Five ranks, landing at North Texas, where he competed for and ultimately lost the starting quarterback job to eventual NCAA passing leader Drew Mestemaker.

What he's done on the field

In his career, Poffenbarger boasts a 14-12 overall record in 26 starts across 32 total games, passing for 6,669 yards with 60 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

He rushed for an additional 342 yards and eight more touchdowns.

Poffenbarger’s best outing came with Albany in the 2023 season, going 11-4 overall with 3,614 yards with 36 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, rushing for 6 touchdowns.

How the college football transfer portal works

The new 15-day transfer portal window from Jan. 2-16 and the elimination of the spring transfer period has condensed the timeline for players and programs to make their moves.

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.

(CBS)