West Virginia’s hot streak in the transfer portal continues as the Mountaineers picked up yet another transfer on Friday afternoon.
Justin Harrington, a former safety at Washington and Oklahoma, announced that he’d be joining the WVU football program on social media, giving the Mountaineers their 19th commitment of the cycle and their third of the day.
A former four-star recruit and the No. 1 safety out of JUCO in 2021, Harrington originally signed with Oklahoma via Bakersfield Community College. Harrington has immense potential at 6-foot-3, 209 pounds, but has been limited due to injury during his collegiate career.
Harrington was set to start at nickel/linebacker (Cheetah) for Oklahoma in 2023, but suffered a repeat knee injury early in that forced him to miss the rest of the season. Overall, Harrington logged just 275 snaps over three seasons in Norman, tallying 27 total tackles, one forced fumble, two interceptions, and one PBU.
When healthy, Harrington has the tools to be a legitimate difference-maker in defending both the run and the pass, thanks to his combination of size and speed.
With Zac Alley running the exact same scheme that Brent Venables does at Oklahoma, Harrington is a hand-in-glove fit to play the nickel/linebacker.
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday, December 9, 2024, and remained open until Saturday, December 28, with an exception for players on teams who play bowl games after the window closes. According to NCAA data, 2,273 FBS football players entered the transfer portal in the 2023-24 school year, with 1,558 (68.5%) undergraduates and 715 (31.5%) graduate transfers. Of the entrants, 57% reported that they enrolled in another school, 8% withdrew their names from the portal, and 35% are still active, transferred to a non-NCAA school, or left their sport.
The Heartland College Sports Twitter account is an excellent resource for keeping up with the latest Big 12 news and announcements. Make sure you check out our HCS member forum to connect with other Big 12 sports fans.
