2021 Transfer Roundup: Who’s Coming?
Jeff Hafley is committed to building Boston College football through recruiting and player development.
"Honestly, if I wanted this to be a quick fix or what people may say 'a stepping stone,' then I would get 20 guys in the transfer portal and try to be good fast,” Hafley said on The Heights’ Eagle Eye podcast. But I don't want that. I want to develop this the right way.”
Although Hafley doesn’t want to live in the portal, he’s not ignoring it either. Rather, he and his staff are selectively searching for players who fit the Eagles’ system and locker room.
Last year, they brought in Phil Jurkovec and Jaelen Gill to help revamp BC’s passing attack, as well as Deon Jones, Chibueze Onwuka, Luc Bequette, and Max Roberts to bolster an Eagles defense that reset all the wrong records in 2019. What about this offseason?
Here’s a rundown of who’s coming to Chestnut Hill.
Note: * denotes mid-year transfers
RB Alec Sinkfield (WVU) — The West Virginia running back transferred to BC the day after David Bailey entered the portal. Last year as a redshirt junior, he rushed for 327 yards, averaging 4.2 yards per tote. He found the end zone three times on the ground, including twice in the Mountaineers’ opener against Eastern Kentucky. Perhaps his most impressive performance of the season came against then-No. 16 Kansas State. The 5-foot-9 Sinkfield piled up 85 yards on 14 carries, helping WVU roll to an upset victory. As far as pass catching goes, he added nine grabs for 55 yards on the year. A former three-star recruit, Sinkfield was also the Mountaineers’ primary punt return man (19 returns, 5.32 yards per punt return) in 2020.
Years of eligibility remaining: two
*DB Jaiden Lars-Woodbey (FSU) — Jaiden Lars-Woodbey had serious interest from Washington, Texas, and Notre Dame, yet the versatile defensive back chose BC, staying within the ACC Atlantic. He’s a former five-star recruit from Bellflower, California, who was ranked as the No. 29 overall player in the Class of 2018. Lars-Woodbey became the ninth true freshman to start an FSU season opener since 1999 and earned ESPN Freshman All-American honors that season, logging 58 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, one sack, and eight pass break-ups. His sophomore campaign was cut short because of a season-ending knee injury, however, he played in eight games (started six) this past year, registering 75% of his snaps in or around the box. Hafley believes Lars-Woodbey will emerge as a leader for his program.
Years of eligibility remaining: two
*LB Isaiah Graham-Mobley (Temple) — Isaiah Graham-Mobley was the first of two Temple transfers to announce his move to BC. The veteran linebacker played 43 games with the Owls. He tallied a career-high 70 total tackles in 2018 (tied for fourth on the team), including a team-best 11 against the Eagles. Graham-Mobley also returned a fumble for a touchdown in that game. His next two seasons were abbreviated because of a pair of ankle injuries. Graham-Mobley made it through eight games in 2019, notably forcing a game-saving fumble at the goal line against Georgia Tech. He got off to a hot start—19 tackles and one sack in two games—in 2020, but a high ankle sprain sidelined him for the rest of the year.
Years of eligibility remaining: one
*DT Khris Banks (Temple) — Khris Banks committed to the Eagles as a three-star recruit from DePaul Catholic in Wayne, New Jersey, in June 2018, then decommitted less than three months later. Fast-forward three years, and Banks is back on the BC train. The 6-foot-4, 305-pound defensive tackle played six games on the two-line of Temple’s DT depth chart last year. He notched 18 total tackles in 2020, three more than he had the previous season. Banks also tacked on 3.0 TFLs as well as his first career sack. As a redshirt sophomore in 2019, the Paterson native rotated in for 350 snaps and made the most of his time on the field. Banks finished that season with the eighth-highest defensive Pro Football Focus grade (73.4) on the team, accounting for four QB hits and 11 hurries, in addition to three batted down passes.
Years of eligibility remaining: three
DE Jake Byczko (UMass) — Hailing from Auburn, Massachusetts, Jake Byczko played his final two years of high school ball at Lawrence Academy alongside a handful of future Eagles, namely AJ Dillon. He broke out for UMass in 2018 when he led the Minutemen in sacks (3.5) and was tied for fifth in TFLs (5.0) and total tackles (55). He tallied two tackles against BC and sacked Justin Fields—then Jake Fromm’s backup at Georgia—in the last game of the regular season. Byczko started nine games the next year under then-UMass DC (and now BC DBs coach) Aazaar Abdul-Rahim before sitting out the rest of the season with an injury. He appeared in three of UMass’ four games in 2020, switching between defensive end and linebacker. Byczko made four tackles against then-No. 16 Marshall and racked up a career-high 3.0 TFLs at FAU.
Years of eligibility remaining: one
*LS Gunner Daniel (Wagner) — Aidan Livingston entered the portal after two years as BC’s long snapper. But in comes Gunner Daniel, who was named to the Preseason All-NEC team by Phil Steele before Wagner’s fall season was tabled because of COVID-19. Daniel won the long snapping job as a redshirt freshman following one season at Ball State, where he didn’t see any game action. He served that role for two years. Daniel was ranked as the 34th-best long snapper in the nation by Kohl’s Kicking when he came out of high school in 2017.
Years of eligibility remaining: two