DECEMBER 5, 2022–The floodgates opened for college football athletes to enter their names into the transfer portal and seek out new possibilities with other programs that may suit them better than the situations they found themselves currently in. Before the clock struck noon, Andy Staples, a college football writer for The Athletic, tweeted out that Western Kentucky quarterback Austin Reed planned on entering his name into the portal.
Just hours prior to one of the nation’s most prolific passers at the FBS level for the 2022 season was announcing his desire to enter the transfer portal, Louisville Football’s Head Coach Scott Satterfield announced he was leaving the University of Louisville to accept the Head Football Coach position at the University of Cincinnati.
After the news broke, an internet firestorm ensued around the Louisville football program and the pining for Purdue’s Jeff Brohm to come home to his alma mater seemed like a fairytale that the city of Louisville has been longing for ever since he was rumored to come here the first time in 2019 before he declined, and Appalachian State’s Scott Satterfield accepted the job.
But this time, the University of Louisville landed their guy just four days after Scott Satterfield’s discrete departure from the program. And upon his arrival, speculation ran wild in regards to the quarterback position, seeing that Jeff Brohm is notable for employing an air-raid offensive scheme and being able to develop quarterbacks at a high level, which are the complete opposite of what Scott Satterfield did while he was here.
Satterfield leaving, Brohm coming home, and Austin Reed being available in the transfer portal market created a perfect storm of happenings that quickly saw Reed receiving a Crystal Ball to the University of Louisville due to his elite passing ability and prototypical build for a Brohm offense quarterback.
However, just nine days after entering his name into the portal, the Saint Augustine, Florida native withdrew his name from the portal and elected to play another year for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Many fans began to wonder why since he noted his desire to play at a Power Five level. According to him, he had offers from schools associated with every Power Five conference that also included lucrative NIL deals.
In an article published by Bleacher Report, author Rob Goldberg noted,
"“When the Florida native entered the transfer portal, he said he was contacted by multiple schools in every Power Five conference with several offering him a starting job. Teams used name, image and likeness rights to create a likely six-figure offer to join their program.”"
Receiving six-figures as a college athlete is an impressive amount of money and the resistance to turn those offers down must have been even more difficult. Further on in the article, Reed explained his decision by saying,
"“The decision was not about money, but any kid would appreciate being taken care of, right?”"
In a world where money seems to be king, turning down that kind of money takes a seriously competitive alterior motive and it appears he had a genuine one he believed in. However, he did end up signing an NIL deal with the Red Towel Trust, a collective created to help WKU student-athletes.
As far as his ties to Louisville, Austin Reed’s largest public tie to the program was through the crystal ball prediction. But, in the Bleacher Report article, he does mention several schools from every Power Five conference who reached out to him. It’s very possible that the University of Louisville was indeed one of those schools.
While it is true that Louisville has their own collective in the 502 Circle, the public announcements surrounding their involvement with student-athletes does not lend to the idea that their deals with student-athletes have been in the six-figure range.
So, it’s tough to say if Louisville would fall into the category he referenced in the article. But, it is eye-opening that even a student-athlete outside of the Power Five conferences would be garnering that kind of attention, and still have the moxy to turn all of those offers down.