MORGANTOWN — Graduate transfer quarterback Austin Kendall is expected to visit and enroll at West Virginia today, a program source told The Dominion Post on Wednesday evening. Kendall is immediately eligible to play for the Mountaineers for the next two seasons.
Kendall finally received permission from Oklahoma to transfer within the conference on Wednesday evening after mounting external pressure led the Sooners to cave from their original position blocking Kendall’s move to a conference school.
The Big 12 has no specific rule pertaining to the ability of graduates to transfer within the league, which allowed Oklahoma to inhibit Kendall’s movement even though he has already earned his degree. But on the same day the Sooners accepted the transfer of Alabama’s Jalen Hurts and a day after Kansas State’s Alex Delton announced he was heading to Big 12 foe TCU, Oklahoma was roundly criticized for its stance.
According to USA Today, the official version is that Oklahoma “worked through its concerns over a transfer within the Big 12 to arrive at its decision.”
Kendall has played sporadically in his three years at Oklahoma, as one would expect for a quarterback stuck behind Heisman Trophy winners Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield. The most action he saw was against Louisiana-Monroe in 2016, when he went 12 of 15 for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Kendall redshirted in 2017.
New West Virginia head coach Neal Brown has a previously established relationship with the Kendall family. Kendall’s older brother, Ryan, was a walk-on wide receiver at Kentucky when Brown was the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator in 2014.
Like the transfer quarterback who preceded him at West Virginia, Will Grier, Kendall is a native of the Charlotte, N.C. area.
