Yahoo Finance Wake Forest's Jamie Newman becomes latest QB to hit graduate transfer market
A quarterback that will be highly-coveted has hit the graduate transfer market.
Wake Forest announced Tuesday that Jamie Newman has opted to leave the program and play elsewhere for his final year of collegiate eligibility. Newman, who recently graduated from Wake Forest, informed head coach Dave Clawson of his decision on Monday.
“Jamie informed me that he will finish his eligibility at another school as a graduate transfer. We appreciate Jamie’s contribution to our program’s success and wish him well as he continues his career,” Clawson said in a press release.
Newman released a statement of his own, saying the decision was “primarily based” on his “need to develop further” and “prepare for the next level.”
#GODSPLAN 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/iGtwmdnItl
— Jamie Newman (@jlmn12_) December 31, 2019
Newman emerged as Wake’s starting quarterback late in the 2018 season after Sam Hartman, who beat Newman out for the starting role in preseason camp, went down with a broken leg. Wake went 3-1 in his four starts, including a 37-34 win over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl. Newman threw for 328 yards, rushed for 91 yards and combined for four touchdowns in the win.
Newman won the starting job to open 2019 and had a big year, throwing for 2,868 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while completing 60.9 percent of his passes. Newman also rushed for 574 yards and six scores for the Demon Deacons, who finished 8-5 on the year.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel, Oregon could be a landing spot for Newman. Oregon is losing four-year starter Justin Herbert to graduation following the Rose Bowl.
Sources: There’s mutual interest between former Wake Forest QB Jamie Newman and Oregon. The Ducks have emerged as the favorite for the Wake Forest transfer. Big void in Eugene with the departure of Justin Herbert.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 31, 2019
With Newman departing, Wake will have Hartman along with redshirt freshman Michael Kern and recent signee Mitch Griffis in its quarterback room.
A look at the grad transfer QB market
Newman becomes the latest graduate transfer quarterback to hit the transfer portal.
In addition to Newman, available quarterbacks who would be eligible immediately next season include K.J. Costello (Stanford), Feleipe Franks (Florida), Anthony Brown (Boston College) and Jett Duffey (Texas Tech). Franks and Brown are both coming off season-ending injuries.
A few other graduate transfers already made their decisions. Ex-South Carolina QB Jake Bentley announced earlier this month that he will finish his career at Utah. Elsewhere, ex-USC QB Jack Sears is headed to San Diego State.
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