Welcome to the Transfer Portal Team of the Week! With Week 0 in the books, let’s take a look at the best performing incoming transfer in each facet of the game! Congrats to the honorees and honorable mentions, and let us know if there were any players you think should’ve made the cut this week!
Offense
A four star recruit out of Berkeley High School, Jackson Harris decided to stay close to home and commit to Stanford. Through two seasons as a Cardinal, he played in nine total games, with 86 yards and a touchdown
to his name. Not satisfied by his role in the offense or the direction of the program, Harris entered his name into the transfer portal, and ultimately landed on Hawaii as his next home. Who knows whether he had looked at the Rainbow Warriors schedule at that point, and if the season opener against his old team played a part in his decision. Regardless, his first game in a new uniform would be against his former teammates.
Not wasting any time making a first impression on the Warrior faithful, Harris made an early impact by catching a 19 year touchdown pass from Micah Alejado. He got a step on the corner with a quick move at the line, and made a nice toe-tap grab to complete the storybook moment. That was his only catch of the first half, but his biggest plays were yet to be made. With the game knotted at 20 with 90 seconds to play, he caught three passes in quick succession to get the Rainbow Warriors in field goal range. A few plays later, Kansei Matsuzawa nailed the game winner from 38 yards out to deliver sweet victory to Jackson Harris and his new school.
It’s a long season, so time will tell if Harris remains one of Alejado’s top pass catching options. But, if this debut was any indication, Timmy Chang may have found one more chess piece to bring the Run-N-Shoot back to it’s previous glory. It sure helps that that chess piece is 6 foot 3 with a shiftiness you can’t teach.
Honorable Mention: JR QB Anthony Colandrea, Virginia to UNLV — 15/21, 195 pass yards, TD; 93 rush yards (career high)
Defense
A talented safety prospect from the 2020 class, Aamaris Brown committed to Kansas State over Indiana and several Group of 5 options. During his time in Manhattan, he played in 13 games across two seasons, recording 15 tackles before entering the transfer portal midway through the 2021 season. He decided to move closer to home, committing to USF, just a fifteen minute drive from where he used to play his high school ball.
In his return to Tampa, Brown blossomed into a physical, wiry corner that could handle even the most explosive of receivers. He started all but two games from 2022 to 2023 for the Bulls, earning All-AAC honorable mention for his 40 tackle, two interception campaign as a junior. If he could put together an all-conference season as a senior, there was no reason to think that Brown wasn’t one year away from an NFL training camp. Luck had other plans, though, as injuries limited him to just four games and four tackles last season. Able to utilize his COVID year from 2020, he re-entered the transfer portal and found a new home on the Las Vegas strip.
While UNLV’s defensive performance wasn’t ideal against Idaho State, they made enough plays to get the job done, and one of the most consequential was made by Aamaris Brown. Down 10-0 early in the 2nd quarter, Bengals quarterback Jordan Cooke took a shot down the field, slightly overshooting his target. Brown tracked the ball the whole way, and intercepted the pass at the Rebels 36 yard line. This turnover set up Jai’Den Thomas’ first (of three) touchdown runs, allowing UNLV to keep their head above water until their offense could get into a rhythm. By the end of the contest, Brown had left quite an impact in his first time at Allegiant Stadium, setting two career marks along with his first half pick. His eight tackles is a career-high, and it’s only his third game with two deflections. The one possession win over an FCS team is something to forget for Rebel fans, but Aamaris Brown’s debut in scarlet and gray is one to be remembered.
Honorable Mention: GR LB Jadon Pearson, Utah State to Fresno State — 12 tackles (career high), TFL
Special Teams
This one is going to take some explaining, so bear with me.
Billy Gowers is more globally known as Australian Rules Football player. The son and grandson of legendary “footy” players, he followed in their footsteps by being drafted fifth overall by Carlton, the same club that his family competed for. He spent one year there before being sent down to the VFL, which is the minor leagues of the more prominent AFL. Gowers spent one more season with the Western Bulldogs, before walking away to play at the local level to rediscover his love of the game. Eventually, he made his return triumphant return to the oval, rejoining the VFL by way of his hometown team, Port Melbourne. Last year, Gowers led the league in goals (which has to be good), and won the equivalent of Team MVP.
That summer, he turned his attention to American football, linking up with college punter factory Prokick Australia. Gowers pivoted his skills towards the pigskin, and not long after, Hawaii special teams coach Thomas Sheffield got in touch. In time for fall camp, Gowers was officially on the Rainbow Warriors roster.
Now here’s the wildest sentence you’ll read yet: Gowers is 29 years old, and is a freshman. Yes, you read that right. Not only is he the third oldest player in the FBS this season, but he could be punting for three more years. In theory, if he played through his senior season, Gowers would be 33, which would give him the record of oldest Mountain West player ever, taking the title from former Colorado State kicker Jordan Noyes, who finished his career at the youthful age of 31.
Technically, as a freshman, Gowers doesn’t count as a transfer, but this is too wild of a story not to tell.
His first action came early in the second quarter in this week’s game against Stanford. Any guesses on how his first punt went? Did you guess 67 yards? That’s right, his first ever punt in a real game of football. Sixty. Seven. Yards. Who cares that it was a touchback?
Gowers shifted the chopper down a few gears for the rest of his kicks, with all three of them being downed inside the twenty yard line. Besides that, he revealed that he can punt with both legs. Just when you thought Billy Gowers couldn’t get anymore fascinating, he pulls the “ambipedal” card. Without a doubt, his four punts were a big part of the Rainbow Warriors pulling off their first Power Four win since 2019. More importantly, Timmy Chang has found the most interesting man in college football.
Honorable Mention: SO RB/KR Jaylon Glover, Utah to UNLV — 28 rush yards; 19 REC yards (career high); 2 kick returns for 43 yards (career high)
