Arizona State loses wide receiver to late transfer portal window
Arizona State's football players got a brief window to hit the transfer portal one last time following the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl loss to Texas on Jan. 1.
The NCAA allows players whose seasons end after the Dec. 9-28 transfer portal window a five-day period to enter the portal after their last contest. Since ASU's season ended in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff on New Year's Day, the Sun Devils watched three more players throw their names into the portal.
The most recent of the trio of late entries was redshirt senior wide receiver Troy Omeire, who officially entered the portal on Jan. 7.
Omeire becomes the Sun Devils' 19th player and the fourth wide receiver to announce their transfer since December.
The redshirt senior was one of Dillingham's first finds in the transfer portal when he took the ASU gig, snatching Omeire from playoff foe Texas in January 2023. The wide receiver seemed to have a bright future in Tempe, hauling in 20 catches for 223 yards and three touchdowns in his inaugural season as a Sun Devil; however, the emergence of Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, Colorado transfer redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, as Michigan State transfer redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt's No. 1 target for at least one more season left Omeire as the odd man out in 2024.
Omeire only contributed five catches for 59 yards and posted his best game in Tyson's absence.
Tyson missed the playoff matchup with Texas due to injury, leaving Leavitt to look to less familiar faces to attempt to keep Arizona State's season alive. Matched against his former team, Omeire caught a season-high two passes for 40 yards in the 39-31 double-overtime loss.
A number of Arizona State receivers will be moving on due to graduation, like redshirt senior wide receiver Xavier Guillory and graduate student Marquan Stovall, but ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham has already started to fill in the gaps.
ASU signed former Fresno State standout redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jalen Moss — who caught 48 passes for 563 yards and four touchdowns for the 6-7 Bulldogs this year — and former Clemson redshirt freshman wide receiver Noble Johnson out of the transfer portal. Dillingham also signed four high school wide receivers in the Class of 2025, including the No. 1 player in New Mexico Cameron Dyer, who will be making the move from quarterback to wide receiver to play under the guidance of Sun Devils wide receivers coach Hines Ward.
With another transfer window looming in April, you can anticipate that the room may become even more crowded for Omeire, who is looking to make the most out of his last year of eligibility.
Omeire is working on his second transfer in his career, leaving the Longhorns in 2023 for the Sun Devils. At Texas, the redshirt senior only caught one pass for nine yards before transferring to ASU where he caught 25 passes for 282 yards and threee touchdowns in two seasons. He was ranked as a four-star prospect in the Class of 2020 according to 247sports composite rankings.
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Jordyn Bennett is a staff reporter for Arizona State On SI.