Indiana Picks Up Southern Defensive End Transfer Trey Laing

After recording five sacks at Southern University in 2022, defensive end Trey Laing announced Monday that he's transferring to Indiana.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana bolstered its pass rush with another transfer portal addition.

Trey Laing, a defensive end from Southern University, announced his decision to join the Hoosiers on Monday. Laing is the 19th transfer in Tom Allen's 2023 recruiting class. 

At 6-foot-3 and 224 pounds, Laing made 38 tackles across 12 games in 2022 for the Southern Jaguars, a team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. He created havoc in the backfield last season, recording 14 tackles for loss and five sacks. Laing had four games with at least two tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks came in a six-game stretch during conference play. He joins the Hoosiers two years of remaining eligibility. 

After entering the transfer portal on April 18, Laing had offers from Indiana, Eastern Michigan and Kent State. Recruited by Indiana's outside linebackers coach Kasey Teegardin, Laing projects to play Indiana's bull position, a hybrid defensive end and outside linebacker. 

Grad Transfer, 2 Years of Eligibility Remaining. pic.twitter.com/phMVgIx8Az

— Trey Laing (@Trey_Laing) April 19, 2023

As a three-star recruit out of Godby High School in Tallahassee, Fla., Laing chose originally the University of South Florida over offers from Washington State, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, Southern Miss, Indiana, Appalachian State, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Middle Tennessee, Ohio, South Alabama, Toledo, Troy, Tulane and UAB, among others.

While maintaining his redshirt status, Laing saw snaps in South Florida's 2018 Gasparilla Bowl loss to Marshall, and he played in two games during the 2019 campaign. Following two seasons at South Florida, he transferred to East Mississippi C.C for the 2021 season, where he produced 53 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, three forced fumbles, one interception and a fumble recovery.

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