Since Marist’s season ended in defeat against Bucknell two weeks ago, the football team has seen 10 players enter the NCAA’s transfer portal.
This is not unprecedented for the football team as they play in one of the weaker (if not the weakest) conferences of the FCS, but some key players from this past season have already announced their future intentions. We will go through all of these players’ Marist careers and give you a primer as to who Marist will lose next season.
Clayborne Fields III, Safety: Center Field has already posted a story on Fields’ decision as he was the first big domino to fall last Tuesday. However, since then, Fields has received offers from many schools, and deservedly so after what he did for Marist these past two seasons as a full-time starter. He was also named to the All-PFL First Team at safety as well as the All-PFL Second Team as a punt returner and Pro Football Focus graded Fields as the best safety in the nation, just adding onto his accolades as he tries to pitch himself to a new school.
Fields has received official offers from Duquesne (where fellow former Marist star Dwayne Menders Jr. transferred to last year), Sacred Heart, Stony Brook, Eastern Illinois, UT Martin, Eastern Kentucky, Chattanooga, Missouri State, Robert Morris, Western Carolina, and Norfolk State, per his Twitter account.
Fields had also posted on his Twitter that he received a preferred walk-on (non-scholarship) offer from Vanderbilt University in the SEC, but that post has since been deleted.
Tyhir Harley, Cornerback: 2022 was Harley’s best season at Marist after starting every game for the first time in his collegiate career.
The redshirt junior was tied for first on the team with two interceptions and was tied for second on the team in pass breakups with four.
Harley will have two years of eligibility remaining and has already received offers from Sacred Heart, Robert Morris, and Vanderbilt. If these sound familiar, it’s because these three schools sent in offers to Harley’s teammate Clay Fields. Vanderbilt is once again the most notable name on this list, and Harley hasn’t stated if the offer is a preferred walk-on offer or not.
He has not deleted this Twitter post, unlike Fields, but Center Field will keep monitoring this.
Arthur Pinckney, Linebacker: Throughout his career, Pinckney has grown into one of the key leaders of this football program. He was a captain for the 2021 and 2022 seasons and was an Honorable Mention on the All-PFL teams in both of those seasons.
In 2022, Pinckney was fifth on the team in total tackles with 64 and accumulated 120 in his Marist career. He also had three interceptions during his time with the Red Foxes.
Pinckney will have one year of eligibility remaining and has yet to announce any offers.
Luke Paladino, Kicker: Even though Paladino is a kicker, this is a shock to the program as he has been reliable since his first field goal during the 2019 season.
Paladino was the starting kicker for three full seasons, and over the course of those three years, he accumulated the most field goals in program history with 30 on 41 attempts with his longest being a 49-yarder in 2019. This 49-yard field goal is tied for the longest in program history, sharing the mantle with current Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers.
Paladino will have one year of eligibility remaining and he has yet to announce if any schools made offers to him.
Brett Landis, Wide Receiver: After the 2021 season, Marist’s most important receiver, Dwayne Menders Jr., transferred to Duquesne University. This shifted the pecking order of the wide receiver room, and it became receiver-by-committee in 2022.
Landis was the biggest wheel on that cog this year.
He ended with the most targets and receiving yards on the team, with 40 targets and 531 yards receiving – 142 yards better than the next receiver on the list (Will Downes).
Landis has three years of eligibility remaining, and his only known offer to this point is from PFL rival, Presbyterian.
Devin Thompson, Running Back: Just like how it was receiver-by-committee in 2022, it was very much the same with the running back group.
Marist had depth at running back, but it was hard for them to get all of those running backs in the same game and get consistent production. Amin Woods and Glenmour Leonard-Osbourne got the bulk of these opportunities.
Devin Thompson, unfortunately, was one of the odd men out. He got a little bit of playing time in the seven games that he appeared in during the 2022 season but wasn’t featured nearly as much as Woods or Leonard-Osbourne. Thompson did show flashes of his speed and elusiveness when he played, so this is probably a matter of him wanting to have a more featured role, and rightfully so based on how he looked during game action with his 3.6 yards per carry.
Sure, he didn’t have the game numbers to back this up, but I think that out of all the offensive players who are transferring to this point, he will have the biggest production for a new school.
Thompson will have three years of eligibility remaining and he has yet to announce any offers.
Amir Proctor, Cornerback: Proctor is the first of this season’s freshmen class to announce his intentions of transferring.
The six-foot-tall corner played in eight games and racked up six total tackles and defended one pass in 2022.
There is not much else to say here because he wasn’t targeted a lot. He will have three years of eligibility remaining.
DeAngelo Williams, Safety: Williams didn’t see any game action this season, and hasn’t actually seen any in his Marist career.
The redshirt sophomore suffered an injury during the final scrimmage of the summer preseason, and he didn’t see any playing time once he was fully healed.
He will be looking for an opportunity to play his first snaps on a college field, and that unfortunately will not be at Tenney Stadium.
Williams has three years of eligibility remaining and has yet to announce any offers.
SherRon Davis, Wide Receiver: Like Williams, Davis didn’t appear in any games during the 2022 season, but that was because he was working his way back after getting shot in the head and the shoulder over the summer break in his hometown of Rochester.
It truly is incredible that Davis was even able to get to the point of working out again over the fall, and it looks like he’s ready to see some time again on the field.
He will have three years of eligibility remaining and has yet to announce any offers.
Bryce Sisak, Defensive Line: Sisak is the second member of this season’s freshmen class on this list.
Sisak didn’t play this season, but he has some size being six-foot-one and weighing 246 pounds.
He will have four years of eligibility remaining and has yet to announce any offers.
Center Field will continue to provide updates on the situation as more players enter and exit the portal in search of opportunities at different schools.
Edited by Jonathan Kinane
Photo from Kira Crutcher
Can you blame these guys for wanting to get out of a terrible program!