It’s been four years since Colin Kaepernick graduated from Nevada and was drafted to the San Francisco 49ers. Ever since his departure, the Nevada Wolf Pack football team has struggled to get back to the 13-1 team they were in Kaepernick’s senior season, going 0-3 in bowls in the last four years and being just one game above .500 in each of those seasons.
The Wolf Pack’s luck may be turning around, after landing a transfer quarterback from Wisconsin.
According to the Reno Gazette Journal, Austin Kafentzis announced that he would transferring from the Badgers to play for the Wolf Pack.
The announcement of his transfer came after Gary Anderson left Wisconsin for Oregon State and Kafentzis was told he would be placed fifth on the Badgers’ depth chart.
“There’s no denying the production throughout his high school career,” Wolf Pack coach Brian Polian said about the former two-time Gatorade Player of the Year late Wednesday night. “The ability to make plays with his feet is very exciting. The thing that excites me most is his demeanor. He’s a very down-to-Earth, humble and competitive guy.”
Because Kafentzis only spent the spring 2015 semester at Wisconsin, he will still have four years of eligibility left, despite the possibility of him having to sit out the 2015 season.
Nevada plans to file a waiver for him to play in the fall.
Kafentzis will have to battle for the starting job against junior Tyler Stewart, sophomore Dante Hayes and freshmen Hunter Fralick and Christian Solano. The quarterback competition was tight throughout the spring and the addition of Kafentzis just made it even tighter.
Polian says he isn’t worried about the amount of guys they have at the position.
“It does not have a commentary about how we felt about the quarterback job coming out of the spring,” Polian said. “We were going to take a high school quarterback in the class of 2016, anyway. This essentially eats up that spot. We’ll add Austin and not take another one in the class of 2016. We’re adding another body a year early, but I’m not too panicked about that. Frankly, he’s a very good football player and when you come across guys good enough to compete to help you, you don’t walk away from those situations.”
Whatever the case may be, the Wolf Pack sure have a nice predicament on their hands. Five quarterbacks that can produce. I think any team would take that any day.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune
