With Arkansas openly pursuing a graduate transfer at his position, quarterback Ty Storey has decided to transfer for his final season, head coach Chad Morris confirmed Friday in an interview on The Red Zone with Josh Bertaccini.
SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic first reported that he was exploring a transfer and had entered the NCAA's transfer portal on Wednesday.
"Ty came in and we had a long talk and visit," Morris said. "He expressed to me that he wants to go somewhere and play and I understand those things."
The Charleston, Ark., native initially lost the battle for the starting job to Cole Kelley before winning it back and serving as the primary starter in 2018. There were some encouraging moments, but it was mostly a struggle, as the Razorbacks lost all nine games Storey started.
He completed 57.2 percent of his passes for 1,584 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, while also adding 146 yards and one score on the ground.
Storey’s completion percentage and yards per completion (6.3) each ranked 13th out of 14 qualifying SEC quarterbacks. Pro Football Focus gave him a 60.7 grade for the season, which ranked last in the conference and 136th out of 165 qualifying FBS quarterbacks.
A 5.9 four-star prospect, Storey was the No. 165 overall recruit in the 2015 class and turned down offers from Alabama, Auburn, Louisville and others to play about an hour away from his hometown.
He is the second Arkansas quarterback to transfer this offseason. Kelley, who started two games this season and four in 2017, left the team last month and recently announced he was heading to Southeastern Louisiana, an FCS program in his home state.
Considering he is going into his fifth year of college, Storey is presumably a graduate transfer who will be eligible immediately without having to transfer down to the FCS level.
It was widely expected that Daulton Hyatt, who appeared in only one game as a redshirt freshman last season, would also transfer, but that would leave the Razorbacks with three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones will be redshirt freshmen and K.J. Jefferson will be a true freshman.
Morris mentioned all four of those quarterbacks in his interview Friday morning and he's never hid the fact they are actively looking for a graduate transfer. Arkansas lost out on Clemson’s Kelly Bryant to Missouri and has also been linked to players such as SMU’s Ben Hicks and Texas’ Shane Buechele.
"We're out on the road recruiting and there's options that we have," Morris said. "We've got to develop guys that we have on our roster and we're always in a quarterback market, always looking."
