The University at Buffalo football team’s 2022 quarterbacks competition will have a different look to it, as its starting quarterback departs the program.
Kyle Vantrease, who started 25 of UB’s 32 games in the last three seasons, announced Thursday that he will enter the transfer portal. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback from Stow, Ohio, was a fifth-year senior this year and has one more year of eligibility.
“I want to thank everyone at UB that helped me on this journey these last five years,” Vantrease wrote in a post on his Twitter account. “It has been truly incredible. I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime and made memories that I’ll cherish forever. After a lot of thought and conversation with my family and those closest to me, I have decided to enter my name into the transfer portal for my final year of eligibility. I’m extremely excited for a new opportunity and am ready to get to work!!”
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Vantrease becomes another of UB's key cogs who will not return to the program in 2022, a season after the Bulls finished 4-8 and 2-6 in the Mid-American Conference. Running back Kevin Marks announced earlier this month that he would declare for the NFL draft. Bence Polgar, who started 11 games at center this season, announced Wednesday that he has entered the transfer portal. According to 247Sports, 12 players from UB have entered the transfer portal since the end of the season, including linebacker Tim Terry and defensive end Eric Black.
Vantrease played in 10 of UB’s 12 games in 2021, completing 161 of 262 passes for 1,861 yards and eight touchdowns, and was intercepted six times. Vantrease did not play in the final two regular-season games for the Bulls after he sustained an injury to his right arm.
After playing in three games with one start as a true freshman in 2017, he redshirted the 2018 season and Matt Myers beat out Vantrease for the starting quarterback job in 2019. Vantrease took over as the starter after Myers sustained an upper-body injury five games into the 2019 season, and in eight starts Vantrease threw for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns on 101-of-172 passing, and was intercepted twice.
In five seasons with the Bulls, Vantrease threw for 4,755 yards and 25 touchdowns on 387 of 654 passing, and was intercepted 13 times. Vantrease started every game for the Bulls between Oct. 5, 2019, and Nov. 9 of this season. He led the Bulls to a win against Charlotte in the Bahamas Bowl in 2019, and a year later, helped the Bulls win the MAC East Division championship and the Camellia Bowl in December 2020.
Vantrease also took on punting duties in 2019, after Evan Finegan’s season was cut short due to a broken right leg.
While players can withdraw their name from the transfer portal at any time, Vantrease’s departure now makes UB’s quarterbacks competition a new affair, and opens the door for Myers and Cole Snyder, a Southwestern graduate and a transfer from Rutgers, to become early favorites for the starting job, ahead of Casey Case, Trevor Bycznski and Brian Plummer.
Myers, a West Seneca West and Bishop Timon-St. Jude product, threw for 703 yards and four touchdowns and was intercepted five times on 56 of 103 passing this season, and started UB’s final two games.
Myers has appeared in 18 games over the last three seasons, and has thrown for 1,316 yards and 10 touchdowns on 107 of 210 passing, with nine interceptions, but needs to develop the consistency and sustained production that is necessary for a starting quarterback.
Snyder comes into UB’s quarterbacks competition with a foundation from a Big Ten program, but played in only nine games in three seasons at Rutgers, completing 21 of 31 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown. In six games this season, he completed 18 of 28 passes for 130 yards and one touchdown.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
