Timmy Chang is still searching for his first winning season since taking over as head coach of his alma mater, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, in 2022. He’ll have some consistency under center for his third season after convincing his starting quarterback, Brayden Schager, to return for his senior year.
While Schager is in the bag, he’ll have other roster vacancies to fill, with several players departing via the portal. Luckily, he’ll be getting some firepower back with some high-end transfers.
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors’ 2024 Transfer Portal Moves
Chang has cooled on transfers relatively since his first class with Hawaii, yielding 14 players from the portal in 2022 and eight in 2023. The 2024 class has just four additions coming in from the portal, with the primary focus for this class shifted to high school prospects, as the Rainbow Warriors have 14 already signed.
The portal has been fruitful for Chang with players like WR Steven McBride from Kansas and safety Cam Stone from Wyoming in the 2023 class, and he may have found similar value in this truncated transfer class.
USC corner Fabian Ross and Kentucky WR Dekel Crowdus were four-star recruits on 247 Sports coming out of high school. Ross joins the No. 3 pass defense in the Mountain West, while Crowdus is partnered with a pair of All-Mountain West receivers in McBride and Pofele Ashlock.
Even with Ross and Crowdus coming to Honolulu, Chang’s biggest portal win is still getting Schager to return. Playing his whole career with the Rainbow Warriors, he is fifth in career passing yards at Hawaii (6,550) after throwing for 3,542 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions last season.
Chang is first in career passing yards at Hawaii with 17,072 yards when he played from 2000-2004.
Schager, a Dallas native, finished second in the conference in passing yards, earning him a Mountain West Honorable Mention nod. He spent just over two weeks in the portal before announcing on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he’d be returning on Christmas Eve.
MORE: College Football Transfer Portal Tracker
“Let’s run it back! Love this state, Love this team. Go Bows,” Schager posted, announcing his return.
Chang did lose starting left tackle Josh Atkins and kicker/punter Matthew Shipley, who led the team in scoring with 72 points after making 14/18 field goals and 30/31 extra points. Shipley also averaged 39.5 yards on 60 punts, with 10 punts over 50 yards and nine pinned inside the 20.
Hawaii’s 2024 Transfer Portal Additions (Four)
- Fabian Ross, CB, USC
- Dekel Crowdus, WR, Kentucky
- Dion Washington, EDGE, Nevada
- Cam Barfield, RB, Boston College
Hawaii’s 2024 Transfer Portal Departures (10)
- Josh Atkins, OL, (Arizona State)
- Matthew Shipley, K (Arkansas)
- Demarii Blanks, LB (undecided)
- Jalen Walthall, WR (undecided)
- CJ Williams, CB (undecided)
- Jonah Chong, QB (undecided)
- Jordan Johnson, RB (undecided)
- Joey Yellen, QB (undecided)
- Nasjzae Bryant, RB (undecided)
- Greyson Morgan, TE (undecided)
Miss any action from the top college QB Rankings during the 2023 football season? Want to track all the movement with the college football transfer portal? College Football Network has you covered with that and more!