BREAKING NEWS: Peny Boone, a former Toledo running back and the 2023 MAC Offensive Player of the Year, is “expected” to visit the Cardinals on Friday, Jan. 5.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) One of the top available transfers on campus is expected to join the Louisville football program. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, former Toledo running back and 2023 MAC Offensive Player of the Year Peny Boone is “expected” to visit the Cardinals this Friday, Jan. 5. According to Nakos, Florida State is also “pushing hard” for a visit from Boone. Boone said last week that Louisville, Florida State, and Kentucky were among his top three transfer destinations. According to On3, as of Jan. 3, Boone is rated as the eighth-best uncommitted athlete in the transfer portal and the No. 25 overall player to enter the portal this cycle.

He’s also the top uncommitted running back and the portal’s second-best running back after Trevor Etienne. The 6-foot-1, 245-pound power back was one of the most prolific rushing backs in college football this season, not just in the Group of Five. Boone appeared in all 13 of Toledo’s games, starting 10, and rushed for 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns on 194 attempts. He also caught 15 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown. His 1,619 yards from scrimmage and 1,619 yards rushing rank eighth in the FBS. The Detroit, Michigan, native played at Maryland for the first two years of his collegiate career, but was never more than a rotational component.

During his 14 games with the Terrapins, he had 58 carries for 258 yards and two touchdowns. Boone then chose to transfer ahead of the 2022 season to Toledo, where he carried for 439 yards and three touchdowns in his first year with the Rockets.
Getting Boone would be a huge boost for Louisville’s running back room. With Jawhar Jordan leaving for the NFL and Isaac Guerendo graduating, the only scholarship returners are Maurice Turner and Keyjuan Brown. The Cardinals are also bringing in Donald Chaney Jr., a Miami transfer, as well as Isaac Brown and Duke Watson, both true freshman. So far this cycle, Louisville has secured 17 players via the transfer portal while also losing 16 players to other programs. According to On3, they presently have the No. 2 transfer portal class in the cycle. The Cardinals finished the 2023 season with an overall record of 10-4 (7-1 in the ACC), including a berth in the program’s first-ever ACC Championship Game, but ended the year on a three-game losing streak under head coach Jeff Brohm.