For the second time in a year, Luke McCaffrey has a new transfer destination. The now-former Louisville quarterback announced on his Twitter account on Monday that he would be transferring to Rice to restart his journey toward be a starting quarterback. The news comes less than a week after Cardinals coach Scott Satterfield confirmed McCaffrey had left the program.
McCaffrey's transfer to the Owls will mark his third program in less than a year. He began his career at Nebraska and appeared in seven games -- starting two -- as a redshirt freshman in 2020. He largely split time with veteran Adrian Martinez and threw for 466 yards and one touchdown, rushed for 364 yards and added three more scores on the ground. His first career start came on Nov. 14 against Penn State in a 30-23 win. The following week, he threw three picks in a 41-23 loss to Illinois.
He then became one of multiple Nebraska players to enter the transfer portal in January, announcing a month later that he would be moving on to Louisville. He was expected to compete with incumbent starter Malik Cunningham this offseason for the starting job ahead of the team's Week 1 game against Ole Miss. According to Satterfield, McCaffrey informed him of his decision to transfer after it became clear he would not be the starter. Rice, meanwhile, is looking for a new quarterback after the departure of Mike Collins.
The younger brother of Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey and son of former NFL great Ed McCaffrey, Luke was a four-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings, the No. 257 overall player in the 2019 class and the top-rated recruit coming out of Colorado that year.
