Syracuse football: Linebacker Tyrell Richards enters the transfer portal

The transfer portal saga has been ongoing through all of the Syracuse Orange sports, and will continue for the foreseeable future this offseason. The latest iteration of football news involves linebacker Tyrell Richards, who has now officially entered the transfer portal.

Originally reported by Stephen Bailey at 247Sports.com, Richards posted the following note to Twitter, confirming that he has entered the portal with two years of eligibility remaining.

Richards came to the Orange highly touted from Clarkson Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario prior to the 2017 season. He contributed in various forms for the Orange defense in 2018 and 2019, primarily on special teams, even earning the Joe Szombathy Award as the Special Teams MOP. During the 2020 season, he started three games and appeared in eight, making a career high 24 tackles and 3.5 TFL including 2 sacks.

The move leaves Syracuse with 11 linebackers on the roster, assuming Lee Kpogba is coming back, and three more recruits coming in, with Derek McDonald, Malik Matthew and Austin Roon. The group created a bit of a platoon between the starters and second string throughout the season and has a great deal of experience. Richards was a part of prior to his entrance to the portal and was looking to be part of a break out 2020 season.

Richards is the 13th player at Syracuse to enter the portal this offseason. The others include Cooper Dawson (Charleston Southern), Drew Gunther (Bowling Green), Aaron Hackett (TCU), Nykeim Johnson (Kent State), Cam Jonas (Florida A&M), Jawhar Jordan, Zach Morton, Jason Muñoz, Markenzy Pierre, Qadir White, Kevin Lemieux, Caleb Okechukwu and David Summers. Ed Hendrix and Devon Clarke are also not enrolled at the University but have not had their names show up in the portal.

The Orange also are bringing in Willie Tyler (Texas), Garrett Shrader (Mississipi State) and Jason Simmons (New Mexico State) from the transfer portal.

Best of luck to Tyrell and the rest of the former Orange and we’ll be looking forward to see where he ends up landing.