Is Reese Poffenbarger going to play for Akron in 2026? Nobody seems to know whether the Zips are going to have their quarterback for the first college football game of the season.
The sixth-year senior may or may not be ruled eligible before kickoff.
There has never been a more chaotic offseason in college football history. It makes things hard for sports bettors!
Who is Reese Poffenbarger?
At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, Reese Poffenbarger was rated as a three-star prospect in the recruiting Class of 2020. He was named as the Maryland Offensive Player of the Year and the First Team All-State quarterback out of Middleton High School. The Knights won a state championship during his senior year. Their quarterback threw for 2,943 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Although Poffenbarger was a stud, he received only one FBS offer out of high school and committed to Old Dominion. His time with the Monarchs did not last long.
Poffenbarger took a redshirt in 2021 and hit the transfer portal. He ultimately landed at Albany and won the starting job. It did not take long for him to make his mark on the program. The redshirt freshman set the school record for single game passing yards against Fordham, finished with 2,999 yards and 24 touchdowns and earned CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
2023 was a breakout year. Reese Poffenbarger led the Great Danes to the FCS semifinals and led the FCS with 36 passing touchdowns and 3,603 passing yards. It was a lot of fun to watch.
At that point, with the rise of NIL, Poffenbarger decided to enter the transfer portal for a second time. He committed to Miami as the expected successor to Tyler Van Dyke but Cam Ward swooped in five days later and took his job.
Poffenbarger appeared in four games and completed six passes before he entered the portal for a third time. Ward suggested that he should go play for his old coach, Eric Morris, at North Texas. It seemed like a perfect fit. And then Drew Mestamaker, a walk-on, won the starting job and went on to lead the FBS in passing yards.
Poffenbarger entered the transfer portal for a fourth time. He signed with Akron in January. He went through spring practice as the projected starter for the Zips.
Now we don’t know. This is where things get confusing.
Is he eligible to play quarterback for Akron?
Technically speaking, Reese Poffenbarger is out of eligibility. The Class of 2020 recruit took a redshirt at Old Dominion, played two years at Albany, played one year at Miami and played one year at at North Texas.
The NCAA changed its eligibility rules earlier this year to allow all college athletes to play five seasons during a five-year window. It did not apply to outgoing seniors.
Well, a group of outgoing seniors filed a federal lawsuit in Colorado to receive their fifth year of eligibility. They were granted a blanket waiver that would allow them to play in the upcoming season. Poffenbarger was considered eligible under that ruling. He got a redshirt year and four years of eligibility. This would be his “fifth” (really sixth) season.
It seemed like he was going to play for Akron during the 2026 college football season until Aug 21, when the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NCAA a stay. The stay halted the original judge’s order, reversed the initial eligibility ruling and closed the door for outgoing seniors to return for a fifth season. They are out of eligibility.
It is assumed that Poffenbarger is not eligible as a result of the stay. However, individual athletes are able to seek eligibility through outside legal filings beyond the blanket waiver that was originally applied to all athletes.
If you are confused, you are not alone. Everybody is. Me too. Nobody seems to know exactly who is or is not eligible until that player steps onto the field during a game. (And even then… we don’t really know…)
This creates a huge problem for Zips bettors on Thursday night. Akron will begin the new season against Wake Forest. They may or may not have Poffenbarger at quarterback. It seems like not.
The Zips were 24-point underdogs to the Demon Deacons through most of the preseason. The line recently moved to +27.5 or +28. That makes it seem like they won’t have the sixth-year transfer at quarterback but there has yet to be an official announcement either way. We will all find out together at kickoff!