LJ Turner, who rushed for 1,224 yards and 13 touchdowns this past season at Division II Catawba, will don a West Virginia Mountaineers uniform in 2025.
The senior committed to the Big 12 program over the weekend. He will have one more year of eligibility remaining. Turner became the first West Virginia transfer portal commit since the Morgantown school rehired Rich Rodriguez as head coach.
Turner, who averaged 7.0 yards per carry for Catawba in 2024 across eight games, has earned a multitude of post-season honors. He made the D2Football.com Elite 100 list, released over the weekend. Turner also was first-team all-conference, first-team all-Super Region 2 and a second-team AFCA All-American pick.
Turner had the most prolific single-game rushing performance of the season in North Carolina – all divisions – amassing 329 yards and five touchdowns in a September overtime win over Anderson. He also was the only D2 running back from the Old North State to reach the 1,000-yard plateau.
→ READ MORE: Every 100-yard rushing performance in NC college football this season
Turner, who is from Palm Bay, Fla., spent three seasons at Catawba, finishing with 1,961 yards and 20 touchdowns. Turner also reported FBS offers from Coastal Carolina and UTEP, as well as FCS offers from East Tennessee State and Youngstown State.
“West Virginia will have five scholarship running backs on the roster but three of those outside of junior Jahiem White will be either redshirt or true freshmen,” Keenan Cummings from WVSports.com wrote on Sunday. “That means that opportunity could be there for Turner to carve out a role and compete for playing time along with White in the Mountaineers backfield.”
More North Carolina D2 Football Transfer Portal News
Turner is the latest D2 player from North Carolina to earn a Division I opportunity. Quarterback Jalen Ferguson, who played the past two seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne, signed with FCS Campbell last month.
Ferguson’s Lenoir-Rhyne teammate Adonis McDaniel announced on New Year’s Day that he is heading to FCS Mercer. The Bears from Macon, Ga. are coached by former Lenoir-Rhyne skipper Mike Jacobs.
McDaniel made 56 catches for Lenoir-Rhyne this past season for an even 1,000 yards. He scored five touchdowns.
Quarterback Christian Peters, who led Shaw to six wins in 2024, recently committed to FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Peters threw 17 touchdown passes this past season and finished with 1,323 passing yards.
Johnson C. Smith picked up a commitment from Division I defensive end transfer Quentin Williams on Jan. 3. Williams, from Charlotte (Mallard Creek HS), initially enrolled with the Miami Hurricanes coming out of high school, then transferred to Marshall in 2021. He most recently played for Hutchinson Community College in Kansas in 2022 and 2023.
Johnson C. Smith also will get a transfer quarterback for the second consecutive season. Kelvin Durham will suit up for the Golden Bulls after playing for Fort Valley State in 2024. Catawba transfer defensive lineman Jacoby Wall also has indicated he will join JCSU for the 2025 season.
Elizabeth City State introduced Adrian Jones as its new head coach on Friday. The former Shaw University coach will have a number of Bears follow him eastward to the rival CIAA program.
Among the Shaw-to-Elizabeth City State transfers, according to social media posts and a D2Football.com forum, are running back Traquan Johnson, quarterback Navian Hilliard, linebacker Latrell Wilson, kicker Benjamin Turner, kicker Diego Coca Hernandez and offensive linemen DeAndre Daniels and Kyle Laurent.
EJ Gatling, who played for Elizabeth City’s Northeastern High before signing with UNC Pembroke, also will join Jones’ first team at Elizabeth City State.
Per D2Football.com, Winston-Salem State transfer defensive lineman Jaylen Ferbee-Gullatte has committed to Wagner, an FCS program. Defensive lineman CJ Brown will join WSSU from Catawba.
Keep up with our FCS Transfer Tracker HERE
We’d like to keep track of D2 and D3 transfers into and out of North Carolina programs. Tag us on Twitter/X if you know of a recent D2 or D3 transfer commitment.
