BREAKING: Iowa QB transfer Alex Padilla commits to SMU
Iowa quarterback Alex Padilla entered the transfer portal in November and on Friday, he committed to SMU after his official visit, he announced. Padilla largely served as the Hawkeyes’ backup quarterback this year.
The Mustangs will now have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster by adding the veteran arm into the room for 2023. Padilla has two seasons of college eligibility remaining.
Padilla served as the backup to Spencer Petras this year before coming in during the Hawkeyes’ season finale against Nebraska. He appeared in two games, completing 21 of 43 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown overall. Against Nebraska, he went 16-for-33 for 141 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
In 2021, he played in nine games with three starts, completing 55-of-112 passes for 636 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. In 2020, he played in two contests. He redshirted in 2019, not seeing action.
Padilla played high school football at Cherry Creek (Co.) High School, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 65 overall quarterback recruit in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
Alex Padilla the latest transfer to commit to SMU
Padilla joins Texas offensive lineman Logan Parr, Texas A&M transfers PJ Williams and LJ Johnson, Liberty transfers Rocket Rahimi, Chris Megginson and Ahmad Walker, Fresno State transfer defensive back Cale Sanders, Missouri transfer offensive lineman Hyrin White, Miami transfers Key’Shawn Smith, Jordan Miller, Elijah Roberts, Jaylan Knighton and Romello Brinson, West Virginia transfer defensive back Charles Woods and Stanford defensive back Jonathan McGill as transfer additions for SMU.
SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods is happy with how the coaching and recruiting staff all handled a busy transfer portal cycle. SMU hosted numerous transfer targets over a 10-day window in December and more in January.
“It’s been a unique experience. We were still under a different set of expectations at that point (last year about the portal) so we were able to get a good plan,” Woods told On3. “Coach Lashlee, coach Cooper and our recruiting staff were able to put together a great combination of what we think is what we still need to do in the great state of Texas, which is recruit good high school players. We did a great job organizing the class. Our recruiting class did an incredible job helping us out through the whole year.”
