Old Dominion’s loss will end up being Florida’s gain. The Gators will welcome graduate transfer offensive tackle Mason Halter to the trenches this fall after the Fordham lineman decided to transfer to Gainesville instead of Old Dominion.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, Halter previously signed the paperwork to transfer from the Patriot League’s Fordham to Conference USA’s Old Dominion earlier this spring. However, Florida coaches began contacting him about a possible transfer in May and somewhere along the way those sales pitches from Jim McElwain and his staff worked. Halter understands the sentiments likely felt in the Old Dominion football offices, but he will go to Florida with no regrets.
“I think the coaches at ODU were a little upset, and I don’t blame them,” Halter said to The Virginia-Pilot. “I signed an agreement and went back on my word a bit. But this was a great opportunity. I could not turn it down.”
Like quarterback Vernon Adams moving from Eastern Washington to Oregon, Halter will move from the FCS to FBS and have a chance to compete right away for a starting job at a power conference program. Halter graduated from Fordham this spring, thus he is eligible to play this fall at any FBS program. Halter was unable to continue playing his final year of eligibility at Fordham due to Patriot League rules regarding red-shirting. A season lost due to mononucleosis did not qualify under Patriot League guidelines for an approved red-shirt season.