Former Missouri quarterback Marvin Zanders is evidently not leaving the SEC and transferring to Virginia after all. Make no mistake though, while he is changing his eventual destination, the transfer is still on.
The former Tigers signal-caller had previously announced plans in late January to pursue a graduate transfer to the Cavaliers but a recent report from Gridiron Now says that he will instead be transferring to Vanderbilt this offseason. A source told the site that family in the area and living in Nashville played a role in the change in commitment.
Zanders has reportedly already graduated from Mizzou and is expected to be eligible right away in 2017 after obtaining the necessary waivers to play at another SEC school.
The Commodores do return starter Kyle Shurmur at the position so it does not seem that Zanders is headed to Vandy in order to become the full-time starter. He is a lot more athletic option behind center -- throwing for 114 yards and rushing for 198 yards and two touchdowns last year -- so it seems like a backup job with spells of being the change of pace guy are in store if Zanders can pick up the offense quickly in fall camp.
While it’s a little surprising in this day and age that Missouri would consent to an unrestricted transfer of a quarterback to another team in the conference, we’ll at least be able to add an interesting storyline for when Vandy hosts the Tigers on November 18th this season.