Transfer RB Turner picks West Virginia

West Virginia is in the process of targeting a number of players for the 2025 roster and one of those that is planning a visit to Morgantown is Lafayette College transfer tight end Dallas Holmes.

Holmes, 6-foot-5, 238-pounds, entered the transfer portal Nov. 26 after earning all-Patriot League honors following a season where he hauled in 12 catches for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns.

West Virginia wide receiver transfer Traylon Ray grew up playing football in Tallahassee at North Florida Christian. As the sophomore wide receiver looks for his next stop in his collegiate career, a return home to play at Florida State has emerged as an option for the 6-foot-1 and 195-pound receiver.

Ray took a short visit to Tallahassee just before the holiday break and then returned to Florida State for his official visit on Friday.

After his visit concluded on Saturday afternoon, Ray believes that Florida State could be a place that helps push his career forward and get him to where he wants to be.

“Main thing (I’m looking for) is a school that is going to develop me,” Ray said. “I’m on my last two years of college football so I’m trying to take that next step and get to that next part of my career — get to the NFL. FSU is looking like one of those schools that can help me do that so I will go through the rest of my visits and then make my decision off of that.”

Florida State was the first program to host Ray since he entered the portal in December. Ray still has visits to Mississippi State and Ole Miss lined up before he intends to make a final decision next week.

A return visit back to his hometown was on the cards first.

“It was good to come back home. It felt good. I got to talk to (Mike) Norvell and the rest of the coaches. It was good getting to talk to them. It felt better coming back now than when I was in high school. It was good to be back home so overall it was a great visit,” Ray said.

“Being a local, I’ve already seen it all pretty much,” he continued. “I just wanted to take the visit to get to know the coaches. After being around them, I love being around them, talking to them, talking ball.”

Ray got to meet new wide receivers coach Tim Harris for the second time and had positive things to say about getting to know Harris more over the last 24 hours.

“He is a great guy. He is for his players,” Ray said. “He is more like family in a way and he is going coach you that way. He knows that not everyone can be coached the same so his coaching style and how he carries himself, I’m very impressed with.”

Florida State has already added considerable size at the wide receiver position in the portal via USC transfer Duce Robinson. Ray resembles a more traditional downfield threat and that’s how he would be used at Florida State.

“I would be the guy that can move around over the field. Of course I got my injury and stuff like that but they have the trust that I will get back and work that injury back (to normal). That was something that was good about coming to the visit, he (Norvell) believes in me and so does Gus (Malzahn).”

The injury Ray mentioned was a significant leg injury that occurred in October. He attended all of his official visits using a walking scooter to help him traverse campus. According to Ray, he should be able to resume walking in two weeks and will get his boot off in six. A return to action prior to spring ball is possible but currently the timeline for return to full contact is over the summer.

Ray left his visit on Saturday with the intent of taking the aforementioned visits to both SEC schools in Mississippi. His decision is expected to come next week.