This year, UNA has approximately 280 student athletes in total. Forty-three of those arrived from other two and four-year colleges. Many athletes leave one institution for personal reasons and interests.

“UNA finds it extremely difficult to recruit in-state high school student athletes, unless they have a true love for UNA since childhood,” said Athletic Director Mark Linder.

Just like any other UNA athlete, transfers are subject to background checks and zero tolerance behavior contracts.

Linder appreciates the transferring athletes for their maturity and experience.

A majority of UNA’s football team transferred from different schools. A handful arrived from Florida State University.

After two years of Florida State, offensive lineman Will Furlong came along. Furlong considers UNA more relaxing. He doesn’t think that UNA and FSU are radically different.

“Football is football; you come and do your work,” Furlong said. “When you get older, things become different and priorities change.”

Not all athletes transfer because of a negative experience from a previous college. Some see it just as an alternative from what they were doing before.

Offensive lineman Brandon Davis saw his transfer as a great opportunity to play football for another year. Davis graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Sports Recreation.

Knowing his former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden personally, Bowden recommended that Davis play for his son Terry Bowden at UNA.

Both Davis and Furlong transferred from Division I to Division II. Davis sees a big difference between UNA and FSU.

“UNA is more hands-on, and you have to do everything yourself,” Davis said. “But in Florida State, mostly everything, from registering classes to financial aid, was done for me.”

Davis still enjoys UNA and hopes to win a National Championship while he is here.

“UNA has fewer distractions, whereas in FSU, there were lots of parties,” Davis said.

Furlong thinks that UNA should continue to recruit transfer athletes, especially in football.

“If they stop recruiting transfers, there will be down spots,” Furlong said. “You cannot just play with incoming freshmen.”