The Arizona State Sun Devils’ Junior Wide Receiver and former 4-Star recruit, Elijhah Badger, entered the Transfer Portal on April 20, 2024. Badger at the time of his commitment was the top rated receiver left in the Portal.

Badger, a recruit of the 2020 class, did not play his freshman year. He played in 2021, but only caught 7 receptions for 61 yards, while adding 37 yards and 2 TDs on 3 carries. In 2022, Badger came into his own as the Sun Devils’ WR1. He hauled in 70 receptions for 866 yards and 7 TDs, while adding 23 yards on 4 carries. This past season, Badger posted 65 receptions for 713 yards and 3 TDs, while adding 51 yards and a TD on 11 carries.

Yes, Badger statistically was down this season, but those numbers need some context. Badger missed ASU’s last game against Arizona. Badger also didn’t have a QB for most of the season. The Sun Devil’s in 2023 started true freshman Jaden Rashada. Rashada played in the team’s first two games before missing essentially the rest of the season with a slew of injuries. While we were doing Rashada research for his Transfer Portal article, we discovered that it sounded like there was not much behind him in the QB room. 

On May 17, Badger announced that he would be transferring to Florida. The Wednesday before his commitment, Badger announced that his Top 3 schools were Florida, Arizona, and Washington. Before we cover what this means for Florida let’s talk about why we believe Arizona and Washington were left in the dust.

Let’s start with Washington since it should be the most obvious. Head Coach Kalen DeBoer left and took over as Nick Saban’s successor at Alabama, OC Ryan Grubb left for the Seahawks OC job, essentially the entire offense is gone (mostly through the draft, but some in the Portal), and almost the entire secondary is gone along with a couple front seven pieces. Sure, catching passes from Mississippi State Transfer Will Rogers wouldn’t be the worst situation, but this roster is in an extremely rough spot especially compared to what they were just a few months ago. 

As for Arizona, on the surface they have a great situation for a WR of Badger’s caliber. They have QB Noah Fifita returning to lead the offense along with 2023 breakout WR Tetairoa McMillan who is coming off a season where he hauled in 90 receptions for 1,402 yards and 10 TDs. Being able to retain both Fifita and McMillan was big time for this program, especially after HC Jedd Fisch left for the Washington job. Badger and McMillan would’ve combined to be arguably one of the best WR Duos in CFB in 2024. Although no proof of it, we speculate that Badger didn’t go there knowing there was minimal to no room for him to take over as the Wildcats WR1. 

Now on to why we believe Badger chose the Gators. Florida is basically returning their entire starting offense from 2023 with the exception of RB Trevor Etienne(who transferred to Georgia) and WR Ricky Pearsall, who was taken 31st overall in the 2024 Draft. Badger will step in and we assume take the place of Pearsall who funny enough also transferred to Florida from Arizona State. Pearsall hauled in 65 receptions for 965 yards and 4 TDs, while adding 62 yards and 2 TDs on 3 carries in 2023. Despite Badger never having had a 900 yard season, we believe he will be able to replace Pearsall’s presence down in The Swamp. 

Badger now joins a Gator’s receiving room that includes Eugene Wilson III and Chimere Dike, the transfer from Wisconsin. Dike had a pretty underwhelming 2023 hauling in 19 receptions for 328 yards and a TD. However, we believe statistically Dike’s numbers were down due to the fact that he was not recruited by Fickell who took over the Wisconsin program in 2023. Dike transferred to Florida and now reunites with former Wisconisin QB Graham Mertz. In 2022, with Mertz as his QB, Dike had 47 receptions for 689 yards and 6 TDs while adding 32 yards and a TD on 5 carries… In a run heavy offense. 

Wilson on the other hand, is coming off a strong true freshman campaign in which he caught 61 receptions for 538 yards and 6 TDs, and added 55 yards on 6 carries. Wilson showed that he is one of the better young, promising WRs in the CFB landscape. 

For all the receiving production Florida has in their Top 3 now, especially with adding Badger, it’s quite disappointing that Florida doesn’t have a QB better than Mertz to lead the charge. Who knows, maybe freshman DJ Lagway will earn his right to lead this offense. Either way, expect Badger to show what he’s fully capable of in 2024 in arguably CFB’s strongest conference. 

The only part of his Florida commitment that makes us scratch our heads is that Badger was literally just teammates with Jaden Rashada, who asked for his release from his letter of intent with the Gators due to a failed NIL deal. Rashada literally just a couple days ago filed a lawsuit against Florida HC Billy Napier and others over what happened. We would’ve thought that Rashada would’ve said something to Badger about Florida and what occurred during his recruitment.