Former Maryland QB Pigrome joins WKU as grad transfer

Published 4:00 pm Saturday, May 16, 2020

Western Kentucky has a new quarterback.

Former Maryland quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome is joining the Hilltoppers as a graduate transfer after starting seven games for the Terrapins over four years.

Email newsletter signup

A source has confirmed to the Daily News that Pigrome has signed documents to make the transfer official.

Pigrome joins a quarterback room with redshirt junior Davis Shanley, redshirt sophomore Kevaris Thomas and incoming freshmen signees Grady Robison and Darius Ocean.

The Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback position will be up for grabs until the last week of fall camp leading up to the home opener against UT-Chattanooga on Sept. 5, but Pigrome’s resume and immediate eligibility makes him the assumed favorite.

The 5-10, 209-pound quarterback nicknamed “Piggy” is the first Maryland quarterback to start a game in four different seasons since Vic Turyn in 1945-48. He entered the transfer portal on Feb. 6 and chose the Hilltoppers over Tulane and Temple.

He started three games last year for Maryland, throwing for 719 yards on a 58.5 percent completion rate with three touchdowns while rushing for 153 yards and another two scores. He appeared in 34 games over his career, mostly for packages as a dual-threat quarterback. He redshirted the 2017 season after an injury in the Terrapins’ season-opening win at then No. 23 Texas.

For his career, Pigrome has completed 138-of-245 passes for 1,592 yards and nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The best game of his career came against Purdue on Oct. 12 when he completed 21-of-39 passes for 218 yards and rushed 13 times for 107 yards and a 61-yard touchdown run.

The Birmingham, Ala., native was the 2015 Gatorade Alabama Player of the Year and a two-time Alabama Mr. Football runner-up. He won the Class 6A state championship as a junior for Clay-Chalkville.

Pigrome will be the second graduate transfer in as many years brought to WKU by Tyson Helton. In the coach’s first season, Ty Storey came to WKU as a graduate transfer from Arkansas and led the Hilltoppers to a 9-4 record. That came only after Steven Duncan won the starting job and suffered a season-ending injury in the third game of the year.

Duncan entered the transfer portal in April and earlier this week announced his commitment to Tarleton State. That left WKU with Shanley and Thomas as the team’s most experienced quarterbacks. Shanley completed 96 passes for 942 yards and three touchdowns in 2018. Shanley entered one game last year against Arkansas and rushed once for 16 yards.

Thomas appeared in three games as a freshman and redshirted in 2018. Last season, he completed one pass for six yards against Southern Mississippi.{&end}