Former Duke QB Thomas Sirk Visiting South Carolina
Ex-Duke quarterback Thomas Sirk will visit South Carolina this weekend. The former Blue Devil has one year of eligibility remaining as a grad transfer.
Ex-Duke quarterback Thomas Sirk will visit South Carolina this weekend. The former Blue Devil has one year of eligibility remaining as a grad transfer.
Thomas Sirk remains an intriguing quarterback on college football’s graduate transfer free agent market.
A little over a month after deciding to walk away from Duke, the former Blue Devil is scheduled to take an official visit to South Carolina this weekend.
Sirk is very familiar with Gamecocks co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper, who was his OC/QBs coach during his first two seasons in Durham in 2012 and 2013. Sirk has already visited East Carolina, where the Pirates head coach is former Duke wide receivers and assistant coach Scottie Montgomery. His only other visit was to Southern Mississippi.
Sirk earned his undergraduate degree last May and is on track to complete a graduate degree this spring. He will be eligible immediately as a graduate transfer, though health has always been an issue for the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Florida native.
Sirk remains on the road to recovery from his third Achilles injury, which he sustained last August. He was granted a sixth season of eligibility after he suffered a partial tear of his left Achilles tendon before the 2016 season began. He missed the 2013 campaign after suffering a ruptured right Achilles tendon in April of that year.
Duke is allowing Sirk to transfer anywhere except the schools in the ACC as well as Army, Baylor, NC Central and Northwestern, who are on the Blue Devils’ schedule this upcoming season.
Sirk started 12 games in 2015 and went 251-of-427 passing for 2,625 yards with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions while rushing for a team-best 803 yards and eight scores on 163 attempts. His yardage total ranks as the second-highest single-season total in school history. He finished that campaign by guiding Duke to a 44-41 overtime win over Indiana in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, being named the game’s co-MVP along with running back Shaun Wilson as the Blue Devils won their first bowl game since 1961.
The decision by Sirk to transfer doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as Daniel Jones enjoyed a nice redshirt freshman season as the new Blue Devils starting quarterback and was one of the bright spots of the team’s 4-8 season.
Despite the visit to Columbia, it would appear that Sirk’s best option may be either East Carolina or Southern Miss. South Carolina returns sophomore Jake Bentley, who became the starter as a freshman last season. Meanwhile, ECU is thin on game experience at quarterback with junior Gardner Minshew (two career starts), and Southern Miss needs to replace three-year starter Nick Mullens.
