Sad News: FSU key star announce plan to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

Florida State power forward Jerry Deng plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3’s Joe Tipton has learned. This season, he averaged 7.0 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. He shot 43.4% from the field. Standing at 6-9, 220 pounds, Deng is also a sharpshooter from deep, connecting on 37.0% of his shots from beyond-the-arc. The Seminoles are entering a new era with a new head coach at the helm. Luke Loucks recently replaced Leonard Hamilton, one of the longest tenured coaches in college basketball.

More on Jerry Deng and his basketball career

He started 11 of 33 games last year for the Hampton Pirates, averaging 10.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He shot 39% from beyond-the-arc (43 of 110). Deng also shot 79.7% from the free throw line. One of his other finalists in the portal recruitment process were the New Mexico Lobos, before he ended up at Florida State. He took an official visit to New Mexico during his recruitment process.

A native of Norcross, Georgia, Deng attended Norcross High, where he led his team to the 7A state championship game. He also hit a career-high five threes in his game against Mount Vernon. When he chose Hampton out of high school, he picked them over offers from Akron, DePaul, East Carolina, Georgia, Georgia State, and Mercer. There are plenty of famous athletes that also went to Norcross, like Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints.

Florida State finished 17-15 overall this year, ranking ninth in the ACC. They were eliminated in the first round of the 2025 ACC Tournament. Deng stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points and two rebounds in their 66-62 loss to Syracuse.

Florida State historically, has had one of the tallest teams in America. Now, they’ll have to search for pieces to replace such players as Deng and Taylor Bol Bowen. The Seminoles are in the middle of a changing of the guard this offseason with their new coach and a number of players in the transfer portal. Currently, Taylor Bol Bowen, Chandler Jackson, Waka Mbatch, Justin Thomas, and Christian Nitu have all joined Deng in the portal. We’ll have to see how the dust settles in the coming weeks and months.