So athletic director Todd Stewart says it caught the program off-guard when the linebacker announced that he’d transfer to Purdue after graduating in May.
“I think the only tough thing for our end was just the timing of it,” Stewart told the Daily News on Saturday. “We had been given an indication right before Christmas that Ben was going to come back and play here.”
Because coaches were under the impression Holt would return for his redshirt senior season in 2019, Stewart said he was kept on scholarship for the current spring semester.
Holt started spring classes, then told Hilltopper coaches in January of his plans to transfer.