Izzy Carter's departure leaves USF with quarterback questions for the Hawaii Bowl

As USF prepares for the Hawaii Bowl, it will do so with the most important position on the team in a state of flux.

On the first official day that the transfer portal opened, quarterback Izzy Carter is walking through it. Also, we still no idea when – or if – Byrum Brown will play again. .

Carter’s name did not appear on the initial short list of Bulls looking to leave, and that triggered some speculation that he might change his mind because he entered the portal last year only to come back to the Bulls.

However, his name has been removed from the football roster on the Bulls website. That’s a solid sign that the deal is done.

In a tweet, Carter said, “After many conversations with my family, I have made the decision to enter the transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining.”

It’s not a surprise, really. He was stuck behind Bryce Archie after Brown was injured on September 28 at Tulane, seeing only occasional mop-up duty until the final two games of the regular season against Tulsa and Rice.

Carter completed 6-of-8 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns against Tulsa, and followed that up with another strong performance after Archie was knocked out of the game at Rice with a little over four  minutes remaining and the Bulls trailing 35-14. Izzy was electric in that short stint, completing 5-of-6 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

It raised questions about why he hadn’t entered the game earlier when it was obvious that Archie was struggling.

I’m sure it also attracted the attention of other teams, who saw a mobile 6-1, 195-pound quarterback with a nice touch on his throws.

Carter’s departure could leave the Bulls in a fix for the bowl game against San Jose State if Brown remains on the sideline. Head coach Alex Golesh has regularly maintained that Brown has been well enough to practice but he hasn’t appeared in a game since his injury.

That, too, has raised all kinds of questions about Brown’s future at USF, but I’ll sit out the speculation rather than take wild guesses – and that’s what they would be. There has been no indication that Brown is thinking about entering the portal, and unless that happens all we have to go on is that Golesh apparently doesn’t feel he is sufficiently recovered to see game action.

If Brown can't play in Hawaii, untested freshman Marcelis Tate would likely be the backup.

Carter isn’t the only Bulls on the lookout for a new school.

On3.com reported that seven other players entered the portal: Sophomore WR Tyree Kelly, sophomore S Tawfiq Byard, redshirt freshman LB Trey DuBuc, redshirt junior IOL Andrew Kilfoyl, sophomore WR Ranod Smith, redshirt senior DL Doug Blue-Eli, and senior CB Aamaris Brown