Who would want to sign a quarterback seeking a seventh college football team in seven years? But TJ Finley is doing exactly that and claims he’s already gotten calls from a few teams, although he won’t tell us which ones. At least not until the transfer portal opens on January 2nd. While many may see this as an unprecedented odd situation of a 23-year-old pushing the limits of eligibility, Finley says it’s all God’s doing.  

“I think the gifts that God has given me, and the talent that God has given me in the football aspect, it would be a disservice to him to just give up, right?” Finley told The Advocate’s Wilson Alexander. “
And I think the number one lesson that I’mma always harp to my boys is no matter the situation, no matter the circumstances and all of that, you never give up, right?

“As long as the opportunity presents itself, and you have that opportunity, you never give up until someone makes you or your body literally can’t go anymore.” It’s probably this belief that has carried Finley through one of the most winding paths college football has seen in the portal era. 

He arrived at LSU as a three-star quarterback in the 2020 class out of Ponchatoula High and saw action early before transferring to Auburn after his freshman season. At Auburn, Finley spent two years in a crowded quarterback room, making six starts across that stretch but never fully securing long-term footing. Seeking stability and a clearer opportunity, he entered the portal again and landed at Texas State and finally got some control of an offense.

Texas State marked the most productive stretch of Finley’s career. He won the starting job and delivered the best season of his college tenure, leading the Bobcats to an 8–5 record while completing 67 percent of his passes for 3,439 yards, 24 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. It was the kind of year that recalibrated how Finley was viewed, turning him from a stopgap option into a quarterback with legitimate momentum heading into the next stage of his career, because that stability didn’t last. 

Finley transferred to Western Kentucky ahead of the 2024 season, where he again won the starting role and earned placement on the Senior Bowl watch list. But just three games into the year, Finley suffered a devastating ankle injury that ended his season and required two surgeries. The injury halted what he believed was a critical NFL evaluation year and ultimately became the foundation for his current appeal to the NCAA for a seventh season of eligibility via a medical redshirt.

Finley’s next stop was Tulane, a move that made sense on paper but unraveled quickly. Before ever taking a snap, he was arrested in April and charged with illegal possession of stolen property after authorities linked a vehicle he had purchased to a theft in Atlanta. The QB claimed he had fallen victim to a “scam,” but was suspended indefinitely all the same. He soon entered the transfer portal again, later acknowledging that off-field decisions cost him the opportunity.

He resurfaced at Georgia State, where he started seven games, throwing for 1,244 yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions as the Panthers went 1–6 in those appearances. After the season, Finley said the program’s offensive identity no longer aligned with his skill set, prompting yet another reset.

Now, with stops at LSU, Auburn, Texas State, Western Kentucky, Tulane, and Georgia State already behind him, Finley is back in the portal appealing for a seventh season.

But, for all the movement and noise around Finley’s career, the reason he’s still chasing another season has less to do with football itself and more to do with the responsibility he’s trying to live up to. 

Why TJ Finley still plays football

Finley is 23, and the father of three young boys, and he still believes football is the best way he can provide for them. That belief shapes how he looks at everything. “I set a high standard of what I want to do and what I want to accomplish in my life,” Finley said. “And I’m not stopping until I get there, no matter how it looks.”

That shift became real in October 2023, when his twin boys were born in Louisiana. After the season at Texas State, Finley had blunt conversations with the coaching staff about NIL support and what continuing there would actually look like. “That was really just a decision that I made based off me having to provide for my boys,” he said. “I wasn’t gonna be able to sustain our lifestyle for not only myself, but for my boys, with no money.” Without a workable path forward, he entered the transfer portal and left.

Since then, the balance hasn’t gotten easier. Finley’s third son was born in February and lives with him in Atlanta, while his twins remain in Louisiana. While playing at Georgia State, he split time between the two cities and was able to see his twins more often, but he knows another season of college football could pull him farther away again. Still, comfort isn’t the priority. “For me to give them the lifestyle that I want to give them, I think I have to just really take a risk,” Finley said. “Take a risk going to a place that might not be so close, but it’s a perfect opportunity for me to go and toss the pigskin around and be the guy for a while.”

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So, that’s where Finley is now. He doesn’t have a neat ending mapped out, no guarantee that the next stop will finally stick, but also knows that walking away isn’t a choice he can make.