Tag: Seydou Traore

Iowa basketball adds Manhattan transfer Seydou Traore

Seydou Traore is a Hawkeye.

The Iowa Hawkeyes added another piece to their 2024-25 men’s college basketball roster on Wednesday.

Manhattan Jaspers transfer guard and forward Seydou Traore announced his commitment to Iowa.

A native of New York, N.Y., Traore averaged 11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 43.3% from the field, 25.6% from 3-point range and 80.0% from the charity stripe.

The 6-foot-7, 215 pound swingman just completed his freshman season where he scored in double figures in 18 contests. That included 16 points and eight rebounds in a game at Kansas on Nov. 10, 2023.

Traore also registered 10 games with double-figure rebounds, including four contests where he pulled down a dozen or more boards.

Traore tallied six double-doubles during the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season and was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men’s All-Rookie Team.

“It was truly a blessing being named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team. Before the season, I set a goal for myself, and I just worked in the offseason. Even though I fell short on one of my goals to win Rookie of the Year, it was one of the best seasons I’ve ever been a part of. I give all my success to God and the coaching staff believed in me to play with a tremendous amount of confidence,” Traore said after the season with Manhattan.

Traore joins a core at Iowa that features sophomore forwards Owen Freeman, Ladji Dembele and Pryce Sandfort, sophomore guard Brock Harding and junior guard Josh Dix.

Iowa is awaiting a stay-or-go decision from forward Payton Sandfort who is going through the NBA draft process but has maintained his collegiate eligibility so far. Sandfort averaged 16.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game last season while shooting 44.6% from the field and 37.9% from 3-point distance.

Iowa also added former Morehead State guard Drew Thelwell out of the transfer portal this offseason.

The 6-foot-3, 195 pound guard played and started in all 68 games for the Eagles over the past two seasons. In his career, Thelwell has appeared in 114 games and started 69.

This past season, Thelwell averaged 10.0 points, 6.2 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. The Orlando product shot 43.5% from the floor and 33.8% from 3-point range. Thelwell netted 64.5% of his free throw tries.

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Short-lived Buff Seydou Traore lands at SEC school

ICYMI: Short-lived Buff Seydou Traore committed to an SEC school

For whatever reason, things didn’t work out between Seydou Traore and the University of Colorado football program. The former Arkansas State tight end joined the Buffs in December but then re-entered the transfer portal on April 30 just days after spring practices concluded.

Now, according to a Saturday report from 247Sports, Traore is committed to the SEC’s Mississippi State Bulldogs. At the time of his pledge, he was considered the top available player in the transfer portal.

Before coming to Boulder, the short-lived Buff recorded 655 receiving yards and four touchdowns with the Red Wolves in 2022, earning first-team All-Sun Belt honors. He was largely expected to be Colorado’s starting TE in 2023.

The Buffs and head coach Deion Sanders have yet to add another TE from the portal, giving likely either Louis Passarello, Caleb Fauria or Elijah Yelverton an opportunity to start.

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Oregon extends offer to former Colorado Buffaloes tight end

TE Seydou Traore transferred to Colorado last December. He’s now leaving Deion Sanders’ program, and the Ducks are interested.

It may have seemed like the Oregon Ducks might be out of the tight-end transfer portal market after picking up former Ole Miss TE Casey Kelly a week or so ago, but that’s apparently not the case.

On Friday night, former Colorado Buffaloes tight end Seydou Traore announced on Twitter that he received an offer from the Ducks, one of the many that he’s gotten since entering the transfer portal.

The Ducks initially added Kelly to the roster after starting TE Terrance Ferguson went down for the spring with an apparent shoulder injury.

Seydou has spent a lot of time in the portal before. He initially signed with the Arkansas State Red Wolves as a member of the 2021 recruiting class but transferred to Colorado back in December of 2022 after Deion Sanders took over. As part of the mass exodus that has taken place in Boulder over the past month, Traore is once again searching for a new team to play for.

In two seasons at Arkansas State, Traore played in 16 games, catching 61 passes for 734 yards and 4 touchdowns.

At the moment, the Ducks currently have three scholarships available to use this offseason, and they have a number of offers out to players on the open market.

Seydou Traore’s Transfer Portal Profile

Colorado football transfer profile: Five things to know about Seydou Traore

New #cubuffs tight end Seydou Traore has quite the background. Get to know him:

With Deion Sanders reshaping the Colorado Buffaloes football program, there are plenty of new faces in Boulder. One of them is tight end Seydou Traore, who transferred to Colorado from Arkansas State and has been fun to watch so far.

Traore has been pegged as an under-the-radar portal addition, and he should be able to make a name for himself with Brady Russell leaving the program and headed for the USFL.

There is a lot to like about Traore, and the junior is a four-star transfer and earned first-team All-Sun Belt during his time at Arkansas State.

Here are five things to know about Traore:

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll gave Coach Prime a recruiting tip at the NFL Honors

Per ESPN, Coach Prime was given a recruiting tip by New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll

The Colorado Buffaloes have taken the recruiting world by storm since head coach Deion Sanders was hired in December. CU has shot up the rankings across every recruiting website as a constant line of transfers and high school all-stars all want to be a part of what Coach Prime is building in Boulder.

ESPN took notice as Adam Rittenberg and Kyle Bonagura took stock of Coach Prime’s first 100 days at Colorado. It’s hard not to notice what Sanders has done in the way of recruiting in that short of a time frame. CU has stocked up on top-end talent from the transfer portal and the high school ranks in Travis Hunter, Cormani McClain, Dylan Edwards, Adam Hopkins, Omarion Miller, Jimmy Horn Jr. and Seydou Traore, to name a few commits.

People outside of Boulder are even offering help to Coach Prime, including New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll (h/t ESPN):

At the NFL Honors ceremony during Super Bowl week, Sanders presented the AP Coach of the Year award to the New York Giants’ Brian Daboll while wearing a black suit and a gold pocket square, CU colors. As Sanders exited the stage, Daboll told him about a player he should consider at Colorado. Sanders immediately got Daboll on the phone with his chief of recruiting.

“That doesn’t just mean that he respects me, and he would love for this kid to play for me,” Sanders said. “You know how much noise we’ve got to be making right now, for that gentleman, as we’re walking off the stage, saying, ‘I’ve got a dawg for you.’

“I said, ‘I ain’t hard to find, Coach.'”

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PFF names CU Buffs’ Seydou Traore one of college football’s top returning tight ends

Seydou Traore made a list of college football’s top returning tight ends

The Colorado Buffaloes’ roster is essentially brand new after a record-breaking past couple of months in the transfer portal. Head coach Deion Sanders has changed things quickly, and there are many players to discuss this upcoming season in Boulder.

One of them is tight end Seydou Traore, who transferred from Arkansas State. Traore was recently listed as the 10th-best returning tight end in college football, according to Max Chadwick of Pro Football Focus. Here’s what Chadwick wrote:

Traore was a standout goalie in London before moving to the U.S. for his senior year of high school with dreams of playing football. As a sophomore at Arkansas State, his 89.6 receiving grade ranked fourth among all tight ends in the country, and his 340 yards after the catch tied for the fourth most. Reminder: This was only his third year of playing football.

Traore was a goalie in London before moving to the United States, and he has made the transition to football quickly. This past season, he had 655 yards receiving with four scores, including a six-catch, 120-yard performance with a touchdown against Memphis.

He also made one of the best catches of the entire season.

The Buffs’ offense is loaded with Shedeur Sanders at QB and a flurry of pass-catchers, and Traore could have a stellar campaign playing under Coach Prime.

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