Defensive stopper Karon Boyd is Wichita State’s first recruiting win in the portal
Wichita State scored its first haul in the transfer portal on Wednesday when defensive stopper Karon Boyd announced his commitment to the Shockers.
Boyd, a 6-foot-5, 218-pound senior forward, played the past two seasons at East Tennessee State, where he racked up 56 career starts and was recently named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 8.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.9 blocks this past season while shooting 43.5% from the field, 24.1% on 3-pointers and 62.6% on free throws.
After entering the portal last week, the Concord, N.C. native reportedly received immediate interest from UNC Wilmington, College of Charleston, Towson, Massachusetts and Charlotte. He recently took an official visit to WSU this past weekend, according to a source, and Boyd is rated as a 3-star transfer recruit and No. 224 nationally by On3 Sports.
After Quincy Ballard, Corey Washington and Yanis Bamba exited in the transfer portal, Boyd marks the first addition from the portal for WSU head coach Paul Mills in his 2025 recruiting class. WSU has also signed Barton Community College point guard Keandre Kindell with three high school signees: wing Tyrus Rathan-Mayes, big man Noah Hill and guard Pierre Couisnard Jr.
Boyd split time between small forward and power forward at ETSU and likely will do the same for WSU. He’s a bit undersized for power forward, but Boyd’s 11.8% offensive rebound rate in conference play was the fifth-best mark in the SoCon. He does play bigger than his size on the defensive end, where his 4.0% block rate was ninth-best in conference play.
Boyd isn’t likely to cure WSU’s outside shooting woes, however. He made just 13 triples this past season and his 24.1% accuracy was actually a stark improvement from his first year at ETSU. Boyd’s offensive preferences revolve more around cutting, offensive rebound putbacks and transition opportunities.
He finished with 16 points and five rebounds for ETSU in a 96-87 loss to the Shockers at Koch Arena this past season on Dec. 7, 2024.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 12:25 PM.
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