Robert Morris Guard Intends to Enter Portal, Seeks Additional Year of Eligibility

Robert Morris guard Albert Vargas intends on entering the transfer portal and will seek an additional year of eligibility after playing one season of Division-I basketball, according to his agents at FDMAthletics.

Vargas was an effective playmaker and ball-handler for the Colonials when healthy this season. He averaged 7.5 points and 4.0 assists per game this past season while making 39% of his three-point attempts.

Vargas transferred to Robert Morris last offseason after playing two years at the JUCO level to start his career and one season at Division-II Southern Connecticut State.

In his lone season with the Colonials, Vargas started 26 games at point guard before he missed the last month of the regular season due to an ankle injury. When he returned for the team’s two Horizon League Tournament games, he came off of the bench as Andy Toole decided to stick with the hot hand of freshman guard Darius Livingston Jr. as the team’s starter.

With Livingston expected to return in an increased role for his sophomore season, and the already expected departure of Vargas due to his eligibility, his intentions to enter the portal does not mark the end of the world for Robert Morris.

Still, with just Livingston and incoming freshman Josh Jackson being the only two confirmed players on next year’s roster to this point of the offseason, Toole and the rest of the staff have some work to do to get the roster reloaded.

Ideally, the Colonials could still bring back contributors from this past year’s team such as Ta’Zir Smith, Josh Hill, Samuel Obenjo and Eddie Cooke III to form a strong returning core alongside Livingston, but the jury is still out on each of those four as they are still deciding what is best for their future.

The transfer portal does not officially open until April 7, but once it does, Vargas will join ex-teammates DeSean Goode, Ryan Prather Jr. and Nikolaos Chitikoudis as players searching for new homes.