Just days prior to the 2019 season opener, the WKU football team received big news on Tuesday afternoon.

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Jaden Hunter — a transfer from Georgia — will be immediately eligible to play for the Hilltoppers this season, team spokesman Bryan Fyalkowski confirmed with the Herald.

Hunter appeared in four games in two seasons with the Bulldogs.

{{tncms-inline account=”Jaden” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’m Cleared to play this Year!! Thank You God 🙏🏽 <a href="https://t.co/CxTm6kAkCR">pic.twitter.com/CxTm6kAkCR</a></p>— Jaden (@JadenHunter9) <a href="https://twitter.com/JadenHunter9/status/1166425660618706944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/JadenHunter9/status/1166425660618706944″ type=”twitter”}}

Hunter announced his intention to transfer to WKU in a tweet posted on May 31. The program officially announced the addition on June 6.

{{tncms-inline account=”Jaden” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank You God!🙏🏽 <a href="https://t.co/IvBe8lcalp">pic.twitter.com/IvBe8lcalp</a></p>— Jaden (@JadenHunter9) <a href="https://twitter.com/JadenHunter9/status/1134535670003904512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/JadenHunter9/status/1134535670003904512″ type=”twitter”}}

Head coach Tyson Helton told the media last week that he was awaiting word from the NCAA on the 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker after applying for an eligibility waiver earlier this summer.

“We have applied for the waiver,” Helton said on Aug. 20. “Georgia is also in the process of working with us on that. The NCAA has a lot to deal with right now. I think our compliance team has done a great job with this. I’m hoping we can get a decision by the end of this week.”

The Atlanta native was highly touted coming out of Westlake High High School. Hunter finished his prep career as a consensus four-star prospect. Rivals ranked Hunter as the third best outside linebacker in the country and the No. 46 player nationally in the Class of 2017.

Now that the key transfer is 100% eligible, Hunter will look to crack the linebacker rotation immediately. WKU’s new-look linebacking corps will take the field Thursday night against Central Arkansas at 6:30 p.m.

Reporter Alec Jessie can be reached at 270-745-6291 and [email protected]. Follow Alec on Twitter at @Alec_Jessie.