The WKU football program announced on Thursday the addition of three transfers from the University of Louisville who will join the Hilltoppers for the 2016 season.

Quarterback Tyler Ferguson and linebackers Keith Brown and Nick Dawson-Brents will join the Toppers and are eligible to play immediately for WKU.

Dawson-Brents and Brown both saw the field during U of L’s season in 2015, and each will continue his career with WKU with just one year of eligibility remaining.

This will be the fourth collegiate stop for quarterback Tyler Ferguson, who in his last eligible season will be competing to fill the shoes of record-breaking quarterback Brandon Doughty.

The California native began his career at the College of the Sequoias, a junior college located in California. As a freshman there, Ferguson threw for 2,614 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Ferguson then transferred to Penn State where he threw only 15 passes during the 2013 season while sitting behind high-profile quarterback Christian Hackenberg. Ferguson had lost the starting job to Hackenberg in a very close preseason quarterback competition. Hackenberg is projected to be among the first quarterbacks picked in this spring’s NFL draft, according to espn.com.

After Ferguson’s athletic release from Penn State, Bobby Petrino recruited the quarterback to WKU for the 2014 season. However, Petrino left WKU for U of L and took the former Nittany Lion with him.

After redshirting for the 2014 season, Ferguson didn’t play a snap in a Cardinal uniform in 2015 and was granted a full release this past August to transfer to any school he wanted for his final year of eligibility. He chose WKU.

South Florida transfer Mike White and senior Nelson Fishback, among others, will be competing with Ferguson for the starting job in the 2016 season.

Brown appeared in 37 games for the Cardinals during his tenure at U of L. The Miami native tallied 113 tackles, including six for a loss over that span.

Coming out of high school, Brown earned Army All-American honors and was rated as a four-star prospect. This past season, Brown was featured as a regular contributor to the Cardinal defense as he amassed 33 total tackles, five of which were for a loss.

Dawson-Brents will join Brown as a linebacker. The Charlotte native played in 37 games, including 13 in 2015, during his tenure at U of L.

Like his teammate Brown, Dawson-Brents earned Army All-American honors out of high school. He was ranked the No. 2 inside linebacker in the country by rivals.com in 2012.

Brown and Dawson-Brents will look to give the Toppers more strength at the linebacker position after the defense graduated Nick Holt, Nick Newton and Dejon Brown.

WKU went 12-2, won the Conference USA championship and finished No. 24 in the AP Top 25 for the first time in university history in 2015.

With the addition of three transfers from another winning program, the Toppers will strive to repeat and improve on their 2015 accomplishments.