Temple has added another piece to its backcourt through the transfer portal, this time with the signing of former Arkansas State guard Derrian Ford.

Ford, a former 4-star, top-100 recruit in the 2022 class, originally signed with Arkansas and played his first season with the Razorbacks before spending the past two with the Red Wolves. He averaged 8.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for an Arkansas State team that fell a game short of the NCAA Tournament berth advanced to the second round of the NIT this season.

At Temple, Ford will join a refurbished backcourt that returns rising sophomore Aiden Tobiason and will include Arkansas State transfer CJ Hines, Manhattan transfer Masiah Gilyard, Nebraska transfer Gavin Griffiths and incoming 2025 Westtown School recruit Cam Wallace.

Programs like Syracuse, Missouri, Texas A&M, Memphis and Ole Miss initially reached out when Ford entered the poral in late March. As he drew closer to deciding, Ford also considered FAU, Tulsa and Appalachian State before picking Temple.

A 6-foot-3, 212-pound lefty with one season of eligibility remaining, Ford is a career 35% shooter from three-point range. In 34 games and 14 starts this past season, Ford shot 32.1% (44-for-137) from three and 82.8% (48-of-58) from the free-throw line and saved some of his better basketball for the end of the season with three-straight double-digit scoring efforts.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Derrian and his family to our Temple basketball program," Temple third-year head coach Adam Fisher said in a statement Saturday morning. "Derrian is a former two-time Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year. His skill level playing with the ball in his hands as well as off the ball is something that jumped out to us right away. He is a terrific shooter who has consistently shown the ability to knock down long range shots throughout his career. He is a big, physical guard who will also bring us a great presence on the defensive end.”

Arkansas State advanced to the Sun Belt tournament championship game back in March before falling to Troy, 91-84. In 28 minutes off the bench, Ford scored 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, to go with four rebounds and three assists. After missing out on an at-large NCAA berth, Arkansas State rolled past Saint Louis, 103-78, in a first-round NIT game that saw Ford contribute 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting off the bench, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range.

Arkansas State fell by a bucket, 65-63, to the American Athletic Conference’s North Texas, in the second round of the NIT down in Denton, Texas. Ford collected 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting and five rebounds in that game, which proved to be his last in an Arkansas State uniform.