San Diego State Adds Boston U. Transfer, Chance Gladden: What the Guard Brings to the Aztecs

Less than 24 hours to go as the transfer portal window slowly closes down here on April 21, 2026. With thousands of names entering and leaving in just a few weeks time, San Diego State pulled another surprise name out of their hats on Monday afternoon.

Boston University’s Chance Gladden made his way across our tickers, x posts, and instagram feeds to stun many SDSU fans keeping an eye. So let’s take a look at his specifics.

Standing at 6’4″ 185 lbs, Gladden is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina. According to SDUT’s beat-writer Mark Zeigler, Gladden has two uncle’s that attended San Diego State, though no names were immediately mentioned.

Gladden is coming off his freshman season at Boston U. where he averaged 14.4 points per game, 34.7% from behind the three-point line, knocked down 86.7% from the free throw line, and also grabbed 3.2 rebounds and dished out 4.5 assists per game as well.

As a freshman Gladden started 31 of 33 games and helped the Terriers reach their first Patriot League title game since 2020. He wasn’t just a small reason for that landmark achievement either. Here is his buzzer-beater vs Navy that sent the team to that title game.

By the end of his first season, Gladden was 3rd on the team in scoring average and finished 12th among freshmen at 150 assists. His performance earned himself a 3rd team in the Patriot League Conference and was on the conference’s all rookie team.

According to Boston U.’s bio on Gladden, in his high school years he was a two-time All-State and Conference Player of the Year at Ravenscroft … Averaged 29 points per game as a senior and 26 points his junior season … Earned All-Conference First Team honors as a sophomore averaging 19 points … Played AAU hoops for Team CP3.

So what does this all mean? Well first off, the young man can play. You don’t come out with these kinds of numbers as a true freshman and not realize the young man is ahead of schedule.

The Patriot League features schools like Army, Navy, Colgate, Bucknell, and Colgate. Not exactly murderers row. Just Navy, Lehigh, and Colgate finished their seasons with an overall record above .500. But this is still D1 ball real promise and can compete at a higher level.

Secondly, he was undervalued coming out of high school. Some things to like about Gladden is that he is a tough, strong-bodied guard. As a freshman his upper body is well developed and seems to get a lot of push when he takes on a defender around the paint.

He’s able to maneuver around using his pivot very well and get scoring looks when having to post up. His ability to knock down the three is also pretty solid. But one thing is clear about this pickup is that he is truly a point guard. His high assist rate should indicate that he’s a lead facilitator, something SDSU thought they had covered last season.

But wether he is the right fit at San Diego State is the question. The Aztecs current roster of ‘core’ members and incomers have a pretty solid group of wing position players in tow. Elzie Harrington is back for his sophomore season and ran quite a bit of point guard action. Latrell Davis is set to make his debut on the team and transfer Nick Johnson will also be out on the perimeter.

It will be curious to see how Gladden’s percentages hold up against Pac-12 level of competition and how the staff truly seeks how to use his abilities this year. Will he be immediately implemented into the rotation despite a guard heavy presence of guys that can handle the rock?

Without a similar log jam like last year, where Latrell Davis was chosen to red shirt, will Gladden still be chosen to do the same? In this transfer portal climate where both players and teams are looking for immediate impact and compensation—that move seems unlikely. But with less than 12 hours to go in the closing of the portal, we can only speculate on curve balls are yet to come.

More to come about the latest in the SDSU program as Sons of Montezuma goes Live Tuesday night as the portal shuts its door. Tune in and contribute to the chat at 7pm PST.