Breaking: 3 costliest portal departures for Texas this…..
The movement in the NCAA Transfer Portal has really heated up for Texas football in the last 10 days. Since the 45-day spring transfer portal window opened for underclassmen on April 16, Texas has lost over a half-dozen players to the portal.
Texas football loses a few players with multiple years of live-game experience to the trasnfer portal
With the Longhorns being a few players over the scholarship limit of 85 this spring, roster attrition was bound to happen. But quite a few of the players the Longhorns have lost to the portal since the spring window opened early last week aren’t guys that Texas would want to see depart the program.
Roster attrition is something teams must deal with in the modern age of college football with NIL and the transfer portal. And head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns have done a pretty good job with roster management this offseason.
Granted, losing a returning starter on the defensive side of the ball on April 23 to the transfer portal, junior cornerback Terrance Brooks, is never ideal. That is a gap Texas must fill in the secondary this spring.
Here’s a look at the three costliest portal departures for the Longhorns this spring.
J’Mond Tapp, EDGE
Due to the heightened depth and competition at the EDGE position this spring, the Longhorns lost two players to the portal from this room in the last week. Redshirt sophomore J’Mond Tapp and redshirt freshman Billy Walton both entered the transfer portal last week before the spring game on April 20.
Tapp is the more experienced of the two edge rushers the Longhorns lost to the portal since last week. He pushed to earn more reps on the two-deep along the defensive front in the last couple of years at Texas.
Last season, Tapp took a career-high 98 defensive snaps over seven games for the Longhorns. He registered eight combined tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, four defensive stops, four quarterback pressures, and one QB hit in 2023.
Tapp was one of the highest-rated defensive recruits the Longhorns signed in the 2022 class. He was the top-ranked edge rusher in the 2022 class from Louisiana in the 247Sports Composite. Tapp has always had immense upside as a pass rusher thanks to good explosiveness and bend coming off the edge.
The fact that Texas lost Tapp to the portal this spring goes to show how much depth and talent is present in this position group for Pete Kwiatkowski and Johnny Nansen in the EDGE room entering the SEC this coming season.
Texas loses CB Terrance Brooks to the transfer portal
Junior Texas football cornerback Terrance Brooks announced his intent to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal via a post on social media on April 23. Brooks is Texas’s first returning starter (for at least 10 games) to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
Texas football starting CB Terrance Brooks announces intent to enter the transfer portal
Brooks posted a message on his X account on April 23 announcing that he intends to enter the transfer portal.
“I want to thank God, my family, and the Longhorn Nation for everything. At this time, I will be entering into the transfer portal.”
During his two seasons at Texas, Brooks started 16 of the 23 games he appeared in. Brooks registered 29 combined tackles, three interceptions, nine pass breakups, and six defensive stops since 2022 with the Longhorns.
After starting a few games during his true freshman campaign in 2022, Brooks became a full-time starter at field corner last fall. He started 13 of 14 games he played at field corner for Texas’s secondary in 2023, earning All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors for the first time.
Brooks led all Texas cornerbacks in defensive snaps (598) last season. Among eligible cornerbacks, Brooks was the fourth highest-graded for the Longhorns in 2023.
Before Brooks announced his intentions to transfer on April 23, Texas had done a nice job of minimizing the costly departures to the portal this offseason. At this point of the offseason, Brooks is the only player who started double-digit games last season that the Longhorns lost to the portal.
Losing Brooks to the portal leaves the Longhorns with five true scholarship cornerbacks and 15 scholarship defensive backs on the roster a few days following the conclusion of spring camp.
Texas and cornerbacks coach Terry Joseph return sophomore cornerback Malik Muhammad and senior Gavin Holmes from last year’s squad. The Longhorns also have three true freshmen early enrollees on campus among scholarship corners this spring, including Kobe Black, Santana Wilson, and Wardell Mack.
Texas coaches emphasize the ability to cross-train defensive backs to enhance versatility and depth in the secondary. Defensive backs like senior Jahdae Barron, junior Jaylon Guilbeau, and junior Austin Jordan have also cross-trained at cornerback in the past at Texas.
