Texas Football: Casey Thompson leaving along with Cameron Rising?

The transfer announcements keep pouring in for Texas football, with the latest news from first-year quarterback Casey Thompson.

The transfer news for this Texas football program of late isn’t doing anything to help the cause for the 2019 campaign, and even years beyond that. After Texas football was already set to lose some depth at running back next year with the transfer of sophomore Toneil Carter, the loss of some quarterback hurts a lot.

Apparently this 2018 Texas football recruiting class isn’t going to have as much potential on the offensive side of the ball as once thought. Per sources from 247Sports, Texas football could be losing its second quarterback in just a few days with the potential transfer of freshman former four-star dual-threat recruit Casey Thompson.

In just the last three days, Thompson is the second quarterback to enter his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal. Prior to the potential transfer announcement from Thompson, freshman former four-star pro-style quarterback recruit Cameron Rising had his intentions to leave the Forty Acres dropped.

If Texas football winds up losing both Thompson and Rising, the detriment to the quarterback room could be massive. The Texas Longhorns had a ton of depth and potential at quarterback for the next three or four years. That depth is starting to fade with the amount of transfer intentions released lately.

If both Rising and Thompson are gone next year, the only quarterbacks left on the roster will be junior Sam Ehlinger, senior Shane Buechele, and true freshman Roschon Johnson. There are some rumors that Buechele could be on his way out of the Forty Acres too, due to the situation behind Ehlinger.

The success of Ehlinger this year could also be the reason for Rising and Thompson exploring transfer options. At least Rising figured he would see some early playing time at some point over his first two years on campus. That might not be true, since he didn’t get a single snap this fall.

Moreover, head Texas football coach Tom Herman might have to place more of an emphasis on recruiting the quarterback position. Roschon Johnson is set to be an early enrollee for spring camp, and Hudson Card is committed in the 2020 class. But, Ehlinger and Buechele will be gone within the next two years so more depth will be needed.

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a new system that is used for head coaches to get in contact with potential prospects to sign. There’s no guarantee that Rising and Thompson will both leave, it just means they’re exploring all options available to them. At this point, there’s a good number (1,000+) names reportedly on the NCAA Transfer Portal.

This news is starting to become a commonality, and could be throughout the off-season. The off-season could become much more intriguing, with the idea of a “free agency” in college football becoming more of a reality than ever before.

The fact that this is starting to become normal for some younger players with tight position competitions for playing time doesn’t take away from the detriment of potentially losing Rising and Thompson. That’s two very talented first-year quarterbacks that could be gone very quickly.