Texas Football: Ranking 4 biggest 2019 offseason losses thus far

An intriguing quarterback situation for the off-season transpired between the SMU Mustangs and Arkansas Razorbacks as a direct result of the transfer portal. Arkansas has former SMU head coach Chad Morris trying to rebuild the program in Fayetteville. As a result, Morris brought over his former starting quarterback from SMU, Ben Hicks.

Arkansas also landed a transfer quarterback of their own from another SEC school, with redshirt sophomore Nick Starkel going to Fayetteville from the rival Texas A&M Aggies. Starkel seemingly didn’t mesh well with now second-year Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher. And Arkansas also lost senior signal caller Ty Storey to the transfer portal, who ultimately landed with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

To replace the departed Hicks, SMU and former Cal Golden Bears head coach Sonny Dykes also turned to the transfer portal to snag a former Longhorn. Redshirt junior Shane Buechele landed with SMU, so he won’t have to stray too far from the Forty Acres.

Buechele is a big loss for the Longhorns since he was huge in relief of an injured Sam Ehlinger last year when he went down with shoulder issues against the Baylor Bears and Iowa State Cyclones. In terms of the impact it will have ahead of the 2019 campaign, losing Buechele is more pivotal for Texas than Rising. Rising will also have to sit out a year with the Utes while Buechele won’t at SMU.