Texas Football: 3 NCAA Transfer Portal Longhorns RB targets

The Penn State Nittany Lions are pretty deep at the running back position entering the 2020 offseason, but they will lose a key former five-star recruit to the transfer portal at the same time. The Woodbridge, VA, native and C.D. Hylton all-purpose running back former elite five-star recruit Ricky Slade will be a rising junior this year.

Slade came into Happy Valley with a ton of hype, but never quite lived up to the billing. But he did follow up a ton of impressive acts for Penn State. Saquon Barkley is now starring as one of the NFL’s best running backs, with the New York Giants. Miles Sanders is also standing out in the NFL in the NFC East, with the Philadelphia Eagles.

However, Slade did still post respectable production over the course of his two years playing under head coach James Franklin. Penn State got 588 total yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns in the career of Slade thus far. He managed to average more than five yards per carry in that same span of time, and had 13 catches for more than 100 yards.

Whatever team can tap into the raw talent that Slade brings to the table will be the one that finds a lot of success by getting him out of the transfer portal. Texas football would be taking on a larger project than usual if they were to land Slade, but he is definitely an intriguing option. He brings more experience and proven production to the table than most other Texas running backs at the moment.