Texas Football: SMU lands former Horns transfer K Chris Naggar
Former Texas football kicker/punter and rising senior graduate transfer Chris Naggar lands closer to home after signing with the SMU Mustangs.
The news from the NCAA Transfer Portal strikes again during the 2020 offseason in relevance to the Texas football program. On June 1, the news dropped of where former rising senior Texas kicker and graduate transfer Chris Naggar would take his talents to next. Naggar had put his name in the transfer portal earlier this offseason with rising junior starting kicker Cameron Dicker assuming all the work in this phase of special teams for likely the next two years.
This former 6-foot-1 and 195 pound signee of the Texas Longhorns football program and the 2016 recruiting class gets to go back slightly closer to home by landing with the SMU Mustangs and head coach Sonny Dykes in the American Athletic Conference. Naggar is an Arlington, TX, native and a product of Arlington High School. He was an unranked punter recruit by classification during the 2016 cycle.
During the 2019 season, Naggar played in two games with the kickoff unit. He got on for a few kickoffs in the non-conference games against the Rice Owls and Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. He averaged 64.0 yards per kickoff, including two touchbacks.
In the punting game, Naggar booted the ball off 25 times. He averaged 39.3 yards per punt (good for just under 1,000 punting yards total), while the usual starting Texas punter Ryan Bujcevski was dealing with an injury.
SMU has landed University of Texas grad transfer kicker Chris Naggar, his Arlington HS coach Scott Peach confirmed to me.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) June 1, 2020
Chris spent the last four years at UT. Didn’t get many opportunities there but figures to have a chance to start with SMU at a position of great need.
There are some nice words being said about Naggar as he lands with SMU ahead of the final season of eligibility for his college career. He’ll get to link up with a prominent former Longhorn in rising redshirt senior quarterback and fellow Arlington, TX, native Shane Buechele in Dallas this fall.
More on Chris Naggar's commitment to SMU.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) June 1, 2020
HS coach Scott Peach: "He’s got an explosive leg. Tremendous accuracy. ... They’re getting a star.”
Link: https://t.co/EJNp8yYq2x pic.twitter.com/kNUYojYXS7
Naggar will compete for the starting kicker job right away for the SMU program, as the former starter and original Florida State Seminoles commit Kevin Robledo ran out of eligibility this offseason.
dark. Next. 3 juniors ready to breakout for Texas in 2020
Other key transfer losses for the Longhorns so far this offseason includes defensive tackles Gerald Wilbon and D’Andre Christmas-Giles, linebacker Caleb Johnson, and offensive tackle JP Urquidez.
Naggar will be joining an SMU team that finished up last season with a record of 10-3 (6-2 AAC) after a Boca Raton Bowl loss at the hands of the Florida Atlantic Owls.