Texas Football: 3 Longhorns who transferred too early

3. Toneil Carter, Running Back

An instance of where a skill position player showed a lot of potential with the Longhorns but got away too soon is firmly shown with the former four-star recruit and running back Toneil Carter. As one of the most highly touted signees in the Longhorns 2017 recruiting class, Carter was an immediate impact player in Herman’s first year at the helm.

Herman relied on the likes of Carter and rising senior running back Daniel Young to shoulder the ground game (with a bit of help from Chris Warren III) back during the 2017 season. That trio combined with Ehlinger to form one of the less efficient, but rising, ground games in the Big 12. Young and Carter looked like they could be a formidable duo out of the backfield for a long time.

Instead, the Longhorns would turn to a new era spearheaded by running backs like Keaontay Ingram and converted quarterback Roschon Johnson in the seasons that followed.  Coming off a decent freshman campaign, Carter didn’t get any carries in 2018. He then promptly put his name into the portal the following offseason.

Carter took 59 touches for 283 yards and four touchdowns during his true freshman season at Texas. He had three scores on the ground and one in the receiving game. And he led the team in yards per carry during the 2017 season (4.8). There was a lot of potential in him, but clearly there were some differences that couldn’t be worked out.

Carter would transfer to join FCS Sam Houston State two offseasons ago, where he is entering possibly his final season of college ball.