Texas Football: 3 Longhorns who transferred too early

2. Anthony Cook, Cornerback

The latest addition to the transfer portal off of the Forty Acres is the former four-star recruit and Houston, TX, native Cook. This rising junior was one of the most highly coveted cornerback recruits of the 2018 cycle. It’s just a shame that it didn’t work out to the point where he was able to make an impact in the back half of his college career with the Longhorns.

Coming out of Lamar High School in Houston, Cook ranked as the nation’s No. 64 2018 high school prospect, No. 10 cornerback, and No. 7 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). He was one of the numerous highly touted defensive back commits in the Longhorns 2018 recruiting class that newly hired defensive coordinator Chris Ash had to be hoping to cash in on.

Cook got to play a significant role in the Texas secondary last season. But former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando was let go for his role in letting the pass defense post their worst production of the last decade (nearly 300 passing yards per game allowed). That’s not all on the shoulders of underclassmen like Cook, but this group wasn’t really given the chance to blossom together.

In his two seasons playing for Texas, Cook registered 42 total tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, three pass deflections, and one forced fumble. Most of that production came last season, but some came when he was a true freshman. Cook has a lot of potential that another college program will try and develop.