Texas Football: LSU’s Marcel Brooks is ultimate Horns transfer target

LSU Tigers rising sophomore linebacker/safety Marcel Brooks is a potential star and Texas football should go after him in the transfer portal.

The most recent big name to appear in the NCAA Transfer Portal that should be a primary point of emphasis for the Texas football program is the former LSU Tigers safety/linebacker Marcel Brooks. This Fort Worth, TX, native and rising sophomore talented defensive player put his name in the transfer portal in the midst of a weird offseason for head coach Ed Orgeron and the defending National Champion LSU over the weekend, according to an ESPN report.

Linebacker is one of the bigger positional needs for the Longhorns. And they have apparently already targeted former Iowa Hawkeyes linebacker Dillon Doyle in the transfer portal in the last month. Targeting Brooks would likely be a big upgrade in terms of raw talent at the linebacker position than Doyle.

If recently hired defensive coordinator Chris ash and head coach Tom Herman are still going after linebacker help in the transfer portal, then it’s a great time to go after someone as potent as Brooks. The former five-star recruit and in-state product was one of the bigger parts of LSU’s 2019 signing class. Brooks ranked as the nation’s No. 32 2019 high school prospect, No. 2 outside linebacker, and No. 5 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).

Brooks is a product of Flower Mound-Marcus High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. And he held nearly two dozen offers coming out of high school. The highlights of the schools on his offer sheet included the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Texas A&M Aggies, and the Longhorns.

He did receive his scholarship offer from Texas way back in May 2017. He had a few visits to the Forty Acres back during his recruitment, but committed to LSU during the 2018 offseason. Brooks would sign with the Tigers during the Early Signing Period in December 2018. Yet, there seemed to be a lot of mutual interest that Brooks also held with Alabama and Oklahoma prior to committing and signing with LSU.

Moreover, Brooks had an interesting run at LSU prior to announcing his intentions to transfer. He played mostly at safety during his true freshman season in Baton Rouge. There was production for him in six games last season. In those six games played, he registered eight total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks.

Overall, Brooks had action in 11 games last season. He registered his first full sack in LSU’s win over Texas A&M and his other 0.5 sacks against the Gators. And he actually posted his first career solo tackle in LSU’s nailbiting win over the Longhorns last season.

Since there is already multiple points of connection between Brooks and the Longhorns, this should be someone that the coaching staff goes after in the portal. Brooks is versatile enough that he showed potential as a pass rusher and outside linebacker with LSU last year under former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. He was also an outside linebacker primary coming out of high school.

Entering what was supposed to be a crucial run at spring camp for LSU (later cancelled out in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic), recently hired defensive coordinator and former Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini moved Brooks more to a linebacker role. That could be part of the reason why he put his name in the transfer portal. But that would also be a limitation to Texas pursuing him if he didn’t want to play at linebacker moving forward.

There is no guarantee that Brooks leaves LSU for good, but the Longhorns should go after him at the very least. If they’re already looking into transfer linebacker options, they just found a good one to go after that could make a long-term impact. And if Brooks wasn’t able to get immediate eligibility this fall, then he would still have three years remaining at the college level.

Brooks joining the Texas linebacking corps would add a lot of depth over the long haul. He could join a potent group for the next few years that also includes redshirt sophomore Ayodele Adeoye, juniors DeMarvion Overshown and Joseph Ossai, and incoming freshman Prince Dorbah.