Texas football loses depth in secondary with Kenyatta Watson II transfer

Texas football could be losing a sizable part of the future of its secondary on Oct. 4 with CB Kenyatta Watson II entering the NCAA Transfer Portal.

The losses and/or injuries are really piling up for the Texas football program between what losses they had to the NCAA Transfer Portal earlier in the offseason and even after Week 5 of the 2020 college football season. The latest reported loss (247Sports) for Texas to the transfer portal out of the defensive backfield came with the former highly touted four-star recruit and redshirt freshman cornerback Kenyatta Watson II.

As one of the more unexpected entrants into the transfer portal in recent memory among any Longhorns defenders, losing out on Watson II potentially really hurts. Texas was already getting gashed at different times over the course of his two years on the Forty Acres in defending the pass. They don’t need to lose anymore depth than they already have.

Watson II really only got snaps for the Longhorns defense in the season opening win over the UTEP Miners back on Sep. 12 by the final score of 59-3. Texas gave Watson II 17 snaps in that game, and none showed up since then.

The Texas secondary didn’t struggle as much in a loss that hurt more than just about any other in recent memory under the direction of head coach Tom Herman. Texas gave up less than 250 passing yards and no passing touchdowns in the Oct. 3 loss in their Big 12 home opener at the hands of the TCU Horned Frogs.

Texas fell short of the Horned Frogs over the weekend by a narrow two-point margin, by the final score of 33-31. A late-game fumble at the goal line from junior running back Keaontay Ingram would cost the Longhorns the game in the end.

What Kenyatta Watson II did for Texas football

However, but in the one game that Watson II did play in, he was pretty impressive for this secondary. He took 17 snaps in the season opening win over UTEP. He’s had three total tackles (two solo and one assisted), 0.5 tackles for loss, and one pass deflection.

In his bits and pieces of two years playing for Texas so far, Watson II was targeted 13 total times. He allowed seven receptions for 101 receiving yards, and one touchdown catch.  He also didn’t have a single missed tackle during his time on the Forty Acres to date.

Watson II is a former four-star cornerback recruit hailing out of the Grayson High School football program in Loganville, GA. He ranked as the nation’s No. 131 2019 high school prospect, No. 16 cornerback, and No. 16 prospect out of Georgia (247Sports Composite).

There’s no clear indication as to what the plan will be for Watson II yet. He will be one of the more intriguing names in the transfer portal entering the 2021 offseason if he has not found a landing spot by then. Maybe he could still return to Texas too.