Former Texas football DB Eric Cuffee transferring from New Mexico

Another defensive back that spent some time with the Texas football program is now in the transfer portal, this time it’s New Mexico JR DB Eric Cuffee.

The former Texas football three-star defensive back recruit and short lived cornerback for the New Mexico Lobos Eric Cuffee is back on the transfer market once again. Cuffee put his name back into the NCAA Transfer Portal following a short lived stint with the New Mexico football program, back on Oct. 8.

While the transfer news of Cuffee largely flew under the radar, he is one of the lone former Longhorn DB’s to put their name in the portal over the last two years. And he came out of high school highly touted as a blue chip recruit, but he has yet to live up to the hype yet.

Cuffee signed with Texas as a four-star cornerback recruit hailing from Waco High School in Waco, TX. He was a key part of the Longhorns 2016 signing class. Cuffee ranked as the nation’s No. 280 2016 high school prospect, No. 27 cornerback, and No. 45 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).

He held offers from nearly three dozen schools coming out of high school. A few of the highlighting schools on his offer sheet included the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Arkansas Razorbacks, Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Baylor Bears, Florida Gators, Michigan Wolverines, Oklahoma Sooners, Stanford Cardinal, TCU Horned Frogs, Texas A&M Aggies, and UCLA Bruins, among other Power Five programs.

Following a two-year stint with the Longhorns, Cuffee spending a couple of seasons with Trinity Valley Community College in Waco, TX, going closer to home. He then signed with the New Mexico Lobos 2019 recruiting class. During the 2019 cycle, Cuffee ranked as the nation’s No. 253 JUCO prospect, No. 31 cornerback, and No. 18 prospect out of Texas (247Sports JUCO Composite ranking).

During his two years playing at Texas, Cuffee only really took snaps on special teams. And he did take some snaps in the secondary at New Mexico during the 2019 season. But he only registered one tackle in one game played with the Lobos last season.

There’s no clear indicators yet as to where Cuffee will land. He has two years of eligibility remaining still, which is impressive given that he was originally part of the Longhorns 2016 recruiting class.

Cuffee originally transferred from Texas around the same time that fellow defensive back John Bonney did during the 2018 offseason. Bonney wound up landing with the Texas Tech Red Raiders as a grad transfer for one year.