Texas Football: LB Juwan Mitchell enters transfer portal again

Before they can really get the depth chart set on the defensive side of the ball this year, Texas football must figure out its thinning linebacker room. First-year Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and new defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski are dealing with a lot of depth losses at the linebacker position already this offseason.

Another linebacker loss was delivered this week, with junior former JUCO transfer Juwan Mitchell putting his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Mitchell had left the team last week, giving way to putting his name in the transfer portal this week.

The report that Mitchell officially entered the transfer portal arrived on the late afternoon of March 31 on the Twitter timeline of Matt Zenitz of AL.com. It was later confirmed by a few sources. This is the second time in the last two offseasons that Mitchell entered the portal at some point.

Although, Mitchell entering the portal is nothing new for the Longhorns. Under the direction of former Texas head coach Tom Herman, Mitchell wound up putting his name in the portal last offseason. That would only lead the way to him returning to the Forty Acres later on for Herman and ex-defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

What Texas football could be losing with Juwan Mitchell transferring?

I say what the Longhorns “could be losing” with Mitchell entering the portal this offseason since he’s done this before. Mitchell either leaves the team, enters the portal, or both, and then winds up landing back on the Forty Acres. And while there’s no guarantee that he’ll make it back to the program this offseason, Mitchell has done the rounds on this process already.

If Texas does wind up losing Mitchell to the portal for good, that is a very notable void they have to fill at the linebacker position. Texas already lost the likes of former junior star linebacker/edge rusher Joseph Ossai to the NFL Draft and junior linebacker Ayodele Adeoye to the transfer portal. Losing a third big piece of their linebacking corps from last season will be tough for Kwiatkowski to pull back together.

Mitchell was the leading tackler for the Longhorns last year, registering 62 combined tackles in nine games played. He also raked in 4.5 tackles for loss last season, no sacks, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery.

For his career for Texas (during the last two seasons), Mitchell registered 99 combined tackles, eight tackles for loss, three sacks, five pass breakups, and one fumble recovery. He was a big piece of this Texas linebacking corps over the course of the last two years.

No matter how you look at it, missing Mitchell in spring ball is also a detriment for Texas. They are already down junior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and freshman early enrollee outside linebacker/edge rusher Derrick Harris Jr., in spring camp due to various injury issues. Another loss won’t help anything.

Texas began spring ball back on March 23, but it had to be placed on pause last week due to COVID-19-related issues. They should be able to resume spring drills this week. Sark is taking part in his first bout of spring camp on the Forty Acres after replacing Herman as head coach back on Jan. 2.