Texas Football: 5 early top Longhorns for the 2022 NFL Draft
Ray Thornton, LB
It is important to watch how the Longhorns additions out of the NCAA Transfer Portal this offseason have an impact on particular players’ draft stock come the 2022 NFL Draft. And one that sticks out early on among new Longhorns transfer portal additions this year is the former LSU Tigers senior linebacker Ray Thornton.
As potentially the most impactful addition for the Longhorns out of the transfer portal so far this offseason, Thornton is set to be a big piece of this linebacker position in 2021. But that won’t make it any easier for Thornton give that he could be tasked with replacing some of the lost production of Juwan Mitchell and Ossai.
Thornton clearly has an NFL-caliber frame and set of physical tools that fits well in the modern game, at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds. He is a former highly touted four-star recruit that was a key part of LSU’s 2016 recruiting class. Thornton will now be looking to cap off his college career by contending on the national level and proving his draft stock to NFL scouts.
In bits and pieces of just over 20 career games played, Thornton registered 45 combined tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. A pressure rate north of 10 percent and a missed tackle percentage that has consistently improved (now down to around 15.0 percent for his career) are positive indicators for the direction that Thornton’s draft stock could be headed.