Texas Football: DB depth takes a dip with Tyler Owens in the portal

The problems facing the Texas football program and new head coach Steve Sarkisian in the last few weeks could create issues the extend away from the field too. Texas folding the way that they did against the Oklahoma schools in the last two games is something that came at an unfortunate time for this squad.

Granted, when is there really a good time for the Longhorns to have some true second-half collapses the way they did in the last two weekends.

The latest loss this fall that came off the field came courtesy of the former five-star recruit and junior safety Tyler Owens. Texas saw Owens put his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal this weekend. This report came courtesy of a tweet from Inside Texas this weekend.

This is not all that surprising, though, given the change in coaching regime since Owens was first recruited to Texas. And his lack of playing time over the course of the last few seasons also makes sense as to why he wanted to seek an opportunity elsewhere. He’s got a lot of raw talent that he brings to the table. The dots just didn’t really connect for Owens consistently during his time on the Forty Acres.

Texas football down a blue-chip DB with Tyler Owens in the transfer portal

Owens got just over 150 snaps on defense during his three seasons playing for Texas. But most of the snaps he took came on special teams. Owens got most of his playing time during his true freshman campaign. But his number of snaps consistently went down from there over the last two seasons.

Owens was originally recruited by former Texas safeties coach Craig Naivar. And the original defensive coordinator he played for with Texas was Todd Orlando. He’s now been through three different defensive coordinators, and two head coaches, in his three seasons playing for Texas.

All in all, you can’t be too shocked that Owens is one of the first Longhorns players to show up in the transfer portal this fall. Roster attrition was still bound to take place this fall in the first year under Sark’s coaching staff.

In his three seasons playing for Texas, Owens registered 13 combined tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, and one pass breakup. All he was able to rack up this fall, though, were two combined tackles in a very limited number of defensive snaps. He still played nearly all of his snaps this year on special teams.

Owens originally signed with the Longhorns as part of the 2019 recruiting class. Coming out of Plano East High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Owens ranked as the nation’s No. 107 2019 high school prospect, No. 9 safety, and No. 18 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranked him as the nation’s No. 24 high school prospect, No. 3 safety, and No. 4 prospect out of Texas.