Former Alabama transfer LB Jaylen Moody visiting Texas this weekend

Texas football co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate seem to have found their next target up in the NCAA Transfer Portal this week. And one of the most recent emerging transfer portal targets to watch for Texas that plays on the defensive side of the ball is also on campus in Austin for a visit this weekend.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide transfer senior linebacker and under-the-radar three-star recruit Jaylen Moody looks to now be on the Longhorns’ radar this week. According to a report from Inside Texas (part of the On3 Network, paid content) on the night of Jan. 15, Texas hosted Moody on a visit on campus this weekend.

Moody is one of a few linebacker targets that the Longhorns have in store out of the transfer portal early this offseason. He is also one of a few notable transfer portal targets for the Longhorns staff that were hosted in Austin for a visit this week.

This is a rather new development as Moody originally put his name in the transfer portal back on Jan. 13. There weren’t really any schools mentioned in connection with him right out of the gates when he put his name in the portal earlier this week. Texas is really the first to have something material to report in terms of news with Moody.

Texas football reportedly hosts Alabama transfer LB Jaylen Moody on a visit this weekend

Moreover, it is clear that the Longhorns staff is looking to add at least one inside linebacker this offseason if the fit is right. Second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff made it a habit last year to go after players in the transfer portal that they were familiar with. That would be the case with Moody too.

It’s hard to gauge exactly how Moody fits into the bigger picture of the linebackers available in the transfer portal at the moment if you had to rank them out. He had some flashes at Alabama. But there are many other linebackers in the portal right now with more proven production than him.

Texas also has some convincing to do about their linebacker evaluation in the transfer portal after the lack of impact the players they got from that source made during the 2021 season. I’m really looking at former LSU Tiger Ray Thornton and former Alabama linebacker/edge rusher Ben Davis here.

Moody did take just over 250 defensive snaps in his four years playing for the Crimson Tide. During that span, he registered 45 combined tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, no sacks, one interception, just over a dozen stops, eight quarterback pressures, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

There are indications that Moody could at least be a reliable linebacker that fits into this rotation along the defensive front for Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns next season. But given the limited number of scholarships that Texas has available to use in the midst of a fruitful portal offseason, it will be interesting to see if Moody is the right fit.

Moody is a former three-star recruit that signed with the Crimson Tide as part of their 2018 recruiting class. The 6-foot-2 and 225-pound linebacker is a native of Conway, SC, and recently got his degree from the University of Alabama.