4 former Texas transfers that could be stars in 2022

Terrence Cooks, LB

Among the big early losses this offseason to the transfer portal for the Longhorns was the former blue-chip recruit and rising sophomore linebacker Terrence Cooks. Texas could really ill-afford to lose any linebacker depth to the transfer portal this offseason. But that’s exactly what happened with the promising Cooks making his way to join a Big 12 foe out of the portal a few months back.

Cooks actually entered the portal well before most other Longhorns players. He was in the portal in early November, well before the 2022 season wrapped up. And he found his next landing spot with the TCU Horned Frogs and new head coach Sonny Dykes in a matter of weeks.

Moreover, as spring practice has moved along for the Horned Frogs, Cooks has continually filled more and more important roles in terms of where he’s getting reps. He started out spring ball as a rotational outside linebacker with the second and/or third teams.

But now with only a couple of practices remaining before TCU’s spring game later this week, Cooks has worked his way up to getting first-team reps at times with the starting linebackers. That is big for Cooks to progress the way he has so fast in a new system.

Some of the early signs Cooks is showing gives the indication that he could be an immediate contributor to this TCU defense. And if he turns out like other blue-chip linebackers have for TCU, he could potentially reach the point of an All-Big 12-caliber player in no time.

Cooks would still need to make a lot of strides to reach the point of an all-conference linebacker with the Horned Frogs. But he is surely a sleeper to watch among the recent Texas transfers in 2022.