Texas RB/LB Jaden Hullaby enters the portal after position change

The next notable Texas football player to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal announced his intentions on the afternoon of April 28, with the rising redshirt sophomore linebacker/running back Jaden Hullaby testing the waters. Hullaby announced on his Twitter timeline on April 28 that he is entering the transfer portal after two years with the Texas program.

Hullaby thanked current Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and former head coach Tom Herman for coaching him up through each of the last two years in his tweet announcing his transfer intentions.

The news of Hullaby entering the transfer portal comes just after Sark and the Longhorns staff tried a position change for him to switch to the other side of the ball. Hullaby was slotted as a linebacker during his first two seasons playing for Texas.

But during spring ball this offseason, Sark and the Longhorns staff moved Hullaby from linebacker to running back to help with depth concerns with that position group.

Texas football sees second player enter the portal in the last few days with LB/RB Jaden Hullaby

It appeared that Hullaby was fighting hard after this position change during spring ball. But that might also be one of the root causes of him entering the transfer portal this week.

In all likelihood, Hullaby had a greater shot at getting playing time in the next couple of seasons at the linebacker position than he did at running back. Texas is very deep at running back and has more blue-chip talent on the way at the position after landing a recent commit from the four-star DeSoto product Tre Wisner last weekend.

But there also looked to be a plan in place for the Longhorns to try and utilize Hullaby as more of an H-back when lining up in two-back sets on offense this coming season. He would be a more sizable blocking force coming out of the backfield than really any other back Texas has at the moment.

Moreover, Hullaby took just shy of 20 live game snaps during the last two seasons playing for Texas. All of those snaps were on special teams, with a little more than half coming with the kickoff coverage team.

Hullaby came up with one tackle in the reps he did get on special teams in the last two seasons. His lone tackle came in the Longhorns’ dominant Alamo Bowl win to cap the 2020 season over the Colorado Buffaloes.

Texas signed Hullaby with their 2020 recruiting class as a three-star athlete coming out of Mansfield Timberview High School in Mansfield, TX. He was recruited as an athlete that played at both linebacker and running back in high school.

Texas just finished up camp with the altered version of the annual Orange-White spring football game taking place on April 23. Sark and the Longhorns are set to open up the regular season on Sep. 4 at home against Louisiana-Monroe.