3 former Texas football players that were poor fits with Kwiatkowski

Honorable mentions

Tyler Owens, S

There will be multiple cases on this list of a former blue-chip recruit under the previous coaching regime that just wasn’t developed and ultimately didn’t pan out. This is certainly the bucket that the former five-star recruit and junior safety/special teams coverage player Tyler Owens fits into at this point of his career.

While Owens certainly didn’t make enough of an impact to see the field last fall, he didn’t find much traction either with the previous defensive coordinators in the last few years.

Owens entered the portal earlier this offseason before eventually signing with new head coach Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Jordon Thomas, DL/EDGE

An unfortunate situation arose in the last year or so with the former four-star edge rusher/defensive end recruit and newly enrolled freshman Jordon Thomas. At one point earlier this offseason, it looked like Thomas was finally primed to compete to start getting some key practice reps along the defensive line.

But that never panned out for him during spring ball, and the fact that Thomas was never able to get his body right and where it needed to be in order to either play as a true pass rusher/outside linebacker or a three-technique defensive lineman in this Kwiatkowski scheme really hurt him. Thomas looks like more of a natural fit as a strong-side defensive end in a 4-3 front or as a three-technique DL if he adds some weight to his frame soon.

Thomas has yet to find his next landing spot since entering the portal post-spring ball.

Chris Adimora, S

This is a difficult one to include on this list.

I don’t necessarily think that the long-term fit for a player with the talent and overall potential of the former blue-chip recruit and junior safety Chris Adimora with Kwiatkowski was all that bad. Adimora is still someone that could be a versatile and potent safety that can excel in a number of different areas.

He just got caught up in a similar problem with a number of other Tom Herman-era recruits with this defense. It was a lot to ask for him to pick up a new defense this fast.

Nonetheless, Adimora still wasn’t able to see the field enough and just wasn’t able to make enough of an impact for Kwiatkowski and this defensive staff to get him key live-game reps last season. And when he was on the field last fall, he wasn’t very effective. Adimora looked lost at times as he just hadn’t adjusted to the schemes and spacing in this Kwiatkowski defense yet.

Adimora transferred to link up with new head coach Rhett Lashlee and the SMU Mustangs where he’ll get a much-needed change of scenery.