Texas Football: 3 biggest portal losses among defensive players this week
JD Coffey III, S
Another case of a young and talented former blue-chip recruit at defensive back that entered the portal from Texas early this week is found in sophomore safety JD Coffey III. Coffey is another DB that came out of fall camp looking to cement a spot on the two-deep for the foreseeable future.
And Coffey actually looked to be on the right path to getting a spot on the two-deep at one point down the stretch this season. When Texas was dealing with some injury issues at safety/nickel to the likes of senior Anthony Cook, junior Jerrin Thompson, and freshman Jaylon Guilbeau, Coffey started getting a few more reps.
In the Week 12 win over the Kansas Jayhawks, Coffey took the most defensive snaps he had in any Big 12 game to date, with 14.
Safety is another position, though, where Texas is looking to add more talent and depth heading into the offseason. Texas has an elite safety committed to the 2023 class in five-star Louisiana DB Derek Williams. And it sounds like Texas is planning to get one or two defensive backs that can play at safety out of the portal this offseason.
On the other hand, I do think there was a spot that Coffey had in this secondary moving forward if he made some real strides next offseason. With Texas losing Cook and junior Kitan Crawford struggling a bit in the live-game reps he did get at safety this season, there was room for Coffey to rise up the depth chart in 2023.
Next. Predicting Texas' next portal entrant after a big wave to start the week. dark
As I previously mentioned, though, you could make a good for both Johnson and Coffey as the biggest portal loss on the defensive side of the ball so far for this coming offseason.
In terms of which of these defensive backs wind up being the more impactful loss to the portal in 2023, it will depend on what Texas is able to add at these two positions by way of the transfer market and the recruiting trail in the next few months.