Which transfer portal entrant hurts Texas football the most?

Implemented by the NCAA in October 2018, the transfer portal has become something closely mirroring professional free agency that has changed how collegiate athletics operate, and it impacts Texas football too.

After a few tweaks since its inception, the transfer portal now allows players to move schools without the penalty of sitting out a year (for their first transfer). Players can also transfer schools more than once but will subsequently have to sit out a year after their second move.

With this ‘free agency’ in college football now on the table, it was expected that the 2022 offseason would be unlike anything we have ever seen. No school will avoid attrition to the portal, and Texas football has already felt its early effects.

Throughout the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 29, seven Longhorns announced their intentions to transfer out of the program: Hudson Card, JD Coffey III, Prince Dorbah, DJ Harris, Jamier Johnson, Andrej Karic, and Troy Omeire.

All players lost to the transfer portal hurt your program, and I am sure Coach Sarkisian did not want any of the seven players mentioned above to leave the Texas program. That said, some losses are bound to have a more significant impact than others.

Here is the player I believe is the most significant transfer portal loss so far for Texas football

Jamier Johnson, DB

After two seasons on the Forty Acres, defensive back Jamier Johnson announced his intentions to transfer from the University of Texas. Hailing from Pasadena, California, Johnson was ranked as the No. 276 prospect in the 247Sports Composite for the class of 2021.

Johnson played in ten games during his freshman season, mainly in a special teams role. He transitioned that role into a rotational defensive back during the 2022 campaign. Johnson played in seven games this season, logging 176 defensive snaps. He recorded six tackles and one pass breakup while allowing 12-of-16 passes thrown his way to be completed.

According to Pro Football Focus, his 59.2 pass coverage grade ranked sixth out of seven Longhorn cornerbacks with at least 35 pass coverage snaps.

Although his sophomore numbers do not pop off the page, Johnson has the frame and athleticism that is hard to find in defensive backs. At 6-foot and 175 pounds, he has the requisite size to match up with wide receivers of all sizes.

Towards the end of the season, Johnson’s role in the defensive back room seemed to be passed over by freshmen Terrance Brooks and Austin Jordan. Johnson saw only 14 defensive snaps in the season’s final seven games. Although he appeared to fall out of favor with the defensive coaching staff in the back half of 2022, that does not mean next year’s version of this team will not need Johnson.

The Longhorns are losing one starting corner (D’Shawn Jamison) and may very well lose their other (Ryan Watts) to the 2023 NFL Draft. This leaves Jahdae Barron, who mostly navigated out of the slot, as the only upperclassmen cornerback set to return next season.

I would have loved to see Johnson stick it out and compete with underclassmen such as the aforementioned Brooks and Jordan, as well as Jaylon Guilbeau, X’Avion Brice, and true freshman Malik Muhammad, among others.

Cornerback is a position where you can never have too many bodies. It is a position where the Texas coaching staff wants to stack talent. One can only wonder what a guy of his stature and athleticism could have accomplished on the Forty Acres had he achieved his full potential.

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