Texas Football: 5 upperclassmen that could opt out of the bowl game

Anthony Cook, S

Senior safety Anthony Cook is a possible absence in the secondary that would hurt the Longhorns a little bit more in the bowl game if he does decide to sit out in preparation for the NFL Draft.

And while I do think that Cook is more likely to play in the Alamo Bowl than Jamison, there is still a good to fair chance that he won’t want to risk any further injury later this month.

Cook already suffered a broken forearm not that long ago, when Texas lost on the road to the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Oct. 22. Cook didn’t ultimately wind up missing that much time after suffering the broken forearm in late October.

But this still might be a risk that Cook wants to avoid by not playing in the bowl game.

At the moment, it looks like Cook is projected to be a day-three pick if he is selected at any point in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Cook has some work to do, though, to improve his draft stock in the next few months to ensure he is at least selected on day three. There is not currently a single major draft scouting outlet/service that lists Cook even as a potential day-three pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

There is the possibility that Cook wants to get one more game under his belt where he can prove he is healthy and that he can put some solid highlights on tape. Anything can help when you’re trying to fight to prove your worth through the draft scouting process.

I don’t know what direction Cook is leaning at the moment in terms of his decision to potentially opt out of the Alamo Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft. But it is becoming an increasingly common trend for seniors to opt out of non-New Years Six Bowl games.

If Cook doesn’t go for the Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl, that would likely mean more reps for the backup boundary safety, junior Kitan Crawford.

Texas is getting pretty thin at safety with sophomore JD Coffey III entering the transfer portal last week. The combination of Coffey transferring and Cook potentially sitting out would leave Texas lacking in terms of safety depth for the postseason.