Texas football not expected to press for Arkansas transfer S Jalen Catalon

An eye-catcher for Texas football fans among the recent entrants to the NCAA Transfer Portal is the 5-foot-10 and 200-pound redshirt junior Arkansas Razorbacks safety Jalen Catalon. Texas pursued the Mansfield Legacy product Catalon coming out of high school in the 2019 recruiting class.

After spending four productive, but injury-plagued, seasons at Fayetteville, Catalon will be looking for a change of scenery with two years of eligibility remaining. And given the past interest that the Longhorns had in Catalon combined with the positional need at safety with the 2023 transfer portal class, it makes sense to Texas fans to want to know about the interest level this staff had with the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex native.

Yet, Catalon doesn’t appear to be a priority recruit out of the portal for the Longhorns at the moment. While Texas hosted a couple of portal defensive backs a few days during a big pre-signing day visit weekend, Catalon wasn’t one of the names we heard much about.

And it’s worth noting that while Catalon posted on Instagram on Dec. 19 that he was in Austin, the fact that the dead period is currently in effect means that this is very likely unrelated to any connection between him and the Longhorns.

Texas football reportedly aren’t pushing much for Arkansas transfer S Jalen Catalon

Another indication of where the Longhorns currently stand in the recruitment of Catalon out of the transfer portal comes courtesy of an update from TFB Texas on Dec. 20 (donor content). A report from CJ Vogel of TFB Texas indicates that Texas “won’t be as persistent” in recruiting Catalon out of the portal as some might think given that he’s in Austin this week.

It sounds like a school to watch in Catalon’s home state would be the SMU Mustangs. And it does appear that the presumed frontrunner at the moment in the race to land a commitment from Catalon out of the portal is the Ole Miss Rebels, given the relationships that he has with that staff going back to his high school days.

The two portal defensive backs to watch for Texas at the moment are the former Wake Forest Demon Deacons redshirt sophomore cornerback Gavin Holmes and Syracuse Orange redshirt sophomore safety Ja’Had Carter. Both Holmes and Carter visited Texas over the weekend.