Texas Football: 3 new portal entrants to keep an eye on in late December

Rondell Bothroyd, DE

Another intriguing defensive end/edge rusher that showed up in the portal in the last week is the former Wake Forest 6-foot-4 and 260-pound redshirt junior defensive lineman/defensive end Rondell Bothroyd. The fifth-year Connecticut native initially showed up in the transfer portal on Dec. 26, which came as a bit of a surprise given his career trajectory at Wake Forest.

Bothroyd had two really solid campaigns in Winston-Salem with the Demon Deacons as a standout pass rusher and all-around disruptive along the defensive front.

In the last two seasons, Bothroyd registered 93 combined tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, three batted balls, 63 quarterback pressures, 50 stops, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.

Bothroyd was a seriously effective disruptor up front that could wreak havoc in the opposing team’s backfield. He had the third-highest win rate during the regular season among ACC edge rushers. And he was the second-highest-graded pass rusher among ACC edge rushers this fall.

Moreover, Bothroyd also contributed to one of the most improved run defenses in the ACC during the regular season. Wake Forest ranked among the three best teams in the ACC in stuff rate and allowed 1.5 fewer yards per carry year-over-year. Bothroyd’s efforts up front, with more than a dozen run stuffs on the season, were a major contributing factor to Wake’s improvement in this regard.

All around, I like what Bothroyd could bring to the table as a hybrid jack end that can often line up in the three-technique along the defensive front.

Pete Kwiatkowski doesn’t have an edge player with the proven ability to get after opposing quarterbacks quite like Bothroyd. He could be an immediate first-team player along the defensive front that can help some of the young edge rushers on the team develop heading into 2024.