Texas Football: Predicting the Longhorns first transfer addition of 2023

Jalen Catalon, S

The newest portal player on the books for a visit to the Forty Acres this month is the former Arkansas Razorbacks blue-chip recruit and redshirt junior safety Jalen Catalon. Over the weekend, the news surfaced that Texas scheduled a visit with Catalon to Austin for next weekend.

This looks to put Texas among the schools that Catalon could legitimately consider for his next stop out of the portal in 2023. Some other schools to watch in this recruitment are the Ole Miss Rebels and Texas A&M Aggies.

Moreover, I pondered the idea that Texas scheduling Catalon for a visit to campus next weekend could mean that someone like Ohio State has taken the lead for another key portal target in Carter.

Catalon’s visit to Austin could also be a sign that Texas’ staff is prioritizing the safety position more so than any other in the portal early on this offseason.

If Catalon is healthy again after missing most of the 2022 season due to an upper-body injury, Texas could be getting a good one out of the portal. Catalon was a real playmaker and leader that held down the back end of that Arkansas defense when he was actually healthy the last few seasons.

Catalon was one of the highest-graded safeties in the SEC in his first two years in Fayetteville (2019 and 2020). And in the only season where he played double-digit games for Arkansas (2020), he registered 99 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), four pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.

For his efforts during a stellar 2020 campaign, Catalon received All-SEC Second Team honors.

The issue that a lot of Texas fans will be concerned about with Catalon, and rightly so, is the aforementioned injury risk. Catalon only played one game for the Razorbacks this season. And in the last two years combined, he’s barely played more than a half-dozen games.