Texas Football: 5 biggest recruiting busts of the Tom Herman era

Al’Vonte Woodard, WR

Recruiting Class: 2018 (No. 104 in 247Sports Composite)

Herman and the Longhorns signed quite a few top 150-rated wide receiver prospects from the high school ranks during his time on the 40. One of the highly rated blue-chip wide receivers that Herman and the Longhorns signed in the 2018 class was the four-star Houston Lamar product, Al’Vonte Woodard.

ESPN even had Woodard rated as highly as a top 15 wide receiver in the nation in the 2018 class.

Woodard committed to Texas in the summer of 2017 over other top schools such as the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies, and Ohio State Buckeyes. Texas looked to be getting a potent playmaking threat and a strong runner after the catch in the 6-foot-1 and 195-pound Woodard when he arrived on campus in June 2018.

Unfortunately, though, Woodard was never able to put it all together on the practice field or in limited live-game reps during his four years at Texas.

He did get a healthy number of live-game reps for a younger wideout trying to push his way onto the two-deep in his first three years at Texas. In 2019 and 2020, Woodard saw more than 250 live-game offensive snaps. Most of those reps came late in games or in garbage time, though.

All in all, Woodard only managed seven catches for 62 receiving yards as a Longhorn, all of which came in 2019 and 2020.

Last offseason, Woodard transferred to FCS Sam Houston State. Woodard had the most productive season of his collegiate career to date at Sam Houston last season, reeling in 16 catches for 215 receiving yards and two touchdowns.