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

Bru McCoy, WR

Recruiting Class: 2019 (No. 9 in 247Sports Composite)

One of the most confusing sagas in recent memory concerning Texas and the transfer portal involved the former elite five-star recruit and California native wide receiver Bru McCoy.

McCoy was a top-10 ranked recruit in the nation in the 247Sports Composite for the 2019 class. He had originally committed to and signed with, the USC Trojans in the 2019 class during the Early Signing Period. Yet, rumored coaching instability (among a few other factors) caused McCoy to de-commit from USC and then transfer to Texas.

In the spring of 2019, McCoy ended up enrolling early at Texas to participate in spring camp as a true freshman. There was a lot of hype built up concerning what the Texas passing game could do with new pieces in the fold such as five-star wide receivers Jordan Whittington and McCoy.

Add in the fact that Texas had Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson returning to school heading into the 2019 season after they each had career years the prior campaign, and it looked like the offense was primed to take off with Sam Ehlinger leading the way at quarterback.

However, McCoy would never end up playing a single down at Texas outside of one spring game. McCoy ended up transferring back to USC after spending just a few months on the Forty Acres.

USC also never reaped much of the talent that McCoy brought to the table as a top five-star athlete coming out of high school. He spent a few years at USC before transferring to join head coach Josh Heupel and the high-octane Tennessee Volunteers offense in 2022. McCoy had the best season of his career to date in 2022 at Tennessee, putting up more than 650 receiving yards and four touchdown catches.