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

Tyler Owens, S

Recruiting Class: 2019 (No. 102 in 247Sports Composite)

A blue-chip prospect that I remember being really excited about when covering the 2019 Texas recruiting class was the former highly touted five-star Plano East safety Tyler Owens. The 6-foot-2 and 200-pound Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex native defensive back showed excellent range and overall athleticism in high school.

While Owens had a frame and the straight-line speed required to compete right away at the Power Five level, he still required some refinement in terms of his instincts in pass coverage. He also needed to make some strides to improve his technique before he would be truly ready to earn live-game reps at Texas.

Owens was never able to consistently prove that he made the necessary strides to become a more complete and instinctual defensive back in his first couple of years at Texas. He also ran into a couple of injury issues during his time at Texas that didn’t do him any favors on his development track.

During his three years at Texas, Owens did show flashes here and there while getting on the field for nearly 200 live-game defensive snaps. He registered a little more than a dozen combined tackles at Texas, one tackle for loss, and one pass breakup.

Owens was never able to solidify a spot on the two-deep at safety during his three seasons at Texas. And upon rumors of the staff potentially looking to switch his position in camp in the fall of 2021 and heading into spring ball in 2022, Owens decided to transfer to Texas Tech.

Last season was the most productive of Owens’ career to date, as he registered his first career interception and around 20 total tackles in a dozen games played. Owens is expected to compete for a starting job at safety for Texas Tech heading into this fall.