Texas Football: 5 biggest recruiting busts of the Tom Herman era
B.J. Foster, S
Recruiting Class: 2018 (No. 24 in 247Sports Composite)
Without a doubt, the most disappointing safety prospect to come through the Texas program in the last half-decade or so is the former elite five-star recruit out of Angleton (TX) High School, B.J. Foster. The 6-foot-1 and 190-pound Foster was ranked as one of the top-three safety recruits in the nation in the 2018 class when he signed with Texas.
In fact, Herman and the Longhorns staff were able to sign two of the top-three ranked safety recruits in the nation in the 2018 class in Foster and Cibolo (TX) Steele High School product Caden Sterns.
And while Sterns would end up living up to the hype (at least as a true freshman in 2018), Foster was never able to consistently meet the expectations associated with his lofty five-star ranking as a high school recruit. Foster definitely showed flashes of brilliance in his first two seasons at Texas, registering more than a dozen tackles for loss, five sacks, and forcing multiple turnovers.
The downside to Foster, though, was that he often missed tackles and looked out of place at times in pass coverage. From 2018-2021, Foster was the only Texas defensive back to allow more than 500 yards after the catch in pass coverage while missing at least 40 tackles (per PFF).
It also didn’t do Foster any favors that there was so much defensive coordinator turnover during his four years at Texas. Foster played for three different defensive coordinators at Texas, leading him to have to constantly adjust to roles in different schemes in the secondary.
Ultimately, Foster was never able to live up to what he showed as a true freshman in 2018 again during his last three years at Texas and one season at Sam Houston State.
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Foster did wind up finishing his collegiate career in 2022 by playing one season at FCS Sam Houston State, where he earned All-WAC First-Team honors. He would get an invite to the rookie minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs after going undrafted this spring.