Texas Football: 4 former Longhorns transfers to watch during bye week

Hudson Card, QB (Purdue)

The headlining transfer departure for the Longhorns last offseason was redshirt junior quarterback Hudson Card. After spending three years at Texas, including one year as the solidified backup quarterback behind Quinn Ewers, Card transferred to join new head coach Ryan Walters and the Purdue Boilermakers.

Card was huge for the Texas offense, starting a handful of games after Ewers suffered an upper-body injury in the Longhorns’ one-point loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide at home in Week 2 last fall. He almost led Texas to an upset win over Alabama after coming in relief of Ewers in the first half last season.

In the three starts Card made for the Longhorns last season, he went 2-1, including double-digit wins over the West Virginia Mountaineers and UTSA Roadrunners.

When Card entered the portal late last fall, he was one of the biggest names available at the quarterback position. It wasn’t surprising that he landed at a decent Power Five program like Purdue with an opportunity to play immediately.

Card won the starting quarterback job for the Boilermakers pretty quickly during the offseason over redshirt freshman Bennett Meredith.

The Purdue offense had a lot of promise with Card starting at quarterback entering the 2023 campaign. But the Boilermakers hit some big speedbumps out of the gates this fall, starting 2-4 (1-2 Big Ten), including losses to the Fresno State Bulldogs and Syracuse Orange.

Card had his fair share of issues out of the gates this season, tossing six touchdowns and five picks in the first half-dozen games as a Boilermaker. He looked good in Purdue’s win two weeks ago over the Illinois Fighting Illini, tossing two touchdowns and no picks in a decisive four-score victory.

But Card has tossed four picks and just one touchdown in Purdue’s last two losses against the Iowa Hawkeyes and Wisconsin Badgers.

Card and the Boilermakers are looking to right the ship in Big Ten play this weekend in a difficult matchup at home against the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes.