3 costliest portal departures for Texas this spring

Terrance Brooks, CB

The most impactful of the seven portal departures for the Longhorns during the spring transfer window is Brooks. The third-year cornerback and former elite high-four-star recruit from the DFW Metroplex is Texas's only player who started double-digit games last season to enter the transfer portal this offseason.

Brooks started 13 of 14 games he played for the Longhorns last fall. He took more defensive snaps (589) last season than any other Texas cornerback and was projected to be the team's starter at field corner entering the upcoming season in the SEC.

Texas is losing quite a bit of live-game experience at cornerback this offseason between the departures of Texas's two starters at the position from last season, Brooks and redshirt junior Ryan Watts. Since Watts entered the NFL Draft this spring, Texas must turn to sophomore cornerback Malik Muhammad and senior Gavin Holmes to lead the way for this group entering the fall.

Senior defensive back Jahdae Barron also cross-trained at cornerback and star this spring camp. Barron can play snaps in live-game action at field corner if needed. But Barron is also valuable for the Longhorns to start at the star position.

The loss of Brooks likely means that Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff will seriously consider adding a proven impact corner from the transfer portal this spring. There are some quality options in the portal among the available cornerbacks this spring, including Arizona's Tacario Davis and Arizona State's Ed Woods.

On Texas Football's CJ Vogel also mentioned the possibility of Texas kicking the tires on former Western Kentucky corner transfer Anthony Johnson Jr. and Colorado freshman Cormani McClain.

I think Texas will be fine at field corner, even after the departure of Brooks to the portal this week. But that doesn't mean that him entering the portal is a great situation for a secondary that is trying to build more cohesion after some rocky performances in the Big 12 and the postseason last year.

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