Reports: Texas redshirt freshman RB Duke Catalon to transfer

Maybe Horns247's Jeff Howe said it best in confirming a Horns Digest report that Texas Longhorns redshirt freshman running back Duke Catalon will transfer -- it must be that kind of day.

It certainly is shaping up as that kind of day.

The Aldine Eisenhower product is now the second reported departure on Tuesday, following freshman linebacker Cecil Cherry, who plans on transferring some time in the next several days after making it less than a week into fall practice.

At least Catalon lasted a little more than a year.

A consensus four-star prospect in the 2014 recruiting class and one of the earliest commits in school history at the time of his early August pledge in 2012, Catalon was the No. 10 running back and the No. 25 player in Texas for 2014, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. The 5'10, 195-pounder held seven offers out of high school, including Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma State, and USC.

The redshirt season was never guaranteed for Catalon, as he looked like a player who could add depth at running back until he suffered a hamstring injury during fall camp that derailed his development.

What happened with Catalon?

Our @OB_JasonS on Duke Catalon "I'm hearing he walked out of practice yesterday. Writing's been on the wall with this one, IMO."

— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) August 11, 2015

And he was probably starting to get buried on the depth chart, too, perhaps passed by a younger player. With D'Onta Foreman earning second-team reps behind Johnathan Gray through the first several days of practice, if Catalon did indeed fall behind true freshmen like Chris Warren and/or Kirk Johnson, such a situation would certainly favor a departure in sesarch of some guaranteed carries.

Running back is a position where the Horns have some depth, albeit mostly unproven -- other than Warren and Johnson, Texas also signed Tristian Houston as a member of the 2015 running back class.