Texas freshman QB Casey Thompson has reportedly entered name into NCAA transfer portal

The same day Cameron Rising’s name first appeared on the transfer portal, Chip Brown of Horns247 reported that Casey Thompson has also entered his name into the recently-instituted tracker for college coaches.

The transfer portal, which is in its first year of use, is a tool that allows a student athlete to explore their options outside of their current school, while maintaining an option to return. That means that even though both players are exploring their options outside of the 40 Acres, both could return if they choose.

Thompson came to Texas in a hotly-contested recruiting battle, picking the Longhorns over his home-state Oklahoma Sooners, where his father Charles Thompson played two years and earned all-conference honors.

A four-star dual threat quarterback, Thompson played most of his high school career at Southmoore in Oklahoma before transferring to Newcastle High School to complete his high school career. Through his four years of high school, Thompson produced 12,840 yards of total offense, setting the Oklahoma state record. Thompson is a true dual-threat and seems tailor-made to fit the system at Texas after earning a consensus four-star ranking out of high school as the nation’s No. 14 dual-threat quarterback and the No. 291 player overall, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

If Thompson does decide to take his talents elsewhere, the Texas quarterback room will lose a dynamic playmaker possessing all the physical tools to succeed. If both quarterbacks elect to return, Texas will have five scholarship quarterbacks when 2019 signee Roschon Johnson enrolls in January. Most schools prefer to have four scholarship players at the position. Any more than that and getting players repetitions in practice can become difficult.

And though losing both Thompson and Rising would be a significant blow, the two quarterbacks are exploring their options because sophomore Sam Ehlinger has experienced so much success this season — he wasn’t the clear starter even through most of preseason camp, but quickly gained control of the job once the season started. With two seasons of eligibility remaining for Ehlinger, there was always a high likelihood that at least one quarterback would leave this offseason.

Now the question may be how many quarterbacks depart the Forty Acres in the coming weeks.