Texas WR Jake Smith enters the NCAA transfer portal

Texas Longhorns junior wide receiver Jake Smith entered the NCAA transfer portal on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

The decision to evaluate options outside of Austin came after the 6’0, 195-pounder missed the spring with a broken foot suffered on the first day of spring practice under new head coach Steve Sarkisian. The injury marked another setback for Smith after his sophomore season was marred by a hamstring strain that caused him to miss three games early in the season.

The Arizona product was able to return against TCU and caught six passes for 49 yards and a touchdown, but then aggravated his injury and missed the following game against Oklahoma.

When Smith returned, he didn’t play as large a role in the offense as anticipated, catching seven passes for 70 yards and a touchdown in his most prolific performance of the season against Oklahoma State. In the season finale, Smith did not catch a pass in the Alamo Bowl against Colorado, finishing the year with 23 catches for 294 yards and three touchdowns.

The former consensus four-star product had a promising freshman season with 25 catches for 274 yards and six touchdowns as the primary backup for Devin Duvernay and was expected to play a big role in the offense during the 2021 season.

Now the question is whether Sarkisian and wide receiver coach Andre Coleman will try to convince Smith to stay and whether he’ll listen if that’s the case.