Texas' Casey Thompson becomes latest QB in transfer portal

Another quarterback has entered the transfer portal.

Casey Thompson, who started 10 games for Texas this season, put his name in the transfer portal on Friday and will explore other opportunities. Thompson opened the season as the backup to Hudson Card but ended up taking over the No. 1 role for the Longhorns early in the season. He finished the year with 2,113 yards, 24 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. His 24 TD passes led the Big 12.

Thompson redshirted his first season at Texas and then was the backup to Sam Ehlinger in 2019 and 2020. In last year's Alamo Bowl, Thompson threw for 170 yards and four touchdowns after Ehlinger left the game with an injury.

Thompson’s decision to pursue a transfer comes after Texas added Ohio State transfer Quinn Ewers and four-star recruit Maalik Murphy to its roster this week. Ewers, a Texas native, was the No. 1 recruit in the 2021 class. He originally was a 2022 recruit who once verbally committed to UT. Later on, he flipped to OSU and reclassified to the 2021 class. However, after a short (and lucrative) stint in Columbus, Ewers opted to return to his home state.

In addition to Ewers and Murphy, Card remains on the roster for Steve Sarkisian, who went 5-7 in his first season as UT’s head coach. Card, a four-star recruit in the 2020 class, threw for 590 yards and five touchdowns this season. Card won the starting job out of camp but was quickly replaced by Thompson after early-season struggles.

Sarkisian has said in recent weeks that he expects to have an open competition at the position ahead of the 2022 season.