Texas Longhorns Transfer RB Commits to New Team

Watkins is a product of All Saints Episcopal in Fort Worth, Texas. He had originally committed to Tulsa out of high school, but instead chose to head to Texas as a preferred walk-on after being recruited by now-former running backs coach Tashard Choice. Watkins also received offers from programs like Houston, New Mexico State, Navy, Troy and more during the high school recruiting process.

Watkins had tweeted that he was "super excited" to get to Austin for the 2024 season upon the news of his commitment.

"I am super excited to announce an opportunity to continue my athletic and academic career after being accepted into UT," Watkins tweeted upon his commitment to Texas. "With that being said I will be committing to The University of Texas! Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way."

Texas has had a handful of notable departures via the portal since before last season ended, with Johntay Cook II's midseason departure making the most headlines. However, the Longhorns have retooled the roster in a major way with a slew of new additions.

During the spring portal window, the Longhorns landed Cal tight end Jack Endries, Troy quarterback Matthew Caldwell, Texas State kicker Mason Shipley, Maryland defensive lineman Lavon Johnson, Stanford wide receiver Emmett Mosley V and Syracuse defensive lineman Maraad Watson.

Prior to that, Texas had secured commitments from three defensive linemen in North Carolina's Travis Shaw, Purdue's Cole Brevard and Ohio State's Hero Kanu along with Utah punter Jack Bouwmeester and Arkansas linebacker Brad Spence.

Texas and Ohio State will play the regular-season opener for both teams on Aug. 30 in Columbus at 12 p.m. CT.