Texas Longhorns redshirt freshman quarterback Trey Owens told ESPN on Monday that he intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal when the window opens in January.
Owens prepares to depart the Forty Acres as head coach Steve Sarkisian holds exit meetings with players following the conclusion
of the regular season.
The 6’5, 219-pounder was the lowest rated of the five quarterbacks offered by the Horns in the 2024 recruiting class, trying to find the best passer possible to follow Arch Manning, a challenging recruiting situation for quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee. In quarterback terms, the offer from Texas when the top targets went elsewhere came relatively late in the process — in November of his junior year alongside an offer from UConn. The 11 total offers for the Cypress-Cy Fair product included Baylor, Houston, SMU, and Texas Tech, not enough to dissuade Owens from taking the risk of following Manning.
Owens finished the cycle as a consensus three-star prospect ranked as the No. 299 player nationally and the No. 21 quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, after a strong senior season during which the strong-armed quarterback completed 222-of-313 passes (72 percent) for 3,303 yards, 43 touchdowns, and only four interceptions, leading Cy-Fair past Katy in
As the third-string quarterback in 2024, Owens completed 2-of-4 passes for 19 yards against UTSA, adding a carry for three yards against the Roadrunners, and seeing action against ULM.
With the arrival of top-15 quarterback KJ Lacey arriving on the Forty Acres last January, Owens competed for the second-string job during the spring and the third-string job after Texas added senior transfer quarterback Matthew, losing it in preseason camp to Lacey because of too his inconsistencies and Lacey’s gamer ability in game-like situation in practice.
The Longhorns signed an even more elite quarterback in the 2025 class, consensus five-star Dia Bell, but the ends of Owens’ time on the Forty Acres was apparent as soon as he lost the third-string role to Lacey.
