Texas Football: Longhorns add under-the-radar grad transfer RB

Texas football is expected to make a big addition to their depleted running back corps, signing graduate transfer rusher Gabriel Watson from Division II.

It’s not often that FBS programs look to the Division ranks for transfer targets, but Texas football has done just that. The Longhorns are expected to add Sioux Falls running back Gabriel Watson as a graduate transfer.

Watson led the DII ranks in rushing in 2018 before a hamstring injury sidelined him for most of last season. When he was healthy he was one of the most dynamic players on the field. He rushed for 1,957 yards and 26 touchdowns, averaging a little less than 25 yards shy of 200 yards per game. He surpassed 100 yards in 11 consecutive games.

For his efforts, Watson was named a finalist for the Harlon Hill Award, the DII equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. There’s no doubt he’ll have an adjustment to make when he makes the move to the FBS level, but that kind of success and athleticism should translate well.

He’ll compete with incumbent starter Keaontay Ingram for touches this upcoming season. Whether or not he wins the job outright isn’t that important for the Longhorns; they just needed bodies. Opt-outs and an already thin depth chart put Texas in need of proven production. Watson is just that.

In moving from DII to the FBS level, Watson seeks to be an outlier. If he can prove to be a capable member of the rotation, Texas will have gotten just what they need at a very late hour with the season approaching. If he does more than that, Herman might have landed one of his most important summer transfers yet.