Texas loses third running back to transfer portal as roster churn accelerates
Texas freshman RB Rickey Stewart Jr. is transferring after never playing a snap. The four-star recruit joins two other Longhorn backs in the portal.
Rickey Stewart Jr.’s time at Texas is ending almost as quickly as it began. The four-star freshman running back is expected to enter the NCAA transfer portal, according to reports from Inside Texas, becoming the latest Longhorn to look elsewhere for opportunity. Stewart leaves the Forty Acres after one season without appearing in a game, a quiet exit that says as much about modern roster math as it does about individual talent. This is the portal era in full view — Texas recruits volume at running back, playing time is scarce, and when the depth chart hardens early, young players make decisions just as quickly.
Stewart’s transfer outlook: High eligibility and untapped potential
As Stewart becomes the third Texas running back to enter the portal this cycle, joining Jerrick Gibson and CJ Baxter, the theme is clear: Texas is reshaping its backfield, and not everyone fits the next version. But Stewart’s departure isn’t about talent. The Tyler native out of Chapel Hill High School arrived with real pedigree — 7,748 rushing yards and 83 touchdowns across four years, including a jaw-dropping junior season with 2,855 yards and 40 scores. As a senior, he carried the ball 193 times for 1,650 yards and 16 touchdowns in just 13 games, averaging nearly 127 yards per contest while topping 200 yards three separate times. Evaluators saw translatable traits: burst through the hole, comfort running off tackle, instinctive feel for space, and enough hands to add value in the passing game. That skill set is why Stewart won’t linger in the portal — he didn’t log college snaps, but he doesn’t need them to generate interest.
For Texas, Stewart’s departure isn’t alarming. It’s procedural. The Longhorns are operating in a win-now window, stacking veteran talent and portal experience at key positions, and that approach inevitably squeezes younger players who need reps to grow. Stewart never cracked the rotation, and once that reality set in, the decision followed. Texas now has 11 players in the portal, and more movement will come. That’s the cost of roster churn at a national contender, and programs that understand development over immediate impact will see Stewart’s clean slate as opportunity, not absence.
Stewart leaves Austin without a stat line, but not without value. He exits with multiple years of eligibility, a proven production profile, and the kind of high school résumé that made him a four-star recruit in the first place. Sometimes the story isn’t about failure — it’s about fit and timing. Rickey Stewart Jr. will find another program, and when he does, the talent that brought him to Texas will get its next chance to surface.
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