Four-star defensive back Ryan Watts announces transfer destination

Former Ohio State defensive back Ryan Watts has officially announced that he will transfer to his home state and join the Texas Longhorns, according to Hayes Fawcett of On3. The 6-foot-3, 205 pound defensive back from Little Elm, Texas was rated as a four-star recruit in the 2020 recruiting class.

Watts was going to enter his third season at Ohio State, but there have been a lot of changes and heavy competition in the back end of the Buckeye defense.

He worked with both the safeties and the defensive backs at Ohio State for the 2021 season. Watts played 49 snaps in a season-opening win against Minnesota. He was pushed into early action due to Cam Brown and Sevyn Banks not playing.

In 2021, he tied for the team lead at Ohio State in interceptions with two. The interceptions were recorded in back-to-back games against Rutgers and Maryland. He also tallied six tackles this season for the Buckeyes.

In leaving Ohio State for the Texas Longhorns, he follows the same path of former Buckeye signal-caller Quinn Ewers.

Ewers was rated as the No.1 overall prospect in America for the 2021 cycle. When he recently announced he was transferring to Texas, he became one of the highest rated signees in Texas Longhorn football history.

The Longhorns have been on fire lately in the transfer portal

The Longhorns have been busy racking up other talented prospects from both the transfer portal and the high school recruiting ranks.

They recently pulled in one of the biggest recruitment flips of the 2022 class in Kelvin Banks, a five-star offensive tackle that is rated as the top tackle in the country, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.

That’s not to say Texas won’t have to deal with departures, because they will. So will nearly every other college football team across the country. That’s the reality of the current transfer portal rules.

After the Longhorns signed Quinn Ewers and Maalik Murphy, a three-star quarterback for the class of 2022, former Texas quarterback Casey Thompson decided to enter the transfer portal.

The former four-star prospect had an electrifying performance in the 2020 Alamo Bowl against Colorado, which he threw for 170 passing yards and four touchdown passes in limited action. His 2021 campaign was a bit of an up-and-down season, but he still posted pretty good numbers, throwing for 2,113 yards, while tossing in 24 touchdowns and just nine interceptions.

As a runner, he ran 55 times for 157 rushing yards, while rushing for four touchdowns.

Thompson has yet to announce his final destination.