Dan Buckner to transfer

Texas takes another hit at receiver with the arrest and subsequent announcement that Dan Buckner will transfer. Early in the season, Buckner was an emerging threat as he played the flex tight end position and became a common target for McCoy. However, as the the season wore on, his play was inconsistent and he was even benched. Rumors suggested that his benching had to do with more than just his play, for whatever that's worth. He had several games where he was quite a valuable target and others where he dropped numerous balls right in his hands and had questionable effort fighting through blocks and coverage.


Hot and cold all season long, this was a hot moment in the BCS game

Buckner is experienced and this will hurt, particularly with the loss of Shipley to graduation and Brandon Collins to academic and off the field issues. However, it's not as if he has a huge rapport built up with Garrett Gilbert, the likely starting QB next year. There is still a multitude of talent returning with Marquise Goodwin, Malcolm Williams and James Kirkendoll who all showed flashes this year and could prove to be of top value with consistent play. That doesn't account for redshirt and freshman talent that could emerge as well.

While I'm concerned over the recent numerous issues at the position and the loss of another talented young player, I'm not of the belief this makes a huge difference next year. Hopefully, Buckner will get things turned around emerge better for it. Too often talent like his gets lost in poor off-the-field decisions.