Texas football is on the verge of losing one of their quarterbacks, with Pete Thamel of ESPN reporting that Longhorns freshman Maalik Murphy has his eyes on entering the college football transfer portal.

Source: Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal. He’s alerted the Texas coaching staff of his intentions.

More from Thamel:

Maalik Murphy told ESPN he’s not going to be with the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff. He would have preferred to stay through the season, but the timing did not allow it. Murphy told ESPN: “It’s nothing against Texas at all. I’m doing this purely for me and my future. In my eyes, I’ll always be a Longhorn and a part of this great team.”

Maalik Murphy on the cusp of leaving Texas football

Texas football’s Arch Manning with his eyes popping out. Maalik Murphy with animated tears

It appears that Murphy doesn't see himself becoming the THE future quarterback of Texas football. At the moment, the Longhorns still have Quinn Ewers, while Arch Manning is widely believed to be the starter waiting in the wings for the program. That is even though Murphy has seen more action in the 2023 college football season with the Longhorns than Manning. Murphy has 477 passing yards and three touchdowns on 40/71 completions in his first year in Austin, while Manning only has 30 passing yards with zero touchdowns and no interceptions on 2/5 throwing.

Although Murphy can compete for the starting role for Texas football in 2024, especially if Ewers ultimately decides to enter the NFL Draft, Manning will still have a looming presence in the team's QB room.

It is going to be interesting to see which schools will be interested in Murphy should he finally make up his mind to enter the transfer portal. Apart from Texas football, he got offers from the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, and Auburn Tigers during his recruitment phase, so it could be any of those teams circling back on him. However, it's probably going to be more challenging for him to earn a starting role for any of those programs than if he would at Texas if he ends up staying a Longhorn.