As if four straight losses weren’t enough of a hole to dig out of, University of Texas Longhorns’ top receiver Joshua Moore will reportedly be entering the transfer portal and leaving the team.
Coach Steve Sarkisian said that Moore, who is a starting wide receiver for the Longhorns, is no longer a member of the Longhorns, according to a report by KVUE. KVUE reported that Moore and Sarkisian might have had an argument during practice following a 31-24 loss against Baylor two weeks ago. Moore did not enter the game until the second quarter in the following game against Iowa State, and had only two catches in the 30-7 loss on Nov. 6.
“The plan for Josh is to go into the portal,” Sarkisian said. “That’s his option, that’s what college football provides, and we wish him the best of luck.”
KXAN reported that Sarkisian attributed the confrontation to “hard coaching.”
“He’s getting coached and that’s what we do,” Sarkisian said during media availability, as reported by KXAN. “I think sometimes people get this misconception that because I’m a player’s coach that we don’t coach hard. We have a very demanding staff, we coach hard, we believe in discipline, we believe in doing things the right way, and when things aren’t going that way, we coach our guys.”
Moore was the team’s best wide receiver last season, tallying 30 catches for 472 yards and nine touchdowns. He was having another fine season in 2021 with 24 catches for 265 yards, to go with three touchdowns in what has been a down year for Texas as a team.
The backup for Moore for the Iowa State game last week was freshman Casey Cain. KXAN reports that since Jordan Whittington is injured, the Texas depth chart has been depleted down to three healthy receivers including Xavier Worthy, Marcus Washington and Kelvontay Dixon.
Moore is a junior and KVUE reported that due to the COVID-19 waiver in 2020 he has two seasons left of eligibility.