Billy Walton will use Texas’ edge to access the NCAA transfer site.
The South Oak Cliff product’s road to playing time became more challenging due to offseason signings.
Billy Walton, a redshirt freshman edge for the Texas Longhorns, told On3 on Monday that he will use the NCAA transfer portal as soon as the spring window opens.
After visiting Stillwater in April, Walton chose to commit to Oklahoma State a few days after receiving his initial offer from Texas back in January 2022. But the Longhorns persisted in their recruitment of Walton, getting the only other official visit outside of the Cowboys, and did enough to persuade the generally regarded as a three-star prospect to stay in his home state following Walton’s decommitment from Oklahoma State a few days prior to his late June enrollment in the Texas class.
Walton was a star for the 5A-DII state winners as a junior. He led South Oak Cliff with 12 sacks, 21 tackles for loss, and 55 tackles. His performance helped him receive over 20 offers, from schools including Nebraska, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. Walton had an outstanding season as a senior, racking up 100 tackles, 32 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, and 2 interceptions.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Walton was a unanimous three-star prospect and the No. 49 edge when he committed to the Longhorns as a member of the 2023 recruiting class.
Walton played 15 snaps total and recorded one assisted tackle in his appearances in games against Wyoming and Baylor in 2023.
The 6’3, 229-pound player’s route to playing time became more challenging with the summer signings of consensus five-star prospect Colin Simmons, the No. 2 edge in the 2024 recruiting class, and former UTSA standout Trey Moore, the AAC Defensive Player of the Year.
With the annual Orange-White game marking the completion of spring practice next Saturday, two more Texas players, redshirt freshman offensive lineman Payton Kirkland and redshirt freshman linebacker S’Maje Burrell, also intend to use the portal.
