Longhorns land Arkansas transfer S Jalen Catalon

On Monday, former Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon announced that he would be transferring to the University of Texas to continue his football career.

Heading into next fall, Catalon will embark on his fifth season of collegiate football. Following a tremendous upward trajectory during his years as an underclassman, including an All-SEC First Team honor in 2020 as a redshirt freshman, the defensive back has been mostly sidelined by injuries. In fact, after Catalon's 2020 campaign in which he tallied 99 tackles, 3 INTs and 2 FFs, the former Razorback has been limited to just seven games of action in the past two seasons.

Despite of Catalon's recent health issues, Texas's new transfer addition will be welcomed with open arms by the Longhorns coaching staff. After a season marked by improvement, building depth across the roster has to be Steve Sarkisian's priority this offseason. Additionally, if Catalon is able to regain form, it is quite possible that he could become one of the main leaders of the Longhorns defense next season. As a result, the transfer addition should be viewed as a low-risk, high-reward investment which, at a minimum, should improve the team's depth in the secondary.

Also worth noting, Catalon's commitment marks the defensive back's return to the state of Texas, where he was a standout at Mansfield Legacy before graduating in 2019.