Transfer Tracker: Top 5 for TCU DE
Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
The transfer portal never stops grinding. After more than a month in the portal, TCU transfer defensive end Ochaun Mathis announced his top five schools, as he gets closer to finding his next college destination.
Recruiting: Mathis committed to TCU in January, 2017, after which the Horned Frogs had to fight off a number of programs before he signed his letter of intent in December. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech were a few of the schools that pursued Mathis until the end.
At TCU: After redshirting as a true freshman, Mathis totaled 129 tackles, 25.5 tackles for a loss, 12.5 sacks and one forced fumbled during his last three seasons at TCU. He was a second-team All-Big 12 selection in both 2020 and 2021 and led the Big 12 in 2020 with nine sacks.
Potential landing spots: After taking several weeks to trim his list of top schools down, Mathis announced a top five of Texas, Penn State, Nebraska, USC and Ole Miss. The Longhorns were always considered the favorite, but that only intensified after their hiring of former TCU head coach Gary Patterson. The Huskers have a similar advantage with for Frogs' coach Bryan Applewhite now in Lincoln. Mathis is in no rush to make a decision as he is graduating TCU in May.
Farrell’s Take: Mathis is a very good player who showed the last two seasons he can chase the passer and make big plays at the right time. Texas seems to have the edge with the Patterson connection but he's taking his time which means he's carefully looking at others. Whoever gets him, and it could very well be a Texas-Nebraska battle, gets an immediate boost to their pass rush and a guy who could be in the NFL this season if he wanted to be.
Impact Meter: 8.7 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and manage their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.