Texas senior kicker Will Stone is the second player to leave the program on Tuesday to preserve his redshirt status, according to On3. He follows in the footsteps of Jerrick Gibson. 

Stone appeared in four games this season for Texas, the maximum amount before losing the redshirt tag. The two games he missed were against San Jose State and UTEP due to an injury. By entering the transfer portal, Stone retains his last year of eligibility.

Stone arrived on campus as part of the 2022 recruiting class. The 6-foot, 175-pound kicker out of Regents High School in Austin, Texas, was ranked as the third-best kicker in the class, according to 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

But his career as a Longhorn never materialized as he would've liked. Being a highly-touted recruit, Stone was brought in to fight for the starting place kicker job. However, in the previous two seasons, he was stuck behind former Longhorn Bert Auburn on the depth chart.

Instead, Stone was used as the team's kickoff specialist. Stone did get his opportunity to be the starting kicker in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl against Ohio State last season. Still, he only attempted and converted two extra points in the Longhorns' 28-14 loss to the Buckeyes.

After the season, Auburn transferred to Miami, seemingly opening the door for Stone to take over the starting job. That never materialized as Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian went shopping for a new kicker in the portal, eventually picking up former Texas State Bobcat, senior Mason Shipley.

This move made it crystal clear that the coaching staff didn't trust Stone as the starter. Stone remained the kickoff specialist this season for the four games he featured in.

Now, Shipley will be tasked with kickoff duties in place of Stone. In the two games he featured in that role, Shipley did a good job of limiting kickoff returns, but Stone's big leg definitely gave Texas Special Teams Coordinator Jeff Banks more options on the set plays.

This news comes at an interesting time, after Shipley missed two field goals in the Red River Rivalry game(In fairness, both kicks were over 50 yards). It'll be interesting to see how Shipley handles his recent adversity along with his increased role for the rest of the season. 

Now, the backup place kicker role seems to be heading to redshirt freshman Spencer Barnett. Barnett went to high school at Austin Westlake and was ranked as the 57th best kicker and 20th best punter in the 2024 recruiting class, according to Kohl's Kicking. 

These midseason moves have become common in the transfer portal era. Will Stone is just one of the latest examples of players transferring midseason, and the Texas special teams unit has to adapt.