The presence of former Longhorns Director of Recruiting Bryan Carrington has helped fuel the “Texas2Tempe” movement.
Taking a scan down the roster of the Arizona State Sun Devils only requires getting past the first three players until a former member of the Texas Longhorns shows up.
That’s safety Xavion Alford, a member of the All-Big 12 first team this season, now at his third program following his transfer from USC.
Alford is one of six former Texas players now at Arizona State, the Big 12 champions and next opponent for the Longhorns in the Peach Bowl in the Atlanta in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff on January 1.
Call it the “Texas2Tempe” movement, and credit Sun Devils cornerbacks coach Bryan Carrington for it — the former Director of Recruiting for the Longhorns is a key factor in why so many players moved west to Arizona.
“Bryan Carrington is someone that already has resounding success in his ability to identify and attract quality talent across the nation,” Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said when he hired Carrington. “His name carries weight in the recruiting circles and he has experience at some of the elite programs.”
Asked about the Texas players on the roster, Dillingham revealed that recruiting the state, whether it’s high school players or former Longhorns, is a big part of his program’s strategy.
“We knew we were joining the Big 12, and I had a strategy and we had a strategy as a staff when we were joining the Big 12 that we were going to play games in Texas so we wanted to recruit Texas at a higher rate, and we felt like where we were as a program kind of being in between Hawai’i, Utah, Southern California and then Texas, that within two hours a kid from Dallas or Houston can fly to us and that would kind of be our niche is be a school that recruits both California, Utah, Hawai’i and also have a big state in Texas,” Dillingham said on Monday.
“That was kind of our plan all along, and I will say this, the guys we’ve gotten from Texas and Coach Sark’s program have been unbelievable. That may be why we’re going back — we’ve gone back to the well when some of their guys have hit the portal is we know what we’re getting when we’re getting a guy from that program, and that’s a guy who has worked really hard, competed and been pushed. Those are the things that we like to bring in.”
Since the Sun Devils and Longhorns have only played once before, Arizona State having so many former Texas players on the roster provides one of the game’s biggest storylines.
“We were all pretty excited,” Alford said of the bracket reveal and potential matchup.
With Texas beating Clemson on Saturday in Austin, 38-24, that matchup has come to fruition, of particular interest for defensive tackle Zac Swanson, who was unceremoniously processed a year ago by the Longhorns coaching staff.
Here’s a look at each of those six players.
Wide receiver Jake Smith
As a former top-50 prospect in the 2019 recruiting class, it’s remarkable that Smith is still playing college football six years after signing with Texas out of Scottsdale (Ariz.) Notre Dame Prep.
Smith’s career in burnt orange and white got off to a promising start with 25 receptions for 274 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman, but then the injuries started to pile up. First, a hamstring injury slowed down the 6’0, 200-pounder as a sophomore, though he still finished as the third-leading receiver for the Horns with 23 catches for 294 yards and three touchdowns.
Then Smith suffered a broken foot in his first practice under new head coach Steve Sarkisian the following spring and then entered the transfer portal during the summer, following Carrington to USC, where the former Texas Director of Recruiting had accepted a position as an offensive quality control analyst.
But Smith’s medical intake at USC revealed that his foot wasn’t healed, requiring another surgery and ultimately contributing to him being deemed a medical non-counter and never playing for the Trojans.
Even though Smith opted to return home and join Carrington once again in 2023, his path remained complicated when the NCAA denied his eligibility waiver.
“This is all very well-documented with medical records that that first transfer was rendered completely ineffectual,” Smith’s mother, Tina, said last year. “Who looks at this fact pattern and thinks that a penalty is appropriate in the form of a third consecutive year out?”
Smith’s long-awaited return to the field hasn’t carried much productivity with it — over 140 snaps this season, Smith has six receptions for 91 yards and hasn’t caught a pass since an early November win over UCF.
Wide receiver Troy Omeire
A rare recruiting flip from Texas A&M to Texas, Omeire arrived in Austin as a member of the 2020 recruiting class with massively-differing opinions in the recruiting industry — he was ranked outside the top-100 wide receivers by 247Sports, but as a top-250 prospect in the Composite rankings.
Omeire looked ready to make an instant impact, drawing buzz throughout preseason camp until suffering a season-ending knee injury. After working Omeire worked his way back, he suffered another season-ending knee injury. In 2022, Omeire recorded one reception for nine yards over 21 snaps in four games before entering the portal and transferring to Arizona State to rejoin Carrington.
In Tempe, the 6’4, 220-pounder appeared in eight games in 2023, recording 20 receptions for 223 yards and three touchdowns on 41 targets, including four contested catches on 10 contested targets with four drops.
This year, Omeire’s snaps have been roughly cut in half with an even more steep drop in production down to three receptions on 19 yards on six targets.
With the season-ending injury sustained by leading wide receiver Jordyn Tyson in late November against Arizona, Omeire played 35 snaps in the Big 12 Championship game against Iowa State, but wasn’t targeted.
Defensive end Prince Dorbah
A top-150 national prospect out of Highland Park in the 2020 recruiting class, Dorbah chose Texas over some top national programs, but struggled to earn playing time over his three seasons on the Forty Acres, playing only nine total snaps in 2020 and 2021 before recording seven tackles over five games in 2022. When Dorbah entered the portal, he became another former Longhorn to rejoin Carrington in Tempe.
With the Sun Devils, Dorbah had a breakout season in 2023, recording 30 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and six sacks with 33 quarterback pressures. A leg injury in preseason camp this year slowed the 6’2, 240-pounder to start the season — Dorbah only appeared in one of the first five games and hasn’t been as productive since returning, recording 11 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks.
Defensive end J’Mond Tapp
Ranked just outside the top-100 prospects nationally in the 2022 recruiting class out of Louisiana, Tapp arrived in Austin with high expectations, playing limited snaps as a true freshman while redshirting. The 6’3, 260-pounder showed signs of progress last year, recording eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, mostly seeing playing time in blowouts.
But with the arrivals of edge talent like transfer Trey Moore and consensus five-star prospect Colin Simmons during the spring, the opportunity for playing time decreased for Tapp and he entered the portal after spring practice, landing in Tempe, too.
But the move didn’t work out for Tapp, who only played two snaps against Texas State in 2024 before entering the portal again earlier this month.
Defensive tackle Zac Swanson
The Phoenix product only played 17 snaps in two games for the Longhorns while redshirting in 2022, Swanson only saw a single snap in the season opener the following season when he was passed on the depth chart by younger players. Like Tapp, Swanson transferred at the end of spring practice.
At Arizona State, though, Swanson opened the season as the backup nose tackle and played 247 snaps in 12 games for the Sun Devils, recording 16 tackles, two tackles for loss, a half sack, and a quarterback hurry.
Earlier this month, Swanson opened up about his departure from the Forty Acres.
“That’s a team who kicked me out and said I was never going to be good enough to play there, so that’s something that has been on my agenda for a while. It’s like a dream scenario, so I’m very excited about that,” Swanson said.
Swanson went on to discuss the specifics of his exit meeting with the Texas coaching staff that prompted his departure and eventual transfer back to his home state.
“Exactly what was said is, ‘If you want to stay at Texas, you might as well quit football and just go to school here.’ So lot of motivation there for me. I mean, it was probably the worst thing that was ever said to me, and it was just said so carelessly, like they didn’t care that it was changing my entire life —in two years there, I made friends, I had a girlfriend there, everything, and then they tell me that and expect me to get up and leave the next day. So, it was probably the worst thing ever, but now being here and experiencing everything I’ve experienced here at home, it’s the best choice, best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Swanson said.
Safety Xavion Alford
The best player among the former Texas players, Alford signed with the Longhorns in 2020 out of Pearland Shadow Creek’s playing in four games as a true freshman while redshirting, entering the portal in December, influenced by the changes on Tom Herman’s staff that had happened after he signed. Alford initially followed former safeties coach Craig Naivar and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando to USC. Carrington joined them several months later.
In 2021, Alford showed promise with 31 tackles, a team-best three interceptions, and three pass breakups while appearing in 11 games with two starts, but missed the following season after undergoing surgery.
When Alford followed Carrington to Arizona State, he had to sit out the 2023 season due to the restrictive transfer rules that were later lifted.
Finally back on the field, Alford capitalized on the potential that made him a top-150 prospect in the 2020 recruiting class and then flashed with the Trojans in an All-Big 12 campaign for the Sun Devils, recording 82 tackles and two interceptions. He’s been phenomenal in coverage, allowing just eight receptions, and finishing plays with a missed tackle rate of 10 percent.
“He’s a really good football player,” Carrington said of Alford. “He’s a guy that’s been in college half of my coaching career. He’s had a lot of experiences. He is a smart, instinctual football player, a great communicator. So putting him in the secondary gives us a veteran that’s a vocal leader, somebody the other guys respect, a guy that’s going to work day in, day out. He’s on a different level of motivated.”
The matchup against Texas pits Alford against his good friend Jahdae Barron, the Thorpe Award winner who signed with the Horns in the same recruiting class.
“He’s been through so much. I’ve been through so much. We started here together as brothers, and that’s always going to be my brother. I’m just proud of him and how far he’s came. He’s dealt with a lot of issues, just injuries and having to sit out,” Barron said on Friday.
“So I’m just proud that he has an opportunity to showcase the gift that God gave him, so it’s always good to see that out of him.”
It’s a matchup that Alford is looking forward to.
“Now getting to play against them somewhere else, it’s kind of like the best of both worlds — I played with them, and now I get to play against them,” Alford said on Friday.
“It was great, my time there. I had to move on, better things for my future and things of that nature. It’s going to be good seeing some familiar faces. Being a Texas kid playing against Texas.”