Ex Texas A&M QB offers rare opinion of NIL & transfer portal. There are strings
Two of the top-rated quarterbacks in the country coming out of Texas high schools in 2019 are the examples in 2025 of why the transfer portal is the mess that works for the student-athlete.
Or it can.
It took Haynes King and Chandler Morris six years, and multiple colleges, but the former quarterbacks at Texas A&M, Oklahoma, TCU and North Texas are finally enjoying the type of success that was projected for them when they came out of Longview and Highland Park, respectively.
By playing through COVID (2020), the legalization of NIL (2021), and the expansion of the transfer portal (2021), both Morris and King have survived and flourished through the most tumultuous time in the history of college football.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s positive or negative. It’s a little bit of both,” King said Wednesday of the opportunities provided by the transfer portal and NIL . He was on a conference call with Texas media outlets. “It’s positive that you do get the opportunity and the blessing to get NIL, but also it could technically be a negative because you do get a lot of distractions, outside noises.
“People talking to you. Different types of pressure because people (think) you’re getting paid so they are wanting you to produce, and what if you don’t produce? It’s a lot of extra stuff that comes with it.”
There is a good chance these two Texans will face the other in the ACC title game, with the winner potentially going to the playoff. King’s Yellow Jackets are 9-1, and ranked 16th in the playoff rankings. Morris’ Virginia Cavaliers are 19th, and need to defeat Virginia Tech on Nov. 29 to reach the ACC title game.
“I’m happy for Chandler,” King said, “and what he has been through as well to be in this situation and opportunity it’s fun to see guys like that, especially since we knew each other so well.”
Chandler Morris and Haynes King’s Texas connection
As seniors in high school, King was the 10th-rated quarterback nationally and headed to Texas A&M. Morris was ranked 26th, and going to Oklahoma. (The top QB in that class was Alabama signee Bryce Young, now in his third NFL season).
“Our paths crossed a lot. Camps; Elite 11. High school bowl games. This summer with the Manning Passing Academy,” King said. “We knew each other growing up as well because our dads are acquainted as Texas high school football coaches. We’ve always had a relationship.”
Talk to either Morris or King and the first reaction is normally, “That’s a coaches’ kid.”
“My dad and mom did a really good job of raising me; as long as you are mentally tough and work your butt off things tend to happen. I love them for it,” King said. “It wasn’t the easiest growing up, but I’m in this position right now, and they raised me to be in this position.”
From 1992 to 2009, Chad Morris was a successful Texas high school coach. He joined the college coaching race, where other than one year he has been since 2010. Chad was the head coach at SMU from 2015 to 2017, and at Arkansas for the next two years. He is currently the receivers coach at Texas State.
John King has been the head coach at Longview since 2004, and in that time built one of the most successful programs in Texas. The Lobos won the state title in 2018, when Haynes was a senior.
John was diagnosed with mouth cancer before the start of the season, and he intended to coach through the treatment process. Shortly after the season started, he took a leave. Haynes said his father is, “doing good.”
Chandler Morris and Haynes King’s long route to success
In the eight games that King played in his three years at Texas A&M, he showed something. Usually it was the zombie-like desire to gain one more yard, and Rocky-like ability to take a hit.
A good player was in there, but there was always something. After starting the first two games as a freshman in 2021, he suffered a season-ending injury. The following year, he split time with Conner Weigman and Max Johnson, as then head coach Jimbo Fisher finished 5-7.
The program was a mess, so Haynes split to Atlanta. In his three years at Georgia Tech, he has developed into the player he was projected to be when he came out of high school.
Meanwhile, Morris had a harder route. A highly regarded passer coming out of high school, Morris could never stay healthy.
In 2020 at Oklahoma, he played sparingly so he transferred to TCU.
In 2021, the week after TCU head coach Gary Patterson “resigned,” Morris was named the starting quarterback against No. 14 Baylor. Morris threw for 461 yards in an upset win, and he looked like the guy. The next week, Morris sustained an injury to his shoulder.
In the offseason, TCU hired Sonny Dykes as head coach, and the next year was one of the most bizarre in the history of college football.
Morris began the season as the starter for an unranked team coming off a losing season. In the third quarter of their first game of the season at Colorado, Morris suffered a sprained knee, which put Max Duggan on the field.
Morris watched the rest of the season from the sideline as Duggan won the Davey O’Brien award, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, and TCU won a College Football Playoff game before losing in the national championship.
Morris was named TCU’s starter in 2023, but the team wasn’t good. He was trying to keep it afloat without the help. In a loss at Iowa State in early October, Morris suffered a knee injury, and effectively lost his job to Josh Hoover.
After the season, Morris graduated from TCU, and transferred to North Texas, where he thrived in 2024 under head coach Eric Morris. Chandler finished with some of the top passing statistics in the nation.
He again put his name in the portal, and now has led UVA to its best season since 2019, and has a good chance to win 10 games for the first time since 1989.
It took far longer than either one of them planned, but in 2025 both Haynes King and Chandler Morris are enjoying the seasons they expected when they graduated from high school in 2019.
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
