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Texas quarterback Matthew Merrick has decided to leave the Longhorns program and focus on academics. 

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The battle for the starting quarterback position at Texas under new head coach Tom Herman is heating up, but the competition will be without Matthew Merrick, who has decided to leave the program.

“I had a great talk with Coach [Tim] Beck, who was willing to help me with whatever I decided to do. After discussing it with my family, I’ve decided to step away from the football team and focus on my academics at UT. If an opportunity in football were to present itself in the future, that’s something I would consider, but for now, I believe it’s best to strengthen my academics as much as possible. I want to thank all of my teammates, the staff, Coach Beck and Coach [Tom] Herman for their support, and I appreciate all of the relationships I’ve built during my time with the team. I’ll always consider myself a Longhorn and will be rooting them on in the future.”

Merrick, a 6-foot-4 190 lbs. sophomore out of Irving, Texas, was figured to be third on the depth chart behind returning starter Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger, the highly-touted true freshman from Herman’s first recruiting class.

If Merrick is to transfer, he will have to sit out a year per the NCAA transfer rules and will have three years left of eligibility.

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