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Texas quarterback has officially announced his departure from Tom Herman's team

This is a valiant reason to depart from the team.

The quarterback situation at Texas could get very interesting.

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On Wednesday, Texas announced that backup quarterback Matthew Merrick would be stepping away from the team in order to focus on his academics.

From the statement, via NBC Sports:

"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."

Related: A powerhouse head coach confirms he's recruiting former LSU QB Brandon Harris

Merrick is a former three-star recruit of the 2015 recruiting class, and he had yet to see the field for any game action in his two years on campus as a redshirt and then as a backup in 2016.

Where things could get interesting is that Texas only has two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster... for now. Texas coach Tom Herman has admitted to pursuing LSU grad transfer Brandon Harris, and this could be an opening that could help facilitate that move.