The absence of Texas Longhorns sophomore offensive guard Curtis Riser was conspicuous throughout the spring and the fall despite limited depth along the offensive line, so it was hardly surprising when he announced on Tuesday evening via Instagram that he will be leaving the program:

Mike Barnes of The Orange Report was one of the first to notice the post and Riser quickly confirmed the news to Horns247.

Riser becomes the second player to leave the program on Wednesday after junior tight end MJ McFarland confirmed that he will transfer. A Tuesday night report surfaced that as many as a half dozen players could leave the program in the coming days or weeks. Attrition of that magnitude would be higher than normal, but not entirely surprising given that head coach Charlie Strong was forced to dismiss nine players from the program between late July and early August and suspend several more.

The fact that it was an offensive lineman who decided to leave the program was as unsurprising as the specific player, as offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Joe Wickline is known as a hard coach to play for -- one former Oklahoma State lineman estimated that as many as half of of the Cowboys offensive linemen that played for the hard-nosed coach didn't care for him.

A consensus four-star prospect out of DeSoto, Riser was the No. 56 player in the country in the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 4 offensive guard nationally in the 2012 class. But after appearing as a reserve in four games as a redshirt freshman in 2013, Riser never even sniffed the depth chart under the new coaching staff.

So while Riser never looked like a contributor during the last year, there were big expectations for him when he arrived.

Perhaps the change of scenery will be just what he needs.