Texas Football: 3 NCAA Transfer Portal DE Longhorns targets

Adding to the proven experience factor with a Power Five program is a nice point of appeal if the Texas football program was to go after sixth-year senior Virginia Tech Hokies defensive end Houshun Gaines. Although, taking a redshirt year as a freshman along with various injury troubles kept Gaines off the field for most of his college career to date.

There aren’t many sixth-year defensive ends that emerge in the transfer portal year in and year out. Texas has the chance to get its hands on one of the more experienced and proven players in the transfer portal in general this offseason. That shows that Gaines is at least worth looking into for the Longhorns.

The last season in which Gaines got to play in more than five games was back in 2018. He raked in 22 total tackles, five tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, one pass deflections, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery during his redshirt junior season in 2018. He also got to play in nine games that year. That now brings his career totals to 51 total tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, and eight sacks, during the 25 games he’s played over a span of five years at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech dug pretty deep to land Gaines way back in 2014. He was a recruit of legendary former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster. They landed a good one here that ranked as the nation’s No. 1,091 2015 high school prospect and the No. 57 strong-side defensive end. This 6-foot-3 and 235 pound Rocky Mount, NC, native and Nash Central High School product is one of the hidden gems in the transfer portal this offseason.