Texas Football: 4 transfer portal targets after missing on Akayleb Evans

Palaie Gaoteote IV, LB

The conversation came up a bit within the past few weeks that the Longhorns were losing ground in the pursuit of a commitment from the former USC Trojans elite five-star recruit and standout sophomore linebacker Palaie Gaoteote IV. Now, it looks to be the Ohio State Buckeyes and head coach Ryan Day that have the edge in the pursuit of landing Gaoteote out of the portal.

Ohio State made up a lot of ground in pursuit of Gaoteote, and it will be important to watch what visits he elects to take during the summer months.

It is a bit surprising that there is no decision announced yet from Gaoteote after he had what seemed to be such a heavy leaning to Texas at one point, and then Ohio State in early June. What might not help the Longhorns’ case is just how many linebackers they’ve picked up in the transfer portal this offseason.

Texas has landed the likes of former New Mexico State linebacker Devin Richardson, Alabama Crimson Tide outside linebacker Ben Davis, Notre Dame Fighting Irish edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo, and LSU Tigers linebacker Ray Thornton, out of the portal thus far. There would likely still be room for Gaoteote in this group of linebackers for Kwiatkowski and Choate, but he would have an uphill battle to get key reps in game action.

Gaoteote would be a nice pickup for Texas out of the portal, but the fans shouldn’t sweat if they miss out on him in the end. Texas did have a nice group of linebacker additions out of the transfer portal already, and that should be enough entering the fall.