3 highest priority Texas transfer portal targets to watch this week

Drew Sanders, EDGE

At this point, it’s clear that one loss to the transfer portal that was not planned for the Crimson Tide came in the form of the former elite five-star recruit and sophomore defensive end/edge rusher Drew Sanders. Texas might not find a defensive target in the transfer portal with more promise in terms of impact on the pass rush than Sanders this offseason.

Texas will be competing with the Oklahoma Sooners and Arkansas Razorbacks in the battle to land a commitment out of the transfer portal from Sanders. The Texas native visited Oklahoma and Arkansas already this week.

But it is a good sign off the bat that he doesn’t have a decision in hand at the conclusion of those two visits. He’s set to be in Austin for a visit with the Longhorns on Jan. 14.

The fact that there’s an edge rusher in the transfer portal that could be around for at least another two seasons with the ceiling of Sanders is crazy. This is an important one for the Longhorns to get right. While Mathis would really make a big impact on the Longhorns pass rush, Sanders would have the higher ceiling of the two edge rushers/defensive ends.

There was a point in time where Sanders was a starter along this defensive front for the Crimson Tide. Injury issues just limited his availability earlier in the 2021 season. But it’s still very much worth noting that Sanders was a starter for the National Champion runner-up with a number of other NFL-caliber talents at one point in the season that was.