Texas lands commitment from Alabama transfer TE Jahleel Billingsley

Another big addition arrived for second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian, special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks, and the Texas football program this weekend. On the afternoon of Jan. 16, the news came out that Texas landed a commitment out of the NCAA Transfer Portal from the former Alabama Crimson Tide blue-chip recruit and junior tight end Jahleel Billingsley.

In a post on his Instagram page on the afternoon of Jan. 16, Sark and the Longhorns got a commitment out of the transfer portal from Billingsley. This came after Billingsley was on the Forty Acres for a visit with Texas this weekend.

Texas now has a trio of notable transfer portal additions since the beginning of the offseason. And this continues to add more potency to the Longhorn offense ahead of what should be a potent 2022 season.

Texas football gets its third transfer addition this weekend in former Alabama TE Jahleel Billingsley

Billingsley was a tight end recruited by Banks. And he is familiar with a lot of the coaches on this Texas staff since they were formerly employed by head coach Nick Saban with the Crimson Tide. That namely includes the likes of Sark, offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, and of course Banks.

Texas had a need to fill at the tight end position this offseason. That was especially true after junior tight end Jared Wiley put his name in the transfer portal earlier this month. Wiley would eventually commit to the TCU Horned Frogs last week out of the portal.

What Texas is getting out of Billingsley is a potent threat in the passing game that should give Sark another weapon to work with when utilizing the immense talent of incoming freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers. He did have a disappointing finish to the 2021 season. But Billingsley did show plenty of flashes during his three years playing for Alabama.

Billingsley has 37 career catches under his belt for 559 receiving yards (just over 15 yards per catch) with six receiving touchdowns. He registered just over 250 receiving yards and three touchdown catches in each of the last two seasons too.

Texas now gets a tight end that can come in and compete for starting reps right away this offseason in Billingsley. He is one of three notable transfer portal additions for the Longhorns early this offseason. The other two are Ewers and former Ohio State Buckeyes redshirt freshman cornerback Ryan Watts.