Texas EDGE transfer target Drew Sanders commits to Arkansas
![Alabama linebacker Drew Sanders (20) breaks up a pass intended for Mercer tight end Andrew May (82) Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, in Bryant-Denny Stadium. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]Alabama Vs Mercer](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F9f580bb490efe225efe1eccc42c4be6fd67fa2f5c56c35acd0ab5aa558976a65.jpg "Alabama linebacker Drew Sanders (20) breaks up a pass intended for Mercer tight end Andrew May (82) Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, in Bryant-Denny Stadium. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]Alabama Vs Mercer")
A day of mixed news for second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football staff out of the NCAA Transfer Portal on Jan. 16 came to a climax this afternoon. Texas figured out on the afternoon of Jan. 16 that they would get a commitment out of the former Alabama Crimson Tide junior tight end and blue-chip recruit Jahleel Billingsley from the transfer portal.
It was good to hear about Billingsley joining the Longhorns out of the portal this weekend. He was one of the key former Crimson Tide transfers on campus visiting Texas this weekend.
But there was another former Crimson Tide player visiting Texas this weekend that didn’t give this coaching staff the news they wanted to hear. Former Alabama potent sophomore edge rusher and elite five-star recruit Drew Sanders passed on the Longhorns offer for the Arkansas Razorbacks after a Jan. 14 visit to Austin.
I am excited to announce that I will continue my football career at the University of Arkansas!! Signed and ready to go to work!! #GoHogs
— Drew Sanders (@Drew_16Sanders) January 16, 2022
Texas football misses on former Alabama EDGE Drew Sanders as he commits to Arkansas
Sanders announced on his Twitter timeline on the afternoon of Jan. 16 that he would be committing to Arkansas out of the transfer portal over the likes of the Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners. He took three visits earlier this week. Those three visits came with Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
And it appeared to be a good sign this week for the Longhorns’ odds to land Sanders when he still took his visit to Austin after getting the other two done with Arkansas and Oklahoma. But it still looked like Texas could be fighting an uphill battle at one point to land Sanders.
That proved to be the case as Sanders wrapped up his decision-making process out of the portal less than one full week after he originally put his name on the open market.
3 Longhorns players that could still enter the portal. dark. Next
Texas now has three big transfer portal additions so far this offseason in Billingsley and a pair of former Ohio State Buckeyes in redshirt freshman cornerback Ryan Watts and freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers. Edge rusher is still a position of need, though, for the Longhorns after missing out on Sanders this weekend.