Texas football upgrades the slot with Montana transfer Gabe Sulser

What looks to be the first addition for second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program out of the NCAA Transfer Portal this offseason in terms of walk-ons came in the last week. Texas added a commitment out of the transfer portal from a preferred walk-on in the former Montana Grizzlies standout rising senior wide receiver Gabe Sulser.

After spending four seasons playing for Montana, Sulser entered the transfer portal before eventually landing with Sark, new wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Brennan Marion, and the Longhorns.

And it was a report from Kyle Hansen of montanasports.com that first confirmed the news that Sulser would be a graduate transfer commit with the Longhorns this spring. Hansen notes in this piece that Sulser is among the “most popular football players in recent Montana history”.

Texas should be getting a fan favorite out of Sulser. This is also an addition to the wide receiver that can help bolster the depth out of the slot and add another versatile weapon for Jeff Banks to utilize on the special teams unit.

Sulser really was a threat in multiple phases of the game during his four seasons playing for Montana. It’s easy to see how electric of a player he was for the Grizz in each of the last few seasons. In fact, Sulser scored a 59-yard rushing touchdown on the first attempt he had with the ball in his hands on offense. That came back in 2018.

That just goes to show how much of a versatile threat the Longhorns are getting out of Sulser. When healthy, Sulser could make plays in the passing game, rushing game, and kick/punt returns.

Sulser averaged an insane 18.2 yards per punt return and 28.8 yards per kick return during his time with the Grizz. That translated to Sulser becoming a pretty well-rounded threat in terms of all-purpose yards per game in the last few seasons. He averaged around 44 all-purpose yards per game during his time at Montana.

That might not sound like much on the surface. But when you take into account the fact that Sulser didn’t touch the ball all that much to get those yards, that level of efficiency becomes much more apparent.

Sulser had 46 total touches (between the receiving and rushing games) during his four years at Montana. And he averaged just shy of 13 yards per touch on those 46 attempts in his career to date.

When you dig a bit deeper into the numbers, you can also find a lot of the value that Sulser brought to the table for Montana. He only had one drop on more than 50 targets in the receiving game. And he was able to rack up 19 first downs on the 46 touches he had in the last few seasons.

Texas football adds underrated value to WR room with Montana transfer Gabe Sulser

Combine that with the fact that Sulser didn’t have a single pass intercepted or fumbled that was targeted his way in the last four years, and you can see why he was such an exciting and efficient player for the Grizz.

It’s also worth noting that Sulser didn’t have a single muffed punt or kick in more than a dozen attempts in the last four seasons.

That means almost every time Sulser touched the ball, it was a plus play for Montana.

But how will this all translate for the Longhorns?

In order to figure out how Sulser will impact the Longhorns’ offense/special teams unit, we have to see where he’ll fit in on the depth chart.

At first look, it appears that Sulser could be the third slot receiver on the depth chart for the Longhorns this fall. He could be behind the incoming freshman wideout and former four-star recruit Brenen Thompson and rising redshirt junior Jordan Whittington at the H-wide receiver spot.

But considering Sulser has multiple years of proven production under his belt, he might be used in critical situations more often as a backup slot wideout than Thompson, who will be a true freshman this fall.

Sulser will also be counted on as somewhat of an insurance policy given the spotty injury history of Whittington. It is good for Texas to shore up the depth out of the slot behind Whittington, who has missed significant time due to various injury issues in each of the last three years.

Texas fans shouldn’t overlook the impact that Sulser can make coming out of the slot, especially on routes between the numbers. Sulser did a lot of damage on targets between the numbers when he lined up out of the slot in the last few years at Montana.

Sulser is also a sneaky-good slot receiver in terms of picking up yards after the catch and getting yards in chunks deep down the middle of the field. He has more than 170 yards after the catch in his career and a half-dozen missed tackles forced on targets when he lines up out of the slot. Sulser is a very slippery slot receiver.

It’s worth mentioning that Sulser racked up more than 175 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns on deep balls between the numbers.

That means Sulser could be a nice weapon for Sark and the Longhorns to turn to out of the slot to do some real damage down the middle of the field against unsuspecting defenses this fall.

All in all, there’s a lot of sneaky value that Sulser should be able to bring to the table for the Longhorns. And considering the fact that he’ll be joining the team as a preferred walk-on just goes to show the tremendous value addition that the Longhorns are getting out of this grad transfer.

Sulser is the third portal addition at wide receiver for Sark, Marion, and the Longhorns so far this offseason. The other two additions at wideout for Texas this offseason were the former Wyoming redshirt freshman Isaiah Neyor and Alabama freshman Agiye Hall.