4 new portal entrants Texas football must offer in January
Gary Bryant Jr., WR
Another wideout that seems to have some attention from the Longhorns in the transfer portal is the former USC Trojans redshirt sophomore wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr. The former blue-chip recruit is one of the most talented wideouts in the portal at the moment.
According to a report from Greg Biggins of 247Sports on Jan. 11, Texas has already shown some interest in Bryant since he entered the portal on Jan. 9. Some of the other schools that were mentioned that have already reached out to Bryant are the North Carolina Tar Heels, Washington Huskies, Michigan Wolverines, Penn State Nittany Lions, Oregon Ducks, Miami Hurricanes, and Texas A&M Aggies.
And Bryant has reportedly already set up official visits to see Miami and Texas A&M this coming weekend.
But he mentioned in this 247Sports report that he is looking to take all five of his official visits before arriving at a decision in terms of where his next stop out of the portal will be.
Texas could still push to get Bryant on the books for a visit in the near future. But the word on the street is that Texas is going to play it more patiently in terms of recruiting Bryant out of the portal. He doesn’t look to be the top option at the position right now.
Nonetheless, I do believe that Bryant is a good option for the Longhorns to get a true playmaker at the wide receiver position out of the portal this offseason. The 5-foot-11 and 180-pound third-year wideout is someone that could give the Longhorns another weapon to utilize out of the slot behind redshirt junior Jordan Whittington.
What Bryant could bring to the table out of the slot for Texas is a dynamic weapon that possesses a high level of technical route running and some serious speed and elusiveness in the open field. If he gets the ball in space, he’s going to make some defenders miss in the open field.
Bryant took more than 65 percent of his offensive snaps at USC out of the slot in the last three seasons. And during the 2021 season, he registered more than 330 receiving yards and five touchdowns out of the slot, both of which ranked in the top 10 in the PAC-12.
Texas doesn’t have another proven option out of the slot as we speak in the wide receiver room beside Whittington. Bryant would help to sure up the depth in that spot at wideout while giving Sark another dynamic playmaker that he could utilize in different ways in the passing game.