Texas Football: 3 Georgia transfers the Longhorns should pursue

In a few days, the first 45-day window for players to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal will close, which doesn’t give Texas football much time to fill any outstanding positions of need ahead of spring ball.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns do have a handful of positional needs that probably should be addressed via the transfer portal before the summer. Some of those positional needs are at wide receiver, edge rusher, and running back.

It’s also not out of the question that the Longhorns look for a portal player or two at linebacker or defensive back. I would only assume that Texas makes a move at a position other than the three aforementioned units that are in the most need of portal help if the right name surfaces on the transfer market either in the next couple of days or following the conclusion of spring ball.

Georgia transfers that Texas football could look into this offseason

However, one avenue the Longhorns can take to find some portal players to address some positional needs is from the reigning back-to-back National Champion Georgia Bulldogs. In the last few days, Georgia had some notable names surface in the portal. Here’s a look at three of those players that Texas could pursue this offseason.

Trezmen Marshall, LB

Before getting into this piece, I want to mention that none of these three players are connected to Texas at the moment. These are just ideas that Texas could potentially pursue if the staff feels like more depth at any one of these positions isn’t up to snuff.

I don’t think that the need at the linebacker position is so dire that the Longhorns must go out and get another player out of the portal to sure up the depth for this unit. But it’s also not the worst idea to add a more proven veteran to the mix to ensure that the two-deep is solidified heading into spring ball.

If Texas wanted to get a graduate transfer at linebacker, like Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate did last year with Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey from James Madison, then a solid option could be former senior Georgia inside linebacker Trezmen Marshall. The ex-blue-chip recruit performed well when called upon for the Dawgs last season.

The 6-foot-1 and 230-pound linebacker registered nearly 20 combined tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one sack, a half-dozen quarterback pressures, a dozen stops, just two missed tackles, one pass breakup, and one interception in 2022.

Marshall was a rotational backup for the Dawgs last season. But he did see the field in all but one of the games Georgia played in its title run in the season that was.

This type of experience and proven production could be impactful for this Texas linebacker corps in 2023.

In situations where PK and the Longhorns are spinning down a linebacker/edge rusher to rush the passer specifically, then having another veteran that can come in and play on the inside could provide a lot of value. And Texas doesn’t currently have that guy in the fold right now unless rising senior linebacker David Gbenda emerges in a big way in camp.

Another way that Marshall could provide some value for the Longhorns at the linebacker position in 2023 is with his coverage skills. Marshall was a reliable option at linebacker to drop into pass coverage and hold his own for the Dawgs in the last four seasons.

He allowed a QBR of just 66.2 in his four years at Georgia in pass coverage plays. Marshall also didn’t allow a single passing touchdown, while forcing three incompletions, during his time at Georgia.

I like the idea of Texas having another linebacker that could occupy space in pass coverage when PK wants to send freshman Anthony Hill Jr. on a blitz off the inside boundary. Marshall is proven in pass coverage, whereas Hill is a little bit questionable at the moment.

Utilizing some blitz packages like that could theoretically maximize the strengths of both Marshall and Hill.

All in all, I would really like the idea of adding an experienced grad transfer at linebacker such as Marshall if PK and the Longhorns aren’t happy with the depth situation at this position during the spring.