Texas Football: 3 big transfer targets upon portal window closing

Jan. 18 is supposed to be the last day that any players can submit paperwork to enter their name in the NCAA Transfer Portal, which means that Texas football doesn’t have much longer to see some new potential targets surface before spring ball commences in a couple of months. Yet, there are some existing names in the portal that will keep the attention of Texas’ staff, despite the transfer window closing this week.

We already know most of the players that will enter the transfer portal before the start of spring ball, at least among the upperclassmen. I say that because graduate transfers are able to enter the portal freely whenever they choose in the next few months of the college football offseason.

With the portal window now closed for underclassmen to enter, at least until after the conclusion of spring ball, the Longhorns now have a set list of players it can pursue for the next few months.

And the biggest positional need for the Longhorns to address in the portal at this point of the offseason is at wide receiver. Texas will be looking to add a wideout or two via the portal either in the next couple of weeks or after spring ball.

Adonai Mitchell and Texas football’s top portal targets upon the entry window closing this week

With that in mind, here’s a look at three big transfer targets for the Longhorns upon the portal window closing on Jan. 18.

Gary Bryant Jr., WR

Wide receiver is the positional need for the Longhorns, and the position on the coaching staff, that this fan base is looking for Sark to address early this offseason. And it looks like a couple of key moves are due within the next couple of weeks at the very latest.

One of the key names to watch among the portal targets for the Longhorns at the wide receiver position (outside of the obvious priority target on the transfer market at the moment) is the former USC Trojans junior Gary Bryant Jr.

It looks like Texas is going to throw its hat in the ring for Bryant Jr. if Sark and this staff ultimately want to add two portal players at the position.

Bryant is currently being courted by more than a dozen schools, a few of which visits are already set up with. He’s already visited the Miami Hurricanes and it looked like a visit with the Texas A&M Aggies was on the books.

A report from 247Sports indicates that Miami looks like one of the leaders right now for Bryant since his visit to Coral Gables last week.

In the coming days, Bryant is also set to officially visit the Arizona Wildcats. He also had an in-home visit with the Penn State Nittany Lions.

It also wouldn’t surprise me to see the UCLA Bruins get Bryant to campus for a visit in the near future. UCLA appeared to be one of the schools heavily pursuing Bryant out of the portal in the last couple of weeks.

Bryant is ultimately planning to finish out the spring semester at USC to get his degree and then officially transfer to his next school. But his recruitment is moving faster than we initially thought it would knowing his graduation timeline.

All in all, if Texas is going to make a move in the portal decision-making process for Bryant, it probably needs to happen soon. But we do know there is some level of interest between Bryant and the Texas coaching staff.