Texas Football: 3 biggest remaining portal needs entering spring ball

Linebacker

The biggest position of need both in terms of depth and proven experience on the defensive side of the ball is at linebacker. Texas doesn’t have much proven depth to feel good about at the linebacker position behind the duo of true freshman Anthony Hill Jr. and the reigning All-Big 12 senior Jaylan Ford.

Edge rusher does get an honorable mention in terms of the potential positions of need out of the portal on this list. But edge has more depth thanks to the plethora of new additions to the program that Texas signed in the 2023 class from the high school ranks. Texas also returns a good bit of edge depth and talent from last year’s squad with guys like junior Barryn Sorrell, sophomore Ethan Burke, and redshirt freshman J’mond Tapp.

Moreover, behind Hill at will linebacker is probably going to be redshirt junior David Gbenda in spring ball. We could also see true freshman S’Maje Burrell compete for second-team reps in spring camp. But neither Gbenda nor Burrell on the two-deep makes me feel great at the will linebacker rotation in 2023. Gbenda has yet to show that he can consistently perform as a rotational linebacker in four years at Texas.

And Burrell is still a younger linebacker that might need a year or two to develop before he’s ready to secure a spot on the two-deep.

I do feel a little bit better about the depth situation at mike linebacker heading into spring ball, with the deserved Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Ford leading the way. It sounds like true freshman and former four-star recruit Liona Lefau could push senior Jett Bush for second-team reps at mike linebacker this spring.

Last offseason, we saw Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate get the former FCS All-American linebacker and ex-James Madison Duke Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey out of the portal to sure up the depth at the position.

I think a similar move to get a solid rotational linebacker with proven experience that can play off-ball after the conclusion of spring ball would be a wise decision by the defensive staff to have more assurance in the case that injuries start to pile up this fall.