3 ex-Texas football transfers still trying to find new homes this spring

So far this offseason, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program have lost a little over a dozen players to the NCAA Transfer Portal. The bulk of the players that Texas did lose to the portal since the first transfer window opened (for non-grad transfers to enter their names) late last year were not expected to be major contributors on the two-deep in 2023.

There were a couple of notable losses to the portal that was a bit unexpected, including the departures of senior interior offensive lineman Junior Angilau and sophomore cornerback Jamier Johnson. But Texas has the necessary depth in both of those spots to make up for those losses on the two-deep.

Moreover, it’s worth noting that the bulk of the portal losses for the Longhorns during the 2023 transfer cycle have already found new homes at other Division I schools. That leaves only three Longhorns players that have entered their names in the transfer portal this offseason that have yet to find their next stop.

Agiye Hall and the former Texas football players that are still in the portal this spring

Here’s a look at those three former Longhorns players that are still seeking out new collegiate destinations in the portal this spring.

Isaac Pearson, P

The punting game was a major question mark entering last season for special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks and the Longhorns. Texas had a battle taking place between the former Texas Wesleyan transfer Daniel Trejo and redshirt freshman Isaac Pearson coming out of fall camp to decide who would assume the punting dues during the season.

Pearson did win the punting job heading into Week 1 last fall. But it literally didn’t take long at all for him to be stripped of the punting duties in the regular season opener against UL-Monroe. He bobbled one snap on his first punt of the 2022 season, which wound up going for 15 yards.

After that bobbled punt, Trejo took over the punting duties from Pearson for the rest of the season.

And while Trejo performed decently well as Texas’ starting punter last season, it still didn’t live up to the standard that Banks wants out of his special teams units. Thus, Texas went into the transfer portal to pick up the former Stanford Cardinal senior All-PAC-12 punter Ryan Sanborn just prior to the turn of the calendar year.

It was clear entering the offseason that Banks and the Longhorns wanted to completely wipe the slate clean for the punting game. That meant Pearson was probably going to be one of the portal casualties as the Longhorns looked to get more stability in the punting game by bringing Sanborn aboard.

Pearson announced he would be entering the transfer portal on Dec. 8, 2022. He has three years of eligibility remaining after spending two years on the Forty Acres.