Texas Football: 3 positions of need to tackle in post-spring portal window
In roughly one week, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian will be very busy in the NCAA Transfer Portal once again. Texas will conclude spring camp following the annual Orange-White spring football game at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on April 15.
Following the conclusion of the spring game, the attention will turn to a period of roster evaluation where Sark and the Longhorns staff will look to plug any looming holes before the start of the summer semester.
Last offseason, we saw Sark and the Longhorns make a handful of moves in the transfer portal to sure up a couple of positions of need after spring camp. Texas landed key grad transfers late last spring such as the former FCS All-American and James Madison Dukes senior linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey and Iowa State Cyclones experienced wide receiver Tarique Milton.
Biggest positions of need for Texas football to tackle in the portal following spring ball
It looks like another couple of portal players could be picked up following the conclusion of spring ball this year to fill various position needs for the Longhorns on each side of the ball. Here’s a look at three of the biggest positional needs Texas could address in the portal after spring ball.
Texas is set to host Minnesota transfer DL Trill Carter on a visit starting on April 11th. Carter was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 2022.
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You could make a valid argument for all position groups along the defensive front for Texas to pursue in the transfer portal following the conclusion of spring ball. Linebacker, edge rusher, and defensive line all could likely use at least one more proven impact player in the mix just to ensure the depth at each position group heading into the fall.
I had to choose two of these three position groups to put on this list and some recent moves that defensive line coach Bo Davis and the Longhorns staff made in the portal answered this for me.
Davis and the Longhorns are clearly still looking to add more proven depth along the defensive line this spring. That became clear when the report surfaced this weekend that Texas will be hosting the former Minnesota Golden Gophers senior grad transfer defensive lineman Trill Carter on a multi-day visit to Austin starting on April 11.
If Texas is still looking to add a big body along the defensive front such as the 6-foot-2 and 310-pound Carter, it signals that the staff isn’t fully confident in the depth along the defensive line coming out of spring ball.
I think there is some validity to Texas looking to add more depth along the defensive front. There aren’t a lot of proven run-stoppers among the bigger interior defensive linemen beyond the top two players at this position this spring (T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II).
Adding Carter likely wouldn’t mean that Texas is bringing in an immediate starter along the interior defensive line. But he could be a proven run-stopper that can effectively take up space as a key member of the defensive line rotation this fall.