Texas Football: Minnesota transfer DL Trill Carter visiting Austin this week

The news cycle in the NCAA Transfer Portal is getting up and running once again for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program. Texas is reportedly set to host a spring grad transfer for a visit to Austin in a few days.

Justin Wells of Inside Texas reported on the night of April 9 (paid content) that Texas will host the former Minnesota Golden Gophers senior graduate transfer defensive lineman Trill Carter on a visit to Austin starting on April 11. This visit is reportedly set to last through April 13, which comes just a couple of days before the start of the annual Orange-White spring football game at DKR.

This will be the third visit that Carter has taken since he originally entered the transfer portal on March 24. Carter reportedly visited the Illinois Fighting Illini and Arkansas Razorbacks in the last couple of weeks.

The 6-foot-2 and 310-pound fourth-year defensive lineman Carter will bring two years of eligibility if you include the COVID-19 year. Carter played four seasons at Minnesota, where he took more than 1,100 defensive snaps playing along the interior defensive line.

Texas football hosting Minnesota transfer DL Trill Carter for a multi-day visit next week

Carter became a regular starter along the defensive line for the Golden Gophers for the first time in his collegiate career during the 2022 campaign. He took more than 500 defensive snaps for the first time in his career last season, where he registered nearly 20 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 12 QB pressures, 12 stops, and five missed tackles.

Moreover, this is really the first time we’re seeing the Longhorns make a big push for a defensive portal player since the start of spring ball. Carter will be the first portal target for the Longhorns that visits Austin since the start of spring ball too.

I think it will be good for Texas to host Carter in the midst of the closing stages of spring ball, to really see how he can fit within the program in the very near future. This will also make for a very authentic experience for Carter to see Texas go through spring drills in the midst of his multi-day visit to Austin in a few days.

It looks as if defensive line coach Bo Davis and the Longhorns still aren’t fully confident in the proven depth along the line this spring. Texas had the last month or so in spring ball to evaluate the depth and impact-ready talent along the defensive line, and clearly still wants more solidified personnel in the mix.

Texas does have a solid top group of three or four defensive linemen this spring. Redshirt senior T’Vondre Sweat, junior Byron Murphy II, senior Alfred Collins, and potentially either junior Vernon Broughton or true freshman Sydir Mitchell make up a group of interior defensive linemen that will be in the core of the rotation along the front seven this fall.

But adding a guy like Carter to the mix would give Davis the Longhorns another big human up the middle that could provide more proven depth at a critical position for Pete Kwiatkowski in this front seven. Carter is a pretty good run-stopper that can take up space along the interior defensive line, so he would theoretically fit with what this roster needs to add and what PK likes to scheme up along the front seven.

Texas finished up the 2022 season with a record of 8-5 (6-3 Big 12) following a loss to the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl. Sark and the Longhorns will take part in the annual Orange-White Game at DKR on April 15.