Texas Football: 3 former blue-chips to pursue in the portal this spring

With the spring window open for the NCAA Transfer Portal starting earlier this week, Texas football could be looking for more help to sure up the roster on both sides of the ball heading into the fall. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian made their first move in the transfer portal for the spring earlier this week when they landed a commitment from the former Minnesota Golden Gophers senior grad transfer defensive lineman Trill Carter.

Landing Carter out of the portal brings the Longhorns up to five transfers in the 2023 class so far this offseason. Texas has also landed the former Stanford senior punter Ryan Sanborn, Wake Forest redshirt sophomore cornerback Gavin Holmes, Arkansas senior safety Jalen Catalon, and Georgia sophomore wide receiver AD Mitchell.

Each of the five portal pickups for the Longhorns in the 2023 class so far will be able to contribute immediately to the two-deep this fall. And I fully believe that any additional portal players Sark and the Longhorns staff pursue for the remainder of the spring will be able to either contribute immediately or bring significant future upside that is impossible to ignore.

Former blue chips Texas football should consider kicking the tires on in the portal this spring

With this in mind, here’s a look at three former blue-chip recruits the Longhorns should pursue in the portal this spring.

Honorable mentions

There are a few honorable mentions I wanted to include on this list since there are some former blue-chip recruits currently available in the transfer portal that either were either discussed ad nauseam on the site already, aren’t realistic for Texas, or both.

Jordan Hudson, WR

The most intriguing of the honorable mentions on this list that the Longhorns could consider offering in the portal this spring is the uber-talented former TCU Horned Frogs freshman wide receiver, Jordan Hudson. Texas was once a major player in Hudson’s recruitment out of Garland High School in the 2022 class. And he still has some longstanding relationships with coaches on Texas’ staff going back to his recruitment out of high school.

But it looks like there are a couple of schools that are considered to be overwhelming favorites in this portal recruitment. The Arizona State Sun Devils and SMU Mustangs are likely the two schools that Hudson will decide between this offseason.

Arizona State has Ra’Shaad Samples on its staff. Samples has one of the best relationships with Hudson of any position coach in the country.

Meanwhile, SMU is close to home for Hudson and is making a run to flip him back from TCU to the place he originally committed to out of high school.

Bear Alexander, DL

The reason why the former Georgia standout freshman defensive lineman and recent portal entrant Bear Alexander isn’t included in the meat of this list.

First off, Alexander is likely headed to the USC Trojans with all the recent buzz we’ve heard since his name first appeared in the portal a few days ago. A report from Chris Hummer of 247Sports on April 18 (paid content) pegs USC as the “heavy favorite” to win this portal recruitment.

I will say that it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that Alexander could entertain the idea of visiting Texas if DL coach Bo Davis and the Longhorns want to get him to campus. The slight possibility of Alexander making the trip to the 40 this spring for a visit is why he makes the list of honorable mentions.

Rian Davis, LB

If I were writing this article two offseasons ago, I would probably be including a transfer linebacker and former top-100 consensus recruit like Georgia transfer Rian Davis. But Texas is in a much better spot in terms of the depth at the linebacker position in 2023 than it was in each of the last two years.