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

Derrick McLendon II, EDGE

Despite Texas having made contact with the former Florida State Seminoles redshirt junior edge rusher Derrick McLendon II more than one week ago, there is not a visit on the books yet for the grad transfer to make the trip to Austin.

McLendon was a name we heard about that the Texas defensive staff was kicking the tires on just before the conclusion of spring ball roughly 10 days ago. He could fill a depth need for Texas at the buck position opposite junior edge rusher Barryn Sorrell.

Texas doesn’t have much proven depth among the candidates to get the starting reps at the buck position this fall opposite Sorrell. Sophomore edge rusher Ethan Burke got the first-team reps ahead of fellow sophomore edge rusher Justice Finkley at the conclusion of spring camp.

But it doesn’t look like the staff is fully confident in Burke as their top option as a starting EDGE this fall. He still has to put on some weight and learn how to set the edge better in run defense.

That’s why it makes sense for Texas to get a proven and reliable edge rusher out of the portal that can at least be a productive pass rusher and set the edge effectively heading into the 2023 season. McLendon could be that guy off the edge for the Longhorns.

Moreover, Texas is likely waiting for some other quality edge rushers to surface in the transfer portal this spring. The spring portal window has only been open for a few days now, and we’ve seen Sark and the Longhorns staff take a patient approach to adding transfers throughout the entire offseason thus far.

If no better options emerge in the portal in terms of quality edge rushers that could bring some proven depth to the table opposite Sorrell, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Texas pick up the communication with McLendon in the coming weeks.