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

Jaheim Thomas, OLB/EDGE

In terms of quality edge/pass rushers in the portal, there aren’t many better players that I see available this spring than the former Cincinnati Bearcats breakout redshirt sophomore outside linebacker/edge rusher Jaheim Thomas. I don’t know how many more impact outside backers/edge rushers will come available in the portal this offseason than Thomas.

Thomas is an explosive third-year linebacker/edge player that had a career year at Cincinnati last fall. He ranked third on the team in combined tackles (70), third in tackles for loss (seven), and fifth in defensive grade.

It’s also worth noting that Thomas graded out as the second-best linebacker in the American Athletic Conference in run defense last season. He also graded out as the third-best linebacker in the American in terms of pass rush grade.

Those types of numbers for a player that still has multiple years of eligibility remaining at his next stop out of the portal this offseason would theoretically be a nice portal player for Texas to nab.

The biggest issue I see with Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate going after a proven player in the portal such as Thomas is the positional fit. The 6-foot-4 and 245-pound Thomas played most of his defensive snaps in the last couple of seasons at Cincinnati as a hybrid sam linebacker.

PK and the Longhorns already have a plan developing at sam linebacker this fall to get the nation’s No. 1 ranked linebacker recruit in the 2023 class and true freshman early enrollee Anthony Hill Jr. snaps. Hill is likely going to be weaponized as an explosive playmaker that can get after opposing quarterbacks as a hybrid pass rusher and a downhill run-stopper that brings a lot of pop in the pads to this defensive front.

Thus, I could see how the Texas defensive staff would see adding a portal player such as Thomas creating a logjam at linebacker.

All in all, there are two ways to look at the Longhorns hypothetically considering a portal linebacker/EDGE such as Thomas this spring. If Texas decides to let him go elsewhere without even making contact, I’d assume PK and Choate are fine with the depth at linebacker and don’t want to mess with the current rotation in place, especially at the sam position.

On the other hand, though, I could see the Longhorns wanting to add a truly versatile outside backer/edge rusher that could play out of the three-tech as a pass rusher or could be moved around the box to drop into pass coverage (and quite a few different roles in between). From this perspective, Thomas would not only add depth and versatility to the defensive front, but he would also give Texas a proven pass-rush specialist that was one of the most effective players at his position getting after the quarterback in the AAC last season.

If Thomas would be willing to assume a rotational role with the ability to compete for starting reps, but no guarantee of a starting position, then I like the idea of reaching out this spring to gauge his interest in Texas.

*As a sidenote, there was interest between Alabama and Thomas during his recruitment with Texas OL coach Kyle Flood as one of the leading recruiters for the Tide.