Texas Football: 3 grad transfers to add if a roster spot opens up
Zakhari Franklin, WR
Wide receiver isn’t a position of need for the Longhorns ahead of the 2023 season. Texas added the likes of the former Georgia Bulldogs sophomore wide receiver AD Mitchell and early enrollees from the high school ranks such as Johntay Cook II and DeAndre Moore Jr. this spring.
Sark, new wide receivers coach Chris Jackson, and the Longhorns are also getting the speedy four-star recruit out of the Houston area Ryan Niblett to campus this summer.
The only reason I’m including the former UTSA Roadrunners standout senior wide receiver Zakhari Franklin on this list is that he is the best player available in the portal right now. And given that Texas already lost two wideouts to the portal this spring in sophomore Brenen Thompson and redshirt freshman Jaden Alexis, another loss at the position could open up a spot for another portal player to join the mix.
It would clearly be a tough sell for Sark, Jackson, and the Longhorns to convince a wideout as proven as Franklin to come in and fight for a spot in the wide receiver rotation this fall. But since this is a hypothetical list, it is interesting to think just how deep and talented the Texas wide receiver room would be going into the fall with a group that includes Franklin, Mitchell, Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington, Isaiah Neyor, Cook, and Casey Cain.
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Franklin is one of the most coveted players remaining in the portal this spring. He’s crossed the threshold of 1,000 receiving yards in each of the last two seasons while hauling in more than 35 career touchdown catches during his four years at UTSA.