Texas Football: 2 transfer targets visiting Longhorns next week

Andrew Mukuba, S

Texas’s top defensive back target in the portal heading into the offseason is the former Clemson Tigers junior safety Andrew Mukuba. The former blue-chip recruit from Austin (TX) LBJ High School in the 2021 class is considered one of the top portal players in the nation in the first week of the transfer window opening for underclassmen.

Mukuba entered the transfer portal on Dec. 5 and received immediate interest from the likes of the Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Ole Miss Rebels, and Texas, among many other Power Five schools.

It didn’t take long for the Longhorns to get Mukuba scheduled for a visit to Austin. Horns247 reported on Dec. 8 that Texas is one of the five schools Mukuba is planning to visit next week. The specific dates Mukuba is planning on visiting Austin aren’t confirmed yet. But he did mention “next weekend” as the potential target date for him to visit Texas.

The other schools Mukuba will visit are Oklahoma, Oregon, Ole Miss, and the USC Trojans. He reportedly wants to visit all five schools next week.

Mukuba looks like Texas’s top priority among portal defensive back targets early in this transfer cycle. He’s got many relationships on the Texas staff, most notably with his head coach at LBJ high school, Jahmal Fenner. Fenner is Texas’s director of high school relations.

Texas special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks also has a good relationship with Mukuba, as he was the primary recruiter for the Alabama Crimson Tide when they were pursuing him on the recruiting trail in the 2021 cycle.

Safeties coach Blake Gideon and the Longhorns are looking to upgrade the safety room, especially after three Texas safeties entered the portal this week (Catalon, redshirt freshman BJ Allen Jr., and redshirt freshman Larry Turner-Gooden). Mukuba could be the immediate impact starter Gideon and the Longhorns are looking for in the portal at safety heading into the 2024 offseason.