Texas Football: 3 new portal entrants UT should target this week

Princely Umanmielen, EDGE*

The one name on this list of portal players the Longhorns should target in the December window that reportedly (per Inside Texas) has communicated with the Texas coaches is the former Florida Gators standout senior edge rusher Princely Umanmielen. The former blue-chip recruit from Manor High School in Texas looked like he would emerge as a possible portal target for Texas at the EDGE position.

Texas is also heavily pursuing the All-AAC First-Team selection and American Athletic Conference sacks leader from this season, Moore, in the portal this month. Moore had a successful visit to Austin to see the Longhorns last weekend.

Were something not to work out with Moore in the portal for the Longhorns, Umanmielen would be one of the best options to consider to upgrade the pass rush and the EDGE position.

There is even a good argument to be made that Umanmielen has much higher upside than Moore.

Umanmielen is an experienced and proven standout pass rusher with NFL tools. He led Florida in sacks and quarterback pressures in each of the last two seasons.

It’s also noteworthy that Umanmielen was recruited by Texas in the 2019 class and he has connections with some of the coaches on this staff. Current Texas co-DC Pete Kwiatkowski offered Umamielen in high school when he was the co-DC with the Washington Huskies.

Texas safeties coach Blake Gideon was Umanmielen’s primary recruiter while on staff with the Ole Miss Rebels.

Umanmielen makes a ton of sense for the Longhorns to add an experienced edge rusher with serious upside as a high-level pass rusher in the SEC. He could upgrade the pass rush for PK and the Longhorns next season and give Texas a defender with meaningful and productive SEC snaps under his belt during his time at Florida.

Texas would probably have to move fast in this portal recruitment to get real consideration from Umanmielen. Ole Miss has generated buzz with Umanmielen after he visited Oxford early this week.