The past seven days have been very busy for Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian, between recruiting in the NCAA Transfer Portal (and dealing with roster management and retention), and preparing for the first round of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Texas football reaping the benefits and losses from the transfer portal early in the winter window in the past week
In the first week of the winter transfer window, the Longhorns ended up losing eight players to the transfer portal (nine if you include sophomore wide receiver Johntay Cook II). Texas for the past few years has done a nice job of roster evaluation and management on the two-deep depth chart for each side of the ball.
Sarkisian detailed the culmination of the shortened winter portal and the appearance in the SEC title game a couple of weekends ago in a weekly press conference on Monday (Dec. 16).
"This has been a very challenging three weeks when you think about the fact we had signing day on the Wednesday of the SEC championship game and then the following Monday the transfer portal opens and so you're dealing with current players on your roster."Steve Sarkisian
Texas also landed three portal commitments to kick off the winter transfer window on a high note after the first weekend of big-time visitors being on campus from the portal. The Longhorns added portal commitments in the past 48-72 hours from former Utah Utes All-Big 12 grad transfer punter Jack Bouwmeester, Purdue All-Big Ten Honorable Mention defensive tackle Cole Brevard, and Arkansas sophomore linebacker Brad Spence over the weekend.
Here's a look at three of the costliest portal departures for the Longhorns from the first week of this winter transfer window this December.
Derion Gullette, EDGE/OLB
Since the winter transfer window opened on Dec. 9, the Longhorns have lost a couple of second-year redshirt freshman outside backers/edge rushers to the portal. Redshirt freshmen Derion Gullette and Tausili Akana both announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal early this past week after the portal window opened on Dec. 9.
He played five games with the Longhorns this season, including 11 defensive snaps and five on special teams in kick coverage.
Gullette's live-game snaps at Texas were limited on defense by a lower-body injury he suffered in his senior year of high school that kept him from playing that season at Teague a couple of years ago. Gullette spent the better part of the first 18 months he was on the Forty Acres with the Longhorns rehabbing from that knee injury he suffered late in his high school career.
Out of all the players the Longhorns have lost to the transfer portal in the winter window for this upcoming offseason, I thought Gullette might have the most raw talent and athleticism.
According to On3, Gullette has scheduled three visits since entering the transfer portal, with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels, and North Carolina Tar Heels.