3 new portal entrants Texas is expected to target this month
The winter NCAA Transfer Portal window opens for Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian to start pursuing potential targets to bring in at key positions of need on each side of the ball on Dec. 9. This portal window for the next few weeks lasts until Dec. 28.
Texas football expected to attack multiple positional needs for proven upgrades on each side of the ball in the portal for 2025
With the winter transfer portal window being pushed back roughly one week to give some time cushion after signing day for high school recruiting in college football, Texas can spend more time on the trail solely focusing on identifying immediate roster needs.
Texas has already lost two players who announced plans to enter the transfer portal this upcoming offseason, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jaray Bledsoe and sophomore wide receiver Jontay Cook II. The Longhorns are also expected to lose a handful more players to the portal when the transfer market opens officially on Dec. 9.
Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff will have to work overtime both preparing for the upcoming 12-team College Football Playoff this postseason and the transfer portal window from Dec. 9-28.
Here are three portal targets the Longhorns are expected to pursue once the winter transfer window opens on Monday (Dec. 9).
Jaheim Oatis, DT
One of the biggest positions of need the Longhorns are expected to tackle in the portal during the winter transfer window is defensive tackle. Texas needs to add at least two or three proven and experienced "big humans" along the defensive line from the portal this month in the upcoming window.
Texas is losing at least four defensive tackles to the NFL Draft and the portal this upcoming offseason. The Longhorns and Kenny Baker have their work cut out for them to replace what's departing from the interior defensive line top rotation in the portal in the next few months.
There is also the possibility that Texas waits until the spring, after camp in March and April, to re-evaluate portal defensive tackle needs for the late transfer window next offseason.
An option for the Longhorns to consider among the top portal defensive tackles expected to be available on the transfer market entering Monday's portal opening is Alabama defensive line transfer Jaheim Oatis. The junior defensive tackle spent three seasons at Alabama before entering announcing his intentions to enter the transfer portal this fall.
Oatis checks many of the boxes the Longhorns are looking for from an immediate-impact transfer defensive tackle from the portal this upcoming offseason. At 6-foot-5 and 325 pounds, Oatis has the size and strength the Longhorns want from a defensive tackle who can play three or zero-technique along the interior D-Line.
Having started over a dozen games at Alabama in the past three seasons, Oatis has the proven experience of playing along the defensive line in the SEC in the trenches.