Per On3's Hayes Fawcett, former North Carolina Tar Heels junior transfer defensive tackle Travis Shaw committed to Texas football. Shaw had originally entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Dec. 10 before committing to Texas a little under one month later on Jan. 5.
Texas football adds another big human DT from the portal in UNC transfer Travis Shaw
This news of Shaw's commitment to the Longhorns via the winter portal comes just 24 hours after he took a multi-day visit to Texas on Jan. 3 and 4. Texas hosted a couple of ACC transfer visitors along the defensive line this weekend, including Shaw and former Florida State Seminoles and Georgia Bulldogs junior edge rusher transfer Marvin Jones Jr.
Shaw joins former Purdue Boilermakers senior grad transfer defensive tackle Cole Brevard as the two defensive linemen the Longhorns have added from the portal for the upcoming offseason for 2025.
Texas and defensive line coach Kenny Baker needed to restock the depth at defensive tackle for this upcoming offseason. And he's now got multiple experienced and proven big humans to add along the defensive line to help replace the departures of outgoing defensive tackles like seniors Jermayne Lole, Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, and Bill Norton in the SEC for the 2025 season.
Between the two defensive tackle transfers Brevard and Shaw, the Longhorns are bringing in two guys that are at least 320 pounds and have a combined over 1,200 career snaps against P4 opponents along the defensive line.
Shaw is a former top-20 prospect nationally in the 2022 class in the 247Sports Composite. He was one of the highest-rated recruits the Tar Heels have ever signed in-state from North Carolina in the past two and a half decades for the program.
It took Shaw a couple of years for him to start living up to his insane talent and physical ability in the trenches along the defensive line. Entering his junior season, Shaw got in much better shape and lost over 30 pounds this past offseason.
Shaw got big results on the gridiron this fall after putting in the work to get in shape last offseason. He registered a career-high 26 combined tackles, four tackles for loss, seven quarterback pressures, 15 defensive stops, one batted ball, and two fumble recoveries.
I think Travis Shaw (#4) is going to fit in just fine with the Texas DL play.
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) January 6, 2025
Really quick BGO is a constant on his 2024 tape. @ontexasfootball pic.twitter.com/vkf6oaZh00
Shaw is the type of big and disruptive human who can two-gap as an interior pass rusher and clog up lanes defending the run against double teams. He's taken a few dozen defensive snaps at zero-tech against P4 opponents in his career defending the run at nose tackle.
Finding these types of insanely talented defensive tackles with the type of size, experience, and physical ability and disruptiveness Shaw brings isn't something you find in the transfer portal very often. This was a huge win for Baker and the Longhorns to get another capable and athletic body up front who can consistently compete in the trenches in the SEC next season.