Grading every portal addition for Texas football this spring
Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian had an active spring recruiting in the NCAA Transfer Portal to shore up key positions of need before the 2024 season. Texas added three immediate impact players from the transfer portal since the start of the spring transfer window to add depth at a couple of spots on the defensive side of the ball.
The three portal additions this spring will join eight other winter transfers the Longhorns picked up for the 2024 season. Sarkisian and staff proved more willing to turn to the transfer portal this offseason to add experience at key position groups than they were in the previous two years.
Texas's 11 transfers have more than doubled the number of portal additions for the Longhorns last offseason (five). That willingness for the Longhorns to get help in key areas on both sides of the ball from the portal means there is depth and experience at pretty much every spot you could want.
Here's a complete breakdown of the spring portal grades for the Longhorns three transfers in the most recent portal window.
Jay'Vion Cole, CB
NorCal native Jay'Vion Cole was brought in by the Longhorns to replace the spot at cornerback left by the departure of Terrance Brooks via the transfer portal to Illinois this spring. Cole came to Texas via the transfer portal from the San Jose State Spartans and then FCS Cal Poly before that.
Cole will compete with senior Gavin Holmes for starting reps at the field corner spot entering preseason camp. Holmes has the leg up regarding returning experience and Power Five live-game snaps. But Cole is the faster of the two corners between him and Holmes.
Regardless of who wins the starting job at field corner during camp, I expect Pete Kwiatkowski to rotate at safety and cornerback this season. Cole brings track speed and the versatility to play in man and zone coverage schemes at the corner position.
Texas's secondary looks like it should be the best group that PK had in his four years coaching up this defense for the Longhorns. Cole's addition put the finishing touches on the two-deep at corner entering the 2024 campaign.