Predicting Texas's first transfer departure of the spring

In a couple of weeks, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian will return to DKR for game action in front of the fans for the Orange-White spring football game on April 20. Two weeks of spring practice remain before the spring game.

Players on transfer watch this spring for Texas football

Sarkisian and the Longhorns officially hit the halfway point of spring ball earlier this week, around the seventh or eighth practice of camp. Texas has an allotment of 15 spring practices, so we have officially hit the stretch run of camp.

One overarching storyline in the late stages of spring ball in this day and age of college football with NIL and the transfer portal is roster management and potential attrition following camp's conclusion.

On Texas Football's CJ Vogel recently pointed out that Texas is currently sitting at 89 scholarship players on the roster in the late stages of spring ball. That puts the Longhorns four over the 85 player scholarship limit.

And that doesn't even include any potential portal targets the Longhorns are kicking the tires on during the spring transfer window. Texas has at least one depth need along the defensive line to fill via the transfer portal this spring.

The fact of the matter is that the Longhorns will see some level of roster attrition to get to the scholarship limit after spring camp. That likely means that at least a handful of players that Texas doesn't want to see go will depart via the portal to find more playing time at another program in the next few weeks.

Here's a look at which Longhorns players are in situations where they might enter the portal during the spring transfer window given the limitations with the current scholarship limits.

Max Merril, OL

Kyle Flood and the Longhorns have done a tremendous job of building a strong pipeline of depth and skill among the "big humans" along the offensive line. Texas goes at least two deep at pretty much every position in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball, especially at the two tackle spots.

One of the tightest squeezes on the roster regarding the scholarship limit this spring is at offensive line. Texas currently has 18 scholarship offensive linemen on the roster, which almost guarantees attrition at this spot following the conclusion of spring ball.

Given all the battles transpiring this spring for players jockeying for positioning on the two-depth at offensive line this spring camp, it's difficult to pinpoint which players would be looking for more playing time elsewhere in this transfer window.

The only scholarship offensive lineman for the Longhorns who wasn't recruited by Flood and Sarkisian and isn't regularly even getting a shot to get practice reps with the first two teams is redshirt junior Max Merril.

At this point of his collegiate career, Merril has been buried on the depth chart with over a dozen scholarship players along the offensive line who are younger than him. He's mostly working with the walk-ons in individual and team drills this spring.

One of the few holdovers from the Tom Herman era along the offensive line, Merril could want to enter the portal to get more playing time elsewhere.