Texas Football: 3 possible Michigan transfers UT should target

Tommy Doman Jr., P

While it might not be the most exciting possible portal target for the Longhorns among all the players on Michigan's roster early this offseason, adding a punter makes a lot of sense for Jeff Banks' special teams unit. Texas loses its starting punter from last year's squad, former Stanford grad transfer and redshirt senior Ryan Sanborn.

Sanborn did a great job with the punting duties for the Longhorns in 2023. He not only led the Big 12 in net yards per punt (42.7) last season, but he also had the highest percentage of punts downed inside the 10-yard line in conference play.

Sanborn brought stability and an upgrade regarding performance to the punting unit after the Longhorns struggled with that specific special teams unit in 2022.

Banks made the right move by upgrading the punting unit by adding Sanborn from the portal last offseason. That played a big role in the special teams unit as a whole being something you could rely on in 2023 for the Longhorns, whether it was the punting game, coverage unit, etc.

Adding another proven punter via the transfer portal this offseason would be a logical move for Banks and the Longhorns to continue the stability of the punting game in the SEC in 2024. That's why adding a punter, such as Michigan junior Tommy Doman Jr., would be a good move if he did enter the portal this offseason.

Doman was one of the best punters in the Big Ten last season. He was the third-highest-graded punter in the Big Ten in 2023 and led the conference in average hangtime (4.33 seconds). Doman is a proficient punter technically, as he got the job done consistently for Michigan's special teams unit in the last two seasons.

Since adding a punter will never make as big of a splash in the portal as some of the other impact transfers Texas has landed this offseason, I wouldn't expect many fans to be excited about this idea. But adding a punter would be about as good of a move to address a positional need for the Longhorns in the portal at this point of the offseason as any other group besides the defensive line.

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