The end of this week prompts the last day of the winter window for Texas football players to officially enter the NCAA Transfer Portal for the 2025 offseason. The deadline passed on Jan. 15 for the five-day window for Texas players to submit paperwork to enter the winter transfer portal.
Texas football has lost one player to the transfer portal since the end of the postseason in the College Football Playoff last week
But there is still an additional 48 hour window for Longhorns players to have their names officially show up in the transfer portal, allowing the extra time for compliance departments to get the paperwork in for the NCAA.
That's not to mention how graduate transfers are able to enter the portal at any point of early this offseason for 2025.
Nine scholarship Longhorns players have already entered the transfer portal in the winter window for this offseason. Texas also had former walk-on running back/two-sport athlete Nik Sanders enter the transfer portal since the 2024 season ended last week.
Here's a prediction of the next portal departure for the Longhorns before the portal window officially closes for Texas players to enter late this week.
Ian Ratliff, P
In the postseason, freshman punter Michael Kern had arguably his best performance of the season, helping Texas's special teams unit pin the Ohio State Buckeyes deep on multiple punting attempts.
Texas brought in a punter from the transfer portal in December, former Utah Utes all-conference first-team punter Jack Bouwmeester, to help upgrade the punting game for special teams this year. It sounds like Jeff Banks and the Longhorns want Kern to stick around and develop under Bouwmeester for one season in the 2025 campaign.
Banks' special teams unit struggled with the punting and field-goal kicking games in 2024. Senior kicker Bert Auburn made a career-low 64.9 percent of his field goal attempts this past season. Kern and fellow underclassmen punter Ian Ratliff were two of the three lowest-graded punters in the SEC (per PFF).
Despite averaging nearly 45 yards per punt, Ratliff was the lowest-graded eligible punter in the SEC. Out of his eight punt attempts, Ratliff sent two into the end zone for a touchback. He averaged 34.0 net yards per punt, the lowest in the SEC this past season.
The heightened competition for punter reps in the special teams room this year could make it difficult for Ratliff to challenge for a spot on the two-deep with the punters for the 2025 season.