Amid Texas football's preparation for the semifinal of the College Football Playoff at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 against the Ohio State Buckeyes, head coach Steve Sarkisian and staff had a big addition from the winter NCAA Transfer Portal.
Portal activity picks up some in early January for Texas football in the winter transfer window
Over the weekend, defensive line coach Kenny Baker and the Longhorns landed a big portal commitment from former North Carolina Tar Heels junior defensive tackle transfer Travis Shaw. Texas got Shaw's commitment out of the portal roughly 24 hours after he wrapped up a multi-day visit to Austin on Friday (Jan. 3) and Saturday (Jan. 4).
Texas now has two proven and experienced transfer defensive linemen from the portal in the winter transfer window, including Shaw and former Purdue grad transfer defensive tackle Cole Brevard. The Longhorns are probably looking to add at least one more transfer defensive tackle from the portal for this upcoming offseason to bolster the depth at the line of scrimmage.
Along with the two transfer defensive tackles, the Longhorns have added two other immediate impact transfers from the winter portal, including former Utah punter Jack Bouwmeester and Arkansas linebacker Brad Spence.
Texas has a few more positional needs that the staff is looking to address in the transfer portal for the upcoming offseason. Here's a prediction of the next transfer commitment for the Longhorns in the winter portal after getting Shaw in the boat on Jan. 5.
Noah Thomas, WR (Texas A&M)
With other transfer wide receiver targets, like former USC Trojans sophomore transfer Zachariah Branch and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets speedy sophomore transfer Eric Singleton Jr., committing elsewhere in the portal in the past couple of weeks, Texas has one clear possibility among wideout transfers at this moment for the upcoming offseason.
Former Texas A&M Aggies junior transfer wide receiver Noah Thomas is someone who the Longhorns have expressed interest in since he officially entered the portal late last week. Thomas visited the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens last weekend and also holds interest from the Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M, pushing him to return to College Station for another season.
Texas hasn't really pushed yet to get Thomas to campus for an official visit. But it wouldn't be too surprising if the Longhorns got a big transfer wide receiver on campus for a visit once the postseason in the Playoff has concluded in the coming weeks in January.
At 6-foot-6 and 200 pounds, Thomas is the type of big possession receiver on the outside that the Longhorns could utilize to extend the field and get those tough 50-50 balls to for reliable catches on the boundary.