The 2026 transfer portal cycle was one of the best in the history of the Texas Longhorns.
Yes, the team lost players like Quintrevion Wisner, DeAndre Moore Jr., and Parker Livingstone, but it also gained stars like Hollywood Smothers, Cam Coleman, and Rasheem Biles.
Since fall camp kicked off in the first week of August, almost every single one of Texas's new players has stood out among the rest of the pack, earning their places on the Horns' depth chart.
That much has been undeniably true for Biles, a senior linebacker who transferred to Texas after starting his career with the Pitt Panthers.
Now, Biles' dominance was hard to miss while he was playing for Pitt, but the ACC is a different ballgame than the SEC, and the Panthers undoubtedly have a different program than the Longhorns. Yet, the veteran linebacker has rapidly climbed the ranks on the 40 Acres.
"He's not replaceable," Orange Bloods' Geoff Ketchum reported from an anonymous source. "He's a 1 of 1 on our defense. Everyone needs to quit thinking that [Ty'Anthony] Smith is a like-for-like as players. We don't have two. We have one."
Wow, what a report from the Longhorns! Biles has already leapfrogged third-year linebacker Ty'Anthony Smith, who played in 28 games over his first two seasons at Texas and even earned a start in his true-sophomore season.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian, who was looking to make his defense even more disruptive than it has been in recent years, even compared him to one of the already beloved players on Texas's roster.
"He’s a problem," Sarkisian said of Biles, while sharing that he disrupts plays in the same manner that star linebacker Colin Simmons does.
Rasheem Biles' Colin Simmons comparison is massive for Texas defense
Simmons is the leader of the Texas defense. That isn't going to change. He's a projected top-five pick in the 2027 NFL Draft and has already proven himself as a monstrous presence for the Longhorns' opponents.
However, to have a Colin Simmons 2.0 line up next to the man himself could make it virtually impossible for Texas's opponents to actually produce anything significant on offense.
Also read: Colin Simmons' mindset ahead of the 2026 season will be music to Longhorns fans' ears
Last year, Simmons earned 43 total tackles (23 solo), 12 sacks, three forced fumbles, and two pass deflections, while playing alongside fellow star linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.
For comparison, while still playing for the Panthers last season, Biles amassed 100 total tackles (39 solo), 4.5 sacks, four pass deflections, two forced fumbles, and two interceptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
While he didn't earn nearly as many sacks, Brown more than doubled Simmons' total tackles, doubled his pass deflections, had nearly as many forced fumbles, and secured pick-sixes, while the returning Longhorn did not.
Sure, Biles was playing in the ACC. That league simply can't compare to the SEC when it comes to the offenses the linebacker will face on the other side of the ball. However, those numbers are still utterly astonishing.
His production levels, paired with the praise he is receiving from his head coach and anyone else, were exactly what Sarkisian was looking to add to the team when he plucked him out of the transfer portal. All that's left to do now is prove he can continue to do the same type of disruption in games.
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