Now that the dust has pretty much settled when it comes to the 2026 transfer portal, members of the football program have begun to field questions about it, such as why there were so many departures this year.
Texas AD Chris Del Conte recently addressed it publicly as well, saying that the main reason was due to overall playing time and each player's outlook with the team going forward. Though this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, it was still interesting to see Del Conte being so honest about it. Normally, people would be a lot more vague with their answers.
Typically it's something along the lines of "That's between the coaches and the players" or "We just felt that it was best to part ways, as it was beneficial to both sides going forward."
Chris Del Conte said Texas’ transfer portal losses largely came down to playing time, noting many departures were players buried on the depth chart. He added that roughly 85 percent of the Longhorns’ roster was made up of high school signees, while the four College Football…
— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) February 5, 2026
It's no secret that most players enter the transfer portal for two reasons:
1. They won't be getting enough playing time at their current school.
2. They want to test out the market and look for a better opportunity to make some more NIL money.
A good portion of the time it's due to the lack of playing time. Players want to play, and if they don't have a clear avenue to seeing the field as often as they'd like, they look somewhere else. A couple of good examples in this year's list are RB Jerrick Gibson and WR Aaron Butler.
Gibson was excellent for the team, except for when he began to fumble the ball. This bad habit is what ultimately landed him in the "dog house" at Texas, and why Steve Sarkisian didn't feel comfortable putting him on the field. With blue-chip RB Derrek Cooper already committed and his playing time cut down to basically zero, he saw the writing on the wall and hopped in the portal during the year.
Butler initially looked like he was going to be solid for the Longhorns, but he ended up getting buried on the depth chart a lot faster than anyone saw coming. He opted to go to Oregon State, where he'll most likely see lots of playing time for their new offensive staff in 2026.