Over the past few seasons, Longhorns athletics have been doing an excellent job in the player acquisition department, both in high school recruiting and in the transfer portal.
Texas football absolutely killed it in the portal this offseason, specifically early on in the period with the signings of Cam Coleman, Raleek Brown, Hollywood Smothers, and Melvin Siani. These players, along with guys like Rasheem Biles and Bo Mascoe on defense, have Steve Sarkisian and Co. sitting with a top 10-ranked portal class right now.
After seeing how well the football program did in the portal, Sean Miller said, "hold my beer" and went on a transfer portal rampage unlike anything we've seen from Texas basketball in a really long time.
NEW: College Basketball Transfer Portal Winners by Additions🏀
— On3 (@On3) May 10, 2026
(via @JoeTipton)https://t.co/tkEmXsALw4 pic.twitter.com/SaUEXv0hoU
Being able to go out and acquire Colorado PG Isaiah Johnson, Saint Mary's SG Mikey Lewis, Tennessee SG/SF Amari Evans, TCU PF David Punch, and Auburn SF Elyjah Freeman (all 4-star+ portal players) is mind-blowing. As you can see in the graphic above, On3 just released its transfer portal rankings for 2026, and Texas has landed at No.2.
Four out of these five players will likely be day one starters for the Longhorns, and it's pretty safe to say that Texas fans don't have to worry about losing guys like Tramon Mark, Jordan Pope, and Cam Heide in 2026.
The only sport that has technically "suffered" via the portal so far is women's basketball, but they did a great job of bringing in one of Oklahoma's top players to help stop the bleeding for Vic Schaefer's WBB team.
Overall, Texas athletics have been incredibly aggressive in this year's transfer portal, and there's a very good chance that it's going to pay off for everyone right away in 2026/2027.
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