Texas secretly becomes the biggest winner of Sherrone Moore's firing, Michigan chaos

As everyone already knows by now, Michigan officially fired Sherrone Moore last night after a wild and unbelievable series of events. Though the Wolverine football program might be happy that he's gone based on all of the disgusting things he's done, Steve Sarkisian and Texas are likely even happier.

The biggest reason why is because of the simple fact that one of Michigan's top offensive recruits of the 2026 class, Malakai Lee, could be back on the market. Lee has also been one of Texas' top offensive line targets over the past year or so, and the Longhorns made a huge push for him right before he chose the Wolverines in June.

There's a very good chance that Texas goes after Lee again because he has a great relationship with Longhorns OL coach Kyle Flood, and Lee basically chose between Texas and Michigan in the end.

If the Longhorns can find a way to sway Lee back to Austin, it'll be a monumental signing for Steve Sarkisian. He has the size (6'6", 318 lbs.), skillset, and athleticism to be a day one contributor as a true freshman in 2026, and there's a good chance that he would be for Texas. The Longhorns are currently set to lose D.J. Campbell to the 2026 NFL Draft, Connor Stroh to the transfer portal, and Cole Hutson is officially out of eligibility (unless he's able to get another year from the NCAA).

Lee has the positional flexibility and length the play both offensive tackle and offensive guard at the collegiate level, and he'd compete immediately along the interior as a freshman.

It's worth noting though, that because Lee recently signed his LOI with the Wolverines on December 3rd, he would technically be a "transfer" despite not being enrolled at Michigan yet. It would be the same series of events that Julian Sayin went through when he signed with Alabama before transfering to Ohio State in the same recruiting cycle.