Usually, when a team loses its five most explosive weapons on offense there is a feeling of panic that follows. However, instead of panicking the Texas Longhorns flexed their muscle in the transfer portal following the 2023 season. In what was Steve Sarkisian’s third year on the job, the Longhorns went 12-2 as they won the Big 12, and appeared in the College Football Playoff. They also happened to produce what should be three receivers that will be drafted, what could be the top running back in the draft, and a tight end that will also be drafted fairly high. While they had youngsters ready and waiting, Sarkisian turned to the portal to add more experience, in a way that has Josh Pate saying they are “rolling.”
On a recent episode of Late Kick, Pate raved about the Longhorns’ ability to attract top talent in the portal to make up for the losses of Xavier Worthy, Adoni Mitchell, Jordan Whittington, and Ja’Tavion Sanders. “Texas is rolling,” said Pate. “When it comes to talent acquisition, Texas is rolling. They got six out of the eight kids as blue-chippers out of the portal. They added three wide receivers, this was imperative. AD Mitchell is gone, Xavier Worthy is gone…and they went and added three receivers that will be immediate impact guys.” He continued, expressing that there is one transfer in particular that stands out to him, which was Alabama’s leading receiver, Isaiah Bond. “I’m really excited to see what Isaiah Bond is in that offense,” said Pate. “They also got [Amari] Niblack the tight end from Alabama and so they backfilled their pass-catchers very effectively. Now, they got to pan out…and as we have seen, portal acquisitions do not pan out as high a hit rate as traditional recruiting for obvious reasons, but Texas has been really good at this.”
On top of adding four veteran pass-catchers, they will also be returning quarterback Quinn Ewers for a third season. He took a major step forward from year one to year two, so the expectation is that with another group of elite weapons, Ewers could emerge as one of the top signal callers in the country. Related: ‘I Wouldn’t Be Here Today’: Steve Sarkisian Thankful For Pete Carroll And Nick Saban They will need all the help they can get on offense, as Texas will have taken on Michigan, Georgia, and Oklahoma by the time Halloween rolls around. Aside from Bond and Niblack who both came from Alabama, they also added Silas Bolden from Oregon State who had a career year, and Matthew Golden from Houston. They very well could have the fastest trio of receivers in college football, and if Ewers takes that next step by becoming even more effective with the deep ball, they could have the best passing attack in college football.
