Top news:Three of Texas football’s “BIGGEST” springtime portal misses

Using the NCAA Transfer Portal, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian added more seasoned and proven players to positions of need on both sides of the ball compared to their previous offseason. This offseason, Texas has added 11 players via the transfer link since the winter window opened.

Biggest portal misses for Texas football during the spring window

The Longhorns’ roster composition for 2024 will be greatly influenced by the transfer portal, as will the rosters of many of its opponents for the upcoming football season. Today’s college football players can choose from among the best players available through the transfer portal at many SEC programs.

Notable is the fact that a large number of the elite players Texas targeted in the offseason were portal recruits that included rivals both on the field and in the recruiting process. Texas was in many of the same portal recruitments as rival colleges including the Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, and LSU Tigers.

Although it’s not the most enjoyable approach to examine the transfer portal in retrospect, knowing which teams have enhanced their rosters and will play the Longhorns this coming season can be helpful. Three of the biggest portal misses this offseason are shown here, along with the destinations of those transfer targets.

Jay Toia, DL

Destination: Returned to UCLA

One of the Longhorns’ biggest targets in the spring transfer portal was senior defensive tackle Jay Toia. During his college days, Toia was a player for the UCLA Bruins, who are now coached by Johnny Nansen, the current co-DC/LB coach of Texas.

A few years earlier, after Nansen joined with the USC Trojans out of high school, Toia had first followed him to UCLA.

This autumn, the 6-foot-3, 325-pound graduate transfer defensive lineman was considered a player who might provide the Longhorns with quality snaps as an anchor in this interior defensive line rotation at zero-tech. This coming SEC season, Texas wanted individuals who were proven and could play in the middle of the defensive line.

Toia spoke with a few other programs through the portal this spring and finally made the decision to return to UCLA for his last year of college eligibility.

Derrick Harmon, DL

Destination: Committed to Oregon

Derrick Harmon, a junior defensive tackle from Michigan State Spartans, was among the best defensive linemen in the nation this spring. The fourth-year defensive lineman, who stands 6 feet 5 and weighs 330 pounds, has been a very effective tackle for the Spartans the past two seasons.

Harmon has 70 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and four sacks for Michigan State since 2022.

Texas entered the Harmon portal recruitment rather late in the spring. Before they spoke with Harmon seriously in April, defensive line coach Kenny Baker and the Longhorns were giving other transfer defensive linemen priority in the portal once spring ball ended.

This spring, the staff’s focus was mostly on Texas’s top defensive lineman transfers, who included Toia, Arizona’s Bill Norton, and TCU’s Damonic Williams. In the final weeks of April, Harmon and fellow Michigan State defensive tackle transfer Simeon Barrow were seen primarily as backup options for the Longhorns at defensive line via the portal.

Harmon was a highly sought-after tackle in the portal this spring because of his demonstrated ability to play the zero, one, and 2i techniques against strong opposition for a Power Five defensive line. It is difficult to locate from the Power Five level in the portal at the defensive tackle position, although he and Barrow both performed at an All-Big Ten level at least once in the previous two seasons.

Damonic Williams, DL

Destination: Committed to Oklahoma

Williams, a highly sought-after defensive tackle transfer from TCU, ended up to Oklahoma through a portal recruitment that most Texas fans probably want to forget. This spring, Williams was one of the Longhorns’ top defensive tackle targets in the portal.

Williams went on a few-week back-and-forth portal recruitment tour this spring, stopping in Texas, Oklahoma, the Mizzou Tigers, and LSU. Williams was likely the most important lineman in the spring portal window this offseason because of his ability to regularly provide a team with quality snaps while playing as a true nose tackle in the Power Five.

Williams became one of just two nose tackles in the Big 12 to play more than 1,000 defensive snaps over his final two years at TCU. Since the beginning of the 2022 season, he has been a mainstay on TCU’s defensive line, performing at an All-Big 12 level.

The lone player on this list that Texas will play against in the 2024 regular season is Williams. The fact that he chose to attend Oklahoma this spring rather than Texas or even a university like Mizzou is much harder to take.

In addition to adding some defensive line depth to its roster, Texas made a significant portal flip late in the offseason to remove a key player from Oklahoma’s anticipated iDL rotation for the upcoming season. Jermayne Lole, a defensive tackle from Oklahoma who was a graduate transfer from the Louisville Cardinals, was acquired by the Longhorns in order to bolster their defensive line rotation in the SEC this season.

In my opinion, Texas didn’t need as many big men and experienced players along the defensive line in the portal this offseason as Oklahoma did. Texas still benefits from adding Lole in two ways.

If Lole stays healthy for the Longhorns for a second consecutive season, he can be a very effective player for a Power Five defensive line. If Lole is able to build on his strong season from the previous year, when he was healthy for Louisville, Texas will be adding depth by subtracting from a competitor defensive line unit.