The Transfer Portal is officially open for business as Friday marks the 1st day of a 14-day transfer window spanning from January 2nd through the 16th. For every program, the window promises excitement as the top programs can quickly ensure they're championship contenders with the right moves. One of the teams that should be the most active over the next few weeks is the Texas Longhorns.
After coming into the season as the top-ranked team in the AP Poll, Steve Sarkisian's team finished the season 10-3. For all of the criticism Steve Sarkisian's team received for their early struggles, they ended up stringing together a solid season, which should build excitement heading into 2026.
Texas is poised for the most exciting Transfer Portal cycle
The Transfer Portal hasn't opened up yet, but if you look at Texas' losses, you'd think that it's a bad thing. The running back room lost stars Tre Wisner, CJ Baxter Jr, and Jerrick Gibson, while the wide receiver room lost DeAndre Moore and Parker Livingstone. Even the defense has lost some promising pieces to the Transfer Portal after Pete Kwiatkowski was fired in favor of Will Muschamp.
The reality of all these losses is that while Texas could've used some of these pieces, none of them have been devastating. In this current era, the fact of the matter is that like in the pros, losing some of these players is a lot like clearing salary cap space in the NFL.
Losing Tre Wisner, CJ Baxter Jr, and Jerrick Gibson kills some of Texas' depth at running back, which hurts. The rushing attack this season wasn't nearly good enough and it was clear that Steve Sarkisian was going to need to add talent to the room. Now with the room cleared out, Sarkisian can go and get his upgrades.
You look at a player like Caleb Hawkins, who's the top-ranked running back in the class, as a player you'd love to go all-in for. Players like Isaac Brown, Hollywood Smothers, and Cam Cook would all be massive upgrades over what this team had in the backfield this season.
Moore and Livingstone were solid wide receivers this season, but they weren't nearly good enough to feel upset about with the possibilities in the Transfer Portal. Cam Coleman is the type of player you do whatever you can to add to this offense, while adding the likes of Nick Marsh, Omarion Miller, and Jayce Brown would give this team an incredible 1-2 pairing with Ryan Wingo.
The fact of the matter is that Texas fans shouldn't be worried at all; if not, they should feel the exact opposite way. Texas is showing all the signs of a program ready to take the Transfer Portal by storm, and this should be an exciting stretch in Austin.