On May 9, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian won big at defensive tackle in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Defensive lineman Jermayne Lole, a former senior graduate transfer from the Louisville Cardinals, was traded to the Oklahoma Sooners by Texas. Will Texas football address any voids on defense and special teams in the portal this spring by using its last scholarship spots? This offseason, Lole is Texas’s third acquisition at defensive tackle via the portal. In addition, he is the eleventh athlete to enroll in the 2024 Longhorns portal class.
Among the three new players Johnny Nansen and the Longhorns have added to bolster the depth in the center of the defense are defensive tackles Bill Norton and Tia Savea, both former Arizona Wildcats graduate transfers, along with Lole. The Longhorns have at least four years of live-game experience in the Power Five with the three defensive tackles they acquired through the portal. Together, Lole, Savea, and Norton have played more than 4,000 defensive snaps in the Power Five in their careers. Late in the spring, Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff made it evident that they understood the need to add more seasoned veterans and depth at defensive tackle. And they achieved this by depriving Oklahoma, one of their fiercest rivals entering the SEC, of some defensive line depth.
It appears that the Longhorns may still be taking steps this spring to bolster their roster in the portal. After getting Lole on May 9, here is a prediction for Texas’ next addition to the roster later in the spring.Johnny Bowens, DLPrior to Texas’ Thursday trade of Oklahoma for Lole, Johnny Bowens III, a former freshman transfer from the Oregon Ducks, appeared to be the top target at defensive lineman in the portal. The 290-pound, 6-foot-3 defensive tackle, who registered on the site on April 26, has received interest from Texas.
If Texas continues to target Bowens, he would be viewed as more of a long-term developmental player than an immediate impact guy along the interior defensive line rotation in 2024.
Targeting Bowens makes sense for the Longhorns from the perspective that he could fill some of the depth and younger talent Texas lost with the departure of four-star defensive line signee D’antre Robinson. After Robinson decommitted from Texas a few months ago, the Longhorns are left with just three defensive tackle signees from high school in the last two cycles.
Texas showed interest in Bowens during his recruitment out of high school in the 2023 class. The Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies were two of the top three schools that finished behind Oregon when he committed to the Ducks a couple of years ago.
Mikal Harrison-Pilot, WR
Texas filled a need in the portal this spring by adding an immediate impact transfer corner with former San Jose State Spartans sophomore Jay’Vion Cole committing to the Longhorns this week. Cole gives the Longhorns their answer at field corner after the departure of junior Terrance Brooks to the transfer portal a few weeks ago.
While the Longhorns filled a need with Cole at field corner this spring, it sounds like the staff could still be in the market for quality defensive backs. Texas has a solid group of defensive backs expected to start in the secondary this upcoming season. But the Longhorns have lost a lot of secondary depth to the portal this offseason.
Another former blue-chip recruit that the Longhorns pursued in the 2023 class who is now in the transfer portal this spring is former Houston Cougars freshman wide receiver Mikal Harrison-Pilot.
The former four-star recruit from Temple High School in Temple, TX, played his true freshman campaign at Houston. Harrison-Pilot entered the transfer portal a few months after Houston fired former head coach Dana Holgorsen following the conclusion of the 2023 season.
Part of the reason Harrison-Pilot chose Houston over Texas when he committed to the Cougars out of high school was the fact that he could play wideout for them. Texas liked Harrison-Pilot more as a defensive back than a wideout since he was labeled by most of the major recruiting services as an athlete during his recruitment.
This offseason, though, Harrison-Pilot announced that he was moving from wide receiver to defensive back. I could only assume that if Harrison-Pilot was announcing this move from wideout to defensive back, that he is garnering a good amount of interest at that position in the portal this spring.
It would be interesting to see if the Longhorns would now entertain the possibility of adding Harrison-Pilot to the secondary after the position change this spring. He certainly has the talent and potential Texas wants as a versatile DB who can be cross-trained and developed for multiple years on the Forty Acres.
Blake Ochsendorf, P
Texas could be in the market again for a transfer punter after it brought in former Stanford Cardinal grad transfer Ryan Sanborn as a one-year rental to bolster special teams last year. Sanborn was one of the best punters in the Big 12, stabilizing a Texas punting game that was inconsistent at best in 2022.
There are a couple of punter options in the portal that the Longhorns could bring in to shore up the special teams unit entering the fall. Some of the names tossed around as possibilities for Texas to explore at punter, including Notre Dame Fighting Irish redshirt freshman Bryce McFerson, have already found new destinations via the portal this spring.
Among the punters with solid special teams experience in the FBS, one still available late this spring is former Eastern Michigan Eagles and Louisiana Tech Bulldogs senior Blake Ochsendorf. The grad transfer has one year of eligibility remaining.
Ochsendorf was one of the more efficient punters in the Conference-USA last season. He averaged 45.7 yards per punt, which led the C-USA and ranked in the top 20 nationally in the FBS. Ochsendorf also ranked top three in the C-USA in hangtime (3.98 seconds), net yards per punt (40.5), and longest punt (70 yards).
Per a post on his X account, Ochsendorf led the C-USA in punts of 50+ yards (17) and fair-caught punts (25).
As of the writing of this article on May 9, there isn’t any confirmed contact that I know of between Texas and Ochsendorf. But if Texas wants to add a quality punter from the portal late this spring, research shows that Ochsendorf is one of the best available.
