Texas freshman 3B Sam Richardson enters NCAA transfer portal

According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Texas freshman third baseman Sam Richardson has entered the NCAA transfer portal. Richardson spent just one season on the 40 Acres, being a former highly-rated recruit out of Olive Branch, MS. A loss for head coach Jim Schlossnagle just days after the 2025 season ended.

Perfect Game rated Richardson as the No. 39 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class and No. 3 when looking just at third basemen. He finished at the top of his position rankings in the state of Mississippi but fell short of the same accolade overall. Richardson was No. 2 in the Magnoilia State.

Texas earned a commitment from Richardson back in Aug. 2023 before pen was officially put to paper well over a year later. However, Richardson was previously committed to play for a different SEC school — the Missouri Tigers.

Now, if Missouri (or other schools inside the SEC) is still interested, Richardson is set to be on the open market. A redshirt allows him to maintain four years of eligibility, giving the corner infielder plenty of time to develop at his next stop. A bit name as the college baseball transfer portal begins to ramp up following NCAA Tournament regionals.

More on Jim Schlossnagle’s first season at Texas

There were no doubt some positives for Schlossnagle during his first season at Texas. None bigger than winning the SEC regular season, taking down some of the conference’s top programs along the way. Schlossnagle even claimed doing so was tougher than winning the national championship.

Another highlight was Texas welcoming Texas A&M to Austin, a weekend series with a little more juice than usual. Given Schlossnagle’s departure from the Aggies a year ago, and the rivalry returning as a conference matchup, both teams were going to be amped up. Texas emerged with a three-game sweep, something Longhorn fans will not forget to mention for a long time.

Being named the No. 2 overall seed and hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament is even something to celebrate. However, the festivities cut off pretty quickly. UTSA was able to eliminate Texas in the regional final, ending Year 1 for Schlossnagle.

The head coach will have plenty to work with heading into the 2026 season, despite some names entering the transfer portal. Texas will want the postseason results to be better though, hoping for a run toward the program’s first national championship since 2005.