Skip to main content
Texas

Steve Sarkisian on Texas' lack of offensive line portal recruiting

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•05/27/25
Texas O-line
Texas O-line (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

If you examine the Texas roster, you’ll notice a transfer, or a position that featured a transfer last year, at nearly every position.

[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns scoop!]

Quarterback: Quinn Ewers last year; Matthew Caldwell this year.
Running Back: Velton Gardner last year; nobody this year
Wide Receiver: Matthew Golden, Silas Bolden, Isaiah Bond last year; Emmett Mosley V this year.
Tight End: Amari Niblack last year; Jack Endries this year.
Defensive Tackle: Jermayne Lole, Bill Norton, and Tia Savea last year; Cole Brevard, Travis Shaw, Hero Kanu, Maraad Watson, and Lavon Johnson this year.
Edge: Trey Moore last year; Trey Moore this year at edge and linebacker.
Linebacker: Nobody last year; Brad Spence this year.
Safety: Andrew Mukuba last year; nobody this year.
Cornerback: Gavin Holmes, Jay’Vion Cole last year; nobody this year.
Kicker: Nobody last year; Mason Shipley this year.
Punter: Nobody last year; Jack Bouwmeester this year.

The only position without a portal imprint is offensive line. Texas was even able to add a transfer last year at running back after CJ Baxter and Christian Clark were hurt.

Given the departure of four offensive linemen to the NFL, one might expect Texas to have mined the portal for O-line help this year. However, Coach Sarkisian felt the program had more pressing needs.

On Tuesday at the SEC spring meetings, Sarkisian was asked about the lack of transfer recruiting at the position:

“We’ve recruited well here the last four years, not just the O-line but many positions, while others maybe not as well. We’ve utilized the portal, like many schools, to fill needs. We haven’t tried to build our roster through the portal; we’ve tried to address specific needs. We just haven’t felt those needs at the offensive line. We’ve recruited it well, Coach Flood is a great teacher—he’s a great coach—and we have good continuity and leadership in that room. One natural assumption—I was asked this earlier—is that people will say, ‘Oh, we’re going to be a young football team this fall.’ We’re not necessarily young; we just have some new faces. These are guys who’ve been in our program, working on their craft, developing, and now it’s their opportunity. They’re not necessarily young; these are third- and fourth-year players in our program, and now it’s their time to compete and show what they’re capable of doing. Part of that for us is living through some growing pains because we don’t have the continuity we’ve had the last couple of years, but there are still a lot of good players. If we felt they weren’t good enough, maybe we would have gone into the portal, but we felt we had more pressing needs to address, and that room was going to be good enough to compete at a high level.”

[Order THE LONGHORN ALPHABET today and teach your little ones the A to Z’s of Texas Football!]

Indeed, if you look at the list of imPorts above for this season, you’ll see more pressing needs than the offensive line. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some risk in not adding an offensive lineman, but as previously detailed, the coaches believe the change at quarterback and some schematic shifts will greatly aid the O-line.

You may also like