CFB analyst Josh Pate discusses Texas’ transfer portal haul

“When it comes to talent acquisition, Texas is rolling.”

Texas is reloading. The Longhorns look to be near as talented as they were last season with more experience at key positions. Most notably, starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and several offensive linemen enter their third seasons as starters in Austin.

This year’s transfer portal haul is what impresses one college football analyst. Josh Pate of 247Sports shared the following thoughts on how the Longhorns have filled needs outside of key returning players.

“When it comes to talent acquisition, Texas is rolling. They got six out of eight kids as blue chippers out of the (transfer) portal. They added three wide receivers. This was imperative. AD Mitchell is gone, Xavier Worthy is gone and they went and added three receivers that will be immediate impact guys.”

The receiving corps won’t be the same. You don’t lose unique NFL talents like Worthy and Mitchell and replace them with the same skill sets. Those players are one of a kind. The receiving corps should still be excellent. Pate continued, acknowledging what Texas added at receiver in the portal.

“I’m excited to see what (Alabama transfer wide receiver) Isaiah Bond is in that offense. They also got (Amari) Niblack, the tight end from Alabama. And so, they backfilled their pass catchers fairly effectively. Now, they gotta pan out. And as we have seen, portal acquisitions do not pan out at as high a hit rate as traditional recruiting for obvious reasons. But Texas has been really good at this.”

There are no guarantees when it comes to transfers. A handful of transfers have not panned out at Texas. Nevertheless, the Longhorns have done well in utilizing portal players like Ewers and Mitchell in recent seasons.

Texas appears to be reloading. It will look to put things all together in 2024.