Tag: NCAA Transfer Portal

Texas WR Al’Vonte Woodard enters the transfer portal

Texas loses wide receiver Al’Vonte Woodard to the transfer portal.

Texas wide receiver Al’Vonte Woodard entered his name into the transfer portal on Tuesday.

He joins wide receiver Joshua Moore and linebacker Ayodele Adeoye as members of the 2018 class to hit the transfer portal this season. The 2018 class finished as the No. 3 class in the country.

The 247Sports composite rankings had Woodard as the No. 20 wide receiver in the country and No. 11 overall prospect in the state of Texas.

Woodard recorded just seven catches for 62 yards in his Texas career. The former four-star will be immediately eligible wherever he ends up.

Texas expects more attribution to follow as Steve Sarkisian said during the season he believes Texas will see upwards of 33 new scholarship players on the roster for next season.

Sarkisian will look to add talent to the wide receiver room via the transfer portal or the high school class.

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Two Oklahoma wide receivers enter the transfer portal

Would either of these Sooners in the transfer portal be a good fit for Texas?

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Lincoln Riley leaving for USC has left a lot of uncertainty in the Oklahoma program.

Among several decommits, the Sooners have seen multiple key contributors enter the transfer portal. Wide receivers Theo Wease and Jadon Haselwood are back on the open market.

Both players are former five-star recruits who have battled their share of injuries.

Wease missed the 2021 season due to injury, but accounted for over 660 yards and six touchdowns during his first two years at Oklahoma. He was one of the main pass catchers on Oklahoma’s 2020 Big 12 championship team.

Haselwood dealt with the injury bug in 2020 but has proved himself as a playmaker in 2021. The junior led all Sooner wideouts in both receptions and touchdowns on the season.

Steve Sarkisian’s interest in the two Oklahoma transfers remains to be seen, but with the lack of quality talent and depth Texas currently has at wide receiver, both Wease and Haselwood may end up becoming a good fit.

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Texas Football: 2022 QB transfer portal tracker

Plenty of talented QBs have already entered the transfer portal.

Recruiting in the college football world is a totally different game now compared to ten years ago. Continue reading “Texas Football: 2022 QB transfer portal tracker”

Michigan State football lands Wisconsin transfer RB Jalen Berger

Michigan State football lands Wisconsin transfer RB Jalen Berger

Michigan State football and Wisconsin essentially made a trade this year via the NCAA transfer portal. Wisconsin picked up former Spartan corner Kalon Gervin during the season, and on Monday, the Spartans landed former Wisconsin running back Jalen Berger via the same means.

Berger was a 4-star running back in the 2020 recruiting class, ranked the No. 15 best running back in his class and the No. 136 ranked player overall by 247Sports.

He entered the transfer portal back on October 13.

Berger could be the next transfer star for the Spartans, following the success of Kenneth Walker III.

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Michigan State football CB Emmanuel Flowers enters NCAA transfer portal

Michigan State football CB Emmanuel Flowers enters NCAA transfer portal

This is going to be a busy week for the transfer portal. As the regular season concludes, a host of new transfers will be hitting the NCAA transfer portal, and that will include yet another Michigan State football defensive back in fifth year senior Emmanuel Flowers.

Flowers will follow fellow Spartan DB Michael Dowell in the portal.

Flowers played in 11 games this season, mostly at the nickel corner position,

and he logged three tackles on 83 snaps.

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Michigan State football DB Michael Dowell enters NCAA transfer portal

Michigan State football DB Michael Dowell enters NCAA transfer portal

It’s hard to say this is a shocking bit of news, but it is bittersweet. On Sunday, Rainer Sabin of the Detroit Free Press reported that Michigan State football defensive back Michael Dowell has entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Dowell, who is a bit of a ‘tweener’ between a safety and a linebacker, never quite fit into the Spartans’ new scheme and eventually lost his starting job to Darius Snow. The fourth-year junior participated in senior day activities on Saturday.

Dowell’s family is beloved at MSU and he should finish his career in a strong fashion in a smaller conference where he can really shine.

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Five things Texas Longhorns fans can be thankful for

Longhorns fans still have some reasons to be thankful.

The 2021 season has been one many Longhorns fans wish to forget. Continue reading “Five things Texas Longhorns fans can be thankful for”

Swinney confirms Clemson will need to use the portal

Dabo Swinney has been reluctant to use this portal, that’s no secret. However, his comments surrounding the e ver-growing nature of the NCAA landscape that the portal has created on Tuesday show that has changed as we reported in last night’s …

Dabo Swinney has been reluctant to use this portal, that’s no secret.

However, his comments surrounding the ever-growing nature of the NCAA landscape that the portal has created on Tuesday show that has changed as we reported in last night’s Insider Report.  

“There’s not a school in the country that’s not going to have to recruit the portal,” Swinney said Tuesday. “That’s what’s been created. There’s not a school, anywhere, everybody in Division I football is going to have to deal with the portal in some form or fashion because you’re gonna have gaps in your roster, somewhere. Again, you have until May 1 to say ‘I’m out’ and that’s the world we’ve created now. It’s just the way it is. I don’t like it, but that’s the way the world is. You just deal with it.”

Swinney has never said that Clemson won’t use the transfer portal, rather he’s indicated that the Tigers haven’t had to use it just yet. Of course, Clemson has lost four players to the transfer portal in-season: Lyn-J Dixon, Joseph Charleston, Michel Dukes and Paul Tchio, but that’s an unfortunate part of the roster attrition that’s taken over college football over the past couple of seasons.

“We’ll deal with it like everybody, but we won’t be as affected as a lot of these programs because it’s just who we are,” Swinney said. “It’ll still be different for us, but hopefully we won’t have to. We’re not gonna just do it, to do it. It’s gotta be strategic. It’s gotta be the right fit. It’s gotta be the same criteria.”

Swinney clearly didn’t dismiss the notion of using the transfer portal, rather all the stars will need to align for Clemson to bring in a player via the portal.

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Six updated targets that Texas should pursue in the transfer portal

Six targets in the transfer portal that Texas should pursue.

The magic number for Steve Sarkisian this offseason is 33.

That is how many new scholarship players he expects to be on the roster in his second year as the head coach for the University of Texas. At a quick glance that seems like a huge number, but when you factor in the 2022 recruiting class, which currently includes 22 players, it likely gives room for about three more high school players and a handful of transfers.

There are many positions of need that badly need to be addressed by this staff in order to bounce back from however this season ends. While many may question why players would want to attend Texas and play for Sarkisian at this point, the coaching staff will mention Xavier Worthy’s name as much as possible. The true freshman is the lone player that Sarkisian has recruited to Texas, and he’s already put together a record-breaking season.

With iffy quarterback play, and defenses being able to key in on him due to the fact that none of the other receivers are able to poise a true threat, Worthy recorded the most touchdown receptions and most receiving yards by a freshman in school history.

Throughout the five-game losing streak, parents of recruits have been vocal about the fact that Sarkisian and his staff have made sure to reiterate to them that they are aware of the issues within the roster, and have a plan to solve them. Texas’ 2022 class is currently ranked No. 7 nationally, and is in the mix for a few more crucial recruits at offensive line and receiver that could really help this team next year.

The only issue is the fact that it seems unlikely to get all of their desired recruits, which is where the transfer portal comes into play. There will be seemingly infinite options in the portal by the end of the season that can help address needs and problems for Texas.

While Texas missed on Oregon transfer Kingsley Suamatai, who elected to play closer to home and transfer to BYU, there are still a ton of great options to bolster what is the worst unit on the team along with other positions of need.

Here are six transfer portal options that the Longhorns should pursue. The majority of them are offensive lineman, and that is on purpose. We will update this list in a couple months, as several talented players are expected to enter the portal this offseason.

Five quarterbacks that Texas could target for next season via the transfer portal

The Longhorns may need to look elsewhere for their QB of the future, and the transfer portal should be full of elite talent.

It is growing more and more clear that the best quarterback to run Steve Sarkisian’s offense may not be on the roster right now.

In an era where player movement is as fluid as ever, the Longhorns will likely look to the transfer portal to fill some of the biggest holes on this team. Programs like Oklahoma, Ohio State, and even this season’s Michigan State team have all greatly benefited from dipping into the transfer portal and landing some program-changing players.

One of the most glaring areas of concern for Texas this season, outside of the abysmal offensive line and lack of pass rush, is the inconsistency at the quarterback position.

Redshirt freshman Hudson Card got the nod for the first two games, but after a horrendous performance against Arkansas in Week 2, he was benched in favor of Casey Thompson. At the time, it seemed like the right move as Thompson would lead the team to three consecutive wins while also being atop the nation in quarterback rating and completion percentage.

Sarkisian and the Longhorns had seemingly found their guy for this season, but after a loss to Oklahoma in which they blew a 21-point lead, it was all downhill from there. Thompson posted impressive stats in that particular game, but that was where the second half woes developed.

He appeared to injure his hand against Oklahoma, and whether that has affected his play or not, he has not been the same player and has struggled in every game since. Thompson has made costly bad reads, like his two interceptions against Oklahoma State, with the first being a pick-six that changed the game. On numerous occasions, he has missed wide open receivers downfield because of poor footwork.

Even after giving Card another shot against Iowa State due to Thompson’s recent struggles, he looked very shaky in the pocket and still isn’t connecting on passes 20-yards or beyond.

Sarkisian and the team have a ton of personnel issues to address, and while some people are ready to move on from the new head coach, they need to relax. He has yet to get his players that he believes best fit his scheme, and there very well could be players that fit that mold in the transfer portal this offseason.

Here are five quarterbacks that Texas could potentially target for next season through the transfer portal. This also includes a couple of players who are rumored or expected to enter the transfer portal at some point.