With a new backfield star, Texas urgently needs elite blockers. The offensive line rebuild is now the portal's top priority.
Texas fans can breathe a sigh of relief as the Longhorns picked up their first big win of the Transfer Portal window after securing the commitment of Arizona State running back Raleek Brown.
The 5-foot-9, 195-pound ball carrier brings some much-needed electricity to Texas' backfield. Now, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood need to support him with some big blockers up front.
One of the big storylines heading into the Transfer Portal window was the Longhorns' need for reinforcements on the offensive line. In the past, Sarkisian and Flood have been reluctant to upgrade that unit in the portal, instead opting to develop recruits in-house.
However, after the OL's massive struggles this season, Texas was expected to abandon its previous strategy.
"Clearly, we’ll have to address some things on the offensive line in the transfer portal,” Sarkisian said in his Dec. 3 press conference (National Signing Day). "The reality of it is high school offensive linemen don’t always equate to helping you the very next year, so you have to leave room for the portal to make that happen.”
"It’s not so much about the quantity of the players that we get out of the portal on the offensive line, I think it’s more about the quality of the players."
That may have been true then, but now Texas may need a bit of both.
Along with the loss of interior linemen DJ Campbell and Cole Hutson, the Longhorns have lost four linemen to the Transfer Portal: Daniel Cruz, Nate Kibble, Neto Umeozulu and Connor Stroh.
Out of the four, Stroh was the only one to receive a start, but the others were seen as future pieces for Texas up front, especially Cruz and Kibble.
Now, the Longhorns are extremely thin in the OL room, and revamping it has to be their No. 1 portal priority (yes, above acquiring Cam Coleman).
Texas had a promising start to the window, getting linked to Michigan OL duo of Andrew Sprague and Jake Guarnera. But after talks with the new coaching staff. Sprague and Guarnera took their names out of the portal, pledging to return to Ann Arbor for the 2026 season.
What was a promising start turned into an early blow, and Texas hasn't quite been able to recover, failing to receive an OL commitment in the portal.
With the addition of Brown to the backfield and star quarterback Arch Manning primed for a Heisman-worthy season, the Longhorns are building an offense that is ready to explode.
Providing their skill positions with a strong backbone up front would transform their offense from good to championship caliber.