Following the selection of 11 players in the 2024 NFL Draft, Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns are refilling rather than rebuilding as they prepare for their first season in the SEC.
To replace numerous starters from last season’s 12-win squad, Texas recruited 11 players via the NCAA transfer site. This nearly equals their total of 12 transfer additions from the previous two acquisition rounds combined.
Sarkisian has stated that the additions via the transfer site are not an exact science, especially given the little time that players and coaches have to get to know one another.
“It’s not like recruiting a high school player you’ve known for years,” Sarkisian explained during spring practice. “When you’re recruiting a player from the portal, sometimes you only really have a few days or a week to get to know them as best you can and talk to people who know the player.”
With this year’s crop of transfers featuring many players that are projected to start or have a significant influence on the Longhorns’ performance in 2024, let’s take a look back at the top impact transfers to come on the Forty Acres since the transfer portal’s inception in October 2018.
Without a doubt, the most high-profile transfer acquisition for the Longhorns during the transfer portal period has been quarterback Quinn Ewers. Ewers, the No. 1 overall talent in the Top247 for 2021, initially committed to Texas before decommitting and deciding on Ohio State.
However, after redshirting as a freshman, Ewers returned to the Lone Star State and elected to play for Sarkisian and the Horns in 2022, where he earned the starting quarterback role and made 10 starts as a redshirt freshman, passing for 2,177 yards, 15 touchdowns, and only six interceptions.
Ewers would continue to start in 2023 and will now begin 2024 as Sarkisian’s third-year starter.
When Adonai Mitchell was recruited from Georgia, the Longhorns expected to gain an extremely talented athlete with big-game experience – characteristics that would ideally help Texas reach the College Football Playoff.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 195-pound Mitchell outperformed expectations, giving the Texas offense a legitimate number-one receiving threat alongside outstanding receiver Xavier Worthy. Mitchell hauled in 55 catches for 845 yards and 11 touchdowns, and his CFP experience with the Bulldogs was critical in helping Texas reach the Sugar Bowl.
The Indianapolis Colts selected Mitchell in the second round (52nd overall) in the 2024 draft.
Calvin Anderson shouldn’t count because he was already a Longhorn when the transfer site opened on October 15, 2018. However, the Rice transfer joined the Texas program for his final collegiate season, solidifying one of the most vital positions on the field after Connor Williams left as an early entrant in the 2018 draft.
The 6-foot-5-inch, 305-pounder was an All-Conference USA star for the Owls and one of the most sought-after transfer targets when he became available. Anderson’s time at Texas is the prototypical Group of Five to power conference transfer, as he started all 14 games at left tackle for Tom Herman’s team in 2018.
Anderson played a career-high 1,082 offensive line snaps and was the team’s highest-graded tackle, according to Pro Football Focus, paving the way for a Sugar Bowl triumph over Georgia.
