Should Texas Longhorns be worried about low transfer portal class ranking?

While Texas isn’t shy about using the transfer portal, Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian typically uses it to bolster positions of need, as opposed to a whole sale turnover of the roster.

Last season for example, Sark targeted defensive back and wide receiver to bolster the roster, signing Isaiah Bond, Matthew Golden and Silas Bolden at WR and Andrew Mukuba at DB.

So far, Texas has only signed four players from the transfer portal for the 2025 season. Three of the four bolster the UT defensive front seven. The fourth player signed is a punter.

Texas lost eight players from the defensive line and linebacker corps to the NFL Draft. So filling in around existing players like Anthony Hill and Colin Simmons is a true need.

But, mainly because of the small number of players signed, Texas ranks low on the 247Sports transfer portal team rankings. Texas ranks 90th in the nation in the ranking. The Longhorns rank 16th among SEC teams, which is dead last.

But teams ranked higher in the rankings have signed more players than Texas has. In some cases a lot more. Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Arkansas have signed over 20 from the transfer portal. LSU has signed 16, Oklahoma 15 and A&M 14. West Virginia has signed an astounding 31 players from the portal.

The Georgia Bulldogs, have signed just six and rank 47th nationally, 13th in the SEC. Like the Longhorns, Georgia made it to the college football playoff.

And that’s basically the point. Teams like Texas and Georgia don’t need to sign a host of players from the portal. They recruited quality players out of high school and do a good job of retaining the players that are important to program success.

If you look at the other four CFP semifinals teams, national champion Ohio State has the 50th ranked transfer class in the nation. Penn State has the 72nd ranked class and Notre Dame has signed the 60th ranked class. Drop down to the quarterfinals, in addition to Georgia, Arizona State ranks 45th and Boise State ranks 113th. Only Oregon ranks high, at 11th, with nine signings.

While, the Texas coaching staff is sure to sign more players before the season starts, there’s a reason the UT transfer portal team ranking is so low. Texas already has better players in the program and so do most of the Longhorns national title rivals.