Checking on Texas’ defensive & special teams transfer portal additions
Finding the right players to add to a roster through the transfer portal has become a major part of college football since the database and tool launched on Oct. 15, 2018.
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The NCAA utilizes the portal to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. Programs can use the portal as a kind of “player buffet,” to pick and choose the men they would like to woo to their teams based on how they fill the team’s specific needs.
Texas has signed a good number of players out of the transfer portal over the past four years on offense, defense, and on special teams.
At first, the Longhorns were signing players because they needed proven commodities to create depth on the roster. But recently Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are on the hunt for upgrades and high-ceiling players at specific positions to augment the talent already on the roster with the program back on track after an 8-5 campaign.
This feature is on the defensive and special teams players signed from the portal is the second of a series of four articles to provide updates on the contributions of the transfer portal players.
In upcoming features in the series, we will look at the offensive and then the defensive/special teams players who have transferred out of the Longhorns’ program.
Darion Dunn, DB (McNeese State)
Dunn came to the 40 Acres for the 2021 campaign when he appeared in 12 games with one start, registered 22 tackles (16 of them solo), a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and two pass breakups. Dunn was named to the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250 Watch List and was a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in the spring of 2021.
Ben Davis, Edge (Alabama)
Davis used his redshirt senior season to play one year for the Longhorns in 2021. He played in 11 games, amassed 16 tackles (11 of them solo) as well as 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a quarterback hurry.
Ovie Oghoufo, Edge (Notre Dame)
Oghoufo played two seasons for the Longhorns after coming to the 40 Acres as a junior. He played in 12 games in 2021 with eight starts and recorded 42 tackles (21 of them solo) 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback hurries and broke up two passes. In 2022 Oghoufo played in all 13 games and started 12 of them, totaled 54 tackles (20 of them solo), 8.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, four quarterback hurries and three pass breakups. He earned honorable mention Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year in 2021 and is a two-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (fall 2021, spring 2022).
Devin Richardson, LB (New Mexico State)
Richardson played for two seasons on the 40 Acres. As a junior in 2021, he played in 11 games, primarily on special teams, where he recorded four tackles. In 2022, Richardson played in nine games and recorded four tackles (two solo) with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Brenden Schooler, WR-DB (Oregon via Arizona)
Schooler played in nine games as a wide receiver, caught 12 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns and started for the Longhorns against Colorado in 2020. In 2021 he switched to defensive back, where he played in all 12 games with seven starts and totaled 50 tackles (36 of them solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, one forced fumble and two pass breakups.
Ray Thornton, LB (LSU)
Thornton was graduate transfer who arrived on the 40 Acres in Fall 2021. He played in all 12 games that season with 10 starts, racking up 31 tackles (17 of them solo), 4.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Thornton was a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (fall 2021).
Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, LB (James Madison)
Tucker-Dorsey came to Texas as a super senior in 2022 and played in all 13 games, earning a start in the Valero Alamo Bowl. He totaled 44 tackles (22 of them solo), three tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a quarterback hurry and a pass breakup this season for the Longhorns.
Ryan Watts, DB (Ohio State)
Watts enrolled at Texas in January 2022 as a junior. He was named honorable mention All-Big 12 by the league’s coaches as well as honorable mention All-Big 12 Defensive Newcomer and Player of the Year after playing in and starting all 13 games this season. He amassed 51 tackles (33 of them solo), four tackles for loss, a sack, an interception, a quarterback hurry and three pass breakups and was a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (spring 2022).
Zach Edwards, Holder/LS (Oklahoma)
Edwards has played in 15 games after coming to Texas in the fall of 2019. He played in two games as a holder in 2020, was the holder for nine games in 2021 and was the long snapper in four games and the holder in the Valero Alamo Bowl this season. Edwards earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors in 2021 and is a four-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (fall 2019, spring 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021).
Daniel Trejo, P (Texas Wesleyan)
Trejo appeared in all 13 games as a senior in the 2022 season, punting 45 times for a 42.0-yard average with three touchbacks, 15 fair catches and 13 kicks downed inside the 20, He had a long punt of 61 yards and 10 punts of 50-plus yards.
