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Steve Sarkisian hasn't reaped the rewards of the portal... yet

Eric Nahlinby: Eric Nahlin06/12/23
Texas HC Steve Sarkisian, QB Quinn Ewers
(Will Gallagher | Inside Texas)

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has added a number of transfers from the portal since his arrival in January of 2021, but for myriad reasons, he has yet to truly reap the rewards on the imPort (incoming transfers) side of the bargain. The exPort (outgoing players) side of the portal is not discussed nearly enough, but Sark has been wildly successful at keeping important resources in the program while still making room for new ones.

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In many ways, Texas’ portal additions within each cycle explains where the roster was at the time, and where it is now. In short, in a couple of years the coaches have gone from taking glue guys, marginal starters, and depth players, to only taking quality starters or key contributors.

To recap, Sark arrived 30 months ago when the portal window was already in full swing. At the same time he was formally putting his staff together he was also trying to become familiar with the roster he inherited. Before you know it, that portal window came and went with little fireworks. The new coaches inherited cornerback Darion Dunn and added Edge Ray Thornton and linebacker Devin Richardson. During the second, and typically less talented portal window, they added Edge Ben Davis, running back Keilan Robinson, and Edge Ovie Oghoufo. 

During their first portal cycle the staff understood roster needs but were limited by their options, in large part because it’s hard to find a high-end Edge in the portal. 

With a year under their belt, to include much more familiarity with the roster, the staff hit the ground running in 2022. Between the first and second window Texas added quarterback Quinn Ewers, cornerback Ryan Watts, linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, wide receivers Isaiah Neyor, Agiye Hall, and Tarique Milton, and tight end Jahleel Billingsley. 

Expectations were high. Ewers is one of the most highly rated high school recruits of all time. Watts played quality snaps at Ohio State. Tucker-Dorsey was an FCS All-American. Neyor’s big-play ability had already been demonstrated on the FBS level. Hall and Billingsley were incredibly gifted, if not consistent. 

But let’s apply context. Ewers was incredibly inexperienced having missed parts of his junior year of high school and his entire senior year in order to reclassify and enroll at Ohio State a semester early. Tucker-Dorsey was a solid player but the jump in competition revealed some limitations. Neyor was the talk of Spring ball and the offseason but was injured early in August camp. Milton was never the same player he was early in his career at Iowa State. Hall and Billingsley were lotto tickets. Sark knew both well from his time at Alabama and ran the cost-benefit analysis on each. In the end, they didn’t cost or benefit Texas much. As I often state, sometimes it’s easy come, easy go in the portal era.

The 2023 season is shaping up to be the year portal transfers make real noise in Austin, especially with the addition of five players with loads of starting experience. Those players are cornerback Gavin Holmes (Wake Forest), wide receiver AD Mitchell (Georgia), safety Jalen Catalon (Arkansas), defensive tackle Trill Carter (Minnesota), and punter Ryan Sanborn (Stanford). 

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In the next installment we’ll discuss expectations for each remaining transfer for the upcoming season. Three or four of them are some of the most important players in the program. I

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