College football’s craziest carousel comes to a finish Friday when the transfer portal window closes. Thousands of players entered the portal this cycle and the sport’s biggest opportunists (and spenders) were active early.
Teams in and around Texas were no different.
Here are superlatives for nine area teams who added (or, in some cases, were taken from) this transfer period.
Texas Tech: The Big Fish Award
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Megabooster Cody Campbell declared that the Red Raiders would double down on resources after their College Football Playoff loss to Oregon. He didn’t lie.
Tech signed quarterback Brendan Sorsby — the second-ranked player in this year’s transfer portal class, per 247Sports.com, and the top-ranked player that any in-state team added — to replace Behren Morton behind center. He gives Texas Tech a veteran quarterback to lead their offense and, ideally, avoid any additional postseason shutouts.
It’s a big swing. The Red Raiders have become accustomed to those.
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Baylor: The Reclamation Award
Did it work for Florida? Well, no, not exactly. Will it work for Baylor? The Bears will bet on the pedigree and see. Quarterback DJ Lagway — a five-star recruit from Willis and the sixth-ranked signal caller in the portal — is the prized jewel of Baylor’s transfer class.
They’ll hope that a change of scenery and a return to his home state can unlock the talent that once made Lagway such an attractive prospect. He passed for 2,264 yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 intereptions for the Gators last season and was hardly mobile enough to justify his dual-threat descriptor. It’s a project for offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, but, if it hits, it could be a beneficial one.
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Texas A&M: The Pattern Award
The Aggies were rewarded with a College Football Playoff berth last season when they matched quarterback Marcel Reed with two high-level wide receivers by way of the portal. They stuck to the same trend this offseason and signed Alabama transfer Isaiah Horton to pair with Mario Craver next season.
Horton, the second-ranked wide receiver in 247Sports.com’s portal class, caught 42 passes for 511 yards and 8 touchdowns for the Crimson Tide last season. He’s a big-bodied pass catcher at 6-foot-4 and will once again give Texas A&M one of the best wide reveiver duos in the conference despite KC Concepcion’s entry into the NFL draft. Craver, originally a Missisippi State transfer, caught 59 passes for 917 yards and 4 touchdowns last season.
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Texas: The Fixer Award
A Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback needs weapons. The Longhorns went out and got some. Texas signed the portal’s top-ranked wide receiver (Auburn transfer Cam Coleman), the second-ranked running back (N.C. State transfer Hollywood Smothers) and the fifth-ranked running back (Arizona State transfer Raleek Brown) to give quarterback Arch Manning a high-end stable of skill position players. It helped solidify a transfer class that, per 247Sports.com, is the third-best in the country.
Manning elevated his play in the second half of last season but was at times hampered by a lack of dynamic wide receivers and consistent run game. His much-maligned offensive line improved around him over time but the ground attack (which averaged just 137.7 yards per game) remained stagnant and limited the team’s offensive capabilties against premier defenses. With Coleman out wide, and with Smothers and Brown in the backfield, the Longhorns took necessary steps to remedy that.
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SMU: The Status Quo Award
SMU brought in 20-plus transfers in each of the previous three portal cycles. This winter — though time to add remains — they’ve only signed 13 players in the portal.
The baker’s dozen that they’ve added confirmed that the Mustangs are content to further build around veteran quarterback Kevin Jennings. Their biggest additions — East Carolina four-star wide receiver Yannick Smith and Texas A&M four-star tight end Theo Melin Ohrstrom — provide additional options on offense for the South Oak Cliff passers. Jennings, a junior, passed for 3,641 yards, 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last season for a Mustangs team that fell just short of a second-straight trip to the ACC championship game.
They’ve had it good since their power conference jump. There’s no reason to disrupt the upward flow just yet.
Oklahoma: The Rivalry Award
The Red River Rivalry game didn’t lack any juice, but, hey, Oklahoma went out and added some anyways. The Sooners signed Texas wide receiver transfer Parker Livingstone and, in turn, quickly sparked an internet back-and-forth between both fanbases.
The drama is one thing. The potential gain for the Sooners is another. The Lovejoy graduate caught 29 passes for 516 yards and 6 touchdowns last season and will now pair with Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer north of the border. His addition could help spark a Sooners offense that needed one last season. It’ll spark the rivalry regardless.
North Texas: The Nametag Award
They’re going to need ‘em when the team first gathers. North Texas — whose roster was pillaged in the portal and saw its top players leave for Oklahoma State alongside former head coach Eric Morris — have signed 42 transfers. Only the Cowboys, who have added 49 players through the portal, signed more.
The class included 23 players who transferred from power conference programs and three four-star recruits (Texas offensive lineman Neto Umeozulu, Missouri offensive lineman Jaylen Early and Boise State safety Ja’Bree Bickham) per 247Sports.com’s metrics. It gives first-year head coach Neal Brown a base to work with. Now he’s got to make it mesh.
TCU: The Biggest Loss Award
Technically, per most major evaluators, North Texas suffered the biggest inidividual loss of any in-state team when quarterback Drew Mestemaker bolted for Oklahoma State alongside his former head coach.
That was an expected casualty of college football’s portal and name, image and likeness era. Quarterback Josh Hoover’s decision to leave the Horned Frogs in favor of top-ranked Indiana was different. Hoover, a Rockwall-Heath alum, passed for 9,629 yards and 71 touchdowns in three seasons as TCU’s starter and was primed to be among the Big 12’s most experienced signal callers next season.
He’ll instead replace Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza at Indiana while the Horned Frogs will turn to Harvard transfer Jaden Craig. Craig, a first-team All-Ivy League selection last season, brings experience of his own. Time will tell if it can play at the power conference level.
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