Texas’ 22-Man Transfer Portal Haul Ranked No. 3 Nationally Puts Sarkisian’s Win-Now Bet to the Test Against No. 1 Ohio State

Texas assembled a 22-player transfer portal class this offseason that ranked third nationally, a haul The Athletic detailed in a report Thursday examining just how far Steve Sarkisian was willing to go to finally deliver Austin its first national championship since 2005. The class includes six players who ranked inside the transfer portal’s top 100 nationally, headlined by Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman, the No. 3 overall transfer in the country.

The overhaul touched nearly every unit on the roster. Running back was rebuilt from the ground up with Arizona State’s Raleek Brown and NC State’s Hollywood Smothers. The offensive line got an infusion with Wake Forest tackle Melvin Siani, while the front seven added Pitt linebacker Rasheem Biles. According to the report, at least two of the deals that brought these players to Austin reached seven figures — a price tag that underscores how aggressively Sarkisian and the Texas program spent to close the gap after three straight 10-win seasons that still ended without a title.

Why Sarkisian Went All-In on the Portal

Texas has been one of the sport’s most talented rosters under Sarkisian, but 10-win seasons have become both the standard and the ceiling. The Longhorns have reached the College Football Playoff era’s biggest stages without closing the deal, and this cycle’s portal approach reads as a direct response — pairing Coleman with returning wideout Ryan Wingo to give quarterback Arch Manning one of the more dangerous receiving corps in the country, while using Brown and Smothers to reload a backfield that needed juice behind five-star freshman Derrek Cooper. Ten of Texas’ 22 additions landed inside the final Top247 transfer rankings, and six ranked in the top 90 overall — a level of blue-chip portal recruiting that few programs nationally could match this cycle.

The financial commitment described in the report — multiple seven-figure agreements — reflects where roster-building in major college football has moved. Programs with championship aspirations are now treating the portal the way NFL front offices treat free agency, and Texas’ willingness to spend at that level signals a program unwilling to wait any longer for a Sarkisian-era breakthrough.

What It Means for Saturday and the Championship Market

The timing of the report could not be sharper. Texas, No. 4 in the AP Top 25, hosts No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday in one of the season’s marquee early showdowns, with the Longhorns installed as favorites on most boards — most recently around -1.5 to -2 points with the total set near 49.5. That line movement reflects genuine respect for a Texas roster that arrives with more proven playmakers than at any point in Sarkisian’s tenure, even against a Buckeyes team that came in ranked No. 1.

Beyond Saturday, the portal class has kept Texas squarely in the national championship futures conversation. The Longhorns opened the season among the shortest non-Big Ten prices on the board, in the range of +650 to +750 at multiple sportsbooks, sitting just behind Ohio State and Notre Dame in most markets. A win over the Buckeyes this weekend, powered by the very transfer additions detailed in Thursday’s report, would be the clearest possible validation of the spending — and would almost certainly tighten Texas’ championship odds further while adding fuel to the Playoff seeding conversation just two weeks into the season.

For a program that has treated 10-win seasons as a disappointment rather than a destination, Saturday’s game against Ohio State is shaping up as the first real test of whether an aggressive, costly overhaul in the portal era can finally translate into results in the moments that matter most.