It could be a big offseason for newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program in the NCAA Transfer Portal. With this being the most significant college football offseason in the transfer portal’s existence thus far, still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sark and his new Texas coaching staff have a lot of work to do.
But there’s already a lot to laud for the work that Sark and the Longhorns have done in the transfer portal thus far. Sark and new defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski did good work to get commitments out of the portal from the likes of the former Notre Dame Fighting Irish edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo and former LSU Tigers linebacker Ray Thornton so far this offseason.
It appears that the Longhorns are not yet done, though, in trying to add depth in the front seven out of the portal. A next target that is up for them out of the portal is the former Alabama Crimson Tide elite five-star recruit and senior outside linebacker Ben Davis.
As one of the most talented and appealing players at the linebacker position in the portal right now, Texas is wise to go after Davis.
Texas football’s pursuit of the former Alabama linebacker
Texas has reportedly (per 247Sports) been after Davis since his name first appeared in the transfer portal in the middle of last month. Apparently one factor that spurned the Longhorns pursuit of Davis in the portal was losing their experienced senior defensive lineman Marqez Bimage to the transfer market earlier this week.
But the good news for the Longhorns is that they are “expected to land” a commitment from Davis in the near future out of the portal, despite already getting transfers in Thornton and Oghoufo that play similar positions.
According to a report this week from Inside Texas, the Longhorns have reason to expect to officially add the commitment of Davis in the near future.
What Davis would be able to bring to the table for the Longhorns next fall is a player with experience on multiple sides of the ball that has nearly limitless potential. Coming out of Gordo, AL, way back during the 2016 recruiting cycle, Davis would extremely highly regarded as a five-star linebacker prospect.
He ranked as the nation’s No. 10 2016 high school prospect, and the top overall inside linebacker and prospect out of Alabama (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranked him as the nation’s No. 13 high school prospect, and the top overall inside linebacker and prospect out of Alabama.
In bits and pieces of roughly 10 games played during his time in Tuscaloosa, Davis registered seven combined tackles (five solo and two assisted), one tackle for loss, one sack, and one pass breakup. Most of his game played came during the 2019 campaign with the Crimson Tide.
Davis was mostly used in the pass rush, run defense, and on special teams for the Crimson Tide. He only had seven snaps in his time with Alabama that he dropped into pass coverage.
The role that Davis could be able to fill for the Longhorns would be similar to one that their former star outside linebacker/edge rusher Joseph Ossai did in each of the last two years. Expecting Davis to fill the massive shoes that Ossai did for Texas right away would be unrealistic, but it could at least plug that hole to some degree.
Sark is already putting in a lot of work in the portal to put together his roster come the fall. He took over for the now former fourth-year Texas head coach Tom Herman back on Jan. 2. Under Herman’s direction, Texas finished up with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) last season.