Updating the Texas roster matrix prior to the Orange-White game

Exit meetings that typically take place after spring practice are apparently happening as the Texas Longhorns prepare to practice on Thursday for the final time this spring before Saturday’s Orange-White game serves as the 15th and final spring practice.

Those meetings resulted in three players submitting their names to the school to enter the NCAA transfer portal — rising sophomore wide receiver Brenen Thompson, rising redshirt freshman edge Derrick Brown, and rising redshirt freshman linebacker Trevell Johnson — the result of what Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian termed candid conversations in the current world of NIL and the one-time transfer waiver in an appearance on the Pivot Podcast released on Tuesday.

“The moment you go in the transfer portal at the University of Texas, you’re no longer coming back, which I think a lot of schools will do — kids go and test the waters and try to come back. We’re not playing that game. If you want to go in the portal, go in the portal. Good luck to you. Now, we have real candid conversations before that,” Sarkisian said.

More players may enter the portal with the transfer portal notification window running from April 15-30, but Texas is currently at 85 scholarships for this fall pending any more departures.

With three players departing after one season on the Forty Acres, it’s clear that the current environment in college football, as well as the 2023 recruiting class for Texas that ranked No. 3 nationally, is speeding up to the timetable for players to contribute on their side and the coach’s side.

In the past, a player might have multiple years to develop into a contributor before seeking playing time elsewhere, but the stellar recruiting class resulted in an accelerated developmental timetable for the previous group — for the Texas program right now, the failure to get on the field on special teams or at the end of blowouts as a true freshman is currently a sign that a player might only last one season.

For all three players, increased depth at their position likely played a role in the decisions to depart — Thompson split time between track and football this spring while facing increased competition from Johntay Cook, DeAndre Moore Jr., and AD Mitchell at wide receiver, Brown spent a year at linebacker as Texas recruited edges like Colton Vasek and Derion Gullette, and Johnson was a tweener with a frame perhaps better suited for safety as Anthony Hill Jr. and Liona Lefau arrived.

In the future, as long as the Longhorns can continue landing top-five classes, a must to compete in the SEC, the program will probably become less likely to take prospects with tweener body types, despite the fact that Sarkisian would prefer to build almost entirely from high school prospects — statistically, those recruits just don’t often develop into NFL draft picks.

On the portal recruiting front, Texas already has Minnesota transfer defensive tackle Trill Carter on its radar with Carter set to visit Austin this week with remaining needs at edge and possibly depth at inside linebacker.

Following Wednesday’s news, the Horns are close to having enough room to make those additions heading into the next phase of the offseason.