The Texas announced move to the SEC for the 2024 college football season came in the early days of a substantial rebuilding process under coach Steve Sarkisian. In the time since the Longhorns reached the deal with their new conference, they did nothing but improve from top to bottom as a national championship contender. With the sport’smost talented quarterback room, an increase in depth across the roster and recent landmark wins under their belt, the Longhorns could be in for immediate success in the SEC.
Sarkisian re-established his program as one of the nation’s best last season with a breakout campaign in which Texas reached the College Football Playoff for the first time. Beating teams like Alabama along the way proved the Longhorns’ readiness for the challenge that is the SEC.
“Before we even knew we were going to the SEC,” Sarkisian said to Late Kick host Josh Pate, “we said we had to build a team that could beat Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame, the teams that are historically in the College Football Playoff.”
The college football transfer portal accounts for fluidity across Power Four and Group of Five lines. Many of the biggest stars in smaller conferences use the portal as an avenue to achieve greatness at powerhouse programs, and at the same time, players in search of career resurgences often move in the reverse direction. During the 2024 offseason, College Football Playoff contenders like Texas, Oklahoma and others used the transfer portal to acquire impact talent from the Group of Five ranks.
The edge rusher and wide receiver positions in the 2024 transfer cycle were chock-full of standouts poised to take their careers to the next level. For example, Trey Moore and Caiden Woullard enter the SEC with the Longhorns and Sooners, respectively, as pass rushers who could wreak havoc on some of the top offenses in the sport.
