James Simon scores a touchdown against Texas State on Saturday, Sept. 5 at DKR Stadium.
During the college football offseason, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian emphasized the importance of finding the right transfer portal players to prepare for his team’s 2026 campaign.
It wasn’t just about finding talent, but finding the talent best suited to complement who he already had.
In the Longhorns’ 59-7 victory over Texas State on Saturday, they demonstrated exactly what a team can be capable of when strong veterans and high-quality transfer portal players join forces.
“For the first time running out of the tunnel at DKR and putting this jersey on and understanding what you’re playing for, I thought (our transfers) did a nice job,” Sarkisian said. “I think that the veterans and the leaders on our team have done a good job of prepping them for that. … It’s a big deal to play football at the University of Texas, and they recognized that, and I thought they handled it well.”
The crowd within the Darrel K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium showed up hot, sweaty and eager to embrace the new faces that helped their team strive toward victory from the very first whistle.
Texas’ most highly-sought after portal addition, junior wide receiver Cam Coleman, bolstered the crowd energy early with a 6-yard touchdown reception on the first drive of the game.
Junior wide receiver Ryan Wingo built off Coleman’s efforts, racking up 121 yards and a touchdown. While it was difficult at times last year for Wingo to escape the elaborate coverage teams met him with, lining up on the field at the same time as Coleman forces opposing defenses to make tough decisions about coverage.
“There were so many ways we felt like we had to move (Wingo) around to create opportunities for him,” Sarkisian said. “With (Coleman) on the other side and the attention that he garners, it allows Ryan for a few more one-on-one opportunities. … People forget this guy was a second-team all-SEC receiver last year.”
Senior quarterback Arch Manning also reaped the rewards of having multiple weapons ready to make plays — both in terms of receiving and rushing.
NC State transfer and senior running back Hollywood Smothers broke away for a 45-yard run on Texas’ first offensive play of the game, making sure any Longhorns fans who didn’t monitor the portal over this past offseason learned his name right off the bat. Arizona State transfer and fifth-year running back Raleek Brown added to the effort, accumulating two touchdowns and celebrating with a fanbase that welcomed him with open arms.
Defensively, barring a few momentary lapses, the Longhorns held the Bobcats from generating much momentum. Senior transfer linebacker Rasheem Biles, who was responsible for Texas’ third-quarter interception and one of its two forced fumbles, attributed the defense’s success to first-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.
“Having Muschamp on the sideline is great,” Biles said. “You know he’s gonna be fired up and just brings energy to the whole defense.”
Texas has a lot of positive energy to bring into practice this week as preparations for No. 1 Ohio State begin. A few mistakes — including an end-zone interception thrown by Manning — that worked against the Bobcats won’t fly against the Buckeyes next Saturday, but Sarkisian emphasized after the game that “change” isn’t necessarily what he is looking for.
“At the end of the day, we don’t really have to change,” Sarkisian said. “We need to practice really well, but who we are, the style of play, the way we went about our business — we’re not going to really change next week.”