Complete grades for Texas football’s winter portal commitments for 2025

This was reportedly an official visit that Kanu took to Texas late this weekend. He spent time with Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive line coach Kenny Baker during the brief Sunday official visit to the Forty Acres.

Kanu spent three seasons at Ohio State, registering 14 career combined tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, five quarterback pressures, and 10 defensive stops. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

He played a career-high 123 defensive snaps for the Buckeyes this past season (per PFF). Kanu played a handful of defensive snaps in Ohio State’s final three College Football Playoff games en route to the Buckeyes winning the national title over Notre Dame on Jan. 20.

Texas offered Kanu as a four-star prospect from Rancho Santa Margarita (CA) Santa Margarita Catholic in the 2022 recruiting class. He is originally from Germany and started playing football in 2021.

Kanu is set to visit Gainesville tomorrow to see the Florida Gators. Other visits are still a possibility for Kanu since he entered the portal a couple of days ago.

Baker and the Longhorns have turned to the transfer portal to add more proven depth and experience at defensive tackle for the 2025 season in the SEC. Texas has signed former North Carolina Tar Heels junior defensive tackle transfer Travis Shaw and Purdue Boilermakers senior grad

from the winter portal this offseason.

Roster management and player development for the NFL Draft have been major successes for Sarkisian and staff in the past few years at Texas. It’s very infrequent that you see the Longhorns lose a key starter on either side of the ball to the transfer portal.

That said, the Longhorns have lost plenty of talented players who were going to find bigger roles at other FBS schools in the past few years in college football. Texas has become a tough place to earn reps on the two-deep at any position group.

Here are the six best former Longhorns players who have transferred from Texas in the past half decade.

has added five experienced and proven players to add depth to the defensive side of the ball and special teams unit in the winter NCAA Transfer Portal window. Former Ohio State Buckeyes junior defensive tackle transfer to Texas’s winter portal haul, which now has five players committed at key positions of need.

Complete grades for Texas football’s winter portal commitments for 2025

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns’ coaching staff likely wrapped up recruiting in the winter portal early this offseason with a third defensive tackle transfer commitment on Wednesday morning.

Texas has made good use of the transfer portal in the past few offseasons, upgrading key positions of need on each side of the ball with players who are the right fit within the locker room culture. The Longhorns still have a handful of positional needs outstanding to address in the spring portal window. But Texas has done a nice job of addressing key needs on defense and special teams early this offseason.

Here are updated winter portal grades for the Longhorns after Texas landed a commitment from Kanu along the defensive line on Jan. 29.

Brad Spence, LB (transfer from Arkansas)

Former Arkansas Razorbacks sophomore transfer linebacker Brad Spence is, in my opinion, one of Texas’s most underrated portal commitments from the winter window. Spence gives the Longhorns a proven linebacker with multiple years of playing experience along the defensive front in the SEC.

Special teams coordinator Jeff Banks and the Longhorns made quick moves in the transfer portal this offseason to address the punting game on special teams, adding former Utah all-conference first-team senior punter Jack Bouwmeester from the winter portal.

Texas will get more stability and consistency from the punting game to help flip the field position for the 2025 season with Bouwmeester in the fold, while allowing freshman Michael Kern another year to develop with the special teams unit.

Cole Brevard, DT (transfer from Purdue)

Texas got what it needed for an experienced and proven defensive tackle with multiple years of starting experience playing in the P4 with former Purdue Boilermakers senior grad transfer defensive lineman Cole Brevard. The 6-foot-3 and 320-pound defensive tackle is a disruptive and versatile interior defensive lineman who can take snaps at zero tech over the ball for the Longhorns.

Brevard is a polished and proven interior run defender and a proficient pass rusher up the middle. He can give the Longhorns valuable snaps anchoring for the interior defensive line stopping the run and disrupting opposing quarterbacks as an interior pass rusher.

Travis Shaw, DT (transfer from UNC)

Talking about disruptive interior defensive linemen who can eat up double-teams as an anchor in the trenches in the SEC, former North Carolina Tar Heels junior transfer defensive tackle Travis Shaw can be a huge difference maker for the Longhorns’ interior defensive line in the SEC.

Shaw has the most upside and potential among the three portal defensive tackles the Longhorns added from the winter portal early this offseason. At 6-foot-3 and 330 pounds, Shaw has the type of size, strength, and athleticism to replace the production the Longhorns lost with the Alfred Collins departure for the NFL Draft this spring.