Fans of Texas football will have less than ninety days until the 2024 regular season begins. And in just a few months, preseason camp will begin, bringing us even closer to that point.
For its summer workouts, Texas football will have several impact transfers on campus.
Making sure that the new recruits and transfers are successfully integrated into the program takes up a significant portion of the remaining summer workouts and preseason camp. Almost a dozen players with an immediate impact have joined the Longhorns since the winter portal window opened early in the offseason, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian.
For the larger programs that are on the rise, like Texas, the increased emphasis on the transfer portal is a sign of how the modern college football landscape—and college sports in general—has changed. With so many seasoned and successful portal players now on campus, Sarkisian and his staff made sure they had depth and talent at every position group on both sides of the ball.
The Longhorns’ eleven offseason additions are present on campus as summer workouts get underway. For spring ball, more than half of the Longhorns portal class signed up early. A few weeks ago, the final four transfers arrived in Austin for the summer semester.
These three transfers with an instant impact have already impressed during summer workouts.
Bill Norton, DT
The Longhorns added multiple registrants from the transfer portal this summer, only at defensive tackle. During the spring portal window, Texas added Arizona transfer Bill Norton and Louisville transfer Jermayne Lole to its roster of defensive tackle transfers with a track record of immediate impact.
Playing for new Texas co-DC Johnny Nansen at Arizona last fall, Norton is a super senior graduate transfer who is anticipated to make a significant impact at nose tackle in the SEC this coming season. Prior to transferring to Arizona a few years ago, Norton played against a number of those elite SEC offensive linemen while at Georgia.
During summer workouts, Norton, a 6′ 6 and 325-pound defensive tackle, seems to have gotten right into the swing of things. Prior to his arrival for the commencement of summer workouts, Bobby Burton of Texas Football reported on June 11 (premium content) that Norton’s size “was underappreciated”.
Norton has garnered attention in the early summer S&C. He has demonstrated the qualities Texas was looking for in a defensive tackle with SEC experience who can play over the football every single week.
Along with fellow super senior Alfred Collins, Norton is expected to rank among the top starting defensive tackles for the Longhorns and Kenny Baker.
The graduate transfer from Louisville and Arizona State Lole is the other experienced defensive tackle transfer that joined the Longhorns for the beginning of summer workouts a few weeks ago.
When Texas flipped Lole’s commitment from the rival Oklahoma Sooners in the portal this spring, his health was the biggest unknown. Lole’s time at Arizona State in the late 2010s and early 2020s was limited by a number of injury concerns.
In the first two years of his collegiate career at Arizona State, Lole was a legitimate All-Pac-12 caliber performer before injuries began to keep him off the field in 2020 and 2021. After playing twelve games without an injury for Louisville last season, Lole began to resemble his pre-injury form.
Last season, Lole showed he could still hold his own for the entire season on a defensive line in a power conference playing for Louisville. In 2023, he played more defensive snaps than any other interior defensive lineman for Louisville.
Since Lole arrived on campus to begin summer workouts in early June, his status has improved significantly. At the beginning of summer S&C, it appears that he has left an impression on the defensive coaching staff.
With his current rate of improvement, Lole may finish among the top three or four players in the interior defensive line rotation, behind Norton and Collins.
Bolden, Silas
Statesman Journal / Abigail Dollins / Silas Bolden / USA
WR Silas Bolden
Silas Bolden, a transfer from Oregon State Beavers who was a senior graduate, has received more compliments in the last few weeks than any other Texas transfer who enrolled this summer. Arriving on campus as a summer enrollee in late May, the quick wideout/special teams threat has looked even better than advertised.
Bolden is “seriously turning heads” early in the summer workout season, as we noted in a post earlier this week on the website. In 7-on-7 drills and summer conditioning, Texas coaches have noticed Bolden’s speed and elusiveness.
With ease, Bolden has established himself as one of Sarkisian’s top four or five wide receivers for this fall’s live-game rotation. He is too dangerous a weapon to be kept off the field in the special teams return game and on offense due to his speed and elusiveness in space.
Bolden looks to be making things difficult for some defensive backs covering his speed one-on-one so far this summer in 7-on-7 practice. Talking a lot about a wide receiver’s speed and agility in summer workouts and 7-on-7 is not something you hear too often.
Bolden is a valuable addition for the summer because of his experience leading the film room and locker room. Even though he is also a portal addition, he provides some veteran stability to this wide receiver room with so many new faces.
Bolden is a summer enrollee who joins multiple other immediate impact transfers in the receiving corps, which, in my opinion, makes him a relatable voice in the locker room to help these other guys transitioning into the program. This is one of Bolden’s leadership qualities.
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