Texas won 10 games in 2025 and ranked in the top 15 of the final AP poll for the third consecutive season, the program’s first such stretch since the late 2000s. But it wasn’t good enough for coach Steve Sarkisian.Something had to change.With high-profile quarterback Arch Manning returning for another season and the pressure to win growing, Sarkisian and his staff did something only a handful of programs can: Remake the roster by signing a top-tier transfer portal class to construct a championship-caliber supporting cast around a star quarterback.“We just felt like, where can we improve our team?” Sarkisian said. “And where were we lacking a year ago, and where do we need to improve from an explosive play standpoint, offensively?”For the first time since 2008, a Sarkisian-run college offense did not have a 1,000-yard rusher, a span of 12 seasons dating back to his final year as the coordinator at USC. Receiver play also wasn’t at the level of the previous two seasons, when the Longhorns reached the College Football Playoff semifinals. Texas pass catchers caught just 63.1 percent of targets in 2025 (52nd among the 68 Power 4 teams), and their 22 drops were the 22nd-most in the P4, according to TruMedia.The offensive line was also a major issue. Texas allowed a 35.5 percent pressure rate, according to Pro Football Focus, which was the 19th-highest in the Power 4.Is Arch Manning at #32 Disrespectful?Ralph D. Russo and Stewart MandelThe response was to pursue some of the best available players in the transfer market, even if it meant saying goodbye to some homegrown recruits who had played key roles in the program’s recent success.Texas’ star-studded 22-member transfer class, ranked No. 3 nationally by The Athletic, signaled a shift in strategy for Sarkisian and underscored the urgency to win a national championship, something that has eluded the program since the 2005 season.This revamped roster, which features significant upgrades at the skill positions, gets its first big test Saturday, when Texas hosts Ohio State in a game that figures to have significant CFP implications.“Obviously, they have a big bankroll, but they identified the best players at the positions they needed and went and got them. I was impressed,” said an ACC personnel staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could talk candidly about another team’s roster.When the portal opened, the Longhorns went to work. They landed six of the top 100 transfers, including the No. 1 player (former Auburn receiver Cam Coleman), two of the top three running backs (Arizona State’s Raleek Brown and NC State’s Hollywood Smothers), one of the top offensive tackles (Wake Forest’s Melvin Siani) and the top linebacker (Pitt’s Rasheem Biles).It was a significant, expensive overhaul that included some high-priced transfers, including at least two that cost seven figures.“I think in this day and age of the portal and high school, you’ve got to have the ability to be strategic,” Sarkisian said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” at SEC media days in July. “To make the moves we make, to bring in a Cam Coleman, to bring in a Hollywood Smothers, to bring in a Raleek Brown, to bring in a Mike Masunas at tight end, we had to let DeAndre Moore go, we had to let Parker Livingstone go, we had to let Tre Wisner go, we had to let CJ Baxter go.