Texas football is reloading under Steve Sarkisian, king of the transfer portal | Golden

Longhorn Nation breathed a collective sigh of relief when Texas secured head football coach Steve Sarkisian through the 2030 season with a contract extension, putting aside any worries that he might replace Nick Saban at Alabama.

“We’re here to chase greatness, to win championships,” Sarkisian posted on X. “This is the University of Texas, and people are going to want to be part of it.”

Then he went about the business of signing Saban’s players. He’s brought in former Tide pass catchers Amari Niblack, Isaiah Bond — the hero of the miracle finish at Auburn — and linebacker Kendrick Blackshire to join a nice portal haul that includes veteran Houston receiver Matthew Golden.

After a banner 12-2 season, Texas football doesn't appear to be rebuilding, but reloading. Sarkisian has said on more than one occasion that he wants to still build through recruiting while recognizing the importance of filling in some holes with transfers.

Golden: Texas played a big part in this year's Ceddy Awards for college football's best

He just might be the Portal King. The recruiting change isn’t the same as it was just five years ago. Players are for sale, and the schools with the deepest pockets — and the right coaches to close the deal — have a leg up on the competition.

There might not be another season when so many Horns get drafted, but Sarkisian was smart enough to realize that Texas could not afford its first season in the SEC to be about playing too many first-year starters in a league that’s been the biggest beehive in college football for the past two decades.

Texas fans obviously were concerned about 2024 with at least eight players expected to be drafted, including wideout Xavier Worthy, tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders and defensive tackle Byron Murphy II, early departures who could become the first Longhorns trio to go in the first round since Johnny “Lam” Jones, Johnnie Johnson and Derrick Hatchett in 1980.

Bond and Niblack combined to catch 68 passes for more than 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns while Blackshire, from Duncanville, never cracked the regular rotation in his three seasons. He played only 24 games at Alabama and was apparently in need of a nice change of scenery.

More: Raycine Guillory is Texas' first 2026 pledge, but who is the young running back?

Golden caught 76 passes for 988 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons at Houston and will be a welcome addition to a receiving corps that’s young and unproven.

Sarkisian has already shown that he’s more than ready for the challenges that will come with talented players leaving early for the league, a reality that future opponents such as Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh — if he stays — have dealt with in their climbs toward the top of the profession.

Will the Horns repeat that magical 12-2? Only time will tell, but Sarkisian is clearly in attack mode. It’s the only way to win in this new way of doing business.

Tyrese Hunter’s desperation drive saved the season

The drive to survive: My buddy Bob Ballou of CBS Austin playfully chastised me on X over the weekend for comparing Texas guard Tyrese Hunter’s floor-length buzzer-beating drive against Baylor to a similar play UCLA’s Tyus Edney made against Ballou’s alma mater, Missouri, en route to winning the 1988 NCAA Tournament.

Edney’s finish came with UCLA’s tourney hopes hanging in the balance, and the result made him a Bruins legend. Now, Hunter’s miracle happened in only the fifth game of Big 12 conference play, but it felt like a season-saver. Hey, there’s something about 2-3 that sounds miles better than 1-4.

Bohls: My way too early Top 25 for 2024 has Ohio State at the top, but Texas right behind

The Horns should roll into Oklahoma on Tuesday with a new lease on life. Head coach Rodney Terry spent part of Saturday's postgame press conference apologizing for getting after Central Florida’s players the previous game for flashing the Horns Down in the layup line. That came after the worst second-half collapse of Terry's coaching tenure, but Texas showed some nice bounce-back in its biggest win of the season. Better yet, the Horns are playing with the right mix of confidence and desperation.

Backup guard Chennedy Weaver’s hustle made the win possible. His dive and tap of the ball to teammate Max Abmas led to two points the Horns sorely needed. Don’t be shocked to see his minutes continue to rise. Terry understands that it will take that kind of effort to get things completely turned around with some huge games still remaining.

Texas women show true moxie sans Harmon

Backs against the wall: A team is often a reflection of its coach, and nowhere on campus is that more apparent than the women’s basketball team, where Vic Schaefer has the No. 10 Horns off to their best start in years.

Texas (18-2, 4-2) is playing well despite the loss of its best player, point guard Rori Harmon, to a torn ACL. Even with Harmon, the Horns weren’t deep at point guard, but Schaefer has transformed his team midstream, putting the ball in the hands of talented freshman playmaker Madison Booker while increasing the offensive looks of posts Aaliyah Moore and Taylor Jones.

It takes moxie to replace an All-American and not miss many beats, and the Horns are plugging along nicely. Harmon’s absence is being felt, for sure — she’s the most complete pure point guard in the country — but the Horns, who will host Oklahoma on Wednesday, aren’t making excuses.

More: Madison Booker, Taylor Jones help Texas Longhorns top Oklahoma State in women's basketball

They’re making plays.

And getting wins.

Sports Illustrated was an American institution

So long, SI: The demise of Sports Illustrated has hit America right in the gut.

The magazine’s announcement late last week that it was dissolving its writing staff signaled the end of an era.

SI isn’t what it was in the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s, but it still carried some sizable talent on its staff. More than anything, the end hits us in our collective nostalgia, causing many of us to reflect back to our childhoods, when Christmas would arrive in the mailbox on a weekly basis. Reading greats like Dan Jenkins, Ralph Wiley, Gary Smith, S.L. Price. Frank Deford, Jack McCallum, Paul Zimmerman, Rick Telander and Rick Reilly was a real joy for a kid who dreamed of being a sports scribe. And that wonderful prose was taken to an obscenely unmatched level by some of the best photographers in the game.

It was what made Sports Illustrated the best thing in our business. My daily cocktail of the Tyler Morning Telegraph and The Dallas Morning News came with the ultimate weekly chaser.

No magazine could match its mix of print and visuals. And SI covered the big events so well that we couldn’t wait to read the recap, even though it came days later. One of my earliest memories was the 1980 cover photo of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, well past his prime, sitting on his stool during a pummeling delivered by former sparring partner Larry Holmes. It told the story without having to use words. When Ali died in 2016, the magazine delivered once again with a great commemorative issue with The Greatest adorning the cover, his 40th appearance.

His protégé Sugar Ray Leonard became a mainstay on the cover in the 1980s and beyond.

When I started making my own money, the best gift I ever gave my dad — besides graduating from college, becoming a success and marrying Bev — was an annual subscription to SI. It played the background to so many of our talks throughout the second half of his life. We couldn’t always address serious subjects, but that magazine kept the conversations flowing, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Key acquisitions have Texas football in reload mode