A few weeks ago this spring, the first big NCAA Transfer Portal window for new entrants early in this 2025 offseason closed for Texas basketball players to decide to enter the transfer market waters.
As expected in this day and age of college hoops and the transfer portal with NIL in sports, new Texas head basketball coach Sean Miller saw the roster take shape with key returning players from past portal pickups early this offseason for the spring window.
Miller and the Longhorns have utilized the transfer portal to their advantage to help rebuild the roster to better fit his offensive system on that end of the floor. Texas and Miller added a few key proven and experienced players to the frontcourt with the new starting five under this coaching staff, and adding more defensive chops on the perimeter.
Jamie Vinson, C
Former three-star recruit from Austin, TX, and Oak Hill Academy High School in Virginia, freshman center Jamie Vinson played nine games for the Longhorns this past season in the SEC. He averaged 2.2 points per game, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.3 blocks.
Vinson has solid upside and physical tools as a lengthy 6-foot-11 and 230-pound center with an insane 7-foot-5 wingspan. If he can develop his shooting ability from outside of the paint and become more of a threat from beyond the arc to space the floor, Vinson could be a solid big in the SEC.
He joined in-state rival Texas A&M via the transfer portal in the spring window this offseason for 2025.
Committed to Texas A&M
Malik Presley, SF
For the second time in as many offseasons, sophomore wing Malik Presley entered the spring transfer portal. Hailing from San Marcos just about an hour or two south of Austin on I-35, Vinson transferred to Texas from the Vanderbilt Commodores last offseason.
After Presley had reportedly (per 247Sports) decided to stay at Texas for another season early in this offseason, he ultimately decided to enter the transfer portal in the spring portal window.
He averaged 2.2 points per game, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.5 assists at Vanderbilt in the 2023-24 season.
Presley has two years of eligibility remaining.
Committed to George Mason
Devon Pryor, F
Former three-star recruit from Houston (TX) PSAT-XEA Academy forward Devon Pryor was a key contributor coming off the bench to Texas's wing spot this past season for former head coach Rodney Terry in SEC conference play.
Pryor gained a bigger role in the wing/forward rotation for the Longhorns this past season in the SEC. He played a career-high 14 games, including a couple of starts in key games down the stretch in SEC play against Georgia and in an overtime win in Starkville over Mississippi State.
Pryor showed real upside on the defensive end of the floor as a lengthy and versatile wing slasher who could play the three or the four for the forward rotation.
Committed to Oregon
Dillon Mitchell, F (St. John's)
Former elite five-star recruit from Montverde Academy in Montverde, FL, forward Dillon Mitchell, played the first two seasons of his collegiate career at this level for the Longhorns. Until two offseasons ago, Mitchell then transferred from Texas to the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Big 12.
Mitchell averaged a career-high 9.9 points per game, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists for the Bearcats this past season in 2024-25 in the Big 12.
For the second time in the past couple of offseasons in the spring portal window, Mitchell elected to transfer to another power conference school to the St. John's Red Storm in the Big East.
Chris Johnson, G (Stephen F. Austin)
After spending one season with the Longhorns in the Big 12 during the 2023-24 campaign as a true freshman, guard Chris Johnson transferred to the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks last offseason in 2024. Johnson averaged 10.7 points per game, four rebounds, and 1.7 assists at SFA in three games played this past season for the 2024-25 campaign.
A former highly touted four-star recruit from Montverde Academy in Florida, Johnson committed to Terry and the Longhorns in the summer of 2023 after flipping his pledge from the Kansas Jayhawks.
Johnson has entered the transfer portal for the second time in the past two offseasons in the spring window.
Alex Anamekwe, F (Lubbock Christian)
Two-way forward Alex Anamekwe was a gritty and defensive force for the Longhorns' wing/forward rotation for two seasons under former Texas head coach Chris Beard and then Terry down the stretch in the postseason in 2023 and 2024. The McKinney, TX, native from the DFW Metroplex averaged 1.1 points per game over 18 career games played for the Longhorns in two seasons in Austin until 2024.
He transferred from Texas to Division II Lubbock Christian in the 2024 offseason last year.
This past season, during the 2024-25 campaign at Lubbock Christian, Anamekwe averaged 6.5 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.7 assists over 11 games played and seven starts in NCAA Division II for the Chaparrals.
Gavin Perryman, G (Vermont)
Dallas native guard Gavin Perryman played a key leadership role for Texas's backcourt for multiple years in Austin.
Perryman joined the Longhorns as a walk-on with the backcourt unit for Beard and Co. for the 2022-23 season in the Big 12 for Texas. He saw action in 18 games over two seasons played with the Longhorns from 2022-2024 in the Big 12.
All in the same span of a couple of days early in the 2024 offseason, the Longhorns lost Texas natives Perryman, Johnson, and Anamekwe to the transfer portal last year for the spring portal window.
This past season at Vermont, Perryman averaged a career-high three points per game, 1.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 0.8 steals over eight games played for the Catamounts in the 2024-25 campaign.