It’s a fact that the transfer portal and the rules accompanying it have changed the landscape of college football. Ask Lincoln Riley at Southern California how that’s turned out for him. In his first season in Los Angeles, Riley mastered the transfer portal and subsequently transferred the Trojans into a potential College Football Playoff team.

Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss and even Brian Kelly at LSU were also highly successful this season through the portal. It’s a new 1-stop shop for all college football program needs. It’s been pointed out that it’s even bigger than recruiting, considering a team gets a proven athlete in the transfer portal as opposed to rolling the dice with a high school kid who hasn’t taken his first snap at the collegiate level.

So, to go along with the top recruiting class of 2022, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher may or may not feel the need to look toward the transfer portal for help. He barely dipped a toe into it last season. But he did bring in quarterback Max Johnson from LSU. Johnson played in 4 games and threw for 517 yards and 3 touchdowns.

According to 247sports.com, Texas A&M ranked 13th in the SEC, ahead of only Georgia, which pulled 0 transfers this season. The transfer portal isn’t necessary in some coach’s eyes. It will be interesting to see if Fisher goes that route during this offseason.

It’s not like the Aggies couldn’t use the help. You can’t have too much talent on one team. Or can you? The number of players from Texas A&M who enter the portal could play a role in how much Fisher will dabble in it this time around. In the early going, the Aggies are seeing more players preparing to leave than any other school.

The transfer portal opened Dec. 5. As it stands today, here are Texas A&M’s 5 biggest needs for 2023.

Offensive line

Sure, they’re young and presumably will only improve with experience. The Aggies’ offensive line has a chance to return intact depending on what Layden Robinson decides to do. But 4 of the 5 two-deep backups were freshmen. The other is a sophomore. And nobody knows better than Fisher how important it is to have experienced depth in the group.

There’s a ton of young talent there now, but Fisher might want to consider adding a veteran or two to the mix while the young ones grow up.

Defensive line

It’s a similar story on the defensive side as well. A ton of very young talent but not much in the way of experience. Of the 12 players in the three-deep defensive line this season, 8 were freshmen and another a sophomore.

Fisher can’t wait for freshmen Walter Nolen, Shemar Stewart and LT Overton to grow into beast mode. All indications are that they will, and sooner rather than later. And maybe the growing pains are behind them. But it sure wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of veteran stoppers in there while this very talented crop of young players fully develops.

Linebacker

Here’s a position that’s not deep, and as incredible as it may sound for this team, is aging. Senior Chris Russell led the group while sophomore Edgerrin Cooper ranked 4th on the team in tackles (61) and appears to be the future at the position. Andre White is also senior.

So, this would be a prime position for Fisher to scan the portal and pick up a player or two.

Tight end

Donovan Green is a budding star at the position. The freshman played in 10 games, was 4th on the team in receiving yards (233) and scored 2 TDs on 22 total catches. He is clearly the future at the position.

But again, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have some experienced talent as well, to add to a group of relatively unproven players at the position.

Quarterback

Conner Weigman is the future, it seems inevitable, especially after the big win against LSU.

But he’s still growing and it would put a lot of people in Aggieland at ease if Fisher were to bring in an experienced signal-caller.