Texas flips former Louisville DT Jermayne Lole from Oklahoma

The Longhorns pay back their Red River rivals for landing Damonic Williams last week.

A week after the Texas Longhorns lost out on former TCU Horned Frogs defensive tackle Damonic Williams to the Oklahoma Sooners, head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff used that decision to their advantage, flipping former Louisville Cardinals defensive tackle Jermayne Lole from the Sooners.

The 6’3, 310-pounder has one year of eligibility remaining and becomes the third defensive tackle the Longhorns have added through the NCAA transfer portal this offseason, joining former Wildcats Tia Savea and Bill Norton. Lole is ranked as the No. 867 player in the 247Sports NCAA transfer portal rankings and the No. 88 defensive lineman.

Lole entered the portal as soon as the spring transfer window opened last month, departing Louisville despite originally announcing his intentions to return for a final season after he was granted a medical redshirt for the 2022 season, in which he appeared in two games before suffering a season-ending elbow injury.

Oklahoma was able to secure an official visit from Lole during their spring game and he committed two days later, but that wasn’t enough to ensure he’ll finish his college football career in Norman. Instead, he’ll line up across the field from the Sooners in burnt orange and white in the Cotton Bowl.

In nine starts and 12 overall appearances for the Cardinals in 2023, Lole bounced back from two injury-plagued seasons to finish with 19 tackles, five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble, and two pass break ups. The Long Beach product had also missed the entire 2021 season at Arizona State with a triceps injury.

The injuries derailed a promising start to Lole’s career with the Sun Devils — over three seasons and 28 appearances at Arizona State, he recorded 123 tackles, 20.0 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, eight pass deflections, and two forced fumbles.

As a member of the 2018 recruiting class, Lole was a consensus three-star prospect out of Long Beach Poly ranked as the No. 551 player nationally and the No. 24 strong-side defensive end, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Lole chose Arizona State over 13 other offers, including Arizona and Tennessee, among others, also taking official visits to San Diego State and Washington State.

Now Lole is poised to compete with Savea, Norton, and senior Vernon Broughton for the starting spot opposite senior Alfred Collins, filling the final major need along the defensive line as new position coach Kenny Baker attempts to replace Byron Murphy and T’Vondre Sweat, the nation’s top two interior defensive linemen in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus.

Texas is now at 83 scholarships for the fall.