Texas Lands Portal Studs Isaiah Johnson and David Punch to Complete Elite Class
Texas is putting itself back on the college basketball map in a hurry, and the transfer portal is the reason why.
The Longhorns just landed two of the most coveted names in the entire portal cycle. Colorado spark plug Isaiah Johnson brings elite offensive juice. TCU stopper David Punch adds one of the best on-ball defenders available anywhere in the country. Put them together on a Texas roster that also has real returners and you have a top-25 team without much effort.
Johnson was one of the most-watched players in the Pac-12 revamp season. He can score at all three levels, plays with pace and has the kind of confidence you cannot teach. Colorado tried to keep him and could not. Half the SEC was in on him. Texas won.
Punch is the more interesting acquisition for what he brings to a Texas defense that has been the weak link under Rodney Terry. Punch guards the ball. He guards the wing. He guards secondary bigs when the switch calls for it. If Texas wants to be taken seriously in the SEC, defense has to be the calling card, and Punch is a foundational piece to build that identity around.
The bigger context is that the transfer portal is drying up. More than 2,700 players entered the two-week window this year, but the top-tier options are already off the board. Texas moving fast to secure Johnson and Punch reflects the reality of the current recruiting market: the winners are the coaches who identify their targets early and close them.
Rodney Terry gets credit for that. He has been under pressure at Texas since taking over, and every year his job status becomes an offseason talking point. Landing two portal home runs like this buys him a real chance to prove he can build something in Austin.
The SEC is going to be a monster next year. Alabama reloaded. Auburn is always tough. Tennessee will not go away. Kentucky under Mark Pope had a resurgent year. Texas needs to hold serve at home and steal a couple of true road wins to be in the NCAA Tournament conversation, and both Johnson and Punch fit that profile.
The other portal move worth mentioning happened elsewhere. Ole Miss landed Ben Henshall, the 22-year-old Australian guard who impressed at the 2025 NBA Draft Combine, giving Chris Beard a Day One starter. That is another top-tier addition on a program that keeps investing in the portal.
The NCAA’s looming 5-in-5 eligibility model is going to change everything about roster building over the next few years, and coaches are trying to figure out how aggressive to be in the current environment. Texas is choosing to be extremely aggressive, and it is hard to argue with the results.
What Longhorn fans should watch for over the next few weeks is who else Terry can bring in. The roster still needs another wing scorer and probably a rim-protecting big to complete the picture. If Texas can land one or both of those pieces, the ceiling on this team goes from top-25 to legitimate Big 12 title contender.
Johnson and Punch are already on campus, working out with the strength staff, learning the plays. The season is still five months away, but the excitement in Austin is real. Rodney Terry needed a win in the portal, and he got two of them.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
