SEC increases scholarship limit, how does it impact Texas Football?

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The Southeastern Conference is increasing the football scholarship limit from 85 to 105, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. As part of a House of Representatives lawsuit settlement, schools are permitted to increase scholarships to 105 in football, but the SEC chose to remain at 85 last year. Now the conference is on par with the other Power 4 leagues.

There are a lot of implications to the new rule that impact roster size, the transfer portal, recruiting and NIL fund allotment. Ultimately, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian doesn’t have to be as selective when offering a prospect a scholarship. In the short term, Sark can be more aggressive in the transfer portal.

Steve Sarkisian spoke about the scholarship limits on Early Signing Day, before the rule change was announced.

“One of the challenges that we’re faced with right now in the Southeastern Conference, we’re still operating on 85 scholarships. Other conferences are operating at 105 scholarships, so that’s 20 more scholarship players.” – Texas coach Steve Sarkisian

Texas’ 2026 recruiting class is good, but not the No. 1 class it had a year ago. The consensus is the Longhorns signed the No. 8 class in the nation. The deficiencies this class can be augmented in the transfer portal.

It’s not just top-line impact players Sark will be after. The Texas roster needs depth and competition so when a player is injured, the replacement is close to like-for-like. More competition builds better teams. Texas will have an extra 20 slots to play with.

The obvious needs are offensive line and running back. At times, the Longhorns offensive line looked lost this year. And while the unit improved towards the back half of the season, there were still issues in every game. And Texas rushing game was at historic lows this year.

The Longhorns coaching staff and General Manager Brandon Harris will have to adjust the NIL fund. There will be more funds needed to cover the 20 new slots. But there could also be changes to distribution. Much of it will depend on how Texas competitors handle the new scholarships.

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: How does SEC’s increase in scholarship limits impact Texas Football?

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