It worked out when we took a small school 3 star in Colt McCoy. If we are taking a grad transfer who is willing to take a backup role, then they are coming here to play school. I don't see the downside to taking a high character kid from a small school (or a pipeline school). You need bodies to have a depth chart sort itself out.
Given the Covid landscape, holding spots for transfers seems imperative. UT has the money to provide the safety precautions most schools can't. Why take a 3 star project taking up 4-5 years on scholarship, when you can find a proven starter on the transfer market who is looking to move to a school guaranteed to support their athletic aspirations.
On the flip side, there is the aggy strategy of hamstringing your roster to make the 85 limit and sit out the transfer market to fill immediate needs.
I'll play devil's advocate. I can see the benefit of Hand and other Texas staff kicking the tires of random 2/3 star players to artificially generate interest in a player with connections as a favor, whether for personal reasons or general networking. On the flip side, not pursuing Ezra to appease the Brockemeyer's (allegedly) is a mistake.
Prediction: Fatheree will commit to aggy and then proceed to Branard Wright his way down the rankings. Satya will say this huge miss and we should shut the football team down. Sydney will pull up some obscure post and laugh at him for being high on Fatheree.