[serious question] What if DT is something the staff has identified as something that actually develops much later in the cycle and it's better to teach technique and scheme to these guys and let them get their raw "man bodies" at another D1 program? I'm not saying take in a bunch of 1 year mercinaries, but feeding a big man for a year while he sits on the bench and has his own mental struggle on whether to be a fatty or not isn't really what the coaching staff may want to spend their time doing. S&C at Texas is top notch, but if a guy has the drive he's gonna go hard anywhere and then Texas can scoop up later in the portal? DT seems to be one of the really high $ positions in the portal with a ton of upside if they pan out. [/end serious]
I still think home grown will be the way to go, but we've got evidence over the last handful of seasons that those guys typically don't start to really peak and show out until very late in their collegiate careers and early in their NFL careers.