With a school-record-setting 12 players selected in April’s NFL Draft and five others signing as undrafted free agents, it was clear that the Texas Longhorns’ depth chart would look quite different in 2025 than it did a season ago.
One key unit this applied to was the pass-catching corps, in which Texas’s top three leaders in receiving yards from 2024 — Matthew Golden, Gunnar Helm and Isaiah Bond — each graduated, with two transitioning to the professional level.
But now, only weeks away from the season opener, little concern remains about the status of the receiver and tight end rooms. Credit for that goes to a combination of factors: Texas’s player development, the transfer portal and the recruiting trail.
Texas brought in two former ACC pass-catchers with multiple years of eligibility left through the spring portal. Sophomore wide receiver Emmett Mosley V from Stanford and redshirt junior tight end Jack Endries from Cal are the two newest targets for Arch Manning, adding more collegiate experience to a facet where it definitely doesn’t hurt to have it.
Mosley V missed the first three games of his sole year with the Cardinal due to injury but went on to play in the remaining nine, starting in eight of them. As a true freshman, Mosley V gathered 48 receptions for 525 yards and six touchdowns.
His standout performance came against then-No. 19-ranked Louisville on Nov. 16, 2024, in which he unleashed for 13 receptions, 168 yards and three touchdowns to pilot Stanford towards a signature upset victory. Mosley V again had a 101-yard showing in his team’s final game of the season against San Jose State, which Texas faces this year.
Mosley V looks to begin the season in Texas’s third receiver spot, starting alongside sophomore Ryan Wingo and junior DeAndre Moore. He completes a trio that boasts all-around versatility resulting from their speed and size, making it an expectation for head coach Steve Sarkisian to move them around in various setups with ease.
Supplementing the wide receiver room will be Endries, who turned from a walk-on into a star as a Golden Bear. Now coming to Austin as a redshirt junior, Endries has two years of full starting experience under his belt. In 2024, he led Cal in both receptions with 56 and receiving yards with 623.
Endries knew what he was doing coming to Texas, as the relevance of tight ends in Sarkisian’s offense is no secret. With Ja’Tavion Sanders and then Helm, the Longhorns have shown trust in the position in recent years. Endries is as ready as can be to be the next man up in that string of tight end success.
Surrounded by explosiveness, Endries’s playmaking role seems likely to be as an ever-present safety option for Manning. After all, Endries was
“Mr. Dependable”
at Cal, according to The Mercury News.
Mosley V and Endries’s first test in the burnt orange will come in a College Football Playoff semifinal rematch against the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Leaving the Horseshoe with a win on August 30 will require contributions from every Longhorn on the field.
