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Happy Friday! *** Quick Hitters on Newcomers It is almost the weekend, so cheers to all. We are about a week away from being just 50 days from the beginning of the college football season, and just over a week away from SEC Media Days. I am starting to get that football itch again. But, in the meantime, there are some nuggets I was able to pick up on this week I wanted to share. And some literal nuggets from my time with Kobe Black and Jelani McDonald at their NIL deal at McDonald's this week. But to the notes on the team. – One source expressed a ton of excitement about new LB Rasheem Biles. Upon arriving at Texas, Biles was a quieter …

Happy Friday *** Steve Sarkisian’s comments at the Houston Touchdown Club on Thursday sure did rile up a lot of folks and create a ton of headlines for the 2026 college football season. Lost inside of all of the noise were comments about many players considering Arch Manning to be the toughest individual player on the team — as our Bobby Burton highlighted this morning, the likeliness of Jermaine Bishop Jr. seeing time on both sides of the ball and Jonah Williams’ timeline for the field. There were a lot of good things to come from Sarkisian’s time with the media. To be completely honest, I didn’t love the comment Sarkisian made about an in-state…

Friday Morning Team Notes and Nuggets *** Happy Friday! Wanted to drop some team intel as we inch ever so close to the beginning of spring practice. We are three days away from the start of the 15 spring practices which will kickoff on the other side of the weekend. *** Update on Arch Arch Manning has been out of his boot following preventative offseason foot surgery for about a week now. How active he will be at the start of spring practice remains unknown, but the plan is for Manning to get live reps for the majority of the spring. Remember, Texas will have their first three practices of the spring this upcoming week, then will go on…

Friday Team Notes and Nuggets *** Happy Friday! As we have done the last two weeks, I wanted to put together a post for the collection of nuggets and tidbits I have collected from across the week of Texas Football. Hopefully this will help speed the afternoon to get to the weekend. I will also attatch some photos in the comments below that have been released from offseason workouts. *** Jermaine Bishop Jr. I posted earlier in the week on the new jersey number thread that Jermaine Bishop Jr. will be rocking No. 4 this fall for the Horns. Additionally, Bishop is one of the few freshmen to earn a corner locker in the locker room, which may…

Happy Friday Needless to say, but the commitment of John Meredith III (Crowley, TX) is significant. On the surface, Meredith has the prototypical size, frame, length, physicality and ball skills of an elite corner. He checks every single box without leaving any for question. But I wanted to focus on this part of his commitment and broader picture for the 2027 class: Meredith is the highest rated cornerback commitment for Texas in the recruiting service era. In fact, Meredith is now firmly in the top five of prospects to ever to the Longhorns. That’s how significant of a commitment this is for Texas. But looking at the bigger picture for …

Happy Friday! *** Welcome to this week's edition of Happy Friday. For those who were online yesterday, you noticed the OTF unveiled players 31–40 on our Top 40 on the 40 for the 2026 season. For those unfamiliar, every member of the OTF team ranked who they believed were the top 40 players on the team for the fall. Then a consensus was found and alas, the countdown began. If you missed the first leg of the countdown, before anything go watch @Jeff Howe, @Hank South and myself discuss the first ranking unveiling. Here is 40–31. 40) LT Jordan Coleman 39) WR Kaliq Lockett 38) WR Sterling Berkhalter 37) DB Xavier Filsaime 36…

Team Notes + Arch Manning Update *** Happy Friday! As has been the case throughout the month of February, Friday means team nuggets and notes. The latest on winter workouts as we hit the 10 day mark until spring football officially kicks off in Austin, Texas. *** Update on Arch Manning ESPN's Heather Dinich reported Thursday morning QB Arch Manning is out of his walking boot following his offseason foot surgery. Remember, the school called the procedure a "preventative measure to address a previous injury" for Manning. The Texas quarterback has resumed throwing and was present in the most recent throwing sessions with the wide receivers …

Team Notes and Updates *** Health Notes: – QB Arch Manning remains in a boot. For those wondering if Manning will throw for the Texas Pro Day, my best bet is probably not. – WR Ryan Wingo is doing well, and continues to be on track to be back by the start of spring practice. Our @Bobby Burton posted a great note on Wingo in late January about this exact timeframe. – LT Trevor Goosby remains in a sling. – I don't have anything new on Xavier Filsaime at this time. Couple of Team Notes • TE Emaree Winston has really helped shape his body for the college game. Wiston obviously does not possess the biggest frame, but he has fil…

Happy Friday! *** Welcome to Friday, folks. We are just a few hours away from the weekend, so hopefully this article knocks off a few minutes of waiting for 5:00 p.m. to arrive! *** Where's the Team? Saturday is graduation for the 2025-2026 class year at The University of Texas. Finals, for the most part, are completely wrapped up on campus and the majority of students are in celebration mode for the weekend. As a result, a good chunk of the team has left Austin and returned home. A good chunk have returned to watch spring practices at their alma maters: Connor Robertson at Westlake, Kohen Brown at Waxahachie, John Turntine III at…

Team Notes from Week One of Spring Ball *** Day three of spring ball wrapped up this morning. Next up for the team is a week off for spring break, followed by the pads coming on in 10 days for spring ball practice #4. Some notes from the first week of practice from my end. Update on the Quarterback QB Arch Manning remains sidelined for the first week of practice. He began throwing, but continues to see the training staff after the initial team stretch. The expectation is Manning will be very close to a return come the first few practices after spring break. Still, these reps remain invaluable for KJ Lacey as he begins to work with the first …

Happy Friday! *** There are a number of checkmarks we hit during the college football offseason that remind us we are slowly inching along towards the beginning of the next football season. Spring football is a key point. The summer official visits are a rollercoaster of emotion. Even the Manning Passing Academy works as a 10-week mark for the beginning of the college football season. But nothing quite hits like SEC Media Days when Greg Sankey and the 16 SEC coaches, plus elite representatives from around the conference come together for four days in July that makes me feel like football is truly right around the corner. Sunday morning, members o…

Happy Friday Team Notes *** Possibility on More Portal Additions Texas added former SMU OL Paris Patterson earlier in the week, and may not be done adding to the roster this spring. The Texas staff is continuing to monitor some prospects that are floating in the portal for now. Additionally, the junior college route remains a possibility as well. As I understand the rule, JUCO prospects can communicate directly with a college staff at any moment and should they be eligible, can sign and enroll at any moment as well. If Texas does indeed go this route for a prospect or two, I would view this as penny stock buying. Team Nuggets Firs…

How the Texas Offense Has Been Built in the Sark Era *** Happy Friday! Steve Sarkisian is entering his sixth season as head coach at Texas Longhorns football, and expectations are as high as they’ve been at any point during his tenure. The 2026 offense, in particular, projects to be the most talented unit Sarkisian has fielded in Austin. That level of talent, however, has not been built solely through high school recruiting. Texas’ aggressive, “all-in” approach to the transfer portal this offseason has significantly reshaped the roster and prompted a closer look at how Sarkisian’s offenses have been constructed in previous years. It almost goes wi…

Happy Friday! *** 5-for-5 Planning I talked about 5-for-5 during in an article last week where Texas GM Brandon Harris spoke with Adrian Wojnarowksi about building the Longhorns' roster through the high school ranks, portal and retention. You can read that here. But I wanted to dig a bit further for this article today. Throughout the week I hit up a few contacts in the agency world to get an idea on the immediacy of planning for 5-for-5. The conclusion from the Brandon Harris episode on Woj was that there have certainly been conversations internally at Texas regarding the pending rule change that would allow for players like Rasheem Biles, Bo…

Happy Friday! *** Texas placed second in the media's preseason SEC rankings. About what you would expect for many. But not all. It was funny earlier in the week in Tampa, there was a manufactured attempt to peg the Longhorns as the undisputed team to beat in the conference by media members in attendance. It happened so quickly into the week at Media Days, the ploy was exposed almost immediately outside of the typical Texas detractors. The question to Georgia LB Raylen Wilson added evidence to the ruse. Question by question, tweet by tweet, the idea that Georgia was distantly chasing Texas was being constructed like a pile of Lincoln L…

Happy Friday! *** Spring Ball MVPs A nod of the cap for guys I have heard the most about the spring on both sides of the ball: Offensive MVP – WR Cam Coleman No surprise here. Coleman has been everything he was advertised to be this spring. Offensive Freshman MVP – RB Derrek Cooper Kyle Flood mentioning how well Cooper has performed in the pass protection game was the cherry on top for the spring. Defensive MVP – CB Bo Mascoe Interceptions and plays on the football were the theme about Mascoe all spring long. Defensive Freshman MVP – CB Samari Matthews Time and time again the freshman cornerback's name …

Happy Friday Folks! *** Some team nuggets and notes out standouts from the first five practices of the spring session. First, some team nuggets: *** Team Notes – Derrek Cooper might be the star of the week so far. He had a handful of lengthy runs that all likely end up in the fight song playing on Thursday. – I heard freshman WR Chris Stewart had a nice day of practice earlier this week. It was noted to be that Stewart's hands looked very strong at the point of contact. – Expect to see LB Justin Cryer in the mix this fall. There is experience and ability that probably was overshadowed at Florida State due to being asked to do so muc…

Happy Friday! *** The weekly Happy Friday article has arrived. And as we have in previous editions, we will focus on summer workouts plus other team news as we inch ever so close to the season. Summer Conditioning For the most part, I wanted to focus on what types of workouts Texas is deploying for their summer conditioning. Of course, conditioning will be a huge piece of Torre Becton's day-to-day, but the team cycles through stations on the field with focuses on different Focus on initial bursts. We know Steve Sarkisian likes speed, and this team could be in the conversation for one of the fastest teams he has coached at Texas given the additio…

Happy Friday! *** Fall camp is almost here, but the weekend is closer. Before we get to indulge in the beauty that is fall practice reports, let's recap updates from summer workouts. Summer conditioning wrapped up this week, and several players have left Austin for one final getaway before the season begins, or a trip back home to see family for the weekend. While we enjoy the weekend and eagerly await the beginning of camp, I wanted to run through some summer superlatives. *** Undisputed Leaders Offense: QB Arch Manning No surprise here, Manning has been the face of the program and has shouldered that burden from day one as a start…

Happy Friday! *** The weekend is only a few more calls and emails away! But until then, take a quick moment to get up to speed on some of the young talent on the defensive side of the ball. On Thursday, Texas assistant coaches spoke with the media for the first time this spring, allowing us to get more of a look behind the curtain on some of the growth currently going on in spring ball. **** Kenny Baker on the jumps from Myron Charles and Josiah Sharma "Man, it's tremendous. Some days are better than others – matter of fact, literally right before I came in here, Myron texted me and said, 'Coach, there was some good stuff, there was some bad…

Happy Friday! *** Football is being played in Austin, Texas again! Life is better than it was one week ago and it's only going to get better over the next five months. Texas will be practicing Friday evening, with full pads set to come on in the next couple of days. I don't need to fluff any more, by now folks know about the talent on campus and the expectations that follow. Texas has plenty of both. *** Instead, I wanted to focus a bit on the grind of summer conditioning. We have highlighted the competition in place over the last month at times throughout the summer. Texas had a grueling day in the sand pit before the 4th of July, and Colin …

Texas Back on the Field Monday After Spring Break *** Happy Friday! The spring break intermission will wrap up this weekend and Texas will soon be back on the field on Tuesday. *** Note on Jonah Williams I was told during the week that the conversation about the two-sport star picking one sport in particular for his future has no real standing. Williams plans fully to participate in both football and baseball when he is back on the field. Williams will spend the majority of the spring in the building at Moncrief for film study and defensive lessons with Blake Gideon and Will Muschamp so he is up to speed with the defensive assignments when he…

War of Words *** Thursday was eventful, wasn't it? Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire snapped back at Steve Sarkisian's comments about his backups going undefeated in a lesser conference with a feisty retort of his own. Playing right into the situation I wrote about last week when I said I wasn't a huge fan of Sark's comments regarding the scheduling of the former conference opponent. It was a no-win situation making the point about one specific school. Cody Campbell "upped the ante" – his words, not mine – by pitching to buy out the Texas-Texas State game, and the Texas Tech-ACU game on week one for this game to take place. Of course, no…

Happy Friday! *** Summer Time Body Transformations It's the time of the year where players on teams everywhere are tested to see who really wants it the most. No, it's not spring football, or even summer conditioning, but it's the month away from the facility where the gains achieved in the winter conditioning can be washed away with a poor month of May. Who continues to workout? Who falls behind? That will be the key this month as the return date of June 1st inches near. For the most part, members of the team returned back home or took trips to enjoy one of the few periods of the football calendar where freedom is abundant. But I wanted to t…

Arkansas HC Sam Pittman Q: Last time Texas played Arkansas, it was not a good outcome for Texas. They come back to Fayetteville this fall. Coming into the SEC adds a new layer to the rivalry. Steve Sarkisian was quoted saying Arkansas hates Texas more than they like themselves. Just want to know what your response to that statement is. SAM PITTMAN: “Well, I will say this: We hadn't played Texas for years and we played them a couple years back. It was the most excited our fan base has been in a while. So I would say he's probably right, you know. The difference is Texas is certainly a different team than what we played. That was his first year there and now …