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Predictions for spring ball (by the end of spring ball): Best newcomer: Cam Coleman Surprising upperclassman: Warren Roberson Physical transformation: ??? (I‘ll tell you after this morning but my current guess is Smith Orogbo.) Most improved redshirt: Jordan Coleman/Josiah Sharma Someone no one is mentioning but should be: Emaree Winston Best freshman: Derrek Cooper Most physically impressive: Justus Terry/Zina Umeozulu/Lance Jackson Best athlete: Colin Simmons/Coleman Quickest: Jermaine Bishop/Raleek Brown Fastest: Kade Phillips/Ryan Wingo Who will win a spot (at least temporarily) no one is thinking about: Jaydon Ch…

I’m really happy Texas made the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. But my brain is trying to square the fact that the hoops team was 9-9 in conference yet made it to a post-season tournament while the football team was 6-2 in conference and didn’t. As Jack Endries said during his interview at the NFL combine, few teams were playing better than the Longhorns at the end of last season. ** I said at the beginning of spring ball that there should be high expectations for this Texas football team in 2026. One week into spring ball, I’m not pulling back one iota from that. Everything I saw this week does nothing more than convince me that I was on t…

Both basketball teams advanced to the Sweet 16 this weekend. It’s the first time in three seasons that both the men and women advanced to the round simultaneously. For the men, it’s the 15th time in program history the Horns have made it this far in the NCAA tourney. The men are clearly peaking at the right time. They’re turning the ball over considerably less than they did in the regular season and defensive metrics are significantly better as well. Plus, they’re routinely hitting clutch shots, be they from Tramon Mark, Jordan Pope, or as was the case Saturday, Camden Heide. In all three games the Horns have won, none of them have been “lucky”. The Ho…

This three-game stretch has always been about improvement for the Horns. Even in the pre-season, it's what we identified and discussed. So as we look toward this week, I ask, what do you want to see from the Texas Longhorns as it relates to improvement? Here's my list: Offense - Continued improvement from Arch Manning. This week, I'd like to see more crossing routes completed and even greater accuracy overall. I really want to see a 22-of-28 type performance, while maintaining his yards-per-completion average. - Better and more cohesive pass protection. - More receivers truly involved. Along with no dropped passes and better perimeter blockin…

Based on what we’ve seen in the first three games of this year, the Texas football season appears at a crossroads. I didn’t think we’d possibly arrive here until after the Florida game or perhaps after Oklahoma. Yet the outright dysfunction of the offense has accelerated the timeline. The quarterback is not throwing on time - or accurately - often enough. At times, he looks bewildered and/or overmatched. The running game lacks any real punch. And playmakers - where are they and do the Longhorns actually have any? As a whole, the offense appears to lack an identity, unable to impose its will even on lesser opponents. If that sounds a little harsh or ove…

I noticed some hand-wringing on the message board over the AP/Coaches Poll rankings following the Longhorns’ 55-0 win over Sam Houston State. Don’t fret. Polls mean nothing until about mid-way through the season. Get through OU, and then let’s talk. That’s when true perceptions start being formed and you can assign some meaningfulness to them. ** We talked all off-season about how talented we felt like this Texas roster is. That was on full display Saturday night. The Bearkats kept their first team units on the field the entire game, while Texas played its third group for much of the fourth quarter. Yet SHSU still couldn’t really move th…

After a month of playing heavily outmatched opponents in Austin and an additional off week, the Longhorns must now start conference play by heading to Gainesville, Fla. The first month was akin to an NFL preseason, only with one big game to kick it off. ** So here’s where thing stand: Everything predicted prior to conference play is basically irrelevant. Because now is the time the Horns must perform if they have designs on the college football playoff and a successful season. Each and every week matters. And I expect the Horns to be tested in different ways. At the start of the season, I felt like 2025 could largely be reduced to a five-game…

The pass protection for Arch Manning vs Florida was horrendous. Do we really think it’s going to get any better against Oklahoma? That’s the prevailing question swirling in my mind this morning. The Sooners’ defense will likely make mincemeat of the Texas OL. For it to get any better, Texas must establish some level of a run game while also executing better overall and identifying actual pass rushers and not just the guys feigning their blitzes. ** So how did we get here? To a place where the Texas OL is the clear weak spot on this team? The excuse-maker in me would say that Cam Williams probably should have returned for another season a…

For the first time this year, we witnessed a successful identity on offense, one that is clearly starting to build. Furthermore, it’s an identity that can be replicated and even improved upon. Now, one game does not a season make. But… If Texas can lean into that identity again and again this season, there’s a path to being a good offensive football team. And what’s even wilder is this: There’s still a ton of meat left on the bone for where this Texas offense could wind up if they keep improving. Think about it. - Arch Manning keeps improving. I don’t know how he plays a cleaner game than he did against OU. But I think there will ev…

A week ago, I was genuinely surprised by the Longhorns’ offensive performance against Oklahoma, as were many of you probably. I thought Texas would win that game, but I didn’t foresee such an encouraging outing from the offense. Fast forward one week, and I didn’t see this unbelievably poor performance coming. Chances are, many of you didn’t either. The only thing the offense did right on Saturday night was not turn the ball over. Other than that, they were downright horrible. They couldn’t run, they couldn’t block, they couldn’t hit wide open receivers, they couldn’t even stay in bounds when they needed to. Hell, in overtime, with the game on the…

Even though this isn’t how any of us pictured it, the Longhorns are now sitting at 6-2 and preparing to host top ten Vanderbilt. Everything Texas wanted to accomplish in the pre-season remains a possibility. ** Football is a very cut and dry sport, especially when it comes to chasing championships. Either you win or you don’t. How the Longhorns prevailed in that 17-point fourth-quarter comeback is not nearly as important as the fact that they prevailed, period. There’s something special about doing that. Learning to win on the road, against all odds, never giving in, those are traits every single Texas player can carry forward from this game.…

Despite photos that show Arch Manning was practicing on Saturday, it’s important to remember that he has not been a complete practice participant to date. He is still working his way entirely back. Perhaps that changes tomorrow. (The Horns practice Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday again this week.) And if it does change, perhaps that means we get a chance to see him play April 18, the date of the spring game. ** Sark has a history of being cautious with injuries, particularly those of his proven players. It’s a smart play in this new era of college football where a team might play as many as 17 games in a season. ** The internal reviews of…

I'm curious... If you were at the spring scrimmage, what did you think? What were your major takeaways? ** Here are a few of mine: 1. Defensive depth on the interior and at edge. When Maraad Watson and Josiah Sharma are back-ups, you're extremely talented up front. Lance Jackson, just a sophomore, is a possible first-round pick to pair with Colin Simmons and Zina Umeozulu. 2. As expected, Muschamp likes to play a smothering style of defense compared to Pete Kwiatkowski who liked to keep everything in front of him. 3. Derrek Cooper and Jermaine Bishop are ready to play right away as true freshmen. 4. Every portal transfer i…

Saturday afternoon was a virtual infomercial for Texas football on the NFL Network. Not only was Quinn Ewers on display throwing the ball, but Steve Sarkisian was in the booth discussing the combine. Meanwhile, the hottest topic on every pundits tongue were the superlative performances of a multitude of Texas players. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve never seen Texas get that much positive discussion on the NFL Network. ** In last night’s Sunday livestream, a viewer asked who next year’s speed merchant might be at the combine for Texas. Right now, I don’t know that there will be one… unless Texas does some work in the portal. And y…

As Texas begins to host recruits on unofficial visits next week, let’s talk recruiting, a specific nuance of it. It’s important to remember that this is just the beginning of the process for many recruits that Texas could potentially favor. And that beginning entails a lot of things. First, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian prefers the long-term approach. He wants to see if a player fits the Longhorns culture not only athletically but also mentally. That getting to know you process takes time. It doesn’t happen in just a singular one-day visit. Sark also tends to be choosy in that regard. After all, Texas, coming off of a no. 1 ranked recruiting class, …

Today is the first day of practice in full pads for the Horns. The team gets going at 9am. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian will meet with the media immediately following practice. ** After gathering intel from the first three days of practice, it’s clear that Arch Manning is stepping up. The redshirt sophomore from New Orleans has been described as accurate, with the ball coming out quickly. But perhaps the bigger piece overall is what one source told me more succinctly. ”He’s got a command of the offense, of how it’s supposed to run, the timing of it. He’s just impressive,” the source said. ** Saturday’s practice was marked by the tea…

Sometimes a coach really makes that big of a difference. Texas, despite losing its best player Max Belyeu just last week, swept No. 3 ranked Georgia in a three-game series this weekend, punctuated by a walk-off homer in extra innings yesterday. Building a roster and a coaching staff, getting the players to put their best foot forward, marshaling all of that together are the very fundamentals of coaching any team at any level. Some coaches just do that better than others. Such is the case with Jim Schlossnagle. A year ago, Texas baseball looked absolutely rudderless. Today, Texas looks poised to be a national powerhouse for years to come and is already …

We’re halfway through spring practice and I think a couple of themes are becoming evident. First, Texas is clearly a younger team than the last two Steve Sarkisian has put on the field. Second, this Texas team, while younger, is just as talented overall, if not more so. At every single position on the field, Texas has at least one future NFL player if not more. Texas is extraordinarily talented despite being younger. Three, there are several team leaders emerging. Anthony Hill, Michael Taaffe, Arch Manning, Tre Wisner, Jelani McDonald, Cole Hutson, CJ Baxter and DJ Campbell. Each are leading in a little different way. But it speaks to Sark’s desir…

The fickle nature of the portal was on full display in Norman, Oklahoma, over the weekend. Late Friday, one of the Sooners’ more promising young players, defensive lineman David Stone, officially entered the transfer portal. The former five star showed up in Norman just a year ago with lots of expectations and a hefty NIL price tag. To leave so soon would be a slap in the face to Sooner nation. The issue? The Sooners didn’t pay Stone the NIL he thought he deserved, so he immediately entered the portal. Yet 48 hours later, Stone withdrew his name from the portal after allegedly receiving a different NIL deal more to his liking. Basically, he leveraged h…

“I don’t think spring really could have gone much better,” one source told me on Sunday evening. ”The voices, the leadership is there. Arch is the dude. He is the leader on offense. And the defense, those guys respect him. Anthony Hill, Colin Simmons, Michael Taaffe, Ethan Burke. They are just a good core. You could put Liona Lefau and Jelani McDonald in there, too.” More: ”We had some (young) guys get a lot of run. We found some surprises, kind of got a feel for who is ahead of the pack (at different positions). ”I felt like the offensive line started maturing. There’s a lot to like.” And another note: ”The injuries, almost all of them came …

I'm headed over to the University this morning for the media window that begins as 9am. Here's a quick what-we-learned from week one: - Silas Bolden will have a significant role in 2024. Expect Bolden to win the punt returners job and expect him to find a way into the rotation as a receiver. "Fearless" has been the way some have described the diminutive transfer receiver from Oregon State. - Ryan Wingo is better than advertised. He has continued his ascent and did not hit the freshman wall over the summer. - Trey Moore is making lots of plays. But he doesn't look like he should. He is clearly the smallest of the Texas edge players. - Texas is tryi…

Following Saturday's scrimmage, the Texas coaching staff met amongst themselves on Sunday. As Steve Sarkisian described it, it's the beginning of the winnowing process. From a personnel standpoint, this first scrimmage was about seeing which players already belonged and can be relied on, which players were knocking on the door of reliability, and which ones will likely need another full season of development. The Horns' coaches have some tough decisions ahead of them, in part because so many young players have made it tough on them. These two young classes - of sophomores and juniors - are extremely talented. And they are pushing to be included in that…

Some takeaways from the scrimmage based on additional discussions/text messages I’ve had: - Silas Bolden has been the most consistent playmaker at receiver and on the offense generally during fall camp. - Matthew Golden had a good scrimmage on Saturday. - Based on Saturday’s scrimmage, it’s still somewhat unclear how exactly Texas will line up if Jake Majors were to go down with injury at any point this season. While Hayden Conner saw immediate first team reps, Connor Robertson acquitted himself well. - There’s growing confidence surrounding the use of Jerrick Gibson. We’re not fully through fall camp, but he is answering the bell. - The Duncanvil…

Steve Sarkisian and a number of players will be made available to the media following this morning’s practice. As we move into this season, Sark will be made available every Monday and we’ll have reports from that. ** Couple of notes from the weekend: - I am told the punting job has been perhaps the most hotly contested, untalked about position competition of the summer. Ian Ratliff and Michael Kern were said to still be going head to head into the weekend. Even Charlie Ferris had not been entirely dismissed from the competition though I have heard less about him. - I am hearing it is more and more likely that Texas will use a platoon system …

The weekend went about as well as it possibly could. The Horns won. In a complete, well-rounded performance. The Aggies lost. And looked bad in doing so. Brian Kelly? Well, he still looks like he’s a good coach. Until the fourth quarter. ** I said it was a well-rounded win by Texas. Here’s what I mean. Texas showed ability in the passing game, intelligence in the secondary and effectiveness in the red zone. They also displayed elite team speed. There were very few nitpicks surrounding this win, certainly fewer than we’ve seen in previous years. Perhaps the Horns are starting to blossom into a program where winning and a standard of perfo…