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Texas Hoops Report: Staff likes the roster The Texas Longhorns basketball team has completed summer workouts, and is set to return to the court August 25 when the fall semester begins. After the summer workouts, one thing is clear. Sean Miller and staff like the roster they have put together. Some would say, of course they do. But I can just tell the fans that the staff really likes what they have to build in year one. The question is the why? OTF has that answer. Dailyn Swain ... The junior 6-foot-8 versatile forward is a pro, without question. The future NBA Draft questions will be determined by how much he improves his perimeter (three-point and one…

Recruiting: Sunshine State reclass?; in season visits A part of the Texas Longhorns 2025 No. 1 recruiting class included the reclassification of 4-star safety Zelus Hicks (Carrollton, Ga./High) during his junior season. OnTexasFootball has mentioned the likelihood of 2027 to 2026 reclass possibilities for the Longhorns in the 2026 cycle as well. One potential possibility is already emerging. Miami (Fla.) Norland High 6-foot-1 four-star cornerback Kenton Dopson III is strongly considering trying to reclassify from 2027 to 2026. Should the Miami Hurricanes pledge get that done, the Longhorns will have serious interest. A person very close to the recruitmen…

Spoke with a source who was in attendance at today’s scrimmage for the Longhorns. Here are some notes from that conversation: - Let’s start with the biggest news first. Matthew Caldwell was the 2nd string QB today and looked considerably better than the other two backups, according to the source. - There were some minor injuries today, which included Jelani McDonald’s foot, Trevor Goosby’s hand and Maraad Watson getting a little banged up. - I’m told for the second scrimmage in a row, wide receiver Emmett Moseley was held out. - Safety Jonah Williams was also held out while nursing a hamstring issue. - The offense worked a lot out of…

Scrimmage No. 2 Takeaways *** • It was a much cleaner day for the offense. Across all three teams, there was only one turnover, which was on a bobbled exchange from the center and quarterback. • The offense moved the ball much better, and quicker than a week ago as well. By all accounts, the offense won the day. • Still, the defense had some success in the red zone against the offense. • The field goal unit was much improved this week as well. Will Stone handled the kickoff duties. • OT Jaydon Chatman was the first tackle on the field, over Nick Brooks, when Trevor Goosby left the scrimmage. • RB CJ Baxter continues to increase his wor…

Steve Sarkisian will meet with the media immediately following this morning’s scrimmage. It’ll be interesting to see exactly what Sark reveals. After all, there is an open competition for the back-up QB role. There’s a group of players contending for a various combination of roles in the secondary (I heard yet again about Graceson Littleton’s ascent last night). And then there’s the health of the team, particularly the sidelining of Stanford transfer Emmett Mosley V most of the last week. In other words, there are a lot of open questions, questions that scrimmages are specifically designed to answer. We’ll see if the head coach decides to give us any o…

We're two weeks away from No. 1 Texas opening the 2025 season against No. 3 Ohio State. Camp effectively ends with today's scrimmage, and Steve Sarkisian is set to meet with reporters once the Longhorns are done. CJ and I are at the Moncrief Complex for today's availability. We'll have live updates as soon as Sark gets here.

Texas 2025 Roster Breakdown by State The 2025 Texas Longhorns roster is arguably the most talented since the early 2000's. The roster has been build through four straight top 5 classes, and blue blood portal work. The roster has players from 13 states, and three continents. * - likely/possible starters vs. Ohio State Texas by region DFW (22): *Anthony Hill, LB, junior (2023) *Collin Simmons, EDGE, sophomore (2024) *Malik Muhammad, CB, junior (2023) *Tre Wisner, RB, junior (2023) Kaliq Lockett, WR, freshman (2025) *Parker Livingstone, WR, RS-freshman (2024) Xavier Filsaime, S, sophomore (2024) Dylan McCutcheon, WR, freshman (2025…

Texas takes the field for the final scrimmage of fall camp tomorrow morning. The scrimmage will be a mock game – no coaches on the field, traditional entrances in and out of the tunnels and TV timeouts filtered in for the feel of what a real football game in the fall would feel like. Unlike a week ago, it is expected parents and traditional practice guests will be unable to attend the Longhorns' practice. This is as close as you will get to the 2025 Texas football team as one will get before August 30. With that said, there is plenty of questions that need to be answered ahead of the season opener. *** Tight End Versatility A first scrimmage …

CJ Baxter Eyes Return A Year After Season-Ending Knee Injury Texas player availability was late Thursday afternoon, where several big name stars were present for their first time with the media in fall camp. None with a more looming storyline or higher intrigue than 3rd-year running back CJ Baxter and his return from a busted knee around this time in 2024. "I feel great," Baxter said when asked if he was back to 100%. "'One day at a time' is the saying I like to say every day. Just one day at a time. Coach Sark and the training staff, they wouldn't put me in if I wasn't ready." Of course one of the most exciting bits of news coming out of scrimmage one…

Spoke with a couple of sources over the last day or two to see how things were going for Vic Schaefer and his team, as they get ready to head into the 2025 season. Currently they are in Toronto for the “Globl Jam” and have already played two games up to this point against international competition. In the first game they beat Puerto Rico 85-45, followed by beating Canada yesterday, 70-61. While this is the first time since the tournament that they’ve played as a team, junior forward Madison Booker and sophomore guard Jordan Lee played with USA Basketball together throughout the summer. “With Madison and Jordan gone so much this summer, the entire team ha…

It’s encouraging that wide receiver Parker Livingstone appears to be taking another step forward during training camp, but, at the same time, we’ve heard very little about Stanford transfer Emmett Mosley V outside of the first few days. Why? According to CJ Vogel, Mosley has not been fully participating in Texas’ practice for a while. We knew he was held out of the first scrimmage but this injury has gone far beyond that. We believe it’s a re-aggravation of a lower leg injury he sustained this summer that also sidelined him for several summer workouts. We’ll do some more digging. But Mosley has not been full go much at all this training camp. And that …

We await the decision of Hollywood, Fla., running back Derrek Cooper later today. As of late yesterday, Texas remains in position to land Cooper. However, all the normal clichés apply: Never say never, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, it ain’t over until it’s over, etc. Cooper, regardless of his recruiting ranking, is seen as a difference maker by major college coaches. So this will be a battle to the bitter end. But it’s our understanding that Cooper genuinely likes the RB set-up at Texas, he likes Sark’s usage and success of developing and relying heavily on RBs. Remember, Texas has had the first two running backs taken in two o…

With the football season about to start, that means it’s nearing unofficial visit time in the recruiting world. Yesterday alone, there were comments about Texas commitment Derrek Cooper potentially visiting Miami and the Hurricanes not giving up, and another regarding A&M commitment KJ Edwards and his interest in attending a LSU and Texas game. Here’s what I can tell you: When it comes to the running back position, the Longhorns’ pursuit of Cooper is singular. Texas is all in on Cooper. Texas feels good about its position with Cooper, too. He will visit this fall for at least one game. And remember, he has an official visit to Texas still available…

Sark's 3-stars in the Texas era The Texas Longhorns have signed 33 prospects generally ranked as 3-star's in the last four classes, not counting specialists. There has already been on NFL draft pick in Cameron Williams, and the 2026 draft could see two to four more former 3-star prospects selected. This season, seven players on the roster that were 3-star's are expected to start or play starter level reps. Of those seven, six are of will firmly be on the radar of NFL scouts. That number of the 33 3-star's signed in the last four classes that be in an NFL training camp in time is likely to grow to around a dozen. 2022 class (9) ... Cameron Williams…

Fourteen 2027 in-state prospects that have my full attention The high school football season is almost upon us with teams beginning practice this week in the state. That means the Texas staff will be in a full evaluation mode, and out and about seeing juniors play live in September. To wet the 2027 recruiting appetite, here are fourteen prospects in the cycle in the Lone Star State that have my attention headed into the season. Quarterback ... 1. Kavian Bryant, Palestine (Texas) Westwood Texas offer: June 5, 2025 after throwing at camp 2023 stats: 158 of 231 for 2,282 yards and 33 TD's (7 INT's). 78 carries for 812 yards and 9 TD's 2024 stats: 120…

Texas' 3rd Down Pass Rush Taking the Next Step When you have a top-5 defense in the country, not often do you find many areas of true weakness. In fact, many parts of your defense would be considered strengths. Taking a deeper look into third downs and what might the personnel groupings on obvious passing situations might be, I can not help but think the Longhorns' could have one of the best packages for third downs in all of the country. Before getting into reasons why that may be, let's look back at the 3rd down conversion percentages since Pete Kwiatkowski arrived as the Longhorn defensive coordinator. 2021: 42.35% (94th) 2022: 41.31% (88th) …

For those on Twitter you probably have scrolled by some tweets of mine calling for the return of the long ball and explosivity of the Texas offense to rise under Arch Manning. I didn't think siding on the "Texas will be more explosive with Arch Manning" train was such a radical take, yet there was some resistance by folks on the timeline. As a result, I went down a minor rabbit hole to explore the type of ceiling this Texas team could have with Manning as the full time quarterback. *** Texas Had Big Plays in 2024 Yes. Yes they did. I liken the 2024 Texas offense to that of Ichiro back in the 2000s. Ichiro led the MLB in hits seven different seaso…

Where Will the 2025 Offense Stack Up vs. Sark's Best? Building on the conversation yesterday regarding the home run hitting ability of the 2025 offense, I wanted to dive deeper into the overall passing attack under Arch Manning and how it might compare vs. the best Sark offenses of the best. For the most part, those offenses will include the four offenses at Texas, plus his two years at Alabama with Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa. For those who missed the conversation yesterday, give it a read before indulging further in your Wednesday morning hype reading. *** The Deep Ball All in all, the point of yesterday's article, but all in all the expected …

Five players ascending in fall practice To start your Wednesday morning, I'm taking a look at five players that are ascending in fall practice thus far. On a roster as talented as Texas, there are certainly more than five payers ascending to be fair. With that said, these five guys are receiving consistent mention behind the scenes right now. Ty'Anthony Smith ... The sophomore linebacker from Jasper (Texas) High was called a "budding star" by Steve Sarkisian during SEC Media Days, and Sarkisian said Monday that the 6-1, 216-pounder was having a great fall camp. In fact, OTF was told by two sources that Smith was one of the stars of Saturday's scrimmage. One s…

The offensive line is always one of the last things we hear about following a scrimmage. It’s only natural since most folks are focused on the skill positions and following the ball. But I was fortunate to text with someone yesterday. First, the basics: - There were no pre-snap penalties from 1s. There were from other groupings. - The 1s on the OL committed just one penalty, a holding call. - The D may have started out strong, but eventually the OL got some good, solid runs in the Red Zone portion in the second half of practice. - The first unit remains, from left to right, Trevor Goosby, Neto Umeozulu, Cole Hutson, DJ Campbell and Brand…

The opening of Sark’s press availability yesterday was the equivalent of football crack. “Our guys just practiced their asses off. It was awesome. So on to questions…” There literally could be nothing better for a fan to hear a coach say than that. That’s all anyone can ask a team for - their absolute best effort. ** Injury updates: Both Nick Brooks and Nick Townsend returned to practice yesterday and were full go. We all knew that Brooks had gone down on Saturday afternoon, but we were unaware of Townsend. It’s clearly good news for both. Interestingly, those two positions - offensive tackle and tight end - are the only two that ha…

I was invited to attend a basketball beat writer’s roundtable with Texas men’s coach Sean Miller on Wednesday. The on-the-record lasted roughly an hour and covered several topics. In the name of keeping this entry as concise as possible, I’m focusing on the 2025-26 roster, including Miller’s thoughts on transfer portal additions who are new to the Longhorns. — Tramon Mark and center Lassina Traore have been cleared for non-contact activities, but the staff is taking things slow with the two veterans. Mark is recovering from labrum surgery. Miller said the issue bothered Mark late last season, which required a spring surgery. “To be able to welcome him …

Had a conversation this morning with someone in attendance at the scrimmage yesterday. Here’s a few notes from that conversation that I haven’t previously reported: - As Bobby said in his piece this morning, CJ Baxter was back in action. Baxter, along with Tre Wisner and Christian Clark all received an ample amount of work yesterday. - The only turnover I’ve heard of up to this point came on a tipped pass that was from QB Trey Owens. No other INTs or fumbles were mentioned and I’ve asked multiple people. - I’m told the Daylan McCutcheon TD reception I reported on yesterday was a “thing of beauty.” - Safety Derek Williams had a massive hit that ca…

Not the news many want to hear, but In this day and age of recruiting, things can change fast. As of this minute, sources tell OTF that IMG Academy edge Jake Kreul will likely pick Oklahoma over Texas and Ole Miss tomorrow afternoon. The Sooners seem to have prioritized Kreul. Texas already has one of the nation's top defensive ends pledged in Richard Wesley. Where does Texas go from here? Texas definitely wants two defensive ends in this recruiting season. The Horns will likely wait things out until the season gets underway. Then, they will identify and bring a few players in for official visits in-season.

* Sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo returned to practice today. Wingo had been sidelined since last Wednesday after succumbing to dehydration. * As you all know, the team practiced this morning. I'm told they're going through a walk-thru later today as well. It's all football all the time right now for the guys in camp. View full news story