OTF Sideline Debate: If Texas had to pick a sponsor jersey patch, who would you go with and why?

For this week’s OTF Sideline Debate, we asked the staff: If Texas had to pick a sponsor jersey patch, who would you go with and why?

— I spent my first year at Texas in Dobie Dormitory. It was in that same exact dorm where Dell Technologies was born just a couple of years prior. I like and appreciate the university’s relationship with Humann, because it started at UT, for much the same reason. No company is more UT than Dell. Any Texas team should be proud to be associated with it because of what it represents. — Bobby Burton

— The sponsor I could see on the Texas Longhorns’ football jersey is a tough one. It would likely be an extremely successful alumnus, and one of those has already been used by an OTF team member. One could be a big grocery store chain, which has also been used by an OTF team member. So, you get down to whether Texas put a Google or similar type patch on a football jersey? Or could it be a SpaceX or Tesla or something similar? I’m not sure I actually have the answer on this one. I feel like the OTF team has come up with a number of the companies that I would have used for this story. I know which one it won’t be: Double Eagle. — Gerry Hamilton

— The most fantastical pick for this question would be Tesla. In an attempt to complete Tesla’s move from Silicon Valley to the ATX, Elon Musk (the world’s first trillionaire) is ready to invest heavily to rehabilitate, associate and identify his brand with the most recognizable brand in Austin. Tesla is currently Austin’s second highest-ranking Fortune 500 company, behind Dell Technologies, and this would be a great way to let the world know that Tesla is now undeniably a Texas company. Tesla wants to be more mainstream and expand their demo to the American middle class; this move could help them do both. — Rod Babers

— I didn’t want to double up and I also wanted to pick a hypothetical sponsor that was started by Longhorn grads. So, I went with Pluckers, which was unofficially established on the Forty Acres in the early 1990s before the brick-and-mortar store was opened on West Campus in 1995. As someone who grew up in Austin, I never realized how spoiled I was, with dozens of Pluckers locations around me until I moved to DFW and had to make much further drives. Pluckers is already ingrained in the athletic department and supplies fans with handfuls of coupons for five free wings after Texas wins at home. Even though those usually end up in the junk drawer for a few years and are rarely used, it’s a good gesture. Pluckers will often cater junior days and recruiting events. Hank and I have hit the Pluckers on Rio Grande during on-campus events a few times, too. While I don’t think a restaurant will ever be under consideration for a jersey sponsor, a Pluckers one would check two important boxes as an Austin-based restaurant started by Longhorn grads. — Jordan Scruggs

— It would have to be a company that, like the Texas football program, is steeped in tradition, is recognizable to the public and synonymous enough with the Longhorns that such a transition to putting the company’s logo on a jersey wouldn’t look too out of place. AT&T is headquartered in Texas and, for starters, is already a major corporate partner with the university and the athletic department. AT&T was previously sponsored the Red River Shootout and the Longhorns have played in the Cotton Bowl 23 times (more than any bowl game in program history), with three of those appearances coming under companies that are now under the AT&T umbrella (two trips with Southwestern Bell as the title sponsor and one under the SBC banner). While seeing a corporate logo on a Texas football jersey would be a shock to the system, a Fortune 500 sponsor would ease the transition. — Jeff Howe

— Yeti was born in Austin in 2006, built by two brothers who wanted a cooler that could survive a Texas tailgate. Now it’s a billion-dollar brand and the unofficial equipment of every hunter, fisherman, and Friday night (and Saturday) parking lot in the state. Even better: Yeti’s already on the sideline. Those coolers behind the bench? Yeti. The tumblers in every coach’s hand? Yeti. Rugged, premium, homegrown, and burnt orange looks great on that logo. They don’t need Texas football only for exposure. They’d do it because it fits. That’s the sponsor you want. — Marcus Myers

— Lamborghini! Why not? It’s become synonymous with Texas Recruiting already across a couple of sports. Plus, there is something about The University of Texas, the city of Austin and the history of the athletics department that exudes luxury, power and identity. To which Lamborghini does just as well. With one of the most iconic logos in the world, it already looks like a Longhorn if you squint hard enough. The luxury supercar brand would immediately tower over the Lumber Liquidators or Woodside Energy’s of the world and continue Texas’ pursuit of becoming the ultimate ‘it’ school in all of America. — CJ Vogel

— For me, it's H-E-B. I think it's one of very few companies that would limit complaints about having a patch on a Texas jersey at all (for the record, I’m anti-patch on jerseys). Everybody loves H-E-B and H-E-B is a good representation of Texas as a whole. I don't know about adding red to burnt orange, though. — Hank South