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Maybe, but there's also a chance that plan C isn't significantly better than the in-house options.

Would’ve won it all in ‘23 if Brooks never got hurt man. So sad.

Regarding the portal, here are a couple of dates to keep in mind: Aug. 24: UT fall semester begins Aug. 24-27: Fall registration for graduate students Aug. 27: Last day for graduate students to add a class Aug. 31: Last day for undergraduate students to add a class

Damn, this sucks

Not and ideal situation for Texas to be in, but if his departure wasn’t a surprise to most than how much does losing him actually matter? Could the coaches already have plan C ready and deployed?

First touchdown of any kind for Brooks since November 11, 2023. Love it.

Just want to reiterate that the "never say never" comment was about potential roster additions in general, not linebacker specifically. I don't envy those who are trying to navigate the portal and trying to make heads or tails of how to proceed with the 2022 guys.

Thank you Jeff

TyAnthony Smith’s departure from the Texas football program didn’t catch Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns by surprise. Nevertheless, there’s never a good time for a starting-caliber player and a college football program to part ways, especially two weeks before the season starts. With Smith out of the picture, there are a few things to consider about where Texas goes from here. — Rasheem Biles was already one of the most indispensable Longhorns on the 2026 squad. While his status doesn’t change in the wake of Smith’s departure, Justin Cryer is suddenly significantly higher on the list of players Texas can least afford to lose. Behind Biles and Cryer, Darius Snow (232 snaps played last season at Michigan State, according to Pro Football Focus) and Markus Boswell (199 snaps at Akron in 2025) are the only experienced scholarship linebackers in Johnny Nansen’s room (Brady Sarkisian has 20 career snaps, according to PFF). Brad Spence has a specific role as the overhang linebacker in Will Muschamp’s defense, but he’s limited as an off-the-ball defender playing in space. Smith’s departure means there’s no margin for error. The Longhorns are one stroke of bad luck away from being in a world of hurt at the second level. — Could Texas go into the transfer portal for help? “Never say never,” is what a source told On Texas Football earlier in the week (the comment was regarding the roster in general, not linebacker specifically). It’s not as simple as targeting an experienced player with the most skins on the wall and putting forth a competitive NIL package to add another body to the room. Even before scouting comes into play, the Longhorns would have to target players who have rock-solid cases for remaining eligible in 2026. The focus would then shift to acclimation on the field (two practices in helmets only, two in shells and then full-pads practices would be green-lit under NCAA rules) and how quickly Muschamp and Nansen could get the new acquisition up to speed. It’s a nuanced process and would be something the staff would have to vet quickly, but searching the portal for linebacker help is a road Texas might travel. — What about converting a player from another position to add depth? Jonathan Cunningham, who has worked with the secondary throughout camp, has spent time at linebacker since getting to campus. Jordon Johnson-Rubell has also been in the linebacker room, giving the coaches two immediate options if adding numbers at the position is a priority. Other than the two defensive backs, there aren’t any slam-dunk options for position conversions. Similar to the portal, an unexpected position conversion would likely focus developing a player who can provide depth late in the season, potentially when it's all hands on deck for a deep run in the College Football Playoff. — The most realistic option Muschamp and Nansen have is to get the three true freshmen (Tyler Atkinson, Rocky Cummings and Kosi Okpala) up to speed and ready for action in a hurry. The Longhorns’ ability to control the two non-Power Four non-conference games against Texas State and UTSA is now paramount for the expedited development of the young linebackers. Those are the only two games on the schedule where the coaches can plan for the three freshmen to play consequential snaps. That will likely only happen if the outcome isn’t in doubt in the second half against the Bobcats and Roadrunners, respectively. Nothing about what the Longhorns are facing is ideal. Although Texas having better front-line players at linebacker or safety is debatable, it's also fair to say the Smith news allowed the former to overtake the latter as the biggest positional question mark on defense in 2026. View full news story

Rubell-Johnson come on down. It is a bit odd that people are seemingly scared of a frosh. Simmons played as a frosh in the SEC. Hill played as a frosh. Littleton played as a frosh. The freshman LBs are not being thrust into starting roles because they have to be.

Guess this was a bit bigger than a culture Wednesday problem huh? I wish him the best as I do any guy that leaves the program 🤘

You’re proving the point in real time. Nobody is saying the “scared of competition” theory was correct. The point is that you didn’t know what was happening either, yet you were lecturing everyone else for speculating and telling them to “let it play out.” Well, it played out. Smith is gone, and you still don’t know why. So “that was never the case” is pretty bold for someone who spent last week reminding everyone that none of us knew the facts.

With the breaking news of Ty'Anthony Smith no longer being apart of the program as of today, what's next for the linebacker depth for Texas? Of course no one knows the true nature of his departure and if there's a possibility of this changing directions. Nevertheless Texas needs to move on and make a new plan for the depth of the linebacker position this coming season. If it were up to me to make a decision I would lean of three ways. 1: The freshman will have more of a true impact ahead of schedule. Of course this would be a difficult task for any of the freshmen linebackers, especially with the schedule Texas has. But with an opportunity like this, there could be more positive than negative for whoever takes on that role. Ty'Anthony was a smaller linebacker but his quickness and steady hands made up for that. Im not too sure if any of the freshman can be as quick and sticky with their hands as fast as Ty'Anthony was, but like I said it would be huge for their development. 2: Brad Spence, Darius Snow, or Markus Boswell step up big. If any of these scenarios were to happen I'd lean on this one. Experience is solely the reason for that statement. Out of every linebacker in that group besides the obvious starters (Biles and Cryer), those three have any amount of game experience on their belt. The question is can either Darius Snow or Markus Boswell make a meaningful impact in SEC play? All in all I'd say Spence is the answer from the bunch. 3: A DB comes down to play LB Of course this would likely not be the case as the season is only fifteen days away, but something really could be made out of nothing here. Whenever I would watch Ty'Anthony play I would always like that he was quicker than the average linebacker, basically saying since he was lighter, he could move quicker than most of the linebacker room. So in my opinion, would bringing a DB down be all that bad in today's game of faster moving offenses and short immediate passes being crucial to most teams game plan? The first defensive back that comes to mind for me, which is probably a hot take, but it's Jonah Williams. Williams has always been a bigger safety, height and weight wise. Of course he's not typical linebacker size (Smith is 6'1, 214lbs), but he fits the mold to cover tight ends and running backs in the flat. He also of course is crazy athletic and in a case like this where a player like Ty'Anthony is no longer on the team, it almost feels like a plug in play type of situation. Of course I'm just a fan speculating what's next for this Team so take everything with a grain of salt. Hopefully the coaches already planned for this and have a quick solution.

Eric Henry at 247 reported that Smith was dismissed from the team.

Hamilton said in the pinned thread he did not make the choice to leave. So yeah he was told.

You have no idea who you are talking to. I was responding to the bozos who were speculating he didn’t want to compete for playing time and was scared of competition. That was never the case.

I’m sure Sark and the staff were wanting him to stay. Losing an experienced player less than 3 weeks from the 1st game on not ideal.

😂 Look at that… straight to changing the subject. Last week: “Lots of assumptions and jumping to unfounded conclusions. How about we let it play out?” Today: Smith is gone. And now suddenly we’re talking Chiefs football. I’ll let you get back to waiting for the next development so you can explain why you knew it all along. He doesn’t predict outcomes, he waits for the outcome, then positions himself on the winning side. Hahaha, hilarious!

I just wonder what the personal issue is that the team is not willing to work it out... Assuming this is not about playtime..

You’re the same person who responded to the following post on Gerrys reporting. You spend the first half of the story telling everyone they’re wrong for speculating, then once the facts come out, you act like you knew all along. Elite hindsight. -Is he about to Cook us? -Rip to our LB depth time to get Atkinson sped up -Depth just got a whole lot worse. -Yikes -I thought I read in the past day or two that he had one of his best practices? -I don’t want to be too quick to judge because I could be completely wrong but could he maybe not be taking the Muschamp harping well? -I’m here for the writing. I stay for the community optimism… -Not good -Not good and I had this in the back of my mind about how he might be feeling. If you deserve to start you should deserve to start. Nothing should be a given. This is why I believe Mack failed so frequently early on. He gave priority to favorites and tenured players. And I say that wishing he'll stay because he has played so well and still has so much upside. -And this is your reply to those post. Assistant- “Lots of assumptions and jumping to unfounded conclusions. How about we let it play out?”

Phogster! Knew we could count on you to be in this thread since it is negative news. You think the Chiefs get that dub against the Bucs tomorrow?

😂😂 This aged beautifully. Last week: “Lots of assumptions and jumping to unfounded conclusions. How about we let it play out?” Now that it played out: “Lol at you people who believed the flu.” You really do have an impressive ability to be 100% confident in whichever position became correct AFTER the information came out. 😂

That was funny. Well played

Sucks to lose him but I wish him well and hope everything turns out ok for him.