Jump to content

  • Texas Longhorns News

    A place for any Longhorn Fan to get the latest news from the On Texas Football team.
    Show all categories
    Jeff Howe
    There’s an argument to be made that the 2000s under Mack Brown, not the 1960s under Darrell Royal, are the best decade in the history of the Texas football program.
    Only Boise State tallied more wins than the Longhorns’ 110 victories from 2000-09 among FBS clubs. Texas only won two conference championships during the decade. But the Longhorns suffered an upset loss in the Big 12 title game in 2001 and were denied rightful entry to the 2008 game (it’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t around or didn’t follow college football at the time that a system of computer rankings rendered Texas’ 45-35 win over Oklahoma in arguably the best in the history of the series moot).
    The Longhorns won at least nine games in each of those 10 seasons, including nine consecutive seasons (2001-09) with at least 10 wins. Texas was a legitimate national championship contender in three of those seasons (2001, 2004 and 2008) and finished no worse than 12th in any final Associated Press Top 25.
    The 2005 national championship team is one of the best in college football history. The argument for Vince Young as the greatest college football player of his era (or any other, for that matter) is strong. Young, Brown, Derrick Johnson and Michael Huff are in the College Football Hall of Fame. The likes of Cedric Benson, Justin Blalock, Quentin Jammer, Casey Hampton, Colt McCoy, Brian Orakpo, Jordan Shipley and Rod Wright helped the program gain and maintain national relevance for those 10 seasons.
    If the 2008 squad had its date with destiny against Florida, or if McCoy played the entirety of the title game against Alabama the following season, a second national championship in the decade might be enough for the 2000s to unseat the 1960s as the golden age of Longhorn football. Still, in this discussion, second place isn’t a bad place to be, if that's where one chooses to rank those 10 seasons.
    ***
    The No. 60 is chock-full of Longhorn legends, especially with Derrick Johnson wearing it in his last game at DKR (a 26-13 win over Texas A&M, which helped secure a Rose Bowl berth against Michigan at the end of the 2004 season).
    With that said, the discussion on the greatest No. 60 in school history starts and stops with Tommy Nobis. Recognizing Nobis on Tuesday, which coincides with the 60-day mark until Texas kicks off the 2026 season, puts into perspective how special the No. 60 has been on the Forty Acres and caps off an incredible run of Longhorn legends who wore a jersey number in the 60s.
    For starters, the 60s are bookended with Nobis and Dan Neil, a College Football Hall of Fame nominee and two-time first-team All-American (1995 and 1996) who wore No. 69 during his four seasons (1992-96), is impressive. What’s even more eye-opening is that if Neil is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (he’s been on the ballot three times, most recently in 2025), he’d be the fourth Longhorn offensive linemen in the Hall of Fame who wore a jersey number in the 60s, joining Bud McFadin (No. 61), Bob McKay (No. 62) and Harley Sewell (No. 66).
    ***
    If you’re trying to assemble the Mount Rushmore of Texas offensive linemen, you could do it entirely of guys who wore jersey numbers from 60 through 69.
    Along with the three College Football Hall of Fame inductees and Neil, Blalock was a two-time All-American who started all 51 games in his Longhorn career. Blalock’s primary competition to be considered the best No. 63 in school history is Mike Williams, a consensus All-American in 2001 (like Doug Dawson was in 1983, when he wore No. 66 and was a captain for a team that came painfully close to winning a national championship) who was the fourth overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft.
    Jake Majors' (No. 65) school record 57 starts over parts of his five seasons (2020-24) could be in jeopardy with five-for-five eligibility looming. Although Majors and Lyle Sendlein (No. 62) wouldn’t be considered for the Mount Rushmore, their names would be up for discussion when picking a center for an all-time Texas offensive line.
    ***
    There was more debate than I anticipated over which all-time No. 64 the OTF community preferred: Casey Hampton (1996-2000) or Kasey Studdard (2002-06)?
    While I’m a Studdard fan then, now and forever, it’s hard to put Hampton’s dominance into its proper context for those who were too young to remember the two-time first-team All-American’s career or didn’t see one of the best defensive line products the state of Texas has ever produced.
    Hampton led the Longhorns in total tackles with 101 in 1999 and 78 in 2000 (tied D.D. Lewis for the team lead), making him the first Texas defensive lineman to lead the team in tackles in consecutive seasons. A nose tackle who was constantly facing double- and triple-teams, Hampton recorded 39 of his 54 career tackles for loss over his last seasons and was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2000.
    The best example of what Hampton meant to the Longhorns (and later the Pittsburgh Steelers, the franchise with which Hampton won two Super Bowls, was named to Pro Bowls and was voted to their all-time team in 2007 after he was picked in the first round of the 2001 draft) came in the wake of a 64-13 loss to Oklahoma in 2000. A flustered Brown told Royal that he felt the team quit in the loss to the Sooners, while singling out how hard Hampton played, Royal let Brown know that his assumption wasn’t correct.
    "Teams don't quit,” Royal said. “Some players may have given up, and it may look like that. But some of your guys may have gone out and played the best games of their careers."
    Jeff Howe
    Darrell Royal, who would’ve celebrated his 102nd birthday on Monday, led Texas through what, to this point, is the golden age of football on the Forty Acres.
    The 1960s were so good to Texas that the Longhorns, not Alabama, should’ve been CBS Sports' pick for college football’s best program during Royal’s first full decade on the job.
    The sport was a different animal when Royal led the Longhorns to an 86-19-3 record, winning the Southwest Conference five times and claiming national championships at the conclusion of undefeated seasons in 1963 and 1969 than it was in the 2000s when Mack Brown won 110 games (the second-most FBS wins in the decade) and a national championship. It’s on a different planet today, with Steve Sarkisian (whose squad kicks off the 2026 season in 60 days) looking to break through after guiding Texas to a 35-8 record during a three-season run that included two trips to the College Football Playoff and a conference title.
    Still, what Royal’s program accomplished during the 1960s goes beyond the record book. That includes a few painfully close calls that would’ve added more hardware to the trophy case had things broken a different way.
    The 1961 Longhorns were ranked No. 1 and in the midst of an undefeated season when a controversial hit on All-American running back Jimmy Saxton in a 6-0 loss to TCU derailed what could’ve easily been a run to Royal’s first national title. Texas settled for a 10-1 record and a No. 3 ranking in the final Associated Press poll, scoring a 12-7 win over Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl. It was one of four seasons during the decade in which the Longhorns recorded a top-five finish without claiming a piece of the national title.
    Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide benefited from the misfortune of Royal’s Texas teams more than anyone, splitting the 1961 national championship with Ohio State and sharing the crown with Arkansas in 1964. Although the Razorbacks snapped the Longhorns’ 15-game winning streak with a 14-13 win in Austin en route to an undefeated season, the AP and UPI ranked Alabama No. 1 at the end of the regular season, making the Crimson Tide national champions.
    Texas made its case to be considered the nation’s best on New Year’s Day, when Tommy Nobis led the defensive charge that denied Alabama’s Joe Namath the end zone on fourth-and-goal late in a 21-17 victory in the Orange Bowl, which was college football's first-ever prime-time telecast. Again, the Longhorns settled for a 10-1 record and a No. 5 final ranking from the AP voters.
    But it’s what Royal and Emory Bellard did in 1968 that makes Texas the team of the decade. Implementing the Wishbone after an underwhelming three-year stretch during the 1965 (6-4), 1966 (7-4) and 1967 (6-4) seasons, the decision to put James Street under center during what would eventually be a 31-22 loss to Texas Tech (and an 0-1-1 start to the 1968 season) kickstarted one of the most memorable runs in college football history.
    Texas went 9-0 with Street in the driver’s seat of the Wishbone, including a 36-13 rout of Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl to finish with a 9-1-1 record and a No. 5 finish in the final AP rankings, the first year in which the poll conducted a vote after bowl games were played (the UPI followed suit in 1974). Ending the decade with 20 consecutive wins (part of a school-record 30-game winning streak), having President Richard Nixon proclaim the Longhorns as national champions after the historic 15-14 win in Fayetteville over No. 2 Arkansas and handing Notre Dame a loss in a Cotton Bowl game that marked the end of the Fighting Irish’s 45-year self-imposed bowl ban should be more than enough for Texas to secure the “Team of the Decade” label.
    The way Bellard and Royal changed offensive football forever with the birth of the Wishbone, however, is what puts the Longhorns over the top as the sport’s top dog in the 1960s. Long after Bryant and Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer adopted the offense to revive their respective programs, Mike Leach and Hal Mumme studied the Wishbone while developing what would eventually become the Air Raid offense.
    "One thing with the Air Raid that's very important is to make sure all the skill positions touch the ball," Leach told ESPN's Jake Trotter in 2018. "In the Wishbone, all the skill positions touch the ball. All the skill positions contribute to the offensive effort. From the Wishbone, we drew the concept of distribution."
    Almost 60 years after the Wishbone took the game by storm, its influence on modern-day football adds further credence to the idea that from the start of Royal's fourth season through the end of his 13th, Austin, Texas, was home to the best program in college football.
    CJ Vogel
    Comparing the USMNT Starting XI to the 2026 Texas Longhorn Roster
    ***
    Ahead of Team USA's knockout round matchup with Belgium this evening, a couple of us thought it would be a fun exercise to compare the starting 11 for USMNT and who their comparisons would be from the 2026 Texas Longhorn roster.
    A few things before we get started. First, I am no soccer expert, so if you follow the team any bit closer than I do and do not agree, cut me a but of slack! Secondly, yes, we are deep deep into the college football offseason when pieces like this are the topic of the day. And lastly, hopefully this was a fun exercise for all.
    By the way, Go USA tonight.
    ***
    Team USA: F Folarin Balogun is WR Cam Coleman
    Balogun is without question the big play finisher for the Americans in this World Cup. Currently he is the only American with multiple goals in the tournament, as he netted his third against Bosnia & Herzogovina in the round of 32. Balogun is a tall, athletic strike who uses his strength and positioning to put the ball in the back of the net. If the ball is centered for Balogun, he is putting it away, just like Coleman is expected to do this fall in the red area.
     
    Team USA: LW Christian Pulisic is Texas QB Arch Manning
    Pulisic might not play in the heart of USMNT's attack, but without question he is the engine that makes the unit work. Pulisic creates the most scoring opportunities for Team USA, and just as Arch Manning was for the Horns in 2025, he is the total heartbeat of the offensive attack.
     
    Team USA: M Weston McKennie is Texas EDGE Colin Simmons
    Motor is the name of the game as a central midfielder and so far, McKennie has been superb. Often being tasked going box to box to shore up the defensive side while being tasked with being a scoring threat on the offensive attack, effort and hustle have to be at 100% at all times and that's where the comparison to Colin Simmons comes in.
     
    Team USA: RW Sergino Dest is Texas RB Raleek Brown
    Perhaps the most fun to watch with the ball on his foot, Dest is known for flair on the right wing. I draw the similarity to Raleek Brown for that exact reason. Brown is one of just 13 running backs from 2025 with 30+ attempts of 10+ yards gained while having over 55 missed tackles forced. With the ball in possession, both are very exciting watches.
     
    Team USA: Midfielder Tyler Adams is Texas LB Rasheem Biles
    When you talk about havoc creation on the defensive side, these two names come up immediately. Biles was a 1st Team All-ACC selection a year ago at Pitt, and found the end zone on three different occasions in 2025. Tyler Adams is the best defensive midfielder for the Americans, often times being the key to counterattacks and defensive stability. 
     
    Team USA: Midfielder Malik Tillman is Texas LB TyAnthony Smith
    A pretty similar story between the two. Tillman was a guy who struggled to see the field early on in his Team USA career, though after earning his role in the rotation, his impact has been undeniable. Tillman scored from a beautiful free kick against Bosnia & Herzegovina in the round of 32, to which I liken Smith's two interception performance against Michigan in the Cheez–It Bowl to wrap up 2025 season.
     
    Team USA: Left Back Antonee Robinson is Texas WR Ryan Wingo
    Speed is the name of the game here. Robinson plays left back, but he is often in the mix on counter attacks or advantage opportunities due to his ability to blaze down the sideline and insert himself into the play. That to me, screams a comparison to Ryan Wingo who made his presence known immediately in games on screens and vertical shots down the sidelines.
     
    Team USA: Center Back Tim Ream is Texas DL Hero Kanu
    Ream is a rock in the middle of the defense for the Americans, and while the comparison isn't apples to apples, I look at Hero Kanu's ability to stymie opposing rushing threats as the closest equivalent to Ream. Ream is the oldest member of Team USA, similarly to Kanu's experience and veteran leadership capabilities on the Texas defense.
     
    Team USA: Center Back Chris Richards is Texas LT Trevor Goosby
    Might be a bit of a stretch to compare a left tackle to a center back, but Goosby is nails when it comes to shutting down opposing pass rushing threats, similarly to Richards who has become a star for the Americans shutting down opposing runs at goal. Richards is very physical in the box, and beyond anything, has become ultra-reliable. He has completed 95% of passes through three starts so far in the World Cup – that looks like Trevor Goosby's win rate to me.
     
    Team USA: Right Back Alex Freeman is Texas CB Kade Phillips
    Freeman is relatively young for the American starting 11, similarly to Kade Phillips at cornerback this year. Freeman makes plays for the Americans, he has a goal and an assist so far in four games, to which I liken Phillips' ability to play the ball in the air. In limited time last year, Phillips ended tied for the most pass breakups of any Texas defender. Things just happen when the are on the field, and more times than not they work out in a positive manner. 
     
    Team USA: Goalkeeper Matt Freese is Texas DB Jelani McDonald
    Freese is the eyes and mouthpiece for the entire USMNT defense. He sees everything, he aligns everyone in front of him and of course, he is the last line of defense. That is Jelani McDonald for the Longhorns. Both have the mentality of claiming the ball when it is up in the air around them and aren't afraid to get physical in the process.
    Jeff Howe
    Even though a lot has changed since Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Flood got to Alabama in 2019 and started evaluating, recruiting and developing offensive linemen in college football together, Ismael Camra will get them back to their roots.
    The 6-foot-6-inch, 335-pound Gilmer product’s Fourth of July commitment to Texas is the Longhorns' biggest, most highly-touted member of a five-man offensive line class. Look no further than Sarkisian’s celebratory social media message as confirmation that even though the staff isn’t married to the acquisition philosophy that bigger is always better, they’ll make an exception for a prospect with Camara’s upside.
    There are a few approaches Texas could take regarding Camara’s developmental track. Which one might depend on the makeup of the offensive line in 2027, specifically whether right guard Brandon Baker and right tackle Melvin Siani return.
    If Baker has the kind of season in which he’d be wise to strike while the iron is hot regarding the NFL draft, Camara could have a clearer path to the field at guard. Likewise, Siani’s departure (along with the expected exit of probable 2027 first-round pick Trevor Goosby), would likely push Camara to tackle (unless Baker were to come back for his senior season and kick back outside to tackle), where he’d compete with the likes of Andre Cojoe, Jordan Coleman, Jonte Newman, John Turntine III and fellow 2027 signee Brian Swanson (along with a potential plug-and-play transfer portal addition) for two open tackle spots.
    Regardless, how Sarkisian and Flood brought Evan Neal along under Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa might be the blueprint for how to maximize Camara’s development.
    With Jedrick Wills and Alex Leatherwood occupying the tackle spots for the Crimson Tide in 2019, Sarkisian and Flood put Neal into the starting lineup as a true freshman at left guard. When Wills left for the NFL, Neal moved to right tackle for Alabama’s 2020 national championship club, which was spearheaded by Sarkisian’s historic offense.
    Neal, who moved to left tackle when Flood followed Sarkisian to Texas, was the seventh overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. While Neal’s outcome is a best-case scenario for Camara, what matters is that there’s proof of concept if the Longhorns want to let Camara adjust to the speed of the game and the physicality at guard before sliding him out to tackle.
    There was a time when an offensive lineman choosing Texas meant rolling the dice on their football career. Over 12 recruiting classes (2003-14) and 43 total signees (41 high school prospects and two junior college transfers), the Longhorns failed to develop a single NFL draft pick. Things started to shift ever-so-slightly in the last decade, thanks to Connor Williams (2015) and Samuel Cosmi (2017). Still, the long-awaited developmental boon has come under Sarkisian and Flood, with five recruiting classes (2018-22) in which the signees spent the majority of their time on campus under the current regime have produced five draft picks, including three from the 2022 haul (Kelvin Banks Jr., DJ Campbell and Cameron Williams).
    Whether it was how they brought along Neal and the other Crimson Tide players they coached, or what they've done with prospects they've inherited or recruited to Texas on their own, Sarkisian and Flood know what to do to get the most out of Camara. A big human with big-time potential, Camara should feel as though his bright football future is in good hands.
    Jeff Howe
    Calvin Anderson doesn’t get enough credit for what he did during his lone season in a Texas uniform. A transfer from Rice who started each of the Longhorns’ 14 games during a 10-win season in 2018, Anderson brought stability to a Texas offensive line that, at the time, was in desperate need of a consistent, stabilizing force.
    When Connor Williams went down with a knee injury in the third game of the 2017 season, the Longhorns couldn’t find an adequate replacement. Denzel Okafor (four starts) and Tristan Nickelson (two starts) started the six full games Williams missed, and Elijah Rodriguez started the Texas Bowl win over Missouri after Williams (who returned to the field for a win over West Virginia and a loss to Texas Tech) opted out of the postseason.
    Texas utilized nine different starting offensive line combinations in Tom Herman’s first season. That changed in 2018, with Samuel Cosmi replacing Derek Kerstetter at right tackle after a season-opening loss to Maryland and Rodriguez starting four games in place of an injured Zack Shackelford, accounting for the only lineup changes Herman, Tim Beck and Herb Hand had to make that season.
    An honorable mention All-Big 12 selection, Anderson not only provided steady blind-side protection during Sam Ehlinger’s first full season as QB1 (26 pressures allowed in 14 games after the program’s left tackles allowed 41 pressures in 13 games in 2017, according to Pro Football Focus), but his arrival also afforded the staff the luxury of letting Cosmi develop.
    Cosmi didn’t have to bear the weight of expectations that would’ve come with taking over for Williams (an All-American in 2016 and a 2018 second-round draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys). Instead, Cosmi continued to move along the developmental track he established while redshirting in 2017. After a USA Today Freshman All-American season in 2018, Cosmi became a two-time All-Big 12 selection, starting 34 games before Washington took him in the second round of the 2021 draft (he’s entering the third year of a four-year, $74 million extension he signed with the team in 2024).
    Texas went a decade without producing an NFL draft pick at left tackle, with Williams becoming the first since Tony Hills was picked in the fourth round of the 2008 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Anderson wasn’t drafted, but he was the bridge between Williams and Cosmi, who has started a run of Longhorn left tackles becoming NFL draft picks, with Trevor Goosby expected to follow Kelvin Banks Jr. as a first-round pick in 2027 (Christian Jones, who was the team’s left tackle in 2021, developed into an NFL draft pick after moving to right tackle when Banks got to campus in 2022).
    Anderson persevered after going undrafted in 2019, including continuing his career after overcoming malaria in 2023. Anderson played 59 games over parts of seven seasons with four different franchises, logging 14 starts along the way.
    Although he wasn’t on the Forty Acres for an extended stay, Anderson played a pivotal role in reversing the unsavory offensive line trend the program was mired in before he showed up.
    ***
    Could Laurence Seymore be to the 2026 offensive line what Anderson was to the 2018 unit?
    Like Anderson, Seymore is transferring to Texas from a member of Conference USA (Western Kentucky), a level at which he played well enough to be named a second-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America in 2025. And, like Anderson, Seymore will only be at Texas for one season.
    Seymore doesn’t need to be the 1996 version of Dan Neil to be an asset to the Longhorns. If he can follow Anderson’s lead and be a steady, reliable performer, he’ll go a long way toward solidifying a position at left guard that took entirely too long to get settled.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.