Monday: A Texas Takeover

Steve Sarkisian had to be just sitting back and smiling Sunday afternoon, basking in the roar of the football media over his Longhorns.

Just about everyone, everywhere was talking about the performances of Texas football players at the NFL combine.

If it wasn't NFL draft guru Daniel Jeremiah, it was Bo Jackson. If it wasn't Chris Simms, it was Chase Daniels. If it wasn't Rich Eisen, it was Tyreek Hill. Name someone, anyone, that had a microphone or access to social media, and they were gushing a wave of Longhorn love.

This weekend Texas, for the first time in so long, was not merely a participant at the combine. Instead, it was a Texas Takeover.

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While Xavier Worthy stole the show, and literally the all-time combine 40-yard dash record of 4.21 seconds in the process, every other Texas players either improved their stock or held serve at the very least.

Adonai Mitchell checked in north of 200 pounds, taller than 6-foot-2, and ran an official 4.34 40-yard dash, while also having the longest broad jump of any receiver.

Byron Murphy trucked it down the straight-away with a 4.88 40-yard dash at 297 pounds. His running mate, Outland-winner T'Vondre Sweat, moved 366 pounds better than anyone would have thought - finishing with a 5.27 40-yard dash while also looking surprisingly agile in drills.

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But what stuck out to me about this combine was not only how the guys who were being talked about as high draft picks, but also the depth of the Longhorns on display.

Ryan Watts and Christian Jones both helped themselves immensely with their performances, perhaps no one moreso than Watts.

Watts checked in at 6-2 7/8, 208 pounds with a 81-inch wingspan while running a pair of sub-4.55 40-yard dashes. For perspective, Watts' wingspan was longer than any Texas player at the entire combine outside of Jones.

Jones' performance yesterday was overshadowed by Worthy, Mitchell, Murphy and Sweat. But Jones may actually sneak in to the top 100 picks in this year's draft.

Teams love guys who have played a lot of snaps at a high level of competition (3200+ for Jones at Texas), remained healthy throughout their careers and have some position versatility.

I'm told he met with 26 teams over the weekend. That's a healthy number considering teams don't meet with every OL on the board.

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Suffice to say, if the Texas Longhorns weren't on the minds of NFL fans  before this past weekend, they are now.

Texas has arrived in that regard.

Now, it's time for Texas to keep stacking up that talent and continuing to prove it to be a regular occurrence each and every year.

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In case you missed it over the weekend, I broke the news that former Texas assistant director of scouting Bobby Merritt had left late last week to become the new general manager of Rice Football.

That's not the only movement behind the scenes.

I can also report that Tory Tekyl, whose dad Tim is a long-time high school coach in the state of Texas, is expected to return to Texas to work in the athletic department. Tekyl is currently the director of football operations for Stan Drayton at Temple. Tekyl is expected to move into an administrative role focused more on women's athletics.