***

December is for decisions. 

That article was written last week. While little has changed since then, I wanted to provide a Sunday update with another round of decisions and announcements expected in the coming week.

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NFL Decisions

A couple of Longhorns we are monitoring who will have NFL decisions to make.

• RB Tre Wisner

I have heard both ways for Wisner – pro or returning to Austin. I ever so slightly believe Wisner will return, but we will have to wait for a formal announcement.

• WR DeAndre Moore

It is either the NFL Draft or the transfer portal for DeAndre Moore based off of everything I have gathered over the last month. Right now, the NFL is the likely destination.

• LT Trevor Goosby

Our @Gerry Hamilton had a great update on Goosby late last week, and I have no reason to think differently. 

• C Connor Robertson

Not as much of a true NFL decision, but one will need to be made for Texas and Robertson. I think Texas would like have Robertson back for 2026, but as of now I can't handicap the likelihood of that possibility.

• DL Hero Kanu

A very under the radar decision that could end up having massive implications for the construction and performance of the 2026 roster. With where things sit currently, I would have Kanu returning at a 70–30 clip.

• DB Jelani McDonald

The belief around McDonald's camp is that a strong 2026 season could leave him in a position to be selected in the top 50 of the 2027 NFL Draft. I feel very confident about McDonald returning for next fall as of typing this.

• CB Malik Muhammad

The pros are calling Muhammad's name! The South Oak Cliff product will successfully depart as a 3-and-done player at Texas.

***

Staff Decisions

Steve Sarkisian has already made a move at one position coach spot, with the quick hiring of Jabbar Juluke out of Florida.

That will not be the final coaching change. In fact, I believe a couple of changes are still to come, though the timing of those changes or movements will come following the bowl game against Michigan.

Upon the release of the committee’s penultimate rankings on Tuesday, the path to a third consecutive trip to the CFP for No. 13 Texas is, for all intents and purposes, a dead end. To get into the 12-team field, the Longhorns need Texas Tech to win the Big 12, Georgia to notch a landslide revenge victory over Alabama in the SEC title game and then hope the committee values the body of work Texas has put together throughout one of the toughest 12-game schedules any Power Four team had to navigate (LSU is the only bowl-eligible team ranked above the Longhorns in ESPN’s strength of schedule metric, which says Steve Sarkisian’s team played the eighth-toughest schedule in the country).

That’s unlikely to happen because the committee, based on what committee chair Hunter Yurachek said on Tuesday’s post-reveal conference call with reporters, believes Texas’ 29-21 road loss to Florida on Oct. 4 is too big a blemish to overlook.

“You’re spot on,” the Arkansas athletic director said when he was asked if the loss to the Gators is “the thing hurting Texas the most.”

“The committee has a great deal of respect for Texas and they've played an incredible schedule,” he added. “They've got four teams they played in our top 10. They beat OU on a neutral field. They just beat Texas A&M at home this past weekend. They lost to No. 1, Ohio State, and lost to No. 3, Georgia.

“But one key stat this week in the teams ranked in our top 15, there's 17 total losses for those teams. Sixteen of those losses came against teams that are currently ranked or have been ranked in our top 25 this year. The only loss to an unranked team was Texas' loss to Florida at Florida, and really Florida dominated that game — held Texas to 50 yards rushing, two interceptions. So, it's not that Texas played Ohio State. It is Texas' loss to Florida that's holding them back now.”

We don’t need to read the tea leaves when the committee is shoving them down our throats. When it comes to Texas, the committee has decided that an objectively bad loss supercedes three wins over teams currently ranked in the committee’s top 15.

That would be understandable had Yurachek’s words and the committee's actions done anything other than validate Feldman’s rant. The committee ranks teams as it wants, then works backward to make it make sense.

How is Texas dinged for the Florida loss, but Alabama’s two-touchdown loss to a Florida State team that finished 5-7 after getting blown out by the Gators last Saturday doesn’t matter?

Head-to-head results appear to matter for Oklahoma and Alabama (No. 8 and No. 9, respectively) and Texas and Vanderbilt (the Longhorns passed the 10-2 Commodores in the rankings). That's the case for No. 12 Miami, which opened the season with a win over No. 10 Notre Dame.

Two weeks ago, Yuracheck said Oregon was still getting credit for a road win over Penn State. The same appears to apply to Oklahoma's road win over Tennessee and road wins over Missouri for Alabama and Texas A&M, the Aggies going into Baton Rouge and manhandling LSU and the Crimson Tide's Iron Bowl win over Auburn.

Still, Yuracheck said on Tuesday that Vanderbilt lacks a signature win because LSU, Missouri and Tennessee aren’t currently ranked by the committee, even though Josh Heupel’s team fell out of the rankings after the Commodores’ 45-24 rout of the Volunteers in Neyland Stadium.

The CFP selection process isn’t broken. It would’ve needed to be a well-oiled machine first, which was never the case. And although no system will ever be perfect, a transparent process that leaves more questions than answers isn't working.

Bill Hancock was the executive director of the CFP from its inception through last season, when he helped Rich Clark transition into the role. In 2023, when a late-season injury to quarterback Jordan Travis put Florida State’s CFP hopes in doubt, Hancock clarified the selection committee’s criteria for setting the then-four-team field.

“It is ‘best,’” Hancock said. “‘Most deserving’ is not anything in the committee's lexicon. They are to rank the best teams in order, and that's what they do. Just keep that word in mind, ‘best’ teams.”

Therein lies the problem.

Three wins over Associated Press top-five opponents and nine wins against one of the toughest schedules in the country should be a strong enough résumé for the Longhorns to be considered one of the seven best at-large teams. The committee clinging to the Florida loss to justify why Texas should be on the outside looking in is a prime example of how the selection process doesn't end with a bracket of the best teams.

Don’t say you’re picking the best teams when Miami’s head-to-head win over Notre Dame, as of now, doesn’t matter.

Don’t say you’re picking the best teams when Texas and Vanderbilt, both of whom went 6-2 in the toughest conference in the country, are likely headed to meaningless bowl games. At the same time, Sun Belt favorite James Madison and the winner of the AAC title game between North Texas and Tulane could be among the 12 teams left standing for a chance to win the national championship. Everyone loves the Cinderella story, but how (aside from the money that would go to the AAC and Sun Belt, respectively) is college football better for Group of Five teams getting sacrificed to a legit title contender from the Power Four?

Don’t say you’re picking the best teams when the Longhorns, who played a tougher schedule than any of the other current CFP candidates, appear to be disqualified from consideration solely based on accruing three losses.

Until the goalposts stop moving or the moment comes when the Big Ten and the SEC decide, by force, to dictate the terms of the CFP to the rest of college football (like it or not, it’s coming), we won’t get a field of the best teams deciding a national champion. We'll get whatever the committee decides it wants, criteria or guidelines be dammed.

A fourth flip in the last week goes the way of the Texas Longhorns!

This time, it is Temple EDGE/DL Jamarion Carlton, who had committed to Baylor over the summer.

The Longhorns had hosted Carlton on campus three different times in the last month and sure enough, those efforts were enough to flip the 6-foot-5inch defensive lineman to the Horns.

Carlton was heavily recruited by LaAllen Clark in the spring, got on campus for an official visit and after a brief stint being committed to Baylor, he ends up joining the Texas class.

Big time addition for the Horns on the defensive side of the ball here.

Over the final two quarters of a 27-17 win, Sarkisian schemed up ways to move the football on the ground, Arch Manning kept extending plays with legs and the defense ended the Aggie offense’s last two possessions by intercepting Marcel Reed. The Longhorns dominated their counterparts from College Station, picking up a win that Sarkisian and the program desperately needed.

Texas (9-3, 6-2 SEC) is the first team since LSU in 2019 to win three regular-season games against top-10 teams in the Associated Press Top 25. Two of those wins came over Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1) and Oklahoma, moving the Longhorns to 6-0 against their three rivals (the Aggies, the Sooners and Arkansas) since joining the SEC.

Sarkisian has his third career win over a top-five opponent and his second (2-7) at Texas. Sarkisian’s second consecutive double-digit win over the Aggies marked Mike Elko’s first loss when his team entered halftime with a lead (was previously 15-0).

Most importantly, the Longhorns left the College Football Playoff selection committee with an emphatic closing argument for why they’re worthy of a third consecutive CFP bid.

Texas dominated Texas A&M on the scoreboard (24-7), on the ground (157-74), on offense (285-160 edge in total yards gained) and in the turnover battle (2-0) en route to keeping the Aggies from reaching the SEC Championship Game for the second year in a row.

Friday’s win wasn’t a fluke. Texas suffocated Texas A&M over the last 30 minutes of regulation, looking like the team everyone in the country expected to see from the jump in 2025.

The Longhorns can’t do anything except wait for the selection committee’s final verdict next Sunday. Regardless, an unforgettable second-half effort has them in the mix with the regular season in the books.

***

Sarkisian’s play-calling and game management changed after a forgettable end to the first half.

He put the game in Quintrevion Wisner’s hands and the junior delivered with 155 yards on 19 carries. Wisner’s 48-yard burst over the left side of the line on the offense’s first snap of the third quarter set the tone for the second half.

Texas didn’t overpower the Aggies up front. Instead, the Longhorns used Texas A&M’s aggression and tendency to attack the line of scrimmage to their advantage, utilizing a mix of misdirection runs and pull schemes.

The approach allowed Wisner and Manning (53 yards and a touchdown on seven official attempts) to exploit gaping holes at the line of scrimmage. 

The best example of how potent the Longhorn rushing attack was on Friday was the explosive runs. Texas, which entered the game with 14 10-plus-yard runs in SEC play, had nine against Texas A&M, including six in the second half.

***

Whether it was run blocking or pass protection, Friday’s second half might’ve been the best job Sarkisian has done this season of helping the offensive line and not asking Kyle Flood’s group to do things it couldn’t pull off. Manning's 35-yard touchdown run up the gut with 7:04 left in the game closed out the scoring and answered a 6-play, 59-yard touchdown drive by the Aggies.

Manning (14-for-29, 179 yards and a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo) had times where he had to work around pressure from an A&M defense that finished the game with two sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Still, Texas wouldn’t have won the game without the offensive line (led by DJ Campbell and Cole Hutson, who took the field at DKR for the last time) winning their battle against one of the most productive defensive fronts in the country.

***

Similar to how Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski won their chess match against Brent Venables and the Oklahoma staff in October, the Longhorn coaches got the best of Elko and Collin Klein on Friday.

Elko’s defense surrendered 218 rushing yards (the most by Texas against a Power Four opponent this season) to an offense that came into Friday's game averaging 75.3 rushing yards per game in SEC play. Along with leaning on the ground attack, Sarkisian called a tendency-breaking jet sweep for Nick Townsend on the goal line, resulting in a 3-yard touchdown run (after Manning and Jack Endries connected for a 54-yard gain) to highlight how his staff befuddled the Aggies after halftime.

The Longhorns won the explosive play battle (13-9) thanks in part to Kwiatkowski’s defense, which held Texas A&M to 17 points on five red-zone possessions. Texas also limited the Aggies to season lows in yards per play (4.6) and rushing yards (157) and total offense (337 yards). After allowing a late first-half touchdown on a short field, the Longhorns held the Aggies to 44 net yards on 15 plays (2.9 yards per play) and one first down while forcing four punts (three three-and-outs) on Texas A&M’s first four possessions of the second half to help the Longhorns pull ahead for good.

***

One of the most raucous home crowds for a Texas football game helped the defense during the unit’s stretch of dominance.

Two false starts on fourth-and-1 forced two of the Aggies’ four consecutive punts in the second half. In a game pitting two of the nation’s most penalized teams against each other, the DKR crowd played a big role in the Longhorns winning the penalty battle (seven accepted penalties to Texas A&M’s eight) for just the third time this season (also had fewer penalties than Oklahoma and Arkansas in those rivalry wins).

***

Instead of trying to digest the merits of a nine-win regular season in the face of national championship expectations, I’d encourage Longhorn fans to savor the flavor of their team notching a well-earned victory over the Aggies.

It’s been a tough year at times and nobody knows what's next for Texas. Nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with celebrating the Longhorns ending the regular season with nine wins, an undefeated home record and a résumé worthy of a trip to the CFP is nothing to belittle.

***

Bang!

Two days, two commits for the Texas Longhorns, both of which coming out of Georgetown High!

Kaden Scherer becomes the latest to join the Texas 2026 class and it comes on the heels of an official visit over the weekend with the Horns.

Scherer, a 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive line, said he grew up rooting and watching the Longhorns as a kid in Georgetown and when the offer came in, it was a very big deal for him.

Texas adds another offensive lineman to the class. Scherer told me last week Texas was pitching both tackle and guard to him, wanting to see how he would develop and progress physically.

The career-high 389 yards Manning threw for and six touchdowns he accounted for (he and Bobby Layne as the only quarterbacks in school history to throw for, rush for and catch a touchdown in a single game) in Saturday’s 52-37 win over Arkansas earned him a Manning Award Star of the Week nod, a spot on the Davey O’Brien Award’s “Great 8” list and recognition as the Associated Press National Player of the Week. Manning’s historic afternoon made him the first Texas (8-3, 5-2 SEC) quarterback to record three 300-yard passing games in a four-game stretch since Colt McCoy in 2009, one in which Manning (against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Arkansas) has accounted for 14 touchdowns (11 passing, two rushing and one receiving).

Doing his part to keep the Longhorns in the hunt for a third consecutive berth in the College Football Playoff over the team’s last four games, Manning is completing 65.1 percent of his passes (99 for 152). He's thrown for 1,314 yards and just two interceptions heading into Friday’s showdown with the Aggies at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

The game has slowed down for Manning and, as a result, he’s thriving, Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. While praising Manning’s continued growth as a progression passer and decision maker, Sarkisian said that how the redshirt sophomore quarterback overcame his early-season struggles has led to Manning’s play becoming, arguably, the biggest strength of a Texas team standing between Texas A&M (11-0, 7-0) and its first-ever trip to the SEC title game.

“I don't know if any college player has gone through what he went through before he even was the full-time starter,” Sarkisian said. “Part of that is his last name, part of it is our brand. I think those two things coming together made this such a big storyline before the season, but none of it was anything due to what Arch was doing. He just kept focusing on what he needed and tried to do. I'm sure there were moments when it was a lot — maybe, even overwhelming — but, to his credit, the guy showed so much resolve and resiliency and stick-to-itiveness to the task at hand. It wasn't a perfect journey to get to this point, but sometimes, it's good not to have a perfect journey. Sometimes, taking a road less traveled is good for you.

"I said this earlier in the year — he was going to benefit from the journey that he had to go on and that he could learn how to overcome some of the adversity that he was faced with and some of the criticism he was faced with," he added. "I think he's better and stronger for it today and I'm really proud of him.”

On second-and-2 from the Razorbacks’ 44-yard line, Maraad Watson forced Mike Washington Jr. to bounce a run outside, where Colin Simmons and Malik Muhammad finished him off for a 1-yard loss. One play later, Jelani McDonald was in the right place at the right time, intercepting Taylen Green’s inexplicable decision to push the ball off his chest and into open space as the walls were closing in on him on third-and-3.

On the Longhorns' ensuing possession, Quintrevion Wisner got away from a defender near the line of scrimmage and weaved his way to a 4-yard gain on third-and-3. On third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, Arch Manning came through with arguably the biggest highlight from the most productive outing of his career, spinning out of pressure and threading the needle between two defenders on a throw against the grain to DeAndre Moore Jr. (74 yards on three receptions, all of which were touchdowns) in the back of the end zone.

Those four plays went a long way toward helping No. 17 Texas (8-3, 5-2 SEC) turn a shootout with Arkansas (2-9, 0-7) into a blowout victory. A team that’s found it hard to put together sequences of ideal complementary football this season did so, putting a frustratingly erratic first half in the rearview mirror.

***

While accounting for six touchdowns, one of which featured him being on the receiving end of a 4-yard touchdown pass by Parker Livingstone (two catches for 104 yards and a touchdown), Manning was magnificent.

Manning and Steve Sarkisian attacked a porous Razorback secondary, successfully hunting explosive plays. The Longhorns came into the day with 19 pass completions of 30 or more yards in their first 10 games; Manning connected with four different receivers on five 30-plus-yard completions en route to a career-high 389 yards on an 18-for-30 effort.

Manning's play is elevating the offense and lifting those around him. Although he’s still dealing with dirty pockets and too many dropped passes, the game is slowing down for Manning as he turns the page and begins preparing to face Mike Elko’s Texas A&M defense next Friday in the regular-season finale.

***

The Arkansas offense is one of the most explosive in the country. Still, the Texas defense surrendering 37 points, 512 total yards and 324 yards through the air (the third time in the last four games an opponent has thrown for 300 or more yards against the Longhorns) is gross and doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in next week’s showdown with the Aggies’ potent attack.

To the defense’s credit, the Razorbacks averaged 2.2 yards per rushing attempt in the second half (31 net yards on 14 carries) after gashing Texas for 157 (9.2 yards per carry) in the first half. After three runs from scrimmage of at least 20 yards in the first half, Arkansas didn’t notch an explosive run after halftime until a 12-yard scramble by KJ Jackson reached the end zone in the fourth quarter.

Regardless, the concern coming out of the game for Pete Kwiatkowski’s group is two-fold.

For starters, the Razorbacks shredded Texas in the middle of the field, specifically with their tight ends (Rohan Jones and Jaden Platt combined for 148 yards and a touchdown on nine catches). On top of the defense’s lingering coverage issues, Anthony Hill Jr.’s health and Ty’Anthony Smith’s third-quarter ejection for targeting made the Longhorns a less versatile, less athletic group that was easier to attack at the second level.

The availability of the Kwiatkowski's linebackers is arguably the most significant storyline heading into the Texas A&M game.

***

Even with Wisner (67 yards on 15 carries) looking strong at times in the second half, Texas became the first FBS defense to rush for less than 100 yards against Arkansas this season (97 net yards on 28 carries). Still, Wisner and CJ Baxter Jr. (24 yards on seven carries), combining for 91 yards on 22 carries, is what the offense needs from the running backs to achieve balance and relieve pressure on Manning, which hasn’t happened often enough this season.

***

Kade Phillips and Graceson Littleton combined for five of the defense’s seven pass breakups. The snaps those two continue to log will set the tone for the 2026 season, one in which the Longhorns need playmakers to emerge on the back end.

***

Overall, a 15-point win over the worst team was a microcosm of the 2025 season for the Longhorns.

The game started with the offense on fire and the defense on its heels. When the defense settled in, the offense got stagnant.

From the closing minutes of the first half to the 11:30 mark of the fourth quarter (Liona Lefau's 52-yard fumble return for a touchdown off a strip sack by Simmons put Texas up by 29 points, 52-23), however, Sarkisian's club did what it had to, on both sides of the ball, to bury an inferior opponent.

The defense allowed two late scoring drives, dampening a performance in which the unit shook off a forgettable start.

Texas needed every one of the 490 total yards (8.3 yards per play) the offense racked up to put away the Razorbacks. The offense ran roughshod in the third quarter, scoring 21 points and averaging 10.9 yards per play.

The first three quarters of the Vanderbilt game were likely this team at its peak. Nevertheless, the stretches when the Longhorns are clicking on cylinders are why the burnt orange faithful can hang onto hope of Texas ending the regular season with a bang by spoiling the Aggies' perfect season.

Friday’s SEC student-athlete availability report downgraded Hill from questionable to doubtful for the game. Issued 90 minutes before kickoff, the pregame availability report confirmed that the Longhorns will have to take on the Razorbacks without Hill, who suffered a hand injury in last Saturday’s 35-10 road loss to Georgia.

Hill is the leading tackler (69 total tackles) for Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC). He has recorded seven tackles for loss, four sacks and two interceptions as a junior.

Hill’s absence adds a degree of difficulty to the Longhorns’ challenge slowing down an explosive Arkansas (2-8, 0-6) offense. The Razorbacks are fifth nationally in yards per play (7.22), 13th in total offense (470 yards per game) and trail only Ole Miss for the FBS lead in plays from scrimmage that have gained 10 or more yards (183).

There were no Texas players listed on the pregame availability report other than Hill.

Wide receiver Ryan Wingo, who has been dealing with a thumb injury since the team's 34-31 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 1, wasn't listed on Saturday's availability report. Wingo, who leads the Longhorns in receptions (40), yards receiving (655) and touchdown receptions (six), was listed as probable on Wednesday and Thursday before he was removed from the availability report on Friday.

The good news for the Longhorns is that wide receiver Ryan Wingo, who has been dealing with a thumb injury he sustained in the team’s 34-31 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 1, was off the report. He was listed as probable on Wednesday and Thursday.

The bad news, however, is that Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) could have to face an explosive Razorback offense without one of the top defensive players in the country if Hill can’t go. Steve Sarkisian said on Thursday that Hill had been limited in practice after suffering a hand injury in last Saturday's 35-10 road loss to Georgia.

"We're kind of taking this day-by-day with him to see kinda how he feels towards the end of the week," Sarkisian said. "The beauty of it for Ant — he's played so much football for us that you can get a lot of reps done throughout a walkthrough to see if he's healthy enough to go. The walkthrough reps, I think, can carry over into a ballgame."

In wins over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, along with last Saturday’s loss to Georgia, No. 17 Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) has surrendered 28 completions of 15 or more yards, five of which have gone for more than 30 yards. The Longhorns only allowed 27 explosive pass completions through the first six games of the season, with the number of 30-plus-yard pass plays by their last three opponents matching the output of their first six.

“We have got to get that number back down,” Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. “Explosive passes don't always occur when they throw it over your head. Now, we've got a couple of those, but to me, it's more about our ability to get people on the ground when they get completions. When you start talking about playing in space, you start talking about leveraging [the football] when you're tackling, when you start talking about populating the ball, when you start talking about using proper angles when you have a second tackler to force the cutback or using the sidelines, those are things that we've got to improve upon.”

It will be easier said than done to clean things up against an Arkansas offense that enters Saturday’s game (2:30 p.m., ABC) with the fourth-most pass completions of 20 or more yards (42) and 30-plus yards (19) in the SEC. Still, a defense that’s tied for the fewest pass breakups (17) in the SEC during conference play must be around the football more often to maximize the impact of a pass rush that’s one of the best in the country.

Texas averages 3.6 sacks per game, which is No. 3 nationally. The Longhorns boast Pro Football Focus’ fourth-highest-graded FBS pass rush and, according to CollegeFootballData.com, are No. 9 in the country in front-seven havoc rate (a per-snap percentage of a defense’s tackles for loss, sacks, pass breakups, interceptions and forced fumbles recorded by front-seven defenders).

Whatever was tweaked behind the scenes heading into the penultimate game of the regular season must result in better synergy between the pressure and coverage elements of the Texas defense for the Longhorns to keep one of the nation’s most explosive offenses from running up and down the field.

***

Especially if Anthony Hill Jr.'s hand injury limits him or forces him to miss the game with the Razorbacks, the conundrum Kwiatkowski faces is not having the luxury of utilizing additional resources to defend the Arkansas (2-8, 0-6) passing game.

While Bobby Petrino’s offense is sixth in the country in rushing yards per attempt (5.89) and 19th in rushing yards per game (205.4), the metric that shows where Texas will be challenged is line yards per carry, which calculates the amount of rushing yardage attributed to the offensive line using weighted percentages. The Razorbacks lead the SEC and rank sixth in the FBS with an average of 3.468 line yards per carry, meaning the Longhorns can’t count on defending the run with a light box against one of the nation’s most efficient and impactful run-blocking offensive lines.

***

Furthermore, Hill’s availability could significantly impact how Texas defends Taylen Green.

Green’s season-long PFF grade as a runner is 92.3, the highest among FBS quarterbacks, a category in which he ranks fourth in rushing yards gained (911) and sixth in yards after contact (473). Green is tied for 12th among FBS quarterbacks in missed tackles forced (26) while leading the country in gains from scrimmage of 10 or more yards (38) and ranking second in yards gained on scrambles (431).

Green’s yardage gained is split almost evenly between scrambles and designed runs (480 yards, which ranks 11th among FBS quarterbacks). Petrino incorporated a slew of quarterback runs within a traditional pro-style offense when he coached Lamar Jackson to a Heisman Trophy-winning season at Louisville in 2016, something he continues to do.

“He's doing the same thing with Green,” Sarkisian said on Thursday. “You talk about a coach's versatility and [being] willing to evolve, I give him a ton of credit on that because he was not stuck in his ways.

“He forces you to defend a lot of different things.”