One of the key visitors Friday for the Texas Longhorns is OnTexasFootball 4-star defensive lineman Brandon Brown (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie). 

Brown, 6-1.5 and 290 pounds, will fly from Melbourne to Houston Friday morning. He will then make a visit to Texas with members of the California Power 7v7 program before a 7v7 tournament in Houston Saturday afternoon and Sunday. 

The visit news with Brown is not new, but there are key parts of the visit that is news. Brown will be accompanied on the trip by his mother, older sister (senior) and best friend. They will also fly into Houston Friday morning, and drive to Austin with Brandon. It will be the first meeting with the staff and visit to Texas for everyone. 

Brown is building a relationship with defensive line coach Kenny Baker. They have spoken multiple times in the last 2-3 weeks. Steve Sarkisian, Jeff Banks and Tashard Choice stopped by Eau Gallie High in January prior to Baker being cleared to hit the.road and recruit. 

The visit is key, obviously, with USC breathing down the neck of Texas. Along with Tennessee, Florida, Miami and a couple of others. He will visit the top schools on his list in March and April ahead of official visits.

Brown has three June official visits scheduled. He will visit Tennessee June 7-9, Texas June 14-16 and USC June 21-23. 

Pro day will be particularly important to four Longhorns IMO:

1. Quinn Ewers - Quinn is a potential first-round pick this time next year. But it will be the first in-person scouting event of many upper-level executives. How he performs on Wednesday will have a bearing on some thinking heading into next year's draft.

2. Jaylan Ford - the linebacker did not test in Indianapolis. He needs to run sub-4.7 if at all possible.

3. Jordan Whittington - J-Whitt did not test in Indy either. Anything sub-4.5 is good. But if he puts up a low 4.4, the narrative and the attention it brings might shift more in his direction.

4. Keilan Robinson - no player has more questions surrounding his play than Robinson. Is he strictly a special teamer? Or can he give you something down the roster, as either a RB sub or in the slot? He could also improve upon his 4.45, which might make him more attractive.

Finally, we can sideline the hypotheticals and get to the real action on the field. For all of the excitement this offseason has built, there remains plenty of unforeseen turns before the end of the spring and many questions that are atop of the priority list when it comes to finding the true identity of this team.

Practice No. 1 kicks off tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. I will be in attendance for the media availability of the first session. But beforehand, a quick idea of what I will be looking for when it comes to the spring season getting underway.

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1. Can Sydir Mitchell Carry 373 Pounds?

It truly is that simple of a question. This was probably the surprise of the roster update – aside from Savion Red at 240 pounds. Texas is banking on a continuation of elite interior defensive line play as they move into the SEC and Sydir Mitchell was expected to be a large piece of the puzzle here. If he can move well and be an impact guy, this is a moot point, but right now, it remains to be seen just how much he can contribute at that weight.

2. Ryan Wingo in Action

Of course, the talk of the offseason has been the transfer portal additions at the wide receiver spot, but that won't stop me from being excited about the five-star wide receiver. Wingo was a star in San Antonio when I last saw him in person. He has the physical tools, a tremendous frame and speed that Sarkisian covets. Now it is about carving out his own role within the Texas offense.

3. Anthony Hill Jr. + LB2

The expectation coming into spring football is David Gbenda will be the man in the starting 11 for the Longhorns at the MIKE linebacker spot alongside Anthony Hill Jr. We saw the glimpses of Gbenda in 2023 where he made his most significant impact coming downhill in run fits and often as a blitzer chasing after the quarterback. The question is can he be relied upon in the passing game. Will we eventually see Morice Blackwell moved inside? How quickly can Liona Lefau and Derion Gullette make an impact here? And don't forget Alabama transfer Kendrick Blackshire for what he can do in this defensive scheme.

4. All of the EDGE's

Texas has lacked that consistent game changer off of the edge for a couple of seasons under Sarkisian. However, we look at the EDGE room now in 2024 that is a strength on paper. You can expect Barryn Sorrell and Ethan Burke to take steps in their game from a year ago. You add UTSA star transfer Trey Moore and of course five-star Colin Simmons enters the fold as well. But don't sleep on guys like J'Mond Tapp, Billy Walton and Justice Finkley. And it would be found money for the Longhorns to get Colton Vasek completely healthy this spring as well.

5. Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning

I mean it is kind of outrageous that the Heisman frontrunner and the former No. 1 overall player in the country come in at No. 5 on this list am I right? But hey, that just leads to the intrigue of this spring football season. Quinn Ewers physically will look a little stockier than what we saw in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. With the new WR corps, I want to know what the rapport looks like. Of course, with Arch, how is he progressing here as well. Plus, let us see the first couple of practices for early enrollee Trey Owens. A very talented and hyped up QB room for Sarkisian here.

The NCAA Men's Basketball field of 68 has been released and now is your chance to join the On Texas Football bracket challenge!

For the next couple of weeks there will be plenty of banter available surrounding the brackets as the men's tournament takes over the headlines in the sports world. Get ready for some trash talk and plenty of bragging rights as a result of the bracket group.

Join the group here:

https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=240&from=espn&context=GROUP_INVITE&edition=espn-en&groupId=cbd215c3-5539-453f-a93d-eea93a42e5fb

Texas (20-12) was just announced on CBS as the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region. 

The Longhorns will face the winner of Virginia and Colorado State in the  No. 10 seed play in game.

The Round of 64 game will take place Thursday in Charlotte, N.C. 

The winner of the Midwest Region No. 7 vs No. 10 Round of 64 game will face the winner of No. 2 seed Tennessee and No. 15 seed St. Peter’s Saturday. 

The Longhorns advanced to the Elite 8 last year. 

Steve Sarkisian and staff have signed three straight top 5 classes headed into the 2025 cycle.

That string of success means Texas has signed multiple four-star ranked prospects at every position, and top 300 nationally ranked prospects overall at every position. There must also be enough five-star's signed in each class to finish in the top 5. And then there is the national approach. One has to be a national recruiting program to truly register top 5 classes on annual basis because there isn't a program in the country signing all the best out of the home state at this point. 

With the 2024 class about to hit the field for the first time as Texas Longhorns Tuesday, it's time to take a look at Sark's ultimate recruiting class. Included in the list is Xavier Worthy (only 2021 prospect not already committed when Sark was hired), and the classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024. As expected, the 2023 class shows up most on the list. The 2023 class was the highest ranked class. 

This list is not who is starting or playing the most, but the highest ranked prospects Sarkisian and staff have signed since arriving in Austin. 

Quarterback
Arch Manning, New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 5-star

Running back
Cedric Baxter Jr., Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 5-star 

Jerrick Gibson, Gainesville (Fla.) IMG Academy - 2024
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 125 nationally)

Wide receiver 
Johntay Cook II, DeSoto (Texas) High - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 5-star 

Ryan Wingo, Saint Louis (Mo.) University - 2024 
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 40 nationally)

Xavier Worthy, Fresno (Calif.) Central East - 2021
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 75 nationally)

Tight end
Jordan Washington, Houston (Texas) Langham Creek - 2024 
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 300 nationally)

Offensive line
Kelvin Banks LT, Humble (Texas) Summer Creek - 2022
Recruiting ranking: 5-star

Neto Umeozulu, LG, Allen (Texas) High - 2022
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 200 nationally)

Daniel Cruz, C, North Richland Hills (Texas) Richland - 2024 
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 250 nationally)

DJ Campbell, RG, Arlington (Texas) Bowie - 2022
Recruiting ranking: 5-star

Brandon Baker, RT, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei - 2024
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 50 nationally) 

Defensive line 
Sydir Mitchell, Oradell (N.j.) Bergen Catholic - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 200 nationally)

Jaray Bledsoe, Marlin (Texas) High - 2022
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 200 nationally)

EDGE
Colin Simmons, Duncanville (Texas) High - 2024
Recruiting ranking: 5-star 

Colton Vasek, Austin (Texas) Westlake - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 125 nationally)

Linebacker
Anthony Hill, Denton (Texas) Ryan - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 5-star 

Tausili Akana, Kahuku (Hi.) Skyridge High - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 125 nationally) 

Defensive back
Derek Williams Jr., S, New Iberia (La.) Westgate - 2023 
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 50 nationally) 

Xavier Filsaime, S, McKinney (Texas) High - 2024
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 50 nationally)

Kobe Black, CB, Waco (Texas) Connally - 2024
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 50 nationally)

Malik Muhammad, CB, Dallas (Texas) South Oak Cliff - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 50 nationally) 

Athlete
Jelani McDonald, Waco (Texas) Connally - 2023
Recruiting ranking: 4-star (top 100 nationally)

Texas will receive an unofficial visit from 2025 Lake Travis defensive end Gus Cordova for the Texas spring game on April 20.

Cordova has continued to be recruited by the Longhorns since his visit for the junior day in January and told me in February that the staff has continued to be actively pursuing him.

The Lake Travis EDGE also locked in an official visit to USC for June 21-23.

The next couple of months will be loaded with unofficial visits. Cordova told me last month he hoped to get up to as many as nine campuses in the months of March and April. 

With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 and eventually 14 teams, Rod Babers, Bobby Burton and I take a look back at Texas teams of the last 25 years to debate which teams would have made the cut. 

The most fun aspect about recruiting for Texas fans in the Steve Sarkisian era is the national recruiting approach. That national approach bring quite a bit of intrigue in a recruiting cycle, even for those that cover the Longhorns recruiting. That's because Texas is placing boots on the ground in new areas of the country, seemingly in every cycle. That's makes for fun and intrigue with the move to the SEC just months away. 

This morning, I take a look at five recruitments that provide intrigue headed into spring unofficial visits and June official visits. Let me say this, Dakorien Moore is not on this list. He's the prospect Texas fans are salivating about. The potential flip from LSU for a 5-star receiver from Duncanville High could certainly be on the list. He's in a category all his own for the Texas fan base in this cycle. 

Jaime Ffrench, WR, Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin

The Longhorns continue to expand the Sunshine State recruiting footprint. In the 2025 cycle, Texas is all in on one of the top receivers in the country out of Jacksonville. This is not an area Texas has worked much, but absolutely should moving forward as long as the Florida Gators are underachieving. Can Texas beat out Ohio State, Florida State and Miami for Ffrench? Is that truly realistic?  The fact that Texas has two visits scheduled says Sarkisian and Chris Jackson absolutely believe they have a real shot. Ffench will be in Austin for the two biggest recruiting weekends in the 2025 cycle - April 6 and June 21-23. 

LSU is another school in the mix, and especially now after Ffrench made a visit last weekend. 

Dorian Brew, CB, Conroe (Texas) High 

There aren't many recruitments in the state of Texas with both parents of a prospect being Hall of Fame/Honor level athletes at two different out of state universities. That is the case with Dorian Brew. His father starred at LSU (Klein Forest High) before taking home Olympic silver and bronze medals, while his mother is in the Ohio State Hall of Fame for track as well. That alone makes for a recruitment of intrigue, especially with the fact that Ohio State came very close to receiving a public commitment January 24 before Brew backed off that timeline. Ohio State remains very much in the mix, and has the June 21-23 official visit date locked in. LSU is very much in the mix as well with Corey Raymond all in. 

Steve Sarkisian, Terry Joseph, Blake Gideon and the entire defensive staff have left zero doubt with Brew and family how much he is coveted by Texas. The Longhorns are expected to receive an official visit (likely June 14-16). And a spring game visit April 20 is also on the table. 

Josh Petty, OT, Roswell (Ga.) Fellowship Christian School

Steve Sarkisian, Tashard Choice and Kyle Flood have all had multiple conversations with the Peach State athletic tackle and family members. That alone provides intrigue with a OnTexasFootball 4-star prospect that hasn't been talked about much among the Horns fanbase. 

Texas is scheduled to get the 6-5, 275 pound tackle on campus March 22 with his California Power 7v7 team/program teammates. Texas is one of several spring unofficial visits for Petty. He's at Georgia Tech and Georgia this weekend, and was at Clemson earlier in the week. He will be at Auburn March 19 and Florida State March 29. Tennessee is also very much in the mix. His older sister could also decide to attend FSU, Georgia, Tennessee or Clemson. 

The intrigue with Petty's recruitment is within in the family circle. The academics at Texas have the attention of Petty's parents, and both were very excited when Texas offered and visited the school in January. Petty's father spent a number of summers at Big Lake and around San Angelo. He still has family in both places. 

Josiah Sharma, DL, Folsom (Calif.) High

When Johnny Nansen made a trip to Folsom High in January and offered Sharma, he was still a largely unknown prospect nationally. The one-time Washington verbal has since made a visit to Alabama to reconnect with Kalen Deboer and staff. 

In speaking with a source close to the Folsom High program, Texas has continued to be in contact with the 6-5, 300 pound athletic and powerful OnTexasFootball 4-star prospect. The intrigue is when will Sharma first make it to campus? And how much of a role could Sharma and his mother having lived in the Arlington area and still having family in Texas help the cause of the Longhorns?  

Matai Tagoa'i, LB, San Clemente (Calif.) High

A top out of state linebacker target for Johnny Nansen in the 2025 cycle, and another chance to continue to expand the Southern California footprint. The hire of Nansen combined with Steve Sarkisian and Chris Jackson provide a lot of history in Southern California for the Texas staff. Nansen offered the 6-4, 195 pound instinctive and quick reacting linebacker in December of 2022. Texas offered Tagoi'a May 11, 2023. Now the two have combined to give the Longhorns a real shot at the OnTexasFootball 4-star with an official visit scheduled for June 21-23. 

Tagoa'i has official visits scheduled to Washington May 31-June 2, Utah June 14-16 (Same weekend as Josiah Sharma) and Texas June 21-23. 

https://youtu.be/SueM9T9TLI8