And for you all on this beautiful Tuesday afternoon, I have ventured back into a rabbit hole of recruiting.

We have talked about the national approach we have seen Texas take in year's past, especially with the current staff. It will continue to be a focal point of the recruiting approach.

Last July, I went through the offers extended by state to get an idea of where Texas is recruiting. I will touch on two points here in this article – 1. Where those offers are going and 2. When those are offers are handed out.

I would not call this piece anything groundbreaking. Texas extends offers to where talent is present, that is no surprise. However, I was a bit surprise at how quickly they were able to identify that talent, with the staff clearly turning focus to the season in the mid-summer months.

A look at the top ten states by offers extended by the Texas staff in the 2024 cycle:

1. Texas (55)
2. Florida (28)
3. Georgia (25)
4. California (21)
5. Louisiana (8)
6. Alabama (8)
7. Mississippi (7)
8. Arizona (6)
9. Missouri (4)
10. Washington (3)

Off the bat, no surprises here. Texas is taking a heavy look in its backyard and extending into the recruiting hot spots of California, Florida and Georgia.I was a bit surprised to see only eight offers extended to Louisiana, however, the Longhorns have a much deeper impact in the state as a result of landing Arch Manning, Derek Williams, Wardell Mack and Melvin Hills in previous cycles.

But this got me thinking.

Of course, the origins of this thought process stemmed from the early July run of commitments. I originally went through this list during July of 2023 and the numbers then don't look all too different from the final numbers I posted from today.

Offers by state from July 2023:

1. Texas (53)
2. Georgia (23)
3. Florida (22)
4. California (19)
5. Louisiana (8)
6. Alabama (7)
7. Arizona (6)
8. Missouri (4)
9. Mississippi (3)
10. Washington (2)

Of the top ten states Texas extended offers to in the 2024 cycle, 91.5% of them were extended by essentially July 4th.

Texas gets their out of state evaluations out early and often. I expect to see Texas much more active in the out of state recruiting in 2025 cycle as well. As a result of the Longhorns coming off of a College Football Playoff run, the Longhorns will be able to toss more lures in the water from a national perspective and see a few more nibbles of interest.

Already in the 2025 cycle, the Longhorns have extended 149 offers right as we sit right at the end of January. In the entirety of the 2024 cycle, the Longhorn staff extended 191 offers with a pair of them going to specialists. 

Maybe later in the week I will dig into the position by position approach, but Texas offered 35 defensive linemen last cycle, something I expect to see changed from a philosophical approach now that Kenny Baker is on campus to take over for Bo Davis.

At the end of the day, the player personnel department is doing a mighty fine job of finding talent early on and the Texas staff is active to extend offers. Feel free to dive into the rabbit hole with me and if you have any wild or wacky thoughts of your own you would like to see me jump into, feel free to let me know. 

Dear received an offer from the Longhorns earlier this month on January 8th and now, Choice is doubling up with a stop at his high school to get some face time.

Dear is an elite running back prospect. Tremendous film to back it up as well. 

Texas has approached the RB spot from a national perspective in previous cycles and 2025 already has Mater Dei RB Jordon Davison as a top prospect as well. Add Dear to that list.

Take a look at the film: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/15267528/65265bf40427fe0af4358bd7

Sanders was a recent visitor on campus for the Texas Junior Day and is a prime candidate to see his stock soar this spring. 

I spoke with Sanders a bit yesterday to get his interest in the Longhorns. Though the Longhorns have yet to offer, Sanders mentioned that the staff made it known that they view him highly as a prospect and are continuing to evaluate.

Texas is evaluating Sanders at both a safety or cornerback at the next level, to get an idea of where he would fit best. With a two-sport background in basketball, his 6-foot-2 frame allows for versatility across the backend of the defense.

Texas Tech tossed their hat in the ring yesterday with an offer. Look for Texas to continue its eval into the spring.

The Horns are showing signs of being a better team. The increased minutes of Chendall Weaver, the transfer from UT-Arlington, gives the team a little defensive spark without giving up too much on the offensive end of the floor.

Is it enough to turn the season around? With back-to-back losses to ranked teams after beating ranked teams back-to-back a week ago, the early results are now mixed.

What lineup works best for Texas basketball? I'm not sure anyone knows the answer.

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We could see some movement in the portal at Michigan after all. Yesterday, the Wolverines parted ways with their strength coach, who opted to head to the Los Angeles Chargers with Jim Harbaugh.

There are two other defensive coaches who have yet to announce their next move - the defensive line and secondary coaches.

Of course, Texas would be particularly interested in a couple of those defensive linemen - Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham.

While neither player's name has appeared in the portal yet, Grant went so far as to follow the Instagram accounts of Steve Sarkisian, Texas Football, T'Vondre Sweat and Sydir Mitchell yesterday. Graham tweeted out a broken heart emoji over the departure of the S&C coach.

Grant has since unfollowed the Texas accounts, as well as that of Oregon coach Dan Lanning. So we're left wondering exactly what is going on there.

**

The portal is starting to remind me of a certain Al Pacino movie line...

Just when I thought the portal was closing, it keeps dragging me back in. 😉

The 6-foot-1 playmaker out of Jacksonville, FL was previously committed to Alabama before re-opening his recruitment on January 14th. 

On the Texas perspective, Ffrench told me right after his offer he is very much looking forward to getting to Austin at some point soon. The earlier the better as many programs have already begun prioritizing him already.

In the past week, Ffrench has been visited by South Carolina's Shane Beamer and WR coach Justin Stepp, Florida HC Billy Napier and Georgia's Kirby Smart.

Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/16592534/65791bac0c539603fcf8c85d

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, Jeff Banks and Tashard Choice were on the trail to stop by the Texas commits. Of course, the trio then flew out to Florida to see Brandon Brown.

Winston tells me the visit with the staff very well.

As for an upcoming visit? Winston said he hopes to be back in Austin for the Spring Game. You can expect to see that visit list become rather lengthy, with Winston starting off the list of visitors.

So just how much sack production will be lost as the Horns move forward to the 2024 season?

In short: Not much.

In somewhat of a surprising result, Texas returns over 65% of that sack production, including three of their top four defenders who recorded the most sacks.

Let's also not forger that, due to the transfer portal and recruiting, the Longhorns have added pieces such as defensive end Trey Moore from UTSA (14 sacks last season), defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea from Arizona (1.5 sacks) and some very talented high schoolers such as five-star edge prospect Colin Simmons.

Sarkisian brought two of his top recruiters with him to see TE commit Emaree Winston in Georgia this afternoon – Jeff Banks and Tashard Choice.

Choice has been digging around in Georgia for the last week or so, having extended offers to five prospects on the trip.

Sarkisian is expected in Saraland tomorrow to see QB commit KJ Lacey.

Reese's Senior Bowl

• WR Jordan Whittington
• OL Christian Jones
• DL T'Vondre Sweat
• DL Byron Murphy
• LB Jaylan Ford

East-West Shrine Bowl

• RB Jonathon Brooks
• TE Ja'Tavion Sanders
• CB Ryan Watts

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Byron Murphy will not be participating this week as he is still recovering from a late season injury.

Ja'Tavion Sanders and Jonathon Brooks are not participating in workouts either according to the East-West Shrine game roster.

CB Ryan Watts turned on the jets in the first practice session. This was a question mark for Watts, good to see him answering some questions ahead of the Combine.

By money opportunities for Jaylan Ford, Jordan Whittington and Ryan Watts.