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.

**

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

****

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.

In review, the Horns grabbed eight players who expect to contribute immediately, six of them heavily. Meanwhile, the Horns lost 15 players to the portal, of which I'd say four or five would have been contributors of some level. Perhaps one departure really, really hurt - Trill Carter (Auburn).

Carter would have been immediate, helpful depth at a position of need.

The others of note: safety Jerrin Thompson (Auburn), safety Kitan Crawford (Nevada), receiver Isaiah Neyor (Nebraksa) and quarterback Maalik Murphy (Duke).

Thompson and Crawford would have provided a lot of experience in the secondary. Crawford was a demon on special teams; he will be missed there.

So, yes, there were some losses.

But overall, the portal is clearly a net gain. Three starter-level receivers, a starting TE from a college football playoff team, an edge rusher with 14.5 sacks, an experienced back-up linebacker, a defensive tackle with some starting experience, and a three-year starting DB from a nationally ranked team.

Sark and his personnel staff yet again used the opportunity available to them to improve the roster. Ongoing improvement, piece by piece, continues to be perhaps the biggest theme of Sark's tenure.

It's not his offense, or his quarterback tutelage, not merely his top-notch recruiting, it's been his pursuit of upping the ante, improving his team and roster, at every chance that has made him - and Texas - into a force to be reckoned with.

If Texas keeps adding pieces to the puzzle, replacing ones that go to the NFL or portal out, then we're on a path of being a program, not just a

We don't know where this will all end up for Texas. But the steady incline of the program is what we're seeing.

At 8 AM CST, join me, @Bobby Burton and @CJ Vogel, as we discuss all the latest happenings in Longhorns news, including recruiting, team updates, the portal and much, much more.

And, as always, be sure to get your questions in.  Get the coffee brewing and join us!