Thrilled to be here! | Importance of the third-year Longhorns (Wednesday, 1 p.m.)

I'm elated to be a part of On Texas Football.

My conversations with Bobby and Gerry recently reminded me of the early days of building the Texas site for 247Sports. What made those days exciting (and, for me, when working in the market was the most fulfilling) was that the bottom line was about building a community where fans who bled burnt orange wanted to be.

That’s what excites me about continuing to write about, analyze, and report on the Longhorns with OTF. August 2010 wasn’t the ideal time to launch and build an online community and news source for Texas fans, but OTF is experiencing rapid growth at a time when Steve Sarkisian looks primed to lead the Longhorns through a historic run of success.

With Arch Manning in the saddle as QB1, the bulk of the No. 1 recruiting class in 2025 currently on campus and the 2025 NFL Draft possibly making it back-to-back drafts in which Texas produces double-digit picks, the train isn’t slowing down.

It’s time to puff out your chest and walk tall if you're a Longhorn fan, making it the perfect time to be a part of OTF. After slogging through the dark ages (2010-2021), I hope everyone reading this is as excited as I am to be a part of something special.

Whether you’ve followed me for a while or you’re reading me for the first time (thank you for the support, by the way, and I look forward to talking Texas football with the OTF community), one of the things I’ve always been fascinated by (and will often discuss) is the group of players entering their third season in the program.

Spring practice will be a now-or-never time for the 2023 signees who’ve yet to break through. Thankfully, a good chunk of the class has panned out.

Of the 18 signees still with the program (including Will Randle), I count 11 who are either proven commodities or who’ve shown enough that we’ve got a feel for what they’ll bring to the table in 2025: Arch Manning, CJ Baxter, Quintrevion Wisner, DeAndre Moore Jr., Trevor Goosby, Colton Vasek, Anthony Hill Jr., Liona Lefau, Malik Muhammad, Jelani McDonald and Derek Williams Jr.

The third-year guys are a critical group because if you’re evaluating and developing the right way at a place like Texas, you should have a decent number of guys on NFL trajectories. By Year 3, a recruiting class should form a team’s nucleus; if you’re a championship-caliber squad, the core must include elite players.

Of the 11 mentioned, the biggest concerns are Baxter and Williams bouncing back from their knee injuries and Vasek being healthy enough to remain in a tremendous EDGE rotation with Ethan Burke, Trey Moore and Colin Simmons.

What about the other eight? Well, they'll determine whether the Longhorns have enough talented depth to make it through SEC play and the College Football Playoff to reach the top of the mountain.

Can Spencer Shannon provide the kind of presence as an in-line blocking tight end to demand snaps and let Jordan Washington grow into his role?

Will Jaydon Chatman, Andre Cojoe or Connor Stroh push the older linemen in the program for playing time?

Is Ryan Niblett capable of filling Silas Bolden’s role as a burner with big-play potential in the slot on offense?

With Jahdae Barron and Gavin Holmes gone, does Warren Roberson play himself into the cornerback rotation?

At an exciting time for the program, I can’t wait for arguably the most competitive spring on the Forty Acres in a long time.