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  • Texas Longhorns News

    A place for any Longhorn Fan to get the latest news from the On Texas Football team.
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    Bobby Burton
    On Texas Football is excited to welcome Jordan Scruggs to our team. Jordan joins us from Horns247, where he was the lead recruiting and portal reporter.
    Jordan will expand our recruiting and portal coverage with more in-person footage, interviews, and insider knowledge from across the state and the country.
    He has a deep passion for the Texas Longhorns (he grew up going to games with his dad, who still has season tickets) and for Texas high school football.
    Please join us in welcoming Jordan to the team!
    **
    With Jordan’s addition, I want to make something very clear: Nobody in the Texas market comes close to our recruiting coverage or our commitment to it. No one.
    Some outlets will break a story or two here or there. OTF won’t be first on everything—there’s simply too much information out there. Some will continue to lean on “national” resources within a larger network, or even rely on Twitter and pass that off as their own information.
    But when it comes to Texas football recruiting and the portal, there is no better source than On Texas Football.
    As someone who helped start this industry, I can say that with unequivocal authority. With Gerry Hamilton, Hank South, CJ Vogel, and now Jordan, no other group even comes close. Split our group in half and we’d still be Nos. 1 and 2 (and possibly 3 with one of them alone, in my book).
    Others can (and will) still posture. But we’re the only ones committed to actually doing the work AND devoting the resources to prove it.
    **
    When we started On Texas Football as a stand-alone company, I said we wanted OTF to be best in class: to be the product that serious Texas fans wanted and deserved.
    I promised that my goal would be to produce the very best video, podcast, and website content, and to build a welcoming, respectful, and insightful gathering place for all Texas fans.
    While we're not all the way there yet, just two years in, I think we’re well on our way.
    **
    With the addition of Jordan, don’t think we’re stopping either. People thought we were done after adding Hank. Or maybe after adding Jeff, CJ, or Marcus before that.
    We’ll have more announcements in the coming weeks and months. I think you’re going to want to be along for the ride.
    We will never stop in our quest to build the best digital media company for Longhorn fans to enjoy. That's our pledge to you. We're not trying to squeeze blood from a turnip, we're building something special here.
    **
    As part of our ongoing community-building effort, I’d like to invite those of you who have not subscribed to OnTexasFootball.com to become OTF OG members. We’re making a special offer to new members.
    Beginning later today, new subscribers can join for 3 months for just $3 total for a limited time. That’s a heavy discount from our normal pricing, but it reflects how much we want you to join us—and the faith we have in our product.
    Over those three months, you’ll get wall-to-wall recruiting coverage in June and July, plus our best-in-class preseason camp coverage from late July into August.
    If you’re already an OTF OG, please tell a friend. We’re committed to being the best gathering place for true Texas fans the world over. We need your help to keep building it.
    Here is the link:
    https://ontexasfootball.com/store/product/4-3-months-for-3/
    **
    Welcome to the team, Jordan!
    Hook ’Em!!!
    Jeff Howe
    Texas will have to go through the postseason without right-handed relief pitcher Max Grubbs, who will miss the remainder of the 2026 season after undergoing arm surgery, the school announced Saturday.
    Wednesday’s availability report released by the SEC office ruled Grubbs out of action for the Longhorns’ regular-season-ending series with Missouri. Jim Schlossnagle said during his Wednesday media availability on the eve of the series opener that Grubbs has been dealing with arm soreness.
    A veteran bullpen hand with 67 career appearances and starting experience under his belt (15 starts over the last three seasons, including 12 in 2024), Grubbs has a 2-0 record with a 5.52 ERA in 18 appearances (two starts) as a senior. For his career, Grubbs is 15-6 with a 4.00 ERA in 168.2 innings, with 146 career strikeouts.
    Grubbs was outstanding on the mound in Schlossnagle’s first season, helping Texas capture the SEC regular-season championship with a 6-2 record, setting career highs for single-season appearances (22), ERA (2.84), saves (five) and strikeouts (61). Opponents hit just .238 against Grubbs in 2025, which was also the best single-season mark of his career.
    What does this mean for the Longhorns?
    A healthy Grubbs could've been Max Weiner’s Swiss Army knife in the postseason. Grubbs would’ve been capable of starting a conference tournament game if Schlossnagle and Weiner wanted to rest one of the regular weekend starters, or he could be used as a fourth starter, which would’ve been massive if Texas found itself in the loser’s bracket of the regional.
    If available, Grubbs would've been the team’s best right-handed long-relief option.
    How does this change things for the postseason?
    The goal late in games is to get the ball to Sam Cozart (6-0, 1.59 ERA), who has been a force out of the bullpen as a freshman. The 6-foot-6-inch, 260-pound hard-throwing righty has recorded a team-high eight saves this season, while firing 66 strikeouts, posting a 0.64 WHIP and holding opponents to a .112 batting average.
    Schlossnagle and Weiner trust Brett Crossland (1-2, 3.22 ERA) and Haiden Leffew (4-1, 3.60 ERA) in their respective roles. Leffew will enter the postseason as the Longhorns’ only left-handed reliever capable of throwing multiple innings in an outing; Ethan Walker's (1-0, 3.00 ERA) role is that of the team's situational lefty, likely entering the game to get the team out of a jam with traffic on the bases against a left-handed hitter.
    It felt like Thomas Burns (0-0, 6.87 ERA) was turning a corner in recent weeks after a rough stretch. Unfortunately, Burns failed to record an out during a six-run seventh inning by the Tigers in Friday’s 11-6 series-clinching win, walking one and allowing a hit while getting charged with two earned runs.
    Brody Walls(2-0, 5.54 ERA), who is next in line to see his workload increase in Grubbs’ absence, struck out three Missouri batters in 1.1 scoreless innings on Friday.
    Schlossnagle has talked about using next week’s SEC Tournament to audition other Longhorn pitchers for postseason roles. Schlossnagle has previously mentioned veteran right-hander Cody Howard (0-0, 6.00 ERA) and southpaw Kade Bing (1-1, 6.00 ERA) as potential pitching options in Hoover, Ala., with the team’s first game coming in the conference quarterfinals next Friday.
    Texas (39-12, 18-10 SEC) clinched a double bye in the SEC Tournament with its win on Friday and Alabama’s loss to Ole Miss in Tuscaloosa. The Longhorns conclude the regular season against Missouri at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Saturday (2 p.m., SEC Network+), with a series locking them into the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and likely securing a Top 8 national seed for the NCAA Tournament.
    Jeff Howe
    The commitment of Brock Williams to Texas on Friday gives Steve Sarkisian the most complete tight end prospect he’s recruited during his time on the Forty Acres.
    If that sounds out of pocket, consider that Sarkisian inherited Gunnar Helm and Ja’Tavion Sanders from the previous staff, as both signed with the Longhorns a few weeks before Sarkisian was hired. Jeff Banks deserves credit for developing them into productive players who went on to become NFL draft picks, but Helm and Sanders needed time to develop and weren’t ready to contribute the way the staff needed them to from the jump.
    That shouldn't be the case with the 6-foot-5-inch, 230-pound Williams. Whereas Helm joined the Longhorns as a raw prospect and Sanders had to learn to play with his hand on the ground, Williams will arrive at Texas as an accomplished receiver who won’t have to learn a new position.
    Since Michael Masunas entered the program with one season of eligibility remaining, the Longhorns needed to land a tight end with instant impact potential in the 2027 cycle. Williams could join a room in which Spencer Shannon, Nick Townsend (a tremendous athlete with a ton of potential if he can put it all together) and Emaree Winston make it tough for him to break into the rotation, or he could be in the position Jermaine Bishop and Derrek Cooper found themselves in this spring, as true freshmen who seized opportunities to start working toward a solidified role.
    Townsend is as physically gifted as any player at any position in the program. Still, Townsend wasn’t as polished as a tight end coming out of Spring Dekaney as Williams will be after his time at Libertyville (Ill.) is finished and he makes his way to Austin, which means a lot to the Texas offense in 2027 and beyond.
    Sarkisian, who has said time and again that the tight end position is the most important part of his offense other than the quarterback, and Banks have done what injuries prevented Mack Brown from doing, and what Charlie Strong and Tom Herman couldn’t quite figure out. The current regime has developed tight ends physically and inserted them into an offensive scheme that highlights the position when the right guy is on the field, which accurately describes how Helm and Sanders were used.
    Williams, however, is special because he's not a position conversion or an athletic project. Those types of tight end prospects have had varying levels of success on the Forty Acres for nearly two decades, all while multiple staffs tried to find a five-tool answer from the prep ranks.
    Jared Wiley was a high school quarterback who Herman converted to tight end. After transferring to TCU and enjoying a successful two years with the Horned Frogs, the Temple product was picked in the fourth round of the 2024 draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.
    Cade Brewer was solid for parts of five seasons with the Longhorns after making the transition from high school wide receiver to college tight end.
    Andrew Beck was a converted linebacker who developed into an ideal H-back at the college level, with skills that translated nicely to a career as an NFL fullback.
    A junior college gem and ferocious in-line blocker turned NFL draft pick, Geoff Swaim (a seventh-round selection by the Dallas Cowboys in 2015) was unearthed by Bryan Harsin.
    Devonaire Clarington was likely never making it to campus after signing as a part of Strong’s 2015 class.
    Texas couldn’t hang onto future Notre Dame and NFL tight end Durham Smythe when it had the Belton product’s commitment in the 2013 cycle.
    Considering those situations, along with sifting through the sea of for naught efforts to turn oversized wide receivers into the next Jermichael Finley, it can be argued that Williams is the best pure tight end prospect out of high school to suit up for the Longhorns since Blaine Irby, who appeared destined for stardom before wrecking his knee early in the 2008 season.
    Regardless, after swinging and missing on multiple blue-chip, out-of-state tight ends in recent cycles, Sarkisian and Banks have landed a prospect in Williams who has the potential to be everything they’ve been looking for and appears capable of making an impact sooner rather than later.
    Jeff Howe
    After reading CJ Vogel’s examination of time of possession as a statistic that must change for Texas to reach its ceiling in 2026, my focus shifted to play differential.
    It’s not that one statistic is better than the other. I prefer to lean on a team’s play differential (the positive or negative difference between the number of plays a team runs on offense and the number of plays their defense faces) because it’s a more precise measurement of game control.
    If an opponent leans on an up-tempo offense and runs a lot of plays with a premium on getting more possessions, or if an opponent wants to take the air out of the football and make the game shorter, play differential can paint a more accurate picture than time of possession. No matter how you slice it, when it comes to what the Longhorns did last season, play differential (like time of possession) must improve to maximize the team’s potential.
    Texas finished the 2025 season with a minus-47 overall play differential (minus-3.6 per game), which ranked 15th in the SEC. Against SEC competition, the Longhorns had the worst total play differential (minus-79) in the conference and ranked last in the SEC in per-game play differential (minus-9.9).
    In short, Texas’ conference opponents ran roughly 10 more plays per game than the Longhorns. That might not sound like much, but when considering that SEC foes averaged 1.5 scoring drives of 10 or more plays per game against Texas (12 double-digit play scoring drives by SEC opponents in eight conference games), it's a problem that must be fixed.
    The highest priority to get the issue resolved is the Longhorns running the football better than they did last season, especially in conference play. Only Alabama’s 89.9 rushing yards per game against SEC opponents kept Texas from being the worst rushing offense in the conference, with an average of 93.1 yards per game on the ground in eight conference games.
    Texas also must do a better job of getting off the field on third and fourth down, which includes being a better defense on first and second down.
    Pete Kwiatkowski's defense faced an average of 14.7 third downs per game against SEC opponents in 2025, a mark topped only by Oklahoma’s 14.9 for the most in the conference.
    Even when the Longhorns got third-down stops (a 39.8-percent conversion rate by SEC opponents ranked 10th in the conference, which was well above the defense’s season average of 33.5 percent), only Ole Miss defended more fourth-down conversion attempts (34 in 15 games) than the 31 times the Texas defense was on the field on fourth down. The Longhorns finished fourth in the conference and tied for 30th nationally in fourth-down defense (45.2-percent conversion rate allowed), but only Alabama and Auburn (15 each) allowed more teams to convert on fourth down than the 14 times it happened to the Longhorns.
    Texas allowed opponents to convert eight of the combined 16 fourth-down attempts it faced against SEC opponents.
    Without question, coming off a year in which the Longhorns were one of five SEC offenses that failed to run at least 500 plays against conference opponents (499, which tied with Florida for the third fewest in the league), the running game must improve. At the same time, Steve Sarkisian brought Will Muschamp back to the Forty Acres to call the defense so that his aggressive style can create more negative plays to get opponents behind the chains and promote more turnover-forcing opportunities, which must happen for Texas to shrink the wide gap in play differential from last season.
    Jeff Howe
    Texas forward Dailyn Swain is keeping his name in the 2026 NBA Draft, officially forgoing the rest of his collegiate eligibility.
    “Two feet in” is how Swain is characterizing his draft status, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello, who reported on Wednesday that Swain has “closed the door” on returning to the Longhorns.
    On Texas Football has reported since Swain declared for the draft on April 7 that Sean Miller and the Texas staff were building the 2026-27 roster with the idea that Swain wouldn’t return to the Forty Acres. Swain didn't enter his name into the NCAA transfer portal, which meant the Longhorns would've been his only option if he'd decided to return to college.
    Swain, who participated in the NBA Draft Combine over the weekend, where he measured 6-feet, 6 ½ inches in bare feet and weighed 211 pounds with a 6-foot, 10-inch wingspan and standing reach of 8-feet, 8 ½ inches, is projected to go in the first round of the draft on June 23. Sources have told OTF that the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are among the franchises to express the most interest in Swain as he’s gone through the draft process (the Thunder have the 12th and 17th overall picks, while the Heat have the No. 13 overall selection in what’s considered to be a historically deep draft).
    If Swain is selected in the first round, it will mark the second consecutive draft for the Longhorns to produce a first-round pick. Tre Johnson, the 2024-25 SEC Freshman of the Year, was the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft by the Washington Wizards. It will be the first time Texas has produced back-to-back first-round picks since Jarrett Allen (2017), Mo Bamba (2018) and Jaxson Hayes (2019) went in the first round in three consecutive drafts.
    Swain would be the 21st Longhorn to go in the first round of the draft. Texas has produced 16 of its 20 first-round picks since 2000, when Chris Mihm went No. 7 overall to the Chicago Bulls (his draft rights were later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers).
    Swain’s lone season with the Longhorns was a memorable one, helping Texas reach the Sweet 16, where the team came within a last-second bucket in a 79-77 loss to Purdue from reaching the Elite Eight. A finalist for the Julius Erving Award, which recognizes the top small forward in college basketball, Swain was named SEC Newcomer of the Year by the league’s coaches, who made him a second-team All-SEC selection.
    A starter in each of the team’s 36 games during the 2025-26 season, Swain led Texas in scoring (17.3 points per game), rebounding (7.5 per game), assists (129 total and 3.6 per game) and steals (59 total and 1.6 per game) while averaging a team-high 32.8 minutes per game. Swain shot a career-high 54.2 percent (214-for-395) from the field, 81.5-percent (163-for-200) from the foul line and a career-best 34.4 percent from 3-point range (32-for-93).
    Swain reached double figures in scoring in 33 of 36 games, recording 12 20-point games and two 30-point performances, including a career-high 34 points against Mississippi State on Jan. 3. Grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds against the Bulldogs marked one of Swain’s eight double-doubles on the season.
    Swain played a significant role in the Longhorns finishing Miller's first season with a 21-15 record, including a 9-9 mark in the SEC. Swain, who was recruited by Miller out of high school and transferred to Texas after two seasons at Xavier after Miller was hired by the Longhorns on March 24, 2025, helped Texas earn a No. 22 ranking in the season-ending Associated Press Top 25.
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