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    Jeff Howe
    Ian Geffrard has a chance to be one of the most uniquely impactful Texas players in the Steve Sarkisian era.
    The 6-foot-5-inch Arkansas transfer is listed on the spring roster at 378 pounds, making him the heaviest Longhorn in Sarkisian’s six seasons as head coach. Targeted out of the transfer portal to give Will Muschamp an imposing over-the-ball presence whenever the Longhorns decide to utilize an odd front on defense, Geffrard isn’t just a big body who can occupy blockers.
    “You don't see a lot of guys at that weight moving this well,” Hero Kanu said after the team’s first spring practice on March 9. “We played against Ian last year and we saw him on tape. We were like, 'Dang! That's a big man right there!’
    "He's doing a heck of a job.”
    Geffrard wouldn’t be the first physically imposing Longhorn to make his presence felt in a big way. Still, if he gets anywhere close to giving what five other historic Texas-sized linemen contributed during their respective careers, Geffrard would leave an indelible impression at the end of his lone season as a Longhorn.
     
    — Stonie Clark, DL, 1992-95
    The 6-foot-1-inch Clark was listed on the 1994 roster at 343 pounds. That weight might’ve raised a few eyebrows in 2026, but Clark’s listed weight put him in rarified air more than 30 years ago.
    Clark’s listed weight was down significantly (to 320 pounds) as a senior in 1995, when he served as a captain for a Texas squad that captured the final Southwest Conference championship. Still, Clark became a Longhorn legend as a junior. In the Red River Shootout, Clark smacked Oklahoma’s James Allen just shy of the goal line on fourth-and-goal late in the game, finishing a play that linebacker Robert Reed started by forcing Allen to cut back toward the pursuing Texas defense to clinch a thrilling 17-10 victory at the Cotton Bowl.
     
    — Leonard Davis, OL, 1997-2000
    Originally a defensive lineman for the Longhorns, Davis switched to the other side of the ball when Mack Brown came to town. Davis’ career took off from there, culminating with consensus All-America honors in 2000, the same season in which he was a finalist for the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy.
    The 6-foot-6-inch Davis, who was listed at 365 pounds on the 2000 roster, tipped the scales at 370 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2001. A Longhorn Hall of Honor inductee in 2016, Davis went on to become a three-time Pro Bowl selection and an All-Pro offensive lineman during his 12-year NFL career after the Arizona Cardinals made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2001 draft.
     
    — Mike Williams, OL, 1998-2001
    A consensus All-American in 2001, the 6-foot-6-inch Williams was listed at 345 pounds as a senior. Williams weighed in at 375 pounds at the combine in 2002, a few months before the Buffalo Bills selected him with the fourth overall pick in the draft.
    Unlike most elite NFL offensive line prospects who come into the league after playing left tackle in college, Williams played right tackle for the Longhorns, where he protected the blind side of left-handed quarterback Chris Simms. After a failed position conversion to left tackle for the Bills, Williams was cut in 2006.
    After spending the 2007 and 2008 seasons out of football, Williams, who weighed over 400 pounds at one point, made a successful comeback in 2009. Williams signed with Washington, got his weight down to under 340 pounds, made the team and started eight games before an issue with blood clots ended his career ahead of the 2010 season.
     
    — T’Vondre Sweat, DL, 2019-23
    There were rumblings that Sweat’s weight was closing in on 400 pounds at one point in his Texas career. Regardless, the 6-foot-4-inch, 362-pounder had a tremendous senior season for the Longhorns, winning the Outland Trophy and being named a unanimous All-American while helping Texas win the Big 12 and reach the College Football Playoff in 2023.
    Sweat, who was 366 pounds at the combine, maintained the foot quickness and athleticism he displayed on the basketball court in high school as he added weight to his frame.
    No player Sarkisian inherited from the previous regime benefited more from the coaching change than Sweat. Forced to mature while playing for Bo Davis, Sweat realized his potential with the Longhorns before the Tennessee Titans took him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
     
    — Cameron Williams, OL, 2022-24
    Before Geffrard’s arrival, Williams was the heaviest player by listed weight in the Sarkisian era. The 2023 roster listed the 6-foot-5-inch Williams at 369 pounds, making him the biggest of the big humans Texas landed in the historic 2022 high school offensive line haul.
    Williams started one game in 2023 before he took over for Christian Jones at right tackle in 2024. Williams shed weight after a late-season knee injury, dropping down to 317 pounds by the time he showed up at the combine ahead of the 2025 draft.
    A shoulder injury delayed Williams’ NFL debut with the Philadelphia Eagles, who picked him in the sixth round of the draft (No. 207 overall). Nevertheless, Williams eventually suited up and logged his first snaps as a pro in Week 18 of the 2025 season.
    Jeff Howe
    AUSTIN, Texas — Ahead of No. 2 Texas traveling to Auburn for a critical SEC baseball series, coach Jim Schlossnagle told reporters on Thursday at UFCU-Disch Falk Field that two-sport athlete Jonah Williams’ shoulder surgery earlier this week “went great.”
    Williams, who was injured during the 2025 football season while playing safety for the Longhorns, has been absent from Schlossnagle’s lineup since exiting a 14-2, run-rule victory over USC Upstate on 6. A late-inning dive for a ball in the outfield led to Williams going under the knife, ending his sophomore season after appearing in eight games.
    “He definitely needed it,” Schlossnagle said. “We did get a chance to talk to him and his parents and the doctor. There's no question, once they got in there, there's no chance that he was able to survive through a season and be ready for football, much less play baseball.
    "I’m glad Jonah is getting some clarity.”
    While on the mend, Schlossnagle has encouraged Williams to go “all in” on football. Schlossnagle, who’s been in contact with Steve Sarkisian and regarding Williams’ spring plans, wants Williams to focus on learning Will Muschamp’s defense and getting reacquainted with coach Blake Gideon, who spearheaded the football program’s recruitment of Williams before leaving the Forty Acres to accept a position as Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator for the 2025 season.
    “Sark and I have spoken and he can now go, really, all in,” Schlossnagle said. “I encouraged him to go all in on being a great teammate in football, learning the defense, just being over there all the time. He's more than welcome, obviously, and I want him in our dugout during the games, but he doesn't need to be at our practices or do anything like that.”
    Schlossnagle made it clear that Williams is “still a two-sport athlete.” There have been discussions between Schlossnagle, Sarkisian and football general manager Brandon Harris about Williams continuing to pursue both sports at Texas, with Schlossnagle saying that Sarkisian and the football program are “100% supportive of him being a baseball player next January.”
    Schlossnagle remains “super supportive of him being a football player." Although the Texas faithful will continue debating whether Williams would be better off picking one sport over the other, Schlossnagle said he and Sarkisian are staying true to their word, having told Williams during the recruiting process that he could play both sports for the Longhorns.
    “The reason he's at Texas is because we told him he could be a two-sport athlete,” Schlossnagle said. “When I was at (Texas) A&M, we told him the same thing. So did LSU. So did Ohio State. I probably shouldn't say this, but sometimes people are like, 'Yeah, we want him at Texas! We want him to be a two-sport guy!' And then, when he gets here, 'go pick.' Well, that's not the deal. You don't get to pick. He gets to pick. Usually, in my experience — I've coached a lot of them — they eventually pick. But this is a unique one. This guy is really good. I don't know what kind of football player he is; I know what kind of baseball player he can be. Everybody needs to get off his back. This guy loves Texas. He loves football and he loves baseball. He's all in on his teammates. He needs to do a better job himself of getting prepared for each sport, and he's learning that as a young, amateur player, but we need to be more supportive of him and less critical."
    Jeff Howe
    After Tuesday’s 68-66 win over North Carolina State in the First Four in Dayton, Texas made the quick trip to Portland, Ore., ahead of its NCAA Tournament first round game against BYU at Moda Center on Thursday (6:25 p.m., TBS).
    Coach Sean Miller and three of the Longhorns’ top players — Dailyn Swain, Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope — will be a part of the pregame press conference before tangling with the Cougars. Miller, who has guided Texas (19-14) further than last year’s squad by advancing out of Dayton in his first NCAA Tournament game with the Longhorns, said after the win over the Wolfpack that, with the First Four behind them, “there's power in playing a game in this tournament.”
    “I've referenced it three or four times, where sometimes a player or a team is not themselves,” Miller said. “I don't want to say jitters, but March Madness looms big. We fought literally from game one when we played Duke in Charlotte to make this tournament, and finally, you're here and now you're close to advancing.
    "I think our nerves sometimes can settle through Game 1," he added. "You can gain confidence. You already have one game to your advantage, but we're going to have to play a really good team and we're definitely going to have to play better than we played tonight. We know that. But we get that opportunity. That's the thrill of it."
    OTF will have updates from the press conference as the Longhorns make their way to the podium in Portland.
    Jeff Howe
    If there’s a silver lining to No. 2 Texas losing Jonah Williams to season-ending shoulder surgery, it’s that the Longhorns have been without him since he was injured while diving for a ball late in a 14-2, run-rule win over USC Upstate on March 6.
    Williams, who hit .304 in an eight-game, truncated sophomore season, was expected to be a big piece of the puzzle in 2026. After Texas (18-1, 2-1 SEC) routed Ole Miss on Sunday, 8-2, to win the team’s first SEC series of the season, Jim Schlossnagle brought up how Williams’ health created a question mark for the Longhorns at the plate.
    “His legs are fine,” Schlossnagle said, referring to Williams’ previous hamstring troubles, on top of the shoulder issue that carried over from football season. “He's just trying to figure out what we're going to do moving forward with his shoulder and if that's going to allow him to play.”
    Williams won’t play again for Texas until 2027 while rehabbing what sources told OTF on Monday is a rotator cuff injury. Nevertheless, Schlossnagle and the Longhorns have had several players step up to take advantage of the opportunity Williams’ misfortune created, which needs to remain the trend as SEC play continues.
     
    1. ANTHONY PACK JR.
    Williams’ injury recovery in January opened the door for Pack to win the starting job in right field on opening day. The 5-foot-10-inch, 190-pound freshman, whose high school home baseball field lacked an outfield, which has added a different dimension to learning how to properly patrol the outfield at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, has manned both corner outfield spots.
    Where Pack has most cushioned the blow of Texas losing Williams is at the plate. Pack ranks among the team’s offensive leaders through 19 games with a .354 batting average (second), a 1.096 OPS (fourth), 22 runs scored (third), 23 hits (fifth), five doubles (second), 23 RBI (second), 40 total bases (fifth), four home runs (sixth) and seven stolen bases (first).
    “Pack is one of those special freshmen. There aren't many of them,” Schlossnagle said. “There's usually about 15 to 20 in the SEC every year that get 50 at-bats or more and have an impact when they do that. We had Adrian (Rodriguez) last year. When I was at (Texas) A&M, (Gavin) Grahovac and (Caden) Sorrell, those guys were superstar freshmen. Now, Pack is on that list.”
     
    2. JAYDEN DUPLANTIER
    Hitting .333 in 18 games (27 at-bats), Duplantier’s nine hits are two shy of tying his single-season career-high of 11, which he set while playing 34 games (43 at-bats) as a freshman in 2023. A reliable option as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive substitution, Duplantier’s role should continue to grow with Williams on the shelf.
     
    3. ASHTON LARSON
    The LSU transfer drew the early-season starting assignments in left field while Williams was working his way back into the lineup.
    Larson has skins on the wall in SEC play; he led the Tigers in batting average (.337) during conference play in 2024. Injury issues limited him to 34 games (five starts) during LSU’s national championship-winning season in 2025, but Larson has a role for the Longhorns in an outfield platoon with Duplantier, unless one of them separates and earns more playing time or someone else steps up and joins the mix.
     
    4. MADDOX MONSOUR
    The freshman from Carrollton, Ga., is hitting .429 with two home runs and three stolen bases in limited action. Monsour entered Sunday’s win over the Rebels after two base-running mistakes led Schlossnagle to remove Larson from the designated hitter spot, going 1-for-1, stealing a base and scoring a run to help the Longhorns secure the win and the series victory.
    There’s no guarantee that Monsour’s positive performance will lead to more opportunities. Still, Schlossnagle is excited about Monsour's potential, which seems high enough to get him into the battle with Duplantier and Larson for playing time.
    “I love Maddox,” Schlossnagle said. “Maddox is awesome on the bases. His aggression on the bases and how he runs the bases is incredible. I just want to see the same aggression at the plate. We had a conversation about that last (Saturday) night after his at-bat... You don't have to swing at the first pitch; you just have to be ready to hit. I felt like he was super passive. He's been pretty passive in his at-bats. He has a lot of value: he can play shortstop, he can play all three spots in the outfield, he can really run, but to be a more effective college player, you've got to give us something at the plate.”
    Jeff Howe
    Dailyn Swain isn’t thinking about Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament First Four game in Dayton, Ohio, against NC State being his last in a Texas uniform if he decides to enter the 2026 NBA Draft.
    That’s what Swain said during a press conference at Dayton’s UD Arena on Monday, one day before the Longhorns and Wolfpack meet for the second time this season. The SEC Newcomer of the Year and a second-team All-SEC selection, Swain’s stock as a potential first-round pick has risen throughout a season in which he currently leads Texas (18-14) in points per game (17.7), rebounds per game (7.5), assists (104), steals (55) and minutes per game (32).
    “I'm just focused on finishing the season as good as we can as a team, playing as hard as I can for my seniors and all the guys who won't be able to play anymore and trying to make a deep run for Coach (Sean) Miller in his first year here at Texas and letting the country know how good a coach he is,” Swain said. “That's the main thing, really.”
    According to ESPN Research, the 6-foot-8-inch, 225-pound Swain is the only player from a major conference program (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) who currently leads their team in five major statistical categories.
    A finalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Swain is currently projected to go in the first round of the draft in Jeremy Woo’s pre-March Madness mock draft for ESPN.com. While writing that “evaluators are mixed on his upside, but it's the type of chance a team might take in this range,” Woo has the Minnesota Timberwolves selecting Swain with the No. 29 overall pick.
    Sources have indicated to OTF that if Swain gets assurances from a team that he’ll be selected in the first round, he’s expected to forgo his final season of eligibility and declare for the draft.
    With that said, it's not a forgone conclusion that Swain is gone.
    Along with a likely significant NIL deal headed his way if he returns to the Forty Acres for his senior season, Swain, who doesn’t turn 21 until July 15, could significantly improve his draft position by waiting until 2027 to enter a draft that’s currently expected to be less top-heavy while lacking the depth of the 2026 class.
    Whether Swain is at Texas or is on an NBA roster for the 2026-27 season, Sean Miller is proud of the growth he’s seen from Swain, who has evolved from a wiry 6-foot-7-inch, 176-pound, 18-year-old freshman at Xavier into a well-rounded forward with a legitimate future in the NBA.
    “He's just gotten better. Same coach, same strength coach, structure — I think he's really bought in,” Miller said on Monday. “He listens, he learns. We've had amazing support from his mom and family. They allow us to coach Dailyn, hold him accountable and Dailyn has worked hard to develop his shot, develop his body. I think his ability to pass and handle the ball,  something that he had a good starting point on, he's really taken that to a very high level.
    “There aren't too many players that play college basketball that had a better overall season than Dailyn did.”
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