GQ03

Desoto is 5A this coming year but was and has been 6A Division II for the last several years. And for me their skillsets are similar but when one has done it at the highest level TXHSFB has to offer vs another who was doing it against one stoplight town schools they get a few extra points from me and I worry about their transition to P4/SEC football a lot less. I still remember Traylon Shead putting up stupid numbers in 1A, Tyrone Swoopes as a sophomore making people think he was the next VY/Cam Newton, and Jermie Calhoun of Van looking like the next Adrian Peterson. Needless to say, their small school success didn't translate.

I could be wrong but I could see Miller lean on Punch's playmaking from the 4 spot (think Royce White or Georges Niang at Iowa St) more with Johnson on the bench. It gives Texas a different look while taking pressure off of Goosby and still allowing Lewis to play naturally.

I think the difference is Desoto had a few more weapons offensively and it took awhile before Baker really made a name for himself so it was probably a little easier to sneak him out of the backfield. For LWC, he's basically their entire offense and for them its probably much easier to just give it to LWC and let him go. As to your other point about Gibson, his biggest issue was he couldn't hold on to the ball. Plus in watching their highlights, Gibson's tape didn't show anything special. His film screamed JAG. LWC's sophomore and junior tape show vision, explosiveness, and speed that Gibson's never showed.

I guess my question would be was there anything that surprised or excited you today watching them work out? Also, do you think Sterling might be even better than the staff initially thought? He & Ogden's (and Lewis for that matter) shooting could be really open things up for our post players.

For me the difference was Bishop was doing some of the same stuff Bussey was doing in 2A/3A at the 6A level in Houston and making teams like Forney & Desoto look slow as he was running past their secondaries.

I mean I like Dillon Mitchell but his game hasn't evolved much since he left Texas. He's really good defensively, a hellacious athlete, solid passer and rebounder but terrible shooter from pretty much any distance including fts. Do you like their backcourt of Ellis, Jackson & Yessofou that much over ours? I don't see how their frontcourt even with Mitchell matches up with Matas, Punch & Spears.

Curious to why not? They're just as loaded on both sides of the ball as we are. Is this more of just a not believing in Lanning type of deal?

They won't care as long as they're making the playoffs and competing for championships.

Wingo leads the team in yards. Coleman leads the team in tds. Mosely leads the team in receptions. Arch has a Joe Burrow-like jump from his 3rd to 4th year. Texas beats both Ohio St & Georgia this year.

Nope...Ohio St didn't trust him anymore than we trust Bert Auburn but that Houston guy has me intrigued and there isn't any scheme stuff kickers have to learn this late either.

Its cool man. We're obviously just going to have to agree to disagree on this topic. With the offense, you guys hold them to a certain standard and don't really take injuries or opponent into consideration. If they score 34 vs Vandy but didn't score for a quarter then they should've scored more. For the defense it feels like there's a lot of excuses made for pk. Just as the offense could score a td and end the game vs OU in '23, the defense could've also went out there and made a stop after we took the lead to end the game the same way. You would take 14 points given up on the road vs a top 10 opponent every time. So would I. I'd also take outgaining them by over 100 yards and nearly outrushing by 100 at a 4.5 ypr average every time too. But that doesn't take into account the Monstars stealing Arch's talent for the better part of that game and the first half of the season for that matter.

It wasn't Akina or Gideon's job to solve that. They aren't in charge of the entire defense. Your defensive coordinator should be able to coordinate the entire defense and not just the front or back half. The difference between '24 and '23/'25 isn't that PK figured it out and then forgot. The difference was we had extremely high IQ guys in Mukuba, Taafe & Barron that were basically coaches on the field working together. I don't disagree with you that the offense has had rough stretches or even that the defense has largely been better than the offense (especially in big games) over the last 3 seasons but I just don't think PK is without blame. The Florida game plan was downright embarrassing and while we held Ohio St down yardage wise, we never made Sayin uncomfortable in his first ever start. Didn't touch him once with all of the gifted pass-rushers this team had last year.

You said with better production we would have a national title. The defense, most notably the secondary, let us down in 2023 and kept us from a national title. The offense (mostly due to injuries) let us down in 2024. 2025 was a bit of both. Lack of personnel on Offense & bad coaching on Defense imo. The defense was not good against Florida & Mississippi State while the offense was hot garbage against Ohio St, UTEP & Kentucky. Then they took turns being inept vs Vanderbilt & Georgia. Overall, I liked PK but I prefer a DC that can call the entire defense so that we don't have to worry about this "front not being married to the back" nonsense that we dealt with in '23 & '25. Also, looking at last year's defense, I had high expectations due to the great talent we had but in looking back I don't believe we maximized that talent. Ant Hill should've been put in position to have been much more disruptive and I still can't figure out why we took a great Edge in Trey Moore and moved him to LB while taking a good LB in Brad Spence and moved him to Edge? The result was that both Moore & Spence (along with Hill) had disappointing seasons.

Would you say the same for the '23 season when PK's secondary was getting carved up by OU, Washington and (checks notes) Houston??

I agree but in that Georgia game once the offense finally got into the endzone, the defense immediately goes out and gives a score back. Then the special teams falls asleep and the defense gives up another score. Complimentary football was anything but that last year.