Kevin C

It’s been great debate this week, listening to @Gerry Hamiltonand @Bobby Burton compare thoughts on this year’s team relative to last season. Gerry is in the mindset that our overall team will be better as a result of stacking top 5 recruiting classes plus an elite portal haul at areas of high need (TE, WR, DL, K, P) while Bobby seems more reserved and cautious, believing that QB may be the only position group on offense that’s improved. I appreciate both perspectives. As I’ve thought about what Bobby and Gerry have shared plus thinking about where we stood going into game 1 last season versus where we are today, I like this overall team and our chances to win a national championship MUCH BETTER. I’m more aligned with Gerry’s thinking and I’ll add a few more thoughts. Would love to hear others thinking on where you view Texas headed into the 2025 Season. Here’s my Top 10 Reasons why I think Texas is positioned to win it all this season and why we’re a better team than last season. Top 10 Reasons to be Excited About this Texas Longhorns Team: 1) Massive upgrade at QB with Arch over Quinn. Yes, we lose Quinn’s experience but Arch is a much better overall QB. Quinn threw 12 ints and his overall QB rating regressed. Arch will help improve pass protection with his mobility, he’ll improve the WR threat with a more complete use of Sark’s playbook (deep passing attack, tight windows with lots of zip, back shoulder fades, etc). Defenses will have much harder time defending our overall offense as Arch will be less predictable than Quinn. 2) Running game should be significantly stronger especially as the season wears on. This became major liability once we hit playoffs last year as we had no power back threat up the middle. That Ohio State game failure to score from goal line to tie it up 21-21 was a back breaker. No run threat from the QB and no ability to pound it in. G-C-G will be stronger and we’ll have more balance running this year. 3) Our WR room looks much stronger than last year. Remember we had just lost 3 starting receivers to the NFL from 2023 team. Our starters going into 2024 were either unproven and young (Moore / Wingo / Cook) or transfers who had upside but nothing spectacular (Bond was considered much higher upside than Golden last summer). This year, we have proven receivers with tons of upside in Wingo, Moore and transfer Mosely plus Livingstone resembles upside we saw from Wingo last season. Tall, fast, good hands but unproven. 4) TE looks equal if not better than last year because we hit the jackpot out of the portal. Last season, no one expected Gunnar Helm to have the season he had. Everyone thought Niblack would be TE1. I like Endries alot combined with all the young TEs in our stable. PFF ranks him the #2 best TE in the country returning this season. 5) Offensive line is the glaring question mark on offense with 4 new starters. Goosby has shown enough that he should be dominant in 2025. Campbell appears to be the best version of himself. Cam Williams became a liability down the stretch last season with his knee injury/. Our depth at OT this year is better with solid when Brooks needs to step up and fill in. We’ll likely be shaky for first 6-7 games then hopefully settle and elevate with strong overall OL. I agree with Gerry that running game should be better in part because of G-C-G play this year. 6) Kicker and Punter were major liability last season. This year, we’ve upgraded at both positions and should see benefit on field. Longer field goals add up over time if Sark is comfortable kicking a 57 yarder rather than punting on 3rd and 8 in a tight game. 7) Defensive Line / Run Defense should be stronger this season with portal haul plus Alex January. Cole Brevard is more proven and stronger than any of the portal DLs last season and we now have a freshman all American at DT in Maraad Watson. Going into fall last year, we knew DL would drop off after losing Sweat and Murphy but the patched together DL held their own. This year, I think DL improves over last season and has much more upside with more athleticism. Barryn Sorrel is a big loss on stopping run but our additions at DL plus strength and speed at the edge will make up for the loss. 8. Defensive Ends / LBs / Pass Defense front 7 should be much improved over last season. Awesome room of edges and linebackers. Best in 20 years. This will be the group that wins us the national championship as opposing teams lose deep ball threat for fear of holding the ball too long and taking loss. Love that Colin Simmons is pushing to set sack record. Simmons, Hill, Trey Moore, Burke, Brad Spence, Leona Lefau, Tyanthony Smith plus the young guys in Lance Jackson and Bo Barnes. Crazy Awesome depth and athleticism. 9. Secondary will potentially take a step back early in season with overhaul in secondary coaches plus loss of Barron and Makuba. Michael Taafe, Jelani McDonald and Manny Muhamed are key. Hopefully by midsession, the secondary youth is playing with confidence. This should be one a team strength by Nov. One more thought on this group. No one expected the massive turnaround in the secondary last season the way they showed up all season and became the strength of the defense after getting embarrassed by Washington the prior year. The secondary this season has more depth and athleticism. The big critique is youth. 10. Maybe one of the most important reasons Texas is poised to win it all. Look at all the other traditional power houses. With the exception of Penn State and Clemson (and Florida if you want to include them), everyone else lost as much if not more from their teams last season. Ohio State lost majority of their OL as well plus 1st round WR, starting QB, both starting RBs and entire starting DL. Oregon, Georgia, Bama, Michigan all had major losses and all are starting new QBs. There is no clear cut #1 team this season the way Ohio State, Georgia and Oregon all 3 appeared to be stacked last year. In addition to losing key players, teams like Ohio State also lost their OC, DC and OL coach. That’s some massive change at key coordinators. Exciting times going into the 2026 season. I have a tendency to drink the orange koolaid and fully acknowledge my bias to want to believe every year will improve from prior season. Easy to see where 2026 should be a big year with so many players expected back but could 2025 be the year we finally break through and win it all again? 20 year anniversary from Vince’s magical run and upset over USC. I predict two losses during season before going on a run in the playoffs to win it all!! Curious where others see this Longhorn team. Better? Worse? Too early to say? Hook em!! 🧡🤘🏼🐂

I hope @Bobby Burton and OTF remain independent longterm while Rivals, On3 and 247 continue down their path of consolidation, becoming more corporate, all about the bottom line, no soul or true love for the game. Appreciate all that @Bobby Burton @Gerry Hamilton @Jeff Howe @CJ Vogel @Rod Babers do daily to make the OTF community #1 for Texas Longhorn Fans!! Hook em!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Exactly, lol. 😂🤣🤘🏼🐂🧡

Congrats to @Bobby Burton @Gerry Hamilton @CJ Vogel @Jeff Howe @Blake Munroe and @Rod Babers for making OTF the clear leader in sports news and insights when it comes to our Texas Longhorns! My only go-to for daily updates and perspective. Look forward to seeing what’s next. Congrats on hitting 80k subscribers. Killing the competition, even when you combine On3 and Rivals. Current Subscriber Count on YouTube: OnTexasFootball - 80k OrangeBloods - 25k InsideTexas - 17k Horns247 - 8k Hook em!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Agree. Coaching and development matters a lot. Can’t remember ever seeing this big a turnaround in single season where primary change was in coaching staff. Incredible job by Schloss up to this point. Hope it continues and we remain healthy for rest of season and into CWS. Hook em! 🧡🤘🏼🐂

Very possible but I’ve learned to stop doubting this team’s resilience and ability to overcome injuries with ‘next man up’ mindset. The coaches and players have something special going in 2025. Feels magical. Can’t wait to see what Jonah Williams looks like in the playoffs once he gets cookin’ Hook em! 🧡🤘🏼🐂

I hope you're right. Hard to believe with the injuries this season, including Jared Spencer's season ending shoulder surgery, that we could still potentially win it all. Incredible season so far.

Great points. The other crazy thing about this team and this season is that they are doing all of this in the SEC. By far, the best conference in baseball. Ark and LSU are next in the standings and a full 5 games back. In fact, after Texas, the next 9 teams in the SEC are only separated by 3 wins and all 9 teams are ranked in the Top 25. This conference is unreal and Texas keeps getting it done while the rest of the conference keeps knocking each other down.

Schloss and the Texas Longhorns are playing at an unreal level and keep finding ways to win close games down the stretch. This team is really fun to watch for the way they play great team baseball and never give up. Congrats for the first series sweep against A&M in 15 yrs. Who else in the Top 10 comes close right now? No one!! Even with key injuries our Horns have sustained, they keep finding ways to persevere. Among the Top 10 teams this weekend, #2 and #3 were both swept and #4, #5, #6 and #9 all lost their series 1-2. No other team in the Top 10 won all 3 games in their series. Top 10 Results this weekend: 1. Texas sweeps series vs. Texas A&M 3-0 2. Clemson loses series 0-3 to #25 NC Stat 3. Oregon State loses series 0-3 to #13 Oregon 4. Florida State loses series 1-2 to #19 Louisville 5. Arkansas loses series 1-2 to Florida 6. Tennessee loses series 1-2 to #7 LSU 8. North Carolina wins series 2-1 vs. Pittsburgh 9. Vanderbilt loses series 1-2 to #23 Ole Miss 10. Georgia wins series 2-1 vs. #14 OU Hook em!!!! 🤘🏼🐂🧡

This is getting more and more interesting to see Sanders slide further in the draft. Crazy.

Correct. This is Shipley’s 5th year. He’s a redshirt senior and agree it’s ideal to get players from portal with 2-3 years remaining of eligibility but it’s more important to get the best player available at each position. They can look again next year for potential younger kicker in portal.

I can envision Sark taking best available punter and kicker from portal each season when it’s time. No more recruiting unproven HS kids at these two positions.

Thinking about how incredible Sark has been with instilling his culture, raising the bar on caliber of recruiting and attracting the right type of players (minus a few exceptions) through the portal. Just as important, how much the longhorns clearly want to play for Sark and stay with the Longhorns, despite the temptation to leave for more money. When other teams like OU and A&M are losing 20-30% of their roster to the portal, Texas retains virtually all their talent. Only the players who are unlikely to see playing time decide to bolt. Every year, the bar keeps rising and the depth at each position keeps getting stronger. Each year, they work to learn from the prior year, push to get better at every position (including the coaches) in the spirit of never being satisfied with where they're at. That's leadership at its finest by Sark, his staff and the administration. It made me think about the unhealthy, arrogant, incredibly disrespectful toxic culture Tom Herman had created on the 40 acres. Seems like those years were forever ago. So glad to have CDC as our AD, emphasizing mature, high character, high performing leadership, building a sustaining culture that thrives in this era of NIL and the portal. Think about what things would be like in 2025 if Tom Herman were in charge of the Texas Longhorns right now, lol. There are 1000 reasons I'm grateful for Sark being in charge of our Longhorn Football Team. At least one of those 1000 reasons is the exact opposite approach Sark has taken (in contrast to Herman) to leading and instilling healthy high-performing 'one team' culture on the 40 acres that attracts, develops and motivates the very best and they clearly all love player for each other. The best players in the country want to come to Texas and be a part of something real that's only getting better by the year. Way to go Sark!!!! Keep it Up. So glad that Tom Herman is a distant memory. Hook Em!! A Few Reminders of the Tom Herman Era. This is only a small sample of reminders for how bad things were just 6 years ago............. Pee Charts are the reflection of player commitment https://nypost.com/2017/04/12/if-you-have-orange-pee-at-texas-youre-a-bad-teammate/ The idiotic narcissism by Herman refusing to acknowledge Michael Dickson by name. Only referred to him as 'punter'. MD was the f'ing MVP of our bowl game and one of the only NFL caliber players on our team, we were so flipping bad. https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nfl/news/michael-dickson-texas-punter-nfl-draft-2018-australia/zwomxnvc7vhp1x4g3r389180v In an effort to toughen up the Horns after Charlie Strong, Tom Herman took the demeaning approach of daily / weekly 'battles' with winners getting treated to steaks and off-campus plush housing while losers were stuck eating runny eggs and cold pancakes out of a trash can.... https://sports.yahoo.com/tom-herman-using-bacon-embarrassment-motivate-players-worst-three-year-stretch-texas-history-231834366.html The entire debacle with the 'Eyes of Texas' and how it divided the locker room. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/behind-the-scenes-of-uts-the-eyes-of-texas-controversy/ Tom Herman mocking Drew Locke and Missouri in the 2017 Texas Bowl win. Looked like a 6th grade moron on the sideline. Embarrassing. https://sports.yahoo.com/tom-herman-appears-mock-missouri-qb-drew-lock-texas-bowl-win-063936691.html Every game Tom Herman personally lost for the Longhorns due to poor game time decisions (going for it on 4th and long rather than kicking the obvious field goal, etc.)..... Rather than demonstrating humility and a commitment to get better, he always blamed 'THE F'ING BINDER'. It was so nauseating to hear Herman talk about the Binder at press conferences. https://www.burntorangenation.com/2020/11/27/21722790/texas-longhorns-20-iowa-state-cyclones-23-fire-tom-herman-sam-ehlinger Finally and potentially most embarrassing of all, after Sark's first season with the Horns, the talent is so under-developed over the prior 4 seasons with a reputation across the NFL for being 'soft' and 'undisciplined' during the Tom Herman (and Charlie Strong) years, that the Horns have ZERO players taken in the 2022 NFL Draft. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10034604-texas-has-0-players-selected-in-2022-nfl-draft-4th-time-since-2014-having-1-or-fewer

Played 2 years juco then 2 years at Appalachian St before transferring to UCLA in December. Will be interesting to see which QB does better this season. Assuming Nico will have the better season at QB but Tennessee should still have the better overall result. The QB portal season at Tennessee has been crazy. https://apple.news/AdnIgvBP6TvWSO5wuKiO_wQ Every time I read something like this about other schools dealing with portal drama, makes me one click more grateful for Sark and the stability he's brought to UT.

Looking forward to seeing Arch shutting up all the ridiculous negativity and doubt. Love his demeanor and maturity through all the noise that's only picking up this year.

If he wants to win a natty (or two) with Arch, Wingo, Collin, Hill, Justus and the gang, play in the best conference in college football, get coached by the best so he can maximize his talent in prep for the NFL, there is only one obvious choice. Come on down big fella!! Hook em!! 🤘🏼🧡🐂

Agree. ESPN had agenda and came off petty. Thought it was interesting last week when Bobby and Gerry talked about Arch being the only 5-star QB from 2023 who hasn’t transferred. So many positive traits about Arch, beyond his physical gifts, that make it fun to root for him to well.

Listening to OTF Coffee & Football this am, it got me to looking back at 2023 QB recruiting rankings. ESPN ranked Arch the #5 player nationally and #3 QB behind Malachi Nelson and Dante Moore. 🤣 On3 ranked Arch the #2 QB behind Nico.🤪 247 and Rivals both ranked Arch the best QB and #1 overall recruit in the country. 🤘🏼🧡 Think there will be no doubt after the next 2 seasons who the clear #1 player in the 2023 recruiting class was. Hook em! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Gonna be fun to watch Jonah grow into his role as a hitter with power for the Horns over the next few weeks as they prepare for a run to the CWS then turn around for fall camp and see how quickly he can get integrated into the 2-deep at safety under Coach Alina’s development. Hook em!! 🤘🏼🐂🧡

Hey, don’t rain on the Jonah Williams 2-sport parade. If Bo Jackson and Deion can do it, let’s see what Jonah can do. Crazy to think tonight is his debut in baseball and he looks so comfortable already. Williams size and bat speed is impressive. 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Holy $%it, he’s a monster at the plate, going 2 for 3 and 3 RBIs through first 6 innings. Massive power. Looks like a man at 17yrs old. This is starting to look like something really special for the next 3 years with Jonah Williams potentially dominating in 2 sports for the Horns! Hook em!! 🧡🤘🏼🐂

Been a long time since college baseball was this much fun. Hook em Horns!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Like it. This would be a great first round for all 3 Longhorns. 🤘🏼🐂🧡

Giddy up. So much to talk about with the Horns. 1) Spring Practice - Who continues to impress? 2) Portal Opening - It’s like Christmas in April 3) Baseball Team Dominating - Coach Schloss has the Horns playing great ball. #1 in SEC and #1 in thus week’s Baseball America poll 4) Men’s Basketball - Coach miller filling final 3 spots through portal over next 2 weeks

I respect Tennessee for cutting ties and not continuing to be held hostage/. Seeing these stories of money grabbing, no loyalty, low character, makes me appreciate Arch and his family for Arch’s character, patience, loyalty and ‘team first’ mindset even more. Hope this story sends message to other kids and parents they need to stop and think twice before calling other schools. We don’t know behind the scenes what drove this. Was it Nico or his dad? https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/44642537/sources-tennessee-moving-starting-qb-nico-iamaleava