Kevin C

Things sound ultra promising for the Horns to land the #1 DL out of Florida for second straight year as Kendall Guervil has set his announcement date for July 2nd and he’s telling reporters across the SEC that Texas is his top choice currently. This addition to the DL would be f’ing massive if Guervil ends up choosing the Horns over Georgia, Florida and Florida State. Realize things can always change in this era of NIL but my guess is that KG is one of Gerry’s HI’s. Nice interview with 247’s Georgia beat writer, Benjamin Wolk and some very encouraging quotes in the Horns favor: "Georgia is definitely No. 2 right now," he told Dawgs247's Benjamin Wolk. "Texas is the lead right now. Pretty much, it's nothing. Georgia has been doing a great job recruiting me since the beginning of my junior year. And to be honest, they don't really have to change nothing, but just keep recruiting me, really." "To be honest, it's the city of Austin, Texas," Guervil told Wolk. "It's great. It's amazing. And the school itself is just amazing, the people around. I feel like Texas is everything I would need down there if I was to go there. And just, you know, the people, the atmosphere, the community over there is just great. And all around it's just, I feel like Texas would be an amazing place to be at, especially Austin, Texas." https://247sports.com/college/texas/article/texas-longhorns-football-recruiting-kendall-guervil-commitment-date-kenny-baker-vodney-cleveland-dylan-berymon-corey-wells-steve-sarkisian--251142292/ Let’s keep it going Kenny Baker!! You and LaAlllan Clark are quickly becoming the ultimate 1-2 punch building the #1 DL and #1 Edge room in the country. We all know the trenches are key to winning it all. Love the momentum. Hook em! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Ready for some dominoes to start falling over next 4 weeks. Hook em!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Our incoming freshman class is really strong. Hannah Wells (Pitcher, Power Hitter utility Fielder) won the Gatorade POY. https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/winner/hannah-wells/41013 From the Gatorade POY webpage on Hannah Wells…. The 6-foot senior right-handed pitcher led the Bulldogs (35-1) to the 3A Division II state championship this past season, the program’s third straight state title. Wells compiled a record of 22-1 in the circle with a 0.44 earned run average and struck out 258 batters in 127.2 innings pitched, recording 67 percent of her outs by way of the K. She recorded 15 shutouts in 23 starts, including a no-hitter and two perfect games. Wells also batted .602 with 75 RBI and a state single-season record 31 home runs, bringing her career total to a state-record 86 long balls. She mashed 48 extra-base hits in 108 at-bats, slugging 1.639 to post an OPS of 2.287 and an isolated power percentage of 1.037.

Thanks for posting. I hope the wild Wild West crap that’s been going on the past few years and is only getting worse quickly transitions to something more contractually consistent with stiff penalties that motivate fair play by universities and boosters. This isn’t sustainable.

These are crazy times when recruiting can flip on a dime. Gonna be fascinating to watch all of this unfold, not only in short-term, but paying super premium for unproven incoming recruits, how does culture evolve or crumble? A small part of me says ‘hats off’ to A&M for finding right mix of messaging (ie. multiple 7-figures NIl guaranteed over next several years combined with message around playing time early) that resonated with Edwards enough to cause him to cancel OV. That’s some closing mindset. The bigger part of me (maybe old school and naive) says Sark has a proven track record of building an elite team, recruiting the right way for the long term. A&M has built top classes in the past only to have 75% of the recruits defect within 2 years. I trust Sark will continually evaluate if he needs to adjust his approach (timing of NIL offers, approach to valuation by player, etc) without sacrificing culture or longterm. We missed on KJ which sucks but I look forward to seeing where things land in the end. Our team is loaded for 2025 and 2026!! Hook em!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

I had never heard of the directors cup prior to CDC elevating our Longhorns to new levels across the full landscape of sports. Now, it’s fun to follow. Congrats to the Horns!! Awesome accomplishment!

I dunno. That’s multiple years of underperformance and this year, 34th for the men’s T&F is nowhere near ‘the standard’ and expectations CDC has clearly set for all programs. That would suck if the women do well overall but finish a bit short of securing the Directors Cup.

In the long run, it may be a blessing we did so poorly. CDC won’t want to have another repeat next season. Time to upgrade T&F coaching / recruiting.

If CJ is ramping up through first half of season and full strength by Georgia, our RB room could be real strength going into the playoffs. hook em!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Great video clip at Sark’s photo shoot for DCTF Cover. Hook em!! 🧡🤘🏼🐂

Texas games made 3 of the Top 10 top moments (#3, #6 and #9) on ESPN list. Thinking #6 will forever be one of the worst moments in UT college football history, given how strong that 2008 team was. We were so freakin close to the national championship. On #9, Chris Simms probably still has nightmares of Roy Williams Superman. 😳 https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45450737/college-football-top-25-plays-2000

Exciting times for Longhorn Softball. 🤘🏼🐂🧡

Awesome. 🤘🏼🐂🧡

Hanna Wells is bringing an incredible mix of power at the plate (.602 with 31 home runs and 75 RBIs) and dominance as starting pitcher (22-1 record in the circle with a .49 ERA with 258 strikeouts and 31 walks in 127 2/3 innings). She also played short stop when not pitching. Mike White has an incredible class of inbound freshman, who will help keep things going for women’s softball. Congrats to Hannah Wells for winning Gatorade POY. https://apple.news/ANMY92k9ZRF6URZwbOeOEGw

IMHO, the single biggest addition to the Longhorn defensive coaching staff is Johnny Nansen. He brought a vocal leader to the defense starting in the spring of 2024, getting the front 7 to be more connected with the back 4 for improved overall results on the field. In his first season as a Longhorn, Texas jumped from 35th to 3rd in defensive ranking while Arizona dropped from 50th to 108th. Nansen’s salary jumped up to $1.1m this season and it seems he’s earning every penny! We need to make sure we don’t lose him to a DC position elsewhere/. Hook em!! 🤘🏼🐂🧡

Yep. Secondary should be solid this season.

Exactly.

He's not wrong. Arch has a lot to prove. Nussmeyer has much more experience. I'll take Arch's upside and bet the experience he gains through the year has Arch ready for the playoffs.

Colin Simmons is gonna make our defensive backfield's job easier with opposing QBs fearing for their life.

And 2nd Team All American Michael Taaffe will be playing in the NFL a year from now. Until then, he's determined to have this secondary playing 'LIGHTS OUT" and win a Natty on Jan 20, 2026.

Everyone was nervous last spring, given our secondary being abysmal in 2023 and getting torched by Penix and the Washington receivers. People were calling for the secondary coaching staff to be replaced. Nansen helped stabilize things between the front 7 and back-end of the defense. With Akina back plus all the athleticism combined with strong LB and Edge play, QBs are gonna be throwing on the run more often, no clean pockets. That's gonna help our defensive backs. Jelani McDonald is a beast.

It is absolutely mind boggling impressive when you think about how far Sark, PK, Johnny Nansen and the rest of the defensive staff have come over the past 4+ years. Looking at several ranking sites, including NCAA, CBS and ESPN, whether you focus on yards per game, points per game or other computer generated rankings, Texas Longhorns Defense has improved more in the past 4 years than any other team in D1 and it's not even close. Wasn't that long ago in 2021 when Texas was giving up more than 31 pts per game (Georgia only gave up 9.5 pts per game that season) and Texas was giving up 425 yards per game that year compared to 283 yards and 15 points per game last season. Can the defense actually be better next season? Let's keep it going to a #1 Defense (and #1 Offense potentially) in 2025. We're gonna need that defense to overcome big time offenses at Ohio State, Florida, Georgia and we want to shut down OU and A&M. Texas Longhorn Total Defensive Ranking by Year: 2021: 100th 2022: 54th 2023: 35th 2024: 3rd 2025: TBD? https://cfbstats.com/2024/leader/national/team/defense/split01/category10/sort01.html https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/22 https://www.espn.com/college-football/stats/team/_/view/defense/season/2024/table/passing/sort/yardsPerGame/dir/asc

ESPN's FPI, which runs 20,000 simulated games for each team has projected Texas' Defense #1 going into the season as well. They've been on this bandwagon for the past 2 months. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/45284359/2025-college-football-fpi-power-index-best-matchups-title-odds

Greg McElroy thinks so and he doesn't think it's close. Texas is loaded at every level with explosive playmakers coming back on the defensive side of the ball, giving the Horns tremendous ceiling, combined with depth from #1 recruiting class. 61% of defensive production returns for 2025 season.