CJ Vogel

Elko on the Lonestar Showdown: 

"I think it's great that game is back. With the way those two programs are operating right now, that game is going to matter at the end of the year... We certainly look forward to the challenge."

Texas A&M CB Will Lee was asked which opposing field he is most looking forward to playing at:

"I can't wait to play at Texas. Me being at K-State, losing there in overtime and just getting back there and just beating them at their home was going to be the best thing to me. That's real exciting for me."

I asked DJ Lagway in passing this afternoon what his thoughts were on Jermaine Bishop Jr. 

“He’s a guy! Stud.”

Listened to the majority of the John Mateer media session.

"Precision and toughness" is how he described his game. He mentioned you have to precise with the speed of the game and the level of chaos that comes with playing in the SEC. And obviously, have to be tough to withstand the length of the season.

Mateer said he is trying to get the hang of sliding or going out of bounds without taking the extra hit. Says it has never been a part of his game. Last year at Wazzu he paid it no attention in the early part of the season, though as he continued to take hit after hit it crawled to the forefront of his game each week.

Q. We all talk about rivalries. What's the one you guys have with Texas, how does that feel?

ROBERT SPEARS-JENNINGS: That's rivalry is probably the biggest rivalry in college football, I feel like, because it's the only rivalry that you're at a neutral site every year same weekend. One team will have at the 50-yard line burnt orange and the other one is crimson red, I feel that's probably the hardest thing.

Venables on losing two of the last three Red River Shootouts: “We’ll get back on track and we look forward to the opportunity. Two years ago was reflective of the type of game that it should be and will be moving forward."

Brent Venables: "This is a team I love to be in the building with every day and I believe they have the ability it takes to claw back to where I believe Oklahoma belongs."

Venables: "We've had a lot of changes since January... Between portal, recruiting, new coaches, new offense, new GM structure. But we've also had tremendous retention."

Venables time.

2 minutes ago, Rocky P said:

Did they say anything about his health and his shoulder?

Lagway on his shoulder:

"I don't have a prosthetic arm, I am just going to let y'all know that (laughing)... But I am feeling great. Training has been amazing. I am actually getting better at just thinking about getting back to throwing the ball. I have been working on my mechanics that is going to help my mechanics this year and my decision making. I am just excited about getting out there with the guys for that first week."

2 minutes ago, Califashorn75 said:

I look forward to the day we sign a kid from Mexico. 

Haha, I am ready for that recruiting trip

On Texas Football coverage of SEC Media Days is brought to you by Vonlane, Flat Creek Estate Winery, Advanced Pain Care and South Point Dodge.

***

Texas continues to make a dent in the heart of the SEC with its recruiting push. Tuesday being a prime example of just that.

Adding prospects from Florida and Georgia continue the trend of the national approach Steve Sarkisian and his staff have taken on the recruiting trail.

The current class sits at 20 commits after the Tuesday explosion. And it is possible the Longhorns reach that 21 number our @Bobby Burton has been alluding to by the weekend. Among those 20 commits, there are eight states representing half of the members in the Texas class currently.

• 10 – Texas
• 2 – Florida
• 2 – Georgia
• 2 – Louisiana
• 1 – Alabama
• 1 – California
• 1 – Louisiana
• 1 – North Carolina

Of course, RB Derrick Cooper hails from Hollywood, Florida as well. 

Going off of the 43 official visitors in the month of June, only 17 called Texas home. For the first time in my Texas-recruiting-life, the majority of official visitors traveled to Austin from outside the state of Texas.

***

I asked Steve Sarkisian on Tuesday how does he and the staff go about balancing the national approach with making sure that his backyard is kept in check. For what it is worth, I don't think anyone will care where prospect X comes from if he arrives in Austin and provides a positive impact.

"It's hard, I think now more than ever – I will try to make it as not longwinded as I can.

16 years ago or so, this thing called Twitter started. And I really believe that around 2008 or 2009, the landscape of recruiting really started to shift. The ability to connect two players directly for coaches – and for y'all that cover recruiting – dramatically changed. Because of that connection, players were more apt to travel.

I think after COVID, it accelerated it even more. Players (were thinking) I can go somewhere, I can see (the campus). Because they spent a year there where they couldn't go anywhere.

And so now, when you add in revenue sharing and publicity rights, things of that nature, NIL. And now people have resources to reach out. 

But, you can't take them all. At the end of the day, we try to make really strategic decisions based on our roster. We think we have a really good roster this season and think we will have a really good roster next year. But I also try to foresee the forest through the trees of where the gaps in issues we may have coming up. We can't recruit them all, and I would love to.

I would love to take every player in the state of Texas and say 'Come be a Longhorn,' but it wouldn't be feasible. The reality of it is we have some really good football players, we have a great brand right now – it is a national brand right now – and the exposure our program has gotten over the past couple of years has been huge for us.

Some of the best players in the country have some real interest in us. But again, we don't try to recruit all of those either. I don't know how everybody does all of that. I don't have the time or the energy to do all of those things.

But what we do is we narrow our pool down pretty good based off of the ability, then the person and the family, and if they will be a good fit for us."

DeBoer did state Ty Simpson would be the starter today if there was a game for the Tide.

DeBoer singles out LT Overton, a former Texas A&M edge rusher, as one of the guys that is standing out to him this offseason off the edge. 

DeBoer: "I still feel SEC top to bottom is as strong as you can find. We found that out last year. It showed every team can win on any given Saturday."

Kalen DeBoer time.

Will be tough to top the buzz from yesterday, but let's see what is in store for Wednesday here at SEC Media Days.

Any questions for Venables?

Momentum..

8 minutes ago, theycallmezay_ said:

If Atkinson commits tmrw… I’m getting a direct flight to ATL… Lemon pepper wings on me at Magic City 🤘🏽 

See you there!

1 minute ago, Rayzorswagg said:

Looks like he will be committing on the Pat Mcafee Show tomorrow 

Correct.

1 hour ago, Longhorn22 said:

Jermaine Bishop being ranked 275th by Rivals is absolutely comical. Do they have any idea what they're doing over there? Maybe it saves us some NIL money, though lol

Lol,

you are absolutely correct on the first sentence.

I am of the belief that should Texas end up landing Derrek Cooper, he would be the only back in the class.