CJ Vogel

A pair of recruiting updates on this Friday morning. *** A 2026 defensive lineman to keep tabs on moving forward is 2026 IMG Academy Preston Carey. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive lineman told OTF last night he has been hearing recently from Texas DL Coach Kenny Baker. Carey is originally from the northeast and offensive coordinator Kyle Flood has already played a role in this recruitment. As of now, an offer has yet to be reported by Carey, but he mentioned last night that the Texas staff has been pushing to get him down to campus for a visit. On top of that, over 40 schools have already extended an offer to the IMG Academy defensive lineman. For now, this remains one to file away. *** Coaches on the road. – QB Coach AJ Milwee is on the road in Florida currently. Milwee stopped by 2026 Texas QB commit Dia Bell Thursday afternoon. – The Longhorns also have Chris Gilbert on the road this week. Gilbert has typically been used on the road in place of Pete Kwiatkowski, though my assumption is he is taking place of Tashard Choice for the end of the week as Choice welcomed in a new member of the family earlier in the week. – Kwiatkowski actually accompanied Steve Sarkisian to Temple High School on Thursday to visit with EDGE rusher Jamarion Carlton, who is expected to be on campus for the January 25 Junior Day. *** – Two offensive linemen were confirmed earlier in the week for the Junior Day as well. 2026 Prosper OL Zaden Krempin and 2026 Flower Mound OL Drew Evers joins the offensive line group for the Junior Day festivities.

Texas Offers 2027 DB Duvay Williams The Longhorns have continued to make a splash on the west coast by extending an offer to 2027 Junipero Serra (Calif.) CB Duvay Williams. Williams is listed at 6-foot-1 and 155 pounds, so a bit on the lighter side. The Longhorns become his 20th offer. Williams also boasts a 10.92 100m time that he ran last spring. So, as a sophomore in high school, he was already clearing 11 seconds. Fast.

I will add to this thread as the offseason continues. Wanted a starting point for when random additional notes come across.

I'm all on board with that!

Hudl tape: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/22567319/67425afd230aa01fb3aba4ac

Texas dips into 2028 for an early offer Texas has extended an offer to 2028 Orange Lutheran (Calif.) ATH Marcus Fakatou. The Longhorn staff is out on the road today and made the stop out west at Orange Lutheran. On the trip, the Longhorns offered Fakatou, a 6-foot-6-inch and 265-pound defensive lineman. Despite being in the class of 2028, Fakatou has already earned 18 offers. Offer List: Alabama Arizona Arizona State Auburn BYU Michigan Missouri Nebraska Notre Dame Oklahoma Oregon San Diego State SMU Texas USC Utah Washington

Definitely!

Some career stats: – Jake Majors leaves Texas with the most career starts of any Longhorn ever (57) – K Bert Auburn holds the program record for field goals made in a career as well. Auburn is 66–86 in his career at Texas. – Ewers finished 3rd all time in passing yards and passing touchdowns amongst all Texas QBs.

I wanted to throw some of these stats into one place for y'all to check out and start some conversation since the conclusion of the football season has arrived. Will update some additional notes in the comments later on, but there are a few that really stood out to me and I will try to divvy it up via player. *** Matthew Golden – Golden was the 5th highest rated deep ball receiver in the SEC and the 10th highest in the country. Pretty darn good. WR Isaiah Bond – On the flip side, Texas had very little success throwing to Isaiah Bond. Bond had just two receptions on 14 targets beyond 20 yards downfield. One of which coming in week two against Michigan on 3rd & 13. But that is a 14.3% completion rate when targeting one of the fastest players in college football. EDGE Trey Moore – Moore really flipped a switch after the second bye week. Check these 2nd half numbers out beginning with the Florida game on Nov. 9. First 8 Games: 16 pressures, 0 sacks, 0.5 tackles for loss, 6 total tackles, 1 fumble recovery Final 7 Games: 20 pressures, 6.5 sacks, 10.0 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, 17 total tackles, 1 fumble recovery Running Backs – Texas running backs Tre Wisner and Jaydon Blue each ranked in the top ten for missed tackles forced amongst SEC running backs, per PFF. 70 – Dylan Sampson 58 – Jarquez Hunter 46 – Raheim Sanders 45 – Tre Wisner 41 – Ja'Quinden Jackson 37 – Jaydon Blue 35 – Johnnie Daniels 33 – Sedrick Alexander 32 – Demie Sumo-Karngbaye 32 – Jadan Baugh – Texas running backs Tre Wisner and Jaydon Blue each ranked in the top three of receiving yards amongst SEC running backs. 365 – Jaydon Blue 311 – Raheim Sander 311 – Tre Wisner 275 – Cash Jones 263 – Josh Williams OL Numbers – Hayden Conner (1,067) and Jake Majors (1,042) played the two most snaps of any offensive lineman in the country for 2024. – RT Cam Williams ended up with the most penalties of any Power 4 offensive lineman in the country (16). – LT Kelvin Banks (89.8) had the 4th highest pass protection grade of any P4 offensive lineman per PFF. Rushing Success by Direction: Look at the average yards per attempt to the left side of the OL vs. the right side. EDGE Colin Simmons – The freshman EDGE rusher led, or tied for the lead, all freshmen in: Sacks: 9 Hits on the QB: 14 Batted passes: 3 Run Stops: 31 Tackles: 32 Forced Fumbles: 3 CB Jahdae Barron – Per PFF, the longest reception Jahdae Barron allowed in man coverage this season was 9 yards. Insane. – Barron was also the highest graded (91.8) defensive back in the country with at least 100 snaps.

This is a beat down.

Maybe the best first half of the season. That was very well done from the offensive side of the ball.

Georgia WR Anthony Evans will stay in the SEC. After entering the portal earlier in the offseason, Evans became someone to monitor for the Longhorns as he checked off the boxes for speed and special teams ability. However, the speedster from Judson, Texas, will be headed to Starkville to join Jeff Lebby's offense for 2025.

I think Sam Darnold is kind of where I am leaning for Ewers. Great quarterback when on plan. Struggles to succeed when protection fails or there is a need to create on the fly. Obviously the story of the Rams/Vikings games was the 9 sacks allowed, that played a similar role to the losses Texas suffered this season as well. I look at a Rams/Niners/Dolphins to take Ewers. Someone familiar with Sarkisian/Ewers but has a QB for 2025 to allow him to develop a year before being thrown in the fire.

Jahdae Barron's comment on Ewers' announcement post on IG.

Quinn Ewers is officially headed to the NFL Draft. No more wondering, it is official.

Hmm.

Big, big news for the Longhorns secondary. Beyond just play on the field, Taaffe will be huge for the continuity of the culture in the locker room and behind the scenes. Taaffe was a 2nd team All-American as well. Now, it is all about finding his running mate in the back end. Will it be a healthy Derek Williams Jr., Jelani McDonald, or a young cat. We will see, but what a return for Texas.

Is returning for 2025!

Another from Penn State.

Texas did not offer out of HS. He held 27 offers and took officials to Rutgers, Vanderbilt and Penn State. The PSU OV was later in the season, whereas the other two were in the summer.

Penn State wide receiver Omari Evans has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Evans, originally from Killeen Shoemaker high school in central Texas, has one year of eligibility remaining after spending three seasons with Penn State. In those three seasons, Evans saw a combined 782 snaps on offense, including 417 in 2024. The veteran wider receiver has elite speed, and was a state finalist in the long jump his senior season at Killeen. In 2024, Evans recorded 415 yards on 21 receptions for 19.8 yards per catch. He had five total touchdowns on the season. The big play ability is there, six of Evans' 21 receptions went for 25 or more yards including three over 45. Baylor was an offer out of HS as well, so will be worth monitoring moving forward for the Longhorns out of the portal.

Former USC offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon has made his decision. Pregnon is staying in the B1G and on the west coast after committing to Oregon. The Longhorns hosted Pregnon for a visit over the weekend, though the Ducks come away with the recruiting victory and their third portal offensive lineman of the offseason so far. There are a number of ways to look at this, including the possible return of DJ Campbell as reasons for why this recruitment went a different direction. We will see how it shakes out for Texas.