CJ Vogel

One of the prospects with the most intrigue at today's Elite 11 in Austin was 2025 Duncanville QB Keelon Russell. The 6-foot-3 gunslinger was mighty impressive today in the throwing circuit the Elite 11 puts quarterback prospects through. In fact, Russell earned an invitation to the Elite 11 Finals in California. Russell will attend the Texas spring game April 20 which raised some eyebrows considering the current verbal commitment from KJ Lacey to Texas. While the face time with the Texas staff will wait until April, Russell did update his recrutiment a bit with a focus on where Texas sits in his recruitment. Steve Sarkisian went by Duncanville for a game in the fall to see Colin Simmons, Alex January and Dakorien Moore though that provided the first opportunity for the Texas head coach to see Russell as well. While the two sides have chatted at times in the past, the first real communication did not come until recently. Russell added Sarkisian and the Texas staff called him the other day – a development on the front of Texas in this recruitment. "When the Texas staff called me the other day, they were saying all of the boxes are checked for me," Russell said. "Only thing left was to come see them in person so they could see what kind of guy I am." When Russell does get to campus for the spring game April 20, it will be very interesting to see if Texas does in fact extend an offer. If it does, it could indicate a number of things in the larger 2025 QB picture. But more specifically with Russell, it would create quite the opportunity for his recruitment. "I am looking forward to building a relationship with all of the staff," Russell said. "I am looking forward to getting an offer from them, it would change a lot." Russell said he and KJ Lacey have spoken previously and the two have thrown together in camps in the past. The topic of a two quarterback class has not been brought up too often this cycle, though if that is the direction the staff wants to go in, Russell said he would be open to competing in a two QB class. If and when Texas offers, expect the Longhorns to skyrocket up the list of programs for Russell. "Texas, like I said, was one of my dream schools," Russell said. "I feel like them (offering) is going to set (a standard). But they have KJ, so I don't know how much that will play a part. I say that because, I would go to Texas realistically. It is my dream school." Russell wants to get out to Oregon and Alabama this summer. He has an official visit to Ole Miss set for next weekend as well. All eyes in this recruitment turn to April 20 and whether or not the Longhorns end up extending an offer to the Duncanville QB. View full news

I forgot to mention but today was also the first day in pads for the team this spring.

Texas wrapped up its third practice of the spring this morning in front of 100+ high school coaches from around the state who were in town for the Texas Coaches Clinic. Of course, Los Angeles Rams HC Sean McVay will be the keynote speaker this year. Some notes from practice this morning. *** Starting with a pair of early enrollee freshmen – Daniel Cruz and Alex January. The two provided some really intense battles with one another in the 1-on-1 portion of practice in the trenches. Both are advanced for their age and experience, which leads to some really exciting back and forths. Both have had their moments with January avenging a rep with a smooth swim move. January's athleticism is quite noticeable after losing 10+ pounds since the conclusion of HS ball. Sticking with a newcomer in the trenches, Brandon Baker has been tremendous in pass protection. That was a strength of his during his high school evaluation and that has transferred almost instantly to the field in college. Transfer safety Andrew Mukuba is going to have some work in the box this year. With Derek Williams expected to be the field safety this fall, there is going to be some responsibility for Mukuba near the line of scrimmage, which he has plenty of experience doing. Don't mistake this for the nickel spot, though that is not out of the realm of possibility eventually. Safety Jelani McDonald has made tremendous noise on special teams. McDonald as a gunner on punt dusted a double team and drew praise from teammates and coaches in the process. Michael Taaffe made a really impressive play on an out route thrown by Quinn Ewers today. Texas was without EDGE Colton Vasek for a bit during practice. Vasek was suited out though spent time with the training staff when the team moved into the live team periods. I won't speculate on what the reason was, but he was absent for a period or two. To the quarterbacks: The deep ball has been a hit this spring thus far. Not too often is ball hitting the turf on throws 30+ yards down the field – probably could not say the same thing a year ago. Trey Owens is doing well through three practices. He is at his best when he has a clear idea presnap with where he wants to go with the rock. That is to be expected as he gets acclimated to the system and adjusted to the speed of the college game. What he has done well with thus far is finding his checkdown. Though as we saw with Quinn early on, the development for Owens will come from a second to third read before hitting a RB out of the backfield. View full news

Vance Spafford's Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11757526/65000237b53e850a70ce0ca3

Jabari Mack's Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/18762864/656ebecc90f03404ec8a0887

Luke Wafle's Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/20391883/654805b838636f0f7c34f120

A couple of recruiting updates as we near the weekend. *** Texas will be hosting the California Power 7v7 football team this afternoon for an unofficial with the roster before they head to Houston for their tournament this weekend. One name to make note of is 2026 Mission Viejo WR Vance Spafford who will be joining the crew on the trip. Spafford holds three offers – Cal, San Diego State and Washington. The 5-foot-11 wide receiver from the west coast could be one to watch. Spafford hauled in 1576 yards and 22 touchdowns as a sophomore last fall. *** Kyle Flood and Pete Kwiatkowski extended an offer to 2026 Princeton (NJ) EDGE Luke Wafle Monday afternoon. Despite just 14 offers at the moment, the early composite rankings have Wafle inside the top 100 nationally for the next class. I chatted briefly with Wafle who mentioned wanting to get down to Austin for an unofficial visit this spring/summer. No plans have been locked in, but there is interest in the Texas program and it certainly helps with the ties Kyle Flood has to the region. *** Another note on a talented 2026 prospect, Destrehan (LA) wide receiver Jabari Mack is finalizing his visit schedule for the spring with plans to getting out to Texas for an afternoon as well. Mack is a top 5 player in the state of Louisiana and is currently rated as the state's top wide receiver as well. Texas General Manager Brandon Harris stopped by in late January when he was asked to fill an assistant coaching role while Texas was in the process of hiring Kenny Baker. View full news

That's a good win lol

Duquesne is doing a great job of making BYU look uncomfortable offensively. BYU's getting very little help from their bigs at the moment, and as a result they can't find a rhythm offensively.

Really slow start for BYU. Only 5/17 to start and at one point had more turnovers than buckets (4–3).

Good luck to everyone who submitted a bracket for this year's March Madness! Use this thread as one to carry on the conversation during the afternoon of games. Texas of course will tipoff tonight at 5:50 p.m. against Colorado State. Until then, let's talk some ball.

Quinn was awesome throwing the ball today.

Completely forgot to talk about Quinn today. There was only one errant throw of about 50 I watched him make. He sailed a corner route to Xavier Worthy, then hit Adonai Mitchell in stride between the numbers on the same route on his next throw. He was superb today. Spent time with Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel as well following the throwing session – McDaniel made sure to have a front row seat for all of the throwing/WR session.

Vasek, Lefau, Hill and DeAndre Moore

It would be big. Plus another feather in the cap of Tashard Choice.

I was thinking about that possibility. Andrew Beck is in that role now, but it was an easier transition having come from the offensive side of the ball already. Will see what happens with Bush.

Just superb stuff here from Murphy.

Texas just wrapped up its 2024 Pro Day at the Bubble in Austin which included an eye-popping number of scouts and attendees. It was reported by ESPN's Matt Miller over 90+ scouts were there in-person to check on the 13 participants for the Longhorns today. There were three NFL head coaches as well: Cincinnati Bengals HC Zac Taylor Indianapolis Colts HC Shane Steichen Miami Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel Plenty of former Longhorns were in attendance as well, plus royalty – Earl Campbell. Quandre Diggs, Alex Okafor, Fozzy Whittaker, Derrick Johnson and plenty of others. *** RB Keilan Robinson No 40-yard dash today for Keilan Robinson. I was a bit surprised, thinking he might use the home track to get into the 4.3's but hey, a 4.42 is in no way, shape or form a bad number for him. How about 20 reps on the bench today, the high number for any of the Longhorns to participate. Robinson was smooth in his receiving out of the backfield today as well. He caught all but one pass intended for him during the routes on air drills. Strong showing. WR Xavier Worthy Probably the best individual day of any of the participants today. Worthy showed tremendous hands and route-running ability, something he did not participate in while in Indianapolis after running a record-breaking 4.21 40-yard dash. Everything from Worthy today was crisp – routes, hands and after the catch. Worthy told reporters after the Pro Day he felt that NFL scouts had questions about that and he felt like he put on a good showing in front of those guys today. Worthy met with Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel and even Colts legend Reggie Wayne who was in attendance as well. WR Adonai Mitchell Mitchell only participated in the position drills today at the Pro Day. He did have two drops, something he also was hampered by in Indianapolis, however he had a tremendous diving catch in the end zone on a bomb by Quinn Ewers and received several positive remarks on his route running from scouts in attendance. At this point, Mitchell is firmly in the first round of the NFL Draft next month. WR Jordan Whittington Whittington did not do any agility drills and was limited in his routes during the position drills. There is a faux-Pro Day coming up April 14 in Austin that Whittington says he hopes to be 100% for where he will undergo all basic Combine testing prior to the NFL Draft. In the routes Whittington was able to participate in, he was 100% in hauling in passes his direction. TE Ja'Tavion Sanders I will be completely honest, it was not a great initial showing from JT Sanders. I am not sure if he was injured coming in or what, but until he got into his routes I was scratching my head a bit. Only eight reps on the bench press. A 29-inch vertical jump and only 9–6 on the broad jump. Those numbers might see a bit of a drop in his draft stock in all honesty. OL Christian Jones Had a good strong showing in the 3-cone drill, my unofficial hand time says it beat the 8.09 mark he came into the Pro Day with from his Combine performance. By the end of the day, Jones was the final Longhorn on the field with the media and scouts going through his final drills. He is solidified in the 4-5 round range. DL Byron Murphy I overheard one NFL scout say Murphy needed to ease off the throttle when going through a drill designed to display get-off and burst. That scout was half-joking, but nonetheless he was impressed. There were plenty oohs and ahhs when Murphy ran his circle drill and bag drills in front of the scouts today. If you want to know what a first round interior defensive lineman looks like, it is Byron Murphy. Murphy reportedly went 7.5 in the 3-cone drill. That mark would have been the second best of all DL at the combine. One NFL scout told me he feels bad for whoever is on the opposite side of Murphy when he gets a full head of steam. DL T'Vondre Sweat Sweat's weight was one of the hotter topics coming into today. I was told he weighed in at 367 pounds, a consistent mark he has been at since the Senior Bowl in Mobile. For Sweat, being able to do drills up and close with the NFL scouts was a big thing today. Yes, the times from the Combine weren't bad, but it is something different watching him move laterally and around cones when you are 15 feet away. All-in-all, it was a strong showing from Sweat today. I liked what I saw. LB Jaylan Ford I thought today was a big day for Jaylan Ford coming in. A tweak at the Combine meant he needed to put on good testing numbers for scouts to justify the tape. The 10–6 broad jump was a 5-inch increase from the Combine. Ford also completed 18 reps on the bench press as well. It was a good showing, but the change of direction drills really helped his case in my opinion. I clocked an unofficial 40-yard dash for Ford at 4.68. LB Jett Bush The first opportunity at impressing NFL Scouts came today for Jett Bush. Interestingly enough, he participated at both linebacker drills and also caught a ball out of the backfield during the throwing session. Who knows what that means going forward, but it was certainly noteworthy. Bush had a great vertical of 33-inches and combined that with a 10–2 broad jump. My unofficial hand-timed 40 put Bush in the high 4.7's. DB Ryan Watts NFL teams are split on where Watts projects at the next level. Watts told me he is getting evaluations at both cornerback and safety with NFL teams being split down the middle on where they have him on their board. An interesting note here is Watts had been dealing with a hamstring since the Kansas game he told me. Now at 100%, he is really able to show off the athlete he is. Of course, he his 4.53 in the 40, and a 40.5-inch vertical while in Indianapolis. Today, he added an 11–1 broad jump to his card as well. View full news

We will have clips and highlights tonight on the Longhorn Livestream.