CJ Vogel

We currently sit 32 days away from the beginning of spring football at The University of Texas. As our Gerry Hamilton has continued to say, this spring session will be one of the most anticipated spring football periods in decades. As another week of practice concludes, I wanted to share some notes on a couple of early enrollees on the offensive side of the ball as the group gets one week deeper into their college careers. *** The Texas offseason conditioning course changes throughout the week to provide different looks for each workout, but for the most part, there is a consistent approach in the following set-up: Mat Drills, Stations and gassers or 110's to round things up at the conclusion of the day. Torre Becton's staff has thrown in a number of agility drills set to improve change of direction speed, as well as focusing on acceleration out of breaks. This has remained a constant this offseason for anyone wondering. *** Starting on offense, we have continued to pound the drum for WR Ryan Wingo over the past few weeks, but man, I continue to hear very encouraging tidbits on the former five-star. He has all of the tools to get on the field right away. A surprise to me has been WR Freddie Dubose. I expected there to be a slow curve in development, though Dubose bought into the weight room immediately and is now sitting north of 185 pounds. Another steady riser. Speaking of newcomers that adopted the college weight room lifestyle – Jerrick Gibson is another name that deserves mentioning. No surprise obviously, but Gibson might be the most physically filled out back in the room at the moment. For QB Trey Owens, he is going the opposite in terms of weight to guys like Colin Simmons and Freddie Dubose. Owens weighed in at 238 pounds San Antonio for the All American Bowl at the beginning of January. When the spring roster is announced and released, it would not surprise me to see Owens sub-230. This might not come off as a big surprise, but Daniel Cruz has been a rabid animal in these workouts. He attacks each workout session very aggressively and has been mentioned as someone who brings the most out of his group when in team settings. Encouraging. The hope is to add another 10+ pounds to Brandon Baker's frame by the beginning of the season. Baker came to campus sitting right around 290 pounds, and word is the staff would prefer him north of 305 before kickoff this fall. View full news

A clip from CBS Sports' Barrett Sallee's podcast caught my attention earlier this morning. Former ESPN Gameday member David Pollack had some tremendous praise for Texas QB Quinn Ewers following the conclusion of his second season as the starting quarterback at Texas. Listen here.

Big time updates here

Yeahhhh, I like Ollie a lot. He is not a 99. There aren't many, if any, 99 overalls in the country. Michigan CB Will Johnson is probably the closest thing in my eyes, perhaps a Travis Hunter.

Lol, I'd love to see Rod on the sidelines

Florida under all day!

Good stuff Gerry! A+ prospect

I spoke with California QB guru Danny Hernandez earlier this morning following Texas' offer extension of 2026 Mission Hills QB Troy Huhn. Hernandez has a handful of up and coming prospects that are already making national headlines on the recruiting trail. Of course, he also trained former Texas QB Maalik Murphy who is now expected to be the starting quarterback at Duke this season. A quick rundown of some of the elite prospects coach Hernandez is working with right now: 2026 Nerbury Port QB Brady Smigiel – 5-star & No. 21 overall prospect in the class of 2026 2026 Newport Harbor QB Jadon O'Neal – 20 offers and counting 2026 Folsom QB Ryder Lyons – 24 offers 2026 Archbishop Riordan QB Michael Mitchell Jr. – 8 offers 2027 Lewisville (TX) QB Tre Williams As for my conversation with Coach Hernandez this morning, there is a ton of praise headed in the direction of Huhn as a prospect and player. *** Q: What were the early impressions of Huhn when you first started working with him? A: When I first got with him, he was tall obviously, but he had a pitching background in baseball. He was really long in his delivery. Kind of stridey and dippy in his stroke, but man I said, 'There is something here, for sure.' He is such a smart kid. (Hernandez added that Huhn really got to work on shortening his throwing mechanics and now it is a strength when talking to college coaches about his overall game.) Q: What is it about a pitching or baseball background that translates to the world of quarterbacking? A: It is always helpful when a guy has a baseball background. The biggest thing for me when I have a guy with a baseball background, especially if I get them pretty young, the thing that I am always trying to tell them is to not use our pitching mechanics, but let's use more of our hitting mechanics. Hitting mechanics are so much more similar to throwing a football... It is about being sudden and twitchy, doing some of those things, I think is a little more transferrable to hitting. Q: Where in the developmental stage is Huhn as a prospect? A: The other thing too with Troy, most quarterbacks are going to be a little bit older. Most of these guys are going to be 19 by the time they are graduating (high school), because they have been held back in eighth grade or whatever – it is pretty common with the QB position. Troy is not one of those guys. He is on the younger side of things with those guys – very similar to Maalik Murphy. Maalik was showing up to Texas young, he just turned 20 a few days ago as he heads into year three of college. (Cont.) Troy is the same situation. Young guy, so you look at it and say this guy is still pretty far from his ceiling. That is one of the things that is super intriguing. *** Coach Hernandez and I spoke a bit more about the potential that Huhn is showing so far in high school. Following his first career varsity start, Huhn threw for 16 touchdowns and 4 interceptions as a sophomore as he grew into his body at Mission Hills High School in California. As the individual workouts continue and the body carries on in the developmental path, Hernandez said he can absolutely see Huhn being a top three QB prospect in the country for the 2026 class. It was perfect timing this past fall when Huhn made his trip to Austin to watch the Longhorns in action. He was joined by his family and Coach Hernandez on the trip to watch Maalik Murphy start against Kansas State at DKR in what ended up being the best game of the season at home for the Longhorns. Cool moment as well for Coach Hernandez getting to see Maalik in action at Texas. One last quote I wanted to leave y'all with: "I think the world of the kid. He has a high football IQ and is extremely coachable. I honestly think this is going to be a top three guy in the country without a doubt." View full news

If he can hold 245, he will play. If he can get larger than that, look out SEC.

Look at Sark getting his staffers promotions! First Coach Akina and now Coach Gay 😂

Hope so!

Texas defensive analyst William Gay will not be making it to spring ball after being hired January 20. The Washington Commanders have swooped in and snagged the former Steelers analyst only a month into his time as a Longhorn. Gay is joining the Commanders as an assistant defensive backs coach. View full news

Turn me up!!

I can't wait! It's been teased for years and now we are finally so close to seeing the real thing.

It is finally happening! The long-awaited return of NCAA College Football video game will have its full reveal in May. A game I spent weeks – no, months – of my life grinding back in middle school and high school is finally returning! I for one, am over the moon about this news. I'll drop the username this summer and we can get some tournaments going!

Good find!

Huhn's Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/video/3/16222509/656f6276bd6b0f0f18d6ac4b

Huhn at the Kansas State game last fall.