Jeff Howe

We'll get a final report 90 minutes before kickoff tomorrow.

Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was downgraded to doubtful for Saturday’s home game against Arkansas (2:30 p.m., ABC) on Friday’s SEC student-athlete availability report. The good news for the Longhorns is that wide receiver Ryan Wingo, who has been dealing with a thumb injury he sustained in the team’s 34-31 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 1, was off the report. He was listed as probable on Wednesday and Thursday. The bad news, however, is that Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) could have to face an explosive Razorback offense without one of the top defensive players in the country if Hill can’t go. Steve Sarkisian said on Thursday that Hill had been limited in practice after suffering a hand injury in last Saturday's 35-10 road loss to Georgia. "We're kind of taking this day-by-day with him to see kinda how he feels towards the end of the week," Sarkisian said. "The beauty of it for Ant — he's played so much football for us that you can get a lot of reps done throughout a walkthrough to see if he's healthy enough to go. The walkthrough reps, I think, can carry over into a ballgame." View full news story

Thought I'd put together some pregame food for thought on the Texas defense.

It’s been a tough second half of the season for the Texas secondary. What has perhaps been most disappointing regarding Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense on the back end is the number of explosive plays the Longhorns have allowed through the air over their last three games. In wins over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, along with last Saturday’s loss to Georgia, No. 17 Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) has surrendered 28 completions of 15 or more yards, five of which have gone for more than 30 yards. The Longhorns only allowed 27 explosive pass completions through the first six games of the season, with the number of 30-plus-yard pass plays by their last three opponents matching the output of their first six. “We have got to get that number back down,” Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. “Explosive passes don't always occur when they throw it over your head. Now, we've got a couple of those, but to me, it's more about our ability to get people on the ground when they get completions. When you start talking about playing in space, you start talking about leveraging [the football] when you're tackling, when you start talking about populating the ball, when you start talking about using proper angles when you have a second tackler to force the cutback or using the sidelines, those are things that we've got to improve upon.” It will be easier said than done to clean things up against an Arkansas offense that enters Saturday’s game (2:30 p.m., ABC) with the fourth-most pass completions of 20 or more yards (42) and 30-plus yards (19) in the SEC. Still, a defense that’s tied for the fewest pass breakups (17) in the SEC during conference play must be around the football more often to maximize the impact of a pass rush that’s one of the best in the country. Texas averages 3.6 sacks per game, which is No. 3 nationally. The Longhorns boast Pro Football Focus’ fourth-highest-graded FBS pass rush and, according to CollegeFootballData.com, are No. 9 in the country in front-seven havoc rate (a per-snap percentage of a defense’s tackles for loss, sacks, pass breakups, interceptions and forced fumbles recorded by front-seven defenders). Whatever was tweaked behind the scenes heading into the penultimate game of the regular season must result in better synergy between the pressure and coverage elements of the Texas defense for the Longhorns to keep one of the nation’s most explosive offenses from running up and down the field. *** Especially if Anthony Hill Jr.'s hand injury limits him or forces him to miss the game with the Razorbacks, the conundrum Kwiatkowski faces is not having the luxury of utilizing additional resources to defend the Arkansas (2-8, 0-6) passing game. While Bobby Petrino’s offense is sixth in the country in rushing yards per attempt (5.89) and 19th in rushing yards per game (205.4), the metric that shows where Texas will be challenged is line yards per carry, which calculates the amount of rushing yardage attributed to the offensive line using weighted percentages. The Razorbacks lead the SEC and rank sixth in the FBS with an average of 3.468 line yards per carry, meaning the Longhorns can’t count on defending the run with a light box against one of the nation’s most efficient and impactful run-blocking offensive lines. *** Furthermore, Hill’s availability could significantly impact how Texas defends Taylen Green. Green’s season-long PFF grade as a runner is 92.3, the highest among FBS quarterbacks, a category in which he ranks fourth in rushing yards gained (911) and sixth in yards after contact (473). Green is tied for 12th among FBS quarterbacks in missed tackles forced (26) while leading the country in gains from scrimmage of 10 or more yards (38) and ranking second in yards gained on scrambles (431). Green’s yardage gained is split almost evenly between scrambles and designed runs (480 yards, which ranks 11th among FBS quarterbacks). Petrino incorporated a slew of quarterback runs within a traditional pro-style offense when he coached Lamar Jackson to a Heisman Trophy-winning season at Louisville in 2016, something he continues to do. “He's doing the same thing with Green,” Sarkisian said on Thursday. “You talk about a coach's versatility and [being] willing to evolve, I give him a ton of credit on that because he was not stuck in his ways. “He forces you to defend a lot of different things.” View full news story

Hard bone!

They only won because Bobby Hill ran out of eligibility and could no longer lead to the Heimlich County Community College meats judging team to victory.

For me, the Desmond Howard situation is likely a case of him getting intel he thought was worth running with and posting something on social media. Whether there was malicious intent there, to me, is irrelevant and it’s more of a matter of the validity of his source and whether he vetted it or not. In my experience, these things aren’t as nuanced as someone might think. More often than not, someone simply ran with bad intel they thought was good.

I'm assuming that his decision to leave the team and redshirt was based on advice from his representation regarding his NFL future. Preserving his last season of eligibility to transfer to a Power Four school is less about an NIL check and more about maximizing his draft stock.

The realistic pool of college coaches isn't as deep as maybe some folks making decisions at other programs thought it would be. Throw in a shallow pool of proven candidates for NFL jobs and those who don't get their top choice could be going pretty far down the wish list to hire a coach.

It's been a while, I'll admit that.