Jeff Howe

A 5-pitch at-bat for Adrian Rodriguez ends with a strikeout. Two away.

Kimble Schuessler leads off the season by lining out to short. One down in the top of the first.

Texas is the designated road team for this one. The Longhorns will be wearing their road grays tonight.

The game is on FloSports. I'll be listening to the radio call.

The 2025 baseball season will begin roughly an hour from now at Globe Life Field in Arlington when No. 19 Texas takes on Louisville in the Shriners Children's College Showdown. Texas will face Ole Miss tomorrow and Oklahoma State on Sunday. Tonight's pitching matchup: Texas LHP Jared Spencer (6-0, 4.08) vs. Louisville RHP Patrick Forbes (0-1, 3.72)

Texas is going with Jared Spencer against Louisville tonight and Luke Harrison against Ole Miss on Saturday. The starter for Sunday’s game against Oklahoma State is TBD.

Only O’Hara and Zaharias are gone from the roster on the first day of practice.

I think that'll depend on two things: 1. How the offensive line comes together. 2. Arch's comfort with the RPO game to make the threat of him pulling the ball in and running it less predictable. I see Sark controlling it as much as he can. Arch's ability to extend plays with his legs and break off explosive plays on scrambles is something out of his control, so I can see Sark being measured with how he uses Arch on designed runs.

Everything was on schedule at last check.

That's... Something.

I'm excited about what Wingo can do with more touches. I don't want to oversell the quarterback runs with Arch, but the scrambling ability he brings to the table can be a real weapon for Texas. It could provide a huge boost early in the season, with the offensive line needing time to come together.

No matter how you slice it, Texas had one of the most explosive offenses in the country in 2024. Steve Sarkisian’s attack finished among college football’s top 35 offenses last season in yards per play (6.21). No offense generated more plays of 20 yards or more than the Longhorns, leading FBS with 108 while finishing No. 3 in the country in 20-yard gains per game (6.75), trailing only Miami (7.62) and Ole Miss (7.39). While the offense’s average yards per play declined from 2023 (6.67), Texas generated more than an additional 20-yard gain per game en route to a 13-3 record compared to the previous season (5.57 20-yard gains per game). A veteran quarterback and an experienced offensive line made the conditions ripe for the Longhorns to torch defenses, but that’s only part of the equation. Sarkisian’s offense is designed so that the ball finds different guys at different times. That team-first mentality accounts for the other half of the formula that kept Texas chugging along after losing its top five producers of 20-yard gains from one season to the next with Jonathon Brooks (14), Xavier Worthy (14), Ja’Tavion Sanders (12), Adonai Mitchell (11) and Jordan Whittington (9) counting among the school-record 11 selections in the 2024 NFL Draft. Based on the offense’s leaderboard for 20-yard gains in 2024, the Longhorns must replace their four most explosive players: Matthew Golden (22), Gunnar Helm (15), Jaydon Blue (12) and Isaiah Bond. It’s a daunting task, but the returns of DeAndre Moore Jr., Ryan Wingo and Quintrevion Wisner (10 plays from scrimmage of at least 20 yards) cushion the blow, especially when looking at everybody’s production per touch. Golden led the Texas offense by recording a 20-yard gain once every 2.64 touches. The next most explosive Longhorn on a per-touch basis was Wingo, who ripped off 20 yards or more from scrimmage on one out of every 3.4 touches. Bond (a 20-yard gain once every 3.45 touches), Moore (3.9), Helm (4), Arch Manning (8.33), Blue (14.67) and Wisner (27) rounded out the explosive play production. The scrambling ability of Manning, who had three runs of 20 yards or more on just 25 official attempts, and the potential he’s flashed on designed runs bring an explosive element by way of the quarterback running game in a style not seen on the Forty Acres since Colt McCoy. Three of Wingo’s 20-yard gains came on the ground. Until Blue’s 77-yard touchdown secured a first-round College Football Playoff win over Clemson, Manning and Wingo had a hand in the offense’s four longest plays from scrimmage: a 75-yard Manning-to-Wingo touchdown pass and Manning’s 67-yard touchdown run against UTSA; a 56-yard pass from Manning to Bond against ULM; and Wingo’s 55-yard run against Michigan. With Wingo, Moore and Wisner back, Manning taking over behind center and C.J. Baxter returning from injury, the Texas offense has plenty of big-play potential. Sarkisian's creation of advantageous situations for the playmakers who must touch the football and those players coming through when called upon will go a long way toward determining whether or not the Longhorns are in the national championship mix again in 2025. View full news story

Belyeu’s health is why Schloss isn’t announcing a lineup today. He’s also not ready to announce his rotation for this weekend.

The Texas outfielder has been “off and on sick” recently, according to Jim Schlossnagle. Belyeu was cleared for full activities yesterday, but Schloss said he’s unsure right now what Belyeu’s availability will be for this weekend’s three games at Globe Life Field to open the 2025 season.

Yes, Santos already left. I’ll check my initial roster when I get to my car. I’m at Disch-Falk right now for team media day.

Honestly, I wasn't in the group who thought he had a chance to be the guy until I watched him compete his tail off at the state basketball tournament. Colt was a better natural athlete than he was credited for being.

A few things to file away from the 2005 class, two decades later: 1. Culture matters 2. When in doubt, recruit good players with good football character 3. Hitting on a quarterback makes it easier for everything else to come together 3.

National Signing Day occurred on Wednesday without fanfare for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. That’s a good thing, considering the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in the 2025 cycle was wrapped up before Texas took on Georgia in the SEC Championship on Dec. 7. The Longhorns haven’t recruited at their current pace since Mack Brown was stacking one elite class on top of another early in his 16-season tenure. The 1999 and 2002 cycles produced the nation’s top-ranked hauls, setting the foundation for nine consecutive seasons with 10 or more victories, two Big 12 titles and a national championship. With that said, Texas fans weren’t on Cloud 9 when Brown and his staff put the 2005 recruiting cycle to bed. When Brown sat down for the first time to break down a 14-man class in front of the assembled press 20 years ago, the questions had to do more with who the Longhorns didn’t get. Two elite out-of-state prospects — quarterback Ryan Perrilloux (Reserve, La./East St. John) and wide receiver Fred Rouse (Tallahassee, Fla./Lincoln) — spurned Texas at the last minute, choosing instead to stay closer to home and sign with LSU and Florida State, respectively. The Longhorns also lost a hotly-contested battle with Texas A&M for Alief Taylor tight end Martellus Bennett, one of the top prospects in the Lone Star State. When the dust settled, Rivals.com ranked the class No. 20 nationally. Scout.com was a little more generous, ranking Brown’s seventh full-cycle class No. 13, but the second-winningest coach in school history had to let it be known that he had “no disappointment in guys that don't come.” “Things have a way of working out and guys go to the places they need to go to for whatever reason,” Brown said on Feb. 2, a few weeks after Dusty Mangum’s walk-off field goal lifted Texas to a memorable Rose Bowl win over Michigan on New Year’s Day. “We’re excited about the ones we got.” Who the Longhorns got in 2005 made up arguably the best class Brown ever signed. From a pound-for-pound standpoint, it’s hard to argue against a class in which half of the recruits were drafted or played at least one NFL season. We’re not talking about fringe players, either. Cushioning the 11th-hour blows Texas suffered by losing Perrilloux, Rouse and Bennett were Colt McCoy, Quan Cosby and Jermichael Finley. Twenty years later, they’re still among the all-time best Longhorns to play their respective positions. McCoy, Finley, Jamaal Charles and Roy Miller were selected within the first three rounds of the NFL draft. Henry Melton transitioned to the defensive line late in his career and became a Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears. Roddrick Muckleroy was a two-time All-Big 12 linebacker and a fourth-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010. Chris Hall and Charlie Tanner were multiple-year starters along the offensive line, while defensive lineman Aaron Lewis started 13 games over the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The 2005 class proved that it doesn’t matter how a recruiting class looks on signing day if the signees themselves don’t develop. The program’s culture was at a place in 2005 where the 14 newcomers learned the standard immediately and what must be done to protect it daily. Sarkisian and Texas have almost all of the superbly talented 2025 class on campus right now, going through winter conditioning ahead of spring practice. The 22 signees who enrolled early are joining a program that’s made consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff semifinals thanks to outstanding player development. The conditions are as ripe as they were 20 years ago for the Longhorns to maximize their recruiting class. If the trend of exceptional player development continues, the 2025 class will have a historical significance long beyond a recruiting cycle. View full news story

Florence, Texas, America

Nolan Schubart of Oklahoma State will be one of the best players Texas sees this season. Expected to be a high draft pick this summer.

In today’s college baseball, hosting a regional is my measuring stick for whether or not you had a good year. It’s a long season, but there’s a lot to like about this team.

This is the third time Tre has won the conference honor this season and the second week in a row.