Jeff Howe

If I were a Rockets fan, I'd be satisfied that they got the deal done without giving up Sengun or Thompson.

Like I said, I could be wrong. I'll admit the Ray Allen comment was just a bad take. But I'm tempering expectations on what Houston can get out of KD at his age and with his injury history.

Steve Sarkisian’s Texas organization is prioritizing three areas when recruiting high school prospects and devoting resources for talent acquisition: quarterbacks, top-notch linemen who can protect the quarterback and blue-chip defenders who can disrupt opposing quarterbacks. The approach was driven home on a weekend when Dia Bell (Plantation, Fla./American Heritage) was named MVP of the 2025 Elite 11 competition. The Longhorns added another body to what could evolve into a historic defensive line haul, reeling in Vodney Cleveland (Birmingham, Ala./Parker) while maintaining the lead in the race for Kendall Guervil (Fort Myers, Fla.). Richard Wesley’s (Chatsworth, Calif./Sierra Canyon) surprise commitment was arguably a bigger recruiting boon than if Texas had landed Dre Quinn (Atlanta, Ga./Buford) last Thursday. The Longhorns are one of three teams left standing for Trenton Henderson (Pensacola, Fla./Catholic) and remain in the running for Temple’s Jamarion Carlton. Texas also got the last in-person word with North Crowley offensive tackle John Turntine III ahead of his July 4 decision. Melissa’s Max Wright and Klein’s Nicholas Robertson were on campus with Turntine, who, along with Mansfield Lake Ridge’s Felix Ojo and Malakai Lee (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kamehameha), is one of three elite offensive tackles Kyle Flood is aggressively pursuing. It’s fun to listen to Sarkisian, Flood and other coaches on the staff tout the program’s desire to recruit “big humans.” The trope, however, is a way of life. Sarkisian, general manager Brandon Harris, director of player personnel JM Jones and the rest of the organization’s approach to roster building in college football has the staying power needed to keep Texas in the national championship hunt for the foreseeable future. While the Longhorns won’t win every battle for coveted players who line up closest to the football, they’re winning enough of them to keep accelerating the program’s growth from Sarkisian’s forgettable 5-7 debut to producing an FBS-leading 23 NFL draft picks from clubs that won a combined 25 games and reached the College Football Playoff semifinals over the last two seasons. Of those 23 draft choices, 10 of them manned one of the Sarkisian regime’s foundational positions: one quarterback (Quinn Ewers); one EDGE (Barryn Sorrell); four offensive linemen (Kelvin Banks Jr., Hayden Conner, Christian Jones and Cameron Williams); and four interior defensive linemen (Vernon Broughton, Alfred Collins, Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat). Bell is next in line behind Trey Owens and KJ Lacey to succeed Arch Manning. The offensive line has avoided heavy attrition under Flood and has benefited from evaluation wins with undervalued recruits, particularly what can be gleaned from Trevor Goosby's snaps last season and the early returns on guys like Nick Brooks and Nate Kibble. Now, it's time for Kenny Baker and LaAllen Clark to set up their respective rooms for bright futures. Texas is rightfully taking advantage of a 2026 cycle chock-full of difference-making defensive linemen, building the kind of roster that won't need five tackles from the portal to avoid massive gaps in the talent pipeline. Missing out on Carthage's KJ Edwards was a significant loss, especially considering how much Sarkisian values well-rounded running backs in his offense. The battles for Jalen Lott and Kaydon Finley could end with Texas losing to out-of-state competition (Oregon or USC for Lott and Notre Dame for Finley), which wouldn't be ideal scenarios for recruits with strong family ties to the Forty Acres. Still, since NIL resources aren’t limitless, the Longhorns would rather do what it takes to win line-of-scrimmage recruitments and, if necessary, snag as-needed skill talent from the transfer portal. It's more feasible to go into the portal and come out with Matthew Golden or Adonai Mitchell as opposed to using the significant capital it would take to secure a player capable of immediately impacting the trenches, assuming those types of players are available. There’s no wrong way to build a winning program. Nevertheless, it’s hard to argue against Sarkisian’s plan to keep Texas in the top tier of annual contenders to win the SEC and the CFP. View full news story

I think it’s Sengun, followed by Thompson. I just don’t think asking 37-year-old Kevin Durant to play more than 35 minutes per game is good for him or the Rockets. I could be wrong, but managing Durant’s minutes so that he’s got gas in the tank for high-leverage possessions in the playoffs is far more important than letting him continue to be what he’s been (36.5 MPG and 26.6 PPG last season in 62 games) and hoping he holds up.

That's fair. I'm far more concerned with Texas having a competent glove at shortstop than I am with recruiting a bat to play there.

That's the way things are trending. From what I've gathered, he needs to take advantage of what little stock he has left.

Will always be too soon.

It's a concern, but I don't think the staff would've pursued him if they felt they had a better shortstop option on the roster.

A significant stat for an SEC hitter.

We hinted that good news was on the way regarding the Longhorns' middle infield. Becerra's commitment addresses a significant position of need in 2026. With Becerra, Texas isn't restricted to seeing if Ethan Mendoza can transition to shortstop or seeing if Adrian Rodriguez can play there.

You can always shoot a message to one of the mods requesting that a thread be deleted. No worries on this one, though.

Point is he’s not the default No. 1 option, which is OK because the Rockets don’t need him to be that guy.

He's smart enough to know what he is and what he isn't at this point in his career.

It’s less about Becker’s not coming to Texas, that concerns me. The Longhorns need a glove upgrade at shortstop after Flores’ struggles last season.

O’Connor had a good program at Virginia. They just underachieved this past season.

Or anywhere else, for that matter. Becker, a prized shortstop target in the transfer portal, is returning to Virginia for what’s expected to be his final collegiate season, sources confirmed to OTF on Sunday. Texas remains on the hunt for a shortstop for the 2026 season.

Yep. Think of KD’s role like the one the Heat had for Ray Allen in 2013. They don’t need him to be the player he was 10 years ago. The player he is now can get them closer to a title.

Props to the Suns for getting a better haul for KD than what the Mavs got for Luka.

I merged the two Guervil threads, in case you need to find the one started by Bevo92.

The blue-chip defensive line recruit from Fort Myers (Fla.) has a commitment date set for July 2. He made the note part of his Instagram story while also posting content from his official visit to Texas.

Wife and I started using the EveryDollar app from Dave Ramsey a few months ago. It's actually helped us save more than I thought it would.

I like that you’ve got some margin for error with him. If tight end doesn’t work out, flip him over to EDGE and see if it clicks.

The sad trombone is at the ready whenever the Razorbacks make it to Omaha.