Jeff Howe

OTF learned that Jim Schlossnagle and the Longhorns have picked up a verbal commitment from 2027 OF/RHP JJ Utash. The 6-foot-4-inch, 205-pound two-way prospect from New Mexico is one of the top 2027 prospects in the country.

I slept on this after finishing it yesterday and concluded that the one thing you get with inexperienced players is inconsistent play. Even the most talented players I've seen come through the program had points in their careers when you didn't know what you'd get from them from one game to the next. That's the tough thing with an inexperienced team. The ceiling is high for a lot of the pieces Texas has, but it could take a minute for the floor to come up to where the end results aren't so erratic.

AUSTIN, Texas — Steve Sarkisian wasn’t far from the truth when he joked on Monday about Colin Simmons leading the nation in penalties. According to Pro Football Focus, the Texas EDGE has been assessed with four penalties through two games, tying him with Ohio safety Jalen Thomeson and Colorado State EDGE JaQues Evans for the FBS lead. The number of penalties charged to Simmons is almost equal to the team-leading five pressures PFF has credited him with causing. Simmons (five tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks and two quarterback hurries) is off to a slow start relative to the lofty preseason expectations placed upon him. With that said, he’s had a bigger impact heading into the seventh-ranked Longhorns’ game against UTEP on Saturday (3:15 p.m., SEC Network) than what his raw numbers indicate. Simmons’ PFF pass rush grade of 84.2 is tied for No. 8 in the SEC (No. 36 nationally). His 10.3 PFF pass rush productivity rating (a formula that combines sacks, hits and hurries relative to how many times someone rushes the passer) is tied for the 25th-best in the conference, with Ty’Anthony Smith (18.8), Anthony Hill Jr. (18.2) and Brad Spence (12.5) ahead of Simmons among Texas defenders. Simmons’ win percentage (percentage of "wins" against blocking on non-penalty pass rush snaps) of 31 trails only the percentages recorded by Spence (37.5) and Trey Moore (31.3) for the third-best tally on the Longhorn defense. The PFF numbers indicate Simmons isn't too far away from becoming the pass-rushing force Texas needs him to be. The most significant hurdle for Simmons to clear on his way there could be cutting down on the penalties he’s drawing, which could be occurring due to, as Sarkisian said, the reigning Shaun Alexander Award winner “trying a little too hard.” “He's trying to jump the snap count,” Sarkisian said. “He's just got to be more mindful.” While pointing out that Simmons had no penalties and combined with Maraad Watson for a sack in the second half of last Saturday’s 38-7 win over San Jose State, Sarkisian said the key to Simmons unlocking his game-changing presence is as simple as settling down and focusing on his role within Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense. “You don't get 10 sacks in one play,” Sarkisian said. “You play within the confines of the defense. You play within the confines of the other defensive linemen, of when your rush attempts are there and how to play. You apply the game plan. “I thought we missed three sacks in this game,” he added. Simmons and Brad Spence were responsible for two of the three missed opportunities Sarkisian said the Longhorns had against the Spartans to get quarterback Walker Eget on the ground. “Our whole rush plan, if you were an edge rusher, was to rush to the upfield shoulder of the quarterback,” Sarkisian said. “All over the tape, when he got pressure, he scrambled around. He never went up in the pocket. Well, we didn't do that. We came flat and he ran around us three times. “We have to apply the things that we work on and practice.” When asked on Monday what he could do or say to help get Simmons going, Ethan Burke said that the Longhorns have only played their “first two games of a long season.” The third game against the Miners pits the Texas pass rushers against well-traveled quarterback Malachi Nelson, who has only been pressured on 12 of his 56 dropbacks (17.6 percent through two games). Nelson is 1-for-7 for 49 yards and has been sacked three times under pressure, according to PFF. If Simmons follows the advice Sarkisian and Burke have offered up publicly, he can put the struggles he's experienced through the first two games of his sophomore season in the rearview mirror. “I think he’s going to be just fine,” Burke said of Simmons. “Something I would say is just be confident and play fast. I think he will.” View full news story

Yes. He was in on the Jerrick Gibson fumble late in the game.

AUSTIN, Texas — When the dust settled on last Saturday’s 38-7 win over San Jose State, Steve Sarkisian parked himself in front of a television at home with his son, Amayas, for the afternoon and evening slate of college football games. Sarkisian's respite came after No. 7 Texas was assessed the second-highest number of single-game penalties (12) and yards (112) in his tenure. Even while achieving a 31-point margin of victory over the Spartans, the Longhorns fell short of their championship standard. Texas struggled at times to get out of its way at the same time as No. 2 Penn State was making a 34-0 win over FIU “harder than it needed to be in a lot of areas,” coach James Franklin said afterward. “Get better” was Georgia’s message after the Bulldogs slugged through a 90-plus-minute weather delay in a 28-6 win over Austin Peay. Clemson trailed Troy at home, 7-0, when play was stopped due to the weather. The Tigers rallied for a 27-16 victory, avoiding what would’ve been a disastrous 0-2 start to a season that coach Dabo Swinney’s team entered with sky-high expectations. “This group really hadn’t had the rat poison,” Swinney said on Monday. The two-time national championship-winning coach put his own twist on a metaphor made famous by Bill Parcells and Nick Saban to summarize his team's struggles. “They’ve just had the ‘you suck’ poison. The Tigers’ only loss remains a 17-10 defeat at the hands of LSU in the season opener. The Bayou Bengals dealt with their own issues in Week 2, winning a 23-7 decision over Louisiana Tech, after which coach Brian Kelly saying he wasn't “happy with the production across the board.” The issues in State College, Athens, Clemson and Baton Rouge don’t absolve the Longhorns from the mistakes they must fix in their two remaining non-conference games before opening SEC play in the Swamp against Florida on Oct. 4. Still, it can’t hurt Sarkisian, his coaches or his players to know that they’re not the only highly-ranked team dealing with varying degrees of issues through two games. “You think, 'Is this just us? Are we screwed up?' Well, some pretty good teams were struggling,” Sarkisian said. “There were some other teams that looked really good. Maybe they're a little ahead of the curve? I don't know. “I just trust in our process of getting our guys ready to go." Even though Trevor Goosby and Arch Manning were among the talented prospects waiting in the wings to move up the depth chart into more significant roles in 2025, Texas only returned 40 percent of its offensive production from a 13-win, College Football Playoff semifinalist. ESPN’s Bill Connelly ranked the Longhorn offense No. 103 nationally in returning production, which contributed to Texas ranking No. 81 in overall returning experience. The multi-year impact of the transfer portal and the expiration of pandemic-related eligibility extensions made the conditions ripe for inexperience to be a significant problem across college football. According to Connelly, the national average for returning overall experience at the FBS level has declined every season from a 76.7% mark in 2021 down to a 53.2% national average in 2025 (with 51 percent of the production back from 2024, the Longhorns are below the national average). The lack of experience, even for one of the most talented rosters in the country, could explain why adjectives like 'sloppy' and 'undisciplined' accurately describe the product Texas has put on the field through two games. It could also be the root the Longhorns, as Sarkisian put it on Monday, giving in to human nature and failing to show up with the required levels of mental intensity and focus for the San Jose State game. “You come off a really big game on the road for your season opener and human nature is, 'Let's take a deep breath and relax.' We don't get to relax,” Sarkisian said. “Our mental intensity needs to be as high as it needs to be. We need to play with the right type of discipline throughout the week — on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That discipline is what's going to lead to the proper habits of how we practice, which, ultimately, will lead to the consistency in our play, which will lead to the growth that all of us need to make." The process of showing up every day with the right frame of mind, Sarkisian said, starts with him and the coaches, a group dealing with their own growing pains. Sarkisian’s Texas staff wouldn’t be the first to miscalculate the issues inexperience can create after coaching clubs chock-full of talented veterans to the doorstep of the national championship game each of the last two seasons. If the Longhorns want to find out whether or not the third time is the charm, things need to come together sooner rather than later and result in a cleaner, more detail-oriented product on the field. For that to happen, Texas must show for Saturday’s game against UTEP (3:15 p.m., SEC Network) more prepared to play to its lofty internal standard compared to how it handled last weekend's home opener. “Our standard is the only scoreboard that matters,” Sarkisian said. “We've got to play to our standard. The scoreboard up there will take care of itself.” View full news story

Oklahoma, A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State and Missouri are the repeat opponents from last season.

The all-timer of halftime speeches:

Similar to a poem Marv Levy, who just celebrated his 100th birthday, said best described the mentality of his Bills teams. He once said it was from a book of poetry his mother gave him when he enlisted in the Army. https://youtube.com/shorts/-M-obBl1BQA?si=dxI5i9rRiG27Vcrm

Nothing was said about Taaffe after the game. If he's dealing with anything, we should start to hear something on Sunday.

From the postgame press conference today... Reporter: "Steve, the TV broadcast showed Arch grimacing a few times when he released the ball. Is that just something he does, or is he dealing with something?" Sark: "I don't know. News to me."

It’s hard to sustain drives when you’re constantly putting yourself behind the chains with penalties.

Sark was asked about it after the game. His response: “I don’t know. News to me.”

We’re done with the back and forth bickering in this thread. If you have something to say to each other, do it somewhere else.

Sark talked at length about him in the postgame and didn’t mention an injury. Plus, he looked fine after the game.

Simmons appears to be fine. At least there was no mention of him from Sark as far as an injury goes. Sark didn't confirm anything on Moore, other than he got dinged and they held him out.

Steve Sarkisian has made it clear that he’s playing the long game when it comes to depth and managing injuries, which is why No. 7 Texas was without a few key players for Saturday’s 38-7 win over San Jose State at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Running back Quintrevion Wisner, who rushed for a game-high 86 yards in a season-opening road loss to Ohio State, is dealing with a leg injury. Not wanting to “force the issue with him,” Sarkisian said, Wisner watched CJ Baxter Jr. (13 carries for 64 yards), Jerrick Gibson (seven carries for 38 yards) and Christian Clark (23 yards on four carries) lead the rushing attack from the sideline. “I wanted Christian to play more; I wanted Jerrick to get opportunities,” Sarkisian said. “It worked out for us that way.” The Longhorns were also without defensive tackle Alex January and wide receiver Emmett Mosley V, neither of whom dressed out for the game. OTF has learned that January’s injury absence could potentially extend into next Saturday’s home game against UTEP (3:15 p.m., SEC Network). “Could we have pressed him into action or not? I know we've got a really deep defensive line room. Again, I think about the big picture here with a lot of these injuries, especially early in the season,” Sarkisian said regarding January’s status. “I think about the long road that we're hoping to go on, I think about the depth on our roster and I just don't feel like sometimes we have to press guys into action that aren't healthy enough, or that could further injure themselves. The idea was to hold him and then play some of these other guys, which we were able to do.” During the game, DeAndre Moore Jr. appeared to catch an inadvertent fist to his head while being tackled after receiving a screen pass from Arch Manning, forcing him to leave the game early in the third quarter. Moore departed for the locker room after he was examined inside the sideline medical tent, but Sarkisian didn’t confirm the junior wide receiver’s injury after the game. “I couldn't see it from where it occurred, but he definitely got dinged,” Sarkisian said. “We held him after that.” View full news story

Seventh-ranked Texas opened the 2025 home schedule by checking a lot of boxes in Saturday’s 38-7 win over San Jose State. Arch Manning threw for 295 yards and accounted for five touchdowns (four passing and one rushing), quarterbacking an offense that racked up 472 yards (7.3 yards per play). Parker Livingstone recorded the first 100-yard game of his young career (128 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions) and CJ Baxter Jr. (13 carries for 64 yards) paced the running game, which averaged 5.2 sack-adjusted yards per attempt (162 yards gained on 31 non-sack rushing attempts). Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense forced four turnovers (two fumbles forced by Anthony Hill Jr., one forced by Ty’Anthony Smith and an interception by Jaylon Guilbeau), which the offense turned into 21 points. The Longhorns limited the Spartans to a combined 4-for-17 effort on third and fourth down (4-for-15 on third down) and held them under 100 yards on the ground (85 total, 2.9 yards per attempt). With that said, the undisciplined, sloppy nature that clouded the 31-point margin of victory is best summarized by how the offense bookended the game. DeAndre Moore Jr.’s 28-yard gain on a flip pass from Manning on the first play from scrimmage was negated because of a holding penalty. Jerrick Gibson fumbled at the end of a 6-yard gain in the closing seconds of the game, marking the offense’s second turnover near the red zone. The toughest opponent Texas faced on Saturday was itself, and the Longhorns couldn’t get out of their way for long stretches of the game. — There’s no way to sugarcoat 12 penalties for 115 yards. Whether the infractions were committed before or after the snap, Texas has proven itself to be a sloppy, undisciplined team eight quarters into the season. The Longhorns wanted to put a cleaner product on the field than what it showed against Ohio State, but the mission wasn’t accomplished on Saturday. — Along with penalties, Texas must be better situationally. Manning’s most egregious mistake of the game was trying to throw a ball away late in the first half, which was intercepted near the goal line. While Gibson’s fumble didn’t count as a turnover in the red zone, the Longhorns have scored three touchdowns on six red-zone possessions through two games. Texas is now 7-for-26 on third down on the season. The offense was 2-for-12 on third down (average to-go distance of 9.7 yards), including 0-for-6 on third-and-9 or longer. Manning’s interception, a situation in which he’ll hopefully take the sack and live to fight another down in the future, came with 38 seconds left in the second quarter. For the second time in as many games, the Longhorns failed to get points in a two-minute situation with the opponent set to receive the second-half kickoff. — I usually don’t mind the aggressiveness to come after a punt, but in a scoreless game, and with an offense in desperate need of confidence, the 15-yard penalty Texas was assessed for roughing the punter brought the defense back on the field instead of the offense opening its third possession on the plus side of the field. — Manning (19-for-30 throwing the football) had moments where he played with confidence, stood his ground in the pocket and delivered the ball where it needed to go. The redshirt sophomore was by no means perfect, but the chemistry he’s building with Livingstone and Jack Endries (52 yards and a touchdown on two receptions) can go a long way toward laying the 2025 passing game's foundation. — Moore, who left the game with an undisclosed injury, and Ryan Wingo combined to catch eight balls for 60 yards on 12 targets. While Moore’s longest gain of the day was wiped out due to a penalty and Wingo dropped what could’ve been a long third-down conversion on a ball Manning put on the money, the attention Wingo drew on a post/corner combination route and Moore’s motion near the goal line opened windows on Livingstone’s two touchdown receptions. — San Jose State’s tight defensive alignment made it tougher for Texas to run the ball than it should’ve been against a defense that was gashed on the ground by Central Michigan (236 yards allowed). Still, it seemed like the Longhorn offensive line lacked a sense of urgency in the running game, and the Spartans won their share of one-on-one battles, which resulted in four tackles for loss and more pressure on Manning (six hurries) than expected. Saturday’s performance by the offensive line didn’t measure up to the effort in Columbus. — After two games, the identity of the offense remains a mystery. Going into the season, there was expected to be a shift away from the quick-game-heavy offense Quinn Ewers operated. The short game was largely a non-factor on Saturday, the intermediate game has been erratic and the offense hasn’t connected on enough vertical shots to lean on the deep ball. The passing game is more of a work in progress than I expected it to be, even this early. — For the most part, the defense seemed willing to let San Jose State run the football and connect on short passes. Kwiatkowski’s plan to rely on a light box to defend the run while trying to limit yards after the catch got the job done. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t expect Texas to be as bland as it was on Saturday against the better offenses it’ll face in the SEC. — Whether the Longhorns' miscues can be chalked up to growing pains or not, the most frustrating aspect regarding the seemingly endless series of self-inflicted wounds is what the on-field product looked like when Texas had everything clicking. The Longhorns scored 28 points between the 4:10 mark of the first quarter and when there was 12:56 left on the clock in the second quarter, 21 of which came off turnovers. Unfortunately, the time surrounding the 7:14 blitzkrieg was riddled with mistakes that Texas must eliminate to be the type of team it wants to be by season’s end. View full news story

No doubt. Ready to see a clean performance from the Longhorns.

Time to put Ohio State in the rearview mirror and start seeing some growth from the Longhorns.