Jeff Howe

Blake reported this a while back and we’ve been mentioning it when talking about the Texas pitching staff in 2026, but it’s official (per Kendall Rogers) that the Longhorns are welcoming back Max Grubbs, Luke Harrison and Ruger Riojas for the 2026 season. The plan is for Harrison to be back in the Saturday role next season. *** UPDATE: The return of Grubbs, Harrison and Riojas is officially official

If you’ve been following Gerry’s basketball posts regarding one more piece Sean Miller has been looking to add to the roster for the 2025-26 season and beyond, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. *** UPDATE: Duru is officially a Longhorn (press release is attached below) Declan Duru Jr. has signed an Athletic Scholarship Agreement (ASA) to play basketball next season at The University of Texas, head coach Sean Miller announced Wednesday. Duru, who spent the last five years with Real Madrid in the program’s youth development system in Spain, will join the Longhorns as a true freshman for the upcoming 2025-26 season. Duru (6-9, 225), a forward who is originally from Munich, Germany, played for Real Madrid B and the Real Madrid U19 team last season. He played in seven contests for Real Madrid U19 in 2024-25 and averaged 12.0 points and 5.4 rebounds in 25.0 minutes per game while converting 49.2-percent (29-59) from the floor, including a 41.9-percent mark (13-31) from three-point range. Duru also saw action in 17 games for Real Madrid B and averaged 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per contest. Duru recently helped his native Germany post a 6-1 record and earn a silver medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland (June 28-July 6). He reached double figures in scoring in six of the seven games and averaged 11.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per contest while converting 52.4-percent (22-42) from the floor. The previous summer, Duru paced Germany to a 7-0 mark and the gold medal at the 2024 FIBA U18 EuroBasket Championship in Tampere, Finland. During the 2023-24 season, Duru helped the Real Madrid U18 team win the Euroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament. He also paced the Real Madrid U16 team to a pair of Spanish Championships in 2022-23 and helped the Real Madrid U14 squad claim the Spanish Championship in 2021.

It’s unfortunate that Miami and Virginia Tech were on the way down when they joined the league 20 years ago. There was that point in ‘97 when North Carolina and Florida State were as talented as anyone in the country.

The TCU-Georgia title game should’ve told the country all it needed to know about the difference in the LOS talent between the two conferences. The SEC and Big Ten are so far ahead of the other conferences because of LOS talent.

I’ll submit a vote for Kris Clack. Local product, first McDonald’s All-American in school history, helped Texas win the Big 12 in Barnes’ first season and was drafted.

Marcus Wilkins played in the NFL without (I believe) ever starting a game at Texas.

The ceremony starts at noon. The actual commitment is at 2:15.

If John Turntine commits to Texas on the same day Joey Chestnut reclaims the mustard belt, this will be one of the greatest days in the history of our great nation!

The greatest American tradition of them all begins in about an hour!

We’ve mentioned it before, but Texas took Richard Wesley’s commitment to fill the need for a bigger-bodied versatile EDGE in the class.

Bryce Perry-Wright was scheduled to make the call today. He’s now announcing on Saturday.

Happy Independence Day! There are three Texas targets expected to make verbal commitments today. After securing a commitment from OTF 4-star+ linebacker Kosi Okpala on Thursday, the Longhorns’ 2026 recruiting class stands at 16 members. Coming into Friday, Steve Sarkisian’s fifth full-cycle class on the Forty Acres was ranked No. 14 nationally by 247Sports and No. 16 by Rivals. We know when each of the three recruits is expected to make the call. The OTF staff will keep you updated on any changes throughout the day. *** Felix Ojo, OT, Mansfield Lake Ridge OTF 4-Star+ Time: 1 p.m. Finalists: Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, TEXAS, Texas Tech Note: Ojo is expected to announce his decision on X (formerly Twitter). *** John Turntine III, OT, North Crowley OTF 5-Star Time: 2:15 p.m. Finalists: Michigan, Stanford, TEXAS, Texas A&M Note: Turntine's ceremony is scheduled to start at noon. He's expected to announce his decision on X (formerly Twitter). *** Kaydon Finley, WR, Aledo OTF 4-Star+ Time: 6:30-7 p.m. Finalists: Arizona State, Notre Dame, TEXAS, Texas A&M View full news story

Texas wanted Rerick back and the coaches were excited about his future. That was the word the day before the news of him entering the portal dropped. I don’t think this was something the staff forced.

As a second-team AP All-American last season, he could leave school as a two-time All-American.

Tommy Nobis should, without question, be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's a shame he's not in and won't be able to see his bust in Canton whenever it happens.

If you need a break from today's recruiting news cycle, I've got a few things not related to impending decisions on my mind for you to check out.

Nobody needs a reason to celebrate the life and football career of Tommy Nobis. Nevertheless, the countdown to the 2025 football season reached 60 days on Tuesday, making it the perfect time to reflect on Nobis’ gridiron legacy. It’s hard to argue against Nobis being the best defensive player to come through the Texas program. The only sophomore starter for Darrell Royal’s 1963 national champions, Nobis remains the standard for what a Longhorn defender should be, even though his last snap on the Forty Acres was almost 65 years ago. One of the most decorated defensive players in college football history, Nobis won the Maxwell Award in 1965, meeting the criteria for the University of Texas to retire his No. 60 (a Longhorn must be named a consensus All-American and win a recognized national player of the year award to get their number retired). Before the Texas defensive charge that led to LenDale White coming up short on fourth-and-2 late in the fourth quarter of the 2006 Rose Bowl, Nobis thwarting Joe Namath’s attempt to convert a fourth down in the 1965 Orange Bowl (a 21-17 win for the Longhorns over the Crimson Tide in college football’s first-ever live prime-time telecast) was arguably the top defensive play in school history (the top competitor might be the fumble Pat Culpepper and Johnny Treadwell combined to force on the goal line in a 7-3 win over Arkansas, helping Texas secure the 1962 Southwest Conference title). *** Tributes for Nobis poured in when he died in 2017. Mike Perrin, who oversaw the Texas athletic department between the end of Steve Patterson’s forgettable tenure and the powers that be hiring Chris Del Conte, was a freshman during Nobis’ final season on the Forty Acres. “Tommy Nobis was an icon not just at The University of Texas,” Perrin said, “but in all of college football.” Bill Little, who was the sports editor of The Daily Texan as a UT student when Nobis played for the Longhorns and, later, the football program’s sports information director, said of Nobis, “There are few players that strike fear in opponents the way Nobis did in his time.” There’s no shortage of scribes, observers, coaches or players willing to back up Little’s opinion. Hall of Fame running back Larry Csonka is one of them, going on the record that he’d "rather play against Dick Butkus than Nobis." *** Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981, the one tribute Nobis should’ve received while he was alive was enshrinement alongside Butkus, Csonka and other gridiron legends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Rich McKay, the CEO of the Atlanta Falcons, wrote an open letter regarding Nobis’ Hall of Fame candidacy in 2020. “It is time to rightfully acknowledge, appreciate, and celebrate one of the greatest to ever play the game: the late Tommy Nobis,” McKay wrote. We can — we should — do that by immortalizing Nobis with a bronze bust at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.” It’s long been acknowledged that Nobis, who was the Falcons’ first-ever draft pick (No. 1 overall in the 1965 NFL Draft) and wore his “Mr. Falcon” moniker like a badge of honor, played on some dreadful squads. In 11 seasons with the Falcons, Nobis never played in a playoff game, enjoying just two winning seasons in his NFL career. Nobis is one of only four defensive players on the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade Team not currently in the Hall of Fame. Nobis, the 1966 NFL Rookie of the Year, was a two-time All-Pro who was named to the Pro Bowl five times. Longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher once wrote the following regarding Nobis' exclusion from the Hall of Fame: “There isn't much more one can say about Tommy Nobis. In the glow of a winning team, where he would have been a star on the isolated camera, he would already have been residing in Canton. It's not a Falcons thing, it's a Nobis thing, and here is a man who lives up to all the ideals I would establish for admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame." *** The finest two-way player I have ever seen," is a quote often attributed to Royal regarding Nobis' ability on the field. Royal maximized Nobis’ unique skill set by playing him at guard on offense. So, when Kelvin Banks became the first Longhorn offensive lineman to win the Outland Trophy last season, that’s not entirely true. Nobis, lining up as a ferocious lead blocker for Royal’s Wing-T offense, won the Outland Trophy two years after Scott Appleton became the first of the program’s five Outland Trophy winners in 1963 (Appleton, Nobis, Banks, Brad Shearer in 1977 and T’Vondre Sweat in 2023 put Texas behind only Nebraska’s nine and Alabama’s six Outland Trophy winners for the most produced by one school). *** I’m happy that during his Tuesday appearance on “Coffee & Football,” Ramonce Taylor mentioned how Mack Brown’s staff initially recruited him to Texas to be a part of Duane Akina’s secondary. I remember going to watch Taylor’s last high school game (Belton’s bi-district playoff loss to Leander at Killeen’s Leo Buckley Stadium in 2003), believing I was watching a prospect who had a chance to become the next great Longhorn defensive back. Then, I watched Taylor cut through the defense like a hot knife through butter. I left the stadium knowing Texas had to find a way to let Taylor touch the football. Thankfuly, that’s something Taylor said was in the works before his epic senior year started; Taylor rushed for 2,370 yards and 29 touchdowns as an all-state running back, he was an all-district basketball player while sharing the court with current Stephen F. Austin men’s basketball coach Matt Braeuer and won his second consecutive state championship in the long jump. *** Whether it was Taylor, Curtis Brown, Earl Thomas, Quandre Diggs or Ja’Tavion Sanders, the true two-way players who’ve come through the Texas program over the last two decades have, for the most part, ended up on the side of the ball where they were meant to play. Jermaine Bishop Jr. is the one 2026 recruit, currently committed to the Longhorns, who should be the source of a healthy internal debate regarding whether he’ll help Steve Sarkisian’s offense or Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense. Bishop caught 83 passes for 1,565 yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior, ending the season with 2,009 all-purpose yards. Even though Bishop posed for photos with the Jim Thorpe Award during his June official visit and has a bright future as a defensive back, I agree with Gerry Hamilton’s take on this week’s episode of the “Recruiting Breakdown" regarding Bishop's future. Sarkisian could see enough of Xavier Worthy in Bishop’s game to at least experiment with ways to get the ball into the hands of such an electric, game-changing talent. View full news story

The pool of players it's impacting most will probably be football walk-ons, some of whom won't have a spot due to he 105-man roster limit.

Good stuff, CJ!

I'm relaying this from Bobby: The list of student-athletes who get a DSA designation is controlled by Texas. If someone is on the list, it won't be a player of consequence. In other words, Texas won't designate someone as a DSA if the school wants to keep the student-athlete in the program.

Offense: Arch Manning (first team), Jack Endries (second team) and Tre Wisner (fourth team) Defense: Anthony Hill (first team), Collin Simmons (first team), Michael Taaffe (second team) and Malik Muhammad (third team)

Me too.