Jeff Howe

🤘

Seriously, one of my favorite movie scenes ever:

Sark is usually at his best in these early-season showdowns.

I watched that movie on a flight home a few weeks ago. Tremendous movie!

He said he didn't mind getting into it, and I'm glad he laid out the plan.

I think Texas will be the better team on Aug. 30. Too many new faces in key places for the Buckeyes.

I'm not going to read into what players post on social media, but Butler has a steep hill to climb to get into Sark's circle of trust at wide receiver.

SAN ANTONIO — When Texas hits the turf at Ohio Stadium in 40 days for a College Football Playoff semifinal return bout against Ohio State, Steve Sarkisian will be involved in a season opener the likes of which he hasn’t been a part of in 22 years. The Longhorns and Buckeyes should be among the highest-ranked teams in the Associated Press Top 25 when they pick up on Aug. 30 where they left off in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. The last time Sarkisian kicked off a season in a game featuring two top-10 squads, he was in his third season coaching USC’s quarterbacks for Pete Carroll when the eighth-ranked Trojans went into Jordan-Hare Stadium and smacked No. 6 Auburn, 23-0. That’s one of three times throughout Sarkisian’s collegiate coaching career in which he’s had to prepare a team for a season opener on the road against a current member of a Power Four conference. He hasn’t coached a season opener against an AP Top 25 foe since 2013 (Washington soundly defeated No. 19 Boise State, at home, 38-6). Still, Sarkisian is drawing on those experiences to prepare his squad for “probably the most daunting challenge of a first game” in his career. “You just try to tap into those things throughout your career that you've been through,” Sarkisian said on Sunday at the Texas High School Coaches Association Convention in San Antonio. “How can you benefit from that?” Like the team Sarkisian is taking to Columbus, USC lacked extensive experience at key positions entering the 2003 season. First-round NFL draft picks Carson Palmer and Troy Polamalu were among five Trojans selected from a team that finished Carroll’s second season with a share of the Pac-10 title and an 11-2 record after a rout of Iowa in the Orange Bowl. Matt Leinart’s starting debut came against the Tigers. The shutout win over Auburn, which received a first-place vote in the preseason AP Top 25, also marked the USC debuts of running backs Reggie Bush and LenDale White; Bush and Leinart were two of seven Trojans on the 2003 roster (USC went 12-1 that season and split the national championship with an LSU team coached by Nick Saban) who went on to become first-round NFL draft picks. Led by four preseason All-SEC first-team selections (DJ Campbell, Anthony Hill, Colin Simmons, Michael Taaffe and Quintrevion Wisner), the Longhorns’ current roster could prove worthy of standing side by side with the most talented collegiate teams with which Sarkisian has been associated. Wanting to ensure the 2025 squad puts its best foot forward against the reigning national champions, Sarkisian will maximize the team's preseason practice time while maintaining a proven camp format. “The first 2.5 weeks or so of training camp have been truly that — of training camp. Then, we've adjusted, kind of, into that third week, where we've gotten into that first opponent, that bigger opponent,” Sarkisian said. A few years ago, it was Alabama for that week. Last year, it was Michigan. This year, it would be Ohio State. That was really implementing the game plan for that game. In the fourth week, we would then game-plan and prepare for our first opponent. “This year, what it'll look like more [is] kind of a two-week process to get ready for the game,” he continued. “Similar, in a sense, I guess you could say, almost to a bowl game. Yet, the reality of it is, probably with a little more physicality, a little more opportunity to tackle and to do those things to make sure that you're sharp.” There are concerns to address going into a season opener, regardless of the opponent. For Sarkisian, tackling and ball security top the list, as they do for most coaches. While issues relating to alignment, assignment and communication can be problematic early in the season, Sarkisian also mentioned "dealing with performance anxiety." Not every current Texas player was on the field for meaningful snaps in Tuscaloosa, Ann Arbor, College Station or other road environments similar to the Horseshoe that the Longhorns have experienced. For Sarkisian, no stone will be left unturned by the Longhorns to make sure they're ready for their second meeting with Ohio State in less than eight months. “If I can put them in some of those elements, as well as the staff putting together a good game plan, and then we can get up there and go cut it loose and go play,” Sarkisian said. View full news story

Thanks for hearing my take, Deep in the heart! It's the sanctimonious attitude I can't stand. Kirby Smart is one of the last coaches I'd consider holier than thou when it comes to how he recruits prospects. There is no moral high ground to be had in this situation. If Georgia fans should be upset about anything, it's that NIL and revenue sharing have leveled the playing field. Everybody now gets to see how the sausage is made. There's no more plausible deniability when it comes to buying players.

Tim Crowder once told me there was a point in the '05 season where the defense told Killebrew something like this: "If you get one more penalty, we're gonna jump you."

Shoutout to Butch Hadnot!

I mentioned this in another thread, but CJ and I happened to walk by the Texas coaches coming out of back stairwell in the convention center after Derrek Cooper committed. The staff was very happy, to say the least, and Sark was on the phone with a big smile plastered on his face. Today was a good day for the Longhorns.

Not of the coaches’ lectures.

That’s it for today. CJ and I are posted up at a computer with everyone else, ready to watch the Derrek Cooper ceremony.

Didn’t get a chance to talk to him, but I did see Tyrone Swoopes in the crowd at the coaches panel. He’s an assistant coach at Lindale.

Sark said there’s a struggle between what science tells you about making sure your players are healthy over the long haul and having a physical football team with the kind of edge you want.

Sark said player development is critical throughout the season so that young players can be ready to play earlier.

McGuire said he knows what his players make, but he leaves those discussions with prospects to James Blanchard and the personnel department.

Joey McGuire said Cody Campbell is trying to help college football, not just Texas Tech. McGuire said Campbell has asked the Tech staff to look at an NFL salary cap so they’d be ready to act accordingly when revenue sharing and the “cap” kicked in this summer.

Sonny Dykes echoed the same. He said if the starting left tackles at Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and TCU make roughly the same thing, then recruits will pick schools based on things other than money.

Rhett Lashlee hopes revenue sharing and a cap structure will balance things out regarding what certain positions get paid that schools don’t lose kids just because of money.

Again, not sure what’s being said, but Traylor is cracking Sark up.

Scotty Walden: “I’m trying to constantly make sure with GM that we don’t go over the $20 million cap.” Room breaks out in laughter. ”I did that for the people in the back to wake them up,” he said. “We’ll never touch the $20 million cap at the University of Texas-El Paso.”