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Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert has nabbed Texas special assistant Scottie Hazelton off of the Texas coaching staff and named him the Demon Deacons new defensive coordinator. The move was rumored last week and made official earlier Friday morning. Hazelton had previously been a defensive coordinator at Kansas State and Michigan State before joining Steve Sarkisian's staff for the 2024 campaign. Best of luck to Coach Hazelton next fall.

Several Texas Longhorn defensive players will be available for comments ahead of the trip to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl. Pete Kwiatkowski, LB Anthony Hill Jr., DB Jahdae Barron, DB Michael Taaffe and DL Alfred Collins will all be made available this afternoon. Notes and quotes in the comments down below.

The Black Eyed Peas made a song back when I was about six years old that just kept saying "And Runnin' Runnin', and runnin' runnin'" on and on and on. It was catchy as hell and one of the biggest songs of whatever year it was. Maybe 2004, I couldn't quite tell you off the top of my head. When I look at this Texas-Arizona State matchup, for whatever reason, that song comes to my brain. Because, well, that is exactly what Texas should do against the Sun Devils. It comes together even more full circle when the name of that song above is "Let's Get it Started" and then it all makes sense. Texas has figured out its running game against anyone not named Georgia. The Longhorns have hit the 240-yard rushing mark in three of its last four ballgames and the other included a 7-minute drive with 12 of the 14 plays on the drive being run plays. Even with some nicks and bruises suffered by the #BigHumans in round one of the College Football Playoff, there should not be much dropoff, if any, at all moving forward. I went through the Arizona State Sun Devils depth chart when doing some research for this game. What I found is a defensive line that, though is scrappy, is going to be completely outmanned when facing the Longhorn OL. The five leading snap-getters for the Sun Devil interior defensive line have an average weight of 289 pounds. Zac Swanson 6’4” & 290 CJ Fite 6’1” & 295 Jeff Clark 6’1” & 285 Jacob Kongaika 6’2” & 290 Blazen Lono-Wong 6’4” & 285 For those keeping track at home, Jake Majors weighs 315, Hayden Conner weighs 320 and DJ Campbell is listed at 330. Do the math there and it comes out to a 30-pound average difference in favor of the Longhorn interior. Even when you add in Cole Hutson, that average sits just south of 320-pound average amongst the four. Texas will be able to run the ball all over the Sun Devils in Atlanta on Wednesday. The mass is just too significant to ignore and the momentum this bunch is playing with will carry over as well. To Arizona State's credit, the Sun Devil rushing defense comes in at 23rd in the country, allowing 117.8 yards per game and 33rd in the country at 3.8 yards per attempt. But I reckon they have not played an offensive line with the size of this Texas unit in 2024. With all of the talk about the quarterback being the one who will take Texas to the promised land or begin the winter conditioning sessions early, I think Texas will be just fine with Ewers being a passenger for this round of the playoffs. The magic number over the last month has been 240 rushing yards. It is a lot, I will admit that. However, knowing the success this unit has had recently and the opponent they are set to face in Round 2 of the CFP, I like their chances to hit the mark.

There is a continued dominance on first down. Having dug through stat after stat since the conclusion of the Clemson game on Saturday, this one remains one of my favorite that I keep returning to. Texas was elite on first downs offensively in round one of the College Football Playoff. It was one of their more complete performances of the year on first downs and it helped sustain drive after drive. Here are the main numbers from Steve Sarkisian's offense on first downs vs. Clemson. 33 first down snaps 253 yards 7.7 yards per first down snap Quinn Ewers was 10-12 passing on first downs for 124 yards or 10.2 yards per attempt, a really solid mark for him. There were two sacks on first down, one of which being Ewers taking a self sack on a busted play where linemen were downfield a throwaway would have resulted in a penalty. In the run game, Texas gained 129 yards on 19 rush attempts. That is a 6.8 average clip. Talk about staying ahead of the chains, that is how you do it. Three first down plays went for touchdowns as well. Rushes of 3, 26 and 38 all found the end zone off of a first down snap. Here is the big one for me. Of the 33 first down snaps, Texas gained two yards or more on 27 of them. There were three incompletions and a rush for loss, then a pass for -6 on the screen where Williams and Wisner were injured and a sack. Other than that, a new first down was gained or Texas was playing ahead of the chains. A really positive mark for the Longhorns who constantly stubbed their toe and played behind the chains against Georgia. *** One other note. Texas had an average distance to gain of 11.6 against Georgia. Against Clemson, that mark was down to 4.6. The run game certainly helped and the Longhorns benefitted greatly. If Texas can duplicate this against Arizona State, I have a hard time seeing them stall many drives on New Year's Day. They will dominate if this first down success makes the trip to Atlanta.

Texas is going to be on this one … from the Houston area https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/stats/_/id/4683535/tyler-onyedim

What a polarizing weekend in college football. The first weekend of the College Football Playoff had some bright moments, but for the most part it was overshadowed by blowout, after blowout, after blowout. It was an utter embarrassment when it comes to competitive football. Which, in actuality, hat tip to Clemson for at least giving the CFP one lead change. I will start with this, I don't know what the remedy is for college football. The Playoff on a given year likely won't have 12 teams worthy of winning a National Championship. Was the jump to 12 teams the right move? I want to believe so, but this weekend did not provide a lot of confidence in the future of the sport's postseason. One thing I do know, the games on college campuses were awesome. Could that have been the reason for the blowouts? I doubt it. But I do know the environments created as a result have been spectacular. There is a simple solution that is needed to be made in College Football Playoff, and I think it would greatly benefit the outcome of the first round of games – erase the concept of the conference winners getting first round byes. Instead, all four first round byes are directed to the best four teams in the nation. You would then have first round meetings of SMU and Arizona State or Boise State and Indiana with a Tennessee and Clemson game likely as well. Those are all hypothetical matchups, but the first round competitive level would be evened out in comparison to what we saw this weekend which was not remotely close to a fun slate of football. That would not fix everything, but it would be a step in the right direction. It makes very little sense to me that Boise State and Arizona State get byes into round two when at no point this season they were a top four team in the country and arguably never a top ten team in the country. But, for the sake of the Texas pursuit to Natty No. 5, it sure is nice to get to face that Arizona State team in round two. It's a flaw, no doubt. One that I hope is revisited in the spring by the CFP Committee and NCAA. *** On the flip side, looking ahead to who remains in the College Football Playoff, there is one thing that stands out – DL. Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas, Oregon. All four have incredible edge rushers and stout defensive linemen up front. If the National Championship is raised by anyone outside of those four teams, I would be shocked. It was very clear this weekend when watching Ohio State, Texas and Penn State displayed edge talent that took over periodically throughout each game. Abdul Carter at Penn State had Kevin Jennings running for his life. Barryn Sorrell had a tipped pass for an INT and a sack. And the combination of Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau might be the best in the country. I don't even need to mention Mykal Williams and Georgia – we all know what they are capable of. But the point is this. A good quarterback is very important in the postseason, but a defensive line that can take over and dominate football games is the ultimate factor I am looking at moving forward as the talent level evens out a bit.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will be speaking with the media Monday morning as part of a joint press conference with the Peach Bowl. Texas is coming off a 38–24 victory over Clemson in round one of the CFP.

A look at the snap counts for both sides of the ball following the 38-24 victory over Clemson on Saturday for Texas. *** Offense Out of 75 possible snaps. 75 – Hayden Conner, Kelvin Banks 74 – Gunnar Helm 71 – Quinn Ewers 69 – DJ Campbell 67 – Ryan Wingo, Matthew Golden 52 – Cole Hutson 46 – Trevor Goosby 38 – DeAndre Moore 37 – Jaydon Blue 35 – Juan Davis 32 – Quintrevion Wisner 29 – Cam Williams, Jake Majors 11 – Silas Bolden 10 – Jerrick Gibson 4 – Arch Manning 2 – Colin Page 1 – Tia Savea, Malik Agbo – Seven Longhorn OL played 29 or more snaps on Saturday. – Check the snaps for Ryan Wingo. Most of his career and he came way with three touches for 30 yards. *** Defense Out of 68 possible snaps. 68 – Malik Muhammad, Anthony Hill Jr., Jahdae Barron 55 – Michael Taaffe 54 – Jaylon Guilbeau 49 – Trey Moore, Barryn Sorrell, Andrew Mukuba 45 – Vernon Broughton 38 – Alfred Collins 36 – Liona Lefau 33 – Colin Simmons 32 – Jelani McDonald 30 – Jermayne Lole 22 – Gavin Holmes 19 – Ethan Burke 12 – Bill Norton, Mo Blackwell Jr. 6 – David Gbenda 3 – Alex January – Starting to see the key players get every snap in these meaningful games. – Only 12 snaps for Norton, but he made his presence known more than once. – Gavin Holmes being trusted more and more as the season progresses.

Monday is the first day of the NCAA Transfer Portal window officially being open. With that said, two Longhorns from the 2024 roster have announced they will be entering the portal today. This thread will be used to follow the movement of other portal entrants from the Texas roster as the day and week progresses. *** As of Dec. 16 at 4:50 p.m.

Of note … possibly

Will undergo an MRI tomorrow morning on his right knee. Williams was rolled up on late in the 2nd quarter. He attempted to return in the 2nd half, but was unable to go after just one play.

Portal Note USC transfers Zachariah and Zion Branch are visiting Georgia, and are also currently expected at Arizona State this weekend at some point. Texas is a visit possibility as well, but a key with this portal recruitment will be where the family sees Zion's fit at the same school - barring a major change. Oregon is also on the list, somewhere. Zachariah Branch wants his brother taken care of from an NIL perspective, so there are some layers to this programs will have to make decisions on.

Texas needs defensive linemen out of the portal. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that. Yet, with ten days remaining before the end of the first portal session, there has only been on addition to the position thus far. Texas would like to add four in total following the re-entrance of Sydir Mitchell on Monday. But that does not mean the Longhorns are going to overreach for a body at the position. Every player we have seen the Longhorns add out of the portal on the DL has experience and production, something that is very tough to find in general. All in all, you don't see Texas pursuing many unproven, yet high-ceiling, prospects. The track record under Sarkisian of defensive line portal additions showcases the patience and right fit needed before Texas pursues someone from another program. *** A look at the snaps played before transferring to Texas from the five defensive linemen the Longhorns have added out of the portal under Steve Sarkisian. 2023 season: Trill Carter – 1,169 Carter played four years before entering the portal, with three seasons as full time contributor or starter. Four years of experience. 2024 season: Jermayne Lole – 1,824 Lole was a three-yard contributor/starter at Arizona State before transferring to Louisville where he was injured in 2022 and rebounded back for 2023 with 411 snaps. Four full years of experience on the field for Lole and more than 1800 snaps led to the Longhorns flipping him late from Oklahoma. Four years of experience. Tia Savea – 624 Savea has not been a huge contributor for the Longhorns however, he came in with three years of experience both at UCLA and Arizona. Three years of experience. Bill Norton – 539 Norton was a five year portal entrant with experience at Georgia and Arizona. Really only one year of extended contributions with 395 snaps coming in 2023 at Arizona. But at 330 pounds, you don't find many in the portal with that frame. Five years of experience. 2025 season: Cole Brevard – 1,084 Brevard started at Penn State, but 1,083 of his 1,084 snaps came at Purdue. Brevard started 23 games over the last two seasons for the Boilermakers and has a combined 800+ snaps in the last two seasons. Four years of experience. *** It is clear Texas isn't going to go into a season with young, inexperienced defensive linemen. The key is finding those that fit the veteran, proven mold of the previous five additions. Even the misses last year, Jay Toia had 961 snaps before last year and Damonic Williams racked up 1,088 snaps in two seasons at TCU. We will more than likely see this trend continue, it is just up to the Longhorn staff to find the right fit given the prerequisites.

A source has indicated that Georgia Tech WR transfer Eric Singleton Jr. attended practice with the Longhorns as part of his visit to campus Tuesday afternoon. The Longhorns were in shells (shoulder pads and helmets) today for their Tuesday work out ahead of their College Football Playoff meeting with Clemson on Saturday. Singleton arrived on campus early Tuesday and will head out Wednesday morning. The source also expressed a lot of confidence in Texas' chances when it comes to landing the 10.3 speedster. Singleton has visited Ole Miss and Miami thus far, with a top five also consisting of Auburn and LSU. With some attention being directed towards former USC WR Zachariah Branch this afternoon, my understanding is adding Singleton is the highest priority at the moment at the WR position.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian will be talking with the media Monday morning to discuss the Clemson Tigers and the College Football Playoff. There will be players both before and after available to the media as well. We will have updates in the comments down below.

Two portal RB's ... There have been questions if the Longhorns would have interest in a running back out of the portal. OnTexasFootball can say that both USC (Manor High) transfer Quentin Joyner and Alabama transfer Justice Haynes have been in contact with Texas per a solid source. That doesn't mean that Texas is for sure pushing for a RB out of the portal, but Tashard Choice and Steve Sarkisian are at least entertaining the idea. Ohio State and Oregon are among those interested in both, as well. Joyner has visited Ohio State. Haynes also has Ole Miss, South Carolina and Michigan on the list. Ole Miss and South Carolina will receive visits this week.

Klare wrapped up his visit to Austin late Friday and has since made his way over to College Station for a visit with A&M. There was perhaps some hope that Klare would lock this portal recruitment down after the trip, but that obviously is not the case and a trip to Oregon has become more of a possibility since his departure from Austin. Texas did a great job getting the early visit for Klare, whose stock has only risen since entering the portal. To finish the job, Texas will need to play the game of portal recruiting and NIL, as Klare and his camp know he is the top-rated tight end in the portal and will have his pick of where he plays football in 2025. The Longhorns will have to wait a bit on a decision from Klare, but they are in the thick of it now.

A few notes on Clemson Clemson is a 10-3 ACC Championship team coming to Austin December 21. A deeper dive against the top 5 teams they have played tells a different story, however. Clemson P4 opponents winning % ... Georgia 11-2 NC State 6-6 Stanford 3-9 FSU 2-10 Virginia 5-7 Wake Forest 4-8 Pittsburgh 7-5 Virginia Tech 6-6 Louisville 8-4 South Carolina 9-3 SMU 11-2 Total = 72-60 Clemson's record vs. the teams with an 8-4 record or better on the schedule... 1-3. Losses to Georgia (34-3), Louisville (33-21), South Carolina (17-14) and beat SMU 34-31. Averaged 18.0 points per game in those four games. Clemson has struggled running the ball vs. top 5 opponents played... Clemson has played 5 teams with a 7-5 or better record, and the Tigers have struggled to run the ball. Georgia - Phil Mafah 16 carries for 59 yards Pittsburgh - Mafah 17 carries for 17 yards Louisville - Mafah 30 for 171 yards and 2 TD's South Carolina - Mafah 20 for 66 yards SMU - Mafah 13 for 28 yards Total = 99 for 342 (3.45 per carry) Mafah will also enter the game vs. Texas with a shoulder that is less than 100%. He's banged up per a source in the Palmetto State. Clemson defense vs. the top 5 opponents on the schedule... Georgia - 447 yards Pittsburgh - 438 yards Louisville - 366 yards South Carolina - 431 yards SMU - 458 yards Average = 428 yards per game

A few nuggets to pass along: *** Texas has been kicking the tires on former Arkansas LB Brad 'Greedy' Spence out of the transfer portal as of recently. The former four-star linebacker from Klein Forest High School in Houston entered the portal earlier in the week and I have learned that the Longhorns could be looking at Spence as an option out of the portal. Texas recruited Spence a good bit during the 2023 class, though never got to the point of an official visit. Spence should be on visit watch for the weekend from what I have gathered so far. *** On the note of Texas adding a punter – Bobby Burton added the nugget this morning that Texas was able to get former P Michael Dickson on the phone yesterday with Utah portal P Jack Bouwmeester, a cool piece of recruiting behind the scenes. I was told the visit went well on Saturday and that there is momentum here. I am hopeful to go fully in depth about the visit details, say... early afternoon today. *** As our @Gerry Hamilton has reported earlier in the week, Texas is expecting a visit by Purdue portal DL Cole Brevard. Brevard was at SMU on Thursday and made the trip down south for the Texas visit soon thereafter. The magic number remains 4 at the defensive line position, even with the pending return of DL Sydir Mitchell out of the portal I am told. Texas will go big game hunting here, but Brevard is certainly a good start to begin the hunt.

Texas is set to have 10+ players selected at the NFL Draft for the second consecutive year this spring. But before that becomes a reality, the Longhorns will send their draft hopefuls to Senior Bowl games both in Frisco, Texas for the East-West Shrine Bowl and Birmingham, Alabama for the Reese's Senior Bowl. I wanted to get a thread dedicated to the Longhorns who have committed to each bowl game and where they will be playing. *** Reese's Senior Bowl TE Gunnar Helm – accepted Dec. 13 EDGE Barryn Sorrell – accepted Dec. 11

Tramon Mark update The Texas Longhorns have played the first four games without transfer guard Tramon Mark. Mark, 6-foot-5, has been rehabbing a sprained ankle suffered before the Colorado scrimmage October 26. OTF was informed Tuesday mid-morning that Mark's return could be as early as Thursday. Texas is "Very hopeful" that Mark will play his first game as a Longhorn Thursday against Syracuse at 6pm CST on ESPN2. The Longhorns will play either St. Joe's or Texas Tech on Friday, November 22. OTF will say it's a game time decision, but he progressing on schedule for a return to the court as early as Thursday. Tramon Mark by the numbers 2023-24 at Arkansas: 16.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He connected on 36.4% from three. 2022-23 at Houston: 10.1 ppg, 4.9 rebs and 1.8 assists 2021-22 at Houston: 10.1 ppg, 2.4 rebs and 2.4 assists 2020-21 at Houston: 7.8 ppg, 3.0 rebs and 1.7 assists Mark is a career 42.4% shooter in 107 games, including 32.0% (99 makes) from three, and 79.6% from the foul line.

The biggest issue for me on Saturday was the lack of positive plays on 1st and 2nd down, which came as a direct result of the lack of running game and costly penalties that kept the Longhorns behind the sticks. The numbers are awfully ugly when diving into it for the Texas offense. Texas had 18 3rd down snaps of offensive on Saturday vs. Georgia. 10 needed 9+ yards to convert The average distance was 11.6 yards only 4 were 3rd & short (1-4 yards) Quinn Ewers was 9-15 passing for 178 yards, but with two INTs. Those INT came on 3rd & 17 and 3rd & 9. Texas threw the ball on 16 of their 18 snaps on third downs, taking one sack in the process and obviously throwing the two interceptions that were mentioned above. Both interceptions came on comeback routes to the right side of the field. In comparison, let's take a look at the Georgia offensive output on third downs: Of Georgia's 15 third down snaps against the Texas defense: 3rd & short: 5-8 3rd & long: 0-2 average distance to go: 5.3 Say what you want about their offensive outputs on Saturday, but Georgia consistently was able to live near the first down marker on third downs. *** A look at third downs in the high-red area for the Texas offense. (from Georgia's 25-yard line and in) 3rd & 5 – incomplete to Moore 3rd & 10 – Ewers sacked 3rd & 6 – dropped by Wingo 3rd & 5 – pass complete for 6 yards to Moore 3rd & 5 – pass complete for 6 yards to Wingo (Overtime) 3rd & 10 – pass complete for -1 yards to Wisner (Overtime) Tough to win games against a great pass rush when you constantly are put in positions where you are forced to throw the ball and gained a lot of yards on a single play. This was the ultimate achilles heel in my eyes.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is on the podium to discuss the loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

Texas has suffered its second portal casualty of the 2024 season. Longhorn DL Jaray Bledsoe is expected to test the waters of college football free agency, 247Sports' Matt Zenitz the first to report. Bledsoe saw time in three games this season, accumulating 16 snaps for the Longhorns in 2024.

And Texas makes the cut. The Longhorns join the offensive lines of Oregon and Army as the finalists for the Joe Moore Award as well. Quite the accomplishment and as we all know, the job is not done yet.