Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Texas football has been releasing video clips of each coach that Steve Sarkisian has hired, where they express their coaching styles.
There’s no doubt that first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian has put together an impressive coaching staff at Texas. Continue reading “WATCH: Get to know Steve Sarkisian’s coaching staff at Texas”
Texas football has been releasing video clips of each coach that Steve Sarkisian has hired, where they express their coaching styles.
There’s no doubt that first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian has put together an impressive coaching staff at Texas. Continue reading “WATCH: Get to know Steve Sarkisian’s coaching staff at Texas”
Longhorns football legend Brian Orakpo shares his opinions about new Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and safeties coach Blake Gideon.
Brian Orakpo was one of the nation’s premier defensive players during his collegiate career at Texas from 2005 through 2008. As a senior, he took home the Nagurski Trophy (nation’s top defensive player), Lombardi Award (nation’s top lineman), and the Hendricks Award (nation’s top defensive end). He was selected by Washington with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft and played 10 pro seasons with Washington and the Tennessee Titans.
Earlier this week, Orakpo spoke with Longhorns Wire about myriad topics involving his alma mater while making the rounds to promote his involvement with the NFLPA’s “Pitch Day,” a virtual event similar to ABC’s “Shark Tank” which gives women and minority-led startups the chance to compete for business funding and mentorship.
Orakpo served as one of the judges for the fifth annual “Pitch Day” event, which was hosted by basketball legend and entrepreneur Magic Johnson. (You can watch the complete video of this year’s “Pitch Day” at the bottom of this article.) Six fledgling companies presented their business plan to Orakpo and fellow judges Nneka Ogwumike (WNBA All-Star), Golden Tate (New York Giants wide receiver) and Sydney Colson (WNBA veteran).
“The experience was awesome, and it gives me an opportunity to look at different ideas and people thinking outside the box,” Orakpo said. “I’m an entrepreneur myself, so I know what that’s all about when you’re up and starting and have a great business in mind, and you want to get the ball rolling.”
In addition to the Nagurski, Lombardi and Hendricks awards, Orakpo was a member of the 2005 Longhorns BCS national championship team as a freshman and was named to four Pro Bowls during his NFL career. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two about what it takes to be successful, and he senses similar traits in new Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.
“My initial thought was a winner,” Orakpo said of the hire. “I’m thinking more current with his success at Alabama and being able to shape that offense with the talent that he’s produced — including one of his players winning the Heisman — that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Orakpo recently witnessed Sarkisian’s energy and vision for the Texas program firsthand.
“I actually had a Zoom call with myself and a few other Texas alumni guys with coach Sark — his energy, passion, and plan for greatness to come back to the University of Texas … I’m on board,” Orakpo said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been on the national stage, and he has the willpower and a great coaching staff that he’s hired. He has the motivation that I think will get us over the top and a great plan to get Texas back to where it needs to be.”
One of Orakpo’s former Texas teammates, Blake Gideon, was recently hired by Sarkisian as safeties coach. Although Orakpo couldn’t have predicted that Gideon would land a coaching job of this caliber at this point in his career, he always believed Gideon possessed the traits needed to succeed as a coach.
Just 31, Gideon already boasts college coaching experience at Ole Miss, Houston, Georgia State, Western Carolina, Auburn and Florida.
“Honestly, Blake was destined to be in some type of motivational position,” Orakpo said. “I didn’t think it would be this soon, if I could be quite honest, because it’s overwhelming for the success that he has had with his coaching career. It’s tremendous, for him to have that opportunity to come back to the Forty Acres. It has to be a dream come true for him, but also for the guys that played with him, because we know Blake like the back of our hand.”
Orakpo raved about Gideon’s work ethic.
“He’s a competitor, and he’s going to be the first-one-in-and-last-one-out type of guy with no excuses. We all love his passion, and he’s a great family man. He has all the intangibles to be a great coach, which you’ve seen at a very young age. Once he got hired and we saw his name on the dotted line, I knew that the secondary would get back to being DBU, and Texas would get that title back.”
If the coaching staff performs as well as Orakpo believes it can, Texas fans are in for a wild ride.
Watch Brian Orakpo judge in this year’s edition of the NFLPA’s “Pitch Day” below, and be sure to check Longhorns Wire in the coming days for more installments of our interview with him.
[jwplayer bg3gaiXz]
Former player turned analyst, Emmanuel Acho, released a video on Twitter discussing how excited he is about the team.
It isn’t just the media that seem excited or in approval of the hiring of Steve Sarkisian and his staff. ESPN gave the Texas Longhorns a grade of A- for the hiring. Also, a former player in Emmanuel Acho spoke about his excitement level in a tweet.
The now analyst was once roaming the confines of Darrel K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Acho joined the Longhorns in the 2008 recruiting class as a four-star and the No. 23 ranked player in the state of Texas. He would go on to play in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles, but is now a member of Fox Sports.
In the opening of his video, Acho spoke to the fact that the Longhorns got it right with the hiring of Sarkisian. Even went as far as to say that he hasn’t “been more excited about Texas football in a decade.” That would date back to the end of the Mack Brown era of Texas football that saw a string of nine or more wins in 12 consecutive years. Brown also was responsible for nine-straight seasons with 10 or more wins.
Acho spoke specifically about the hire of Sarkisian as the best offensive coordinator in the SEC. He mentioned the best special teams coach from the SEC in Jeff Banks. The Fox analyst also couldn’t go on without mentioning his former teammate in Blake Gideon. He was the best special teams coach in all of college football during the 2019 season. Acho would point to the fact that special teams are vitally important to championship level teams.
He finishes up by discussing the additions of Kyle Flood who helped his offensive line with the Joe Moore Award and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. His defenses have produced first-round talent for the NFL, something Texas hasn’t seen in five years. Not to mention, Kwiatkowski’s defense has finished top 15 in scoring every year since 2015.
To be a great head coach, you have to be a great delegator of responsibility. And Steve Sarkisian has assembled a miraculous staff. Texas football, get excited.
Acho is bringing the same level of excitement in his tweet that has been seen on most social media platforms.
Wow @TexasFootball, you nailed every single coaching hire. Let’s go!!!
SEC’s best OC: ✅
SEC’s best OL coach: ✅
PAC 12’s best DC: ✅
Nations best ST coach ‘19 & ‘20: ✅ pic.twitter.com/iOEq4AjkNV— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) January 23, 2021
Nobody wins the offseason quite like the Texas Longhorns.
Former player turned analyst, Emmanuel Acho, released a video on Twitter discussing how excited he is about the team.
It isn’t just the media that seem excited or in approval of the hiring of Steve Sarkisian and his staff. ESPN gave the Texas Longhorns a grade of A- for the hiring. Also, a former player in Emmanuel Acho spoke about his excitement level in a tweet.
The now analyst was once roaming the confines of Darrel K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Acho joined the Longhorns in the 2008 recruiting class as a four-star and the No. 23 ranked player in the state of Texas. He would go on to play in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles, but is now a member of Fox Sports.
In the opening of his video, Acho spoke to the fact that the Longhorns got it right with the hiring of Sarkisian. Even went as far as to say that he hasn’t “been more excited about Texas football in a decade.” That would date back to the end of the Mack Brown era of Texas football that saw a string of nine or more wins in 12 consecutive years. Brown also was responsible for nine-straight seasons with 10 or more wins.
Acho spoke specifically about the hire of Sarkisian as the best offensive coordinator in the SEC. He mentioned the best special teams coach from the SEC in Jeff Banks. The Fox analyst also couldn’t go on without mentioning his former teammate in Blake Gideon. He was the best special teams coach in all of college football during the 2019 season. Acho would point to the fact that special teams are vitally important to championship level teams.
He finishes up by discussing the additions of Kyle Flood who helped his offensive line with the Joe Moore Award and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. His defenses have produced first-round talent for the NFL, something Texas hasn’t seen in five years. Not to mention, Kwiatkowski’s defense has finished top 15 in scoring every year since 2015.
To be a great head coach, you have to be a great delegator of responsibility. And Steve Sarkisian has assembled a miraculous staff. Texas football, get excited.
Acho is bringing the same level of excitement in his tweet that has been seen on most social media platforms.
Wow @TexasFootball, you nailed every single coaching hire. Let’s go!!!
SEC’s best OC: ✅
SEC’s best OL coach: ✅
PAC 12’s best DC: ✅
Nations best ST coach ‘19 & ‘20: ✅ pic.twitter.com/iOEq4AjkNV— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) January 23, 2021
Nobody wins the offseason quite like the Texas Longhorns.
According to FootballScoop, former UT player Blake Gideon is expected to join the staff at Texas. He will coach special teams and safeties.
Steve Sarkisian’s coaching staff is beginning to take shape just three days after he was hired.
According to FootballScoop, former Longhorns player Blake Gideon is expected to join the staff at Texas. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox Sports is also reporting that Gideon is “likely” to work with safeties and special teams in Austin.
Since leaving Texas in 2011 and the NFL in 2013, Gideon has been involved with four SEC schools. His highest position came in 2015 with Auburn when he was promoted from a graduate assistant role to coaching defensive backs.
Gideon was praised for his work at Houston in 2019 as the special team’s coach and was hired by Lane Kiffin when he accepted the job at Ole Miss. He will be leaving the Rebels to come back to his alma mater.
Western Carolina (2016-2018) and Georgia State (2018) are two other schools Gideon has been a defensive backs coach. Playing safety during his time at Texas, he will be coaching the position he starred in.
Blake Gideon is leaving Ole Miss to join Steve Sarkisian's staff at Texas, sources tell @FootballScoop.https://t.co/6joIEZYchb
— Zach Barnett (@zach_barnett) January 5, 2021
This is the first hiring move Sarkisian has made on the defensive side of the ball. There have been multiple names involved as to who could be the defensive coordinator, including Chris Ash, Will Muschamp, and Barry Odom.
More outside names will be considered for Sarkisian’s offensive staff. Mike Yurcich announced he would be leaving on Monday afternoon. Running back’s coach Stan Drayton is the only offensive coach expected to be retained.
[lawrence-related id=30846]
Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.
Download the USA TODAY SportsWire app to follow Longhorns Wire and your other favorite teams in the Apple Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android devices.
Locked on Longhorns Podcast returns discussing the pressure that Tom Herman and Texas will face in 2020. Plus an Ohio State commit weighs in
The Texas Longhorns are under immense pressure to win in 2020. Patrick and Cami discuss the pressure that Tom Herman and the staff is feeling for the upcoming season. Ohio State commit Tunmise Adeleye weighed in on why he didn’t choose Texas and his reasoning isn’t a new development for the Longhorns. However, it is something that needs to be addressed in order for the team to compete with top tier prospects across the country.
The 2020 season is a huge one for the staff but are their potential pitfalls? The Kansas State, Iowa State and Oklahoma State are three that could give the Longhorns fits in the upcoming season. Oklahoma and LSU are obviously the biggest tests for Texas but any of the three aforementioned teams could cause the Longhorns to stumble if they aren’t focused.
The duo provide an updated on the four targets as far as their crystal predictions on 247Sports. Plus which of the 35 FBS teams are surprising that they haven’t ever beaten Texas.
The latest “What If” episode of the Longhorns podcast discussing Nick Saban, Shane Buechele and Jamaal Charles.
The Monday edition of the Locked on Longhorns Podcast opens up with the idea of sports coming back soon. NASCAR and golf returned over the weekend, how far off could other sports be? The first what if scenario discussion with the idea of Nick Saban actually taking the job at the University of Texas following the 2012 season. What would the Texas Longhorns look like with Saban at the helm?
What if the Longhorns would have gone with Shane Buechele over Sam Ehlinger? Following the game against Notre Dame in 2016, the Longhorns looked to have found their quarterback of the next several seasons. However, Tom Herman went with Sam Ehlinger during the 2017 campaign and that eventually led Shane to transferring to Southern Methodist.
The 2008 season has been one topic of discussion as of late but what if Jamaal Charles would have remained at Texas for his senior year? How differently could that have impacted the season and the 2008 heartbreaker against Texas Tech.
Latest Locked on Longhorns Podcast discussing a few “What if’s” such as the Blake Gideon drop and Colt McCoy’s injury in the BCS title game.
The show kicks off talking about three big what if scenarios. Patrick and Cami take a trip down memory lane and discuss what could have happened if these three scenarios played out a different way.
