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“They’ll look a little different in how they play the game, but the more Blue matures, he has a chance to be better [than Gibbs].”
Texas has high hopes for running back Jaydon Blue in 2024. Continue reading “Tashard Choice compares Texas RB Jaydon Blue to Jahmyr Gibbs”
Don’t hold your breath for a Texas falloff. The Longhorns are No. 2 in the SEC in returning production per Bill Connelly.
Looking forward to a fall off for the Texas Longhorns (12-2) after the 2023 season? You might have to wait another year after an impressive transfer portal haul.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly, who compiles SP+ rankings for college football teams, has the Longhorns toward the top of their new conference in returning production. Unlike in years prior to the transfer portal, impact additions from other squads are included.
For the Longhorns, that means Alabama receivers Isaiah Bond and Amari Niblack, Houston receiver Matthew Golden and Oregon State receiver Silas Bolden’s stats will be credited to Texas’ returning production.
Connelly described how returning production is determined.
“Who returns a majority of last year’s production (or has done the best job of importing production from another team)? Who is starting from scratch?”
The key phrase for Texas comes between parentheses: “or (who) has done the best job of importing production from another team?” Given what the Longhorns lost in receivers Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Ja’Tavion Sanders and Jordan Whittington, the team has done as well as anybody at importing production through the transfer portal.
Texas ranks No. 25 overall in Connelly’s returning production model. Starting quarterback Quinn Ewers is a significant returning player for the team. Only Texas A&M (No. 18) ranks ahead of the Longhorns. Perhaps the Aggies will be better than we originally predicted.
Missouri (No. 31), Florida (No. 32) and Georgia (No. 47) round out the SEC’s top five teams in returning production. Other notable teams on the list are LSU (No. 60), Oklahoma (No. 67), Ole Miss (No. 68), Tennessee (No. 94) and Alabama (No. 115).
Many were confused at our prospects for the Alabama Crimson Tide next season. Despite returning quarterback Jalen Milroe, who added 3,365 total yards and 35 total touchdowns in 2023, NFL departures and the loss of key transfers, including Niblack and Bond, drove the Tide’s returning production rate down.
The Alabama you last saw won’t be the team that takes the field next season, and No. 115 of 134 teams is an eye-opening number.
Elsewhere, the LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners and Ole Miss Rebels rank from No. 8-10 in the SEC for returning production. While Ole Miss upgraded at several positions, the loss of now Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins probably weighs heavily into the numbers for the Rebels.
Oklahoma returns most of its top defensive players and one of the best receiver rooms in college football. Albeit, much of the lost production comes from the departure of dual threat starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel. New quarterback Jackson Arnold should meet or come close to the production numbers of Gabriel despite likely higher turnover numbers.
Returning production can be play a noticeable role in how a team performs. Texas will look to leverage its advantage into wins in 2024.
Texas is filling needs with impact starters through the transfer portal.
Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond is now a Texas Longhorns wide receiver. With that, one of the team’s biggest needs heading into the offseason is now perhaps a strength.
Bond joins Houston transfer Matthew Golden as presumed starting wide receivers alongside rising star Johntay Cook. The three pose a formidable trio, but the position wasn’t supposed to be this strong.
After the 2023 football season, Texas lost its top three wide receivers and a dynamic tight end. With them went the majority of receiver production for the past season. Many questioned where the Longhorns would find reliable play at the position. Through the transfer portal the team has built what could be one of the better receiving groups in the SEC.
The Longhorns have added impact players at positions other than wide receiver. We could see them add more over the next month. Here is a look at the players Texas has added this offseason.
The future isn’t near as bleak as outside casuals would project for Texas in 2024.
The Texas Longhorns are playoff bound. With that, it’s likely several Texas players are set to leave early for the 2024 NFL draft. Continue reading “What the Longhorns’ 2024 squad looks like before portal additions”
“Man for man, roster against roster, it’s hard to say Texas doesn’t have the best roster in college football right now.”
Don’t hold your breath, but the preseason hype surrounding Texas football continues to build. Continue reading “Urban Meyer: “It’s hard to say Texas doesn’t have the best roster in college football right now””
Arch Manning will rock No. 16 as a Texas Longhorn.
An exciting group of newcomers breeds optimism for Texas football moving forward into the 2023 season. Continue reading “Jersey numbers of Texas football’s spring newcomers”
The numbers for Texas’ newcomers have been announced.
The 2022 college football season is just around the corner. Texas enters the new year with sights set on bounce-back season after a 5-7 campaign a year ago.
Major reason for optimism around the Longhorns program stems from the exciting group of newcomers joining the Texas team. The entire list of fresh faces from the high school class of 2022 and some established transfers have made it to campus ready for the start of fall camp.
Texas has released an updated version of the roster with the finishing touches before the new season.
The last few transfers, Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, Tarique Milton and Agiye Hall have been added to the official roster, along with the remainder of the 2022 freshman class.
Here is a look at the new jersey numbers for Texas’ latest roster additions.
2- D Tucker-Dorsey
4- A Jordan
9- D Brown
11- B Thompson
14- X Brice
15- A Hall
15- W Stone
16- T Milton
17- S Red
17- J Tapp
25- T Johnson
52- D Campbell
56- C Williams
58- L St Louis
62- C Robertson
67- M Agbo
72- N Umeozulu
78- K Banks
86- Z Swanson
91- E Burke
97- K Ross— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) July 14, 2022
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There are some fantastic jersey number selections in here. How do we feel about Justice Finkley sporting No. 1?
Spring football is quickly approaching. Several transfers and early enrollees have been acclimating themselves to college life in Austin over the last few weeks. Continue reading “Texas releases 2022 spring football roster, jersey numbers of newcomers”
In order for Texas to make significant strides in 2022, they must improve in these key areas.
With the dreadful 2021 season behind them, and what should be a prosperous future thanks to success in recruiting and the transfer portal, Texas is poised to turn things around.
It won’t be easy to get back to the top of the college football world, but competing within the conference may be a tad more attainable at the moment.
In order to do so, there will be some major improvements needed across the board, as this Texas team had numerous flaws that ultimately led to the demise of the team as a whole.
For starters, the Longhorns were home to one of the worst defenses in the nation giving up 430-yards per game. It was a unit that showed no signs of improvement throughout the season, and will likely benefit from the amount of talent brought in during the offseason.
The offense was no peach either, and it would be fair to say that outside of Xavier Worthy and Bijan Robinson, the rest of the unit was abysmal all season.
Steve Sarkisian and Texas have a lot of soul searching to do, and most certainly had to go back to the drawing board in order to figure out how to right their wrongs after going 5-7 in year one.
When a season goes as poorly as 2021 did for Texas, everyone is at fault with some more bearing more weight than others. However, with an offseason to improve and fine tune things, it is certainly reasonable to pinpoint who or what needs to improve in order for this team to succeed.
Here is a look at what Texas needs to improve upon in order to succeed in 2022.
Give him time to build.
The first season under Steve Sarkisian has gotten out of hand, and very well could be one of the most disappointing teams in memory.
After moving on from Tom Herman for going 7-3 last season, and returning a ton of his players, there was a thought that Sarkisian and his staff would hit the ground running and make some noise right away. They have made noise alright, but rather than a sweet symphony, it is an elementary school band playing Hot Cross Buns for the first time.
Sarkisian may consider looking at his staff, specifically at defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, but if we have learned anything from this season along with the ones prior, making a change immediately after something goes wrong doesn’t always work.
Texas has had no consistency within their staff, as even prior to Sarkisian coming in, this group had already experienced three defensive coordinators and two offensive coordinators under Herman.
The program and fans need to give Sarkisian time to build. This method of having to chase someone out of town every year is why this program is a meme. Those top recruits that people think Texas should be in the mix for do not want to play for a different coach every couple years, they want to see a fan base and program that will give their coach time to build something great.
It’s something that Sarkisian is already talking about, as he addressed how many new players he wants on the roster for next year.
Sark on roster turnover: "I could easily see us with 33 new scholarship players on our roster next fall."
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) November 15, 2021
Now 33 is certainly a large number, but that includes the 2022 recruiting class and a plethora of transfers coming in. It’s a method that we have seen schools like Michigan State and Oklahoma thrive off of.
The Longhorns need to address three main needs first and foremost. Offensive line, defensive line, and quarterback are all where Sarkisian needs immediate action to be taken.
With him planning on bringing in this many new faces, it is safe to assume Texas will be experiencing a ton of attrition whether it be players leaving for the NFL or hitting the transfer portal. That is typically to be expected under a new coaching staff.
The transfer portal is a great resource if used correctly, it is just a matter of bringing in as many experienced and talented players as possible and going from there.
Either way, Texas’ roster will look very different next year, and with players who are actually bought in to Sarkisian and his teachings, it could lead to something special.
This is a part of the process now-a-days, coaches need time to operate and determine what works and what doesn’t. Sarkisian inheriting a veteran-heavy roster was thought to be a positive in terms of success on the field, but now it is viewed as a positive because he has a great opportunity to revamp this roster and have it look completely different come spring.
