(From Anwar)
Texas senior right tackle Denzel Okafor has one foot out the door.
The Longhorn staff is determined to bring him back.
Okafor decided to enter the transfer portal on Wednesday, a move that caught most Longhorn observers off-guard. He is projected to start at right tackle this season. Okafor is a senior. Texas offensive line coach Herb Hand’s starters receive the most reps each season. On the surface, it appeared to be a great situation for Okafor.
However, Okafor seemingly sees things differently.
Okafor decided to enter his name in the transfer portal by informing the compliance office this week. I checked in with my sources and wanted to know what Okafor’s concerns were, but they declined to share those details. The main reason why is because Texas is trying to convince Okafor to stay.
According to my sources, the staff has been in constant contact with Okafor and his family since learning about his decision to enter the transfer portal. They are trying to alleviate his concerns behind the scenes, and hope Okafor will have a change of heart.
Okafor will graduate from Texas in May, which will make him a grad transfer. It is unclear if Okafor is leaning toward attending a specific program, or if he is simply examining options.
That being said, everyone inside the building is hoping this is Juwan Mitchell 2.0.
Mitchell put his name in the transfer portal at the end of January. That move came as a surprise considering Mitchell had limited interactions with the new staff. After a meeting with Longhorn coaches a week later, Mitchell decided to remain at Texas.
The Longhorns are hoping for a similar outcome with Okafor.
I will keep you posted.
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Assuming Okafor does not return, Texas will turn to a redshirt sophomore to replace him in the starting lineup.
I checked in with my sources on Thursday, and Christian Jones is the second-string right tackle behind Okafor. Jones played in 13 games last season, primarily on the field goal unit. Prior to Okafor entering the transfer portal, my sources indicated they expected Jones to compete for playing time this season. Nobody predicted Jones would win the spot, but they expected him to make progress this offseason.
If Texas held practice on Thursday, here is what your starters would look like:
LT – Sam Cosmi
LG – Tope Imade
C – Derek Kerstetter
RG – Junior Angilau
RT – Christian Jones
Now, I know there have been a lot of scenarios proposed on OB since the news of Okafor’s potential departure, but here is what I learned.
According to my sources, Texas football coach Tom Herman views the center position as the most important one of the offensive line. When I asked about the possibility of Kerstetter moving to right tackle, I was told that would be the worst-case scenario. In other words, if that had to occur, the offensive line would probably be in really bad shape, or Rafiti Ghirmai made it impossible to keep him off the field.
Instead, it looks like it will be Jones’ job to lose.
By the way, file this nugget in your mental rolodex.
Look for a battle between Imade and Tyler Johnson at left guard whenever football practice begins.
Imade is currently the starter, but will need to fight off Johnson to retain that position.
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Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby addressed the media for nearly an hour on Thursday. Bowlsby does not have a plan of action for spring football at the moment. Instead, he intends to see what occurs with COVID-19 in 60 to 90 days before conference commissioners must decide the fate of this year’s football season.
Here are two responses worth mentioning.
Q. What are the financial ramifications of not having the basketball season being finished, and do you know what that might look like if football isn’t played?
“We have done some work on that. The canceled basketball championship games in Kansas City, looks like it'll cost us about $6.6 million. The NCAA Board of Governors just took action to distribute $225 million compared to $600 million or so, and we would normally get about $24 million from that. Instead, I think that distribution is going to be around $10 million. So, we're going to take some hits there. We are in the process of determining the reductions that we'll see in our television distribution, and in our sponsorship fulfillments, in conjunction with both the basketball, and the other championships that we have. All is not negative, however. We had a second team in the CFP. So, we will receive some money from that. We will have, as a result of what we call number of participation subsidies, we’ll probably save $3½ million between now and the end of the year on that. We got a million-dollar supplemental basketball revenue payment that came in earlier this year. It's already in the bank, and my guess is that will save, maybe 2½ to $4 or $5 million from budget variance in not hosting conference championships, and then downsizing conference operations. Everyone is working from home right now, and we don't know how long that will go on, obviously. There are some fairly good-sized negatives, and there are a few positives that will make a difference. It looks like the net could be in the $15 to $18 million range, which obviously goes directly to distribution. Those are round numbers. It’s a little early to determine if that's going to play itself out. And relative to the fall, you all are around the college sports world as I am all the time, and you how much of a driver college football is. It’s a driver from a popularity standpoint. It’s a driver for schools from a fundraising standpoint. It's a big driver from a TV standpoint, and it's a big driver from a ticket sales and revenue standpoint. We haven't done a lot of modeling, and we haven't done a lot of planning, because I just think it's far too early to do that. We certainly are looking at the next 60 to 90 days, and I think depending upon how that goes, we'll begin modeling around what the fall looks like. You could spend a whole lot of time with it and find out two weeks later that the circumstances have changed, and your computations are no longer viable. It's been my decision. I think the rest of the major conferences are in similar situation that we're [in]. We’re just beginning to mess around with those numbers a little bit. Obviously, that's a process we're going to have to go through if this next 60 or 90 days tells us that the fall is in jeopardy.”
Q. Have there been contingency plans discussed as to when you might start the season?
A. “One of the things we are talking about right now is what does the summer look like? I think you're asking principally about football, but we have soccer and volleyball and cross-country and other things going on during the fall. We also have some traditionally spring sports, like tennis and golf, that also have competitive seasons in the fall. It's more than just football. As you know, you just can't turn it on and turn it off. We have a lot of kids that are at home right now, and they're not getting regular workouts like they would get at school. They're not getting the lifting and the running, and the disruptions that are going on from being away from the structure that you have on campus. I think there's a couple week transition period, whenever it happens. I think we get to the point where we don't open up again until June 15, I think we need to look at what that transition window is, what it can include, and then what impact it has on the rest of preparation. The month of May typically is a is a heavy lifting and training month, and then the kids get a little bit of time off, and then they report back, and the coaches have camps and clinics going on. It may be we can't do any of that this year. What do you do to get ready? What do you what do you do to get your kids physically in condition? It used to be the football players would take the offseason off, or they even play a different sport. Today, these young men are training seven days a week, 365, whether they're doing it on their own, or whether they're doing it in conjunction with a training program. You can't just turn it on and turn it off, and I think that's the part we're thinking about is. What does the transition look like whether it's in May, or whether it's in June or later? What does it do to camp, the preseason camp? Is there a time when we have some sort of OTRs, or captain's practices, or maybe mini-camps? This is a new day. I think it's going to have to be almost entirely dictated by the circumstances, once those circumstances are null. Right now, I don't think there's a crystal ball on the planet that can tell us what's going to happen in the coming months.”
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(From Suchomel)
I checked in with a source this week to get a feel for how Texas is handling its recruiting efforts in a time when contact with recruits has been limited, and it sounds like the entire staff is feeling their way through this process, just like the rest of the world.
Coaches and recruiting personnel are pretty much on lockdown and not allowed on campus, so all recruiting efforts are being done over the phone or the computer. The football staff has met several times through virtually, including a meeting of the entire staff earlier this week.
From what I was told, it’s obviously not an ideal situation, but it hasn’t really slowed down UT’s recruiting efforts. One person told me things have been running pretty efficiently, and at times these virtual meetings have even been more efficient than in-person meeting because everyone knows there’s not a lot of time to waste and they get right down to business when they do meet.
If you’re wondering, the football staff has been given no target date for when they might be allowed to return to their offices (or resume in-person interaction with recruits) but it doesn’t sound like they’re expecting the current restrictions to be lifted anytime soon. The football program, I’m told, is following the lead of the NCAA and Big 12 so most of those decisions are out of their hands. There is some hope that the Big 12 could lift the limits on coaches having virtual meetings with players, which would be a welcome change since other conferences haven’t put those same limits in place.
Some alterations in other key times in the recruiting calendar (summer camps, spring evaluation period, summer dead period, etc) are also expected, but nobody knows right now what kind of changes will be made. Like the rest of society, the entire football staff is kind of going through this day by day.
So what’s different in their current recruiting efforts? I’m told you’re seeing an uptick in FaceTime meetings with prospects, but there’s nothing too revolutionary going on. The staff has a strategic plan it’s using to contact its top targets and they’ve done things like have multiple coaches do a virtual meeting with one kid, or have had multiple kids who are close with one another on with one coach ... anything they can do to keep building relationships with prospects during these uncertain times.
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When Texas put an offer on the table for Baltimore St. Frances linebacker Aaron Willis, my initial reaction was that it makes sense – he’s one of the country’s top prospects – but it would probably be a major uphill climb for UT to pull a kid from Maryland. After checking in with Willis, who ranks No. 68 on the Rivals100, it sounds like Texas will definitely be in the mix.
“I was born in San Antonio and my mom was born in Texas. Half my family is from there too so I always liked Texas, but I knew they really don’t recruit out of state like that,” Willis said.
A one-time Virginia Tech commitment, Willis has offers from all over the country. He says he’s open, but schools like Alabama, Penn State, Maryland and Clemson are some of the schools that have been mentioned as contenders in this one. Now that Texas has offered, Willis said the Longhorns will definitely get a visit.
“They’re definitely on my radar and I’m definitely going on a visit down there when stuff clears up,” Willis said.
The contact with Texas just began this week, Willis said, but he mentioned he is familiar with Texas linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler from Hutzler’s time at South Carolina.
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There’s been a lot of rumors about Michigan receiver Tariq Black transferring to Texas, most of which stemmed from an Instagram post this week showed Black wearing a Texas sweatshirt. That picture set off a wave of rumors that Black was “committing” to Texas, but I’m told that speculation is a little premature.
One person confirmed what @Anwar Richardson posted a few weeks ago, that Texas has been in contact. And while it sounds like the Longhorns are squarely in the mix, I was told by a source that he didn’t believe a decision was imminent. Black hasn’t yet taken a visit to Texas so a commitment before that would be a bit of a surprise, although all bets are pretty much off right now since nobody knows what the future holds in terms of official visits.
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Quinn Ewers is one of two 2022 quarterback offers the Longhorns have extended, but in checking around this week it sounds like Oklahoma has surged out to a sizeable lead there. I’m told the Sooner staff is confident there, but OU is also confident in its chances with the top QB in the country in 2021, Caleb Williams. If OU does land Williams, we’ll have to see if that has an impact on Ewers’ decision.
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A quick update on 2021 running back LJ Johnson since I’ve had a few people ask …
There was some talk that the Cy Fair standout has dropped Texas since he didn’t list them in a recent report. I reached out to Johnson on Thursday night, and he told me he’s “still good with Texas.”
Schools like A&M and LSU, among others, were always going to be a factor in this one, so the competition will be tough. Texas did get Johnson on campus back in January for a visit that he really enjoyed at the time, but it does sound like the Longhorns will need to get Johnson back in for another visit or two after the current restrictions are lifted.
I’m hoping to hear more details from Johnson on where Texas stands, and when I do I’ll keep you all updated.
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I caught up with Texas cornerback signee Kitan Crawford recently to touch base. The John Tyler speedster was running track before everything got shut down a couple weeks ago, and he was actually able to squeeze in a visit to meet the new Texas coaches a couple days before everything was put on lockdown.
“I met the new coaches, met the new D-coordinator, talked to everybody and had a good time. It was my first time meeting them in person,” Crawford said.
His thoughts on new cornerbacks coach Jay Valai …
“A lot of energy from him. He’s pretty cool. I like him a lot.”
Looking back at his recruitment, Crawford committed to Texas early and said there was a comfort level at UT that other schools couldn’t match.
“It was just when I took visits, talked to all the coaches. I just felt like Texas was the school for me,” Crawford said. “Growing up in east Texas, when I got the offer, it just felt like that was the one.
“I had choices to go to Tennessee and OU. I visited Tennessee, but I couldn’t let Texas go.”
When Texas went through a shake-up with its coaching staff, Crawford said schools like TCU, Baylor, Tennessee and Oklahoma tried to get him switch his commitment. He said there was a time when things got pretty stressful, but he never seriously considered flipping to another school.
“It was kind of nerve racking. I was nervous because my coach, coach Washington, ended up getting fired,” Crawford said. “I really didn’t know what to do. I talked to my mom, she said to wait it out, meet the new coaches.
“I had that conversation with my mom. She said coaches get fired, you’re going to school for that school, not for one coach.”
