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Texas has a chance to win a conference and possibly even a national championship in 2024 … and it all starts this week.
That sentence is true in both football and baseball.
The Longhorn football team began winter conditioning this week and the Longhorn baseball team begins practice this week as well.
WINTER CONDITIONING:
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This may be the least understood time period of college football. Sure, we all know that it means they’re going to be working out, running, doing some football style drills, etc … but nobody really knows what goes on in winter conditioning unless you’ve been there.
"The workouts, it’s intense, intense, intense all the time,” said redshirt freshman offensive lineman Connor Stroh as last season’s winter workouts wrapped up.
Last season’s winter conditioning is when we saw Quinn Ewers shave his mullet, slim down, gain some muscle and gain a LOT more comfort in Sark’s system.
This year’s winter conditioning will look different than any we’ve seen before on the 40 Acres. Twenty-four new enrollees will take part in conditioning.
“It helps them individually, right? They’re immediately immersed into our winter conditioning program. They’re immediately immersed into our locker room and into our culture. They get a whole spring ball of practicing with us. Then when summer rolls around, they’re just that much more comfortable for us,” said Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian during his early signing period press conference in December.
Seven of Texas’ eight transfer portal signings are joining for the spring semester and will take part in workouts.
TRANSFER PORTAL ENROLLEES:
Isaiah Bond, WR
Matthew Golden, WR
Amari Niblack, TE
Tiaoalii Savea, DT
Trey Moore, EDGE
Kendrick Blackshear, LB
Andrew Mukuba, S
That number includes a record-setting 17 true freshmen have enrolled early and are hitting the weight room as well.
EARLY ENROLLEES:
Trey Owens, QB
Jerrick Gibson, RB
Christian Clark, RB
Ryan Wingo, WR
Aaron Butler, WR
Parker Livingstone, WR
Jordan Washington, TE
Brandon Baker, OL
Daniel Cruz, OL
Alex January, DL
Colin Simmons, EDGE
Zina Umeozulu, EDGE
Tyanthony Smith, LB
Kobe Black, CB
Wardell Mack, CB
Xavier Filsaime, S
Jordon Johnson-Rubell, S
For the transfers, this winter is a time for them to come in and bond with their new teammates, learn the playbook and begin to make inroads towards becoming immediate starters (which is what they were brought in to do in the first place – or at least be in the competition to start and get snaps).
Guys like Isaiah Bond, Matthew Golden and Amari Niblack can use this time to really get to know their new quarterback, Quinn Ewers.
Silas Bolden, the wide receiver transfer from Oregon State, will enroll in the summer.
For the freshmen, this is a time to learn. They will actually work out separately from the rest of the squad while they get coached up on the proper way to do things in the weight room.
“They definitely critique a lot of things," running back CJ Baxter said. "They want you to pretty much be perfect when it comes to doing things. But they want to teach you. They pride themselves on making you better, so that’s the main thing.”
Once the freshmen get integrated in with the rest of the team, then the real work of winter conditioning can begin … the bonding.
It’s a cliché to say that championships are won in the winter, but it’s a cliché for a reason … it’s true. Now is the time when players get pushed physically and mentally. They become stronger physically and mentally. And as they are pushed to their physical and mental limits, they begin, hopefully, to rely on each other to help them through it. They form cohesion.
At least, that’s what happens with championship teams. They come together and become a team in the truest sense of the word.
The large number of enrollees has another benefit as well, it will make spring practice go much better.
The roster was so depleted along the offensive line in Sarkisian’s second season that he didn’t really hold a spring game in 2022. Instead, the Horns held what Sark called a “situational” or practice style scrimmage and didn’t keep score.
That won’t be a problem this year.
The large number of early enrollees will allow Sark to field full practices much more similar to what they do during the fall. They won’t have to split up their first and second teams as often in order to field squads. That allows talented young guys to go up against the first and second team players and get better.
“A lot of guys are gonna get reps a lot of guys are going to develop and get better as they grow,” said Sarkisian.
Of course, some of those talented young guys will end up becoming first and second teamers themselves, but Sark doesn’t tend to make that move until the summer.
Guys like Colin Simmons can look at what Anthony Hill did last season and see how it can play out for them. Simmons will likely come in and be buried on the depth chart early as he learns the ropes. That will mean he’ll be taking reps against Kelvin Banks and Cam Williams – getting better every day. By the time the summer rolls around, Simmons should be on the two-deep and getting a lot of practice reps. Then, as the season progresses, and he becomes more comfortable with the speed and physicality of the game, he can earn a starting spot.
The expanded roster will help with the spring game as well. Most springs you see a lot of walk-ons not just playing, but playing prominent roles in the game. Last year we saw sophomore running back Ky Woods streaking down the sideline for a 35-yard catch and run from Maalik Murphy.
No offense to Woods, by the way. The Sophomore RB made it into three games on special teams last year which is three games more than I’ll ever see. He’s just not someone who is going to feature prominently week in and week out.
With almost the entire freshman class in house already, those kind of Spring Game reps can go to guys like Christian Clark … someone the Horns could be forced to count on next season (either through injuries or because Clark is so damn good the coaches don’t want to take him out of the game).
Injuries is another reason why you see less common names on the spring game box score.
“We were able to make it through with somewhat limited rosters,” Sarkisian said after last year’s spring game. “We had a few guys that we just didn’t want to put in harm's way to get them completely healthy. We had a couple of guys that had to kind of play in green jerseys, which meant they were non-contact.”
Any way you slice it, there are a lot of new faces in the Texas locker room and their journey towards a potential SEC Championship in 2024 has just begun.
FROM PIGSKIN TO HORSEHIDE …
The same is true for the 2024 Texas Longhorn baseball team (well, not the SEC part – they’ll have to wait another year to begin play in the new conference).
The Longhorns begin practice Friday and another run at Omaha is definitely within reach.
It all starts with the starters.
(Likely rotation.)
FRIDAY: Lebarron Johnson Jr.
SATURDAY: Tanner Witt
SUNDAY: Charlie Hurley
Lebarron Johnson Jr. developed into one of the best starting pitchers in all of college baseball last year. LBJ posted an 8-4 record with a 2.91 ERA last season en route to earning second team All American honors. He has a fastball that will sit in the mid-90s that he combines well with a beautiful changeup and a nasty slider.
Combine his natural talents with an advanced understanding of the game, and you have the makings of an elite Friday night starter.
“He’s just a very determined pitcher,” Texas head coach David Pierce said about Johnson. “He understands his body better than ever and does a great job of making in-game adjustments.”
Saturday night, Pierce will likely hand the ball over to longtime-Longhorn, Tanner Witt.
The redshirt junior returns to the starting lineup after missing most of the 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Witt did see some action late in the season but it was an inning here or an inning there. He also played in the Cape Cod league last summer before coming back to school. Pierce has been cautious in bringing the righty back in order to make sure he’s good to go this season.
If Witt is healthy and can recapture the form he had prior to his surgery, then there may not be a better 1-2 rotation in all of college baseball. Certainly those two will be good enough to win most of the three game series the Horns will face this season.
The Sunday starter could very well end up being Charlie Hurley. Much like LBJ, Hurley is a big boy (6’-8”) who has a fastball sitting in the mid-90s. Hurley just needs to work on the command of his fastball and continue to improve his second pitch.
“Hurley is a guy who made some huge strides in the fall in terms of tightening up his slider,” said Pierce.
All in all, Pierce, who has taken over the pitching coach duties this season, is happy with his staff.
“You know, I don’t think we’re going to have a pitching staff loaded with power arms outside of the guys in the rotation and what not, but we’re going to have a staff that possesses arms that all have a quality commanded three-pitch mix,” Pierce said.
THE BATS
The Longhorns have plenty of production at the plate as well.
C – Ryan Galvan
1B – Luke Storm
2B – Jack O’Dowd
SS – Jalin Flores
3B – Peyton Powell
LF – Porter Brown
CF – Jared Thomas
RF – Will Gasparino
DH – Nik Sanders
If you aren’t excited to see what Jared Thomas does this year, then you haven’t followed Texas baseball. Thomas lit it up during his freshman season last year hitting .321 but had only four homers. I expect him to develop more power this year while continuing to make solid contact.
Luke Storm, who transferred in from Duke, will take over at first base, allowing Thomas to move to center field. Storm brings the thunder at the plate (see what I did there?). He hit 13 home runs last season for the Blue Devils.
In addition to Storm, there will be plenty of power hitters in the Longhorn lineup.
Porter Brown returns for his redshirt senior season. He hit .322 last year with 12 homers.
Peyton Powell is another redshirt senior returning to the lineup. He also had double digit dingers with 10 bombs last year.
True freshman Nik Sanders will be given the first crack at being the DH and his potential is through the roof. The 6’-2”, 215 pounder has a big, aggressive swing with the power to get the bat head through the strike zone quickly. When he gets a hold of the ball, it goes far.
Sanders has the potential to be the next Longhorn legend and he doesn’t shy away from those kinds of expectations.
“I want to be great,"
Sanders told Spectrum News last May. "I want to be remembered, and I want to be a legend.”
If Texas is going to get back to Omaha, it needs more from Jalin Flores than it had last season. The sophomore struggled in his first season in D1 baseball, but there is hope that he’s turned the corner.
“I thought he made some huge strides during fall ball,” Pierce said. “He is as improved as anyone on our team, and sometimes that’s the natural progression is going from a freshman to a sophomore. His mobility is much better, he has more power and his bat to ball skills have improved a great deal.”
I haven’t completely wrapped my head around what I expect from this team this season, but in some ways it’s exciting because this team has the potential to be either just ok or very, very good.
Whatever the 2024 Texas Longhorn baseball team ends up being, it starts Friday.
Oh, and one final note for all of you seamheads ...
@ZachattheDisch will be on hand Friday for the first practice and he tells me has a 16 page conference preview ready to roll and he's working on a non-conference preview as well ... so you've got that to look forward to.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
This is a late addition to the column because it just got announced, but it definitely fits here.
All the Way with LBJ!
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If Quinn Ewers shows the same amount of growth from his sophomore to junior season as he showed from his freshman to sophomore season, then this is a pretty good bet … especially with the restocked receiving cupboard thanks to the portal.
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The Senior Bowl kicks off next week and I’m very excited to see how the Texas players in attendance perform in practice.
Maybe their coach can give them a pointer or two about what to expect? After all, he’s an all-star at this sort of thing.
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Maybe one of those soon to be drafted Horns can start paying it back a little?
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Two big wins in a row for the basketball team and all of a sudden they’re looking like they just might have a March dance in them after all? Maybe Rodney Terry was the right hire?
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There are lots of changes coming in 2024 … and I’m here for all of it.
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Congratulations to the newly announced baseball Hall of Fame class! While I sometimes think the baseball writers are a little too persnickety when it comes to inducting new members, there is no doubt that those who did make it very much earned it. It is, by far, the hardest Hall of Fame to be inducted into in all of sports.
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Adrian Beltre is my favorite new HOF’er … and it’s not just because he’s a Ranger. Beltre never forgot that it was a game.
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Oh, and lest we forget, Todd Helton once started at quarterback at the University of Tennessee over another future Hall of Famer, Payton Manning.
Hmmm… Manning. That name sounds familiar for some reason.
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A lot of you guys may be sick of Taylor Swift, but Ravens head coach John Harbaugh isn’t.
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She’s a keeper.
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This one’s also a keeper.
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And finally … happy birthday!
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