When I think about Christmas as a kid, the memories that immediately come to mind are the ones on Christmas morning. Waking up, realizing it was Christmas morning and the excitement would be too much to allow me to go back to sleep. My brother and I would wake up the rest of the family and then, when my parents were ready, they would open the door to the living room and we would finally see what Santa had brought us.
The first thing that always caught my eye was how the lights from the Christmas tree illuminating the room in an almost magical kind of glow. Then I would see the gifts. Christmas gifts everywhere. Some of the bigger items, like the 10-speed bike I got one year, were left unwrapped. The rest were wrapped and piled under the tree. Looking back, I don’t know how my parents managed it all, but they did and I am forever grateful for them. Not for the gifts, most of which I can’t even remember, but for making it special.
One thing about being the first to wake up on Christmas morning, I could have easily snuck into the living room and got a sneak peak at all of the gift Santa had delivered, but I never did. I never wanted to ruin the surprise.
But I know there are many who can’t help themselves. The excitement of Christmas is too much and they sneak around trying to find out what they are going to get. You may have loved ones at this very moment who are trying to find out what you bought them.
So this column is for those people. The ones who just HAVE to see what lies ahead.
This week, we take a way, way, way too early look at the 2025 season (even before the 2024 season is wrapped up).
THE ROSTER:
This is the hardest part to project because the roster is still in flux with the transfer portal being open less than a week.
But the most important position is the easiest to project. Let the Manning era begin!
QUARTERBACK:
Manning has shown incredible potential in his limited playing time this year. He’s completed 61 of his 90 pass attempts (67.8 completion percentage) for 939 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Texas offense will look different under Manning than it has under Quinn Ewers.
I don’t want to get into a Ewers bashing session. I still maintain Ewers is a very good college quarterback. But Manning has a different skill set that opens the offense.
Manning’s deep ball accuracy and his willingness to push it down the field fit Sarkisian’s offense incredibly well.
Sark wants to have the deep balls to keep the DB’s on their back heels so that it opens up the run game. His offense is a run-first offense. Always. But you need to be able to keep defenses honest in order to prevent them from stacking the box and shutting down the run game (see Georgia on October 19th and December 7th).
Manning also brings a QB run game to the offense which will never be heavily featured in Sark’s offense, but it does allow Texas to pick up yards when the pocket breaks down and keep the chains moving.
Manning’s legs may be needed next season more than many would like because there will be upheaval along the offensive line.
OFFENSIVE LINE:
Kelvin Banks
Hayden Conner
Jake Majors
Cam Williams (likely)
They’re all gone.
DJ Campbell will probably be the lone starter returning next year. Campbell has shown some incredible ability but also some real lapses. The most consistent pressure to get to Ewers this season came from the right side of the line.
Cole Hutson has started plenty of games for the Horns and played consistently as a backup to Campbell so he has experience.
Trevor Goosby has shown himself to be a more than capable replacement for Banks while he recovers from a high ankle sprain. Is he going to play to a Lombardi award level? Probably not. But he will likely play at a very high level none the less. Still, we can expect some growing pains while he adjusts to being a full time starter.
Now the real question marks start to come in. Is Brandon Baker ready to take over at right tackle? Is Neto Umeozulu ready to step in? Connor Stroh? Who starts at center? Connor Robertson?
It shouldn’t shock anyone if Texas dips into the portal to find some depth and potentially a starter.
PASS CATCHERS:
The Texas offense just hasn’t been the same since Isaiah Bond was injured. Bond is, most likely, off to the NFL. But his injury has not only slowed down the Longhorn O, it has probably cost him some money in the draft.
Matthew Golden has played so well this season that it is now a question of whether he comes back for another year of college ball of if he goes off to the NFL. Manning may want to pony up some NIL dollars to keep Golden in Austin.
DeAndre Moore has been spectacular this season and he’ll be back, as will Ryan Wingo who had a hot start to his freshman season.
After that it is a bunch of players who don’t have a lot of playing time (Ryan Niblett, Parker Livingstone, Freddie Dubose & Aaron Butler) or incoming freshmen with a ton of talent but they’re freshmen (Jamie Ffrench, Kaliq Lockett, Daylan McCutcheon and Michael Terry).
Tight end is also a big question mark with Amari Niblack, Spencer Shannon, Will Randle, and Jordan Washington returning.
Texas may, very well, be looking into the portal for help at TE.
OFFENSIVE SUMMARY:
Texas should have an explosive offense next season IF the offensive line can come together. That’s always a big question mark. The o-line, more than any other position group, needs to work together. There will be growing pains. The line play that we have become accustomed to over the past three years will be gone. Can Coach Flood recreate the magic he found? If anyone can it’s probably him. But you know who else would have said that coming into this season? OU fans about their coach Bill Bedenbaugh. How did that work out for them?
DEFENSIVE LINE:
Defensive tackle is the most obvious position of need with only Melvin Hills and Alex January returning at the position (and they were both freshmen without a ton of playing time).
This isn’t exactly a surprise. We saw this coming before the 2024 season even began, I even wrote about it. But that doesn’t change the fact that Sarkisian needs to go out and find a lot of playmakers at a position where talented players with their heads on straight rarely come onto the market. It’s not a good place to be.
The exact opposite is true on the edges. Colin Simmons has proven his 5-star rating in high school was too low. He has lived up to that billing and surpassed it.
Trey Moore has come on strong as the season has gone on and another year in burnt orange will do him and the team a lot of good. Justice Finkley, Ethan Burke, Colton Vasek and Zina Umeozulu are all back as well. Add in incoming freshmen Justus Terry, Josiah Sharma and Myron Charles and you know the Horns are going to be wrecking shop from the edges for years to come.
LINEBACKER:
Linebacker Anthony Hill is another star who will be back, at least for one final season, before heading off to the NFL. Liona Lefau and Tyanthony Smith are back as well and they’ve played pretty well. But this is another position where it wouldn’t kill the Horns to find some depth.
DEFENSIVE BACKS:
Texas has a lot of young talent at safety in Derek Williams, Jelani McDonald, Jordan Johnson-Rubell, Xavier Filsaime and incoming freshmen Jonah Williams and Zelus Hicks. They’re probably set at this position but it’s unlikely that this group can play at the same level that Michael Taaffe and Andrew Mukuba played at this season. Those two were probably the best tandem of safeties in the country.
Jahdae Barron, the best DB in the country, is also gone. His running mate, Malik Muhammad, should be back and likely with a big NIL pay raise. Kobe Black has shown real flashes and one would assume (spare me the jokes) that he will step up and play a prominent role next season.
There is plenty of depth as well with Jaylon Guilbeau, Santana Wilson, and Wardell Mack coming back. There is also incoming freshmen Kade Phillips, Caleb Chester and Graceson Littleton.
DEFENSIVE SUMMARY:
One of the axioms which I live by when it comes to football is that if you’re strong up the middle then you’ll be strong overall. Unfortunately, next season’s defense has the biggest question marks up the middle, starting at defensive tackle. I also have questions about the safety play and how it will hold up.
Still, there is a lot of talent returning from what has been an elite defense. There is no reason to expect a big dropoff next year. Of course the opposite of that is true as well, it’s hard to expect the 2025 defense to live up to the 2024 defense.
THE SCHEDULE:
This is the easiest part of the lookahead because the schedule was released Wednesday night.
2025 Texas Football Schedule
Aug. 30 – at Ohio State (A)
Sept. 6 – San Jose State (H)
Sept. 13 – UTEP (H)
Sept. 20 – Open Date
Sept. 27 – Sam Houston (H)
Oct. 4 – at Florida (A)
Oct. 11 – vs. Oklahoma (Dallas)
Oct. 18 – at Kentucky (A)
Oct. 25 – at Mississippi State (A)
Nov. 1 – Vanderbilt (H)
Nov. 8 – Open Date
Nov. 15 – at Georgia (A)
Nov. 22 – Arkansas (H)
Nov. 29 – Texas A&M (H)
Ohio State is obviously the biggest game on the slate. Texas has been to Columbus before and used it to launch itself into a national title run. Could history repeat itself?
The Buckeyes will be breaking in a new quarterback and practically an all-new starting 11 on defense (eight of the 11 are for sure gone, we’ll see if they lose anymore else). But that doesn’t mean there won’t be talent playing in the Horseshoe. Jeremiah Smith is already one of the best receivers in the country and Caleb Downs is a stud safety.
It should be a lot of fun.
The Longhorns will need to keep their bags packed in October with three true road games and the annual grudge match against OU in Dallas.
Florida turned a corner late in the season and that game will be tougher next season than it was this season (especially if DJ Lagway is playing). The Gators were a young team this year (only three senior starters). If they continue to grow together then going on the road to play in the Swamp could be a real test.
Oklahoma is, to put it mildly, a train wreck right now. Who is going to be their quarterback? Who will he even throw the ball to? Who will block for him? How long until the OU brass fire Brent Venables? These are all questions that have yet to be answered.
Georgia will be another tough road trip in November. There will be no shortage of motivation heading between the hedges. We should get a good look at future quarterback Gunnar Stockton in the playoffs (on top of what we saw last week). We can also expect the Bulldogs to be strong on both sides of the line.
Arkansas and Texas A&M are the only two good home games on the schedule and the piggies may be 3-7 by the time they come to town. About half of their team is in the transfer portal and that was a 6-6 team in the first place.
The Aggies are losing a lot of talent, especially along the defensive line, which was the strength of their unit. Marcel Reed flashed this year and he should have more growth with a full offseason as the starter and a season of games under his belt by the time he comes to Austin.
SCHEDULE SUMMARY:
All in all, this is a pretty manageable schedule that should see Texas in contention once again for a playoff spot. Win at least one of the games between Ohio State and Georgia and the Longhorns could end the season 11-1 again.
Of course, this is all just speculation in the middle of December, a full year ahead of time. We’ve got a long way to go before we get there. Heck, I haven’t even opened my Christmas gifts yet.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Speaking of Christmas … this is a great example of life imitating art.
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There is one regular season game left in this season and it’s a doozy!
Go Navy! Beat Army!
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Want to know why Texas to the SEC was such a big deal? Chris Del Conte spitting out some truth.
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You can take the players out of college and send them off to the NFL, but they never let go of those rivalries.
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The Texas high school football playoffs are close to wrapping up and Argyle is still in the hunt for another state title thanks to what has to be the catch of the year.
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Will the Apache Belles being wearing Li-Ning gear as well?
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You can’t fix stupid.
