"Just a Bit Outside" is brought to you by:
ESM is owned by Brandon, a longtime Orangebloods member, @Elite Sports Memorabilia . Elite Sports Media has THE BEST in Longhorn memorabilia anywhere. You can find memorabilia from UT legends such as Vince Young, Ricky Williams, Sam Ehlinger, Cat Osterman and Ivan Melendez. He also works with current Longhorns such as Quinn Ewers and Xavier Worthy.
There is some exciting news coming from @Elite Sports Memorabilia this week. They've signed Maalik Murphy to be their newest athlete!
Now is your chance to hop on the the Maalik Murphy bandwagon before it really takes off.
You can head over to the Elite Sports Memorabilia Facebook page to buy the gear ahead of time.
Signing will be either September 3rd, or September 17th. Presales are now open!
Jerseys
Orange $100
White $100
Black $110
Minis $115
Full Size $275
Funkos $100
If there is some other kind of memorabilia you're looking for, please reach out to Brandon - he can probably get it.
You can reach Brandon via email at esmsportsut@gmail.com, or on facebook at Elite Sports Memorabilia if you have any questions or would like to place an order.
Social Media
Facebook Elite Sports Mem
Twitter @EliteSportsMem
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EBAY STORE:
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JOIN THE GROUP:
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===========================================================================
It’s almost time. We’re close enough now to the kickoff to the 2023 football season that we can start counting down in hours instead of days, weeks or even months. The kickoff against Rice is so close now many of us can taste it. (Get it? Rice … taste it. See what I did there?)
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian can probably taste a big season coming as well.
“Everybody has put in a lot of hard work just to get us to this point,” Sarkisian said. “I do think we’re pretty good. I think we’ll find out in December how good we are but I think we’re pretty good now we need to go play like it.”
I may be over-dramatizing this, but it feels like it’s now or never for Sarkisian.
Sark’s record as a head coach has been well publicized. He’s never had a season better than 9-4 (USC in 2014). His career winning percentage is .557 and he’s barely above .500 at Texas with a 13-12 record.
“We’ve put in a lot of work over three years and those older players have been here for this journey,” Sarkisian said Monday. “They’ve been here for 5-7. They were here a year ago after a couple of tough losses, a couple of big wins.”
If this were a movie, it would be a horror show. But Sark has a different kind of flick in mind for this season.
“How do we want the movie to go this year and what are they willing to do to set the stage to write that script so that movie can play out,” Sarkisian asked of himself and his players.
The Sark doubters have plenty of ammunition to use against him (and as a result, against Texas this season). But the one thing they’re forgetting is that just because somebody hasn’t done something yet, it doesn’t mean they won’t do it in the future.
Sarkisian comes into 2023 with a roster loaded with talented players – a roster he built.
“It is enjoyable to know that that group of guys that I get to coach every day, those are my guys,” said Sarkisian. “It definitely feels that way. They respond that way.”
His most important guy has to be quarterback Quinn Ewers.
Reading between the lines, it’s easy to think there was frustrations at times last season as Ewers struggled through a redshirt freshman season. Sarkisian said at times, Ewers may have felt like he was being singled out.
“That’s just natural, that’s human nature,” Sarkisian said. “When in reality, the whole time we’re always coaching everybody to try to be the best they can be and do it right.
Ewers went to work all offseason on his body, his footwork, and knowledge of the playbook … all of which helped rebuild a shaken confidence in himself.
“I’m a lot more confident in the system which ultimately leads to more confidence in myself,” Ewers said. “Seeing the coaches and teammates gain confidence in me, it ultimately only helps me regain the confidence in myself.”
The quarterback and coach also worked together to build a stronger relationship - one that can survive the inevitable hardships that will come this year.
“I think Quinn and I have gotten to a really cool space of communication and understanding,” Sarkisian said. “I’m able to talk to him about the minutiae in plays and defenses and things going on. He’s worked at it and I think that he’s earned those conversations. At the end, he’s applying them. I think as an offense and as a team we’re reaping the benefits of that.”
Sarkisian said that having Ewers as the established starter has really freed him up.
“In year one, we were trying to install an offensive system,” Sarkisian said. “Year two, I was trying to figure out who was going to be the starter (at quarterback). This year, knowing that Quinn was going to be (the starter) and knowing that we would have a battle there at the backup spot, Coach Millwee, Coach Flood, that group was really able to take more of the reins there and I was able to stay connected to the defense side of the ball and the special teams. That’s just really a carryover from the summer because that’s kind of how the summer went for me.”
To get to where Sark wants to be, the Horns are going to have to shake off the demons that have haunted them for the past couple of years. Those slipups in games that they should have won like Texas Tech and Oklahoma State last season.
To do that – the Horns need to do two things.
First, Texas needs to play with focus. Throughout fall camp, Sarkisian has harped on how the team is still making too many mistakes. Too many pre-snap penalties. Too many turnovers. Those are the kind of plays that kill drives, take points off the scoreboard (or add points to the other side) and ultimately lead to one of those losses which is entirely preventable.
Second, Texas needs to play with a mean streak.
“You can’t just sit back and keep taking punches and it’s just ok,” Sarkisian said. “At some point, you have to go hunt, you have to punch back and you have to fight back and that’s what we’re imploring our veterans to do, our leaders to do. Every time that we take the field our opponents are going to get our best shot. We may get theirs, we may not. We can’t control that. But we need to be sure that they get our best shot.”
If Sark is able to get his team to give its best shot each week, then every single goal they have coming into the season is on the table. A Big 12 Championship? You bet. A playoff spot? Why not? An undefeated season? They certainly have enough talent to pull off that kind of year.
But Texas’ deep roster of talented players can be a double-edged sword. If Texas doesn’t win big this year, then the Sark doubters will grow in numbers. Texas fans have seen how that movie ends.
The 2023 Texas Longhorns feature film is about to start. Let’s hope for Sark’s sake, it’s a happy ending.
RICE PREVIEW
The Rice Owls come to town as 35-point underdogs. Their chances of pulling an upset are next to zero.
But Rice is on the upswing under fifth-year head coach Mike Bloomgren. The Owls are coming off their first bowl appearance in eight years when they Southern Miss 38-24 in the Lending Tree Bowl last season.
Rice needed a little help to reach bowl status, they were 5-8 but not enough teams reached bowl eligibility so they were able to fill one of the slots by virtue of having the highest APR (Academic Progress Rating). Shocking, right?! Rice players being good at academics?
Rice is also stepping up in competition this year moving from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference. Despite that, the expectations around the program are pretty high.
“Six (wins) is the floor,” said Matthew Barlett, editor of attheroost.com. “Seven or eight (wins) is in the wheelhouse. If JT Daniels is JT Daniels, he’s a very good quarterback, this is a team that should contend for the conference.”
Rice is not completely devoid of talent.
“This is the most talented team that Rice has had in quite some time,” Bartlett said. “
JT Daniels will be leading his team onto the field at DKR for the third time in his well-traveled career. In fact, when Daniels gets the start this Saturday, he will be tied with Hudson Card for career starts at DKR.
“He’s (Daniels) is a great leader with a great arm and it’s definitely going to change the dynamic of their offense,” Texas linebacker David Gbenda said. “But we are well versed and well prepared for JT Daniels and what he brings to the Rice Owls.”
You’ll have to forgive Daniels if he doesn’t exactly have fond memories of his time in Austin. He hasn’t exactly lit it up against the Horns.
2022 – WEST VIRGINIA @ TEXAS (Texas won 38-20)
2018 - USC @ TEXAS (Texas won 37-14)
Daniels had to throw the ball a lot in each of those games because his team was behind. I expect the same to happen on Saturday. Texas should be able to force Rice to air the ball out more in an attempt to catch up.
Daniels chose Rice in part because of his longstanding relationship with head coach Mike Bloomgren, who was trying to lure Daniels to Stanford when he was a 5-star high school recruit.
“He (Bloomgren) is just a hell of a coach and schematically his offense fits me,” Daniels told the Tulsa World during the AAC Media Days this summer. “Bloom’s offense just fits my style more specifically. I think it gives me a better chance to get a shot at the NFL. It plays to my strengths as a quarterback significantly more than most other systems do. It allows for more pre-snap control on my part and more emphasis on the quarterback getting in the right play and executive it. In the end, a quarterback’s main focus is execution.”
That’s a lot of pressure to put on Daniels but he won’t have to bear it alone.
Luke McCaffrey, Christian McCaffrey’s younger brother, is one of Rice’s better players on the team. McCaffrey led the team with 58 catches and six touchdowns last season. He has good hands and good route running ability – creating separation.
Daniels and McCaffrey are probably Rice’s most talented players on offense, which should help their passing game. But in an ideal world, Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren would prefer to eat up the clock with the running game.
“Pound the rock, control the clock and play great defense,” said Bartlett. “That is the mantra that Bloomgren has reiterated to me a thousand times. So that is the game plan period. It doesn’t matter who they’re playing, that is what he wants to do.”
Rice will rely on a dual combination of Juma Otaviano and Dean Connors to take the carries.
Otaviano is the Owls’ leading returning rusher having carried the ball 71 times last season for 403 yards – a 5.7 yards-per-carry average. This is Otaviano’s sixth season at Rice so he knows the offense in and out.
Connors didn’t have nearly as many carries last season (28 for 128 yards), but he has good hands. Connors was also an all-state track athlete in high school in California so he has more than enough speed.
Bloomgren may want to run the ball more but the Owls have work to do in the run game compared to last season. Rice ranked 80th in the country in rushing yards per game last year and failed to have a 100-yard rusher the entire season.
“Opposing teams, the past couple of years, you stack eight in the box and you make Rice throw it,” Bartlett said. “If the quarterback can’t beat you, it doesn’t matter if that’s what Rice wants to run. I think that’s going to be the great equalizer this season. That’s what Rice is hoping for with a quarterback like JT Daniels.
“If you’ve got a guy who can hit the open man when you’ve got favorable numbers on the back end, all of a sudden teams aren’t going to be able to put seven or eight in the box. When that happens, you can run the ball better than you’ve been able to.”
On the flip side, Rice has struggled to stop the run on defense. The Owls finished 108th in the country last season giving up more than 181 yards per game.
Things aren’t likely to turn around for the Rice d-line this weekend. Texas should be able to just lean on Rice and open up some run lanes. Just look at the height and weight of the two lines:
TEXAS O-LINE:
6-4, 325 pounds
RICE D-LINE
6-2, 277 pounds
Bartlett says Rice is excited about the return of 6-0, 290-pound De’Braylon Carroll.
“The past two years the run defense at Rice has suffered because De’Braylon Carroll missed all of the 2021 season and was playing hurt all of 2022,” Bartlett said. “This is a guy who was defensive MVP at Duncanville High School. Defensive tackles don’t win the MVP very often unless you are a game-changer and he is. Back when he was on the field in 2020, Rice had a top-15 defense in the nation. It’s not as simple as reducing it down to one guy, but man they feel a lot better with him on the field in the middle. And yeah, he is undersized, but I joke that if you give him two inches, he’s playing at Baylor and Texas Tech. You give him four inches and he’s playing at Texas.”
The second level of the Owls' defense is the best. Linebackers Josh Pearcy and Chris Conti are both playmakers. Conti is a reliable tackler who led the team in stops last season with 75. Meanwhile, Pearcy led the team in sacks last season with 6.5 and tackles for loss with 12.5. Both have a new coach this year and he’s a good one. Jon Kay, the former head coach at Galena Park North Shore, left behind his four state championships at North Shore to coach the Rice linebackers.
The Rice pass defense was actually much stronger than the run defense, finishing 38th in the country, giving up 208 yards per game.
The headliner of the group is safety Gabriel Taylor. Taylor just started playing football a couple of years ago. He’s the younger brother of the late Sean Taylor and wanted to make a name for himself in basketball. But it turns out, those NFL bloodlines are too strong to ignore.
Taylor is already on multiple preseason awards watch lists including the East-West Shrine Bowl list. He’s also a first-team preseason all-AAC safety for the College Football Network and second-team preseason all-AAC for PFF, Athlon, and Phil Steele.
Cornerback Josh Dunbar is another good player in the back end of the Owls defense. Dunbar registered seven pass breakups in 2021 and 10 in 2022. The 6’-0” DB is a playmaker who has NFL potential.
As I mentioned, Rice is not completely devoid of talent. But this Texas team is on a whole other level when it comes to talent. The Horns should win pretty handily – assuming they play to their own level.
TWEETS OF INTEREST
If you want to watch the full interview with Matthew Bartlett previewing Rice, be sure to check out our Horns Up YouTube show on OB Live.
############################
Texas fans can expect BIG things from this freshman class … and you probably won’t have to wait long to see it.
############################
Just how talented is the Texas roster? It turns out … VERY!
############################
Mel Kiper is out with his first "Big Board" for the 2024 NFL Draft.
www.espn.com
Quinn Ewers checks in as his sixth best quarterback.
Xavier Worthy is the sixth best wide receiver.
Ja'Tavion Sanders is the second highest ranked tight end.
Jaylan Ford is the third highest ranked off-ball linebacker.
############################
Kelvin Banks has earned every bit of bling he wants to put on. As long as he doesn’t OG, I’m good with whatever he wants to wear.
############################
Anybody who says anything other than the Expos is wrong.
############################
If you know, you know. God I love El Paso!
ESM is owned by Brandon, a longtime Orangebloods member, @Elite Sports Memorabilia . Elite Sports Media has THE BEST in Longhorn memorabilia anywhere. You can find memorabilia from UT legends such as Vince Young, Ricky Williams, Sam Ehlinger, Cat Osterman and Ivan Melendez. He also works with current Longhorns such as Quinn Ewers and Xavier Worthy.
There is some exciting news coming from @Elite Sports Memorabilia this week. They've signed Maalik Murphy to be their newest athlete!
Now is your chance to hop on the the Maalik Murphy bandwagon before it really takes off.
You can head over to the Elite Sports Memorabilia Facebook page to buy the gear ahead of time.
Signing will be either September 3rd, or September 17th. Presales are now open!
Jerseys
Orange $100
White $100
Black $110
Minis $115
Full Size $275
Funkos $100
If there is some other kind of memorabilia you're looking for, please reach out to Brandon - he can probably get it.
You can reach Brandon via email at esmsportsut@gmail.com, or on facebook at Elite Sports Memorabilia if you have any questions or would like to place an order.
Social Media
Facebook Elite Sports Mem
Twitter @EliteSportsMem
Tik Tok elite sports mem
IG Elite_Sports_Memorabilia_UT
EBAY STORE:
Ebay Elite Sports Memorabilia UT
JOIN THE GROUP:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/elitesportsmemorabilia/?ref=share_group_link
===========================================================================
It’s almost time. We’re close enough now to the kickoff to the 2023 football season that we can start counting down in hours instead of days, weeks or even months. The kickoff against Rice is so close now many of us can taste it. (Get it? Rice … taste it. See what I did there?)
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian can probably taste a big season coming as well.
“Everybody has put in a lot of hard work just to get us to this point,” Sarkisian said. “I do think we’re pretty good. I think we’ll find out in December how good we are but I think we’re pretty good now we need to go play like it.”
I may be over-dramatizing this, but it feels like it’s now or never for Sarkisian.
Sark’s record as a head coach has been well publicized. He’s never had a season better than 9-4 (USC in 2014). His career winning percentage is .557 and he’s barely above .500 at Texas with a 13-12 record.
“We’ve put in a lot of work over three years and those older players have been here for this journey,” Sarkisian said Monday. “They’ve been here for 5-7. They were here a year ago after a couple of tough losses, a couple of big wins.”
If this were a movie, it would be a horror show. But Sark has a different kind of flick in mind for this season.
“How do we want the movie to go this year and what are they willing to do to set the stage to write that script so that movie can play out,” Sarkisian asked of himself and his players.
The Sark doubters have plenty of ammunition to use against him (and as a result, against Texas this season). But the one thing they’re forgetting is that just because somebody hasn’t done something yet, it doesn’t mean they won’t do it in the future.
Sarkisian comes into 2023 with a roster loaded with talented players – a roster he built.
“It is enjoyable to know that that group of guys that I get to coach every day, those are my guys,” said Sarkisian. “It definitely feels that way. They respond that way.”
His most important guy has to be quarterback Quinn Ewers.
Reading between the lines, it’s easy to think there was frustrations at times last season as Ewers struggled through a redshirt freshman season. Sarkisian said at times, Ewers may have felt like he was being singled out.
“That’s just natural, that’s human nature,” Sarkisian said. “When in reality, the whole time we’re always coaching everybody to try to be the best they can be and do it right.
Ewers went to work all offseason on his body, his footwork, and knowledge of the playbook … all of which helped rebuild a shaken confidence in himself.
“I’m a lot more confident in the system which ultimately leads to more confidence in myself,” Ewers said. “Seeing the coaches and teammates gain confidence in me, it ultimately only helps me regain the confidence in myself.”
The quarterback and coach also worked together to build a stronger relationship - one that can survive the inevitable hardships that will come this year.
“I think Quinn and I have gotten to a really cool space of communication and understanding,” Sarkisian said. “I’m able to talk to him about the minutiae in plays and defenses and things going on. He’s worked at it and I think that he’s earned those conversations. At the end, he’s applying them. I think as an offense and as a team we’re reaping the benefits of that.”
Sarkisian said that having Ewers as the established starter has really freed him up.
“In year one, we were trying to install an offensive system,” Sarkisian said. “Year two, I was trying to figure out who was going to be the starter (at quarterback). This year, knowing that Quinn was going to be (the starter) and knowing that we would have a battle there at the backup spot, Coach Millwee, Coach Flood, that group was really able to take more of the reins there and I was able to stay connected to the defense side of the ball and the special teams. That’s just really a carryover from the summer because that’s kind of how the summer went for me.”
To get to where Sark wants to be, the Horns are going to have to shake off the demons that have haunted them for the past couple of years. Those slipups in games that they should have won like Texas Tech and Oklahoma State last season.
To do that – the Horns need to do two things.
First, Texas needs to play with focus. Throughout fall camp, Sarkisian has harped on how the team is still making too many mistakes. Too many pre-snap penalties. Too many turnovers. Those are the kind of plays that kill drives, take points off the scoreboard (or add points to the other side) and ultimately lead to one of those losses which is entirely preventable.
Second, Texas needs to play with a mean streak.
“You can’t just sit back and keep taking punches and it’s just ok,” Sarkisian said. “At some point, you have to go hunt, you have to punch back and you have to fight back and that’s what we’re imploring our veterans to do, our leaders to do. Every time that we take the field our opponents are going to get our best shot. We may get theirs, we may not. We can’t control that. But we need to be sure that they get our best shot.”
If Sark is able to get his team to give its best shot each week, then every single goal they have coming into the season is on the table. A Big 12 Championship? You bet. A playoff spot? Why not? An undefeated season? They certainly have enough talent to pull off that kind of year.
But Texas’ deep roster of talented players can be a double-edged sword. If Texas doesn’t win big this year, then the Sark doubters will grow in numbers. Texas fans have seen how that movie ends.
The 2023 Texas Longhorns feature film is about to start. Let’s hope for Sark’s sake, it’s a happy ending.
RICE PREVIEW
The Rice Owls come to town as 35-point underdogs. Their chances of pulling an upset are next to zero.
But Rice is on the upswing under fifth-year head coach Mike Bloomgren. The Owls are coming off their first bowl appearance in eight years when they Southern Miss 38-24 in the Lending Tree Bowl last season.
Rice needed a little help to reach bowl status, they were 5-8 but not enough teams reached bowl eligibility so they were able to fill one of the slots by virtue of having the highest APR (Academic Progress Rating). Shocking, right?! Rice players being good at academics?
Rice is also stepping up in competition this year moving from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference. Despite that, the expectations around the program are pretty high.
“Six (wins) is the floor,” said Matthew Barlett, editor of attheroost.com. “Seven or eight (wins) is in the wheelhouse. If JT Daniels is JT Daniels, he’s a very good quarterback, this is a team that should contend for the conference.”
Rice is not completely devoid of talent.
“This is the most talented team that Rice has had in quite some time,” Bartlett said. “
JT Daniels will be leading his team onto the field at DKR for the third time in his well-traveled career. In fact, when Daniels gets the start this Saturday, he will be tied with Hudson Card for career starts at DKR.
“He’s (Daniels) is a great leader with a great arm and it’s definitely going to change the dynamic of their offense,” Texas linebacker David Gbenda said. “But we are well versed and well prepared for JT Daniels and what he brings to the Rice Owls.”
You’ll have to forgive Daniels if he doesn’t exactly have fond memories of his time in Austin. He hasn’t exactly lit it up against the Horns.
2022 – WEST VIRGINIA @ TEXAS (Texas won 38-20)
| COMPLETIONS | ATTEMPTS | YARDS | COMP % | TD’S | INT’S | RATING |
| 29 | 48 | 253 | 60.4 | 1 | 0 | 111.6 |
2018 - USC @ TEXAS (Texas won 37-14)
| COMPLETIONS | ATTEMPTS | YARDS | COMP % | TD’S | INT’S | RATING |
| 30 | 48 | 322 | 62.5 | 0 | 1 | 114.7 |
Daniels had to throw the ball a lot in each of those games because his team was behind. I expect the same to happen on Saturday. Texas should be able to force Rice to air the ball out more in an attempt to catch up.
Daniels chose Rice in part because of his longstanding relationship with head coach Mike Bloomgren, who was trying to lure Daniels to Stanford when he was a 5-star high school recruit.
“He (Bloomgren) is just a hell of a coach and schematically his offense fits me,” Daniels told the Tulsa World during the AAC Media Days this summer. “Bloom’s offense just fits my style more specifically. I think it gives me a better chance to get a shot at the NFL. It plays to my strengths as a quarterback significantly more than most other systems do. It allows for more pre-snap control on my part and more emphasis on the quarterback getting in the right play and executive it. In the end, a quarterback’s main focus is execution.”
That’s a lot of pressure to put on Daniels but he won’t have to bear it alone.
Luke McCaffrey, Christian McCaffrey’s younger brother, is one of Rice’s better players on the team. McCaffrey led the team with 58 catches and six touchdowns last season. He has good hands and good route running ability – creating separation.
Daniels and McCaffrey are probably Rice’s most talented players on offense, which should help their passing game. But in an ideal world, Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren would prefer to eat up the clock with the running game.
“Pound the rock, control the clock and play great defense,” said Bartlett. “That is the mantra that Bloomgren has reiterated to me a thousand times. So that is the game plan period. It doesn’t matter who they’re playing, that is what he wants to do.”
Rice will rely on a dual combination of Juma Otaviano and Dean Connors to take the carries.
Otaviano is the Owls’ leading returning rusher having carried the ball 71 times last season for 403 yards – a 5.7 yards-per-carry average. This is Otaviano’s sixth season at Rice so he knows the offense in and out.
Connors didn’t have nearly as many carries last season (28 for 128 yards), but he has good hands. Connors was also an all-state track athlete in high school in California so he has more than enough speed.
Bloomgren may want to run the ball more but the Owls have work to do in the run game compared to last season. Rice ranked 80th in the country in rushing yards per game last year and failed to have a 100-yard rusher the entire season.
“Opposing teams, the past couple of years, you stack eight in the box and you make Rice throw it,” Bartlett said. “If the quarterback can’t beat you, it doesn’t matter if that’s what Rice wants to run. I think that’s going to be the great equalizer this season. That’s what Rice is hoping for with a quarterback like JT Daniels.
“If you’ve got a guy who can hit the open man when you’ve got favorable numbers on the back end, all of a sudden teams aren’t going to be able to put seven or eight in the box. When that happens, you can run the ball better than you’ve been able to.”
On the flip side, Rice has struggled to stop the run on defense. The Owls finished 108th in the country last season giving up more than 181 yards per game.
Things aren’t likely to turn around for the Rice d-line this weekend. Texas should be able to just lean on Rice and open up some run lanes. Just look at the height and weight of the two lines:
TEXAS O-LINE:
6-4, 325 pounds
RICE D-LINE
6-2, 277 pounds
Bartlett says Rice is excited about the return of 6-0, 290-pound De’Braylon Carroll.
“The past two years the run defense at Rice has suffered because De’Braylon Carroll missed all of the 2021 season and was playing hurt all of 2022,” Bartlett said. “This is a guy who was defensive MVP at Duncanville High School. Defensive tackles don’t win the MVP very often unless you are a game-changer and he is. Back when he was on the field in 2020, Rice had a top-15 defense in the nation. It’s not as simple as reducing it down to one guy, but man they feel a lot better with him on the field in the middle. And yeah, he is undersized, but I joke that if you give him two inches, he’s playing at Baylor and Texas Tech. You give him four inches and he’s playing at Texas.”
The second level of the Owls' defense is the best. Linebackers Josh Pearcy and Chris Conti are both playmakers. Conti is a reliable tackler who led the team in stops last season with 75. Meanwhile, Pearcy led the team in sacks last season with 6.5 and tackles for loss with 12.5. Both have a new coach this year and he’s a good one. Jon Kay, the former head coach at Galena Park North Shore, left behind his four state championships at North Shore to coach the Rice linebackers.
The Rice pass defense was actually much stronger than the run defense, finishing 38th in the country, giving up 208 yards per game.
The headliner of the group is safety Gabriel Taylor. Taylor just started playing football a couple of years ago. He’s the younger brother of the late Sean Taylor and wanted to make a name for himself in basketball. But it turns out, those NFL bloodlines are too strong to ignore.
Taylor is already on multiple preseason awards watch lists including the East-West Shrine Bowl list. He’s also a first-team preseason all-AAC safety for the College Football Network and second-team preseason all-AAC for PFF, Athlon, and Phil Steele.
Cornerback Josh Dunbar is another good player in the back end of the Owls defense. Dunbar registered seven pass breakups in 2021 and 10 in 2022. The 6’-0” DB is a playmaker who has NFL potential.
As I mentioned, Rice is not completely devoid of talent. But this Texas team is on a whole other level when it comes to talent. The Horns should win pretty handily – assuming they play to their own level.
TWEETS OF INTEREST
If you want to watch the full interview with Matthew Bartlett previewing Rice, be sure to check out our Horns Up YouTube show on OB Live.
############################
Texas fans can expect BIG things from this freshman class … and you probably won’t have to wait long to see it.
############################
Just how talented is the Texas roster? It turns out … VERY!
############################
Mel Kiper is out with his first "Big Board" for the 2024 NFL Draft.
Preseason Big Board for the 2024 NFL draft: Kiper debuts his overall and position rankings
NFL draft legend Mel Kiper unveils his list of the best prospects in next year's draft, including the top six at each position.
Quinn Ewers checks in as his sixth best quarterback.
Xavier Worthy is the sixth best wide receiver.
Ja'Tavion Sanders is the second highest ranked tight end.
Jaylan Ford is the third highest ranked off-ball linebacker.
############################
Kelvin Banks has earned every bit of bling he wants to put on. As long as he doesn’t OG, I’m good with whatever he wants to wear.
############################
Anybody who says anything other than the Expos is wrong.
############################
If you know, you know. God I love El Paso!
Last edited by a moderator:
