When it comes to booking your next outdoor excursion, look no further than @saltysouthfishingcharters in southern Louisiana. Based out of Houma, LA, Salty South offers inshore fishing trips for both Trout and Redfish with top of the line tackle and lodging.
Contact Austin to book your trip today!
(985) 264-5003
saltysouthfishingcharters@gmail.com
===========================================================================
Maalik Murphy is back at practice and now the quarterback competition can begin for real.
“It was great to have Maalik back out there,” said head coach Steve Sarkisian after practice Tuesday.
Oh sure, Sark will tell you the competition is actually to see who will be the starter this year – and he said exactly that Tuesday.
“Every position is an open position right now,” Sarkisian said during his post-practice press conference. “I can’t tell a guy right now, hey, at whatever position is, he’s the starter regardless. Everybody should be striving to be the best they can be.
“So ultimately, yeah, can Maalik push Quinn? Of course he can. How far can he take it? Quinn’s job is to keep raising his level of play so he can’t catch him. And that should be at every position across the board.”
But Quinn Ewers is firmly entrenched in the QB1 position right now and it doesn’t look like he’s going to give it up anytime soon. Check out what @Anwar Richardson posted in the War Room about what Ewers was doing during spring break.
This follows a string of reports talking about Ewers’ re-dedicated work habits to improve on his freshman season.
And so while Sark says Ewers has to fight for his job, it’s clear that Ewers is doing exactly that and he is taking the first team reps as a result.
That means the real competition is between Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning to be the backup.
Murphy took the field for spring practice for the first time Tuesday after sitting out the first week rehabbing an injury.
“We were probably a little bit conservative with him that first week,” Sarkisian said. “We were thinking ok, if we back off him that first week of spring ball and give him spring break, then he can get back and get going again in the second week of spring ball. So that was positive to have him out there.”
Murphy’s first practice saw him step right into the second string position (at least during the portion of practice open to the media). Granted, he was a little rusty, but that’s to be expected. Murphy still has more than enough talent to push Manning for the QB2 position.
This is what @Alex Dunlap reported after practice.
Meanwhile, Manning was about what you would expect from the scion of Quarterbacking’s First Family.
Here was Anwar’s note:
Sarkisian was singing Manning’s praises after practice as well.
“I thought Arch, you know I would say today was his best day,” said Sarkisian. “Hopefully we’ve learned from week one and some of the things, whether it’s the pace of play, whether it’s the system, whether it’s recognition of the defense, whether it’s ball placement, whatever that looks like. I though today was definitely his best day.”
Both Murphy and Manning have strengths and weaknesses. Murphy is the “veteran” with a year under his belt while Manning is the early high school graduate who is still learning his way around campus. Meanwhile, Manning has probably logged more throws during Thanksgiving backyard competitions than Murphy has in his entire career (to say nothing of the film room projector which I assume was projecting plays over his crib instead of a starry sky).
Trust me – no matter what Sark says about Ewers competing for the starter role, this is the QB competition to keep your eyes on this spring (and summer and fall camp).
OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM SPRING BALL …
I thought Sark’s quotes about the offensive line competition were very interesting. Sark was asked about the progress of Cam Williams and he praised the sophomore lineman – but then diverged into a long train of thought about his offensive line philosophy.
“He (Williams) is pushing for a spot in that five,” said Sarkisian. “Like we tell the linemen all of the time, and Coach Flood and I believe this at all three of the stops we’ve been together - we want to play the best five guys. So, not trying to pigeonhole guys and ‘he’s a tackle or he’s a guard or he’s a left tackle or he’s a right tackle.’ Whatever you are, hey, we’ll get you out there and we’ll find the best five to get out there.
“You know, I always think about Evan Neal when we had him at Alabama. He started as a left guard for us. In year two, he went and played right tackle. In year three, he went and played left tackle. So it’s about finding that right combination of the right five guys and Cam’s pushing for a spot in there.”
I know many of you will read that and immediately think about replacing Jake Majors at Center but I think it’s time to put those thoughts to bed.
All Majors has done is come in and win the job as a freshman and he’s kept it. He got the job because he knew what he was doing and he knew what all of his line mates needed to do as well. He has clearly earned the trust and respect of offensive coordinator and line coach Kyle Flood.
And while complaints about Majors’ size were legitimate early on, he has continued to work hard in the weight room and grown in strength. He’s now an upper classman who is bigger, stronger and even more knowledgeable about the offense and what defenses are doing to counter it. That experience is worth a lot. He ain’t going anywhere.
It’s also safe to assume that Kelvin Banks and Christian Jones will keep their starting roles at the tackles.
That means it’s game on for the guard positions.
Williams, Cole Hutson, Conner Hayden and DJ Campbell are all competing for playing time. All of those guys are talented and they’re all young.
Texas finally has, for the first time in a very long time, some actual depth at one of the most important position areas in college football.
“Anytime you can return your entire offensive line, and then you add the players that we have, that feels really good,” said Sarkisian. “We have a deep team. I feel good about a lot of our position groups. We have enough experience across the board.”
It doesn’t sound like we’ll be seeing Jalen Catalon anytime soon. The transfer for Arkansas is still recovering from injuries.
“We had to go in and clean a few things up so he’ll be limited for now,” said Sarkisian Tuesday. “But again, he’s an experienced player. That one doesn’t concern me. I didn’t want that to linger come the fall. So we wanted to take care of a few things for him getting ready for the season.”
Catalon is a very skilled and talented safety. He was a freshman All-American at Arkansas in 2020. He was also a captain at Arkansas which shows he has his head on straight as well. The biggest question mark has always been his health. If he can stay on the field, he will be a real difference maker for the Longhorn defense.
LET THE REAL COMPETITION BEGIN (BASKETBALL EDITION) …
With all due respect to Colgate and Penn State, the Texas men’s basketball team will really kick off its March Madness tournament this weekend.
Xavier and likely Houston will be Texas’ toughest competition yet. The Longhorns are going to need to bring their “A” game this weekend in Kansas City.
Again, take everything I say about basketball with a grade of slaw. But I like Texas’ chances and I stand by my prediction that they will make it to the Final Four (and national championship game).
Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian has liked what he’s seen too.
“I love how our guys play,” said Sarkisian. “We play hard, we play tough, we defend. Obviously we’re facing a really good opponent so I just want them to go out and play well and hopefully we can make some really good plays.”
I have no idea the level of basketball knowledge that Sarkisian possesses, but I agree that this Longhorn team does play hard, tough and defends well. Those are good traits to have when you get deep into March.
Oh, and the Longhorns also have Dylan Disu.
Disu has put this team on his back and carried it to the Big 12 tournament title, as well as the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.
The senior forward is average 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this post-season. He has been the guy interim head coach Rodney Terry turns to when the Horns need to snap a scoring drought or just change momentum in the game.
“I feel really confident right now,” Disu said after putting up 28 points in the Penn State game. “I think it comes from the encouragement of Coach Terry and my teammates. They’re telling me to continue to do what I’m doing for a couple weeks now, and they believe in me.”
Not bad for a kid from Pflugerville.
It’s also pretty significant that Terry has been able to coax that kind of production out of Disu. Terry is auditioning to take over the basketball program full time. Leading the program into the Sweet 16 may already be enough to get the job … but he can remove all doubt if he gets the team into the Final Four.
Regardless, he has earned Sarkisian’s respect. And this time, I do put more credence into Sark’s thoughts on the issue because it isn’t a basketball Xs and Os issue he is opining about, it is a leadership and coaching issue.
“I text him after every game, ‘you’re an inspiration,’” said Sarkisian. “To step into that role, handle adversity the way he has, to lead that team. I’m fired up for those guys Friday night. To go along with the coaches clinic and the junior day and practice. We’ve got a big hoops game Friday night and we’ll be cheering for them.”
LET THE REAL COMPETITION BEGIN (BASEBALL EDITION) …
Texas baseball did what it had to do over the creampuff portion of its 14 game homestand … it went undefeated.
Yes, the opponents are hardly anything to write home about. But to win 11 straight games is impressive – no matter who it was playing. The stretch has to have given the Horns a huge shot of confidence heading into Big 12 play.
The Horns are now hitting .282 as a team (up from the low .200’s at the start of the homestand). They have also gotten a much better idea of the roles the pitching staff will play moving forward.
The Horns will rely on Lucas Gordon to lead the staff on Fridays with Travis Stehle taking over the Saturday role and Lebarron Johnson Jr. taking the mound on Sunday. Zane Morehouse will move to the bullpen.
"We're trying to get LBJ in the mix in the weekend,” said head coach David Pierce. "It's not set. We're still tinkering with it as we get closer and closer, but really just trying to get our best eight guys in a rotation that's going to benefit us in conference."
Meanwhile the Longhorn bats have woken up and they are starting to hit homers at a much higher clip – including this beauty from catcher Garrett Guillemette Tuesday night.
The Horns are going to need to keep this pace up throughout Big 12 conference play if they hope to have any chance of making the NCAA tournament this summer.
Conference play starts this weekend against Texas Tech.
Texas and Tech always play each other tough and it’s almost impossible to guess how the games will play out. Who foresaw Tech beating UT in extra innings last year with the game-winning run coming on a stolen home base by Kurt Wilson?
Tech could be the toughest series left on the schedule (although we may end up saying that a lot over the coming months). The Red Raiders are 18-4 on the season and they’re fresh off a series win against Oklahoma State (another favorite to win the Big 12).
Tech has the highest batting average in the league (.325) with the second most home runs (35) and the third lowest team ERA (3.64). The only area where Tech really struggles is defensively. They have a league worst .956 fielding percentage.
Like I mentioned, anything can happen when these two teams hook up and the fact that the series is in Austin could be a big factor.
I’ll call my shot and guess Texas finds a way to take the series with two wins this weekend.
A BIG THANK YOU!
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who supported my wife as she ran the New York City Half-Marathon this weekend. She was raising money for Team in Training to help battle cancer and many of you stepped up to the plate and donated.
I mean this from the absolute bottom of my heart, thank you.
Orangebloods has shown time and time again that this board may be incredibly dysfunctional, but we’re family – and we take care of our own.
Mindy also wanted to say thank you so she recorded this video right after the race Sunday.
Contact Austin to book your trip today!
(985) 264-5003
saltysouthfishingcharters@gmail.com
===========================================================================
Maalik Murphy is back at practice and now the quarterback competition can begin for real.
“It was great to have Maalik back out there,” said head coach Steve Sarkisian after practice Tuesday.
Oh sure, Sark will tell you the competition is actually to see who will be the starter this year – and he said exactly that Tuesday.
“Every position is an open position right now,” Sarkisian said during his post-practice press conference. “I can’t tell a guy right now, hey, at whatever position is, he’s the starter regardless. Everybody should be striving to be the best they can be.
“So ultimately, yeah, can Maalik push Quinn? Of course he can. How far can he take it? Quinn’s job is to keep raising his level of play so he can’t catch him. And that should be at every position across the board.”
But Quinn Ewers is firmly entrenched in the QB1 position right now and it doesn’t look like he’s going to give it up anytime soon. Check out what @Anwar Richardson posted in the War Room about what Ewers was doing during spring break.
“I was told Ewers has spent every day working out with quarterback trainer Jeff Christensen to improve as a quarterback. Christensen, who trains Patrick Mahomes, is working on helping Ewers improve in every area and has the quarterback throwing to receivers.”
This follows a string of reports talking about Ewers’ re-dedicated work habits to improve on his freshman season.
And so while Sark says Ewers has to fight for his job, it’s clear that Ewers is doing exactly that and he is taking the first team reps as a result.
That means the real competition is between Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning to be the backup.
Murphy took the field for spring practice for the first time Tuesday after sitting out the first week rehabbing an injury.
“We were probably a little bit conservative with him that first week,” Sarkisian said. “We were thinking ok, if we back off him that first week of spring ball and give him spring break, then he can get back and get going again in the second week of spring ball. So that was positive to have him out there.”
Murphy’s first practice saw him step right into the second string position (at least during the portion of practice open to the media). Granted, he was a little rusty, but that’s to be expected. Murphy still has more than enough talent to push Manning for the QB2 position.
This is what @Alex Dunlap reported after practice.
“Murphy has some rust to shake off. He has a firehose of an arm, but he was spraying that thing all around. Some of this balls sailed far out of the grasp of his receivers while others simply missed the mark with their timing and placement. He also showed glimpses of his upside with some really pretty deep dimes from around midfield all the way into the endzone.”
Meanwhile, Manning was about what you would expect from the scion of Quarterbacking’s First Family.
Here was Anwar’s note:
“Manning’s passes always landed perfectly. Manning threw a beautiful 40-yard completion to Jaden Alexis that landed perfectly in the receiver’s chest. His talent is evident.”
Sarkisian was singing Manning’s praises after practice as well.
“I thought Arch, you know I would say today was his best day,” said Sarkisian. “Hopefully we’ve learned from week one and some of the things, whether it’s the pace of play, whether it’s the system, whether it’s recognition of the defense, whether it’s ball placement, whatever that looks like. I though today was definitely his best day.”
Both Murphy and Manning have strengths and weaknesses. Murphy is the “veteran” with a year under his belt while Manning is the early high school graduate who is still learning his way around campus. Meanwhile, Manning has probably logged more throws during Thanksgiving backyard competitions than Murphy has in his entire career (to say nothing of the film room projector which I assume was projecting plays over his crib instead of a starry sky).
Trust me – no matter what Sark says about Ewers competing for the starter role, this is the QB competition to keep your eyes on this spring (and summer and fall camp).
OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM SPRING BALL …
I thought Sark’s quotes about the offensive line competition were very interesting. Sark was asked about the progress of Cam Williams and he praised the sophomore lineman – but then diverged into a long train of thought about his offensive line philosophy.
“He (Williams) is pushing for a spot in that five,” said Sarkisian. “Like we tell the linemen all of the time, and Coach Flood and I believe this at all three of the stops we’ve been together - we want to play the best five guys. So, not trying to pigeonhole guys and ‘he’s a tackle or he’s a guard or he’s a left tackle or he’s a right tackle.’ Whatever you are, hey, we’ll get you out there and we’ll find the best five to get out there.
“You know, I always think about Evan Neal when we had him at Alabama. He started as a left guard for us. In year two, he went and played right tackle. In year three, he went and played left tackle. So it’s about finding that right combination of the right five guys and Cam’s pushing for a spot in there.”
I know many of you will read that and immediately think about replacing Jake Majors at Center but I think it’s time to put those thoughts to bed.
All Majors has done is come in and win the job as a freshman and he’s kept it. He got the job because he knew what he was doing and he knew what all of his line mates needed to do as well. He has clearly earned the trust and respect of offensive coordinator and line coach Kyle Flood.
And while complaints about Majors’ size were legitimate early on, he has continued to work hard in the weight room and grown in strength. He’s now an upper classman who is bigger, stronger and even more knowledgeable about the offense and what defenses are doing to counter it. That experience is worth a lot. He ain’t going anywhere.
It’s also safe to assume that Kelvin Banks and Christian Jones will keep their starting roles at the tackles.
That means it’s game on for the guard positions.
Williams, Cole Hutson, Conner Hayden and DJ Campbell are all competing for playing time. All of those guys are talented and they’re all young.
Texas finally has, for the first time in a very long time, some actual depth at one of the most important position areas in college football.
“Anytime you can return your entire offensive line, and then you add the players that we have, that feels really good,” said Sarkisian. “We have a deep team. I feel good about a lot of our position groups. We have enough experience across the board.”
It doesn’t sound like we’ll be seeing Jalen Catalon anytime soon. The transfer for Arkansas is still recovering from injuries.
“We had to go in and clean a few things up so he’ll be limited for now,” said Sarkisian Tuesday. “But again, he’s an experienced player. That one doesn’t concern me. I didn’t want that to linger come the fall. So we wanted to take care of a few things for him getting ready for the season.”
Catalon is a very skilled and talented safety. He was a freshman All-American at Arkansas in 2020. He was also a captain at Arkansas which shows he has his head on straight as well. The biggest question mark has always been his health. If he can stay on the field, he will be a real difference maker for the Longhorn defense.
LET THE REAL COMPETITION BEGIN (BASKETBALL EDITION) …
With all due respect to Colgate and Penn State, the Texas men’s basketball team will really kick off its March Madness tournament this weekend.
Xavier and likely Houston will be Texas’ toughest competition yet. The Longhorns are going to need to bring their “A” game this weekend in Kansas City.
Again, take everything I say about basketball with a grade of slaw. But I like Texas’ chances and I stand by my prediction that they will make it to the Final Four (and national championship game).
Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian has liked what he’s seen too.
“I love how our guys play,” said Sarkisian. “We play hard, we play tough, we defend. Obviously we’re facing a really good opponent so I just want them to go out and play well and hopefully we can make some really good plays.”
I have no idea the level of basketball knowledge that Sarkisian possesses, but I agree that this Longhorn team does play hard, tough and defends well. Those are good traits to have when you get deep into March.
Oh, and the Longhorns also have Dylan Disu.
Disu has put this team on his back and carried it to the Big 12 tournament title, as well as the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.
The senior forward is average 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this post-season. He has been the guy interim head coach Rodney Terry turns to when the Horns need to snap a scoring drought or just change momentum in the game.
“I feel really confident right now,” Disu said after putting up 28 points in the Penn State game. “I think it comes from the encouragement of Coach Terry and my teammates. They’re telling me to continue to do what I’m doing for a couple weeks now, and they believe in me.”
Not bad for a kid from Pflugerville.
It’s also pretty significant that Terry has been able to coax that kind of production out of Disu. Terry is auditioning to take over the basketball program full time. Leading the program into the Sweet 16 may already be enough to get the job … but he can remove all doubt if he gets the team into the Final Four.
Regardless, he has earned Sarkisian’s respect. And this time, I do put more credence into Sark’s thoughts on the issue because it isn’t a basketball Xs and Os issue he is opining about, it is a leadership and coaching issue.
“I text him after every game, ‘you’re an inspiration,’” said Sarkisian. “To step into that role, handle adversity the way he has, to lead that team. I’m fired up for those guys Friday night. To go along with the coaches clinic and the junior day and practice. We’ve got a big hoops game Friday night and we’ll be cheering for them.”
LET THE REAL COMPETITION BEGIN (BASEBALL EDITION) …
Texas baseball did what it had to do over the creampuff portion of its 14 game homestand … it went undefeated.
Yes, the opponents are hardly anything to write home about. But to win 11 straight games is impressive – no matter who it was playing. The stretch has to have given the Horns a huge shot of confidence heading into Big 12 play.
The Horns are now hitting .282 as a team (up from the low .200’s at the start of the homestand). They have also gotten a much better idea of the roles the pitching staff will play moving forward.
The Horns will rely on Lucas Gordon to lead the staff on Fridays with Travis Stehle taking over the Saturday role and Lebarron Johnson Jr. taking the mound on Sunday. Zane Morehouse will move to the bullpen.
"We're trying to get LBJ in the mix in the weekend,” said head coach David Pierce. "It's not set. We're still tinkering with it as we get closer and closer, but really just trying to get our best eight guys in a rotation that's going to benefit us in conference."
Meanwhile the Longhorn bats have woken up and they are starting to hit homers at a much higher clip – including this beauty from catcher Garrett Guillemette Tuesday night.
The Horns are going to need to keep this pace up throughout Big 12 conference play if they hope to have any chance of making the NCAA tournament this summer.
Conference play starts this weekend against Texas Tech.
Texas and Tech always play each other tough and it’s almost impossible to guess how the games will play out. Who foresaw Tech beating UT in extra innings last year with the game-winning run coming on a stolen home base by Kurt Wilson?
Tech could be the toughest series left on the schedule (although we may end up saying that a lot over the coming months). The Red Raiders are 18-4 on the season and they’re fresh off a series win against Oklahoma State (another favorite to win the Big 12).
Tech has the highest batting average in the league (.325) with the second most home runs (35) and the third lowest team ERA (3.64). The only area where Tech really struggles is defensively. They have a league worst .956 fielding percentage.
Like I mentioned, anything can happen when these two teams hook up and the fact that the series is in Austin could be a big factor.
I’ll call my shot and guess Texas finds a way to take the series with two wins this weekend.
A BIG THANK YOU!
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who supported my wife as she ran the New York City Half-Marathon this weekend. She was raising money for Team in Training to help battle cancer and many of you stepped up to the plate and donated.
I mean this from the absolute bottom of my heart, thank you.
Orangebloods has shown time and time again that this board may be incredibly dysfunctional, but we’re family – and we take care of our own.
Mindy also wanted to say thank you so she recorded this video right after the race Sunday.
