Hello darkness, my old friend.
We have officially come to the end of another college football season and now many of us are left feeling as cold inside as the temperatures outside.
Oh sure, we still have a couple of NFL games left to watch (and I will), but it’s not the same.
Nothing stirs the passions quite like college football and it all came to an end Monday night with Ohio State celebrating a national championship.
If I’m being honest, and I know some of you will curse my name after reading this, I think the best team in college football won the national championship. Ohio State’s roster was the best. They played the best football throughout the playoffs. Heck, they beat six of the 12 playoff teams this year on their road to the CFP title.
The best team doesn’t always win the title in college football. In fact, up until this year’s expanded playoff field, Ohio State wouldn’t have even had the chance to play for a championship. So, given that, I think we have to conclude that the expanded playoff field was a resounding success.
But now it’s all over and we have another 220 days (as of the date of this publishing) until the Texas Longhorns will lace them up again and take the field.
How fitting that the first game of the 2025 season is a rematch of Texas’ last game of the 2024 season.
For Texas fans going to Columbus for that first game, beware. Obviously, beware of the fans their fans, who are notorious for their “welcoming” nature. Beware of the burning couches. But also beware because you’re going to have to endure the Buckeyes celebrating their national championship … and I assure you that will include clips of Jack Sawyer’s strip, sack, fumble recovery and touchdown that helped OSU beat Texas in the semifinals.
The week one game in Columbus gives the Longhorns an instant chance at payback. Obviously it won’t be as satisfying to win in week one as it would have been to beat the Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl, but this will be a new team and a new season and Texas will have new hopes of getting back into the playoffs and finishing the job.
REASONS TO BE EXCITED ABOUT 2025
ARCH MANNING:
The story of the 2025 season will begin and end with Arch Manning - for better or for worse. The young scion of football’s first family of quarterbacks is finally taking over as the starter in Austin.
Manning looked very good in the couple of games he played while Quinn Ewers was out with an injury. He finished the season with a 67.8 completion percentage and a QB rating of 184.
Texas’ offense with Manning at the helm should be more consistent than what we saw in 2024. His ability to throw accurate deep balls is key. Those deep passes do a couple of things.
1) It creates explosive plays. It’s hard to say “more” explosive than this season because the Horns were the best in the country at creating explosive plays. But I think Texas could at least approach those 2024 numbers which would be a big win.
2) It opens up the run game. Safeties who have to play the deep ball can’t cheat up to the line of scrimmage as often looking to play the run if needed. That should be able to create an extra step or two for the running backs.
3) It frees up more passing lanes in the middle. This goes back to those cheating safeties. Keeping them a step or two deeper opens up passing lanes in the middle of the field so receivers and tight ends working the seams and crossing routes should be just a a little bit more open … and we all know how much Sark loves to be able to get the ball to receivers in stride.
The other big change Texas fans will see with Manning at QB is the quarterback run game.
We’ve already seen Manning used, almost exclusively, as a red zone running QB towards the end of the season (to varying degrees of success). Sark only implemented that package because Manning’s athletic ability is far greater than those of his famous uncles. He really is much more like his grandfather Archie than his uncles Peyton and Eli.
Now, fans should not expect to see Sark go full dual-threat quarterback game mode. Manning is not Vince Young. But that doesn’t mean that the QB run won’t be a big part of Texas’ offense’s success next season.
The biggest area where Manning’s legs will be implemented is when the pocket breaks down.
Perhaps Ewers’ biggest flaw was his movement within the pocket. Too many times Ewers would feel the pressure and instead of finding the open space and moving there, he would step into a sack. Ewers’ pocket movement was a big emphasis of focus during his offseason workouts and it appeared to pay off early, especially in the win over Michigan. But his mechanics reverted back to their former “glory” following his injury.
Manning has much better awareness and has shown an ability to tuck it and run if needed. Those extra yards are crucial to keeping drives alive.
The next stage of his development will be when he’s able to move around slightly in the pocket or take a step or two up while keeping his eyes downfield and then delivering the ball.
The final reason for optimism with Manning at QB is that he brings just that little bit *extra* to Texas. Extra attention nationally. Extra excitement from casual fans. Extra eyes from recruits.
Manning at quarterback for Texas just means more.
DEFENSE:
Texas made the semifinals of the playoffs again this season but it wasn’t the offense that carried them, it was the defense.
Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit was one of the best in the country in 2024 (Ohio State is the only other defense even in the conversation). Heck, that unit was amongst the best in UT football history. And they have nearly every major impact player coming back.
Sophomore DE Colin Simmons has only played one season of football at UT but he’s already among the best I’ve ever seen come through Austin. Now, give that young man another winter conditioning, spring ball, and summer conditioning to get bigger, stronger and faster and stand back and watch him wreak havoc on offensive lines next year. This dude is a future top five NFL draft pick (and he’ll be gone after his junior season so enjoy him now).
Add in the return of senior defensive ends Trey Moore and Ehtan Burke, add in young guys like Zina Umeozulu and the incoming freshman Lance Jackson and it’s easy to see that the pass rush for the Longhorns defense is going to be a big problem for opposing offenses.
Moore started off slow but got stronger and stronger as the season progressed to the point where he was one of the Horns best players by the end. His return is huge.
Speaking of the NFL draft, this is probably junior linebacker Anthony Hill’s last season in burnt orange. He’s another former 5-star recruit who has lived up to all five stars. Hill’s speed, athleticism and toughness have helped solidify the run defense. He’s a big, big reason why Texas had so much success against running quarterbacks (which is why I think Texas would have beaten Notre Dame if they could have gotten past Ohio State).
Liona Lefau is another player who has proven his worth. Ty’Anthony Smith also had some flash plays as a true freshman and is a very promising young player. Add in the Arkansas transfer, Brad Spence, and you have a very solid LB unit.
The secondary is a bit of a question mark for me. It’s hard to ignore the losses of Thorpe award winner Jahdae Barron and safety Andrew Mukuba. Those guys will be very, very hard to replace.
Michael Taaffe’s return should help stabilize the unit. Taaffe’s play on the field and his leadership off it (he’s like a coach on the field) will be crucial for the 2025 season.
Derek Williams suffered a knee injury in the Red River Shootout and was done for the season. His return will go a long way towards helping replace Mukuba. Jelani McDonald also played well at safety down the stretch and he will be called upon for a lot of snaps next season.
If you had asked me at this time last season, I would have said that Malik Muhammad was one of the best players on the Texas defense. I think he still can be. But it’s hard to ignore how much he was picked on in the playoffs … and opposing offenses had some measure of success doing so. The Clemson game in particular was rough for Muhammad. We’ll see if that was an anomaly or a warning sign.
QUESTIONS HEADING INTO 2025
This new version of the Texas Longhorns football team doesn’t come without some questions.
How will a completely revamped offensive line perform?
How will Texas hold up on the defensive line?
Who will step up and become the go-to playmaker?
I’m not saying that these will be problems, but none of us can truly answer those questions right now and they are big question marks – especially with the line on both sides of the ball.
Senior guard DJ Campbell is the only returning starter from the 2024 offensive line. Campbell has played some really good football, but it wasn’t good enough to allow him to head off to the NFL with the rest of his starters from this past season. There is definite room for growth there.
Trevor Goosby will step in as the presumed starter at left tackle. The redshirt sophomore from Melissa showed he is more than ready to step in and replace Kelvin Banks.
After Campbell and Goosby, the real question marks begin.
You have to assume senior guard Cole Hutson will be competing for a starting spot. Hutson has started at various times in his career and he has played a lot of football for offensive line coach Kyle Flood. And yet, he has never been a consistent starter. Will Hutson’s experience be enough to secure a starting roll in 2025?
Brandon Baker came to Texas as a much-heralded recruit out of California. But even as a highly rated recruit, Baker showed signs of needing time to develop. That’s not a slam on Baker, MOST players need development time to transition from high school to college – especially on the offensive line. Guys like Banks, who step in and dominate from day one, are unicorns. Baker has the physical tools to take over at right tackle. He has good footwork to be able to step in and perform in pass pro sets. But he needs to play much tougher in the run game.
Center remains a big question mark as well. We just don’t know if Connor Robertson, Daniel Cruz or maybe even Hutson will be ready to go win that job and dominate. I’ve long maintained that the center position is one of the most underrated positions in all of football. Not only is it key for calling out pass protections and getting the offensive line on the same page, but having a strong center who can solidify things up the middle can do more to open up a run game than anybody else. Also, pass rushes that come up the middle do far more damage than those coming off the edge. A good center is worth his weight in gold. Does Texas have gold in them thar hills?
Texas finds itself in a familiar position again … having to replace its starting defensive tackles who are now off to the NFL.
The Horns have brought in two senior transfers in Cole Brevard and Travis Shaw. The defensive staff has done a good job in identifying players who can help along the defensive line in the transfer portal. But I don’t know yet if Brevard and Shaw are plus players or rotational players. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with guys who can come in for snaps and keep the level of play up, but Texas needs some playmakers on the defensive line as well and I’m not sure if they have that.
Alex January remains the most intriguing home-grown product on the roster. January has the ability to be a playmaker along the defensive line, but he has one solo tackle and two assisted tackles to his name thus far in his very young collegiate career.
This could be a situation where, like Colin Simmons and Anthony Hill before, the Horns will need a true freshman five star to step in and become a playmaker.
Justus Terry is already on campus and working out. Texas needs him to live up to that number 11 national ranking in the worst way … and they need him to do so quickly.
Honestly, we don’t really know what this unit will look like because you have to believe that one, possibly two more players will be added to the defensive line from the transfer portal before the team takes the field.
Speaking of playmakers, who is going to be the game changing threat on offense for Texas?
The Horns are losing their most explosive players. The offense in 2024 just wasn’t the same after Isaiah Bond went down with an injury. He’s now off to the NFL as well as Jaydon Blue and Gunnar Helm. Bond and Blue also happened to be two of the fastest players on the team.
Certainly the Horns have some weapons. DeAndre Moore proved to be Texas’ most consistent threat returning for 2025. Ryan Wingo flashed early and has shown a lot of promise. But, as is typical with most freshmen, he seemed to hit a bit of a wall and was more inconsistent as the season wore on. And there are more playmakers coming in the form of freshmen such as Jaime Ffrench, Kaliq Lockett and Daylan McCutcheon.
But do any of these guys put the fear of God in defensive coordinators?
Quintreveon Wisner is back and C.J. Baxter should be back from injury. But much like the receivers, do those guys put the fear of God in defensive coordinators?
And who will win the starting job at tight end? Jordan Washington seems the most likely candidate. How much can you count on him?
Texas may very well be on the lookout for next-level playmakers when the portal opens back up in the spring.
Of course, these are all questions that we will be pondering and writing about ad nauseum as we now embark on the long, cold winter, spring and summer until college football returns.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Texas football is well represented in these way too early top 25 rankings. As is Ohio State, by the way. That game on August 30th is going to be insane!
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Are you kidding me FanDuel? Garrett Nussmeier ahead of Arch Manning in your Heisman odds?
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Fear not my fellow seamheads, Texas baseball is right around the corner. There are just 23 days until the start of the Texas baseball season.
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Texas Longhorns making an immediate impact in the NFL.
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Texas softball heads into the season as the number one team in the country!
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This is so cool to see as well.
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And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the best basketball team in the state of Texas.
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It’s never easy to see a grown man cry. But by gosh, I certainly understand it. I would be a mess too.
Congratulations to Billy Wagner, Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia on making it to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. #HOF
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Of course, being a Hall of Famer doesn’t mean you’ll always get recognized.
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I think we can all relate to this … sometimes you know you’re messing up even as you are doing it.
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The Big Ten does have back to back college football national championships to their name.
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If you don’t love the Waffle House then you’re not a true American.
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And for those of you not into the cold weather…
