Like Billy Bob told us in the iconic Varsity Blues strip club scene ...
That's right, I'm giving it a 10 today?
"10 what?," you might be asking.
Predictions. Bold Proclamations. Putting my crystal balls on the table, if you will.
Some simply call them FutureCasts.
That's right, I'm doing something that will drive some of you crazy because you believe I'm a magical wizard that can impact the outcome of recruitments because of my jinx powers. Or something like that.
The bottom line is that I agree with a lot of you that FutureCasts don't often mean much if you enter them two seconds before a kid announces his commitment. Therefore, with the February dead period set to end in a few days, I'm going to enter in personal projections on a number of the biggest prospects on the recruiting map for the Longhorns.
Should my personal magic appear and should another Jason Llewellyn situation occur tomorrow morning, I am not to be held responsible. I have content to provide you on Sunday night, dad-gummit.
Here. We. Go.
1. Lake Belton Wide receiver Micah Hudson to Texas
As far as I know, no one in the industry has entered in a FutureCast for my personal choice as the best prospect in the state of Texas for 2024. I know that the national view is that Ohio State might prove to be too much to overcome, especially with the success that the Buckeyes have had with Texas receivers.
Yet, here's the thing that I can't quite shake. Hudson keeps coming back to Texas on the regular. He was at Texas for a camp in June. He visited again for the Alabama game. And the West Virginia game. When Texas had its first junior day of 2024 back in January, he was there for that, too.
During that same time frame, Hudson has visited Ohio State only once - for an unofficial visit on October 22.
Yes, Hudson will visit Ohio State again. Possibly soon.
But, I expect Texas to get Hudson on campus again in the spring (maybe even multiple times) and again in the summer for an official visit. If his recruitment lasts long enough, he might even attend a game in the fall. When it's all said and done, Hudson might take seven or eight visits to Austin over a 16-month window.
It's just a hunch.
2. Duncanville edge rusher Colin Simmons to LSU
I think his commitment could still be full of some twists and turns, but there's some thought that his heart is in Baton Rouge. I know one of the things I'll not be able to forget as his recruitment starts to heat up is that he passed on attending the Texas/Alabama game last September in Austin in favor of watching LSU play Southern.
Texas, Georgia, Ohio State and maybe even TCU could get an official visit, but if I'm making a prediction today, Vegas would tell me that LSU is the favorite.
3. Brownsboro wide receiver Gekyle Baker to Texas
Speaking of Vegas, the Longhorns might be sitting at -300 to land a guy that I think is an absolute super blue chip prospect. Baker has made multiple visits to Texas since the start of last season and I'm not sure yet that he's visited any other school during that timeframe.
The Longhorns have made him a priority and he's a kid that has done nothing but glow when asked about Texas. He's a prospect that I believe the Longhorns will try to get on campus several times in the coming months. As long as he keeps showing up, I really like UT's chances.
4. Waco Connally CB Kobe Black to Texas
Black hasn't visited any school as much as he's visited Texas since January of 2022 (4 visits). He's been to multiple Junior Days. The Alabama game. A summer recruiting event in July. The only school that competes with the Longhorns in terms of visits is A&M, which has four visits from Black going back to June of 2021.
Sure enough, when McDonald took Junior Day visits on January 21 and 28, he visited Texas and Texas A&M, respectively.
Landing fellow Waco Connally star recruit Jelani McDonald in January certainly didn't hurt UT's chances of landing Black. There's a long way to go in his recruitment, but if I have to put a prediction in today as I'm making myself do, I'll go with Texas.
5. Duncanville running back Caden Durham to Oklahoma
I give Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables a lot of credit because the Sooners have been on Durham like white on rice over the course of the last couple of years. Heck, he's visited Norman four times in the last seven months and no other school has received a second visit.
The Longhorns recently offered Durham, but there's a lot of work to be done to undo the legwork that the Sooners have already put in.
6. Melissa defensive end Nigel Smith to Oklahoma
Smith visited Texas four times from October of 2021 through the middle of last June, but he hasn't been back since then. Meanwhile, he's visited Oklahoma seven times in the last 11 months and three times since his last visit to Austin.
Smith will use all five visits and has taken as many trips as any kid in Texas, so there's time left to crack down the OU wall, but this is another recruitment that has seen Venables and his staff do very good work.
7. Copperas Cove offensive lineman Michael Uini to Texas
Yet another young man that the Longhorns have had on campus a bunch since last spring. While he's up to a state-high (among offensive linemen) 37 official offers, the Longhorns have put in a lot of early work and have to be the current betting favorite.
Honestly, it's not completely clear who UT's biggest challenger will be for Uini. Maybe we'll learn that in the coming weeks with his future visits.
8. IMG Academy running back Jerrick Gibson to Texas
It's not just that there's a vibe that exists that spells potential victory for the Longhorns in the recruitment of Gibson, although that certainly exists. It's that the main competition in landing Gibson might just be Tennessee and I kind of feel like the Longhorns can handle that.
There's still a lot of heavy lifting to do and it wouldn't surprise me at all if a June visit to Georgia makes this a harder win to come by than it might seem in late February, but at the moment the Longhorns feel like a betting favorite.
9. Roswell, Ga. Offensive lineman Daniel Calhoun to Georgia
Calhoun is expected to make his second visit to Texas in the last 14 months when he takes an official visit to Austin in June, but this kid has visited in-state UGA at least eight times in the last 18 months.
If there's a number two school to watch, it has to be Alabama, which he has visited six times in the last 16 months.
10. 2025 North Shore cornerback Devin Sanchez to Texas
Yes, we're a long way out, but Sanchez has been very up-front about the fact that he really likes the Longhorns. Things will have gone very badly if the Longhorns can’t build the 2025 recruiting class around Sanchez.
No.2 - A message to Steve Sarkisian ...
LSU made news this week when it moved special teams coordinator Brian Polian into an off-field role that has been described as GM-like.
According to Football Scoop's Zach Barnett, Polian will "assist Brian Kelly manage the Tigers' roster, the transfer portal, and the team's relationship to various NIL efforts."
Many of you will surely know that I've occasionally climbed on my soap-box to suggest that the Longhorns need to be on the forefront of hiring a GM by not just hiring any person to take over such a job, but hiring someone with NFL front office chops.
As things currently stand, Steve Sarkisian pretty much juggles all of the heaviest lifting in the Texas program. Yes, he has a director of player personnel. Yes, he has a special assistant, a director of recruiting, a director of recruiting operations and even a director of football operations.
Still, the tasks of a major college head football coach continue to increase. There's not just scouting the Portal, but staying six steps ahead of everyone else in the Portal. There's NIL. There's dealing with all of the agents in NIL. There's synchronizing all of the people that work for the Longhorns with all of the new elements of managing a program.
The thing about Sarkisian is that he genuinely likes being in control of every area of the football program. It's HIS program. He's completely enthusiastic about being in control and being hands on with even trivial matters.
Considering he's 13-12 at Texas, one might argue that taking work off of his plate so that he can focus on what he does best as a head coach is the way to go. In a world where you're trying to develop three quarterbacks, fine-tune an offense that loses more than 50-percent of its production from a season ago and lifting an 8-5 team into the realm of the playoff, you might be better off with someone else leading the way on the Portal or not taking that phone call from an agent about what his player would like in NIL.
If Sarkisian is going to have a small inner circle, it's imperative that he find someone that he's comfortable with helping him with all of these important matters that take up so much time during the day when there is only so much time in the day.
Spend big. If you're going to have a handful of assistants making more than a million per year, make sure you're hiring the best of the best by spending for the best.
Few college coaches have reputations for being obsessed with control quite like Brian Kelly, yet even the tight-fisted need of control that Kelly feels hasn't stopped him from admitting that more hands on deck helps control the clutter more than it makes for a bigger pain in the butt because you have another name to babysit.
One of these days, Texas is going to have a GM. It's just a matter of time. If you're Sark, wouldn't you rather make the move while being able to be on the front foot and being aggressive, instead of eventually making the move because you came up short somewhere?
It's just a suggestion ...
No. 3 - About Jaden Allen's de-commitment ...
Here's an assortment of things I've thought about regarding the de-commitment from the weekend of Aledo defensive back Jaden Allen.
a. The moment last season ended without Jaden's big brother (B.J.) playing a single snap in the 2022 season, the elephant in the room in Jaden Allen's commitment was the need for happiness to exist with regards to the older brother in order to keep the younger brother's commitment. With spring football set to begin in eight days and BJ Allen being in a position where quality reps with the first- and second-team defense are going to be hard to come by, it's hard not to wonder where Allen's head will be in the next 12 months considering we are in the age of the Portal. Guys that aren't getting a lot of run rarely stick around and BJ Allen is a guy that's probably fifth (at best) in the pecking order at safety behind Jerrin Thompson, Jalen Catalon, Kitan Crawford and Michael Taaffe. With three true freshmen safeties joining the team from the Class of 2023, along with fellow redshirt freshman Larry Turner-Gooden, it's fair to say that BJ Allen is in a less-than-ideal set of circumstances at the moment.
Again, it's impossible to look at Jaden Allen's recruitment and not wonder how BJ's situation might impact it. Well, Jaden is no longer committed, despite taking nine visits to Austin in the last 13 months. There are no accidents in life.
b. It's wild to me that it's becoming natural to view players on the team as successes or busts after only one year in the program, but in this Portal era that currently exists, it's almost impossible not to look at Allen's lack of playing a single snap as a true freshman as some sort of push in the back towards a possible departure. It used to be that a player like Allen would develop for 2-3 years before anyone would even begin to think that a player might transfer. It's completely unfair to Allen, yet it's next to impossible to simply close your eyes to the reality that exists and dare yourself not to mention it.
c. I find myself wondering if Jaden and BJ still want to play together. If so, you'd have to think a school like Alabama would be off the table. Most players that aren't finding success in one spot don't typically fall forward with a transfer in the Portal. It makes me think of a school like TCU (visited on January 29) as a more likely future destination.
d. Personally, I have Jaden Allen ranked as the No. 32 prospect in the state of Texas for the Class of 2024 at the moment, which means that I don't believe he's a super blue chip level of prospect. In a deep year for defensive backs in Texas, you can find someone that will bring similar profiles on a lot of corners in the Lone Star State.
e. The Longhorns are left with two commitments in the 2024 class. It's no time to panic. That being said, it's going to be fascinating watching this staff put the pieces of the upcoming class together in a year when the highest end in-state talent is down a smidge and the Longhorns aren't currently leaders for most of the super blue chips in the state. This staff has worked magic before and it will be needed again in the coming months.
No. 4 - Recruiting thoughts floating around in my head ...
... When the first LSR Top 100 for the class of 2025 debuts on Monday, the make-up of the top 15 will look like this by position:
QB: 1
RB: 1
WR: 3
TE: 0
OL: 1
DT: 0
DE/Edge: 3
LB: 2
DB: 3
Ath: 1
... Despite there not being a tight end in the top 15, the tight end class in the state of Texas might be the best in 20 years.
... The offensive lineman that all of you need to remember for the next few years is 2025 Mesquite Horn mega-prospect Lamont Rogers. He's the best offensive line prospect from the state of Texas if you combine the classes in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Memorize the name.
... Only two of the state's top 10 in the current Rivals rankings have announced commitments at this point. Only four have committed from the Rivals Top 25 from the state of Texas.
... Speaking of Devin Sanchez, he absolutely destroyed this guy in the final leg of North Shore's 4X400 race this weekend.
... MODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't help but notice this over the weekend.
No. 5 - Saturday didn't really matter ...
Coming into the weekend, the Texas men's basketball team was facing a situation where it was going to need to win one of its next two road games to have a chance to set up a match-up with a share of the conference championship on the line against Kansas on this upcoming Saturday.
Beating both Baylor in Waco and TCU in Ft. Worth was a tough ask. Winning one of the two seemed very doable going in.
Well, the Longhorns didn't beat Baylor. It's not the end of the season by any stretch of anyone's imagination.
It just means that the Longhorns have to beat TCU on Wednesday night. Full Stop.
If it doesn't happen, it means that the only thing keeping Saturday from being mostly meaningless is KU beating Texas Tech at home on Tuesday night.
It's as simple as that. The Longhorns entered the weekend with some wiggle room toward winning a piece of their first conference championship in the regular season since 2008. The wiggle room is gone.
The task that now exists is that a team that is only 4-5 in true road games this season must beat a team that is 12-4 at home this season, which includes Big 12 losses to Iowa State, Baylor and Kansas.
These are the types of games that an Elite 8-level team wins. We're about to learn a little something about what this team is ultimately made of.
No. 6 - Put a ring on it ...
The Texas women's basketball team went into Norman this weekend and handled its business like it was Winston Wolfe trying to clean up a mess created by Vincent and Jules.
All that was on the line in its match-up with Oklahoma was complete control of the Big 12 regular-season championship race with one remaining game to go.
Final: Texas 67, Oklahoma 45
I'm not sure that enough people truly understand the magnitude of the moment. Baylor has dominated the conference in such a way that the last team to actually win the Big 12 title other than the Bears was Nebraska back in ... wait for it ... 2010. The Longhorns haven't won a conference title since Stacy Stephens' senior season back in 2004.
That's an immense amount of history and this Texas team handled the pressure to create it with a comfortableness that would seem to bode well for the team as it prepares for the NCAA Tournament. This team is at the very worst going to be co-champions of the Big 12 with a win in one of its last two games.
What it has in front of it on Monday night is a chance for poetic beauty.
Vic Schaefer and Co. have a chance to win the outright championship on Monday night in Austin if the Longhorns are able to win their final two conference game of the season against ... wait for it ... Baylor and Kansas State. That's right, the 12-time defending champions are one of two teams left that are standing between the Longhorns and a championship, It's a chance for Schaefer to close the deal on one of the key components of his job when he was hired ... dethrone Baylor.
Monday night is about a coronation that the Longhorns have been waiting for years to enjoy. It's about celebrating a long-awaited championship in the aftermath of a two-game sweep of the Bears in conference play. It's about leaving the regular season with a three-game winning streak over the Bears that covers multiple seasons.
The potential symbolic images will hang in the offices of the Texas women's basketball department.
If only ol' Kim were around to see it in person ...
Oh, well. Out of sight, out of mind. The only thing that matters is Texas winning on Monday night by any means needed.
The work is almost done.
No. 7 - Longhorns randomness ...
... Julien Alfred had herself a weekend.
Alfred now owns all seven of the fastest seven times ever produced by a woman in the indoor 60 meters, but won the 200 meters with a time of 22.26. It's the No. 2 mark all-time among NCAA women's athletes, just behind Abby Steiner's 22.09.
Oh, if you're wondering, the world record in the 60 is 6.92.
... Here's a look at the projections from TheAthletic.com on the Texas side of the bracket for the NCAA Tournament. Some potentially tasty second- and third-round match-ups exist. If you're Texas, I think you'd take this all day long and twice on Sunday.
... Did you know that Texas has the second-most Big 12 men's basketball regular season trophies in league history? Kansas has 20 (soon to be 21 in all likelihood), but no other school has more than UT's three titles. Iowa State and Kansas State both have two, while Baylor and Texas Tech have only one apiece. Texas' only unshared conference championship occurred in 1999 and I haven't heard anyone glow about that team in two decades because it flamed out in the NCAA Tournament. It's a reminder that the only thing anyone cares about in college basketball is Tournament success.
... Texas pitcher Lucas Gordon has started two games this season and produced the following stat line: 10.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 XBH, 4 BB, 13 K, 0.84 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. Gordon has a 0-0 record to show for it. Baseball is such a quirky sport.
... The Longhorns took two of three from Indiana this weekend, but I still can't say that I know what I think of this year's team. It feels like if Eric Kennedy or Porter Brown isn't getting it done at the plate, no one is. Maybe that's unfair to Garret Guillemette, so add him to that group.
... Texas softball beat Texas Southern 22-0 in five innings on Sunday. lol.
... Texas softball is also 11-2-1 this season, including a split of two games with No. 10/No. 12 Virginia Tech this weekend. Texas is 2-2-1 against ranked competition so far this season.
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) Even if it's unofficially, he'll be No. 2 on the minds of a staff that I believe has plans of starting him in 2024.
(Sell) I think Jaden is telling us with action that he won't be in Austin.
(Sell) Give me Xavier Worthy by a smidge.
(Buy) You know as well as I do that Jerry is going to want that game and generally Jerry gets what Jerry wants ... unless it's a return to the Super Bowl.
(Buy) I'm not sure it's ever going to shape up on paper better than it will shape up in 2023 for the Longhorns.
(Sell) Texas didn't average 200 yards per game this past season with Bijan and Roschon in the backfield. I don't think the ground game improves this season.
(Sell) I just gave a hard time believing that Texas is going to make an emotional hire.
(Buy) Good Lord, I would hope so. Whether any traction has been made is a different story, but yes, back channel conversations almost certainly have occurred.
(Buy) That means I like the under.
1. Buy
2. Buy
3. Sell
4. Buy. Of course.
(Sell) Three feels like potentially one too many.
(Buy) That's a total coin-flipper, so give me tails.
No. 9 - Scattershooting on anything and everything ...
... I sure wish Kevin Durant's body would allow him to start playing with the Suns.
... It's pretty frustrating to see Joel Embiid throw up 41 and 12 against the Celtics and still lose. Someone else is going to have to take care of the Celtics for the Sixers.
... Oh, if you missed the end of the Celtics/Sixers game on Saturday night, it had a doozy of an ending...
... I don't understand why anyone is paying attention to Jake Paul. How have we allowed him to become the kind of attraction that ESPN features above legit world-class athletes in all sports?
... I'm not feeling this clock thing in baseball at all. Bah, humbug.
... Welcome back, MLS! Austin FC welcomed everyone back with the most MLS thing ever.
... I genuinely did not enjoy seeing Manchester United win its first trophy since 2017.
No. 10 - The List: Top 10 Offensive Linemen in Lone Star State history ...
I've done running backs, wide receivers and linebackers. It just felt time to take on the offensive line task ... mainly because I have no idea what the outcome is going to look like.
Not having a clue of how difficult compiling the list may or may not be makes it kind of interesting.
That there were members of the NFL All-Decade teams from the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s was kind of a surprise.
Let's get on with it.
Received consideration: Ken Gray, Jerry Sisemore, Norm Evans, Luke Joeckel, Justin Blalock, Jake Matthews, Seth McKinney, Dan Neil, Marcus Cannon, Jonathan Scott, Jerry Cornelison and Marshall Newhouse
10. James Ray Smith (West Columbia)
Probably the best Baylor lineman of all-time, Smith was a 5-time All-Pro selection from 1958-1962 with the Cleveland Browns, including 3 first-team All-Pro selections from 1959-1961. A member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
9. Leonard Davis (Wortham)
A second-team All-Pro in 2007, Davis was named to 3 Pro Bowls during his career with the Dallas Cowboys. A consensus All-American with the Longhorns back in 2000.
8. Lane Johnson (Groveton)
One of the best offensive linemen in the sport today after earning first-team All-Pro honors in 2017 and 2022, along with a second-team spot in 2021. The fourth overall pick in the 2013 Draft, Johnson has played in two Super Bowls and has one Super Bowl ring.
7. Trent Williams (Longview)
A three-time All-Pro selection, including first-team honors in 2021 and 2022, Williams just keeps getting better with age. Has been named to 10 Pro Bowls in his career.
6. Jason Peters (Queen City)
Ranked No. 18 on the LSR Top 100 back in 2000, Peters is a 9-time Pro Bowler, who has been named All-Pro six times, including twice on the first-team. A member of the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team. A former college tight end at Arkansas, who went undrafted in 2004.
5. Clyde "Bulldog" Turner (Sweetwater)
A member of the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team, Turner earned first-team All-Pro honors at center an amazing seven times from 1941-1948. On top of being arguably the greatest center in NFL history, Turner was a two-way player that also played linebacker and led the NFL in interceptions in 1942.
4. Richmond Webb (Dallas Roosevelt)
Started his college career with Texas A&M during the Jackie Sherrill days before moving on to the NFL and earning 4 All-Pro teams, including two with the first-team in 1992 and 1994. A member of the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team. Webb also played in 7 Pro Bowls. Regarded as one of the best offensive linemen in the history of the Miami Dolphons.
3. Alan Faneca (Rosenbuerg Consolidated)
Yes, he was born in New Orleans and played his college ball at LSU, but from 1990-94 he went to high school in the Lone Star State. Hell, the guy was the Houston Touchdown Player of the Year in his final high school season. As a pro player with three NFL teams. Faneca was a 6-time All-Pro and earned 2 more second-team All-Pro teams. A member of the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team and a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.
2. Gene Upshaw (Robstown)
Maybe I've just been living on another planet, but I had no idea that Upshaw was born and raised in Robstown. All he ended up doing was earning All-Pro honors 8 times, including 3 first-team selections, while being names to the NFL's 1970s All-Decade Team. He's one of the players that the 1970s Raiders are known for. A member of the NFL's Hall of Fame.
1. Forrest Gregg (Sulphur Springs)
A 9-time All-Pro selection, who won 5 NFL championships, 3 Super Bowls and was one of the most famous Green Bay players of them all. A member of the NFL's All-1960s All-Decade Team, the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team and the NFL's 100th Anniversary Team. Of his 9 all-pro selections with the Packers in the 60s, 7 of them were first-team. A member of the NFL's Hall of Fame.
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