With two weeks gone in the spring workouts calendar, we've nearly reached the midway point of proceedings.
Some players have cemented their status on the depth chart. Some freshmen have cemented their status as players who will play in year one. Some players are taking advantage of opportunities.
Some have not.
While the coaches will be stressing that there's still plenty of time left for players to make an impression and lock down jobs, the reality is that there is a group of players in the program that need to be feeling a sense of urgency... RIGHT NOW. Not in the summer. Not in the fall. Not in 2025. Right now.
The profile of this group of players is obvious. They'll have been on campus for at least a couple of years and they'll be surrounded by young players threatening to leap right past them on the depth chart. If they don't make a move in the next couple of weeks, they could potentially find themselves in no man's land going into the 2024 season and either they'll find the next eight months fairly empty on the football front or they'll be staring at the Portal wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.
It's not a place that anyone wants to wish on anyone, but it's the reality of modern-day college football. Here's a look at the players who need to be making the next few weeks their own personal platform to showcase to the Texas coaches that they need to be at the forefront of their 2024 planning.
Junior running back Savion Red
Camp started with every Texas fan and coach noticing the 240-pound weight listing on the official roster that Red put out for the world to see, much to the chagrin of his head coach, but he's having to hold off a pair of true freshmen who arrived in January with zero desire to sit around waiting for their time to see the field. Of the six scholarship backs currently on campus, it feels like Red might be No. 6 or maybe fifth at best (ahead of Tre Wisner). The coaches have always been big fans of Red's versatility, but the reality is that better players are ahead of him, the least of which isn't the ascending Christian Clark.
Red ranked fourth among all running backs last season with 30 carries, which represented nearly half of the total that Jaydon Blue received (65), but it's hard to see how Clark, fellow true freshman Jerrick Gibson and second-year player Tre Wisner don't cut into his workload. Is there a world where Red can hold the younger players off, not just in 2024, but also in 2025? What kind of role does Red want? Is he okay with a niche role similar to Keilan Robinson's from 2023?
There's no getting away from the fact that there are currently more questions than answers for the third-year player.
Senior Offensive Lineman Hayden Conner
On one hand, Conner is a multi-year starter entering his final season in Austin, which would have guaranteed him a starting job under previous coaching staffs. On the other hand, Conner was the weakest of the five starters up front last season and there are a bevy of hungry young linemen behind him that want his job ... badly.
One of the stories of last week was the move of redshirt sophomore Neto Umeozulu taking more and more snaps with the first-team offensive line, while Conner worked out quite a bit as the second-team center behind fellow senior Jake Majors.
Hey, maybe Conner has more job security than the current situation looks, but from my vantage point, Conner needs to put a big-time marker down in the next two weeks that sends a message to his coaches that he's the best left guard option on the roster and they better not even think of replacing him.
What will it mean for Conner if he's left wondering after the spring game whether he's going to keep his job? With one season left before it's time to prepare for the NFL, the last thing he needs is to get caught between a rock and a hard place. Of all the players in the world who might decide to hit the eject cord after the spring, Conner is surely a player the coaches don't want to lose, but they also want improvement in his position and aren't afraid to go to younger/unproven players in the quest to get there.
Junior defensive end Justice Finkley
Ethan Burke moving around between the Buck and Jack positions means that he and Sorrell are probably the top two players at the Jack (strong-side end). I don't know where it leaves the former Alabama prep star, but it feels like he's potentially in a little bit of junior season purgatory in that he's not viewed as a starting-level player, but will certainly get some playing time.
What does some playing time mean, though? This is the time in his career when Finkley should be pushing for a starting job and more playing time, but it's unclear if he'll ever be more than a bench role player for the Longhorns.
I don't recall Steve Sarkisian or any of our sources really mentioning his name in the last two weeks other than to say he does look a little quicker, but the playmaking really needs to follow.
Third-year sophomore edge J'Mond Tapp
In the last few months, Tapp has seen newcomers Trey Moore, Colin Simmons and maybe even Zina Umeozulu move in front of him on the depth chart. That doesn't even include Burke, who was the starter at the position a year ago and will still play a lot at the edge.
At best, he's holding off the freshmen for dear life. Like Finkley, we're just not hearing much buzz right now for Tapp. That needs to change or his placement on the edge pecking order is going to be less than optimal.
Senior defensive tackle Vernon Broughton
Broughton is going to play a lot this season, but he needs to play better day-in and day-out if he wants to keep from losing snaps/positioning to the likes of Tia Savea, Alex January, Jaray Bledsoe and any transfer that the staff decides represents an upgrade or depth at the position.
It's now or potentially never for Broughton.
Senior Linebacker Kendrick Blackshire
The Alabama transfer is currently running third team at Mike behind Anthony Hill and Liona Lefau, which can't be what he was hoping for when he made the move to Austin. Even if he passes up Lefau, he's still stuck behind a player in Hill who isn't expected to come off the field much in 2024.
If Blackshire doesn't start making a real difference in practices, he might find himself in a worse position for playing time than he was at Alabama.
Senior cornerback Gavin Holmes
The former Wake Forest starting cornerback is a solid, but definite back-up at the cornerback position at the moment and he has freshmen knocking on the door with regards to his workload as the No. 3 cornerback. If he ends camp as roughly even with the likes of Kobe Black or Wardell Mack or even Warren Roberson ... would he really be even, considering those players are 100-percent ascending?
Holmes is a damn fine player, but can he be more than that because the coaches want better than damn fine on the field?
Junior nickel-backs Jaylon Guilbeau and Austin Jordan
The return of Jahdae Barron for another senior year completely blocks the path of both of these players in a quest to get into the starting line-up, which has to be discouraging for both upperclassmen. Like Holmes, both are damn fine players.
Can they be better than that? Can they take the next step as players and put themselves on the same tier as Barron? What happens if they can't?
The best thing both of them can do is make a significant move in the next couple of weeks, separating themselves from the other.
No. 2 - The battle Dakorien Moore is officially on ...
The state's No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class was in town this weekend for the Texas Relays and it looks like he'll be back ...
1. April 6 for an unofficial visit
2. April 20 for an unofficial visit for the Texas spring game.
3. This summer for an official visit.
Oh, and one of Texas' finest was in town this weekend taking a few social media snapshots.
Basically ...
No. 3 – Texas Scholarship Board ...
Not much has changed in the last two months, but if you need a reminder, the Longhorns will need to shed a few bodies before August.
No. 4 - This end was always coming
If you've watched the Texas women's basketball team this season, you know that when they run into trouble, the lack of three-point shooting combined with the other team finding a groove from long range can be a problem.
In games against Oklahoma this year, it was definitely a problem.
Against NC State on Sunday, it was definitely a problem.
It's hard to go to the Final Four when a team outscores you 27-3 from downtown. Period.
The Longhorns had a great season this year, considering the injury to Rori Harmon, but as Vic Schafer begins to put the blueprint together for 2025, he has to find more shooters. Otherwise, the Elite 8 is probably going to be about as far as the Longhorns can expect to go. All the defense in the world isn't going to matter if scoring from the outside remains the team's kryptonite.
This was exactly the way I thought the season would end for the last few months, but I expected that Stanford would do them in instead of NC State. Ultimately, it doesn't matter because the how part remained exactly the same.
No. 5 - A Big 12 title is there for the taking ...
The problems that the Texas Baseball team deals with on a day-in and day-out basis are obvious. The pitching is a guessing game. On one day, no lead is safe and on the next day, a shutout is possible.
It makes one half of the game hard to put a finger on. The other part of the game? The Longhorns can flat-out rake. In nine Big 12 games this season, the Longhorns have scored 90 runs (10 per game). They scored 33 runs against Texas Tech, 24 runs against Baylor and 33 runs this weekend on the road at Kansas State
In a year where Texas' pitching was a true-plus element of the team, it would be dangerous on the national level. As it stands, it's probably not a threat to compete on the national level at this point. But, if we're just talking about the Big 12, a championship is there for the taking.
For all of the hand-wringing, the Longhorns have won all three of their Big 12 match-ups in March. A glance at the standings will reflect that there are a bunch of flawed teams at the top and even more flawed teams at the bottom of the standings.
Perhaps that needs to be the goal in focus at the moment. Just win the Big 12.
With last-place BYU coming to Austin next weekend, you'd expect Texas to win at least two out of three. The week after will see the Longhorns traveling to co-last place Houston. Sub-.500 TCU comes to Austin in three weeks. Not until the last weekend in April when Texas travels to Norman will the Longhorns face a team that is currently above .500 in conference play.
What it means is that the Longhorns will almost certainly be in the Big 12 title race a month from now. There are no special teams that the Longhorns will need to take down to win the conference title. Of the two teams that appear to be the two biggest challengers for the title, the Longhorns took two of three from Kansas State this weekend, while Oklahoma was swept at home by ... *checks notes* ... Lamar after giving up 31 runs in three games at Dale Mitchell Park.
Winning a Big 12 title won't make for a truly successful season in Austin because of the bar this school has set in this sport, but it's the very first order of business for the Longhorns to handle in the next two months and it's very doable.
No. 6 - Not enough runs ...
The Big 12 championship is probably already off the table for the Texas Softball team before big, bad Oklahoma comes to town next weekend after the Longhorns lost 2 of 3 games this weekend in Stillwater.
You can't win if you don't score and the Longhorns were shut out in their two losses, while they scored only two runs in their lone win in Stillwater. The presence of the Sooners makes near-perfection needed if you're going to best them over the course of a three-month conference slate and the Longhorns don't appear to be a team that's near-perfect.
The best thing Mike White's team can do is keep winning as many games as possible, maybe take one or *gasps* two off the Sooners this weekend and see what happens when the post-season rolls around. At the moment, the Longhorns weren't quite ready for the second-best team in the Land Thieves State, let alone the one that is currently too much for anyone and everyone across the country.
No. 7 – Farewell, King ...
Eddie Reese's career came to an end this weekend, as his Longhorns finished with their 44th consecutive top-10 finish. That's right ... FORTY-FOUR STRAIGHT TOP-10 FINISHES.
There will never be another like him. With his retirement, who is the best coach on campus? Is it Vic?
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) That sounds more like wishful thinking than anything else. Let's see what the roster looks like and we'll go from there.
(Sell) They'll come back earlier, rather than risk losing their jobs.
(Sell) Best backfield in America? Better than Ohio State? No.
(Sell/Sell/Buy) I don't know why we think it's faster than last year's receiving unit. It might be the deepest unit, but it's too early to say that at this point with so much unproven talent. I do think the passing game will set records this year.
(Buy/Buy/Buy) Why would anyone ignore Neto's development? It's his third season. This is the time the light switch should be coming on.
(Sell) More like Kermit.
(Sell) We're talking football, right? If it's basketball, I'm still selling. The Longhorns need better players than anyone that could transfer.
(Sell) Texas was third in the nation against the run, which is definitely elite. I don't think the pass defense is going to be top-five in America.
(Sell) I don't think it's going to have a higher rating (21.7) or more viewers (35.6 million) than the 2006 national title game between Texas/USC. That seems very unrealistic.
(Sell) No, I don't think the tight end room is going to be as productive or better.
(Sell/Buy) I honestly don't have a strong enough opinion on the coaching market to say with certainty that that Oats should be the No. 1 target, but he's proven to be really good. I do think Texas is a better job based on its natural resources of talent in the state of Texas.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... My goodness, UConn is not a team you want to make mad. A 30-0 run? I feel like the only time I've ever seen that is when the Dream Team played Angola in 1992.
... Maybe the most unfair sports moment of the weekend was seeing Houston's Jamal Shead's season/college career come to an end with a sprained ankle early in the biggest game of his career. The Cougs' season got the Colt McCoy Rose Bowl treatment. They'll always feel they were robbed by the sports gods.
... Shaka Smart was a failure at Texas. Yet, he's a good man that I hope good things happen to. I was rooting for him on Friday night to get through NC State and into the Elite 8. Try not to judge me harshly.
... I was rooting for Rick Barnes as well. Getting to the Final Four is damn hard.
... The South Carolina women's basketball team is inevitable.
... Go Caitlin Clark. That is all.
... The Cowboys being "open" to a Zeke Elliott reunion kind of says everything you need to know about the current off-season for America's Team. I mean ... I guess he did average 4.5 yards per carry last season ... oh wait... I guess he did average 3.5 yards per carry last season...
... Michael Penix running a sub 4.6 at his pro Day and being a full tenth of a second faster in the 40 yard dash than Ja'Tavion Sanders was not on my NFL Draft Bingo Card.
... Victor Wembanyama's 40/20 game nudging past Jalen Brunson's 61-point game for a winning effort made for some fantastic NBA overtime theater this weekend. Per ESPN Stats & Information research: "It's only the second time in NBA history that one player had a 40-point, 20-rebound game and another had a 60-point contest. The other instance came in 1961 when Elgin Baylor scored 63 points and Wilt Chamberlain had 78 points and 43 rebounds."
... Austin FC got a huge win over Dallas this weekend. It's amazing how much difference a healthy Sebastian Driussi can make.
... Arsenal/Man City did not live up to expectations because both teams played like they were afraid to lose.
No. 10 - Top 10: Best Movies in the 2000s ...
After re-watching Manchester by the Sea this week, I found myself thinking about the top of the best movies this century all week.
Confession: There were probably another 10 movies I wanted to sneak into the top 10, but these were the 10 I settled on. Apologies to Bing Bong.
Honorable Mention: Inside Out, Children of Men, Call Me By Your Name, Bridesmaids, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Moonlight, The Wolf of Wall Street, Lincoln, Mad Max: Fury Road, Oldboy, The Social Network, Boyhood, Everything Everywhere All at Once, 12 Years a Slave, Phantom Thread, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Tar, Mulholland Drive, Zodiac and Brokeback Mountain
10. Manchester By The Sea
Re-watched it this week. It's soul-crushing at its lowest moments, but it's perhaps the most human movie of the century thus far. If nothing else, it might be the best-acted movie of the century.
9. Get Out
From a pop culture standpoint, I'm not sure if any movie has had a bigger impact.
8. Inglorious Basterds
Maybe the most re-watched movie on this list for my money. I can start watching it at any point in the movie and I'm in.
7. The Dark Knight
The best comic book movie of all time?
6. Oppenheimer
Two Christopher Nolan movies go back to back here outside the top 5.
5. Parasite
It gets better and better with every revisit.
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The second-best Tarantino movie of all-time. It's Leo and Brad at their absolute best.
3. Gladiator
It's Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix at their very best.
2. There Will Be Blood
Depending on the day, this can easily slot into the No. 1 spot. It's Daniel Day-Lewis' masterpiece.
1. No Country For Old Men
All hail the Coen Brothers. The best hitman movie of all time?
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