Dang dude. You completely nailed it on Jontay. He needed to just stay the course. He is just as likely to drop off the football planet than become relevant. Bad decision making.
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Leavitt just couldn't help himself...)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
It sucks. You want to just shake the guy and say, "Listen to me. I know how these things work out more times than not!"
So you get NIL money for a season and take all the money and quit on your team! This must be addressed ASAP, if injuries are a concern take some NIL cash a get insurance policy, but to be paid means earning all the money not just some of it! That lack of effort will hound him in NFL and Deion's son did not look great against BYU! This is not a strong QB class and the NFL will continue to struggle!
your thoughts appreciated - is there any chance Blue or Bond return for next year
I feel like in cases like these, the support system is just as much to blame as the kid. While the blame ultimately lines with Cook, I have no doubt that his “people” were instrumental in convincing him he was being wronged.
It’s pretty clear he is not surrounded by big picture, level-headed thinkers.
Just stay and catch passes from Arch. What could have been out there better than that?
Excellent read as always. Look forward to this every week. OU is absolutely about to enter a dark era and I feel bad for Venables. Excellent points on Cook and Ewers. All I wanted for Christmas was Michigan Quinn the next three games.
Sark plus NIL is my guess you’d have to tell me though. If he doesn’t come to start sarks 2nd year though where are we today? As a long time fan it’s just hard to be critical of Ewers when we all sat through much much worse the last decade plus.
If we set expectations before Quinn ever played a down at Texas I think we all would’ve been extremely happy making it to two playoffs two semifinal appearances assuming we get it done vs asu.
"I'm just going to sit over in the corner and shut the hell up about it all until the season is over."
That is a great idea.
That is a great idea.
Agree with your OR vs OH St take, pls it’s in Dallas. OH St is stacked and played way below expectations. Dont want to see them but I believe they will win out against OR.
As it relates to statistics: Mark Twain said "figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself.” In which case the remark attributed to Twain, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
I thought Ohio State was the better looking team in their initial match-up this season.
Maybe Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt just couldn't turn off the underdog inside of him.
As a former nobody three-star prospect, Leavitt can't hide the fact that he's still in the "earning" stage of a growing reputation. The kid has a chip on his shoulder and I get it.
When asked about Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers this weekend, Leavitt admitted that he very much knows all about the Texas starter.
“I’ve watched him for a fair amount of time now,” Leavitt said. “I’m just excited for the opportunity.”
You could see that he had more that he wanted to say ...
“People keep counting me out since day one," Leavitt continued.
Uh, oh ... here it comes ...
"I’m going to go prove I’m the better quarterback. That’s how I feel since day one. I’m going to go put everybody on the map," Leavitt declared.
Just like that ... the quarterfinal match-up between the Longhorns and Sun Devils received a much-needed injection of energy and a storyline that everyone can sink their teeth into.
Ewers vs. Leavitt. Everyone's forever super prospect vs. everyone's forgotten sleeper. Old head vs. Young whippersnapper.
Two things about the comments really stood out to me.
a. Leavitt might be right in saying he's the better quarterback.
b. He has to play the Texas defense on Wednesday, Ewers doesn't.
As a player on the field this season, Leavitt enters this game with a higher efficiency rating (159.5 vs. 148.0), QBR (81.6 vs. 72.0), yards per attempt (8.8 vs. 7.6), TD/INT ratio (4.8 vs. 2.6) and yards per carry (39 vs. -2.2). No, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison from a scheduling standpoint, but Leavitt has objectively been better than his Texas counterpart over the course of the season. Ewers hasn't had a game rating higher than 147.0 in his last five games and Levitt hasn’t gone below 152.2 in any game during the same time frame.
Yet, Ewers gets to play Arizona State's defense on Wednesday night, while Leavitt has to deal with one of the best Texas secondaries in the history of a program that likes to think of itself as a version of DBU. It should be noted that Levitt's worst game this season came against the only SEC team he's played this season ... Mississippi State. Whatever the Longhorns are, they aren't Mississippi State.
So, here we are less than 72 hours away from the next biggest game of a season that has probably had a half-dozen of them in the last few months and shots have been called. Leavitt wants the spotlight and now he's going to have it, while playing the best group of players that he's ever faced in his life.
We'll see how it works out for him.
In a game that needed some spice, Leavitt channeled his inner-Gordon Ramsay in saying all of the little quiet parts in his head out loud. Personally, I want to thank him. I got to write a quarterback column this weekend and it turned out to be one that no one could have seen coming.
No. 2 - Speaking of quarterbacks ...
I don't really have a lot to add this week to the ongoing and constant Quinn Ewers discussion, but I just want to confess that we're at the "weird as hell" stage of his career at Texas.
On one hand, Ewers is a second-team All-SEC player that has emerged as the third-best quarterback of the last half century of Texas football. In addition to returning to the playoffs for a second straight season, he's basically been untouchable as a player on the road in the last couple of seasons.
On the other hand, he's not played well enough for the second straight season that guys like Leavitt aren't afraid to call him out and former players like Dez Bryant are talking about him on social media like he's not the starting quarterback of a team that is the betting favorite to win a national title.
It's all just a bit weird.
Honestly, we're at a point where I hesitate to even bring Ewers' name up in conversation, as he's turned into the Greg Davis of Texas quarterbacks ... a guy with a resume that can't really be doubted, yet there's always constant discussion about all of the doubt.
I'm just going to sit over in the corner and shut the hell up about it all until the season is over. He's either going to be remembered as an all-time great as a national champion or something a little less than that, but the discussion of it all has worn me out.
No. 3 - Give me Oregon in Jerry World ...
With a couple of weeks to ponder the question of whether it would be better for Texas to see No. 1 Oregon or No. 8 Ohio State in a national semi-final in a couple of weeks, I've landed on what I believe is the truth of all truths ...
Ohio State's theoretical apex as a team is higher than Oregon's, even if the Ducks have been the better team over the duration of the season. In a one-game winner-take-all situation, Ohio State has Georgia-level upside at its peak and I'm just not sure that Oregon can come close to replicating it.
Therefore, root for the undefeated Ducks in the battle of Big 10 teams in Pasadena.
At the end of the day, I'd rather face Dillon Gabriel and his band of receivers than Will Howard and his pile of future NFL players. Same on the defensive side of the ball. Same with all sides of the ball. The Buckeyes came into this season with nearly twice as many super blue chip players/prospects on their roster and all things being equal, the best bet for the Longhorns would probably be a less talented, but possibly better quarterbacked team.
Georgia made the Texas roster look mortal. Between the Ducks and the Buckeyes, only the latter has the kind of talent to give a good impression of the Dawgs.
So, if you were wondering on where to direct your superstitious mojo ... now you know.
No. 4 - About Johntay Cook...
With the announcement this weekend that former Texas wide receiver Johntay Cook would be joining the Washington Huskies for the upcoming season through the Portal, I feel like I just have to get something off my chest ...
This is so stupid.
Over the last few years, Cook has made incredible NIL money while waiting for his turn to come at wide receiver. Yet his frustration kicked in at not receiving immediate gratification in playing time, so he burned bridges and decided to leave Austin just as the Arch Manning Experience is on the verge of entering the chat.
Sooooooo ... he could make less NIL money playing in a lesser program with a quarterback situation that is far murkier than the one in Austin. There's hustling backward and then there's whatever in the hell Cook just pulled off in entering a marketplace that didn't value him nearly as much as he values himself.
For my money, Cook is the new poster boy for FAFO on the 40 Acres. The grass isn't always greener. The NIL streets are not always paved with more gold. The quarterback situation isn't always close to being better.
Sometimes you just need to keep your mouth shut, put your head down and grind away until your time to shine arrives. You don't set your face on fire because your nose is broken.
Texas paid Cook a LOT of NIL money, only for him to be one of the biggest recruiting disasters of the Steve Sarkisian era. Texas was heavily invested in making his situation work. The coaches weren't trying to avoid playing him on purpose in the name of playing less talented players making less NIL money.
Cook has the natural talent to be a star, but he didn't have the work ethic or inner drive to fight through the adversity in a way that would allow him to come out on top. He placed the responsibility for his plight on everyone but himself and the rest of college football told him pretty clearly what it thought of that position.
Now he finds himself in a position where he's almost certainly hoping to have a big enough season in 2025 that he can use it as a platform to transfer a second time to a more high-profile program.
It is a miscalculated, unforced error. It didn't have to happen. It only happened because of Cook's decision-making and actions.
Here's hoping it he figures out that the thing that needs to happen moving forward has everything to do with himself and very little to do with everyone else.
No. 5 - A Look at the Elite of the Elite from 2024 ...
With all but a few bowl games and seven playoff games left to be played in the 2024 season, I thought we'd take a look at the top prospects from the Lone Star State from the Class of 2024.
It's kind of amazing that I'm the only one who rated Colin Simmons as the No. 1 player in the state.
1. (5-star) Edge Colin Simmons (Texas)
In-state rankings: Rivals (2), 247 (5), On3 (6) and ESPN (3)
Overall: Was the best freshman in America this season, having posted 39 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, an interception and 9 quarterback hits.
2. (5-star) WR Micah Hudson (Texas Tech)
In-state rankings: Rivals (1), 247 (4), On3 (4) and ESPN (6)
Completely wasted a year of his life by signing with Tech and being limited to 8 catches for 123 yards in 5 games this season. Has already transferred to Texas A&M.
3. (5-star) LB Justin Williams (Georgia)
In-state rankings: Rivals (3), 247 (2), On3 (2) and ESPN: (1)
Has two tackles and a tackle for loss in 11 games this season for the Dawgs.
4. (5-star) QB D.J. Lagway (Florida)
In-state Rankings: Rivals (7), 247 (1), On3 (1) and ESPN (2)
Lagway completed 114 of 192 passes (59.9%) for 1,915 yards, 12 touchdowns and 9 interceptions (154.9 rating) in 12 games with the Gators.
5. (5-star) CB Kobe Black (Texas)
In-state rankings: Rivals (8), 247 (9), On3 (14) and ESPN (4)
Played in 14 games for the Longhorns as a back-up cornerback and projects as a likely starter for the Longhorns in 2025.
6. (5-star) Ath Terry Bussey (Texas A&M)
In-state rankings: Rivals (4), 247 (3), On3 (3) and ESPN (5)
Bussey caught 17 passes for 216 yards and 0 touchdowns this season for the Aggies, while adding 102 yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 carries.
7. (5-star) RB Caden Durham (LSU)
In-state rankings: Rivals (15), 247 (20), On3 (20) and ESPN (23)
Durham has 693 yards and 6 touchdowns for the Tigers on 127 carries (5.5 YPC) on the ground and added 27 receptions for 257 yards and 2 more touchdowns as a receiver.
8. (High 4 star) WR Bryant Wesco (Clemson)
In-state Rankings: Rivals (11), 247 (8), On3 (17) and ESPN (8)
Caught 41 passes for 708 yards (17.3 yards per reception) and 5 touchdowns.
9. (High 4-star) DB Xavier Filsaime (Texas)
In-state rankings: Rivals (6), 247 (10), On3 (13) and ESPN (10)
Recorded 2 tackles in 5 games played this season as a reserve safety.
10. (High 4-star) DB Aaron Flowers (Oregon)
In-state Rankings: Rivals (10), 247 (14), On3 (10) and ESPN (18)
Flowers has played in only one game this season.
No. 6 - Updated Scholarship Board ...
There's two ways of looking at things, so I thought I would provide both of them.
(With the seniors)
(Without the Seniors)
Regardless of what happens with departures for the NFL, the Longhorns are already under the 85-man number without any more attrition.
When it's all said and done, it won't be a surprise if the Longhorns are below 80 scholarship players in a month from now, which means that Texas is going to have an interest in gaining additions through the Portal, even if there's been a lack of activity for the last couple of weeks.
The needs will still be present. The numbers will be available. It's just a matter of how the Longhorns get into a position to improve in quality through a process that has seen Texas go at a deliberate pace the last couple of years in name of not overreaching for players that limit their ability to acquire better players at a later date.
No. 7 - Deep down, OU has to know ...
Only two coaches in the history of Oklahoma football have suffered multiple losing seasons in the last 100 years ... John Blake and Brent Venables.
As Venables prepares for his fourth season in Norman in 2025, he'll be doing so with two new coordinators and a roster that pales in comparison to the ones that he's head for the last two seasons. All of OU’s hopes and dreams rest on the shoulders of a transfer quarterback that was rather meh in his last college performance ... in a loss to Wyoming at home.
The 2025 schedule is brutal. The talent is lacking. The coaching isn't good enough. Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
This story is only going to end one way. That the last ones to know it are the ones closest enough to the problems that they can taste them is always a rich reality. It reminds me of the Longhorns in 2016 when the program almost brought back Charlie Strong. It needed that Kansas loss to truly send the final point home.
OU hasn't suffered its 2016 KU los yet, which means we all have something to look forward to in the new year!
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) Give me 250 yards.
(Buy) He's not going to like what he sees in front of him in Atlanta.
(Buy) I'm all-in.
(Buy/Buy/Buy) The rare triple buy! Yes to all of that.
(Sell) It makes sense that there should be a short decline until we know more about the DT and DB depth charts going into next season.
(Buy) If you've watched the games, you should be prepared.
(Sell) Why would that be the case?
(Sell) Travis Hunter is going to be a great pro.
(Sell) I don' think the committee will reward this team with a 7-11 conference record unless there are some pretty incredible wins inside of those seven.
(Buy) Bingo.
(Sell) If that was what was needed, it should have happened two years ago.
(Sell) The defensive line will control the line of scrimmage and that will prove to mean everything.
(Sell) Just shy of that number.
(Buy) It'll be close, but I'm going to say yes.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... I just don't think UGA can win a title with Gunner Stockton. However, I don't think Notre Dame or Penn State have the goods to knock the Dawgs off.
... I turned off the Texas A&M game at 24-7... imagine my surprising glee to wake up just in time to see the final 30 seconds of the game. lulz.
... I know I'm supposed to have some sort of reaction to Cam Ward ducking out of the Pop-Tarts Bowl in the second half, but I find myself not having much of one. It's not like he sat out the entire game, which he easily could have done with some justification, but if you're going to play two quarters ... why not four? Whatever. I just can't really be bothered by the NIT of college football.
... Man, I just can't be bothered with the Dallas Cowboys right now. As far as I'm concerned, that game on Sunday in Philly never even happened.
... At least I'm not a Jets fan ...
... If I'm Saquan Barkley, I'm going for the record next Sunday. Whatever it takes.
... Wait, Tyrell Shavers is in the NFL?
... The NFL was boring this weekend.
... Rest in peace, Greg Gumbel. Total class act for his entire career.
... Who wants some?
... Premier League Thoughts: This isn't the best Liverpool team of the last decade, but hot damn it is fun to watch. Just keep adding three points every time out, fellas, the rest will take care of itself. Nottingham Forest being in second place through 19 games (with a 6-point edge on Man City, no less) might even be more impressive than what Leicester City did in winning the league almost a decade ago. Ok, that's a bit much, but just a bit. I'm really afraid that Spurs are going to fire Ange. I like the guy ... I don't want him to go.
No. 10 – The List: Best in 2024 movies
With the Golden Globes right around the corner and the Academy Award nominations set for January 17, I thought it was a good time to examine the state of movies in the 2024 years.
If I'm being honest, the year has been a disappointment when it comes to truly great movies and performances. Maybe I'll have my socks blown off down the stretch with the pile of movies I still need to see in the next couple of months leading to Oscars night.
Here's how things stand as of today ...
Best Picture
1. Dune Part II
2. Conclave
3. Anora
4. Emilia Perez
5. Challengers
6. A Different Man
7. Inside Out 2
8. Hit Man
9. The Substance
10. Blitz
Still need to see: September 5, The Brutalist, Sing Sing, Wicked, The Wild Robot, A Real Pain, I’m Still Here, Maria, Nickel Boys, The Apprentice, Babygirl, A Complete Unknown and Queer
Best Actor
1. Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
2. Sebastian Stan A Different Man)
3. Glen Powell (Hit Man)
4. Nicholas Hoult (Juror No. 2)
5. Paul Mescal (Gladiator II)
Best Actress
1. Mikey Madison (Anora)
2. Karla Sofia Gascon (Emilia Perez)
3. Zendaya (Challengers)
4. Demi Moore (The Substance)
5. Adria Arjona (Hit Man)
Best Supporting Actor
1. Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)
2. Stanley Tucci (Conclave)
3. Yura Borisov (Anora)
4. John O’Connor (Challengers)
5. John Lithgow (Conclave)
Best Supporting Actress
1. Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez)
2. Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
3.Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
4. Selena Gomez (Emilia Perez)
5. Saoirse Ronan (Blitz)
Best Director
1. Denis Villeneuve (Dune II)
2. Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez)
3. Sean Baker (Anora)
4. Edward Berger (Conclave)
5. Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
How much was cook getting paid? 250k range or more like 500k a year ?
It’s crazy he continues to dog on Texas - what an ass
I think he has been on the higher end of NIL situations.
It sucks, he had multiple players on the team to see this and he had JT Sanders last year as well.
Awesome TTFTW.
Ps. Saquan needs to break the record so we hear less of Dickerson going forward.
Ps. Saquan needs to break the record so we hear less of Dickerson going forward.
I grew up with the Pony express in the 80s….my son is headed to SMU in the fall….and I’m neighbors with Lance McIlhenny……but yea, for some reason, don’t care for him.
