Fellas, this isn't the time to flinch.
There's no ambiguity in the mission of the Texas football program with less than four weeks to go until the beginning of the Steve Sarkisian era.
With recruiting in a sunken place where the Longhorns haven’t landed and kept a Rivals 150 player since February (176 days ago), it's time to turn to the things that can change the momentum...actual football.
Sarkisian was hired to elevate the program. It's not that Tom Herman's two Top 20 finishes were awful or that he was an awful coach; it's just that very slim margins can often decide whether a program can take the hardest steps, and Sarkisian represented a chance to upgrade.
With his arrival, the Longhorns were getting a head coach who would take the offense into his own hands. The quarterback development would be better, as would the game-day management and experience of the assistant coaches.
Now it's time to see it.
With two quarterbacks bringing unique skill sets, one of the best running backs in the nation, a set of receivers and tight ends that any school in the conference other than Oklahoma would trade for, and an offensive line that is solid enough that portal upgrades weren't seen as a need, there's no reason why a Texas offense with better coaching should fall far from the Top 20 units of the last two seasons.
If the thought process that led Sarkisian to Austin in the first place is correct, we haven't begun to see Sarkisian's true impact on the program yet.
That is exciting.
The same is true on the other side of the ball. Pete Kwiatkowski is supposed to be the elite of the elite in this sport. If he's an upgrade over Chris Ash, then the defensive side of the ball might just be cooking with grease.
That is potentially very exciting.
Nothing is going to happen in Texas football recruiting until the game-changers see something on the field to change their overall perception of the program; everyone might as well lean into the actual play on the field for the next couple of months and stop worrying about recruiting.
As I've been saying recently, the chicken and the egg debate inside Texas football about winning and recruiting has a definite answer. This program's path to the top, both on the field and in recruiting, is through the development of the players already on campus.
Those are the stakes of this season. There's no avoiding it.
Personally, I haven't gotten a feel for how this is going to go, but I'm in the camp that believes that this team has better coaching than it did a season ago - from top to bottom. I'm also in the camp that believes that the talent in all three phases of the team has the ability to play better.
I just don't know what to expect going into this season.
It's time to find out.
No. 2 - The other elephant in the room about the quarterback position...
The battle between Casey Thompson and Hudson Card is air tight through the first couple of days of camp.
If the common perception is that a tie goes to the younger player (If he's even, he's leavin), doesn't Thompson have a problem?
As president of the Hudson Card Fan Club, I still believe Thompson has the skill set to be an excellent college quarterback. It's entirely possible that he starts the opening game, never looks back and earns All-Big 12 honors in his first year as a starter.
All I'm saying is that the fourth-year guy not having a clear advantage over the second-year guy, which is what every player and coach on the team is telling us, is usually a problem for the fourth-year guy.
There's not another position on the field where you would argue that.
No. 3 - Ten Things that stand out to me from the first weekend of Texas football practice...
a. Ja'Tavian Sanders came in looking like a guy that is going to have the other tight ends in the tight end room cursing his name under their breath. He's going to be taking folks’ cornbread.
b. It's not time to panic on third-year lineman Tyler Johnson, but it just doesn't feel like the light switch is coming on for him yet. I really would have expected him to have created a spot for himself on this line heading into year three.
c. Kind of interesting to see Devin Richardson as a weak-side linebacker on the third-team through the earliest days of camp because there had been so much conversation about whether the coaches can get him and DeMarvion Overshown on the field together at the same time. It's early, but still.
d. As long as Ben Davis is limited with an injury, there doesn't appear to be anything keeping Ray Thornton from being the starter at EDGE when the season starts.
e. Xavier Worthy has 800 yards and 10 touchdowns as goals for his true freshman season. My first reaction to that? Texas needs more players with sky high goals like that in this program.
f. Might be too early to say this definitively, but it feels like Andrej Karic and Hayden Conner are the 6th and 7th guys on the offensive line. Maybe that's an overreaction to Isaiah Hookfin missing time, but it was revealing that Conner was the player that OL coach Kyle Flood moved into that spot (from guard) when the moment called for it on Saturday. It feels like the depth chart is just screaming for guys Texas has missed in recruiting.
g. Texas really needs a monster season from Jacoby Jones this season because there's just not any depth behind him. You can make a case that because of the depth available inside, his ability to stay healthy is more important than anyone else along the defensive line. The coaches will need to get true freshman David Abiara as ready as possible in the days and weeks ahead.
h. Sarkisian has made no bones about the fact that they are going to feed Bijan Robinson the ball this season. In a program without many stars in it yet, Sarkisian is not trying to dampen the hype on his best player. This is why Bijan came to Austin.
i. I wonder what transfer cornerback Darrion Dunn is thinking as this camp gets started.
j. Tight end Juan Davis might just go down as one of the best evaluations of Tom Herman's career. That's a hyperbolic statement to some degree, which is why I said "might", but he looks like a dude that's going to make some noise.
No. 4 - ICYMI...
No. 5 - Down to four...
Two months ago, I wrote that there were basically six in-state prospects remaining on the Texas recruiting board that mattered above all else. In order for the Longhorns recruiting class to rank among the nation's elite in recruiting for the 2022 cycle, it would need to land a minimum of five of the six.
Well, only four remain with the commitments of Kelvin Banks to Oregon and Bryce Anderson to A&M, respectively. The class isn't likely to rank among the nation's truly elite groups, and I'm not sure that anyone should expect the Longhorns to sweep the remaining four key targets:
Evan Stewart (WR - Frisco Liberty)
Devon Campbell (OL - Arlington Bowie)
Denver Harris (CB - North Shore)
Brenen Thompson (Ath - Spearman)
If the Longhorns can finish with Stewart and Campbell, that would feel like a little bit of a win, given the current state of momentum because it would likely mean that the Longhorns had a very good 2021 season.
No. 6 - Kevin Durant is the American Dream ...
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Kevin Durant didn't have to go to Tokyo. Everyone would have understood if he'd taken it easy at the age of 32 when he's coming off a long NBA season following the worst injury in the sport, especially with two gold medals on his resume.
The fact that he joined this team made him the obvious target for blame if the United States failed to win gold.
That's just how we roll as Americans.
But Durant cared so much that he threw caution to the wind. Just read Orangebloods over the past few weeks to see what kind of slander was ready to be hurled his way.
Except he didn't fail. He put the nation's basketball reputation on his shoulders and did the damn thing because that's what he does; the byproduct of his desire to play in any basketball game on the planet at any time is that he's the top performer in the history of USA Olympic Basketball.
In addition to being the runaway all-time leading scorer, he now has three gold medals and three monster medal game performances.
Afterwards, he probably dunked on some social media account with 15 followers, and you know what? It didn't matter.
To the victors go the spoils. After all, who are we to tell Captain America how to celebrate?
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I don't know how to handicap the percentages. I'd say I'm 61-39.
(Buy) I thought recruiting was going to be gangbusters six months ago. There's no getting around the fact that taking Ls in recruiting is bad for morale. It played a huge role in Herman losing his job.
(Sell) I'm all in on Jake Majors, though.
(Buy) I'm thinking 9-3.
(Buy) I'm not sure who is going to come within 30 receptions of him.
(Sell) I'm going to lean on the conservative side for now. If he goes above five starts, that's found money for me until he does it.
(Sell) I have a hard time blaming the recruiting team for what's happening in recruiting. I don't think this group is batting 1.000, but I struggle to name a kid that they are responsible for, good or bad. This feels like the carpenter blaming his tools.
(Sell) Even if Thompson starts all season, he's not going to be running a lot of zone-read.
(Buy) You misspelled 2005.
(Buy) I don't know how you can say otherwise at this point. That’s something we're not going to run away from or pretend didn't happen. I'm on the record as saying I thought Sarkisian and this staff would pull a top five class this season. Thus far, I'm way wrong. All I can tell you is that I'll continue to call things like I see them and I’ll miss a few.
(Sell) I just can't imagine Jeff Banks ever letting that guy go.
(Sell) I really like the effort and the projections. That might actually end up being fairly close to what could happen, but I'd hope a few of those spots are saved for transfers.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the sports weekend...
... The best Olympics moment of the weekend might have been the last moment, as the US women's volleyball team took gold for the first time ever, while giving the United States one more gold medal than China.
... Allyson Felix deserves to be on a box of Wheaties. What a career.
... I'm not going to say that I fight insomnia, but I will miss watching late-night Olympics.
... Rest in peace, Bobby Bowden.
... It's been a long time since he left Dallas, but seeing Jimmy Johnson go into the NFL Hall of Fame gave me some what-if thoughts this weekend.
... Confession: I'm not sure I had ever heard of Ciryl Gane before this weekend.
... Leo Messi at PSG, along with Neymar and Mbappe, is almost impossible to comprehend. How on earth did that just happen?
... Diego Fagundez is my favorite Austin FC player. There's really not a second choice right now, which is the team’s biggest issue.
... Watching a team play out of the back in soccer when it doesn't have enough skill is like watching a college football team throw the ball 40 times a game with a running quarterback.
... Excuse me... your first-place Philadelphia Phillies!!!!!!!!
... Brock Holt is a national treasure.
No. 9 - Top 10 Women on TV in the 1980s. ...
One of the iconic female personalities of my childhood passed away this weekend, as Markie Post died at the age of 70.
Night Court was must-see TV in my world from age 8 into my teenage years, and Post's character Christine Sullivan was a big part of that. The fact that she was also in The Fall Guy means that she was in two of the biggest shows of my childhood.
In honor of the late, great Markie Post, here are my favorite women on TV from the 80s.
10. Olivia D’Abo (The Wonder Years)
9. Shelley Long (Cheers)
8. Rue McClanahan (Golden Girls)
7. Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years)
6. Jasmine Guy (A Different World)
5. Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster)
4. Markie Post (The Fall Guy/Night Court)
3. Lisa Bonet (The Cosby Show/A Different World)
2. Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie)
1. Joan Collins (Dynasty)
No. 10 - And Finally ...
We have one big NIL announcement on Monday at noon and that will take our list of athlete deals to nine.
In case you're keeping score at home, the full list looks like this...
Football: Jake Majors, DeMarvion Overshown, Jordan Whittington and Xavier Worthy
Men's Basketball: Dylan Disu
Women's Basketball: Rori Harmon
Baseball: Ivan Melendez
Softball: Janae Jefferson
I'm really excited about No. 9.
