It actually came together pretty easily. It was really about 5 movies for 2 spots..
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend: Texas (20) > A&M (10) + OU (9)
- Thread starter Ketchum
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On my buy and sell question…. I don’t think they can or will recruit at that level
I just was looking at player hit rates - having five starters .. and how much you’re putting yourself behind the eight ball to not use the portal ever
I contend you can’t have more than three hits at a time unless you were recruiting at that kind of level (Georgia and Alabama were in the pre NIL era when they were dominant)
On my buy and sell question…. I don’t think they can or will recruit at that level
I just was looking at player hit rates - having five starters .. and how much you’re putting yourself behind the eight ball to not use the portal ever
I contend you can’t have more than three hits at a time unless you were recruiting at that kind of level (Georgia and Alabama were in the pre NIL era when they were dominant)
The best example of a lottery ticket player that I can think of was Margus Hunt at SMU. The guy had never seen football before (he learned the rules by playing Madden), came to SMU from Estonia to train with their women's track coach, held the junior world record for discuss and won gold medals in both discus and shot put in the 2006 junior world championships. By the time he graduated he had a NCAA record for most blocked kicks (17) and was drafted in the 2nd round by the Bengals. At the combine, he ran a 4.60 40, did 38 reps on the bench, jumped a 34.5" vertical, all while being 6'8" 277 lbs. Absolute freak.
good add...if I didn't argue for its inclusion the last time you did Cruise then I certainly thought it.
Michael Mann movies are some of my favorites...easily in the Top 5 Directors
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I've long thought that Cruise has the most on screen charisma and draw of any actor alive. Others are close (Pitt, McConaughey, I'd even offer Glen Powell), but Cruise is the GOAT.
- Apr 10, 2021
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Vanilla Sky and The Last Samurai are my 2 cruise favorites and yes, I realize they don’t merit top 10.
In a world of declining birthrates that portends to trouble for our future, maybe we just need to become soccer players?The truest thing in college football is that the sport is about the Jimmys and the Joes and not the Xs and the Os.
It's been that way for decades. Stockpile gobs of elite talent year over year over year ... win championships. We're talking about a truth that is as dependable every day as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Since the 2014 season, eight of the last 12 national champions have entered the season with the best or second-best rosters n America in terms of consensus super blue chips. Only the Clemson teams with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, the mega-talented LSU team with all-time quarterback great Joe Burrow and the 2023 Michigan Wolverines with a first-round quarterback and 13 players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, have bucked the trend in the last half-generation of football.
With all of the major additions and subtractions for the 2025 season already set in stone, we can safely say that the Texas Longhorns are closer to the top of the college football mountaintop with regard to raw, elite-level talent than they've ever been in the modern history of the program.
Before we look at the numbers... a quick reminder. What is a super blue chip? It's any prospect that earns the following ratings from the four major national recruiting services: Rivals (6.0+), 247 (96+), ESPN (85+), On3 (96+). With regard to the Portal, it's any player that ranks inside the top 32 overall prospects of the four major recruiting services. In order to be a consensus super blue chip player, you have to earn super blue chip status from at least two of the four major national rankings services.
Let's take a look at this year's numbers:
A year ago, the numbers looked like this...
As you can see, the Longhorns continue to make up ground and are now within touching distance of the top spot. What's most interesting is that for most of the last decade, the likes of Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State enjoyed double-digit advantages over every team they could possibly face, but the 2025 season will feature a more closely bunched together top 5 than the sport has seen since the 2000s. It's the same top 5 teams, but the gaps have closed significantly between the duo of Texas/Oregon and the trio of Georgia/Ohio State/Alabama.
Finally, I thought you guys might find this dose of perspective important. Sometimes you can't know what you have unless you stop and reflect on what you once didn't have.
No. 2 – The Full Super Blue Chip Data Dump ...
You know you can just move on to section 3 if this is too much for you.
Super Blue Chip HS Prospect = Rivals (6.0+), 247 (96+), ESPN (86+) and On3 (96+) or any Portal prospect ranked in the final Top 25 overall rankings by any major service.
1. Georgia
Total number of super blue chips: 25
Transfers: (1) 2025 WR Zachariah Branch (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2025: (6) TE Elyiss Williams (Rivals/247/On3), DE Isaiah Gibson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Elijah Griffin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Zayden Walker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Juan Gaston (247/ESPN), and WR Taylyn Taylor (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (8) DB Ellis Robinson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Justin Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB K.J. Bolden (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Chris Cole (247/On3/ESPN), TE Jaden Reddell (On3/ESPN), CB Demello Jones (On3/247) and RB Nate Frazier (Rivals/247/On3)
2023: (7) DT Jordan Hall (Rivals/247/On3), DB A.J. Harris (Rivals/247/ESPN), OL Monroe Freeling (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Raylen Wilson (247/On3/ESPN), S Joenel Aguero (247/On3/ESPN), LB Troy Bowles (247/ESPN) and TE Pearce Spurlin (Rivals/On3)
2022: (3) DB Jaheim Singletary (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Daylen Everette (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), and OL Earnest Greene (Rivals/247/On3)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (6) 2023 DE Samuel M'Pemba (Rivals/ESPN),, 2023 DE Damon Wilson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 Bear Alexander (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2022 LB Marvin Jones Jr. (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Brock Vandagriff (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Xavian Sorey (Rivals/247/ESPN) and 2021 DB Nyland Green (247/On3)
Transfer Rate: 15.8%
In the NFL: (6) 2024 RB Trevor Etienne (Florida - Rivals/On3), 2023 WR Dominic Lovett (Missouri - Rivals/247/On3), 2022 DL Mykel Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 LB Jalon Walker (247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DB Malaki Starks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 TE Brock Bowers (ON3/247), 2021 OL Amarius Sims (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 LB Smael Mondon (247/On3/ESPN)
2. Ohio State
Total number of super blue chips: 22
Transfers: (4) 2023 CB Davison Igbinosun (Ole Miss - 247/On3), 2024 DB Caleb Downs (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) 2024 QB Julian Sayin (Ohio State - Rivals/247/On3) and 2025 TE Max Klare (On3/ESPN)
2025: (5) QB Tavien St. Claire (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Devin Sanchez (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Carter Lowe (Rivals/247), LB Riley Pettijohn (Rivals/On3) and WR Quincy Porter (Rivals/247/On3)
2024: (5) WR Jeremiah Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Aaron Scott (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Mylan Graham (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Eddrick Houston (Rivals/247//ESPN) and DB Bryce West (Rivals/ESPN)
2023: (5) WR Carnell Tate (Rivals/247/On3), WR Brandon Inniss (Rivals/247/ESPN), DT Jason Moore (Rivals/247), DB Jermaine Matthews (Rivals/On3/ESPN), and WR Noah Rogers (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (3) LB CJ Hicks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Ath Alex Styles (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DE Kenyatta Jackson (Rivals/On3)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (7) 2024 QB Air Noland (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Jayden Ballard (247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Calvin Simpson-Hunt (Rivals/On3), 2022 QB Devin Brown (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Quinn Ewers (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 CB JK Johnson (Rivals/On3) and 2021 QB Kyle McCord (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 18.9%
Headed to/In the NFL: (9) 2024 transfer RB Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss - Rivals/247/On3), 2024 transfer QB Will Howard (Kansas State - Rivals/On3), 2021 RB TreVeyon Henderson (247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DE JT Tuimoloau (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL Donovan Jackson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 CB Jordan Hancock (247/On3), 2021 WR Emeka Egbuke (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DL Mike Hall (On3/247) and 2021 DE Jack Sawyer (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
3T. Texas
Total number of super blue chips: 20
Transfers: (1) 2024 DE Trey Moore (UTSA - 247/On3)
2025: (6) DE Lance Jackson (Rivals/247/On3), WR Kaliq Lockett (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Jonah Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Justus Terry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Kade Phillips (247/On3/ESPN) and WR Jaime Ffrench (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2024: (5) DE Colin Simmons (Rivals/247/On3/ESP)), OL Brandon Baker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Ryan Wingo (Rivals/247/ESPN), CB Kobe Black (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DB Xavier Filsaime (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (6) QB Arch Manning (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Anthony Hill (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), RB Cedric Baxter (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Malik Muhammad (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), S Derek Williams (247/On3/ESPN) and Ath Jelani McDonald (247/On3)
2022: (2) OL DJ Campbell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Neto Umeozulu (On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (2) 2023 WR Johntay Cook (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2022 CB Terrance Brooks (Rivals/On3)
Transfer Rate: 7.7%
Headed to/In the NFL: (4) 2021 OL Kelvin Banks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 Transfer WR Adonai Mitchell, 2021 TE Ja'Tavian Sanders (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 WR Xavier Worthy (On3/ESPN)
3T. Alabama
Total number of super blue chips: 20
Transfers: (2) 2024 OT Kadyn Proctor (Rivals/247/On3) and 2024 OL Parker Brailsford (247/On3)
2025: (5) QB Keelon Russell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Michael Carroll (Rivals/247/On3), DB Chuck McDonald (Rivals/247), OL Jackson Lloyd (247/On3) and DB Dijan Lee (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (5) WR Ryan Williams (Rivals/247/ON3/ESPN), DB Jaylen Mbakwe (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Zay Mincey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Zabien Brown (Rivals/247/On3) and Edge Noah Carter (On3/247)
2023: (6) DE Yhonzae Pierre (Rivals/247/On3), DE Keon Kelly (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Jalen Hale (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT James Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Qua Russaw (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DL Jordan Renaud (ON3/ESPN)
2022: (1) QB Ty Simpson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) LB Deontae Lawson (On3/247)
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (22) 2024 QB Julian Sayin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 RB Justice Haynes (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Caleb Downs (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2023 DB Jahlil Hurley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Dezz Ricks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 WR Emmanuel Henderson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Jeremiah Alexander (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Khurtis Perry (247/ESPN), 2022 WR Aaron Anderson (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 WR Shazz Preston (Rivals/ESPN), 2022 WR Isaiah Bond (On3/247), 2022 LB Shawn Murphy (Rivals/ESPN), 2022 OL Elijah Pritchett (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 OL Tommy Brockermeyer (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 WR Agiye Hall (On3/ESPN), 2021 RB Camar Wheaton (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Jojo Earle (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2021 Christian Leary (Rivals/On3), 2021 DL Monkell Goodwine (Rivals/On3), 2021 DT Damon Payne (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 LB Keanu Koht (Rivals/247/On3) and 2021 WR Ja'Corey Brooks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 44.9%
Headed to the In the NFL: (7) 2023 Transfer WR Jermaine Burton, 2022 LB Jihaad Campbell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 OL Tyler Booker (247/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL J.C. Latham (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DB Kool-Aid McKinstry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Dallas Turner (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DB Terrion Arnold (Rivals/247/On3)
5. Oregon:
Total number of super blue chips: 18
Transfers: (6) 2025 DB Dillon Thieneman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 OL Isaiah Wold (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 OL Emmanuel Pregnon (Rivals/247), 2025 RB Makhi Hughes (On3/ESPN), 2024 WR Evan Stewart (Texas A&M - Rivals/247/On3) and 2024 QB Dante Moore (UCLA - Rivals/247)
2025: (5) WR Dakorien Moore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Trey McNutt (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Douglas Utu (Rivals/ESPN), Ath Na'eem Offord (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and C Brandon Finney (247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (5) WR Gatlin Bair (Rivals/247/On3), Edge Elijah Rushing (247/ESPN), S Aaron Flowers (Rivals/On3), CB Ify Obidegwu (247/ESPN) and DL Aydin Breland (247ESPN)
2023: (2) DE Matayo Uiagalelei (Rivals/247/ESPN) and Jurrian Dickey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2022: None
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (3) 2021 QB Ty Thompson (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL Kingsley Suamataia (Rivals/247/On3) and 2022 CB Jalil Yucker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 11.1%
In the NFL: (6) 2024 transfer QB Dillon Gabriel (OU - Rivals/On3), 2024 DE Jordan Burch (South Carolina - Rivals/247), 2024 transfer CB Jabbar Muhammad (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 OL Josh Conerly Jr. (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Troy Franklin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2020 LB Noah Sewell (Rivals/247/ESPN)
6. LSU
Total number of super blue chips: 13
Transfers: (4) 2025 WR Barion Brown (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 WR Nic Anderson (247/ESPN), 2025 Edge Patrick Payton (247/ESPN) and 2023 WR Aaron Anderson (Alabama - Rivals/247/On3)
2025: (4) RB Harlem Berry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Ath D.J. Pickett (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Soloman Thomas (Rivals/247/ESPN) and OL Carius Curne (247/On3)
2024: (2) DT Dominick McKinley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and TE Trey'Dez Green (Rivals/247/On3)
2023: (2) DB Javien Toviano (Rivals/247/ESPN) and Edge Dashawn Womack (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (1) LB Harold Perkins (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (4) 2023 OL Zalance Heard (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Quency Wiggins (Rivals/247), 2022 QB Walker Howard (Rivals/ESPN) and 2021 DB Sage Ryan (Rivals/247/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 23.5%
In the NFL: (3) 2022 OL Will Campbell (Rivals/247/ESPN, 2021 DL Jaquelin Roy (247/ESPN) and 2021 DT Maason Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
7T. Texas A&M
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (2) 2024 WR Kevin Concepcion (NC State - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2023 DB Desmond Ricks (Alabama - Rivals/247)
2025: (2) WR Jerome Myles (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and Lamont Rogers (On3/ESPN)
2024: (1) Ath Terry Bussey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DT David Hicks Jr. (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), RB Rueben Owens (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Chase Bisontis (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (1) DB Bryce Anderson (247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) OL Reuben Fatheree II (Rivals/On3)
2020: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (12) 2022 DE Enai White (247/On3/ESPN), 2022 QB Conner Weigman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN),, 2022 DT Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Walter Nolan (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 WR Evan Stewart (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Lebbeus Overton (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 CB Denver Harris (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Anthony Lucas (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 WR Chris Marshall (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 OL PJ Williams (247/ESPN), 2021 RB LJ Johnson (Rivals/247) and 2021 DE Tunmise Adeleye (Rivals/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 46.2%
In the NFL: (3) 2024 transfer DE Nic Scourton (Purdue - Rivals/247/On3), 2022 DL Shemar Stewart (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DL Shemar Turner (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN),
7T. Miami
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (1) QB Carson Beck (Georgia - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2025: (1) Edge Hayden Lowe (247/On3)
2024: (5) DT Justin Scott (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Armondo Blount (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Joshisa Trader (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Ny Carr (Rivals/ESPN) and Edge Marquise Lightfoot (Rivals/On3/247)
2023: (3) OL Francis Mauigoa (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Samson Okunlola (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DT Rueben Bain (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2022: None
2021: None
2020: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (2) 2020 DB Avante Williams (Rivals/ESPN) and 2021 QB Jake Garcia (Rivals/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 13.3%
In the NFL: (2) 2021 DB James Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DT Leonard Taylor (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
9T. Clemson
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: None
2025: (1) DT Amare Adams (Rivals/247/On3)
2024: (3) LB Sammy Brown (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR TJ Moore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and WR Bryant Wesco (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DT Peter Woods (Rivals/247/ESPN), DE Tomarrion Parker (Rivals/247) and DL Vic Burley (247/ESPN)
2022: (2) QB Cade Klubnik (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DB Jeadyn Lukus (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) OL Tristan Leigh (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (4) 2022 CB Toriano Pride (247/On3), 2021 WR Beaux Collins (Rivals/ESPN), 2020 RB Demarkus Bowman (Rivals/247/ESPN) and 2020 QB D.J. Uiagalelei (Rivals/247/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 23.5%
In the NFL: (3) 2021 LB Barrett Carter (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 RB Will Shipley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Jeremiah Trotter (247/On3/ESPN)
9T. Penn State
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (1) 2024 DB A.J. Harris (Georgia - Rivals No.22/247 No.11)
2025: (2) OL Malachi Goodman (247/On3) and TE Andrew Oiesh (247/On3)
2024: (2) RB Quinton Martin (Rivals/247/ESPN) and TE Luke Reynolds (247/On3)
2023: (2) OL Alex Birchmeier (Rivals/On3) and OL J'Ven Williams (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (3) DE Dani Dennis-Sutton (Rivals/247/On3), RB Nicholas Singleton (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and QB Drew Allar (247/On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: None
Transfer Rate: 0.0%
In the NFL: None
9T. Auburn
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (2) 2024 WR Eric Singleton (Georgia Tech - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN and 2024 OL Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech - 247/On3)
2025: (4) DE Jared Smith (Rivals/247/ESPN), QB Deuce Knight (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Malik Autry (Rivals/247) and CB Blake Woodby (Rivals/ESPN)
2024: (3) WR Cam Coleman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Demarcus Riddick (Rivals/247/ESPN) and WR Perry Thompson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (1) DE Keldric Faulk (Rivals/247)
2022: None
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: None
Transfer Rate: 0.0%
In the NFL: None
12. Oklahoma:
Total number of super blue chips: 9
Transfers: (1) QB John Mateer (Washington St. - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2025: (2) OL Michael Fasusi (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Ryan Fodje (247/On3)
2024: (2) DT David Stone (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and RB Taylor Tatum (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DB Peyton Bowen (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Adepoju Adebawore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Samuel Omosigho (247/On3)
2022: (1) CB Gentry Williams (On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (7) 2023 QB Jackson Arnold (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 WR Jaquaize Pettaway (247/ESPN), 2023 transfer DE Dasan McCulloch (Indiana - Rivals/247/On3), 2023 OL Cayden Green (Rivals/ESPN), 2021 LB Clayton Smith (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Caleb Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 WR Mario Williams (Rivals/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 41.2%
In the NFL: (1) 2021 DB Billy Bowman (Rivals/247)
No. 3 – Filling out the roster to 105 ...
As we get closer and closer to a reality in the future that has roster limits across college football locked in at 105 slots with no scholarship limits up to 105 (like the Big 10 is expecting to enjoy in 2025 if the settlement goes through), it'll be interesting to see what approach the Longhorns use in distributing those numbers.
Some things and ideas to kick around ...
a. The kicking game has to be strongly accounted for. Whether the players are on scholarship or not, you're going to need to have at least one backup for both punter and place-kicker (and potentially even kickoffs and deep snapper). One of the beautiful things about having a deep walk-on program is that you can usually supply your depth in all of these areas with walk-ons and the impact on the numbers related to available roster spaces. For the record, Texas had six kickers/punters and two deep snap specialists on the 2024 roster. Half of those numbers were walk-ons. Of the 20 roster spots beyond the previously existing 85-man number, everyone probably needs to mentally prepare for at least 3-4 spots being reserved for non-return kicking-game specialists.
b. There will probably be a small number of spots that are saved for walk-on type treatment, even if they are officially put on scholarship because the Longhorns completely do away with the walk-on program as we once knew it. There will always be some affluent alumni who have family members that need a spot on the roster. That new indoor facility and growing NIL costs don't pay for themselves. You'd probably think that somewhere between 6-10 of the 20 spots will be reserved for walk-ons and some of those could go to players that are among the kicking-game specialists mentioned above.
c. This isn't everyone's favorite idea, but I'll never give up on it. Steve Sarkisian and Jeff Banks could ... COULD ... target a handful of returning nationally elite return men and coverage specialists from across college football. Find the best special teams players from an analytical standpoint and see if you can create some fine-margins advantages in the third phase of the game. I'm not sure that the best cornerback in the Mountain West can play for Texas, but I'm pretty sure that elite special teams skills can much more easily cross over to high levels of competition.
4. Buy some lottery tickets. I have always loved the idea of using between 3-5 of the 20 spots and challenging the staff to find athletic freaks each year that you're willing to take a chance on because if they hit, you might just have a ticket to the moon. Offer the 10.1 speedster that didn't play football in high school. Offer some kid from Germany that has been playing U-17 hoops and might be a perfect tight end project. Take chances. Hit even on even one every three or four years or so and you've caught lightning in a bottle.
5. Somewhere in the 20 spots, you probably need to make sure that the program always has a fourth quarterback, at least 15 offensive/defensive linemen and the ability to complete a three-deep at every position. You could probably make a case for adding one more player at almost every position, but you can't ever run out of quarterbacks and big guys, even if a couple are just glorified practice dummies. The scout teams must be forever serviceable and beyond needing to lean on guys from the 2-deep to fill in when there's a bind.
Will all of that being said, if I were in charge of the defining how and where the next final 20 spots are used, it would probably look something like this:
1. No. 5 quarterback (possible walk-on/Portal)
2. Any position Lottery Ticket (offense)
3. Any position Lottery Ticket (offense)
4. Any position Lottery Ticket (defense)
5. Any position Lottery Ticket (defense)
6. Old school preferred walk-on (running back)
7. Old school preferred walk-on (wide receiver)
8. Old school preferred walk-on (offensive lineman)
9. Old school preferred walk-on (offensive lineman)
10. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive lineman)
11. Old school preferred walk-on (linebacker)
12. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive back)
13. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive back)
14. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
15. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
16. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
17. Backup place-kicker (possible walk-on/Portal)
18. Backup punter (possible walk-on/Portal)
19. Backup kicker/punter/kickoff specialist (possible walk-on/Portal)
20. No. 2 Deep-snapper (possible walk-on/Portal)
No. 4 - Texas Running Back Room ...
Ok, I have to admit that this kind of stunned me when I was surfing the ol' interwebs this weekend.
Let's get one thing out of the way. With all due respect. to Max Chadwick, Texas doesn't have the No. 3 running back room in the country for the following three reasons:
a. You have to have a scholarship running back who has more than 5.0 yards per carry somewhere on the roster and the Longhorns don't. Jerrick Gibson's 4.8 yards per carry is as good as it gets both on the 2024 and career-front on this roster. Quintrevion Wisner was at 4.7 last season and is at 4.8 for his career.
b. The most explosive player from last year's group can't be in the NFL and not fully replaced within the offense.
c. The red zone offense, especially in the Ohio State game and any time the team was on the one-foot line, isn't a complete poop-show all season if Texas has an elite group of players at running back.
All of that being said, outside of Penn State and Notre Dame (ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively), I didn't see any of the other running back rooms ranked in the top 10 that I would automatically trade the Texas running back room for, although I'd probably trade the Texas room for the LSU room if it meant that sophomore speedster Caden Durham was lining up in the backfield with Arch Manning.
Texas A&M is at No. 5 on the list and there's not anyone on in its running back room that upgrades the Texas running back room. Oregon and Oklahoma picked up heralded transfers, but am I sure that former Tulane standout Makhi Hughes (currently at Oregon) would have definitely started at Texas? Am I supposed to ignore that Jaydon Ott was a JAG last year, ankle injury or not? Are they both definite upgrades over Wisner, who brings strong productivity and versatility on a national semifinalist team?
Maybe I'd take Georgia's Nate Frazier first in a player draft between UGA and Texas running backs, but it's kind of a coin-flip discussion.
Basically, it's easy to talk about what this running back could use a little more of. What's not so easy is naming five programs in the country on paper that definitively arrive into the 2025 season with better groups to work with.
No. 5 – Updated Scholarship Board ...
No. 6 - The real season is about to begin...
I gotta be honest when I tell you that I just can't be bothered with conference baseball tournaments.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you'd trade a conference tournament title straight up for a guarantee of a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament next week with your best pitching still unused in a New York second if given the chance, but I barely cared about ... *checks notes* ... Ole Miss and Vanderbilt playing on Sunday for the SEC's version of the NIT.
What matters starts next weekend. We're at the stage of the year where getting to Omaha is the barometer. Nothing else matters and it sure seems like the Longhorns will be in an enviable position when the bracket is announced on Monday.
Just like with another Texas team I'm about to discuss from the weekend, the only thing that matters at this point is getting through a regional/super regional and into the College World Series. Anything less will mean this season wasn't a historical success. The standard for Texas Baseball isn't dropping. Therefore, the real games are about to begin ... with all due respect to the SEC Tournament.
No. 7 - Mike White's Never-Say-Die Longhorns ...
If all you know about Texas Softball from the weekend is that it qualified for the CWS for the third time in four seasons by ousting Clemson in the super regional, let me tell you ... there's a lot more to know.
More than anything else, the thing everyone should know is just how close to the brink of disaster this team was. Down a game in the series, Clemson put runners on second and third base with zero outs in the bottom of the 8th inning. One more wild pitch ... one more Texas Leaguer ... one more mistake of any kind ... and the 2025 season would have been over and with it, a season that featured Texas at No. 1 just a few weeks ago would have seen the Longhorns fall short of the CWS ... at home.
It was as white knuckle in sports as white knuckles get.
Somehow the Longhorns escaped the jam with a strikeout and a couple of fly outs, won the game in the 10th inning and then found a way to win game three on Saturday night.
And here we are ...
The Longhorns are back in Oklahoma City and at some point if the Longhorns are ever going to scale Mount Everest in this sport, they’re going to have to go through the Sooners in OU’s backyard for a chance to climb the tallest mountain. If the Longhorns win their opener this week in Bricktown, the Sooners will await.
It'll be white knuckle time all over again and who knows ... maybe that's what this team is going to need to pull a performance that can slay the Sooners in their own backyard. Buckle up.
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) Look, I think Texas is going to get one in the next two years, but it's really impossible to know the toll that this current era of college football is going to take on coaches because of all the extra pressures that come with essentially operating the program with the broad shoulders of carrying ultimate responsibility in every area of the program. Mack Brown was 58 when he burned out at Texas by the end of the 2009/beginning of the 2010 season. Steve Sarkisian is only 51 years old, but his job is simply far more taxing than anything Mack was responsible for while he was at Texas. Maybe he coaches forever, but I'm personally taking nothing for granted.
(Sell) There's no way Texas or anyone else can pull off 10 super blue chip offensive line prospects in a four-year cycle. Kyle Flood has signed only three such prospects since he's been at Texas. I'll be honest when I tell you that I'm not sure what it's going to take from a numbers standpoint, but when you don't land a lot of Kelvin Banks-level prospects, you really feel it when they depart the line-up. The answer is that it needs to be more than three ... maybe double that when you consider that Flood doesn't have a huge history of developing non-super blue chip prospects into truly plus-players.
(Sell) Being on the OU side of the bracket isn't a recipe for that.
(Sell) I'm not ready to say that anyone is definitely going to be as good as Andrew Mukuba was last season.
(Sell) Not unless he's in a tragic bass fishing accident or something during the next 12-24 months.
(Sell) Not even close. Don't be mad at me.
(Sell) See the question right above this one, Same answer. Don't be mad at me.
(Buy) It'll be close, but I'm going to say yes.
(Buy) If you're setting the over/under at 0.5, yes, I'll take the over.
(Buy) Columbus and Gainesville.
(Buy) I'll go on a slight limb ... I'm coming around on the idea.
(Buy) The wording of the question matters. The 90s >>> 80s and 00s. If you included the 1970s, we'd have to have a strong conversation.
(Buy) Give us more good games instead of bad games.
(Sell) I'm not sure I'll go so far as to say they'll reach the Bama/UGA talent levels from 3-5 years ago, but annual playoff runs and championships? Yes, that's on the table.
(Buy)
(Sell) That would be 300+ snaps for each. That's not happening.
(Sell) It's kind of the same for me.
(Sell) I'm the same levels of convinced.
(Buy) That's one natty and two major bowls (Elite 8 level performances in the playoff) in football, one Final Four in hoops and two national titles in baseball. That could be topped, especially if football and baseball flip roles.
(Sell) Florida with a second year D.J. Lagway is my choice. I might go with Auburn as my second choice. That OUU roster might be marginally better at quarterback, but the rest of the roster is not improved from a year ago.
(Sell) Next week.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... Oklahoma has been to the College World Series in Oklahoma City nine straight times. They basically never play a postseason game more than a half-hour drive away from their home beds. Imagine the uproar if this happened in a revenue sport. For instance, imagine if every round of Elite 8, Final Four and national championship game occurred in Kansas City or Louisville or Hartford each year. EVERY game.
... This feels a little like when Ron Burgundy discovered that Baxter had eaten an entire wheel of cheese.
... OKC and Indiana are almost certainly going to play each other in the NBA Finals ... just what the league has always dreamed of.
... Former Texas hooper Myles Turner is in his 10th NBA season and he's a pretty critical piece of a Pacers team that is buzz-sawing its way through the East. He's never been an all-star, but beyond the likes of Kevin Durant, Slater Martin and Lamarcus Aldridge, I'm not sure there’s another Longhorns you can rate above him as an NBA player. He already has more career points than LaSalle Thompson. Maybe he's in a battle with Jarrett Allen for that honor, but he's a better NBA player than TJ Ford, Avery Bradley or Tristen Thompson were ever able to become.
... In his one season at Texas, Turner averaged 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and shot 45.5% from the floor.
... Scottier Scheffler is just relentless. One week after winning his third major, he chalked up another Top 5 finish in Fort Worth.
... It sure feels like the NFL is way off the radar at the moment. It's weird when the NFL gets quiet.
... Ronald Acuna is back! And, man ... is he back, or what?
... I always root for the Dallas Stars at this stage of the playoffs, but the 1980s kid in me kind of wants to see Edmonton have a chance to sit on top of the sport once again. It would simply be a cool story.
... Premier League Musings: The freaking champions of the league gave Crystal Palace a Guard of Honour at Anfield after they gave them one. Pretty dope.
... Manny Pacquiao is returning to ring on July 19 to fight for the WBC Welterweight championship at the age of 46. If you're thinking, "Didn't he retire almost half a decade ago?"... yes ... yes, he did. During that time off from the sport, he ran for the presidency in The Philippines. I'm sure this is all fine.
No. 10 - The List: Top 10 Tom Cruise ...
It's been half a decade since I tackled Cruise's Top 10 list, so with the release of the final Mission Impossible movie this weekend, I thought I would give it another go, especially since I had The Last Samurai ranked over Magnolia.
Must have been some Rogue products that weekend. I don't know what else to say.
If at first you don't success, you try and try again ...
Let's do it.
Honorable mention: Edge of Tomorrow, The Color of Money, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Born on the 4th of July, The Last Samuri, Days of Thunder, Minority Report, Tropic Thunder, The Firm, The Outsiders, Taps, Cocktail and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
10. Rain Man
I went back and forth between this and The Color of Money and Edge of Tomorrow, but at the end of the day Cruise was a co-lead on a movie that won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (not for Cruise). The highest-grossing movie of 1988.
9. Collateral
A sneaky insertion into this updated Top 10. It's Cruise as a really good bad guy and the on-screen chemistry between him and Jamie Foxx is all-time memorable from my perspective.
8. Ricky Business
It's the movie that made him a star and allowed for Top Gun to happen. Maybe it needs to be higher on the list?
7. Magnolia
Some will argue that this is his best movie. Full stop. Maybe so, but it's not in my top 5 as a movie that defines his career. It's not even the best serious movie that he did from 1995-2000 (see No. 5 on the list).
6. Mission Impossible
It still holds up surprisingly well almost three decades from its original release.
5. Eyes Wide Shut
I will stand on a table for this Kubrick classic. It might be the best movie of the last three decades that everyone seems afraid to call a great movie.
4. Top Gun: Maverick
It saved movies.
3. Jerry Maguire
I will not casually dismiss those that believe this is the Tom Cruise-iest of all Tom Cruise-iest performances and should be ranked in the No. 1 slot. I don't agree, but I hear you.
2. A Few Good Men
If I'm being place on a deserted island with only one Tom Cruise movie on DVD for me to watch until I'm saved, give me A Few Good Men.
1. Top Gun
It's to Cruise what Let's Stay Together is for Al Green. It's his baby and the thing that made everything else possible.
Got Damn that was a lot of kids Liverpool FC dads trotted out.
I dig the latter. I need to give the former another shot. It's been a while.
While it was a relatively small part, Les Grossman resurrected Cruise’s career (many forget how he had just about torpedoed his career at one point). It’s his finest role, especially because it was NOT “Tom Cruise-ey”. He created a defining character, and one not based on his boyish good looks or hero persona. When I am with folks cruising YouTube, and they want to watch snippets of Cruise, Tropic Thunder is always the requested choice.
I dunno. He followed that up with Valkyrie in 2009, Knight and day in 2010, MI: Ghost Protocol in 2011, Rock of Ages in 2012 and Jack Reacher in 2012.
Edge of Tomorrow followed by Rogue Nation were the resurrection.
Liked Legend as a kid. Mia Sara was 🔥
Devil character scared the crap out of me
Interview with a Vampire was also a good flick. The movie with Jamie Foxx was crazy to see Cruise as as a villian
Devil character scared the crap out of me
Interview with a Vampire was also a good flick. The movie with Jamie Foxx was crazy to see Cruise as as a villian
Forgot about Interview.
When he was cast, Anne Rice went on a crusade that he would be awful as Lestat. After she saw the movie, she said:
“I like to believe Tom's Lestat will be remembered the way Olivier’s Hamlet is remembered. Others may play the role some day but no one will ever forget Tom's version of it." ”
Why Anne Rice Hated Tom Cruise's Interview With The Vampire Casting
Rice was NOT a Tom Cruise fan.
screenrant.com
I love an underdog, so when I chose my football club I chose Crystal Palace.
They are a scrappy team that is fun to watch (or follow).
They are a scrappy team that is fun to watch (or follow).
You’d put miles over PJ Tucker?The truest thing in college football is that the sport is about the Jimmys and the Joes and not the Xs and the Os.
It's been that way for decades. Stockpile gobs of elite talent year over year over year ... win championships. We're talking about a truth that is as dependable every day as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Since the 2014 season, eight of the last 12 national champions have entered the season with the best or second-best rosters n America in terms of consensus super blue chips. Only the Clemson teams with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, the mega-talented LSU team with all-time quarterback great Joe Burrow and the 2023 Michigan Wolverines with a first-round quarterback and 13 players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, have bucked the trend in the last half-generation of football.
With all of the major additions and subtractions for the 2025 season already set in stone, we can safely say that the Texas Longhorns are closer to the top of the college football mountaintop with regard to raw, elite-level talent than they've ever been in the modern history of the program.
Before we look at the numbers... a quick reminder. What is a super blue chip? It's any prospect that earns the following ratings from the four major national recruiting services: Rivals (6.0+), 247 (96+), ESPN (85+), On3 (96+). With regard to the Portal, it's any player that ranks inside the top 32 overall prospects of the four major recruiting services. In order to be a consensus super blue chip player, you have to earn super blue chip status from at least two of the four major national rankings services.
Let's take a look at this year's numbers:
A year ago, the numbers looked like this...
As you can see, the Longhorns continue to make up ground and are now within touching distance of the top spot. What's most interesting is that for most of the last decade, the likes of Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State enjoyed double-digit advantages over every team they could possibly face, but the 2025 season will feature a more closely bunched together top 5 than the sport has seen since the 2000s. It's the same top 5 teams, but the gaps have closed significantly between the duo of Texas/Oregon and the trio of Georgia/Ohio State/Alabama.
Finally, I thought you guys might find this dose of perspective important. Sometimes you can't know what you have unless you stop and reflect on what you once didn't have.
No. 2 – The Full Super Blue Chip Data Dump ...
You know you can just move on to section 3 if this is too much for you.
Super Blue Chip HS Prospect = Rivals (6.0+), 247 (96+), ESPN (86+) and On3 (96+) or any Portal prospect ranked in the final Top 25 overall rankings by any major service.
1. Georgia
Total number of super blue chips: 25
Transfers: (1) 2025 WR Zachariah Branch (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2025: (6) TE Elyiss Williams (Rivals/247/On3), DE Isaiah Gibson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Elijah Griffin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Zayden Walker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Juan Gaston (247/ESPN), and WR Taylyn Taylor (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (8) DB Ellis Robinson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Justin Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB K.J. Bolden (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Chris Cole (247/On3/ESPN), TE Jaden Reddell (On3/ESPN), CB Demello Jones (On3/247) and RB Nate Frazier (Rivals/247/On3)
2023: (7) DT Jordan Hall (Rivals/247/On3), DB A.J. Harris (Rivals/247/ESPN), OL Monroe Freeling (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Raylen Wilson (247/On3/ESPN), S Joenel Aguero (247/On3/ESPN), LB Troy Bowles (247/ESPN) and TE Pearce Spurlin (Rivals/On3)
2022: (3) DB Jaheim Singletary (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Daylen Everette (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), and OL Earnest Greene (Rivals/247/On3)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (6) 2023 DE Samuel M'Pemba (Rivals/ESPN),, 2023 DE Damon Wilson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 Bear Alexander (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2022 LB Marvin Jones Jr. (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Brock Vandagriff (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Xavian Sorey (Rivals/247/ESPN) and 2021 DB Nyland Green (247/On3)
Transfer Rate: 15.8%
In the NFL: (6) 2024 RB Trevor Etienne (Florida - Rivals/On3), 2023 WR Dominic Lovett (Missouri - Rivals/247/On3), 2022 DL Mykel Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 LB Jalon Walker (247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DB Malaki Starks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 TE Brock Bowers (ON3/247), 2021 OL Amarius Sims (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 LB Smael Mondon (247/On3/ESPN)
2. Ohio State
Total number of super blue chips: 22
Transfers: (4) 2023 CB Davison Igbinosun (Ole Miss - 247/On3), 2024 DB Caleb Downs (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) 2024 QB Julian Sayin (Ohio State - Rivals/247/On3) and 2025 TE Max Klare (On3/ESPN)
2025: (5) QB Tavien St. Claire (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Devin Sanchez (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Carter Lowe (Rivals/247), LB Riley Pettijohn (Rivals/On3) and WR Quincy Porter (Rivals/247/On3)
2024: (5) WR Jeremiah Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Aaron Scott (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Mylan Graham (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Eddrick Houston (Rivals/247//ESPN) and DB Bryce West (Rivals/ESPN)
2023: (5) WR Carnell Tate (Rivals/247/On3), WR Brandon Inniss (Rivals/247/ESPN), DT Jason Moore (Rivals/247), DB Jermaine Matthews (Rivals/On3/ESPN), and WR Noah Rogers (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (3) LB CJ Hicks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Ath Alex Styles (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DE Kenyatta Jackson (Rivals/On3)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (7) 2024 QB Air Noland (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Jayden Ballard (247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Calvin Simpson-Hunt (Rivals/On3), 2022 QB Devin Brown (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Quinn Ewers (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 CB JK Johnson (Rivals/On3) and 2021 QB Kyle McCord (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 18.9%
Headed to/In the NFL: (9) 2024 transfer RB Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss - Rivals/247/On3), 2024 transfer QB Will Howard (Kansas State - Rivals/On3), 2021 RB TreVeyon Henderson (247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DE JT Tuimoloau (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL Donovan Jackson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 CB Jordan Hancock (247/On3), 2021 WR Emeka Egbuke (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DL Mike Hall (On3/247) and 2021 DE Jack Sawyer (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
3T. Texas
Total number of super blue chips: 20
Transfers: (1) 2024 DE Trey Moore (UTSA - 247/On3)
2025: (6) DE Lance Jackson (Rivals/247/On3), WR Kaliq Lockett (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Jonah Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Justus Terry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Kade Phillips (247/On3/ESPN) and WR Jaime Ffrench (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2024: (5) DE Colin Simmons (Rivals/247/On3/ESP)), OL Brandon Baker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Ryan Wingo (Rivals/247/ESPN), CB Kobe Black (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DB Xavier Filsaime (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (6) QB Arch Manning (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Anthony Hill (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), RB Cedric Baxter (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Malik Muhammad (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), S Derek Williams (247/On3/ESPN) and Ath Jelani McDonald (247/On3)
2022: (2) OL DJ Campbell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Neto Umeozulu (On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (2) 2023 WR Johntay Cook (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2022 CB Terrance Brooks (Rivals/On3)
Transfer Rate: 7.7%
Headed to/In the NFL: (4) 2021 OL Kelvin Banks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 Transfer WR Adonai Mitchell, 2021 TE Ja'Tavian Sanders (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 WR Xavier Worthy (On3/ESPN)
3T. Alabama
Total number of super blue chips: 20
Transfers: (2) 2024 OT Kadyn Proctor (Rivals/247/On3) and 2024 OL Parker Brailsford (247/On3)
2025: (5) QB Keelon Russell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Michael Carroll (Rivals/247/On3), DB Chuck McDonald (Rivals/247), OL Jackson Lloyd (247/On3) and DB Dijan Lee (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (5) WR Ryan Williams (Rivals/247/ON3/ESPN), DB Jaylen Mbakwe (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Zay Mincey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Zabien Brown (Rivals/247/On3) and Edge Noah Carter (On3/247)
2023: (6) DE Yhonzae Pierre (Rivals/247/On3), DE Keon Kelly (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Jalen Hale (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT James Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Qua Russaw (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DL Jordan Renaud (ON3/ESPN)
2022: (1) QB Ty Simpson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) LB Deontae Lawson (On3/247)
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (22) 2024 QB Julian Sayin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 RB Justice Haynes (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Caleb Downs (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2023 DB Jahlil Hurley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Dezz Ricks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 WR Emmanuel Henderson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Jeremiah Alexander (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Khurtis Perry (247/ESPN), 2022 WR Aaron Anderson (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 WR Shazz Preston (Rivals/ESPN), 2022 WR Isaiah Bond (On3/247), 2022 LB Shawn Murphy (Rivals/ESPN), 2022 OL Elijah Pritchett (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 OL Tommy Brockermeyer (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 WR Agiye Hall (On3/ESPN), 2021 RB Camar Wheaton (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Jojo Earle (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2021 Christian Leary (Rivals/On3), 2021 DL Monkell Goodwine (Rivals/On3), 2021 DT Damon Payne (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 LB Keanu Koht (Rivals/247/On3) and 2021 WR Ja'Corey Brooks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 44.9%
Headed to the In the NFL: (7) 2023 Transfer WR Jermaine Burton, 2022 LB Jihaad Campbell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 OL Tyler Booker (247/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL J.C. Latham (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DB Kool-Aid McKinstry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Dallas Turner (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DB Terrion Arnold (Rivals/247/On3)
5. Oregon:
Total number of super blue chips: 18
Transfers: (6) 2025 DB Dillon Thieneman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 OL Isaiah Wold (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 OL Emmanuel Pregnon (Rivals/247), 2025 RB Makhi Hughes (On3/ESPN), 2024 WR Evan Stewart (Texas A&M - Rivals/247/On3) and 2024 QB Dante Moore (UCLA - Rivals/247)
2025: (5) WR Dakorien Moore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Trey McNutt (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Douglas Utu (Rivals/ESPN), Ath Na'eem Offord (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and C Brandon Finney (247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (5) WR Gatlin Bair (Rivals/247/On3), Edge Elijah Rushing (247/ESPN), S Aaron Flowers (Rivals/On3), CB Ify Obidegwu (247/ESPN) and DL Aydin Breland (247ESPN)
2023: (2) DE Matayo Uiagalelei (Rivals/247/ESPN) and Jurrian Dickey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2022: None
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (3) 2021 QB Ty Thompson (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL Kingsley Suamataia (Rivals/247/On3) and 2022 CB Jalil Yucker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 11.1%
In the NFL: (6) 2024 transfer QB Dillon Gabriel (OU - Rivals/On3), 2024 DE Jordan Burch (South Carolina - Rivals/247), 2024 transfer CB Jabbar Muhammad (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 OL Josh Conerly Jr. (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Troy Franklin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2020 LB Noah Sewell (Rivals/247/ESPN)
6. LSU
Total number of super blue chips: 13
Transfers: (4) 2025 WR Barion Brown (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 WR Nic Anderson (247/ESPN), 2025 Edge Patrick Payton (247/ESPN) and 2023 WR Aaron Anderson (Alabama - Rivals/247/On3)
2025: (4) RB Harlem Berry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Ath D.J. Pickett (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Soloman Thomas (Rivals/247/ESPN) and OL Carius Curne (247/On3)
2024: (2) DT Dominick McKinley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and TE Trey'Dez Green (Rivals/247/On3)
2023: (2) DB Javien Toviano (Rivals/247/ESPN) and Edge Dashawn Womack (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (1) LB Harold Perkins (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (4) 2023 OL Zalance Heard (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Quency Wiggins (Rivals/247), 2022 QB Walker Howard (Rivals/ESPN) and 2021 DB Sage Ryan (Rivals/247/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 23.5%
In the NFL: (3) 2022 OL Will Campbell (Rivals/247/ESPN, 2021 DL Jaquelin Roy (247/ESPN) and 2021 DT Maason Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
7T. Texas A&M
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (2) 2024 WR Kevin Concepcion (NC State - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2023 DB Desmond Ricks (Alabama - Rivals/247)
2025: (2) WR Jerome Myles (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and Lamont Rogers (On3/ESPN)
2024: (1) Ath Terry Bussey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DT David Hicks Jr. (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), RB Rueben Owens (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Chase Bisontis (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (1) DB Bryce Anderson (247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) OL Reuben Fatheree II (Rivals/On3)
2020: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (12) 2022 DE Enai White (247/On3/ESPN), 2022 QB Conner Weigman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN),, 2022 DT Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Walter Nolan (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 WR Evan Stewart (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Lebbeus Overton (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 CB Denver Harris (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Anthony Lucas (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 WR Chris Marshall (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 OL PJ Williams (247/ESPN), 2021 RB LJ Johnson (Rivals/247) and 2021 DE Tunmise Adeleye (Rivals/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 46.2%
In the NFL: (3) 2024 transfer DE Nic Scourton (Purdue - Rivals/247/On3), 2022 DL Shemar Stewart (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DL Shemar Turner (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN),
7T. Miami
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (1) QB Carson Beck (Georgia - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2025: (1) Edge Hayden Lowe (247/On3)
2024: (5) DT Justin Scott (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Armondo Blount (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Joshisa Trader (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Ny Carr (Rivals/ESPN) and Edge Marquise Lightfoot (Rivals/On3/247)
2023: (3) OL Francis Mauigoa (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Samson Okunlola (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DT Rueben Bain (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2022: None
2021: None
2020: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (2) 2020 DB Avante Williams (Rivals/ESPN) and 2021 QB Jake Garcia (Rivals/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 13.3%
In the NFL: (2) 2021 DB James Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DT Leonard Taylor (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
9T. Clemson
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: None
2025: (1) DT Amare Adams (Rivals/247/On3)
2024: (3) LB Sammy Brown (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR TJ Moore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and WR Bryant Wesco (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DT Peter Woods (Rivals/247/ESPN), DE Tomarrion Parker (Rivals/247) and DL Vic Burley (247/ESPN)
2022: (2) QB Cade Klubnik (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DB Jeadyn Lukus (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) OL Tristan Leigh (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (4) 2022 CB Toriano Pride (247/On3), 2021 WR Beaux Collins (Rivals/ESPN), 2020 RB Demarkus Bowman (Rivals/247/ESPN) and 2020 QB D.J. Uiagalelei (Rivals/247/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 23.5%
In the NFL: (3) 2021 LB Barrett Carter (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 RB Will Shipley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Jeremiah Trotter (247/On3/ESPN)
9T. Penn State
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (1) 2024 DB A.J. Harris (Georgia - Rivals No.22/247 No.11)
2025: (2) OL Malachi Goodman (247/On3) and TE Andrew Oiesh (247/On3)
2024: (2) RB Quinton Martin (Rivals/247/ESPN) and TE Luke Reynolds (247/On3)
2023: (2) OL Alex Birchmeier (Rivals/On3) and OL J'Ven Williams (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (3) DE Dani Dennis-Sutton (Rivals/247/On3), RB Nicholas Singleton (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and QB Drew Allar (247/On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: None
Transfer Rate: 0.0%
In the NFL: None
9T. Auburn
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (2) 2024 WR Eric Singleton (Georgia Tech - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN and 2024 OL Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech - 247/On3)
2025: (4) DE Jared Smith (Rivals/247/ESPN), QB Deuce Knight (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Malik Autry (Rivals/247) and CB Blake Woodby (Rivals/ESPN)
2024: (3) WR Cam Coleman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Demarcus Riddick (Rivals/247/ESPN) and WR Perry Thompson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (1) DE Keldric Faulk (Rivals/247)
2022: None
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: None
Transfer Rate: 0.0%
In the NFL: None
12. Oklahoma:
Total number of super blue chips: 9
Transfers: (1) QB John Mateer (Washington St. - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2025: (2) OL Michael Fasusi (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Ryan Fodje (247/On3)
2024: (2) DT David Stone (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and RB Taylor Tatum (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DB Peyton Bowen (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Adepoju Adebawore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Samuel Omosigho (247/On3)
2022: (1) CB Gentry Williams (On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (7) 2023 QB Jackson Arnold (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 WR Jaquaize Pettaway (247/ESPN), 2023 transfer DE Dasan McCulloch (Indiana - Rivals/247/On3), 2023 OL Cayden Green (Rivals/ESPN), 2021 LB Clayton Smith (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Caleb Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 WR Mario Williams (Rivals/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 41.2%
In the NFL: (1) 2021 DB Billy Bowman (Rivals/247)
No. 3 – Filling out the roster to 105 ...
As we get closer and closer to a reality in the future that has roster limits across college football locked in at 105 slots with no scholarship limits up to 105 (like the Big 10 is expecting to enjoy in 2025 if the settlement goes through), it'll be interesting to see what approach the Longhorns use in distributing those numbers.
Some things and ideas to kick around ...
a. The kicking game has to be strongly accounted for. Whether the players are on scholarship or not, you're going to need to have at least one backup for both punter and place-kicker (and potentially even kickoffs and deep snapper). One of the beautiful things about having a deep walk-on program is that you can usually supply your depth in all of these areas with walk-ons and the impact on the numbers related to available roster spaces. For the record, Texas had six kickers/punters and two deep snap specialists on the 2024 roster. Half of those numbers were walk-ons. Of the 20 roster spots beyond the previously existing 85-man number, everyone probably needs to mentally prepare for at least 3-4 spots being reserved for non-return kicking-game specialists.
b. There will probably be a small number of spots that are saved for walk-on type treatment, even if they are officially put on scholarship because the Longhorns completely do away with the walk-on program as we once knew it. There will always be some affluent alumni who have family members that need a spot on the roster. That new indoor facility and growing NIL costs don't pay for themselves. You'd probably think that somewhere between 6-10 of the 20 spots will be reserved for walk-ons and some of those could go to players that are among the kicking-game specialists mentioned above.
c. This isn't everyone's favorite idea, but I'll never give up on it. Steve Sarkisian and Jeff Banks could ... COULD ... target a handful of returning nationally elite return men and coverage specialists from across college football. Find the best special teams players from an analytical standpoint and see if you can create some fine-margins advantages in the third phase of the game. I'm not sure that the best cornerback in the Mountain West can play for Texas, but I'm pretty sure that elite special teams skills can much more easily cross over to high levels of competition.
4. Buy some lottery tickets. I have always loved the idea of using between 3-5 of the 20 spots and challenging the staff to find athletic freaks each year that you're willing to take a chance on because if they hit, you might just have a ticket to the moon. Offer the 10.1 speedster that didn't play football in high school. Offer some kid from Germany that has been playing U-17 hoops and might be a perfect tight end project. Take chances. Hit even on even one every three or four years or so and you've caught lightning in a bottle.
5. Somewhere in the 20 spots, you probably need to make sure that the program always has a fourth quarterback, at least 15 offensive/defensive linemen and the ability to complete a three-deep at every position. You could probably make a case for adding one more player at almost every position, but you can't ever run out of quarterbacks and big guys, even if a couple are just glorified practice dummies. The scout teams must be forever serviceable and beyond needing to lean on guys from the 2-deep to fill in when there's a bind.
Will all of that being said, if I were in charge of the defining how and where the next final 20 spots are used, it would probably look something like this:
1. No. 5 quarterback (possible walk-on/Portal)
2. Any position Lottery Ticket (offense)
3. Any position Lottery Ticket (offense)
4. Any position Lottery Ticket (defense)
5. Any position Lottery Ticket (defense)
6. Old school preferred walk-on (running back)
7. Old school preferred walk-on (wide receiver)
8. Old school preferred walk-on (offensive lineman)
9. Old school preferred walk-on (offensive lineman)
10. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive lineman)
11. Old school preferred walk-on (linebacker)
12. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive back)
13. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive back)
14. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
15. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
16. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
17. Backup place-kicker (possible walk-on/Portal)
18. Backup punter (possible walk-on/Portal)
19. Backup kicker/punter/kickoff specialist (possible walk-on/Portal)
20. No. 2 Deep-snapper (possible walk-on/Portal)
No. 4 - Texas Running Back Room ...
Ok, I have to admit that this kind of stunned me when I was surfing the ol' interwebs this weekend.
Let's get one thing out of the way. With all due respect. to Max Chadwick, Texas doesn't have the No. 3 running back room in the country for the following three reasons:
a. You have to have a scholarship running back who has more than 5.0 yards per carry somewhere on the roster and the Longhorns don't. Jerrick Gibson's 4.8 yards per carry is as good as it gets both on the 2024 and career-front on this roster. Quintrevion Wisner was at 4.7 last season and is at 4.8 for his career.
b. The most explosive player from last year's group can't be in the NFL and not fully replaced within the offense.
c. The red zone offense, especially in the Ohio State game and any time the team was on the one-foot line, isn't a complete poop-show all season if Texas has an elite group of players at running back.
All of that being said, outside of Penn State and Notre Dame (ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively), I didn't see any of the other running back rooms ranked in the top 10 that I would automatically trade the Texas running back room for, although I'd probably trade the Texas room for the LSU room if it meant that sophomore speedster Caden Durham was lining up in the backfield with Arch Manning.
Texas A&M is at No. 5 on the list and there's not anyone on in its running back room that upgrades the Texas running back room. Oregon and Oklahoma picked up heralded transfers, but am I sure that former Tulane standout Makhi Hughes (currently at Oregon) would have definitely started at Texas? Am I supposed to ignore that Jaydon Ott was a JAG last year, ankle injury or not? Are they both definite upgrades over Wisner, who brings strong productivity and versatility on a national semifinalist team?
Maybe I'd take Georgia's Nate Frazier first in a player draft between UGA and Texas running backs, but it's kind of a coin-flip discussion.
Basically, it's easy to talk about what this running back could use a little more of. What's not so easy is naming five programs in the country on paper that definitively arrive into the 2025 season with better groups to work with.
No. 5 – Updated Scholarship Board ...
No. 6 - The real season is about to begin...
I gotta be honest when I tell you that I just can't be bothered with conference baseball tournaments.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you'd trade a conference tournament title straight up for a guarantee of a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament next week with your best pitching still unused in a New York second if given the chance, but I barely cared about ... *checks notes* ... Ole Miss and Vanderbilt playing on Sunday for the SEC's version of the NIT.
What matters starts next weekend. We're at the stage of the year where getting to Omaha is the barometer. Nothing else matters and it sure seems like the Longhorns will be in an enviable position when the bracket is announced on Monday.
Just like with another Texas team I'm about to discuss from the weekend, the only thing that matters at this point is getting through a regional/super regional and into the College World Series. Anything less will mean this season wasn't a historical success. The standard for Texas Baseball isn't dropping. Therefore, the real games are about to begin ... with all due respect to the SEC Tournament.
No. 7 - Mike White's Never-Say-Die Longhorns ...
If all you know about Texas Softball from the weekend is that it qualified for the CWS for the third time in four seasons by ousting Clemson in the super regional, let me tell you ... there's a lot more to know.
More than anything else, the thing everyone should know is just how close to the brink of disaster this team was. Down a game in the series, Clemson put runners on second and third base with zero outs in the bottom of the 8th inning. One more wild pitch ... one more Texas Leaguer ... one more mistake of any kind ... and the 2025 season would have been over and with it, a season that featured Texas at No. 1 just a few weeks ago would have seen the Longhorns fall short of the CWS ... at home.
It was as white knuckle in sports as white knuckles get.
Somehow the Longhorns escaped the jam with a strikeout and a couple of fly outs, won the game in the 10th inning and then found a way to win game three on Saturday night.
And here we are ...
The Longhorns are back in Oklahoma City and at some point if the Longhorns are ever going to scale Mount Everest in this sport, they’re going to have to go through the Sooners in OU’s backyard for a chance to climb the tallest mountain. If the Longhorns win their opener this week in Bricktown, the Sooners will await.
It'll be white knuckle time all over again and who knows ... maybe that's what this team is going to need to pull a performance that can slay the Sooners in their own backyard. Buckle up.
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) Look, I think Texas is going to get one in the next two years, but it's really impossible to know the toll that this current era of college football is going to take on coaches because of all the extra pressures that come with essentially operating the program with the broad shoulders of carrying ultimate responsibility in every area of the program. Mack Brown was 58 when he burned out at Texas by the end of the 2009/beginning of the 2010 season. Steve Sarkisian is only 51 years old, but his job is simply far more taxing than anything Mack was responsible for while he was at Texas. Maybe he coaches forever, but I'm personally taking nothing for granted.
(Sell) There's no way Texas or anyone else can pull off 10 super blue chip offensive line prospects in a four-year cycle. Kyle Flood has signed only three such prospects since he's been at Texas. I'll be honest when I tell you that I'm not sure what it's going to take from a numbers standpoint, but when you don't land a lot of Kelvin Banks-level prospects, you really feel it when they depart the line-up. The answer is that it needs to be more than three ... maybe double that when you consider that Flood doesn't have a huge history of developing non-super blue chip prospects into truly plus-players.
(Sell) Being on the OU side of the bracket isn't a recipe for that.
(Sell) I'm not ready to say that anyone is definitely going to be as good as Andrew Mukuba was last season.
(Sell) Not unless he's in a tragic bass fishing accident or something during the next 12-24 months.
(Sell) Not even close. Don't be mad at me.
(Sell) See the question right above this one, Same answer. Don't be mad at me.
(Buy) It'll be close, but I'm going to say yes.
(Buy) If you're setting the over/under at 0.5, yes, I'll take the over.
(Buy) Columbus and Gainesville.
(Buy) I'll go on a slight limb ... I'm coming around on the idea.
(Buy) The wording of the question matters. The 90s >>> 80s and 00s. If you included the 1970s, we'd have to have a strong conversation.
(Buy) Give us more good games instead of bad games.
(Sell) I'm not sure I'll go so far as to say they'll reach the Bama/UGA talent levels from 3-5 years ago, but annual playoff runs and championships? Yes, that's on the table.
(Buy)
(Sell) That would be 300+ snaps for each. That's not happening.
(Sell) It's kind of the same for me.
(Sell) I'm the same levels of convinced.
(Buy) That's one natty and two major bowls (Elite 8 level performances in the playoff) in football, one Final Four in hoops and two national titles in baseball. That could be topped, especially if football and baseball flip roles.
(Sell) Florida with a second year D.J. Lagway is my choice. I might go with Auburn as my second choice. That OUU roster might be marginally better at quarterback, but the rest of the roster is not improved from a year ago.
(Sell) Next week.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... Oklahoma has been to the College World Series in Oklahoma City nine straight times. They basically never play a postseason game more than a half-hour drive away from their home beds. Imagine the uproar if this happened in a revenue sport. For instance, imagine if every round of Elite 8, Final Four and national championship game occurred in Kansas City or Louisville or Hartford each year. EVERY game.
... This feels a little like when Ron Burgundy discovered that Baxter had eaten an entire wheel of cheese.
... OKC and Indiana are almost certainly going to play each other in the NBA Finals ... just what the league has always dreamed of.
... Former Texas hooper Myles Turner is in his 10th NBA season and he's a pretty critical piece of a Pacers team that is buzz-sawing its way through the East. He's never been an all-star, but beyond the likes of Kevin Durant, Slater Martin and Lamarcus Aldridge, I'm not sure there’s another Longhorns you can rate above him as an NBA player. He already has more career points than LaSalle Thompson. Maybe he's in a battle with Jarrett Allen for that honor, but he's a better NBA player than TJ Ford, Avery Bradley or Tristen Thompson were ever able to become.
... In his one season at Texas, Turner averaged 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and shot 45.5% from the floor.
... Scottier Scheffler is just relentless. One week after winning his third major, he chalked up another Top 5 finish in Fort Worth.
... It sure feels like the NFL is way off the radar at the moment. It's weird when the NFL gets quiet.
... Ronald Acuna is back! And, man ... is he back, or what?
... I always root for the Dallas Stars at this stage of the playoffs, but the 1980s kid in me kind of wants to see Edmonton have a chance to sit on top of the sport once again. It would simply be a cool story.
... Premier League Musings: The freaking champions of the league gave Crystal Palace a Guard of Honour at Anfield after they gave them one. Pretty dope.
... Manny Pacquiao is returning to ring on July 19 to fight for the WBC Welterweight championship at the age of 46. If you're thinking, "Didn't he retire almost half a decade ago?"... yes ... yes, he did. During that time off from the sport, he ran for the presidency in The Philippines. I'm sure this is all fine.
No. 10 - The List: Top 10 Tom Cruise ...
It's been half a decade since I tackled Cruise's Top 10 list, so with the release of the final Mission Impossible movie this weekend, I thought I would give it another go, especially since I had The Last Samurai ranked over Magnolia.
Must have been some Rogue products that weekend. I don't know what else to say.
If at first you don't success, you try and try again ...
Let's do it.
Honorable mention: Edge of Tomorrow, The Color of Money, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Born on the 4th of July, The Last Samuri, Days of Thunder, Minority Report, Tropic Thunder, The Firm, The Outsiders, Taps, Cocktail and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
10. Rain Man
I went back and forth between this and The Color of Money and Edge of Tomorrow, but at the end of the day Cruise was a co-lead on a movie that won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (not for Cruise). The highest-grossing movie of 1988.
9. Collateral
A sneaky insertion into this updated Top 10. It's Cruise as a really good bad guy and the on-screen chemistry between him and Jamie Foxx is all-time memorable from my perspective.
8. Ricky Business
It's the movie that made him a star and allowed for Top Gun to happen. Maybe it needs to be higher on the list?
7. Magnolia
Some will argue that this is his best movie. Full stop. Maybe so, but it's not in my top 5 as a movie that defines his career. It's not even the best serious movie that he did from 1995-2000 (see No. 5 on the list).
6. Mission Impossible
It still holds up surprisingly well almost three decades from its original release.
5. Eyes Wide Shut
I will stand on a table for this Kubrick classic. It might be the best movie of the last three decades that everyone seems afraid to call a great movie.
4. Top Gun: Maverick
It saved movies.
3. Jerry Maguire
I will not casually dismiss those that believe this is the Tom Cruise-iest of all Tom Cruise-iest performances and should be ranked in the No. 1 slot. I don't agree, but I hear you.
2. A Few Good Men
If I'm being place on a deserted island with only one Tom Cruise movie on DVD for me to watch until I'm saved, give me A Few Good Men.
1. Top Gun
It's to Cruise what Let's Stay Together is for Al Green. It's his baby and the thing that made everything else possible.
It’s two different types of careers but PJ’s got a lot of years and a ring.
Top 10 Cruise flick: I’m not arguing orders, but drop Eyes Wide Shut and Collateral add Edge of Tomorrow and Days of ThunderThe truest thing in college football is that the sport is about the Jimmys and the Joes and not the Xs and the Os.
It's been that way for decades. Stockpile gobs of elite talent year over year over year ... win championships. We're talking about a truth that is as dependable every day as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Since the 2014 season, eight of the last 12 national champions have entered the season with the best or second-best rosters n America in terms of consensus super blue chips. Only the Clemson teams with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, the mega-talented LSU team with all-time quarterback great Joe Burrow and the 2023 Michigan Wolverines with a first-round quarterback and 13 players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, have bucked the trend in the last half-generation of football.
With all of the major additions and subtractions for the 2025 season already set in stone, we can safely say that the Texas Longhorns are closer to the top of the college football mountaintop with regard to raw, elite-level talent than they've ever been in the modern history of the program.
Before we look at the numbers... a quick reminder. What is a super blue chip? It's any prospect that earns the following ratings from the four major national recruiting services: Rivals (6.0+), 247 (96+), ESPN (85+), On3 (96+). With regard to the Portal, it's any player that ranks inside the top 32 overall prospects of the four major recruiting services. In order to be a consensus super blue chip player, you have to earn super blue chip status from at least two of the four major national rankings services.
Let's take a look at this year's numbers:
A year ago, the numbers looked like this...
As you can see, the Longhorns continue to make up ground and are now within touching distance of the top spot. What's most interesting is that for most of the last decade, the likes of Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State enjoyed double-digit advantages over every team they could possibly face, but the 2025 season will feature a more closely bunched together top 5 than the sport has seen since the 2000s. It's the same top 5 teams, but the gaps have closed significantly between the duo of Texas/Oregon and the trio of Georgia/Ohio State/Alabama.
Finally, I thought you guys might find this dose of perspective important. Sometimes you can't know what you have unless you stop and reflect on what you once didn't have.
No. 2 – The Full Super Blue Chip Data Dump ...
You know you can just move on to section 3 if this is too much for you.
Super Blue Chip HS Prospect = Rivals (6.0+), 247 (96+), ESPN (86+) and On3 (96+) or any Portal prospect ranked in the final Top 25 overall rankings by any major service.
1. Georgia
Total number of super blue chips: 25
Transfers: (1) 2025 WR Zachariah Branch (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2025: (6) TE Elyiss Williams (Rivals/247/On3), DE Isaiah Gibson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Elijah Griffin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Zayden Walker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Juan Gaston (247/ESPN), and WR Taylyn Taylor (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (8) DB Ellis Robinson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Justin Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB K.J. Bolden (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Chris Cole (247/On3/ESPN), TE Jaden Reddell (On3/ESPN), CB Demello Jones (On3/247) and RB Nate Frazier (Rivals/247/On3)
2023: (7) DT Jordan Hall (Rivals/247/On3), DB A.J. Harris (Rivals/247/ESPN), OL Monroe Freeling (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Raylen Wilson (247/On3/ESPN), S Joenel Aguero (247/On3/ESPN), LB Troy Bowles (247/ESPN) and TE Pearce Spurlin (Rivals/On3)
2022: (3) DB Jaheim Singletary (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Daylen Everette (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), and OL Earnest Greene (Rivals/247/On3)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (6) 2023 DE Samuel M'Pemba (Rivals/ESPN),, 2023 DE Damon Wilson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 Bear Alexander (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2022 LB Marvin Jones Jr. (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Brock Vandagriff (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Xavian Sorey (Rivals/247/ESPN) and 2021 DB Nyland Green (247/On3)
Transfer Rate: 15.8%
In the NFL: (6) 2024 RB Trevor Etienne (Florida - Rivals/On3), 2023 WR Dominic Lovett (Missouri - Rivals/247/On3), 2022 DL Mykel Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 LB Jalon Walker (247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DB Malaki Starks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 TE Brock Bowers (ON3/247), 2021 OL Amarius Sims (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 LB Smael Mondon (247/On3/ESPN)
2. Ohio State
Total number of super blue chips: 22
Transfers: (4) 2023 CB Davison Igbinosun (Ole Miss - 247/On3), 2024 DB Caleb Downs (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) 2024 QB Julian Sayin (Ohio State - Rivals/247/On3) and 2025 TE Max Klare (On3/ESPN)
2025: (5) QB Tavien St. Claire (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Devin Sanchez (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Carter Lowe (Rivals/247), LB Riley Pettijohn (Rivals/On3) and WR Quincy Porter (Rivals/247/On3)
2024: (5) WR Jeremiah Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Aaron Scott (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Mylan Graham (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Eddrick Houston (Rivals/247//ESPN) and DB Bryce West (Rivals/ESPN)
2023: (5) WR Carnell Tate (Rivals/247/On3), WR Brandon Inniss (Rivals/247/ESPN), DT Jason Moore (Rivals/247), DB Jermaine Matthews (Rivals/On3/ESPN), and WR Noah Rogers (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (3) LB CJ Hicks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Ath Alex Styles (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DE Kenyatta Jackson (Rivals/On3)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (7) 2024 QB Air Noland (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Jayden Ballard (247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Calvin Simpson-Hunt (Rivals/On3), 2022 QB Devin Brown (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Quinn Ewers (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 CB JK Johnson (Rivals/On3) and 2021 QB Kyle McCord (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 18.9%
Headed to/In the NFL: (9) 2024 transfer RB Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss - Rivals/247/On3), 2024 transfer QB Will Howard (Kansas State - Rivals/On3), 2021 RB TreVeyon Henderson (247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DE JT Tuimoloau (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL Donovan Jackson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 CB Jordan Hancock (247/On3), 2021 WR Emeka Egbuke (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DL Mike Hall (On3/247) and 2021 DE Jack Sawyer (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
3T. Texas
Total number of super blue chips: 20
Transfers: (1) 2024 DE Trey Moore (UTSA - 247/On3)
2025: (6) DE Lance Jackson (Rivals/247/On3), WR Kaliq Lockett (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Jonah Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Justus Terry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Kade Phillips (247/On3/ESPN) and WR Jaime Ffrench (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2024: (5) DE Colin Simmons (Rivals/247/On3/ESP)), OL Brandon Baker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Ryan Wingo (Rivals/247/ESPN), CB Kobe Black (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DB Xavier Filsaime (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (6) QB Arch Manning (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Anthony Hill (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), RB Cedric Baxter (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Malik Muhammad (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), S Derek Williams (247/On3/ESPN) and Ath Jelani McDonald (247/On3)
2022: (2) OL DJ Campbell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Neto Umeozulu (On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (2) 2023 WR Johntay Cook (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2022 CB Terrance Brooks (Rivals/On3)
Transfer Rate: 7.7%
Headed to/In the NFL: (4) 2021 OL Kelvin Banks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 Transfer WR Adonai Mitchell, 2021 TE Ja'Tavian Sanders (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 WR Xavier Worthy (On3/ESPN)
3T. Alabama
Total number of super blue chips: 20
Transfers: (2) 2024 OT Kadyn Proctor (Rivals/247/On3) and 2024 OL Parker Brailsford (247/On3)
2025: (5) QB Keelon Russell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Michael Carroll (Rivals/247/On3), DB Chuck McDonald (Rivals/247), OL Jackson Lloyd (247/On3) and DB Dijan Lee (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (5) WR Ryan Williams (Rivals/247/ON3/ESPN), DB Jaylen Mbakwe (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), CB Zay Mincey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Zabien Brown (Rivals/247/On3) and Edge Noah Carter (On3/247)
2023: (6) DE Yhonzae Pierre (Rivals/247/On3), DE Keon Kelly (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Jalen Hale (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT James Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Qua Russaw (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DL Jordan Renaud (ON3/ESPN)
2022: (1) QB Ty Simpson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) LB Deontae Lawson (On3/247)
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (22) 2024 QB Julian Sayin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 RB Justice Haynes (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Caleb Downs (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2023 DB Jahlil Hurley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 DB Dezz Ricks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 WR Emmanuel Henderson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Jeremiah Alexander (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Khurtis Perry (247/ESPN), 2022 WR Aaron Anderson (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 WR Shazz Preston (Rivals/ESPN), 2022 WR Isaiah Bond (On3/247), 2022 LB Shawn Murphy (Rivals/ESPN), 2022 OL Elijah Pritchett (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 OL Tommy Brockermeyer (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 WR Agiye Hall (On3/ESPN), 2021 RB Camar Wheaton (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Jojo Earle (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2021 Christian Leary (Rivals/On3), 2021 DL Monkell Goodwine (Rivals/On3), 2021 DT Damon Payne (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 LB Keanu Koht (Rivals/247/On3) and 2021 WR Ja'Corey Brooks (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 44.9%
Headed to the In the NFL: (7) 2023 Transfer WR Jermaine Burton, 2022 LB Jihaad Campbell (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 OL Tyler Booker (247/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL J.C. Latham (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 DB Kool-Aid McKinstry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Dallas Turner (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DB Terrion Arnold (Rivals/247/On3)
5. Oregon:
Total number of super blue chips: 18
Transfers: (6) 2025 DB Dillon Thieneman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 OL Isaiah Wold (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 OL Emmanuel Pregnon (Rivals/247), 2025 RB Makhi Hughes (On3/ESPN), 2024 WR Evan Stewart (Texas A&M - Rivals/247/On3) and 2024 QB Dante Moore (UCLA - Rivals/247)
2025: (5) WR Dakorien Moore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DB Trey McNutt (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Douglas Utu (Rivals/ESPN), Ath Na'eem Offord (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and C Brandon Finney (247/On3/ESPN)
2024: (5) WR Gatlin Bair (Rivals/247/On3), Edge Elijah Rushing (247/ESPN), S Aaron Flowers (Rivals/On3), CB Ify Obidegwu (247/ESPN) and DL Aydin Breland (247ESPN)
2023: (2) DE Matayo Uiagalelei (Rivals/247/ESPN) and Jurrian Dickey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2022: None
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (3) 2021 QB Ty Thompson (Rivals/On3/ESPN), 2021 OL Kingsley Suamataia (Rivals/247/On3) and 2022 CB Jalil Yucker (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 11.1%
In the NFL: (6) 2024 transfer QB Dillon Gabriel (OU - Rivals/On3), 2024 DE Jordan Burch (South Carolina - Rivals/247), 2024 transfer CB Jabbar Muhammad (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 OL Josh Conerly Jr. (Rivals/247/ESPN), 2021 WR Troy Franklin (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2020 LB Noah Sewell (Rivals/247/ESPN)
6. LSU
Total number of super blue chips: 13
Transfers: (4) 2025 WR Barion Brown (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2025 WR Nic Anderson (247/ESPN), 2025 Edge Patrick Payton (247/ESPN) and 2023 WR Aaron Anderson (Alabama - Rivals/247/On3)
2025: (4) RB Harlem Berry (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Ath D.J. Pickett (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), Soloman Thomas (Rivals/247/ESPN) and OL Carius Curne (247/On3)
2024: (2) DT Dominick McKinley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and TE Trey'Dez Green (Rivals/247/On3)
2023: (2) DB Javien Toviano (Rivals/247/ESPN) and Edge Dashawn Womack (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (1) LB Harold Perkins (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (4) 2023 OL Zalance Heard (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Quency Wiggins (Rivals/247), 2022 QB Walker Howard (Rivals/ESPN) and 2021 DB Sage Ryan (Rivals/247/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 23.5%
In the NFL: (3) 2022 OL Will Campbell (Rivals/247/ESPN, 2021 DL Jaquelin Roy (247/ESPN) and 2021 DT Maason Smith (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
7T. Texas A&M
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (2) 2024 WR Kevin Concepcion (NC State - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2023 DB Desmond Ricks (Alabama - Rivals/247)
2025: (2) WR Jerome Myles (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and Lamont Rogers (On3/ESPN)
2024: (1) Ath Terry Bussey (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DT David Hicks Jr. (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), RB Rueben Owens (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Chase Bisontis (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (1) DB Bryce Anderson (247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) OL Reuben Fatheree II (Rivals/On3)
2020: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (12) 2022 DE Enai White (247/On3/ESPN), 2022 QB Conner Weigman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN),, 2022 DT Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Walter Nolan (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 WR Evan Stewart (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DE Lebbeus Overton (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 CB Denver Harris (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 DL Anthony Lucas (Rivals/247/On3), 2022 WR Chris Marshall (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2022 OL PJ Williams (247/ESPN), 2021 RB LJ Johnson (Rivals/247) and 2021 DE Tunmise Adeleye (Rivals/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 46.2%
In the NFL: (3) 2024 transfer DE Nic Scourton (Purdue - Rivals/247/On3), 2022 DL Shemar Stewart (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DL Shemar Turner (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN),
7T. Miami
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (1) QB Carson Beck (Georgia - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2025: (1) Edge Hayden Lowe (247/On3)
2024: (5) DT Justin Scott (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Armondo Blount (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Joshisa Trader (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR Ny Carr (Rivals/ESPN) and Edge Marquise Lightfoot (Rivals/On3/247)
2023: (3) OL Francis Mauigoa (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), OL Samson Okunlola (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DT Rueben Bain (Rivals/247/ESPN)
2022: None
2021: None
2020: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (2) 2020 DB Avante Williams (Rivals/ESPN) and 2021 QB Jake Garcia (Rivals/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 13.3%
In the NFL: (2) 2021 DB James Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and 2021 DT Leonard Taylor (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
9T. Clemson
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: None
2025: (1) DT Amare Adams (Rivals/247/On3)
2024: (3) LB Sammy Brown (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), WR TJ Moore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and WR Bryant Wesco (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DT Peter Woods (Rivals/247/ESPN), DE Tomarrion Parker (Rivals/247) and DL Vic Burley (247/ESPN)
2022: (2) QB Cade Klubnik (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and DB Jeadyn Lukus (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2021: (1) OL Tristan Leigh (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (4) 2022 CB Toriano Pride (247/On3), 2021 WR Beaux Collins (Rivals/ESPN), 2020 RB Demarkus Bowman (Rivals/247/ESPN) and 2020 QB D.J. Uiagalelei (Rivals/247/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 23.5%
In the NFL: (3) 2021 LB Barrett Carter (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 RB Will Shipley (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 LB Jeremiah Trotter (247/On3/ESPN)
9T. Penn State
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (1) 2024 DB A.J. Harris (Georgia - Rivals No.22/247 No.11)
2025: (2) OL Malachi Goodman (247/On3) and TE Andrew Oiesh (247/On3)
2024: (2) RB Quinton Martin (Rivals/247/ESPN) and TE Luke Reynolds (247/On3)
2023: (2) OL Alex Birchmeier (Rivals/On3) and OL J'Ven Williams (247/On3/ESPN)
2022: (3) DE Dani Dennis-Sutton (Rivals/247/On3), RB Nicholas Singleton (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and QB Drew Allar (247/On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: None
Transfer Rate: 0.0%
In the NFL: None
9T. Auburn
Total number of super blue chips: 10
Transfers: (2) 2024 WR Eric Singleton (Georgia Tech - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN and 2024 OL Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech - 247/On3)
2025: (4) DE Jared Smith (Rivals/247/ESPN), QB Deuce Knight (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DT Malik Autry (Rivals/247) and CB Blake Woodby (Rivals/ESPN)
2024: (3) WR Cam Coleman (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Demarcus Riddick (Rivals/247/ESPN) and WR Perry Thompson (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (1) DE Keldric Faulk (Rivals/247)
2022: None
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: None
Transfer Rate: 0.0%
In the NFL: None
12. Oklahoma:
Total number of super blue chips: 9
Transfers: (1) QB John Mateer (Washington St. - Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2025: (2) OL Michael Fasusi (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and OL Ryan Fodje (247/On3)
2024: (2) DT David Stone (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN) and RB Taylor Tatum (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN)
2023: (3) DB Peyton Bowen (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), DE Adepoju Adebawore (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), LB Samuel Omosigho (247/On3)
2022: (1) CB Gentry Williams (On3/ESPN)
2021: None
Transferred Out/No Longer in the Program: (7) 2023 QB Jackson Arnold (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2023 WR Jaquaize Pettaway (247/ESPN), 2023 transfer DE Dasan McCulloch (Indiana - Rivals/247/On3), 2023 OL Cayden Green (Rivals/ESPN), 2021 LB Clayton Smith (Rivals/247/On3), 2021 QB Caleb Williams (Rivals/247/On3/ESPN), 2021 WR Mario Williams (Rivals/On3/ESPN)
Transfer Rate: 41.2%
In the NFL: (1) 2021 DB Billy Bowman (Rivals/247)
No. 3 – Filling out the roster to 105 ...
As we get closer and closer to a reality in the future that has roster limits across college football locked in at 105 slots with no scholarship limits up to 105 (like the Big 10 is expecting to enjoy in 2025 if the settlement goes through), it'll be interesting to see what approach the Longhorns use in distributing those numbers.
Some things and ideas to kick around ...
a. The kicking game has to be strongly accounted for. Whether the players are on scholarship or not, you're going to need to have at least one backup for both punter and place-kicker (and potentially even kickoffs and deep snapper). One of the beautiful things about having a deep walk-on program is that you can usually supply your depth in all of these areas with walk-ons and the impact on the numbers related to available roster spaces. For the record, Texas had six kickers/punters and two deep snap specialists on the 2024 roster. Half of those numbers were walk-ons. Of the 20 roster spots beyond the previously existing 85-man number, everyone probably needs to mentally prepare for at least 3-4 spots being reserved for non-return kicking-game specialists.
b. There will probably be a small number of spots that are saved for walk-on type treatment, even if they are officially put on scholarship because the Longhorns completely do away with the walk-on program as we once knew it. There will always be some affluent alumni who have family members that need a spot on the roster. That new indoor facility and growing NIL costs don't pay for themselves. You'd probably think that somewhere between 6-10 of the 20 spots will be reserved for walk-ons and some of those could go to players that are among the kicking-game specialists mentioned above.
c. This isn't everyone's favorite idea, but I'll never give up on it. Steve Sarkisian and Jeff Banks could ... COULD ... target a handful of returning nationally elite return men and coverage specialists from across college football. Find the best special teams players from an analytical standpoint and see if you can create some fine-margins advantages in the third phase of the game. I'm not sure that the best cornerback in the Mountain West can play for Texas, but I'm pretty sure that elite special teams skills can much more easily cross over to high levels of competition.
4. Buy some lottery tickets. I have always loved the idea of using between 3-5 of the 20 spots and challenging the staff to find athletic freaks each year that you're willing to take a chance on because if they hit, you might just have a ticket to the moon. Offer the 10.1 speedster that didn't play football in high school. Offer some kid from Germany that has been playing U-17 hoops and might be a perfect tight end project. Take chances. Hit even on even one every three or four years or so and you've caught lightning in a bottle.
5. Somewhere in the 20 spots, you probably need to make sure that the program always has a fourth quarterback, at least 15 offensive/defensive linemen and the ability to complete a three-deep at every position. You could probably make a case for adding one more player at almost every position, but you can't ever run out of quarterbacks and big guys, even if a couple are just glorified practice dummies. The scout teams must be forever serviceable and beyond needing to lean on guys from the 2-deep to fill in when there's a bind.
Will all of that being said, if I were in charge of the defining how and where the next final 20 spots are used, it would probably look something like this:
1. No. 5 quarterback (possible walk-on/Portal)
2. Any position Lottery Ticket (offense)
3. Any position Lottery Ticket (offense)
4. Any position Lottery Ticket (defense)
5. Any position Lottery Ticket (defense)
6. Old school preferred walk-on (running back)
7. Old school preferred walk-on (wide receiver)
8. Old school preferred walk-on (offensive lineman)
9. Old school preferred walk-on (offensive lineman)
10. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive lineman)
11. Old school preferred walk-on (linebacker)
12. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive back)
13. Old school preferred walk-on (defensive back)
14. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
15. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
16. Elite special teams specialist from the Portal.
17. Backup place-kicker (possible walk-on/Portal)
18. Backup punter (possible walk-on/Portal)
19. Backup kicker/punter/kickoff specialist (possible walk-on/Portal)
20. No. 2 Deep-snapper (possible walk-on/Portal)
No. 4 - Texas Running Back Room ...
Ok, I have to admit that this kind of stunned me when I was surfing the ol' interwebs this weekend.
Let's get one thing out of the way. With all due respect. to Max Chadwick, Texas doesn't have the No. 3 running back room in the country for the following three reasons:
a. You have to have a scholarship running back who has more than 5.0 yards per carry somewhere on the roster and the Longhorns don't. Jerrick Gibson's 4.8 yards per carry is as good as it gets both on the 2024 and career-front on this roster. Quintrevion Wisner was at 4.7 last season and is at 4.8 for his career.
b. The most explosive player from last year's group can't be in the NFL and not fully replaced within the offense.
c. The red zone offense, especially in the Ohio State game and any time the team was on the one-foot line, isn't a complete poop-show all season if Texas has an elite group of players at running back.
All of that being said, outside of Penn State and Notre Dame (ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively), I didn't see any of the other running back rooms ranked in the top 10 that I would automatically trade the Texas running back room for, although I'd probably trade the Texas room for the LSU room if it meant that sophomore speedster Caden Durham was lining up in the backfield with Arch Manning.
Texas A&M is at No. 5 on the list and there's not anyone on in its running back room that upgrades the Texas running back room. Oregon and Oklahoma picked up heralded transfers, but am I sure that former Tulane standout Makhi Hughes (currently at Oregon) would have definitely started at Texas? Am I supposed to ignore that Jaydon Ott was a JAG last year, ankle injury or not? Are they both definite upgrades over Wisner, who brings strong productivity and versatility on a national semifinalist team?
Maybe I'd take Georgia's Nate Frazier first in a player draft between UGA and Texas running backs, but it's kind of a coin-flip discussion.
Basically, it's easy to talk about what this running back could use a little more of. What's not so easy is naming five programs in the country on paper that definitively arrive into the 2025 season with better groups to work with.
No. 5 – Updated Scholarship Board ...
No. 6 - The real season is about to begin...
I gotta be honest when I tell you that I just can't be bothered with conference baseball tournaments.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you'd trade a conference tournament title straight up for a guarantee of a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament next week with your best pitching still unused in a New York second if given the chance, but I barely cared about ... *checks notes* ... Ole Miss and Vanderbilt playing on Sunday for the SEC's version of the NIT.
What matters starts next weekend. We're at the stage of the year where getting to Omaha is the barometer. Nothing else matters and it sure seems like the Longhorns will be in an enviable position when the bracket is announced on Monday.
Just like with another Texas team I'm about to discuss from the weekend, the only thing that matters at this point is getting through a regional/super regional and into the College World Series. Anything less will mean this season wasn't a historical success. The standard for Texas Baseball isn't dropping. Therefore, the real games are about to begin ... with all due respect to the SEC Tournament.
No. 7 - Mike White's Never-Say-Die Longhorns ...
If all you know about Texas Softball from the weekend is that it qualified for the CWS for the third time in four seasons by ousting Clemson in the super regional, let me tell you ... there's a lot more to know.
More than anything else, the thing everyone should know is just how close to the brink of disaster this team was. Down a game in the series, Clemson put runners on second and third base with zero outs in the bottom of the 8th inning. One more wild pitch ... one more Texas Leaguer ... one more mistake of any kind ... and the 2025 season would have been over and with it, a season that featured Texas at No. 1 just a few weeks ago would have seen the Longhorns fall short of the CWS ... at home.
It was as white knuckle in sports as white knuckles get.
Somehow the Longhorns escaped the jam with a strikeout and a couple of fly outs, won the game in the 10th inning and then found a way to win game three on Saturday night.
And here we are ...
The Longhorns are back in Oklahoma City and at some point if the Longhorns are ever going to scale Mount Everest in this sport, they’re going to have to go through the Sooners in OU’s backyard for a chance to climb the tallest mountain. If the Longhorns win their opener this week in Bricktown, the Sooners will await.
It'll be white knuckle time all over again and who knows ... maybe that's what this team is going to need to pull a performance that can slay the Sooners in their own backyard. Buckle up.
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) Look, I think Texas is going to get one in the next two years, but it's really impossible to know the toll that this current era of college football is going to take on coaches because of all the extra pressures that come with essentially operating the program with the broad shoulders of carrying ultimate responsibility in every area of the program. Mack Brown was 58 when he burned out at Texas by the end of the 2009/beginning of the 2010 season. Steve Sarkisian is only 51 years old, but his job is simply far more taxing than anything Mack was responsible for while he was at Texas. Maybe he coaches forever, but I'm personally taking nothing for granted.
(Sell) There's no way Texas or anyone else can pull off 10 super blue chip offensive line prospects in a four-year cycle. Kyle Flood has signed only three such prospects since he's been at Texas. I'll be honest when I tell you that I'm not sure what it's going to take from a numbers standpoint, but when you don't land a lot of Kelvin Banks-level prospects, you really feel it when they depart the line-up. The answer is that it needs to be more than three ... maybe double that when you consider that Flood doesn't have a huge history of developing non-super blue chip prospects into truly plus-players.
(Sell) Being on the OU side of the bracket isn't a recipe for that.
(Sell) I'm not ready to say that anyone is definitely going to be as good as Andrew Mukuba was last season.
(Sell) Not unless he's in a tragic bass fishing accident or something during the next 12-24 months.
(Sell) Not even close. Don't be mad at me.
(Sell) See the question right above this one, Same answer. Don't be mad at me.
(Buy) It'll be close, but I'm going to say yes.
(Buy) If you're setting the over/under at 0.5, yes, I'll take the over.
(Buy) Columbus and Gainesville.
(Buy) I'll go on a slight limb ... I'm coming around on the idea.
(Buy) The wording of the question matters. The 90s >>> 80s and 00s. If you included the 1970s, we'd have to have a strong conversation.
(Buy) Give us more good games instead of bad games.
(Sell) I'm not sure I'll go so far as to say they'll reach the Bama/UGA talent levels from 3-5 years ago, but annual playoff runs and championships? Yes, that's on the table.
(Buy)
(Sell) That would be 300+ snaps for each. That's not happening.
(Sell) It's kind of the same for me.
(Sell) I'm the same levels of convinced.
(Buy) That's one natty and two major bowls (Elite 8 level performances in the playoff) in football, one Final Four in hoops and two national titles in baseball. That could be topped, especially if football and baseball flip roles.
(Sell) Florida with a second year D.J. Lagway is my choice. I might go with Auburn as my second choice. That OUU roster might be marginally better at quarterback, but the rest of the roster is not improved from a year ago.
(Sell) Next week.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... Oklahoma has been to the College World Series in Oklahoma City nine straight times. They basically never play a postseason game more than a half-hour drive away from their home beds. Imagine the uproar if this happened in a revenue sport. For instance, imagine if every round of Elite 8, Final Four and national championship game occurred in Kansas City or Louisville or Hartford each year. EVERY game.
... This feels a little like when Ron Burgundy discovered that Baxter had eaten an entire wheel of cheese.
... OKC and Indiana are almost certainly going to play each other in the NBA Finals ... just what the league has always dreamed of.
... Former Texas hooper Myles Turner is in his 10th NBA season and he's a pretty critical piece of a Pacers team that is buzz-sawing its way through the East. He's never been an all-star, but beyond the likes of Kevin Durant, Slater Martin and Lamarcus Aldridge, I'm not sure there’s another Longhorns you can rate above him as an NBA player. He already has more career points than LaSalle Thompson. Maybe he's in a battle with Jarrett Allen for that honor, but he's a better NBA player than TJ Ford, Avery Bradley or Tristen Thompson were ever able to become.
... In his one season at Texas, Turner averaged 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and shot 45.5% from the floor.
... Scottier Scheffler is just relentless. One week after winning his third major, he chalked up another Top 5 finish in Fort Worth.
... It sure feels like the NFL is way off the radar at the moment. It's weird when the NFL gets quiet.
... Ronald Acuna is back! And, man ... is he back, or what?
... I always root for the Dallas Stars at this stage of the playoffs, but the 1980s kid in me kind of wants to see Edmonton have a chance to sit on top of the sport once again. It would simply be a cool story.
... Premier League Musings: The freaking champions of the league gave Crystal Palace a Guard of Honour at Anfield after they gave them one. Pretty dope.
... Manny Pacquiao is returning to ring on July 19 to fight for the WBC Welterweight championship at the age of 46. If you're thinking, "Didn't he retire almost half a decade ago?"... yes ... yes, he did. During that time off from the sport, he ran for the presidency in The Philippines. I'm sure this is all fine.
No. 10 - The List: Top 10 Tom Cruise ...
It's been half a decade since I tackled Cruise's Top 10 list, so with the release of the final Mission Impossible movie this weekend, I thought I would give it another go, especially since I had The Last Samurai ranked over Magnolia.
Must have been some Rogue products that weekend. I don't know what else to say.
If at first you don't success, you try and try again ...
Let's do it.
Honorable mention: Edge of Tomorrow, The Color of Money, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Born on the 4th of July, The Last Samuri, Days of Thunder, Minority Report, Tropic Thunder, The Firm, The Outsiders, Taps, Cocktail and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
10. Rain Man
I went back and forth between this and The Color of Money and Edge of Tomorrow, but at the end of the day Cruise was a co-lead on a movie that won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (not for Cruise). The highest-grossing movie of 1988.
9. Collateral
A sneaky insertion into this updated Top 10. It's Cruise as a really good bad guy and the on-screen chemistry between him and Jamie Foxx is all-time memorable from my perspective.
8. Ricky Business
It's the movie that made him a star and allowed for Top Gun to happen. Maybe it needs to be higher on the list?
7. Magnolia
Some will argue that this is his best movie. Full stop. Maybe so, but it's not in my top 5 as a movie that defines his career. It's not even the best serious movie that he did from 1995-2000 (see No. 5 on the list).
6. Mission Impossible
It still holds up surprisingly well almost three decades from its original release.
5. Eyes Wide Shut
I will stand on a table for this Kubrick classic. It might be the best movie of the last three decades that everyone seems afraid to call a great movie.
4. Top Gun: Maverick
It saved movies.
3. Jerry Maguire
I will not casually dismiss those that believe this is the Tom Cruise-iest of all Tom Cruise-iest performances and should be ranked in the No. 1 slot. I don't agree, but I hear you.
2. A Few Good Men
If I'm being place on a deserted island with only one Tom Cruise movie on DVD for me to watch until I'm saved, give me A Few Good Men.
1. Top Gun
It's to Cruise what Let's Stay Together is for Al Green. It's his baby and the thing that made everything else possible.
Tucker is a great role player on a title contending team. Myles is a Top 3 player on a team going to the Finals.
I just start going and it usually ends up however long it ends up. I never know when I start.
Top Gun is unwatchable.
I understand why you have it in the list, but it’s such a cheesy turd of a film that doesn’t hold up at all. (BTW, I went back and watched it for the first time in 20 years and was surprised how much worse it was than my memory of it was.)
Meanwhile Edge Of Tomorrow is one of the most underrated movies of all time in my opinion and it doesn’t make the list?
Imagine your deserted island scenario again but you could choose Top Gun or EOT? No brainer.
I understand why you have it in the list, but it’s such a cheesy turd of a film that doesn’t hold up at all. (BTW, I went back and watched it for the first time in 20 years and was surprised how much worse it was than my memory of it was.)
Meanwhile Edge Of Tomorrow is one of the most underrated movies of all time in my opinion and it doesn’t make the list?
Imagine your deserted island scenario again but you could choose Top Gun or EOT? No brainer.
Haha, I get it. I really do. I had so many fond memories of it as a kid. But a rewatch as an adult was startling to me.
I’ll be even more controversial, I feel the same way about The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona.
Same here. It is easy to start rooting for the big clubs that buy whichever players they want. I chose Palace as my team when they got promoted. It is a different feeling when teams like them have a small bit of success. It is easy to root for Barcelona, PSG, Bayern, Man City, Liverpool because of their past history and $$$$$$.
I don’t think I have ever seen Magnolia. Need to catch especially if streaming somewhere.
Thought I read somewhere the director, Kubrick, was killed for making Eyes Wide Shut after being warned to not make.
I can see Sark here till 58-60 too. Hopefully a NC before then. 🤘
Thought I read somewhere the director, Kubrick, was killed for making Eyes Wide Shut after being warned to not make.
I can see Sark here till 58-60 too. Hopefully a NC before then. 🤘
