Let's start this weekend's column with some FutureCasts.
Give me Jaimie Ffrench and Kaliq Lockett as future Longhorns. Throw in a little Aidan Anding as well. I've already got one in for Michel Fasusi if you're wondering.
No. 2 - The Recruiting Lowdown ...
A Duncanville source told OB going into the weekend that Moore was going to end up in Austin and the vibe I got from talking to people today is that nothing has changed after his Oregon visit. It'll be a massive upset if it's not Texas.
While Phillips was quick to call the battle between Texas/LSU too close to call this morning when he spoke to Orangebloods, there's a vibe that LSU might have a very, very slight edge... which is less than optimal coming out of the Texas visit. There's still work to do here.
Whatever move that the Longhorns tried to make with Brew this week with a mid-week official visit, the buzz coming out of his official visit to Ohio State this weekend is that the Buckeyes are the betting favorite and USC is probably the primary competition.
Our FSU publisher within the Rivals network put in an FSU FutureCast for Charles this weekend, but in listening to an interview he did with Warchant.com on Sunday afternoon, the level of excitement for the visit seemed a little muted, as he didn't even know the names of the players that he spent time with this weekend. Also, it was a little strange to hear him say that hanging out in the arcade was the part of the FSU visit that stood out the most.
Wynn came away from his FSU visit telling the Tallahassee media that he planned on announcing a decision in the next day or two, which is a different timeline than he had previously been communicating. There seems to be some buzz with the Noles after this visit, as he described the trip as “feeling like home".
You know a guy might be leaning towards a place if he goes golfing on his official visit. All the buzz coming out of the visit this weekend is that there's a very good chance that he going to be a Wolverine. Better than A&M.
It looks like Oklahoma has been boxed out for five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood, who visited Florida State this weekend. Considering that he's expected to make a decision without taking an official visit to Oklahoma, it looks like this will be an Alabama/FSU battle and the Tide is a big enough favorite for me to go ahead and enter a FutureCast for the Tide.
No. 3 - ALL-SEC Longhorns ...
Athlon Sports released its pre-season All-SEC teams this weekend. Georgia tops the list with 17 selections, while Texas (15), Alabama (14) and Ole Miss (14) are right behind the Dawgs. Here's a look at the Texas players that made the list:
First-team
WR - Isaiah Bond
OL - Kelvin Banks
DB - Jahdae Barron
Second-Team
RB - C.J. Baxter
LB - Anthony Hill
CB - Malik Muhammad
S - Andrew Mukuba
K - Bert Auburn
Third-team
QB - Quinn Ewers
C - Jake Majors
DL - Ethan Burke
Fourth-team
TE - Amari Niblack
OL - Haydon Conner
DL - Alfred Collins
DL - Trey Moore
No. 4 – Talking 2025 NFL Draft ...
ESPN's Matt Miller and Jordan Reid
did a list of the top five players at each position at this stage of the draft evaluation process and thought the results were worth sharing.
Quinn Ewers - Both had Ewers ranked third behind Carson Beck and Shedeur Sanders (I don't get it), with Miller calling Ewers the toughest player to rank. "There are games -- and plays within those games -- where he looks like a future top overall pick, yet he'll look like a freshman in others," Miller wrote. "Last season's Oklahoma game is a great example. Ewers threw only six incomplete passes, but two of them were first-quarter interceptions, helping Oklahoma to take an early lead in a game Texas eventually lost 34-30. Finding more decision-making consistency in 2024 is paramount to his draft stock."
Isaiah Bond - Ranked No. 5 on Miller's list of receivers.
Kelvin Banks - Ranked as the No. 1 tackle prospect on the board for both Miller and Reid. The only consensus at the position between both Miller and Reid was having Banks on top.
Andrew Mukuba - The only player on the Texas defense to receive a mention, as Reid has the former Clemson starter listed as his No. 5 safety.
No. 5 - Nationwide attrition numbers skyrocket ...
In a follow-up to the
yearly Longhorns attrition breakdown from earlier in the week, I thought I would provide some added context to the numbers by looking at the attrition numbers for the last three seasons by the other top power five programs across the country.
The numbers definitely tell a story.
SEC
Alabama: Total (84) - 2024 (40), 2023 (21), 2022 (23)
Arkansas: Total (83) - 2024 (30), 2023 (32), 2022 (21)
Ole Miss: Total (80) - 2024 (25), 2023 (32), 2022 (23)
Mississippi State: Total (76) - 2024 (25), 2023 (25), 2022 (26)
Texas A&M: Total (75) - 2024 (31), 2023 (31), 2022 (13)
LSU: Total (66) - 2024 (27), 2023 (22), 2022 (17)
Oklahoma: Total (66) - 2024 (25), 2023 (25), 2022 (16)
Florida: Total (65) - 2024 (24), 2023 (27), 2022 (14)
South Carolina: Total (65) - 2024 (27), 2023 (17), 2022 (21)
Auburn: Total (64) - 2024 (23), 2023 (21), 2022 (20)
Texas: Total (64) - 2024 (21), 2023 (19), 2022 (24)
Kentucky: Total (63) - 2024 (22), 2023 (21), 2022 (20)
Vanderbilt: Total (58) - 2024 (25), 2023 (14), 2022 (19)
Tennessee: Total (57) - 2024 (15), 2023 (22), 2022 (20)
Missouri: Total (56) - 2024 (19), 2023 (20), 2022 (17)
Georgia: Total (53) - 2024 (24), 2023 (16), 2022 (13)
While there's never been a three-year cycle of outgoings in the history of the Texas football program higher than the 64 from 2022-2024, the numbers pale in comparison to other programs in the conference, as the Longhorns ranked tied for 10th in the conference.
Perhaps most telling about the direction of the current trends is that 14 of the 16 SEC programs had more than 21 outgoings in 2024, while 10 programs had 25+ outgoings this season. Even Georgia, which had the lowest number of outgoings in the conference over the course of the last three seasons, had almost as many outgoings in 2024 (24) than it did in the previous two years combined (29).
Let's take a look at the ACC, Big 10 and Big 12/
ACC
Miami Total (74) - 2024 (28), 2023 (28), 2022 (18)
Florida State: Total (72) - 2024 (22), 2023 (22), 2022 (28)
Louisville: Total (72) - 2024 (30), 2023 (25), 2022 (17)
Georgia Tech: Total (68) - 2024 (32), 2023 (20), 2022 (16)
California: Total (59) - 2024 (22), 2023 (26), 2022 (11)
Syracuse: Total (57) - 2024 (28), 2023 (11), 2022 (18)
Virginia Tech: Total (56) - 2024 (18), 2023 (21), 2022 (17)
Pittsburgh: Total (50) - 2024 (20), 2023 (13), 2022 (17)
Virginia: Total (49) - 2024 (16), 2023 (14), 2022 (19)
North Carolina: Total (48) - 2024 (23), 2023 (18), 2022 (17)
Duke: Total (46) - 2024 (17), 2023 (16), 2022 (13)
Stanford: Total (44) - 2024 (14), 2023 (21), 2022 (9)
NC State: Total (43) - 2024 (22), 2023 (12), 2022 (9)
Boston College: Total (42) - 2024 (17), 2023 (12), 2022 (13)
Wake Forest: Total (36) - 2024 (15), 2023 (11), 2022 (10)
Clemson: Total (35) - 2024 (12), 2023 (12), 2022 (11)
Big 10 (Plus Notre Dame)
Indiana: Total (96) - 2024 (39), 2023 (23), 2022 (34)
Michigan State: Total (75) - 2024 (38), 2023 (16), 2022 (21)
Washington: Total (71) - 2024 (30), 2023 (21), 2022 (20)
USC: Total (74) - 2024 (29), 2023 (20), 2022 (25)
Oregon: Total (71) - 2024 (20), 2023 (34), 2022 (17)
Purdue: Total (69) - 2024 (29), 2023 (26), 2022 (14)
Maryland: Total (64) - 2024 (13), 2023 (23), 2022 (28)
Minnesota Total (60) - 2024 (18), 2023 (19), 2022 (23)
Nebraska: Total (58) - 2024 (10), 2023 (28), 2022 (20)
Illinois: Total (57) - 2024 (23), 2023 (12), 2022 (22)
Wisconsin: Total (54) - 2024 (23), 2023 (19), 2022 (12)
Ohio State: Total (53) - 2024 (25), 2023 (9), 2022 (19)
Rutgers: Total (48) - 2024 (15), 2023 (12), 2022 (21)
UCLA: Total (45) - 2024 (17), 2023 (7), 2022 (21)
Notre Dame: Total (44) - 2024 (18), 2023 (12), 2022 (14)
Michigan: Total (43) - 2024 (17), 2023 (14), 2022 (12)
Penn State: Total (41) - 2024 (13), 2023 (12), 2022 (16)
Iowa: Total (33) - 2024 (13), 2023 (13), 2022 (7)
Northwestern: Total (31) - 2024 (12), 2023 (11), 2022 (8)
Big 12
Colorado: Total (121) - 2024 (29), 2023 (57), 2022 (23)
Arizona: Total (81) - 2024 (28), 2023 (26), 2022 (27)
Arizona State: Total (79) - 2024 (29), 2023 (30), 2022 (20)
Houston: Total (77) - 2024 (33), 2023 (21), 2022 (23)
West Virginia: Total (71) - 2024 (25), 2023 (21), 2022 (25)
UCF: Total (69) - 2024 (27), 2023 (19), 2022 (23)
Cincinnati: Total (68) - 2024 (33), 2023 (25), 2022 (10)
Utah: Total (57) - 2024 (25), 2023 (17), 2022 (15)
Iowa State: Total (55) - 2024 (22), 2023 (12), 2022 (21)
TCU Total (53) - 2024 (19), 2023 (17), 2022 (17)
Texas Tech Total (50) - 2024 (23), 2023 (18), 2022 (9)
Kansas: Total (49) - 2024 (13), 2023 (14), 2022 (22)
Kansas State: Total (48) - 2024 (17), 2023 (15), 2022 (16)
Oklahoma State: Total (45) - 2024 (11), 2023 (19), 2022 (15)
BYU: Total (44) - 2024 (16), 2023 (20), 2022 (8)
Baylor: Total (35) - 2024 (15), 2023 (13), 2022 (7)
No. 6 - Updating the defensive Ends numbers ...
It's been a couple of years since I've updated the historical numbers regarding defensive ends from the state of Texas and the update from this weekend wasn't good for the numbers, as none of the eight prospects/players that were added to the data were high-level college players that ended up being drafted by NFL teams. Hell, none came remotely close.
It means the following three points remain the most important notes to take from the position:
* The defensive end position ranks as one of the strongest bets of any position in the state of Texas when it comes to 4- and 5-star prospects. From 2004-2018, an eye-popping 30.1% of all 4- and 5-star prospects at the defensive end position were drafted by NFL teams. Nearly 40% have played on Sundays. While the numbers among the high- and mid-4-star prospects aren't overly impressive, the fact that low-4-star prospects are drafted at a rate of nearly 30% means that this tier performs at roughly twice the success rates we generally find among other positions.
* Of the 4- and 5-star defensive end prospects that Rivals has ranked in its history that have completed their eligibility, only six prospects have ever officially been under the 6-3 mark in terms of height. Of those six, only Jeremy Beal was ever drafted or played in the NFL. While he was a heck of a college player, his draft status (seventh round) kind of makes him the Zach Thomas of defensive ends. Yes, a 6-2 or under player can emerge as a big-time college player, but in the history of the Rivals rankings ... only one player from Texas has ever pulled it off. As it relates to the Longhorns, one of the biggest defensive busts of this decade was Reggie Wilson (Class of 2010), who tipped the scales at 6-2. His ranking suggested he was a unicorn, but it's likely that we just didn't have enough data in front of us to know what was being asked of him in the context of the ranking he was given.
* 15 of the 19 defensive prospects from the state of Texas that went on to become drafted NFL players were listed at 6-4 or above in their Rivals profiles. In fact, more than 42% of all 4- and 5-star defensive ends that tipped the scales at greater than 6-4 were drafted by NFL teams.
Let's look at the 5 stars.
2003 - Jarvis Moss (Florida), 2006 - Eddie Jones (Texas), 2008 - R.J. Washington (Oklahoma),
2009 - Alex Okafor (Texas), 2010 - Jackson Jeffcoat (Texas),
2014 - Myles Garrett (Texas A&M) and
2019 - DeMarvion Leal (Texas A&M)
Active Players: 2021 - Tunmise Adeleye (Texas A&M/Michigan State/.Texas State), 2024 - Joseph Jonah-Ajonye (Georgia) and 2024 - Colin Simmons (Texas)
High 4 stars:
2004 - Chris Smith (Texas A&M), 2007 - Richetti Jones (Oklahoma State), 2010 - Reggie Wilson (Texas),
2014 - Soloman Thomas (Stanford) and 2016 - Brandon Bowen (TCU)
Active Players: 2021 - Shemar Turner (Texas A&M) and 2023 - Colton Vasek (Texas)
Mid 4 Stars
2005 - Paul Freeney (Texas A&M), 2008 - McKinner Dixon (Texas Tech), 2012 - Javonte Magee (Baylor), 2013 - Jake Raulerson (Texas), 2014 - Derick Roberson (Texas), 2015 - James Lockhart (Texas A&M),
2016 - Justin Madubuike (Texas A&M), 2017 - K'Lavon Chaisson (LSU), 2018 - Max Wright (Texas A&M) and 2018 - Jarell Cherry (LSU)
Active Players: 2022 - Nick Caraway (Purdue/Texas A&M), 2022 - Omari Abor (Ohio State), 2023 0 Isaiah Crawford (Texas Tech), 2023 - Jordan Renaud (Alabama) and 2024 - Nigel Smith (Oklahoma)
Low 4 Stars
2004 - Alan Davis (Oklahoma),
2004 - Brian Orakpo (Texas), 2004 - McCollins Umeh (Arizona), 2004 - Tremaine Johnson (LSU), 2005 - Marcus Shavers (Arkansas), 2005 - Jonathan Lewis (Kansas State), 2006 - Ugo Chinasa (Oklahoma State),
2006 - Jeremy Beal (Oklahoma), 2007 - Von Miller (Texas A&M), 2007 - Russell Carter (Texas), 2008 - Emmanuel Stephens (Ole Miss), 2008 - Andrew Worlridge (Texas A&M), 2008 - Tony Jerod (Texas A&M),
2008 - David King (Oklahoma), 2008 - Kapron Lewis-Moore (UCLA), 2009 - Tevin Mims (Texas),
2009 - Michael Brockers (LSU), 2010 - Greg Daniels (Texas), 2010 - Jackson Richards (Texas Tech), 2011 - Cedric Reed (Texas), 2011 - Nathan Hughes (Oklahoma), 2012 - Devonte Fields (TCU),
2012 - Hassan Ridgeway (Texas), 2012 - Michael Starts (Texas Tech),
2012 - Danielle Hunter (LSU), 2013 - Torrodney Prevot (Oregon),
2013 - Daeshon Hall (Texas A&M), 2015 - Charles Omenihu (Texas), 2015 - Devonte Fields (Louisville), 2016 - Isaiah Chambers (TCU), 2016 - Mark Jackson (Oklahoma), 2017 - LaGaryonn Carson (Unsigned), 2017 - Jayden Peevy (Texas A&M)
2018 - Joseph Ossai (Texas), 2018 - Bobby Brown (Texas A&M), 2018 - Joshua Landry (Baylor/Missouri), 2019 - Colt Ellison (TCU), 2019 - Braedon Mowry (Texas A&M), 2019 - Hunter Spears (Notre Dame), 2019 - Marcus Stripling (Oklahoma) and 2019 - Gilbert Ibeneme (Texas Tech)
Active players: 2019 - Steven Parker (Kansas/Texas State), 2020 - Princely Umanmielen (Florida/Ole Miss), 2020 - Alfred Collins (Texas), James Sylvester (Baylor/JUCO), 2020 Alec Bryant (Va. Tech/Illinois), 2021 Landon Jackson (LSU/Arkansas), 2022 Ethan Burke (Texas), 2022 Micheal Ibukun-Okeyode (TCU), 2022 Ernest Cooper (Stanford), 2022 Joseph Adedire (Texas Tech), 2022 Malick Sylla (Texas A&M), 2023 Enow Etta (Michigan), 2023 Terrance Green (Oregon), Princewill Umanmielen (Nebraska), 2023 Johnny Bowens (Oregon), 2023 Avion Carter (TCU), 2023 Ashton Porter (Oregon), 2024 Carlon Jones (USC), 2024 Zina Umeozulu (Texas) and 2024 Travis Jackson (TCU)
No. 7 - Updated Texas Scholarship Board ...
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I have both FutureCasted to the Longhorns and I don't foresee that changing.
(Sell) It would be the coldest thing I've potentially ever seen in college athletics, so I'm going to need to see it to believe it. The man literally has A&M one win from a national championship. He can't burn that to the ground, can he?
(Buy) I'm going to say he's replaced after his fifth season. They aren't going to let him go more than half a decade without winning something. That's very un-OU like.
(Sell) I don't think there is enough smoke at the moment for it to register as overblown. Pettijohn is going out of his way to give a very open public position. Ohio State can't be overlooked. A&M has a defensive-minded head coach and that gives them a chance. I still expect the Longhorns to land Pettijohn, but it's not a complete forgone conclusion, even if Texas is a heavy betting favorite.
(Buy) If there's an over/under numbers, I'd set it at 7.5. I'll go with 8 based on my own rankings.
(Sell) There are going to be sports where it becomes more difficult to accumulate points, but we have to keep in mind that Stanford is in the ACC and the same will be true of them in some instances. For now, I need to see a season in the SEC before getting too ahead of myself.
(Buy) 5-Star DTs have much higher historical hit rates, especially the ones from Texas.
(Buy) Of course.
(Sell) We're just too far down the road of knowing how bad things might be from a momentum standpoint if he stays.
(Buy) Terry. Alabama is probably the betting favorite with Townsend.
(Sell) Toy Story is my No. 1 (followed very closely by Inside Out), but I'm not so inflexible that nothing will ever be able to change my mind. Hell, there's a real chance that Inside Out is my No. 1 and I'm just in denial.
(Buy) There will be more rotation, but how much? That's the billion-dollar question.
(Buy/Sell) I'm going to say that ... yes ... I'd rank Fasusi in the top spot, although I know I'm opening myself up to some cat-calls if he's anything less than Banks.
I haven't watched any Copa America yet, but I watched at least six hours of MLS action this weekend, so I can handle anything.
(Sell) I think the Portal potentially makes conventional wisdom change in future years. I'm going to drop that number down to 12-13 instead of 13-14.
(Sell/Buy/Sell) I think the key to the success of the TexasOne Fund is that it is making corporate partnerships that take a lot of stress off of the need to have more individual donors giving $20 per month. Eventually, the corporate sponsors and partners will be doing a lot of heavy lifting. Also, I think CDC knows what ails the baseball program, but knowing that NIL needs to improve in a non-football sport and changing those dynamics are two different things. Finally, no, I don't think being seen on the SEC Network will have much of an impact on things. These kids are not at home watching television.
(Buy) Duh.
(Buy) That's probably the number I would choose. Maaaaybe a little lower.
(Sell) Are we off-loading Johntay Cook? He's a third-year player in 2025.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... The Aggies and Vols will play a deciding game three on Monday night. It's basically the most important night in the history of A&M athletics fandom. This is as close as they’ve been to a men's national title in a major sport in almost a century.
... Can you just imagine how Aggies would react if they lose on Monday to the Vols and then lose their coach?
... Ho-hum. Scottie Scheffler won another PGA event ... this time in a playoff against Tom Kim.
... Yes, I watched some WNBA on Sunday. Hola!
... The Summer Olympics are coming. It's time to get to know former Dallas Carter star Sha'Carri Richardson before she becomes a worldwide superstar.
x.com
... Portugal and Spain feel like a cut above the rest of the Euros pack. I'd probably rank Germany third. England has a Gareth Southgate problem that isn't going to get fixed, even with all of the talent he has to work with. (Note: This was written before Germany barely escaped with a point against Switzerland.)
... Not a bad week for Austin FC, as it picked up 4 points from a game against LAFC and a road game against Minnesota.
No. 10 - Top 10: Donald Sutherland ...
I'm being honest when I say that I was going to do anything other than movies this week in this section, but then Donald Sutherland died at the age of 88 on Thursday and it just felt like a tribute to the great Canadian actor was warranted.
Therefore, I consumed a number of films in the last three days and am now prepared to do his Top 10.
Let's get to it.
Honorable Mention: A Dry White Season (1989), Outbreak (1995), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Max Dugan Returns (1983), Fallen (1998), Space Cowboys (2000), The Italian Job (2003), The Day Of The Locust (1975) and Citizen X (1995)
Last 5 Out: Six Degrees of Separation (1993), The Dirty Dozen (1967), A Time To Kill (1996), Eyes of the Needle (1981) and Without Limits (1998)
10. Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
It came down to this or The Dirty Dozen for the last spot on the list and ultimately I went with Kelly's Heroes because I enjoy it more as a movie and Sutherland's part (Oddball) is much more of a standout role.
9. The Hunger Games (2012)
Honestly, you could pick any of the movies in the trilogy for this spot, as his role as President Snow will probably be the part that an entire generation of younger people will remember him for.
8. Don’t Look Now (1973)
I have to admit to not doing cartwheels over this movie when I watched it this week, but it's revered in the horror genre and was ranked by the British Film Institute as the eighth best British film of the 20th century. It just felt like it needed to be somewhere in the Top 10.
7. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
I'm not sure there's a movie from the 21st century that I've seen more. I'm talking 100+ viewings at this point. Our Weim is named Lizzy. His role as the patriarch of the Bennett family is a smaller part, but it's one of his standout moments in a long career.
6. Klute (1971)
This is a Jane Fonda tour de force, but Sutherland is excellent in this neo-noir thriller. I give it a hearty recommendation.
5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
4. Animal House (1978)
It's a small role, but one of his most famous. I love this movie.
3. M*A*S*H (1970)
I had never seen this movie until this week, but it's easy to see why it's one of the roles that made him a star.
2. JFK (1991)
This is the best scene of his entire career.
1. Ordinary People (1980)
He's the heart and soul inside a Best Picture-winning all-time classic.