On a day when everyone is zigging, I'm going to zag.
While the Texas fan base continues to lose itself (rightfully so) in Arch Madness, I find myself thinking this weekend about the irony of focusing so strongly on a player that likely won't see the field for more than a few snaps until 2024 and almost certainly ranks as the second most important quarterback in the Texas program.
After going 5-7 last season, the fate of Steve Sarkisian and the immediate future of the Texas program sits in the hands of incoming transfer Quinn Ewers, who would almost certainly be ranked No. 1 ahead of Manning if both were in the same class.
The success of Ewers this season will define this season as much as Bijan, Xavier and the defense all rolled into one. We're talking about a guy that many believe will compete with Caleb Williams for the right to be the No. 1 player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Manning's success in Austin would kind of represent the cherry on top of the desert, while Ewers represents pretty much the entire damn meal. Sarkisian can't afford to wait until Manning arrives.
It needs to happen now.
What I find interesting is that after two years of hearing the entire nation praise Ewers' superhuman quarterbacking ability, so many people in the college football game seem cool on how Ewers will perform as a starter for the Longhorns.
Let's start with Phil Steele ... the bible of the pre-season magazines, right?
Steele's Big 12 quarterback rankings look like this:
1st team: Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel
2nd team: Oklahoma State's Spencer Sanders
3rd team: West Virginia's J.T. Daniels
4th team: Kansas State's Adrian Martinez
Consider me absolutely flabbergasted. Look at the 2021 passer ratings of all four players.
1st team (Gabriel): 158.9
2nd team (Sanders): 133.5
3rd team (Daniels): 155.1
4th team (Martinez): 148.9
Not a single one of those programs would keep the guy it has if offered a chance to trade for Ewers, yet here we are.
Meanwhile, I couldn't help but see everyone's favorite Mike Farrell list his national Top 50 quarterbacks list.
To be fair, Farrell has Ewers ranked as the No. 2 quarterback in the Big 12, but he has him ranked No. 27 overall in the country and behind a number of quarterbacks that surely aren’t better than Ewers, including nine quarterbacks from the SEC.
Consider me absolutely bewildered. Farrell literally told me four months ago on a live National Signing Day Show that he thought Ewers was basically Matt Stafford 2.0 and would be a very high NFL draft choice.
Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm expecting too much of Ewers in his redshirt freshman season. Maybe ... *gulp* ... J.T. Daniels and Florida's Anthony Richardson (144.1 efficiency rating in 2021) ... are just better than Ewers. If Ewers is the guy that everyone thinks he is, there's no way he's either the fifth-best quarterback in the Big 12 or not among the top two dozen quarterbacks in the nation.
He's better than Casey Thompson, right?
Somehow it feels like Ewers, who has never been anything but the No. 1 overall player in the country, has become underrated.
How is that even possible? Is this a dream?
No. 2 - On Arch ...
Here's the bottom line on Arch Manning's visit this weekend and his recruitment in general ...
If he picks Georgia over Texas, he must have one hell of a poker face because the vibe from everyone that we've talked to this weekend seems to think he's going to be a Longhorn.
It's hard to call anything in this world perfect, but not a single person we've communicated with has indicated that there's a wish that any element of the presentation and vibe of his visit would be changed.
There's a sense that Texas has done all it could. Those with insight into his weekend believe he's coming to Texas.
What I find interesting is that the Georgia side of his recruitment seemed to have the exact feelings upon the completion of his visit to Athens two weeks ago. The vibes we were getting late this week from a variety of places, including our No. 1 source, seemed to indicate that the Longhorns were going to finish a bridesmaid.
For instance, our No. 1 source indicated or strongly hinted ...
a. A decision was coming soon.
b. There was still some uncertainty about Texas that wouldn't be answered with an earlier commitment.
c. A decision had been made prior to the visit to Austin.
In talking among the OB staff, we joked that it kind of felt like a high school break-up of sorts because we weren't sure if there would ever be another conversation beyond the last one. Even one highly placed Texas source mentioned prior to the Arch visit that he was hearing "It's Georgia" ... from a well-connected Georgia source.
Then this weekend happened. If Arch was locked in on Georgia, that mood simply wasn't conveyed at all. In fact, another source in the program swore on Sunday that the confidence he had in Arch coming to Texas was higher on Sunday than he ever thought it would be.
So much confidence exists, it makes me wonder if there's overconfidence. Keep in mind, the Kelvin Banks situation happened last summer.
From my perspective, I can at least pin down where all of the confidence on the Texas side is coming from. The UGA stuff feels more cloudy, but maybe that's my own confirmation bias speaking.
I'm wondering if the mood will change later in the week before a possible announcement is known, but nothing has happened yet that would make me change my Futurecast away from the Longhorns, even if I have stopped to question myself a few times.
To the finish line, we go ...
No. 3 - The new Beau Trahan?
When Mack Brown needed to close the deal with Chris Simms way back in the day, he didn't lean on his best players to make it happen.
Instead, he handed the responsibility for hosting Simms to redshirting freshman Beau Trahan from @Suchomel's hometown of Bay City.
Trahan turned out to be a top-three all-time recruiting host killers.
So, when Manning was hosted this weekend by redshirt freshman Michael Taaffe, a walk-on from Austin Westlake, instead of Xavier Worthy, Bijan Robinson or even Quinn Ewers, it was hard not to think of the role Trahan played in the Simms recruitment.
Sometimes your best recruiters among the players aren't your best players.
No. 4 - More from Phil Steele ...
Here are the Longhorns that made his All-Big 12 lists ...
1st team: RB Bijan Robinson
1st team: WR Xavier Worthy
1st team: LB DeMarvion Overshown
2nd team: DT Moro Ojomo
2nd team: CB/PR D'Shawn Jamison
3rd team: WR Isaiah Neyor
3rd team: S Anthony Cook
4th team: OT Christian Jones
4th team: DT Keondre Coburn
4th team: LB Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey
A few notes ...
* Robinson was ranked as the No. 1 running back in the country, while Worthy was a second-team All-America selection.
* Baylor leads the way with 6 first-team players, while Oklahoma is second with 4. Oklahoma State leads all teams with combined first- and second-team players with 9.
* Texas Tech tight end Baylor Cupp, who has missed multiple seasons because of injuries and transferred from Texas A&M, is a second-team selection, while Ja'Tavian Sanders wasn't rated.
No. 5 - What could you possibly expect?
If your starting pitching is going to massively disappoint, your defense is going to make costly errors and your fiercest hitters are going to come up empty, it's very hard to win in Omaha.
After a 2 and BBQ session over the weekend, no one knows this better than the Texas baseball team.
It just didn't happen for the Longhorns this weekend.
That it didn't happen against the Aggies on Sunday matters less than the fact that it didn't happen at all in two games. The goal is to advance. Once that objective fails, nothing else matters (unless A&M comes all the way back out of the loser's bracket).
At the end of the day, a season with more promise than just about any of the last decade ends up being pretty good. Nothing more, nothing less.
No. 6 - Close, but no cigar ...
Damn that back nine.
The only thing that seemed to keep former Longhorn Scottie Scheffler from winning his second major of the year this weekend was a final nine holes on Saturday and Sunday that saw him shoot a combined +5 over 18 holes.
Over the course of 18 holes on the front nine in the final two rounds, Scheffler was -7.
Sometimes it just goers like that at the U.S. Open.
All Scheffler can do is shrug it off and get ready for The British Open at St. Andrews.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) I'll take the over in terms of days when he's ready to announce his commitment, but it's not an impossibility.
(Buy) He hasn't won the biggest prize, but he's consistently knocking on the door and Texas doesn't usually get rid of coaches that do so.
B/S Texas gets 3 commitments before 1 July. (which doesn’t include the newest commitment…the TE)
(Sell) That's three in the next 10 or 11 days and I'm going with two during that stretch.
(Sell) I understanding the underwhelming sentiment, but he's been to the College World Series 3 times in the last 4 full seasons. He's nowhere near being on notice.
(Sell) I'm not sure he's in the top 5. Chris Simms was bigger. Earl Campbell was bigger. Cory Redding was bigger. Vince Young was bigger. Quinn Ewers' transfer is bigger.
(Sell) Texas just isn't recruiting at that level yet under Sarkisian.
(Sell) I don't believe the Mannings showed their hand this weekend before they can go home as a family and talk about things.
(Sell) Come on...
(Sell) The talent of a No. 1-ranked overall five-star quarterback is worth more than any family's endorsement.
(Buy) Ultimately, Arch Manning and his family are going to do what's best for them ... period.
(Buy) I've got them with eight at this point.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the sports weekend ...
... Matt Fitzpatrick owns Brookline, there's no real way to get around it. More than anyone else, he felt like a guy playing on his home course.
... Hard not to root for Will Zalatoris. The guy has now finished second at the Masters, PGA Championship and US Open in the last six majors played. Do we claim him as a Texan?
... For a guy that always seemed quieter than a church mouse, Justin Leonard is pretty good at the TV announcer thing.
... In light of Steph Curry climbing the all-time NBA player ranks, it got me to looking at the various point guards that rank as Top 50 players of all-time. Am I crazy or is John Stockton wildly overrated? For all of his assists over the years, he was a first-team All-NBA player just twice. That's twice as few as a guy like Chris Paul. Are you taking him over Gary Payton or Jason Kidd? If you're starting a team, would you take him over a guy like Damion Lillard?
... Ja Morant talking smack to Golden State players after they've won their fourth title and he's never been out of the conference semifinals at this point (including losing in six to the Warriors this year), is freaking rich.
... Am I the only one not feeling Trevor Lawrence having a breakout year this season?
... This comment caught my attention this weekend from the world of the NHL:
... Big win for Austin FC on the road this weekend in Montreal. They just keep chalking up points.
... With Sadio Mane heading to Bayern Munich, it feels like a part of my fan soul has died. For the last six seasons, Mane has been perhaps the largest driving force of my love for Liverpool. He's truly my first-ever favorite player. He's my guy. Of course, I'll be rooting for him in Germany, but I hate that he won't be with the Reds. The end of this era saddens me.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Otis Redding Songs ...
I'm not sure if I've ever brought this up on the site before, but Otis is my guy.
Probably my all-time favorite. So, yes, this list is very personal for me.
Just missed the cut: Cigarettes and Coffee, Mr. Pitiful, That's How Strong My Love Is, Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song), Love Man and I've Got Dreams to Remember
10. That's What My Heart Needs
It's not one of the most well-known pieces of Otis' songbook, but in the back-half of the song, he visits that place that only Otis could visit when expressing his heart's desires.
9. Respect
Yes, it's the anthem song or Aretha Franklin and her version is regarded as one of the top-five songs of all-time, but originally it was an Otis joint and his version is damn good in its own right.
8. For Your Precious Love
Otis wrote a lot of great songs, but some of his best work occurred when he covered someone else's work.
7. Pain in My Heart
You give Otis a girl that he can't find and he's going to turn into a song here he the agony of his need for her love is going to pour out.
6. Change is Gonna Come
There's only one person on the entire planet that I allow with permission to sing this song outside of Sam Cooke and its Otis. The two things that both men had in common was the ability to dig into a deeper place to find the music and never is that more apparent than in what both men give to this song. It's a haunting performance.
5. Satisfaction
It's a hell of a thing to suggest that someone can out-Stones the Stones, but Otis is at his out-of-his-mind-with-the-music best with one of the most iconic songs ever written. Man, what I wouldn't give to have seen Otis do a show with the Stones.
4. I've Been Loving You Too Long
Whatever a human can give of himself into a song, that's where Otis sends himself in this all-time classic. It is one thing to say the words and it's quite a different thing to live and breathe them until your mind is at its end, which is what this song is all about… all-out exasperation. Legend has it that his performance of this song at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (see above) left Jimi Hendrix in awe.
3. (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
For all of the flair he could give any song, his music was often most beautiful when controlled by its amazing simplicity. A few days before he died in a plane accident, he finished recording a song that began with him relaxing on a boat near the San Francisco Bay, writing/singing about life. Little known fact: everyone knows that the song ends with Redding whistling, but had he lived he planned on returning to the studio and finishing the song with words.
2. Try a Little Tenderness
The song starts so controlled and so tender, as Otis paints a picture that would that would make Michael Angelo blush. Then, as if motivated by a moment in life once lost, he takes us to church, imploring all of us to take the leap. It's an entire generation's blueprint for what to do in the backseat of a car. Ps: Make sure and watch the video clip of this life performance because he literally drops the mic and leaves the stage.
1. These Arms of Mine
I consider this song music perfection. It's probably my favorite song of all-time and whatever my musical soul is created with, it's at the epicenter. There's just so much powerful emotion packed into such a simple song, as if he's able to channel the souls of desperate, broken men. My all-time top five song list will change from mood to mood, but this song is never removed from the No. 1 spot.
No. 10 - And Finally ...
One little recruiting nugget to chew on.
I get the sense that the Texas staff and everyone in the program will be stunned if they don't land Oak Cliff cornerback Malik Muhammad. That's a recruitment that everyone feels great about coming out of this weekend.
Not good, but great.
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