THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas is in a pretty good spot for DE Zina Umeozulu
As the brother of Texas freshman Neto Umeozulu, there was a lot of thought early on that 2024 defensive end Zina Umeozulu would be a shoo-in to wind up at Texas at some point. In my conversations with Zina, I’ve never picked up that impression. In fact, there was a time earlier this year when Zina told me Texas was trailing some other programs.
In catching up with Umeozulu this week, after a couple of recent visits to Texas, it sounds like the Longhorns have gained some momentum with the Rivals100 member. Umeozulu was in Austin for the season-opener and then back for the Alabama game. Like everyone else, he enjoyed the atmosphere of the Bama game.
“It was a crazy game, crazy environment,” Umeozulu said. “The fans were really in tune. The fans brought the energy. It was a good game to watch.”
Last weekend, Umeozulu was at the Texas A&M-Arkansas game. That game also had a strong atmosphere, but as a neutral site game, Umeozulu said the Texas game “100 percent” had more energy. He’s hoping to get out to Georgia for either the Tennessee or Auburn game, and then may hit a TCU game in November. At this point, Umeozulu doesn’t have any favorites, but that could be changing in the next few months.
“I’m pretty open still. I’ll be narrowing down my list end of the season,” Umeozulu said.
The plan is to release a list of schools, probably about 10, after his junior season ends. Texas will almost certainly make the cut.
“I feel like it’s kind of a family aspect to the team (at Texas),” Umeozulu said. “Texas is one of the first schools to show me love, my first big offer. I’ve been in the loop with Texas. They’ve been my day one.”
Umeozulu said his father would love to see him team up with his brother in Austin. His mom is more open to him going elsewhere if that’s what he eventually wants to do. He says anyone thinking he’s locked in to follow Neto to Texas is making a mistake.
“I do want to do my own thing, but I feel like if it all falls in line, it will. But I won’t go (to Texas) just because my brother goes there,” Umeozulu said.
2. Texas is among the schools standing out for top 2024 OL Mike Uini
Copperas Cove offensive lineman Mike Uini is one of the top prospects in the state of Texas for the 2024 class, checking in at No. 5 on the initial release of the Lone Star Recruiting Top 100. Uini was in Austin a couple of weeks ago for the Alabama game and the Texas coaches are staying in close contact.
“I have different coaches text me here and there, like coach (Kyle) Flood and coach Sark. They text me here and there,” Uini said. “But I also get mail from them, but it doesn’t say who it’s from, just says Texas football. When they text, it’s really just giving me motivation, just saying to keep working hard, good luck this week, things like that.”
Uini attended a Texas preseason practice back in August before heading back to Austin for the Bama game. That game visit made a very strong impression.
“It was amazing. Watching college football, or any sporting event on TV, you don’t get the actual experience. Being at the Texas and Bama game, seeing how passionate the fans are about their football team, it really made me feel good,” Uini said. “I was speechless. It was very loud. Before the game, the coaches were hyped. It was a good game.”
The 6-8, 273-pound Uini was at the Kansas State-Oklahoma game in Norman last weekend. He’ll be at Texas-OU next week. At this point, he says he’s still wide open with his recruitment and not in a hurry to make any decisions, but admits the Longhorns and Sooners are two teams that have his attention.
“Every school has been recruiting me pretty good, but I would say Oklahoma and Texas are some of the big ones right now,” Uini said.
As for what has the Longhorns on his radar, Uini said he just feels at home when he’s around the Texas staff and even the Longhorn fans.
“Really just how the coaches make me feel at home. They make me feel really comfortable. Sometimes I get interactions with the fans, they say they really need you, things like that,” Uini said. “They’re really up to date with their facilities, everything is brand new and they’re even getting more brand new stuff. And coach Sark, he’s a very chill and calm man, kind of funny too. He and my dad grew up in the same area, went to rival teams so that was cool.”
3. The recruiting landscape can change in a hurry, as we saw last weekend
It’s pretty incredible how quickly can change in terms of the trajectory of college programs and recruiting implications. Two weekends ago, following Texas’s one-point loss to Alabama and following Texas A&M losing at home to Appalachian State, it looked like the Longhorns could be close to establishing some serious recruiting momentum over their in-state rivals. Texas had played the top team in college football down to the wire. A&M had suffered an embarrassing loss. The Longhorns were playing great defense and had what appeared to be a very manageable schedule, even with the Quinn Ewers injury. A&M, meanwhile, was playing snooze-worthy football on offense and faced games against Miami, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Alabama.
Fast forward two weeks and Texas struggled for the better part of three quarters against UTSA and then the UT defense looked a lot like last year’s unit in a loss to Texas Tech. A&M, meanwhile, continues to play awful offensive football but the Aggies have strung together wins over Miami and Arkansas on national television.
Momentum can shift in a hurry and Texas is doing just fine in the recruiting realm, but the Longhorns have to find a way to flip the script in the next couple of weeks with wins over West Virginia and Oklahoma. Even dropping one of those games will bring more calls of Texas being the same program that it was in Steve Sarkisian’s first year, and at some point the 2024 class is going to start taking notice. Not to mention guys like Anthony Hill that Texas is working to flip.
Like it or not, Texas A&M has battled back in the face of adversity, something Texas has struggled to do under Sarkisian’s watch. It’s time for the Longhorns to show what they’re made of and do the same in the coming weeks in order to regain some of that momentum the program had a couple of weeks ago.
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. What are five reasons to be optimistic about this season, and five reasons to hang your head?
Texas fans went from flying high last weekend to nearly throwing in the towel on the season after blowing a 14-point lead to Texas Tech. Whether you’re a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty type of person, I’ve got you covered.
Five reasons to be optimistic …
1. Quinn Ewers should be back soon – If Ewers can bottle up some of what he showed in the first quarter of the Alabama game, this team will be just fine.
2. The young OL and run game should continue to get better – Texas struggled to run the ball at times last weekend, but Steve Sarkisian didn’t seem too worried about it when discussing it on Monday, giving a sense that it’s very fixable problems in missed blocking assignments.
3. The defense has to bounce back, right? – Texas showed what kind of defense it’s capable of playing when it basically shut down Alabama for three weeks. We know it’s in there somewhere. Maybe last weekend’s letdown will be a hit to the defense’s pride and that unit will be more fired up and play much better moving forward.
4. No structural damage for Xavier Worthy – Texas’s star receiver is listed as day-to-day, so it shouldn’t be a long-term injury. The UT offense looked much different without Worthy on the field.
5. The Big 12 doesn’t really have any world-beaters – If Texas plays well, there’s not a team on the schedule that the Longhorns can’t beat.
Five reasons to hang your head …
1. Steve Sarkisian’s history – If we’re being honest, Sark hasn’t really earned the benefit of the doubt that this 2-2 start is an abnormality. Not at his previous stops. Not at Texas. Hovering around .500 seems very possible for this team.
2. There are no slouches in the Big 12 – I mentioned above that the Big 12 doesn’t have world-beaters, but it also doesn’t have any teams that would be considered guaranteed wins for Texas. Every week feels like it’ll be a dogfight, and we’ve all seen how Texas struggles to close out those types of games.
3. The quarterback situation – Ewers’ health is still a concern and there’s no guarantee that he’ll perform anywhere close to the level he flashed against Alabama whenever he does come back. Hudson Card has played well in flashes but I’m not sure he’s consistent enough for Texas to be in the upper half of the Big 12.
4. The defense – The Alabama performance seems like a distant memory. Both UTSA and Texas Tech had success against this defense and if those two games are an indication, other teams on the schedule will be able to move the ball well.
5. Xavier Worthy’s injury – If Worthy misses this week’s game, beating WVU is no guarantee at all. If he’s out against Oklahoma, that game suddenly looks very frightening for Texas, despite OU’s struggles last week.
2. How do the Big 12 teams rank after last week’s slate of games?
I said a couple of weeks ago that it was pretty tough to rank the Big 12 teams and we’d have some clarity after Big 12 play started. Well, that began last week and it’s not good news for Texas. The loser of the Texas-WVU game this weekend will be the only team in the Big 12 with a losing record after this weekend.
1. Oklahoma State (last week: 3) – The Cowboys haven’t played a Big 12 game yet, but they look like the cream of the crop so far.
2. Baylor (last week: 5) – The Bears got a solid win on the road over Iowa State last weekend.
3. Kansas (last week: 9) – All aboard the Jalon Daniels bandwagon.
4. Kansas State (last week: 4) – That was an impressive win in Norman last week, but which version of the Wildcats will show up each week?
5. TCU (last week: 7) – Just gonna repeat what I said in the last update: “I’m a big fan of Sonny Dykes. I could see TCU climbing this list over the course of the year.”
6. Oklahoma (last week: 1) – The Sooners just haven’t looked very good, much less great, in a couple of games this year.
7. Iowa State (last week: 6) – Still a very dangerous team from week to week.
8. Texas Tech (last week: 8) – I’m still not sold that Tech is that good, but the Red Raiders get bragging rights over Texas for this week.
9. Texas (last week: 2) – Pretty big fall for Texas, but can you really make a case right now to put the Longhorns over any of the teams in front of them?
10. West Virginia (last week: 10) - That Kansas loss doesn’t look so bad right now. WVU is playing much better the last two weeks.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas finishes 7-5 on the year
In this column, a little more than a month ago, I picked Texas to finish 8-4 on the year. After having about a month to survey the Longhorns and the other teams around the Big 12, I’m bumping that record down to 7-5. I still think Texas could catch a bit of lightning in a bottle if Quinn Ewers is healthy, but that’s a big if and the reality is that every remaining game on the schedule looks like it could be a competitive contest. 7-5 seems reasonable and if I’m being completely objective, 6-6 might be more likely than 8-4 based on what we’ve seen through four weeks.
