(Anwar)
* Longhorn quarterback Arch Manning has performed well during winter conditioning, but I was told the staff decided to push him recently. According to my sources, Manning was “pushed beyond his comfort zone” during winter conditioning to prepare him for the upcoming season. To be clear, this did not occur because anyone behind the scenes was not happy with Manning. It is quite the opposite. However, because Manning has performed so well, the staff decided to push him more in practice. I was told Manning rose to the challenge, excelled, and everyone was thrilled with their quarterback.
* Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian contacted at least 12 candidates before determining West Virginia running backs coach Chad Scott was the best person to replace Tashard Choice.
* According to my sources, Sarkisian was impressed by Scott’s track record of developing running backs throughout his career. Sarkisian prioritized development over a recruiting history when he hired receivers coach Chris Jackson and defensive line coach Kenny Baker. Texas will enter this season with a multitude of unproven running backs. Scott’s task will be to help the players inside his room improve throughout the offseason.
* Nobody behind the scenes expressed any concern about Scott as a recruiter. “He’ll be fine,” one source said. “We have enough people on staff that aid in recruiting. He will do a great job.”
* One player Scott may not see on the field anytime soon is running back CJ Baxter. Baxter injured the lateral and posterior collateral ligaments (LCL and PCL) in his right knee before last season. The injury required him to have season-ending surgery in August. I was previously told Baxter will not participate in spring practice. However, one source told me Baxter may not be ready to play until the middle of the 2025 season. “It was a really bad injury,” a source told me. “In an ideal world, he’ll be ready for the season opener. We’re just not sure if he’ll be ready by then.”
* Here is a behind-the-scenes story that you will get a kick out of. I am going to do this coach a favor by omitting his name to prevent him from being called out by college football observers and fans of the program he works for.
One running backs coach made it to Sarkisian’s top five and was about to land an interview before he made a costly decision. That assistant coach decided to walk into his head coach’s office, told him Texas was about to hire him, and said he needed a raise or he was going to take the job offer. However, the RB did not have a job offer. The head coach contacted Texas and discovered that his RB coach was not offered the job in Austin. Upon hearing about that RB coach’s dishonest tactic to get a raise, he was immediately removed as a candidate to replace Choice. Yep, that happened.
* Former Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers has spent the past few weeks getting healthy and preparing for the combine. According to my sources, there is a 90 percent chance that Ewers will throw at the combine. Those close to the situation believe Ewers will be able to impress teams in attendance with his arm during drills.
* Mark your calendars. I was told Texas’ Pro Day is scheduled to occur on March 25th at noon.
*****
* Interesting comments from a program source this week. "I think Sark tried the approach of hiring the hot name at one point and the lesson that came out of that was that his personal vibe and connection matter more than whether they come with a big reputation. I think Sark wants guys that want to be head coaches, but the team has to be more important at the end of the season than the (looming) job market. The hot hire has worked (Tashard Choice), but I think Sark trusts his own instincts more than those that make the hot list the hot list."
* I asked a source on Thursday whether we should keep an eye on West Virginia star running back Jahiem White potentially following Scott out the door of Morgantown and into Austin. No confirmations. No denials. I don't think there's any real smoke there at the moment, but I'll have my head on a swivel in the spring with regards to White because there has previously been concerns about White (5.7 YPC/845 yards rushing) taking the NIL bag in the Portal, but it was believed the presence of Scott helped keep him out of the Portal. Just file the note away ...
* I was texting with a power four out-of-state offensive line coach this week and he texted me the following: "Felix Ojo is what people seem to think (John) Turntine is. Ojo is a different level of prospect. You've got the wrong guy ranked No. 1."
*****
(Alex)
* Anthony Hill and Colin Simmons were in attendance at the Super Bowl with Athletes First for media opportunities. Well, Hill is going to continue his winter tour of NFL events again next week at the NFL combine. A team source said that Hill and Jaylon Guilbeau will be two players on the team taken to Indy to get a feel for the event and see the sights this year. This is not with an agency, but rather with the Texas SID. Last season, the players Texas took to take in combine week were Isaiah Bond and Ryan Watts.
* The person said they are giving Guilbeau the "Barron treatment" like they did with Jahdae last year as far as helping him get his name out there prior to the season. They said the staff thinks Guilbeau can make a similar move coming into his final season at Texas as Barron did from '23 to '24. I asked if this means that they'll look at him at outside corner -- and for what it's worth I wasn't told no -- but was told "not necessarily," and the meaning of the statement was more that they are thinking he's a player on defense truly set to break out in a big way.
* When I reported earlier in the week that some people around the program thought that Brad Spence had a shot at starting over Liona Lefau, there were a few other nuggets that I thought would be interesting to pass on about the linebackers: 1) I think we'll see Anthony Hill blitz more in 2025 -- this is a point of emphasis apparently and 2) Ty'Anthony Smith looks like he'll probably back up Anthony Hill but his 220-pound listing is probably heavier than he currently is. If he doesn't add a little weight, he'll likely be used in more of a specialty "Morice Blackwell role" next season. Dime package and stuff like that.
* Finally, I spoke with someone who was in attendance at a recent workout session where certain NFL draft prospects were doing combine training and Ja'Tavion Sanders was also there getting work in. This person said that Sanders looks simply amazing. This is a guy who was around him a lot at Texas and he couldn't believe the shape the guy was in. He asked what he was doing differently and Sanders told him that living in Carolina is so boring that all he really has to do is work out and stick to the program. It was encouraging to hear, because whether fans like to hear it or not, he did have significant work-ethic concerns coming out of college and his horrible pro day was a testament to that. Also, for NFL draft fans, Sanders told this person that the Panthers are going to draft an edge rusher with their first pick in the draft (8 overall) and that the focus of this draft in general for the Panthers will be adding a lot of defensive players.
* Not a note about Longhorn players but just another little tidbit in passing from the same conversation about a few SEC draft hopefuls: expect Texas A&M DE Shemar Stewart and Ole Miss DT Walter Nolen to run FAST at the combine. At "Fast Friday" last week (in combine training, they test their speed times on Fridays) Shemar Stewart (verified 6-5, 281 pounds) timed in the 4.5s and Walter Nolen (verified 6-3, 293 pounds) timed in the 4.6s.
*****
(Cody)
* Talking to one source this week, I asked "What do you think about Jaydon Blue and his prospects after the Shrine Bowl situation (no-call, no-show), and how the season unfolded, Are there any off-field worries?", this AFC scout said "It's a potential issue, but not for us. If you can run fast and have plus plus talent that helps with mismatches, so we can look the other way. I view him as a 3rd down back with occasional slashing carries. He is a very specific toy that a team may be looking for if they already have a talent in the backfield." I asked for a round to expect Blue to come off the board? I was told, "5th, maybe".
* I caught up with two NFL draft analysts to get a thought on where they have Blue graded, simply because I think he is in an interesting situation, in this class.
"23rd, this class is DEEP."
"16th, he has elite game-breaking speed with soft hands. The Texas offense operated differently when he was on."
* Alex and I had a report on Cam Williams after the Senior Bowl (Williams did not participate) but we had notes about him potentially weighing 312 lbs when he showed up to Combine Training, post-knee scope. I reached out to a source about Williams to get a simple question answered. I asked, "It seems like everyone has cooled off on (Williams), do you think Round 1 is out of the question?"
The source replied simply: "Out of the question" — 30 seconds later "That tape was not good"
****
(Suchomel)
* A bit more from what I wrote in my 3-2-1 on "Boobie" Feaster, where I predicted him to not wind up at Texas. I know there have been some varying opinions on Feaster of late and where Texas fits in, but in talking to Feaster this week it seemed pretty clear the Longhorns are trailing schools like LSU and A&M, and maybe even USC. He rattled off those three programs as ones he was definitely visiting and then Texas was almost thrown in as an afterthought for that fourth visit.
* Feaster did mention the young WR depth at Texas as something he’s looking at. He also mentioned the possibility of Texas WR coach Chris Jackson jumping to the NFL. Not sure who is putting that stuff in his head, but it will be something Texas will have to combat.
“To be honest, I don’t know if coach Jackson will be there long. I think he’ll go back to the league,” Feaster said.
* Keep an eye on Frisco Panther Creek DB Donovan Webb. First off, he was fantastic at the Under Armour Camp, winning defensive back MVP honors. Secondly, he really likes Texas a lot. “Texas is in my top five for sure. I go up there a lot. The coaches show a lot of love,” Webb said. Texas will need to get Webb on campus another time or two to win this recruitment, and right now Webb doesn’t have anything locked in with UT. During spring break in March, he’ll be at Colorado State, Ohio State, Michigan and LSU.
* Blake Gideon was Texas’ lead recruiter for Webb so his departure is something UT will have to overcome. If Texas can do that and land the Rivals250 member Webb, it could also help with his teammate, 2026 national top-50 player Jalen Lott. Webb said they’re “like best friends” and grew up together. He also said they’ve talked about playing together in college. “Those are conversations we have every day. He has a lot of big schools, I do to. We both have Texas,” Webb said.
* Let’s talk linebacker for a minute … Texas linebackers coach Johnny Nansen picked up some new targets this week, extending offers to players like in-state prospect Calvin Thomas and Florida prospect Izayia Williams. Some of that is probably due to Texas and Carthage’s DaQuives Beck moving in different directions. Texas A&M has been coming on for Beck of late, and Beck said he’s “kind of holding back on Texas right now.” The reason? Beck said he’s not sure Johnny Nansen will be at Texas (mind you, Nansen just got an extension). Beck did say if Nansen stays at Texas, the Longhorns will remain in the mix. It’s probably safe to call this a mutual “holding back.”
* The offer to LB/Edge Calvin Thomas made a big impression. I thought there was a chance Thomas might get an offer when he attended UT’s junior day but it didn’t happen on that visit. He got the call from Nansen on Wednesday. Thomas’ stock has been on the rise in the last few weeks, with schools like Texas, Texas A&M, LSU Wisconsin, Ole Miss and Arizona all extending recent offers. He told OB this week that he’s “pretty open” and hopes to narrow his list after spring ball, but he does have a lot of family in Austin so that could be a plus for Texas.
* When we last spoke with Mayde Creek linebacker Kosi Okpala just a few short weeks ago, he wasn’t even sure if he’d take in-state official visits. He said in that conversation that he might save those visits for out-of-state programs. Things have changed in a hurry with Okpala telling OB this week that he has visits set up to Penn State (May 30), Houston (June 6), Baylor (June 13) and Texas (June 20). We still like this to be a Texas-Texas A&M battle in the long run, but there has been some Notre Dame and Penn State chatter so not having the Irish on his list (at this point) is interesting.
* As a refresher, other names to remember at linebacker are Tai'Yion King (Texas OV June 13), Kosi Okpala (Texas OV June 20) and current Texas Tech commitment Tieson Ejiawoko (Texas OV June 13), in addition to out-of-state targets Anthony Davis and Tyler Atkinson.
* I continue to like UT’s position with potential 5-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo with programs like Ohio State and Michigan probably being the Longhorns’ biggest threat. One thing that’s become clear in recent conversations with Ojo is that early playing time is going to be very important. Thankfully, Texas has already been selling that point, telling him he could fill a Kelvin Banks-type of role.
“It’s most definitely me coming in and trying to start as a true freshman. That’s my ultimate goal, to start as a true freshman and win true freshman all-American awards. That’s a main focus in my recruitment. I’m not opposed to redshirting one year but realistically I’m coming in to win that starting spot,” Ojo told OB this week.
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