(Ketch)
I communicated with a source on Thursday about the recruitment of TCU defensive tackle transfer Damonic Williams and here's what I learned.
* The central figure in the recruitment is the agent/representative for Williams, who is doing what most agents/representatives do in trying to secure the most lucrative deal possible for their clients. There are questions about where exactly that is going to take the recruitment.
* The sense that I have is that Texas believes that it has the best NIL situation of any of the finalists in the Williams recruitment, but it's unclear whether the Texas offer is being used as leverage to try and get the NIL packages at other schools (specifically OU) increased and, if so, where that leaves the Longhorns.
* For the first time, the source I communicated with on Thursday mentioned that the Longhorns were in the pole position (the player is very keen on the Longhorns) in the recruitment at one point in the middle of this week, but there's a sense that things may have turned when it was communicated to the agent that the Longhorns would not bend in putting together an NIL offer that the agent believes should exist for Williams, especially when it is already believed that none of the competing schools are matching what is already on the table in terms of lucrative NIL opportunities. .
I'm told that the agent believes a seven-figure market exists and is determined to find it/tap into it.
* The word going around on Thursday afternoon is that OU is probably the current leader, but there's a real sense of confusion about how all of this is playing out, partly because it is believed that OU has come under the Longhorns in terms of NIL opportunities (OU's is believed to be in the half-million range), unless that offer was enhanced on Thursday when meetings apparently took place between the agent and the Sooners.
*****
(Anwar)
* Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian addressed a group of Longhorn fans at the Touchdown Club of Houston on Wednesday. It marked one of Sarkisian's few public appearances before training camp in August. Sarkisian and other Longhorn head coaches appeared throughout the state during the Texas Fight Tour last year. The Texas Exes held this event in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. However, I previously reported this event will not occur in 2024 because, “With all the excitement around SEC, we are going to regroup and make new plans for the future.”
Sarkisian addressed the media before speaking to the group of Longhorn fans. He spoke for around 30 minutes and answered questions from fans during the luncheon. I compiled the main topics of interest for those not in attendance.
* Sarkisian was asked to name the players fans have not heard a lot about this spring but will during the season. Sarkisian said running back Tre Wisner and Edge Trey Moore.
* Sarkisian on Wisner: “He had a heck of a freshman year, and that was with a lot of runners in that running back room. He played great on teams. When he got his opportunity to run the ball at the end of the Tech game, you could kind of see the style of runner he is. I'm looking forward to watching his development and growth.
* Sarkisian on Moore: “Trey Moore is going to be a problem. He transferred from UTSA. He was Player of the Year in their conference. He had 14½ sacks. He's going to be a real problem. He's going to be a guy to watch this fall.”
* Sarkisian shared a fascinating observation: He said when the staff arrived at Texas, the team had a cumulative 2.33 grade point average, the Longhorns finished 5-7 and did not have any players drafted. In 2022, the team GPA was 2.78, the Longhorns finished 8-5 and had five players drafted. Last season, the team GPA was 2.98, Texas finished 12-2 and had 11 players drafted.
“To me, there's this correlation to who you are some of the time is who you are all of the time,” Sarkisian said. “And we are very demanding of the players in our program. As much as everybody wants to think of this laid-back guy, which I am, but what we ask our players is very, very demanding, and we require a lot of them because we're trying to develop them into men. Not just great football players. Our program is not just a developmental football program. We are the best developmental program in the country.”
* Sarkisian does not believe there will be a drop off in production this season after losing 11 players to the NFL: “The question I get all the time is what are you going to do with all of these guys that just went on to the NFL? We're going to be just fine. We've got a very good football team. We've had three consecutive top-five recruiting classes. I saw a stat the other day, we had 11 draft picks, but we're in the top 25 in the country of player production returning to our football team. So how can that be? We play a lot of players.
“We had multiple games last season where in the first half of the games, I played over 30 players on the defensive side of the ball. You have to give players experience. You have to give them time to grow. You have to give them an opportunity to fail so that they can learn from their failures and get up and go do it again.”
* Sarkisian discussed the upcoming season and mentioned the challenge of playing at Michigan, and Oklahoma, and renewing the rivalry with Texas A&M. However, take a mental note – Sarkisian said Florida is “loaded.”
* Sarkisian said they will practice in the Texas heat this summer to prepare for the upcoming season. He believes it is important to develop a tough team because the season will begin on August 31 and the national championship game is on January 20. Sarkisian said it could take up to 17 games to win a national championship and it is important to be in great condition to endure the season.
* Sarkisian told the crowd that he did not coach either team during the Orange-White Game. Instead, he spent the time watching and evaluating players.
“Whether it was the emergence of a Ryan Wingo that everybody saw catching a ball, to Isaiah Bond maybe having a little bit of jitters early in the game, and here's a guy who's made great catches in his career at Alabama,” Sarkisian said. “A little bit anxious to start the game, but then had a touchdown. All the way down to walk-ons catching balls on fourth down to extend drives and, ultimately, make plays to win the game for their team. To me, that's what made it fun.”
* Sarkisian on having helmet radios this season: “The idea I think initially was to institute the player-to-coach communication to minimize some of the sign stealing and minimize some of the stealing off the boards and the signals and all the other junk that's going. It looks like an amusement park on half our sidelines. It's not going to stop that. There's still going to be a no-huddle offense. People are still going to go really fast, and there's no way if I'm playing middle linebacker, they're going no-huddle, there’s no chance for me to tell all the other 10 guys out there with me what the play is. You're still going to have to signal. People are still going to try to steal signals. So, you better be adaptable, and you better be able to operate within the rules of communicating, as well as signaling, and not get your stuff stolen.
“I don't go to the airport and leave my bag by itself. You've got to hold on to your luggage. We've got to continually adapt to the new rules and then try to put ourselves in the best position to be successful.”
* Sarkisian talked about embracing the hate of teams in the SEC. One person asked Sarkisian if he thought SEC officials would embrace the hate, too.
“So, we played at Alabama this year, and we had SEC officials,” Sarkisian said. “I think we got two pass interference calls and one defensive holding called in the secondary [he is referring to calls against Alabama]. And that might have been more than we got called [in the Longhorn's favor] in our entire season in the Big 12. So, I'm kind of excited to go to the SEC. I think that they do have great officials and I think that they do it the right way.
“We're looking forward to dealing with them because I do think they call a really good game and I think they communicate really well to me as a coach, which is important.”
*****
(Suchomel)
* We reported this earlier in the week, but a follow-up for those that might have missed it. Texas is no longer recruiting 5-star running back Jordon Davison, as the staff has decided to focus its efforts elsewhere. I officially changed my Rivals FutureCast for Davison to Ohio State.
All eyes now turn to James Simon, who visited Texas for the Orange-White game. Simon told us this week that he’ll be deciding in May, and that one continues to trend well for Texas.
* North Crowley linebacker Jonathan Cunningham has four official visits set up – Texas, Arizona State, TCU and Kansas. He says he’s still considering all four schools and is keeping the door open for other programs as well. But after a spring visit to watch Texas practice, we feel that one is also trending well for the Longhorns, should the staff push for a commitment later this summer. Cunningham said as much this week.
“They’re at the top,” he said.
* It’s time for a quick update on everyone’s favorite 2027 wide receiver, Boobie Feaster. The Texas staff continues to aggressively recruit Feaster as though he’s an upperclassman. Feaster actually had a phone call with Chris Jackson last weekend and said the two have a strong connection.
“That’s my guy,” Feaster said. “I always try to stay in contact with him. I’ve been talking to him about family, how I’ve been doing, spring ball. He said he’s coming for the spring game so we’ve just had conversations like that.”
* Feaster plans to drop a top 15 sometime soon, probably this summer. Texas will absolutely make the cut.
“Definitely. They’re definitely going to be in there. That’s not even a question,” Feaster said.
It’s crazy early in this one and while I still like UT’s position, don’t sleep on Texas A&M. New A&M WR coach Holmon Wiggins has done a good job early on and Feaster had a lot of praise for the new A&M staff.
* The other big revelation this week was from the nation’s top 2026 prospect, Jahkeem Stewart, who told OB that Texas hasn’t really been recruiting him of late.
“I haven’t really been hearing anything from Texas. I was very interested in Texas, with the program they have going on right now. It’s a great school and they have a great football team, but I haven’t been hearing from Texas lately,” Stewart said.
* Stewart would go on to say that he’s not sure why the communication with UT has dropped, but said he’d be receptive if the staff picks things back up.
“It would mean a lot. It’s not too far from home. They’d be in the picture,” he said. “It would just be me building a relationship with them, see what they have planned for me as a player and a person.”
* Look for 2026 OL John Turntine to make a big jump up the Rivals rankings the next time they’re updated (he’s currently a four-star but outside the Rivals100). The North Crowley product was a standout all spring, including at last weekend’s Rivals Camp Series event in Dallas.
Turntine, who visited UT for the Orange-White game (as well as for a junior day in January) has connected well with Kyle Flood thus far in his recruitment.
“I like that he knows to make sure to remind me that it’s still early in my process. He always calls my coach and makes sure I’m doing well. … He makes sure that I’m good,” Turntine said.
* It’s early, but Turntine said Texas is always near the top of his list. The staff made a great first impression when he initially met them, he likes that it’s close to home, and his sister is about to enroll at UT in the summer.
“It does help Texas. I would love to go to school with my sister and have people out there,” Turntine said. “It would be good during the transition, I’d have my family. That’s a good thing for me.”
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