(Anwar)
MIRAMAR BEACH, FL. – The SEC Spring Meetings concluded on Thursday. I interviewed multiple SEC coaches, administrators, and league officials throughout the week. The beauty of this event is the accessibility of coaches and administrators throughout the week before they return to their respective cities.
I will divide this portion of the War Room into four sections: Steve Sarkisian, Chris Del Conte, Vic Schaefer, and Jay Hartzell. I shared my interview with Texas men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry with Wes Miller, and that is in this War Room.
Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian
* He said they will have a team meeting on Sunday night (that includes the summer enrollees) and begin workouts next week.
* Sarkisian was asked how Jay’Vion Cole could be the Oakland Athletic League Player of The Year and sign with Cal Poly. He said, “That just tells you so much about how many kids there are. Everybody's recruiting so many kids and sometimes when guys gain traction, they probably get over-recruited. We see that a lot. There are kids that [it’s like] how's that guy have 30 offers or so? And then you have these other guys that fly under the radar. I give Cal Poly a ton of credit. Think about this. The corner that just transferred to A&M is from Cal Poly (cornerback Donovan Saunders). He and Jay’Vion Cole were teammates and now those two guys are playing in Texas and Texas A&M. So, credit to their coaching staff for finding those guys in the process as you go through it.”
* Sarkisian on players and coaches being separated in May: “I do think it was good for our players. A lot of them got a chance to go home. We had a handful of them stick around and stay in town, but pretty much everybody got a chance to go home. I know our guys are still working out. They're with their trainers and their high school coaches and different things. I think it was good for our assistant coaches to get on the road. This May was different for them. Notoriously in spring recruiting, you get two visits to the high school. This spring they changed that rule. They only get to go one time. And then they got to kind of visit with the kids at the school which was a different format that I think we had to adjust to. My May was good, though. I got a chance to do some really good speaking engagements. We had some good events on campus. I got a chance to go to my daughter's graduation, college graduation. On that aspect of it, it was good, but I'm ready to get back and get back with the guys.”
* Sarkisian embraced the heat last year and held summer practices in the afternoon. The staff eventually credited practicing in the heat for Texas’ performance against Alabama. I asked Sarkisian why he enjoys embracing the heat and he provided an answer every Longhorn fan should put in their mental rolodex. “I think it's an advantage to us. I really believe that. I think the Green Bay Packers probably embrace the cold knowing that they can get home-field advantage in the playoffs, or Foxborough in New England. For us, knowing the first half of the season or so, the majority of our games are going to be triple digits to 90-something degrees, we have to feel comfortable in that arena. We do try to embrace it. We do think it's an advantage for us. But I also think that's where your depth comes into play and we're capable of playing multiple players. I mean, early in the season last year, we were playing 30 to 33 players on defense alone in the first half of games. I think we'll have to continue to do that. But I also think that's going to help us later in the season.
“If we want to accomplish some of the things we're trying to accomplish, you're playing well into January again. We're going to need that the depth of our roster to have gotten some extensive opportunities to play throughout the year so that if we need them, it's not going to be the first time they played.”
* I began a question by pointing out that Sarkisian has dealt with injuries to the quarterback position during the last two seasons. However, Sarkisian instantly corrected me – in a nice way – and said he has dealt with quarterback injuries the past three seasons.
* With that in mind, I asked Sarkisian how he will prepare Arch Manning for the upcoming season in case Quinn Ewers is unable to play. “That's the reason we played him the way that we did in the spring game. That's why before the spring game, I met with Quinn and he knew how that was going to go. I needed Arch to get extensive playing time, and I needed Trey Owens to get extensive playing time. A year ago, that didn't happen. Arch got a couple of series as a true freshman. Maalik was playing. Quinn was playing a bunch. I know who Quinn is. I needed to get those guys exposed in the spring game. Hopefully, we can find some opportunities early in the season where we can get Arch some valuable experience, and even Trey for that matter, just to get them comfortable playing.”
Texas AD Chris Del Conte
* Del Conte’s response when asked about future football roster limits: “I think from my perspective, it was just coming in looking and just hearing. We have a year. This gets implemented in 2025. It was like, here’s some scenarios. I play a lot of scenarios out every single day to just figure out what it could or could not be. It was just looking, listening, learning, and saying, okay, where are we at, what does it look like, what are the potential outcomes? Make sure I go home and put ourselves in the best position to be successful. Nothing is concrete from my understanding, from what I gather. It was just like, here's the potential issues. For me, I’ll just sit down, I'll start formulating three or four plans and figure out which one works, and then when 2025 comes, Texas will be ready for it.”
* When asked about the $20 million distribution to athletes that is expected to occur as a result of the House v. NCAA settlement and said, “[Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts said] We don't have a revenue problem. We have just an operational problem. And that's part of what this year gives us, just a chance now to readjust what we were doing. But if you firmly believe in a broad base program, I get excited about the fact that our softball team is playing. If you saw us in A&M this past weekend, it was an incredible environment. We got our swimming team our diving team, everyone's competing at the highest level. This is what makes college athletics great. We have two revenue sports, but they fund everything. We just have to adapt and adjust to what's happening.”
* Del Conte’s response when asked if adding corporate logos to fields or jerseys would increase revenue: “I don't know. I haven't heard that yet. They do that in the NBA, but I like our uniforms pretty clean. Just the Longhorn swoosh on it.”
President Jay Hartzell
* Hartzell’s response when asked what is the long-range plan for sustainability in college athletics: “I think we still have hope for eventual federal intervention and help. It'd be nice to have a more level playing field across the states. I think the fact that left to our own devices, people tend to race to the bottom right. Having a more level playing field would provide that sort of sustainability. We've got some key questions that have to be answered. You think about employment status. We're all going to have to wrestle with what's the future of Title IX. How do we honor Title IX in the new model? All that will have to play out but I think the hope for an answer at some point is help from the federal government. Because you want a sustainable business model, but also one that ensures and encourages some degree of parity. Texas doesn't like a lot of parity, but a little parity.”
* Hartzell’s response when I asked him what the future of collectives is: “NIL is essentially bundles. There's a part where it provides a resource base to student-athletes to come and pursue their education and play a sport and align some of the revenue that's been generated with those producers of the revenue. There’s a part there. There’s also a part people have labeled true NIL, I think about Bijan [Robinson] and his mustard. In hindsight, it's kind of wonky that was not allowed up till now. I think when people talk about the collective, they have in mind the former. Thinking about there should be different models instead of just paying somebody to be on the team. But every model I've seen and debated still has that second component to it. But then the question is if the second commodity you like, how do you distinguish a good mustard and a bad mustard? What's a fair degree of compensation for endorsing mustard versus one that seems more egregious and starts to infringe on pay-to-play? That’s where the enforcement mechanism debates are going to come about. If we go down that path, what kind of entity design that really does that well, fairly and ideally with speed, because you can have things drag out for years when you figure out if the mustard deal was fair or not.”
* Hartzell’s response when I asked if he would reevaluate the salaries of coaches in this new college football world: “As a university, we still want to be in the spot where we've been very blessed. We're one of the few universities where athletics subsidizes academics. I think is a core principle, we'd like to stay in that zone where we're not sending money from academic advisors to help athletics. So that means that Chris (Del Conte) in the athletic department has to make some hard decisions about where to find sources, either grow revenue, which will always a place to look, or places to cut costs. I haven't spoken to Chris in detail about where he might look but everything should be on the table ... We compete in markets. You can say you'd like to find a way to cut back on A, B, or C, but you have to look at that through the lens of competition. Whether it's competition for top talent or competition on the playing field. You have to kind of juggle it and try to think of ways we can save some money on the margins that won't change student-athlete experiences, but also, ideally won't change our ability to compete at the very highest levels.”
Texas women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer
* Schaefer on the difference between the Big 12 and SEC: “The athleticism and quickness and the speed in the SEC versus I think the Big 12 has really skilled players and kids that can really shoot it. From that perspective, I think there's a little bit, although, in both leagues, I think you've got both of those. Great coaching, great future Hall of Fame players. All I'll have done is jump out of the frying pan into the grease, y’all. Both leagues are great, have great coaches and great players. I will say this, I think that from one to 16 in our league, if you're not ready on any given night, you won't get beat you'll get embarrassed. That’s the strength of the league.”
* Schaefer praised his team for rebounding after Rori Harmon’s season-ending injury. In addition, he praised Madison Booker for transitioning for transitioning from forward to a point guard last season. However, Schaefer said, “Nobody is more excited on our team than her (Booker) to be able to move over there on that wing and get Rori Harmon back.”
* Schaefer told me he loves former Longhorn guard Gisella Maul and is happy she found a home at Cal through the transfer portal. Schaefer said, “I want Gisella to be happy. I want her to be successful. I want her to play. You only get one shot at this, y’all. You only get one college experience. So if playing basketball is important, and you want to play, sometimes things like this have to happen. We love Gisella and we wish her the very, very best. Again, enjoyed my time with her.”
*****
(Suchomel)
- Texas will host an Elite Camp on Saturday, its first camp of the summer. It was at this event last year that Texas landed a commitment from KJ Lacey. Could we see similar fireworks this weekend from a prospect (or prospects) in the 2026 or even 2027 class? It’s certainly possible.
OB will have coverage of the camp over the course of the weekend (and likely into next week), but some of the bigger names who have confirmed that they’ll be in town …
Plantation (FL) American Heritage QB Dia Bell
San Marcos (CA) Mission Hills QB Troy Huhn
Argyle Liberty Christian QB Quinn Murphy
Bastrop QB Weston Nielson (2027)
Aledo RB Raycine Guillory
Texarkana Texas RB Tradarian Ball
Carthage RB KJ Edwards
Jackson (AL) RB Ezavier Crowell (2027)
Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei WR Kayden Dixon-Wyatt
Waco University WR London Smith
Groesbeck WR Jordan Smith
Summer Creek WR Tre Brown (2027)
Pflugerville TE Jaivion Martin
Killeen Shoemaker OL Trey Pless
Mansfield Lake Ridge OL Felix Ojo
Duncanville DL KJ Ford
Temple DL Jamarion Carlton
Mayde Creek LB Kosi Okpala
Duncanville CB Braylon Edwards
Fort Bend Marshall S Isaiah Williams
Allen ATH Caleb Smith
- Texas will host its first round of official visitors on the weekend of June 7, but a number of the Horns’ top targets will be taking official visits elsewhere this coming weekend. Some of the guys we’ll be monitoring from afar …
S Jonah Williams – USC – Still feels like Texas has ground to make up here. Not sure USC will be a real threat in the end. If he heads West, which I don’t expect, Oregon might be more realistic. No Texas OV on the books yet.
WR Dakorien Moore – Ohio State – I’m not sure OSU is in the upper half of his top four, but you can never discount the Buckeyes when they get a guy on campus, especially at WR. Texas visit scheduled for June 14.
WR Daylan McCutcheon – Ohio State – Him and Dakorien Moore visiting OSU on the same weekend is interesting. Don’t think it will mean much in the long run though. Texas visit set for June 14.
LB Riley Pettijohn – Ohio State – At one point he was set to visit Florida State this weekend but will now be at OSU. I still favor Texas in this … UT OV is set for June 14.
OL Lamont Rogers – Missouri – Don’t sleep on Mizzou in this one. In the spring, Rogers literally told OB that Missouri was the team to beat. Texas visit June 14.
OL Michael Fasusi – Missouri – I don’t think he’ll wind up at Mizzou, but he does have a genuine interest. Texas fans need to hope Missouri doesn’t sell some voodoo package and win over both him and Rogers with the idea of being bookend tackles. Texas visit June 21.
OL John Mills – Washington – Pretty big visit here since I have Washington as UT’s biggest competition. He visited Cal last week and Nebraska in April. Texas visit June 14.
WR Jaime Ffrench – LSU – LSU is the team Ffrench listed as running second behind Texas as recently as this week, so this will be an important visit. Texas OV set for June 21.
WR Kaliq Lockett – LSU – Lockett and Ffrench visiting LSU on the same weekend … don’t like that. But they’ll both in Austin on June 21.
DT Brandon Brown – LSU – He was supposed to visit Florida this weekend but switched it to LSU. Watch out for this one. Brown, a UT commitment, told OB last week that LSU was the school closest to UT in his mind. We’ll see what he has to say after a weekend with Bo Davis. Texas visit is set for June 14.
DB Caleb Chester – LSU – He’s already visited TCU. Now it’s LSU’s turn. Texas visit is set for next weekend.
DT Zion Williams – LSU – Quick, someone put a voodoo hex on Bo Davis. I still like Texas here, but this weekend could make things interesting. Texas visit on June 21.
TE Emaree Winston – Auburn – Auburn will sell staying close to home to the Texas commitment. Winston has always maintained that he’s thrilled with his Texas commitment, but this could be one to watch depending on how the UT staff wants to play things. Texas visit on June 21.
TE Kiotti Armstrong – Auburn – I’ve seen talk of Auburn this weekend, other notifications that he’ll visit Auburn in mid-June. Working to get clarification on the date. Regardless, I’d be mildly surprised if Auburn was a huge factor in the long run. Texas visit set for June 21.
WR Kelshaun Johnson – Arkansas – An eventual choice of the Hawgs would surprise me. Texas visit set for June 14.
DB Aidan Anding – Miami – Anding’s a player that probably hasn’t been discussed enough. He loved his UT visit in April and the Longhorns could very well win this race. Texas visit set for June 21.
DL Hayden Lowe – Miami – West Coast people expect him to stay in that region, but he’s taking visits all over the country. Tough one to read right now. Texas visit is set for June 14.
****
(Wes)
Here's a look at some of the highlights from Rodney Terry's meeting with the media this week in Destin.
* Terry on how he feels about the current state of the roster: "You know what, our staff has done a great job. We got off to a great start in the portal. I think, like anyone this time of year, still no one's completely done. You know you're always working, and trying to see how you can improve and continue to put the best roster together for this coming season, but I like where we are. I like where we are. I think again, we've done a pretty good job at targeting guys that we wanted, and we've been able to get some guys that we wanted."
* Terry on the current NIL world that he operates in and whether he can even afford to stop and take a breath: "We're trying to get to that point. We haven't quite got there yet. But for sure. This day and time, kids get to your campus, they get going and acclimated with where they are. They have a choice that they can make on a regular basis to do something else, but it always comes down to the relationship, who do you trust, why you were involved in those situations to begin with, so we'd like to think that next week we'll have all of the guys that we intend to have on campus arrive."
* Terry on this NIL principles: "For us at the University of Texas, in my 13th year, we feel like we can go out and track the best high school kids in the country. So we're always going to recruit the high school level and try to get the best high school kids starting within the state, and then working our way outside the state nationally because we can with our brand. I think you get the best high school guy you can get during that period of recruiting. It has to be one that physically can play as a freshman that's ready to go and can play with older players because it's going to be a blend. You're going to go in the portal, you're going to recruit the portal as well, but I think there's a blend between both of those. You're going to have some youth, but you're also going to have some experience as well. You plug in that experience around the youth that you have. Some guys that you target need to be guys that can play with older players as Freshmen. So that's what we kind of try to do. The NIL thing every cycle has changed, and like anything, you have to continue to adapt and adjust with the changes that are prevalent, whether that be price point, guys needing immediate eligibility, so you're constantly adapting and adjusting."
Terry on his 2024-25 backcourt: "Oh I love our backcourt. I think at any level of basketball, no matter what level you win with your guards. Obviously you have to have interior guys that rebound and can score the ball as well and do those type of things, but your guard play is critical. I love our guard play. Julian Larry is a really good player, he's a winner, has won everywhere he's been, will bring tremendous leadership for us. Jordan Pope can score the basketball, distribute, has good size. Both of those guys have good size almost 6'2, 6'3. Then you talk about Tre Johnson, a freshmen that's going to be able to come in physically ready to play, can play with older players, and as a guy over the last 10 years of recruiting Texas high school basketball, is a natural born scorer but a willing passer. Wants to win. Tramon Mark, 6'6, a guy that can get down hill with his size, can create separation, can score for himself, a capable three point shooter, a great player. One of the top players coming out of high school in the state of Texas, great run in Houston (Arkansas? Maybe he's referencing High School). He's been around winning. Then you talk about Chendall. Chendall is a winning player. Had a great year for us last year. Worked hard in the spring on things we need him to continue to get better with. We feel like he's going to be an impact player as well. I like our guards. We have size, we're rangy, we can score, and I think we have pretty good ball handlers."
Terry on Nic Codie:
Question: Somebody asked on a timetable for Nic Codie: "Man. Really good young player, best player in the state of Texas this past season. We're thinking, don't hold me to it but he's ahead of schedule doing what he needs to do. Anytime you come back from an injury as a young player, it's going to take some time. We're thinking the end of the summer, first part of the fall we might be able to have him back in a pretty good place, everything is going great for him in terms of the surgery, hoping that the recovery continues to go in that same direction."
Terry on the other portal guys and what they bring to the table: "Jayson Kent is another guy that had a great year last year, can stretch the floor for us, great body, can defend the 4 and the 5, came into college as a perimeter player so he has good ball skills, elite cutter, he's going to be a good player for us. I call him a positionless player so we're excited about what he brings to the table. Malik (Presley), another young player that we would've loved to have had in our program a year ago. We really wanted him a year ago and redshirt him, but he had a chance to go and play, started 5 games in the SEC last year, good young player, wanted to be at Texas, and will continue to develop over the course of his time with us."
Terry on whether they are still working the Portal: "You're never done. Even when you think you're done you're never done. You are always working to enhance your team for next season."
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