(Ketch)
* Let's start out with some positive news on Alabama transfer target Amari Niblack. The vibe on his recruitment on Thursday afternoon was very positive. I didn't have anyone describe it as 100%, but there's a sense that the Longhorns are going to end up landing Niblack, who was much less of an H-back at Bama than he was a very big wide receiver. One Bama person I spoke with on Thursday mentioned that he was "very skinny"... twice. The person I spoke with mentioned that he's a guy who's dangerous enough with the ball in his hands as an athlete that the Tide had designed plays in the playbook that used him on jet sweeps. Niblack still has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
* Stanford tight end Benjamin Yurosek is still scheduled to visit the Longhorns before he makes a decision, but the sense I got all week is that the Longhorns likely won't take both Niblack and Yurosek, and Niblack is the preferred player at this point. Of course, these things can be fluid and if the Longhorns miss on another player, maybe it opens the door for the Longhorns to take both, but that is not what I am anticipating. One person on the UGA side of the fence told me on Thursday night that the Dawgs expect to land Yurosek.
* @Suchomel will have more on Jabbar Muhammad in his section (complete with quotes from Muhammad), but I did want to pass along that the confidence is a little all over the place on this one. There's split opinion on this one. We had sources report to us that this recruitment is a done deal to Texas and others that were not quite as emphatic. The average confidence from sourcing with regards to landing Muhammad isn't as high as the confidence in landing Niblack at this point. Do not sleep on the Ducks if he makes that visit next week.
* Yes, the Texas coaches know that the team needs interior defensive linemen added to the roster. It will happen, even if it means waiting until April to add them in the spring transfer window.
* While there continues to be smoke that Houston Texans assistant defensive line coach and former Texas All-American Rod Wright could become the new Texas defensive line coach, one source in the Texans organization was surprised by the suggestion when I asked about him on Thursday, although he was highly complimentary. "New Texas DL coach? We haven’t heard anything at all but we’re locked in on B’More," the source said. "If so, awesome get!! He’s been instrumental for these guys this year. EXTREMELY VALUABLE. Today, when they were going through walkthrough, he was leading the group…which is pretty awesome for a “defensive assistant”. The players and DeMeco can’t say enough about him. Great communicator and a major reason why our run defense/overall play has improved greatly."
* A few notes to pass along on the NIL front after doing some checking around this week. It looks like the NIL budget is going to cross more than 10+ million in 2024, which means that there continues to be a big-time need for more heavy hitters to get involved with NIL/Texas One Fund. There's a sense that this will get sorted ... somehow ... but the work isn't done.
* It sounds like the sweet spot for people who have jumped into the high-level donation fray has been in the 40-45-year-old profile. Getting old Texas alums to get heavily involved continues to be a real chore. Interestingly enough, I don't think any former players have jumped head-first into the Texas One Fund donating like other schools have seen their former athletes do. It's just another data point that suggests that UT isn't hitting its head on the ceiling of what it can do if it can get the full power of the Death Star operational.
* As a reminder, if you want to support the Texas One Fund, it's a simple click away. More help is needed.
* One random player note to pass along. I had heard that freshman Sydir Mitchell was struggling early on in meeting the expectations that the coaches had for him inside the program. These concerns were shared roughly five months ago, but I'm told Mitchell is doing a much better job at following the expectations inside the program and there's real hope that he can be a guy that takes a step forward in 2024.
* ICYMI... this is what Rivals' Adam Gorney said in his Rumor Mill column about 2025 DE Kamauryn Morgan of Red Oak: "There are going to be many other programs involved but Texas A&M is definitely one to watch for the four-star defensive end from Red Oak, Texas, after his weekend visit. What stood out most to Morgan was coach Mike Elko’s message that he worked for everything to get to this point and won a lot with little margin for error at Duke. Texas and others won’t give up easily, that’s for sure, but he had a good weekend in College Station."
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(Anwar)
* The first offseason phase for the 2024 Texas Longhorn football season will begin next week. Longhorn winter conditioning will begin on Monday. Most freshmen who signed with Texas are early enrollees and will have their first introduction to college football next week.
* In addition, Kendrick Blackshire, Isaiah Bond, Andrew Mukuba, Trey Moore, and Matthew Golden are currently enrolled at Texas after transferring from their respective schools and will participate in winter conditioning, according to a UT spokesperson. Silsas Bolden may not enroll until the summer.
* This is the time of year when Longhorn strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton and his staff begin to strengthen and improve the bodies of players for the upcoming season. Last year, multiple people inside the building credited the offseason workouts for Texas’ ability to bully Alabama on the road in Tuscaloosa. One person grabbed me after the game and said that is why Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian had his team practicing in the extreme summer heat. Their goal was to make Longhorn players tougher and better conditioned than every opponent. Multiple people credited the offseason workouts for Texas’ lack of fourth-quarter collapses last season. Clearly, the weather is cooler in January, but the goals of improving remain the same.
* The Longhorns will take a different approach this season as compared to previous years. There are a large number of new Longhorns in the program this season. Before this season, players were in the system for two or three years. That made it easier to cut it loose with different lifting and running drills. However, the immediate plan for January is to regress the program's complexity, so that everyone can become stronger at the foundation of lifting and running, while also teaching concepts. Once the foundation is set, you can expect a return to the norm during the summer to prepare for the season.
* One player the staff hopes steps up during winter conditioning is defensive lineman Jaray Bledsoe. I was told Bledsoe looked like the best defensive tackle during practice “at times” last season. The staff wants to see more consistency from Bledsoe this offseason.
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(Suchomel)
* Former Washington cornerback Jabbar Muhammad finished up his Texas visit on Friday afternoon. He’s flying to Alabama on Friday to visit the Crimson Tide. He’s then planning to return to Washington for a few days before visiting Oregon next week. Following that trip, he’ll make a quick decision on his next stop. “I’m going to take a break (after Alabama). We’ve been on the road. I haven’t been home since the national championship game,” Muhammad said.
* The Texas visit went very well and Muhammad said there were several elements of the trip that made an impression. “It was a really good visit. All the resources are there, all the tools are there for a player to be successful,” Muhammad said. “They have a really good coaching staff. Coach Sark, I got to chop it up with him a lot. They have a really good culture, really good resources, a really good city. The players are cool. l was talking to them and they were trying to get me to come there.”
* Included in those talks, of course, were conversations with his cousin, Manny Muhammad. Manny was in Jabbar’s ear quite a bit on the visit. “All day. 24/7,” Muhammad said.
* In talking to Muhammad, it’s pretty clear that he’s thinking of this as a business decision. Yes, playing with his cousin and coming home are factors, but he said he’ll ultimately pick the school that is best for his future. “Of course it plays a part, being able to play with my first cousin. But at the end of the day, you can’t make a decision off emotion,” Muhammad said. “You have to do what’s best for you … I can’t really factor that into my decision too much.”
* When 5-star WR Ryan Williams decommitted from Alabama, the thought among Bama insiders was that the Tide were likely out, and Williams would probably decide between Texas and Auburn. Well, a lot has changed in a week. Williams made a surprise unofficial visit to Bama this week and he’s now scheduled to be back in Tuscaloosa for an official visit this weekend. He did take an A&M visit last week and while we’ve heard conflicting information on the Aggies’ chances, we don’t believe A&M will ultimately be the choice. This one now feels like a three-team race between Texas, Auburn and Alabama, with visits to all three schools on deck in the next three weeks.
* Texas A&M soft commitment Terry Bussey continues to keep things open and told Rivals.com at the Polynesian Bowl this week that he’s still talking to Texas and considering a UT visit. Bussey will take an official visit to Georgia when he gets back from Hawaii, a visit to LSU is a possibility and he’s planning to give A&M another visit since you can take more than one visit to a school if there’s a head coaching change. The general vibe from him this week, per people that have been around him, is that A&M is still the favorite to hold onto his commitment. I’d be surprised if he made it to Austin for a visit at this point but we’ll continue to monitor the situation.
* DeSoto offensive lineman Byron Washington is one of the players we’ll be watching closely at this weekend’s junior day. He’s very high on Texas as it is, and he has some former DeSoto guys that are really leaning on him to follow them to Austin. “Me and Murph (Byron Murphy) text every now and then. Johntay (Cook) replied to my highlights. Me and Trey (Wisner), it’s all love. They actually tell me how we work at Desoto is compatible with how we work at Texas,” Washington said. Texas, Oregon, TCU and Syracuse are the schools in the mix here, with UT setting the pace.
* Lastly, an updated look at a loaded list of junior day confirmations for Saturday …
2025
RB Jordon Davison – Mater Dei
RB Deondrae “Tiger” Riden – DeSoto
RB Wesley Yarbrough – Crosby
RB Riley Wormley - Southlake Carroll
RB James Simon – Shreveport Calvary Baptist
WR Jacorey Watson – Pearland Shadow Creek
WR Tanook Hines - Dekaney
WR Kelshaun Johnson – Hitchcock
WR Carterrious Brown – Seguin
WR Emmanuel Choice – Lancaster
WR Ashton Ansley – Tomball Memorial
TE Emaree Winston – Calhoun (maybe)
TE Kiotti Armstrong – Jasper
TE Bear Tenney - Lucas Lovejoy
TE Keiundre Johnson - Terrell
OL Byron Washington – DeSoto
OL Lamont Rogers – Mesquite Horn
OL Jonte Newman – Bridgeland
OL Marcus Garcia – Denton Ryan
OL Jordan Coleman – Cedar Hill
OL John Mills – SF (CA) St. Ignatius
OL Connor Carty – Prosper
OL Jackson Christian – Port Neches-Groves
OL Ty Haywood – Denton Ryan
DL Carmello Brooks – Katy Paetow
DL Kamauryn Morgan – Red Oak
DL Chad Woodfork – Summer Creek
DT Landon Rink – Cy Fair
DT Xavier Ukponu – Denton Guyer
DT Devin Coleman – Cedar Hill
DT Kevin Oatis – Hattiesburg (MS)
LB Anthony Williams – Pearland Shadow Creek
LB Riley Pettijohn - McKinney
LB Jayden Shelton – South Oak Cliff
LB Javar Thomas – Houston Nimitz
CB Cobey Sellers – Pearland Shadow Creek
CB Caleb Chester – Fort Bend Marshall
CB Kade Phillips - Hightower
S Jaboree Antoine – New Iberia (LA) Westgate
S Jonah Williams – Galveston Ball (maybe)
S Sael Reyes – DeSoto (probable)
S Isaiah Williams – Fort Bend Marshall
ATH Nick Townsend – Spring Dekaney (maybe)
ATH Lance Jackson – Pleasant Grove
ATH Demetrius Brisbon – Tyler Chapel Hill
2026
QB Will Griffin – Tampa Jesuit
RB Tradarian Ball – Texas High
WR Jaylen Pile – Dallas Parish Episcopal
WR Chris Stewart – Pearland Shadow Creek
WR Michael Terry – Alamo Heights
OL Max Wright – Melissa
OL Drew Evers – Flower Mound
DE Kevin Ford Jr. – Duncanville
LB Shaun Scott – Mater Dei
CB AJ Marks – IMG Academy
ATH London Smith – Waco University
ATH Brandon Ford - Crowley
2027
WR Boobie Feaster - DeSoto
TE Zane Rowe – Denton Guyer
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(Ketch)
It's been a few weeks since we've had a hoops section in the War Room, so I made a point to make sure we had some Intel this week.
* I asked Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy about the reality of UT's standings in college basketball recruiting as Rodney Terry's first season has hit a bit of a wall and the word I got back was way more positive than negative. "There’s definitely still an allure and the floor for Texas recruiting is going to be higher than 95% of other schools in the NIL Era because of the brand and the potential dollars that come along being associated with it."
* Cassidy continued: "The sticking point is whether you chalk up what happened last cycle with AJ Johnson and Ron Holland to poor luck or Terry being a bit green and naive when it comes to the pitfalls of modern recruiting, I think it’s probably a little bit of both. Either way, if it wasn’t for those bad breaks this roster looks a lot different and the team’s record probably does as well. Recruiting-wise, I’d say things are going well generally. Players seem to really like Terry and the money is obviously there. The thing I’d be most worried about, aside from poor on-court performance becoming the norm, is Baylor becoming a lottery-pick factory. In the NIL Era, developing first-round picks is second only to cash when it comes to recruiting. It’s not a death kiss for a program like Texas, obviously, but the Bears putting two more guys in the first round this year isn’t ideal, either."
* Atlanta, Georgia PG Mikel Brown Jr. might be the most important name to follow as things currently stand: "Keep a very close eye on Mikel Brown who may reclassify to 2024. I’m told Alabama and Texas are the main players there and I think the Longhorns are the slight favorite over Alabama as things stand.
* More from Cassidy: "Also, keep an eye out when the coaching carousel starts to turn, as you could see some higher profile high-school guys become available once again. I think Texas is in a position to clean up when players find themselves back on the market due to coaching changes. The combination of money and exposure is a powerful elixir in the late stages of a recruiting cycle. I expect a significant chunk of movement on the coaching front come March, especially if Louisville and Michigan both open. Each will likely poach a sitting head coach from elsewhere. If Oklahoma State opens (maybe unlikely), Jeremiah Johnson could look around. If Louisville ends up poaching Jermone Tang from Kansas State, David Castillo will probably be back on the market, and so forth."
* A few last recruiting notes: "Kingston Flemings is a major target and is a big-time lead guard that could land in Austin down the road. Jeremiah Green says he would like to attend college in Texas but I don’t think the Longhorns have prioritized him much yet. The picture of the 2025 class will clear when summer ball starts."
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