Big Position Battles, Bishop's Early Role & TE Room Progress | IT Q&A

Summary

Inside Texas Football — "Big Position Battles, Bishop’s Early Role & TE Room Progress" | IT Q&A

Podcast: Inside Texas Football
Date: July 29, 2026
Host: Inside Texas
Analyst Guest: Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Inside Texas Football dives into the most pressing questions ahead of Texas Longhorns’ fall camp. Analyst Eric joins the host to discuss key position battles on the roster, newcomer Jermaine Bishop’s early potential, outlook on the tight end room, and program-wide efforts to address penalties. The discussion offers insider perspective and candid analysis, aiming to prepare fans for the upcoming season.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Top Position Battles Going into Camp

[03:19–05:45]

• The competition is fierce up and down the roster, even for backup roles:

  "There's so much competition beyond the obvious that the fans know about, you know, every...people are jockeying position to be the fourth safety instead of the fifth safety." — Eric (03:26)

• Linebacker:

  • Juice Cryer showed out in the spring, surprising coaches. Ty Anthony Smith returns and has higher upside and playmaking.
  • Both can play multiple positions; this will be a real battle.
  • Rasheen Biles is also in the mix at running back.

• Edge & Running Back (RB):

  • Multiple 1A/1B battles.
  • Luke Brown is more physical inside than expected.
  • Smothers and Brown will rotate, but Derek Cooper could disrupt that by breaking through.
  • Both main backs have overlapping and underappreciated skills.

• Left Guard (LG):

  • Lawrence Seymour is expected to win, but Cole Hudson could make it a battle if he remains.
  • Quality depth is building, coaches trust about seven OL so far but want to get to eight or nine.
  • The competition will clarify who’s truly reliable.

2. Cole Hudson’s Attempted Return

[05:45–06:16]

• The decision to return was from Hudson and his family, not the coaches.

  "That was a Hudson decision on the family's part. You know, just, why not? I don't think it's going to work just because...that opens up Pandora's box." — Eric (05:48)

• While skeptical, Eric says Hudson would at least bring known depth if he made it back.

3. Uniform Sponsorship & Financial Arms Race

[06:16–07:43]

• Discussion about Texas' stance on uniform sponsorship as Ohio State and Notre Dame chase major deals.
• Eric doubts Texas can ignore big financial moves from rivals:

  "Who cares what he said in the past? He cannot allow those two schools to have such a huge advantage over them." — Eric (06:35)

• Uncertainty about Nike’s supposed contract “clawback”; Eric will look into it more.
• Texas may wait for the market to settle, then try to top it.

4. Comparing Coach Choice and Coach Jaluk (RB Coaches)

[07:43–09:05]

• Jaluk (current RB coach) brought to replicate predecessor Tashard Choice’s energy and toughness.

• Jaluk is described as “genuinely tough” with perhaps more of an edge, though both can be fun-loving.

• Recruitment styles are similarly energetic and proactive.

  "Jaluke was brought in to sort of replicate the energy...the physical mindset, toughness...he's not just coach tough. It's a real thing." — Eric (07:49) "Tashard Choice would...be cussing you out, but making others laugh all he does." — Eric (08:31) "I think Jaluk has those traits as well." — Eric (09:05)

5. Wide Receiver with the Most Upside

[09:05–10:34]

• Cam Coleman leads in “upside opportunity.”

  "Cam Coleman? I mean, you can make a case for all of them..." — Eric (09:11)

• Emmett Mosley: poised for a big jump if healthy; good red zone threat.

• Wingo: could have a more efficient and consistent year, benefiting from improved play-action.

• Coleman: had solid numbers at Auburn, but Texas expects him to be far more explosive.

  "Even if he has a 70 catch year...it's going to look a lot different because he's going to be up over 15, 16 yards per catch, a lot more touchdowns and just much more dynamic." — Eric (10:13)

6. Jermaine Bishop’s Early Role at WR

[11:27–12:33]

• Bishop is likely to be used quickly, but role specifics will be clarified in August camp.

  "Logically it makes sense that you could put them in place for Mosley, but we haven't really heard him working in the slot...they move around so much I don't think it truly matters." — Eric (11:35)

• Versatile—expect “gadget” plays, screens, and shots over the top to take advantage of his explosiveness.

  "He's got the electricity, the acceleration, the explosiveness to make big plays happen on short, high percentage throws." — Eric (12:24)

7. Tight End Room — Ceiling and Concerns

[12:33–14:30]

• TE room is solid but not a breakout unit—likely to be “good enough.”

  • Need to replace receivers (Sanders) and blockers (Helm).
  • Spencer Shannon may not be as athletic as predecessors but could excel at blocking, which Eric emphasizes is underappreciated.
  • Nick Townsend has high upside but is still developing.

  "It's the best roster in college football. There's got to be questions somewhere, right?...But I, you know, because the position is largely scheme dependent...I think they're going to be good enough. And then of course, the upside comes with Nick Townsend. We just haven't heard that he is going to really blow the doors off this year." — Eric (12:50) "He needs more reps and I think he's going to be really good and dynamic this year. I just can't say that he's there right now." — Eric (14:28)

8. Penalties: Addressing a Persistent Problem

[14:30–16:00]

• Texas still brings referees in for practices to address penalties.

  • Penalties are likely tied to multiple issues: inexperience, mental overload, playbook complexity and pre-snap movement.
  • Despite experience, last year’s O-line still suffered.
  • Don’t expect penalties to be fixed out of the gate, and early games could remain sloppy.

  "This is one of those things where everybody wants to blame it on one certain aspect when it's probably multifactorial of, of what's going on here." — Eric (14:46) "We won't truly know until we have more data." — Eric (15:56)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Most Compelling Competition:
  "Linebacker is one that we've been chronicling since the spring, when a juice crier looked better than we anticipated and B T Anthony Smith was out." — Eric (03:38)

• Wide Receivers’ Promise:
  "I still think they've got a lot of ideas to get him [Wingo] in the open field this year that are going to lead to a monster year, but more efficient year more than anything." — Eric (09:50)

• TE Room Realism:
  "It's not really a glamorous spot...but if he's a better blocker, which nobody ever pays attention to, the tight ends blocking unless they miss the block, that's going to give a lift for the position." — Eric (13:30)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:19] — Top position battles going into camp
• [05:45] — Cole Hudson’s status and decision
• [06:16] — Uniform sponsor financials and implications
• [07:43] — Comparing the two running back coaches
• [09:05] — Wide receiver with most upside
• [11:27] — Jermaine Bishop’s possible timeline and early usage
• [12:33] — Honest take on tight end room ceiling
• [14:30] — How Texas addresses penalties and game discipline

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Conclusion

This episode gives Texas fans a clear-eyed, deeply informed look at the areas of real intrigue heading into fall camp. The position battles at LB, RB, and OL are especially hot, while young playmakers like Jermaine Bishop and Cam Coleman could give the offense new dimensions. The TE room might not be a headline, but it’s positioned to be solid. Overall, the program is addressing old weaknesses (like penalties) with renewed effort—though how much sticks will only be clear once the season begins.

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For further insights and discussion or to submit your own questions, listeners are encouraged to join the Inside Texas community board.

Transcript

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[Inside Texas Host]

Hey everybody, welcome to the Q and A where we take questions from the Inside Texas board. We answer them on video format and you can sign up for Inside Texas Right now you can join for $1 and then on top of that you get half off your first year. The season's about to start. Eric's going to be dropping intel as well, as everybody else on the board, come join us. Link in the description there.

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

I'm always dropping intel. What do you mean?

[Inside Texas Host]

It's gonna be. It's gonna be so much sweeter, man, because we're gonna have a fall camp stuff there.

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

It's going to be more voluminous, that's for sure. We should have an update after, hopefully after every practice. You know, it's not. It's not easy to. To get the amount of information we have in the past, for sure.

[Inside Texas Host]

First question, Eric. What are your top three position battles that you are going to watch going into camp?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Yeah. Well, first, the. The most important point is that there's so much competition beyond the obvious that the fans know about, you know, every. You know that people are jockeying position to be the fourth safety instead of the fifth safety.

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[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

That. That could be an important benchmark too because the fourth safety is more likely to play than the fifth safety. You know, they might go too deep and swap them out like they have in the past. So there's a lot of competition throughout the roster. But obviously linebacker is one that we've been chronicling since the spring when a juice crier looked better than we anticipated and B T Anthony Smith was out. Juice crier probably fits a little bit better from a traditional standpoint, but Ty Anthony, let's be honest, has a little more upside and playmaking ability. So that one's going to play out. And. And you know, Ty can play both positions, but obviously Rasheen Biles has will unlock running back. It's. There's a number of one A one B battles in camp. Edge is another one one really. You know, you can call it a battle if you want, but you know, those guys are fighting for snaps and clarified roles. You know, each has their own sort of strengths, but they have some overlapping strengths as well. So if, you know Luke Brown runs it inside harder than people think and he does every bit as good as some others or maybe even better in that regard, then you know he's going to still cover. He's going to steal Smother's bread and butter carries at the same time. They both have to guard against Derek Cooper coming, coming on and taking on a massive role. What if. If Derek Cooper becomes a 1B then one of those 1A 1B guys is going to be out. So there's competition there. Now, the way it sets up right now, we think both are going to play a lot in a rotation. Like we said, Smothers runs inside traditional carries. Relique Brown can Do that as well, but also more dangerous with the ball and his hands out in space. So they both fit, but they're both fighting for carries because both are, are more well rounded than giving credit for. And then the third one, which everyone knows is left guard. We all expect Lawrence Seymour to win, but, you know, we're still watching to see if Cole Hudson is on the team, on the team, rather than just temporarily on the team. And then you've got all the guys that we've been covering all off season competing as well. So, you know, Seymour's not going to be gifted it. He's going to have to go out and earn it. And the good thing about competition here is we should get a better understanding of who actually can be relied on to play this year. Right now, the coaches feel like they have seven offensive linemen they trust. They need that number to get to 8 to 8 or 9 back piggybacking off of that.

[Inside Texas Host]

Whose idea was it for Hudson to try to come back? His or the coaches?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

That was a Hudson decision on, on the family's part. You know, just. Why not? You know who. I, I don't, I don't think it's going to work just because, man, that, that opens up Pandora's box. I mean, you're gonna have a bunch of guys flooding back for one more year, getting in shape at the last minute. So, you know, we'll see how it plays out. Obviously, he'd be welcome back. You know, if nothing else, he provides, you know, known depth. And also, I mean, he's, he would be good to have in the room.

[Inside Texas Host]

I know CDC has held steady on the uniform sponsor being a no go, but seeing the money Ohio State and Notre Dame is getting, does he still hold that opinion? I don't know. There was a picture that came out showing the jerseys and there was a, a hole there that potentially a sponsor could fit on. Eric, I thought that was you.

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Yeah. You know, nobody ever asked CDC that question. Hate these, I hate these questions when, you know, media tries to pigeonhole you. And, and nobody ever asked a question and said, hey, oh, Crystal. Connie, what if Notre Dame gets $20 million from SoFi or, you know, Ohio State gets 17 million from Chase, Then they. So his answers before don't mean anything. Who cares what he said in the past? He cannot allow those two schools to have such a huge advantage over them. Even if all that money's not going directly to football, a lot of it will find their way to football. Nobody had a better day yesterday than college football agents. Between that and the retention that they're talking about in the, in the Senate bill. Money is going to be flying around but you know, Texas has to address that now. Somebody was just telling, saying on our board that Nike has a clawback that if, if Texas gets another sponsor on the jersey, Nike claw back the dollar amount worth that, that that sponsor is worth. Now I don't see how that's even remotely accurate or possible because Ohio State is also a Nike school. So yeah, that's just something I'm guess I'm going to have to look into deeper. But right now, you know, I think what Texas is going to do is let the market sort of find equilibrium and then try to go above it.

[Inside Texas Host]

Could you compare and contrast Coach Choice and Coach Jaluk?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Yeah, I mean this is obviously a surface level. I, you know, I don't interact with those two guys like people behind the scenes. So I'm sure there's a lot of little minor things that, that, that they're vastly different on. One might like comic books, one might hate comic books, I don't know. But you know, Jaluke was brought in to sort of replicate the energy that they had in Trisha, our choice. You know, the energy, the mindset, the physical mindset, toughness. Like, you know, Jalooka is a genuinely tough guy from New Orleans. You know, he's not just coach tough. You know, it's a real thing. So, you know, I think personality is, is probably a little bit different. I think Jaluk might have a little bit more of an edge. That doesn't mean that he doesn't have some fun loving times. To Shard Chess Choice would kind of, you know, he might be cussing you out, but he's making others laugh. All he does.

[Inside Texas Host]

He's a younger guy too.

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Yeah, yeah. And you know, Choices, you know, we'd see him at Moncrief jogging over to the practice field in a hoodie in August. You know, it's 110 degrees or whatever and you know, he's just a younger guy, more energetic and but you know, I think there's some of it that there's carryover value to both their personalities on the, on the recruiting trail. You know, Jalook isn't just recruiting running backs and obviously to Short Choice to Shard Choice was a volume recruiter. He would go to a high school and see a great player and say, hey, are we on this kid? You know, he was really proactive in that regard. I think Jaluk has those traits as

[Inside Texas Host]

well, which wide Receiver do you believe has the most upside opportunity for the season?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Cam Coleman? I mean, you know, you can make a case for all of them. You know, I mean, you know Emmett Mosley's having a terrific off season. He only had 28 receptions. Some of that he was hampered by injury. You can make the case that he'll have 40 and eight touchdowns. Maybe, you know, they like him in the red zone. He's gonna, he's not going to have nearly as much attention as the other receivers. So there's opportunity for him to play in the margins that he's going to really benefit from from the other, other receivers. And then Wingo, just by being more consistent. Obviously he's going to have a bigger year. And also I think if the play action game works like we anticipate, they had to abandon it early last year, then he's going to get some gimme touchdowns over the top. But he already had a really high yak because he was making big plays. I still think they've got a lot of ideas to get him in the open field this year that are going to lead to a monster year, but more efficient year more than anything. Cam Coleman to me is the one that can blow the top off because you know, he had 56 receptions last year but only like a 1212 yard average.

[Inside Texas Host]

His Auburn numbers were bad because yeah,

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

his Auburn's numbers were not good. They didn't, they didn't align with the traits. And so even if he has a 70 catch here and what, only 14 more receptions than last, it's going to look a lot different because he's going to be up over 15, 16 yards per catch, a lot more touchdowns and just much more dynamic. He's going to be making plays on the ground as opposed to just in the air and then getting tackled or falling in the end zone.

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[Inside Texas Host]

What's your best guess on what week we may see Jermaine Bishop start to get meaningful reps at wide receiver week number one?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

I'm not sure exactly how they're going to do it yet. That's what August is for. You know, logically it makes sense that you could put them in place for Mosley, but we haven't really heard him working in the slot. Of course, you know he's been spending the summer at cornerback. The way Stark uses wide receivers is just, you know, they're, they all play multiple positions. Some of them play all three. I think Jermaine is obviously a guy that's going to end up playing all three. They move around so much I don't think it truly matters. So, you know, I'm not trying to say he has to be taking Emmett Mosley's snaps to get on the field, but until I hear that, you know, we won't have a really good idea of how he's going to be used. We will hear that in August though, but he's going to be used early on and then some of it's going to be gadget type plays, some of it's going to be screens and some of it will be traditional wide receiver place. But they're going to try to take advantage of him over the top and in space. I mean, he's got the electricity, the acceleration, the explosiveness to make big plays happen on short, high percentage throws.

[Inside Texas Host]

This is a astute question, I believe. I haven't seen any glowing comments about the tight ends. The comments seem pretty tepid comments like they are growing into the role. This has me a bit concerned. Have I just missed the more positive comments? Should we expect the tight end room to be great, good or just adequate?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Well, I mean this, it's the best roster in college football. There's got to be questions somewhere, right? I can't just say, you know, you can't just talk about them. The best room in the, in the sport across the board. They might have the best edge room in the sport. They might have the best wide receivers, one of the best running back. There's got to be a hole somewhere, right? But I, you know, because the position is largely scheme dependent or it's, it's, it's there to serve the scheme more than make huge individual plays. I mean, obviously they benefited from Jatavian Sanders as a receiver, but not so much as a blocker. They benefited from Gunner Helm, but he was more of a. Not necessarily as dynamic as, as Sanders, but he was, he was getting his looks within the run of play. The same type of looks that I think Spencer Shannon is actually going to convert this year. Not he's not going to be as athletic as, as Gunner Helm in the open field. I mean that's just. They're just different athletes. But he is going to make some plays as a receiver. But if he's a better blocker, which nobody ever pays attention to, the tight ends blocking unless they, they miss the block, that's going to give a lift for the position. But it's not really a glamorous spot. You know, we talk about it all the time. In 2020, SAR had Miller Forestall number 87. That was a bit character for that offense. But Sark still talks about him to this day about his importance to that offense. So I think they're going to be good enough. And then of course, the upside comes with Nick Townsend. We just haven't heard that he is going to really blow the doors off this year. But I do think at some point he's going to round into that player. He's just not quite there yet. It's a demanding position mentally, physically, athletically, and there's a lot to process and there's a lot to sink. And you know, he's in the process of doing that. He needs more reps and I think he's going to be really good and dynamic this year. I just can't say that he's there right now.

[Inside Texas Host]

And finally, coaches used to bring in referees to call penalties in practice. It was intended to cut back on penalties in actual games. Texas seems to have been a heavily penalized team for several years now and that has Sark's attention. What is Texas doing or going to do to clean up their game?

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

My guy Coolhorn, Cool Horn, you are on that board all the time. I know you've seen me address this a thousand times this offseason. Well, yeah, of course they're still bringing in referees to, to call penalties during, you know, padded practices and, and, and the like. But you know, like we said, they start a lot of, a lot of the drill work begins with the snap count instead of a whistle. This is one of those things where everybody wants to blame it on one certain aspect when it's probably multifactorial of, of what's going on here. You know, part of it might be inexperience with some players. It certainly was with Cam Williams two years ago when he was offsides on every play. It seemed like, you know. But some of it can't be blamed on experience because the, the 2024 line, that was our 2023 line, that was heavily experienced, had too many penalties as well. I think a lot of it is their head of swimming from the expansive playbook, the shifts, the formations, you know, all that pre snap movement plays a part as well. Now is it all going to be fixed? I have no idea. I, I don't know. We won't know until Ohio State probably. What I do know is going to happen is there are going to be some sloppy early penalties in the first game that everybody's going to attribute or extrapolate for the call the off season a failure and whatnot. But we won't truly know, truly know until we have more data.

[Inside Texas Host]

All right everyone, you can ask your own questions at Inside Texas and this is a way you can join for a little bit of money. Join for $1 then 50 off your first year. Link down in that description below. Around next week, Eric, we'll be going right into camp.

[Eric (Inside Texas Analyst)]

Oh man, we're gonna have to. Hey, we're gonna have to figure that out scheduling wise on this show. I don't know, we're gonna have to be flexible because we'll be, I'll be in Austin and I'm sure that they're going to let us have some sort of access to the practice and yeah, I can't wait to cover it. Maybe we'll have to do one from location.

[Inside Texas Host]

Sounds good. Everyone stay locked in for the rest of the shows. Coming at you later.

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