IT Live: Fall Camp Buzz and the Biggest Questions about Texas Football

Summary

Inside Texas Football — IT Live: Fall Camp Buzz and the Biggest Questions about Texas Football

Date: August 3, 2026
Hosts: Justin (Tex Homer), Evan Vith, Eric Nolene
Special thanks: Coach (absent), Paul Wadlington

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Episode Overview

This episode of Inside Texas Football dives into the hottest topics as the Longhorns prepare for Fall Camp 2026. Drawing insights from the staff's recent roundtable, the conversation explores Texas Football's biggest storylines, concerns, breakout candidates, position battles, and predictions for the upcoming season—their first full campaign in the SEC following last year's playoff run. With new faces on the roster and coaching staff, the crew debates what will define Texas' success, and which details the fans should keep a closer eye on as Camp opens.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Biggest Storylines Heading into Fall Camp

[03:59–11:40]

• Offensive Line Cohesion:

  • Justin & Eric: The OL is the central storyline, specifically its cohesion and ability to elevate the offense from "talented" to "elite."
  • Eric: "I don't think it's going to be a big issue though, until we get deeper into the season. I'm very confident the offensive line is going to be vastly improved and...fine to good. I just don't know if it's going to be good enough to win a national championship." (04:07)
  • Landon Tangwall’s video analysis has made the staff more optimistic about the OL’s potential.
  • Is this group merely ‘talented,’ or can they become the best? Consistency remains the question.

• Defensive Questions:

  • Evan: Highlights depth at linebacker/safety as another major storyline. “Biles and Jelani McDonald are two ... all-SEC, first, second team type players. But you know, what’s next to them? Who’s gonna be taking that second mike spot? How good can Derrick Williams be?” (04:31)
  • Staff sees chance for positional battles, notably for the #2 LB and depth at Safety and Nickel.

• QB Development:

  • Nationally, “What can Arch Manning do in year two?” dominates headlines. Staff consensus is that OL cohesion is even more formative to Texas’ fortunes.

• Talent & Expectations:

  • General sentiment: The time is “now or never” for Texas with possibly its best roster in two decades.
  • Eric: “If you can’t, if not now, when?” (10:26)
  • Potential for four first-round picks, a testament to roster improvement.

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2. Biggest Concerns Entering Camp

[11:41–21:20]

• Execution:

  • Justin: Main worry is the offense self-destructing with mistakes — "lack of execution" in big moments, especially third and longs, red zone failures, and penalties.
  • Eric: “This can’t be one of those things where, ‘Oh, well, you know, there’s a long season and we’ll get better throughout it,’ because Ohio State is a must win.” (13:44)
  • The offense must be ready “by Week 2” vs. Ohio State — no ramp-up period allowed.

• OL Readiness:

  • Evan: Is the OL (including TEs and the interior) ready for early high-stakes games?
  • Justin: Tight end is potentially the weakest unit projecting into the season.

• Camp Caution:

  • The hosts warn against overreacting to “clean” camp practices, as these may mask deeper issues that only show up in real games.

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3. Most Intriguing Position Battles

[21:21–28:42]

• Most starters seem locked; the intrigue comes from "down-ballot" battles:
  • Linebacker: Ty Anthony Smith vs. Juice Crier for mike; likely to see rotational, matchup-based usage.
  • Receiver Depth: “Hollywood” Smothers vs. Relique Brown for top dog at RB (lightning-fast, but stylistically different) and Dalen McCutcheon vs. Jermaine Bishop for 4th WR.
  • Left Guard: Lawrence Seymour vs. other options, but Seymour is expected to win.
  • DE: Lance Jackson vs. Xena Umeozulu — likely situational/interchangeable use.
  • Edge Room & Young Talent: “Our edge room is crazy... Getting Xena back was one of the biggest plays of the offseason.” (25:46)

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4. Breakout & Depth Players to Watch

[28:43–59:55]

Two Starters to Watch

• Justin: Emmett Mosley V (WR3) and Rasheen Biles (LB) — Mosley is “easily the best WR3 in the country,” Biles is “the best of both worlds… makes the flash plays…but is far more sound than people think.” (31:57)
• Eric: Melvin Siani (OL) is being praised as best run blocker; Bo Masco (CB) is seen as a huge portal addition and “most underrated.”
• Evan: Ryan Wingo’s growth as an explosive WR, McDonald and Cade Phillips in secondary.

Young Depth/Developmental Candidates

• Jermaine Bishop (WR), Rocky Cummings (LB), Derek Cooper (RB), Richard Wesley (Edge), Jonah Williams (DB), Kobe Black (moved to safety).
• On Cummings: “He’s got the highest ceiling at mike linebacker probably on the team.” (42:16)
• Staff high on emergence potential but notes some picks may be “a year early.”
• “Justice Terry... just showed you what he’s capable of.” (54:02) (DL recently moved to DE)

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5. Breakout Candidates

[54:43–59:55]

• Jermaine Bishop (WR): Called the “theme” by Justin, but panel debates if a No. 3 or No. 4 WR can truly ‘break out’.
• Cade Phillips (CB): Eric sees him as a potential “3-year player.”
  • “He’s had a good spring going against Cam Coleman…if he’s opposite Masco, it allows the defense to do so much more.” (55:14)
• Justice Terry (DL): Evan singles him out for a possible jump due to physical tools and impressive flashes.
• Also mentioned: Nick Townsend (TE), likely to break out with opportunities due to scheme flaws at TE.

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6. What They Want to Hear About Offense & Defense This Fall

[60:36–68:22]

Offense:

• Execution, Consistency, and Simplicity
  • Justin: “They are putting themselves in ideal situations consistently… don’t make your life harder than it has to be.” (60:36)
  • Eric: “O-line is gelling together and limiting penalties.” (62:07)
  • Evan: Limiting penalties/red zone issues — recurring Sarksian weakness.

Defense:

• Assignment Soundness & Run-Stopping
  • Eric: “Assignment soundness”—new DC Muschamp’s install needs to go smoothly (65:44)
  • Evan: Can the defense stop the run, especially with lighter LBs?
  • Justin: Wants consistency from the new system but isn’t majorly worried about Colin Simmons (star DE).
  • Consensus: Defensive backroom depth and effective linebacker play are paramount.

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7. Season Predictions

[68:23–73:12]

• Records Called (Staff):
  • 9–3 (Charlie, most bearish), loss to Ohio State, LSU, Ole Miss.
  • 10–2 (Justin, Eric), most commonly picked, losses mostly to LSU plus a “middle tier” SEC team or OU.
  • 11–1 (Evan, Ian, Cord), with a loss to LSU, possible loss to Georgia in SEC title game.
• SEC Title?
  • Some predict Texas to win the SEC, others say close loss to Georgia in title.
• Playoff/Natty Hopes:
  • Some daring picks extend to Texas reaching but losing the National Championship (e.g., vs. Notre Dame).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Eric: "I think Landon [Tangwall] is really bullish on [the OL], and I can't argue with him... he's a former offensive lineman. He clearly knows what he's talking about." (05:53)
• Justin: "If you can't run counter, you can't do anything else. Your base concepts, you have to be great at." (14:47)
• Evan: "I think easily of the SEC teams... I wouldn't want any of their number three targets more than [Emmett Mosley]." (33:05)
• Eric: "If you can't, if not now, when? ... If you fall short, what was the reason? Did he fall short because of coaching blunders? Well, that's a big problem." (10:26)
• Justin: "I do want to talk about the Smothers/Relique... you can end up where Smothers is your more smooth, consistent guy. And then Brown brings all the spectacle." (25:53)
• Evan: "[The DB] room... is just so high-ceiling now with Muschamp as DC... sky's kind of the limit for this group." (40:36)
• Eric: “Fans always, always, always underrate experience... it can be the bridge between talent.” (08:18)
• Paul: “10–2 is the fattest part of the bell curve. Naming losses is a meaningless mindset with this schedule.” (72:50)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:44 – Start of actual football content; roundtable intro.
• 03:39 – Biggest Storyline discussion.
• 11:41 – Biggest Camp Concerns.
• 21:29 – Position Battles of Interest.
• 28:42 – Smothers vs. Relique; RB depth talk.
• 31:57 – Starters they’re most excited about.
• 54:43 – Breakout candidates.
• 60:36 – What they want to hear about offense/defense this fall.
• 68:23 – Season predictions (records, SEC title, etc.)
• 73:46 – Details on the start of camp, how to follow IT coverage.

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Recap & Takeaways

• Texas enters 2026 with unmatched talent and heightened expectations. The offensive line's progress is the linchpin for both a dynamic offense and a shot at the SEC/National Title.
• LB, S, & TE depth are early hotspots for competition and occasional anxiety.
• New defensive system under Will Muschamp brings optimism but also a demand for immediate assignment soundness—especially for the deep, young defensive backfield.
• Execution & discipline will decide close games—especially early, with heavyweight matchups looming (Ohio State, LSU, Tennessee).
• Prediction consensus: 10–2 or 11–1, with most seeing Texas in the thick of the playoff or SEC mix, though skepticism about getting over the final hump (and avoiding slip-up games) remains.

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If you missed the episode, this summary arms you with all major topics, position battles, predictions, and player developments to track as fall camp opens. For the deepest dive and ongoing camp intelligence, check out Inside Texas and Paul Wadlington’s extensive Longhorn Football Prospectus.

Transcript

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[Justin]

Everyone welcome to IT live. Brought to you by Academy Sports and Outdoors. I'm Tex Homer. We are joined by Evan Vith, Eric Nolene, Coach Is not with us today. Had to take one of his little girls to the doctor. So Evan is going to be our number three and we are going to discuss a roundtable he just posted with some big questions for the upcoming season. Head over to Inside Texas where you can see that their round table join for 1.50% off your first year link in the description. Also, our main man Paul just dropped the 2026 Longhorn football prospectus. Thinking Texas football, best Texas preview in the world, SEC preview, opponents we play, and then the wider sec. It's incredible. Go check it out. Link down in the description below. Evan, we're officially in round table season, huh? That's pretty nice. Seriously.

[Evan]

Yeah, it feels like. Feels like football's officially here when you got a big round table and a Q and A dropping on a Monday morning.

[Eric]

Yeah, exactly.

[Justin]

So we're getting into the flow of it. Let's talk. So what you did with the roundtable is you just asked all of our staff, you framed a question and then we had to respond to you. But it's a good way for the chat too, to let us know what you think. First things first, was the biggest storyline heading into fall camp. Well, did you even respond on these, Evan, or did you just.

[Evan]

Yeah, I did.

[Eric]

I did.

[Justin]

You're at the bottom. Let's start with mine. Mine was offensive line cohesion. And then. Eric, what did you say?

[Eric]

What'd you follow it up with? Offensive line. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's going to be a big issue though, until we get deeper into the season. I'm very confident the offensive line is going to be vastly improved and. And fine to good. I just don't know if it's going to be good enough to win a national championship. And we're not going to learn that in August anyways.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Evan]

In the Kool Aid a little bit.

[Eric]

Eric.

[Evan]

I know, I know his videos have gotten a lot of us a little more, at least a little more bullish on what the line could be. And I feel like everyone, everyone either said like, offensive line cohesion in this one or like Sark getting it done, which I think probably are the two main ones. I wanted to highlight something a little different with the linebacker and safety room because I do feel like Biles and. And Jelani McDonald are two, you know, all SEC, first, second team type players. But you know, what's next to them? Who's gonna be taking that second mic spot? How good can Derrick Williams be? Those are the kind of things I'm looking Out for too.

[Eric]

Hey, the old line is not just the land and tango. That's a little bit of confirmation bias. First of all, he nailed the, he nailed the issues, the, the pros, the cons of that line in ways that we were talking about in January. You know, he knows it's going to be outside zone, good pass blocking, all the stuff we've been talking about. So that gives me confirmation bias when he says other things that are kind of in the back of my mind. But then I just got a call yesterday and the guy's talking about how they love Melvin Siani as a run blocker. They think he might be the best run blocker on the unit. We already know that they've got, you know, Brandon Baker can be a good zone run blocker. I mean, it all the line has an identity, you know, like, like Tang Wall pointed out, like we've all said it, it has an identity if they lean into it. So there's reasons to be optimistic about the offensive line and then there's also reasons to pull back on the reins knowing that they're going to have to do it against Georgia. It's, you know, it's not just about playing the middle of the pack of the sec. They've got to do it in the playoffs.

[Justin]

I hope it meets somewhere in the middle. I think Landon is really bullish on him, and I can't argue with him. He's in a former offensive lineman. He clearly knows what he's talking about and all of his.

[Evan]

The tape.

[Justin]

Right. So there's nothing I'm really arguing about there, but he's just a little bit more bullish. I think I've been hurt before, fellas, and I'm a little bit scared to fly.

[Eric]

The thing that he's most bullish on that caught me by surprise was he said that they're the talented. The most talented offensive line in the country that he's seen. Not the best. He said Georgia, Notre Dame are better. And so how do you go from talented to, to the best is consistency. You know, he, he highlighted a lot of Brandon Baker highlights. That's kind of like going through huddle and saying, man, this guy's great. Well, you got to watch game tape, too. There's been a lot of. There's been a lot of high school recruits that have amazing huddle and then you go watch the game and their name's not called the entire night, you know, so it's, it's. It could be misleading going by highlights, but my biggest, my biggest takeaway from his videos are. It's, you know, he says it a lot better. He's got a. He comes from a much more expert opinion. But it's all stuff that's been in the back of my mind.

[Justin]

Yeah. Blake Bryant, bold take. Offensive line will be the best Sark has had at Texas. Best performing. Blake, you mean like execution wise? Because I do think it's probably one of the most talent. It probably is the most talented as far as athleticism. But the clear thing to me was I want to see that cohesion. But Evan, he's a hipster here. He's got linebacker and safety rooms. Linebacker. Linebacker is my number two. So I, I'll allow that one.

[Evan]

I have the benefit of being able to go over everyone else's and say, you know what, there's a lot of O line talk and that prop. That probably is the right answer or, or what kind of Justin and Paul are alluding to. Like just how, how good can this team be? How good can Sark get it ready for week two with Ohio State? But you know, I do think it is important to like, you know, I think a lot of us wrote in Ty Anthony Smith as LB2 or you know, Mike linebacker as pretty much as soon as the season ended because of his performance against Michigan. But you know, Juice Cryer looks really good in that spring game. And from what Eric reports and from all we've heard, I mean that's a real spot that he could win as a starter from the start of the season. So I'm definitely looking out for how that looks. And I also want to see just how deep that safety room can actually be. If, you know, Xavier Filson is playing in the nickel, how good Derrick Williams can be, Kobe Black out there, all those factors.

[Justin]

Well, they take that level of experience too. You have to pay attention to that when they take an experienced player. Adding an experienced position to which you don't necessarily have to be a first round pick. You just need reps. You should pay attention to that because they're clearly trying to settle the room. They want some stability there. Coaches will always pick stability over upside.

[Eric]

Fans, fans always, always, always underrate experience. I was watching that 2023, those highlights from the Alabama game and trying to live in the past, but just because I was trying to get a football fix and David Benda is out there balling, you know, David Benda was an afterthought the first few years of his career. He made that amazing sack, huge show, amazing closing speed. I mean, experience just matters so much. And fans underrate it. I underrated it last year. In the. In the opposite direction, too. It's, you know, experience goes a long way. It can be the bridge between talent.

[Justin]

Let's see what some of our co workers had to say about the biggest storyline. Charlie Williams, outside of the offensive line, how well are the linebackers fitting the run? I think that's fair play. We kind of hit on that. Our new. Our new guy, Tyler Horca, he says, does the offensive line look the part? If it does, we're talking about a very well rounded Texas offense and one that has the capability to meet arch halfway from the start to a level that wasn't reached from the onset in 2025.

[Eric]

Right from Notre Dame.

[Justin]

He's already on the narratives. Dude.

[Eric]

Dude. Hey, he went to Texas. He knows exactly. He's been watching.

[Justin]

But still, I'm like.

[Eric]

I'm like, man, he's quick with that. He attended more Texas games than most fans did last year.

[Justin]

Yeah, for sure. And then Ian Boyd, I think this is another huge one. What can archmaning do in year two? I think that's going to be the national media headline. Clear. And I think. And then Texas world is going to be offensive line, as we've seen.

[Eric]

Yeah. I was thinking for keeping that so short and risk that, you know, that was. That's exactly the national storyline. I can't stand national storylines. They're boring. They get played out. Yeah. They're not as nearly as important as what. What we're talking about normally, you know, which is the offensive line cohesion. There's stuff. Here's the problem. The biggest storyline is we don't. It's not. We don't know what it is. It's going to emerge in the season and we're gonna be like, damn, we should have covered that harder.

[Justin]

Yeah. But there's no way to know.

[Eric]

Right?

[Justin]

And then Cord says, the time is now for Texas. The pieces are there. That's kind of. I would give this like the fan narrative, which is like, how much more talent do you need? Right. Like, you have all of these. I'm a fan, a national fan, and I can name eight guys on the Texas roster, therefore, national championship. Right.

[Eric]

And then I said something. I said something similar to that in the Q A this morning. I started a Q A forgetting about this video. So there's a Q A of just people asking questions into the abyss. But yeah, it's. It starts time, man. If you can't, if not now, when? You know, at the same time, there has to be some sort of Context to it, you know, if you fall short, what was the reason? Did he fall short because of coaching blunders? Well, that's a big problem. If you fell short because ball bounced the wrong way, you know, that's a little different.

[Justin]

My man, Paul Wadlington. Can Texas turn arguably the most talented team in Sark's tenure into a champion despite the hardest schedule in the country? I think that's a great, broad one, too. We'll see, because that's going to be. That's. We said that five different ways. Paul was able to put it clearly, as Paul often does. Justin, similar sentiment. It's probably Texas, best roster in 20 years. It starts time. Is it. Is it their best in 20 years, or is it just. Are we getting near at the actual best, or are the championship team too nostalgic, too, or.

[Evan]

I mean, that was over 20 years ago at this point, so, yeah, I think it's fair to say. Roster talent wise?

[Eric]

Yeah, definitely. I mean, when was the last time we were talking about them having four guys being drafted in the first 12?

[Justin]

Right. That's where I'm like, it could just be the best of all time, too.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Justin]

All right, let's look at the next question. Biggest concern heading into fall camp, I say lack of execution. So being in third and longs too much, not finishing in the red zone, too many penalties, getting stuff behind the live scrim, all the little things that make offense pretty damn impossible.

[Eric]

That's my Evan. Why is that Execution capitalized. Is that a play call? You know, what's going on there? This is just.

[Justin]

He just copy and pasted it. I just literally just went.

[Eric]

I just wrote.

[Evan]

I started to make some little edits throughout, but that's on me.

[Justin]

Yeah, I'm just writing. You send it to my email. I'm just writing on my phone.

[Eric]

Yeah. Execution is somebody's nickname. We're not playing him enough.

[Justin]

We're missing Execution, dude.

[Evan]

He has to make it. Sure. It's emphatic.

[Justin]

Execution's out with a knee injury.

[Eric]

Donald Trump tweeted that out. Random capitalization.

[Evan]

I think I. I put something similar down the line in one of the other questions of, like, you know, I didn't want to. I don't know exactly how to put it on this one, but yeah, I mean, the third longs, the red zone, penalties, like, all these things that maybe are a little harder to really quantify in camp and actually understand how it's going to look in the season, which I think we had problems with last year. Maybe outside of the Penalties like that. That's come to bite Sarkeesian throughout his whole entire coaching career with his best teams, with his worst team. So, you know, that's got to be something. He has to. I think especially the red zone and the penalties like that. That has to be something that improves this year. And, and I don't know how much we can learn about that in camp, but I think it's great to point out Connor.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Justin]

And. And it's hard. It is hard in camp. I'll hear it from. Hey, there's still too many penalties we'll hear about if they're in too many third and long. So those kind of things. And then the flip side, right. What if the execution's perfect? Now I'm paranoid about the defense. So it's. There's that camp trap there here for sure. But I do want to hear some semblance of that. They're making sense on offense and putting themselves in good situations. Eric says that Steve Sars Kesian can have his team playing good enough by week two. He's still learning his new players and getting olike adhesion up to speed while Musk Champ is in year one of his install.

[Eric]

Yeah, this can't be one of those things where, oh, well, you know, there's a long season and we'll get better throughout it because Ohio State is a must win. So you've got to be playing. You've got to be a better coach than Ryan Day by week two.

[Justin]

Yeah, you still don't get a break because Tennessee's coming right around the corner too. So it's not even. You can't even survive till week four, right.

[Eric]

Yeah, you've got to. They got to hit the ground running, man. Last year took way too much time to figure out what they had. They didn't know what they had going on the season and then they didn't know what they had three weeks, four weeks into the season. So yeah, there's no time for that.

[Justin]

It wasn't until like Mississippi State where they were like, let's just spread it out. That just can't happen again. We can't be stubborn there.

[Eric]

You've gotta. You've got to know what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. And this is, this is tough because they can be good in 12 personnel, but if that's not their best, then they've got to get away from it. Good isn't good enough against Ohio State. So you've got to lean into what you're best at. And that means you have to Properly idea it throughout the off season and especially in August, you know, you gotta. You gotta be playing clean, man. I have, you know, I picked Texas to lose to Ohio State in the semifinals a couple years ago. Just. I just. It was easy. I just went with the team that plays cleaner football. Yeah.

[Justin]

One thing that drives me nuts that fans do is you'll see them run base concepts, like core fundamental concepts, and fans will be like, yeah, they're just building to something bigger. I'm like, dude, if you can't run counter, you can't do anything else. Your base concepts, you have to be great at. That's not a growing thing. That is the foundation of your offense. So it's not that, hey, you're new and fresh. If you're not executing basic stuff, you cannot go into your bag of tricks. So just remember that earlier in the season, all right?

[Eric]

Bring up this TW 262, 150 thing

[Justin]

to be better than Ohio State defensive coordinator.

[Eric]

Well, this is only partially true. Sark is the head coach. The entire football team. The entire football team, not just the offense. And I think he was perfectly fine against Patricia last year. It was just, you know, the team that comes back to capitalized execute. That one probably should have been in all Caps execute last year because they couldn't execute the simple stuff when it was there, you know, namely Arch Manning. But this doesn't. This is what. This is where, you know, Sark gets a out of get out of jail free card last year where it's like, oh, you know, PK wasn't good enough. I had to check. Okay, that's fine. But you're the head coach, man. Head coach of the entire team, not the head coach of the offense.

[Justin]

Yeah, Sark did have some winners dialed up. We just couldn't hit like mesh. So. But that's still ahead. That's still on the head coach. But it wasn't just like the narrative coming out of that is that like Patricia schemed him up and. And shut him down and it's. That wasn't the case. I had to do a whole video on it that it wasn't. It was a good game plan and good strategy, but it's not like Sark was baffled by it. They just couldn't do what they wanted to do. Like, Arch was missing throws.

[Evan]

Well, Arch had a touchdown to the left side that he just went the wrong way on. He cut inside when he had a touchdown to the left. That's not, you know, that's the capital E execution. But at the end of the day, the players have to execute there.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Justin]

How long has the team been prepping for Ohio State, Eric?

[Eric]

I mean, well, you know, all off season really. But it's not like they just say, all right, today this is what we're doing for Ohio State. But a lot of what they do that, you know, the, the coaches don't label it, but it's a lot of concepts and stuff that they know it's going to work or they think is going to work against Ohio State based on all the game study that they've done throughout the off season. They break down every team on the roster, you know, by the spring. And then, you know, team like Ohio State gets extra emphasis. And then the coaches, from there, they start the workouts. The 7 on 7, the drill work they do, the game plans, they try to install in their fast paced walk, fast paced walkthroughs are all things that are going to end up in Ohio State game plan. But they're not sitting there going, all right, we're going to run this against Ohio State. It's just kind of, by now I think the team, the players know, it's implied. You know, they've been doing this going back to 2023 Alabama, where they're not saying, hey, we're not, we're not doing this for Alabama. And then all of a sudden the light bulb went on that week when the game plan looked exactly like everything they'd been doing all summer.

[Justin]

They smuggle it in there because it's not good psychologically to tell them, but it's absolutely something that they're planning for in earlier prep. I expect a higher scoring game against Ohio State. I think low 50s total. I think it's gonna, I think, I

[Evan]

mean obviously higher scoring than last year seems like an easy bet, but I do think these are two, two teams who are gonna lean on the offense a little more this year than they did last year. And at the, at the end of the day for Ohio State, going to Texas, like saying's got to be really good. They know that their star power from last year is way, way lower. And that's not to say that it's not a good roster, but I mean down Styles, Reese Tate, all were top 11 picks. Like we're talking about Texas having four of the top 12. They just did that and that's what they had to play against last year. So I mean I think a lot of onus is going to be on QB1 and, and probably the Jeremiah Smith as well because I mean Texas has done a good job of locking him up the last two times they played. He hasn't been the one that's beat him.

[Justin]

And they were playing safe. Was saying, man, all last year, do they actually unlock him because they were playing boring football?

[Eric]

It's, it's really hard to know because, you know, the game planned for Texas, they expected that didn't really show itself for a long time. Last season really never showed itself because they're, they're defending deep and Texas was never really good on the deep ball last year. At the same time, Texas is putting in a new defensive install and that I don't know what to expect in the early weeks. I think they're going to end up being very, very good. But you know, there could still be some assignment busts. The good thing is, you know, they have a lot of understanding of what works against Jeremiah Smith. They've, you know, they've done the best job out of anybody and they've played them twice and they've shut them down pretty much both times. And Jeremiah Smith, I think his only drops of the season came against Texas last year. So you can't really expect to get bailed out like that again. Yeah, but yeah, I think, yeah, there'll be more scoring. Texas has got a lot more firepower, but again, it depends if Arch is hitting the easy stuff.

[Justin]

Should Muschamp expect a more Ryan Day or Arthur Smith offense? Arthur Smith being heavier personnel. Run play action for Arthur Smith? Yeah, I don't know, man. Like versus pk I loved our defense against Arthur, Arthur Smith's like style, but I don't, I don't know yet. I need to see that. How aggressive are we, Are we gonna keep the two safeties up top versus Jeremiah Smith? We ended up more in, man, I just have to see it first. Man, I really couldn't tell you.

[Eric]

Well, I mean, I've already heard some stuff on that. It's going to be. I don't think they're going to change up a whole lot in principle. Maybe, maybe the calls will be a little bit different. I don't think. I think the principle is going to remain the same on how they defend him. You make somebody else beat him.

[Justin]

They lost a lot of high level talent off their defense. They are talented, but it is hard to replace that level of play. So normally I'd be like, dude, they, we say this every year and they're still really good. But they did lose some like genuine freak human beings that are like, Caleb Downs is a hard human being to replace. The Linebackers. So even though I think they'll still be sound and good, I don't think they're gonna have that. Like those three guys.

[Evan]

Yeah, they'll still be good. It's just like. I mean, those were one of one college football players, especially downs. I mean, that was someone who, from the first time he ever played football in college, which was against Texas actually at Alabama. Like that. He just had such a high impact on every game he played. And recent styles were what the two best athletically tested linebackers of all time. Like, you just don't find that on your roster randomly when those guys leave.

[Justin]

And how do you.

[Eric]

I like this matchup for Texas. I mean, you know, as much as you can like it. I liked it a lot more than the last couple. Yeah.

[Justin]

And then let's take Evans biggest concern heading into fall camp.

[Evan]

I kind of mirrored what Eric said. Similar idea, but specifically the offensive line.

[Justin]

The level of readiness for the offensive line of scrimmage by the time Ohio State comes to town. How good will tight end and interior O line look in week two? I agree.

[Eric]

That's the line and line of scrimmage. That's like the wheel of fortune be before and after.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Yeah. Offensive line specifically have been too narrow. I wanted to have the tight end in there. Didn't know how to phrase it correctly.

[Justin]

Yeah. He wanted to include. What if we're in 12 personnel?

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Justin]

I think tight end is a big metric that we need to pay attention to. It's probably the weakest projecting unit right now on the offense. And then, of course, interior offensive line. But Kim, Baker and Seymour solve that problem. All right. Position battle you're most intrigued by. Kind of gave a boring answer, but I think the starting lineup is fairly set. In my mind. It would have to be down ballot battles like who rises at third corner. Those are kind of, you know, who's. Who's third safety, who's fourth safety. These are kind of my things as far as frontline starters. I feel confident. Or if there's a battle, I feel confident in either.

[Eric]

What do y'.

[Evan]

All.

[Eric]

Yeah, I mean, coordinates to read inside Texas. That's Derrick Williams all day long. What did I put? I'll put the linebackers. Yeah, linebackers, of course. Because that is still undecided. You know, Ty Anthony Smith missed all the spring. He's gonna have to go out there and win the job in pads in practice. You know, it's. You would think. Ty Anthony Smith has the advantage. He's coming back. He finished the last time we saw him, he was balling against Michigan. Eight tackles, two picks. But Juice Crier's got the time in the within this scheme, you know, Mus champ's brand new. So this is kind of a game on in August between those two. They're both going to play a lot. Ty Anthony Smith can also spell Rasheen Biles, but you know, there's a good chance that they just play the matchups with them too. And we see a little bit more rotation based on what the offense is presenting. And that could go down to what we were just talking about with Ohio State. You know, if they want to bring their big personnel, you're going to want Juice Crier out there. If they're trying to throw the ball underneath a lot, you don't want Anthony Smith, you know, roaming around.

[Justin]

Yeah, that's why Mike's not super interesting to me because I don't think there will be necessarily a starter exactly how you phrased it. It's like it's who's. Who's on the game plan because they have very different skill sets. Like Ty Anthony Smith drop back and get picks. Juice Crier can go face guards. So it's just whatever they're bringing to the table, I think is. Is the factor there.

[Evan]

That's how it was a Will last year. I mean, it was. Lafau and Smith kind of alternated games so they had more snaps and no one really was a starter there.

[Justin]

Evan says while we know there'll be one A1B will either of Hollywood Smothers or Relief Brown separate as the top dog. That is a fun thing to watch.

[Eric]

Yeah. Justin's got a good one there too. As far as number four wide receiver, who's the first receiver off the bench right now, you would give it to Dalen McCutcheon.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

But we know they love Jermaine Bishop.

[Justin]

I was gonna say you'll hear my responses about James Bishop or Jermaine Bishop. Yeah. As we go down. I'm very excited about him, but.

[Eric]

And then working really hard too. So, you know, I mean, I wouldn't. I kind of. I lean towards Lockett being a guy for next year. Potentially a big breakout for next year. But, you know, if he's going to break out next year, he's gonna make plays this year too. Yeah.

[Justin]

Paul, similar thing. Lawrence Seymour versus all the other options at left guard. Is there really anything going on with Seymour there? I hear about. People talk about the other left guard options, but is it. Is he pretty safe starter?

[Eric]

Well, the problem is, you know, the problem is he doesn't exactly have the. Yeah, the Skins against high level competition. So there's still some variance in how he's going to do against a very good defensive tackle room consistently. You know, we know he did pretty well against lsu, but he's got to go in day in, day out. The thing is he's just got to go win it. You know, he's a brand new guy. You can't give anything to any. Anybody. Brand new. Tyler Hork is sweeping floors right now. You know that. You got to come in and earn your, earn your way. So that, that's what it is. But we all, we all expect him to win it. And that's certainly the sentiment behind the scenes too.

[Justin]

Yeah. And then Charlie also, who starts at left guard. And then Tyler Horka, Lance Jackson vs Xena at defensive end. Well, I mean, they're situational, right?

[Eric]

Currently from your reporting, they are situational but also interchangeable. You know, you could play Lance how you want to play Xena. You can play Xena how you want to play Lance. You could play Xena, could be your third guy over there for Colin if. Or you know, if you don't go with Richard Wesley, which, yeah, I think it will be Wesley at some point. But will it be Wesley vs. Ohio State? That I don't know. But yeah, they, they can. They're interchangeable. It's. To me, it's like they're like the running backs. You know, it's like, yeah, brothers and Brown are interchangeable. Now there might be certain things they do a little bit better than the other one, but the other one is good at that too.

[Justin]

Yeah, what a blessing, man. Our edge room is crazy.

[Evan]

Seriously.

[Justin]

Getting Xena back was one of the biggest plays of the off season. I was a stat ecstatic whenever I heard that.

[Eric]

I didn't want to talk twice, man. I celebrated that one twice.

[Justin]

Yeah, that one was huge. I do want to talk about the Smothers relique. I think you can end up where Smothers is your more smooth, consistent guy. And then Brown brings all the spectacle and then they kind of balance each other out with that.

[Evan]

What do you guys landed at is I think Smothers will take the most carries this year and maybe have the most yards. But people are going to look at the yards per attempt of Brown and the receiving numbers and they're, they're more efficient, they're higher and they're going to. And Brown should be getting all these touches that Smothers is. It's like. Well, it's. He's they're helping each other. Like the reason Brown's more efficient is because Smothers can do some, maybe the more dirty work and take the first and 10 snaps a little more. Get, get those short yardage plays but. And Brown's going to be electric either way. And whoever is the one who takes more carries, the number two is not going to be very far behind them. I just wonder if, if there's any one guy that really does just take a little bit of separation here in fall camp.

[Eric]

Yeah, I think Brown's going to be better inside than people give him credit for, but I think Smothers is going to be better outside and in the receiving game than people think too. So it, yeah, it's. They're going to be well balanced, well complimentary. Yeah. But I, I can already see fans going, you know, if relief Brown has a, you know, big 80 yard touchdown, it's going to be. He should start, you know, it's not.

[Justin]

And I think even though they're oddly similar, they have enough different utility to where they can help each other. It's a unique pairing that on paper you're like these are the same guy. But they're not. But they are. It's very, it's very weird. You get what I'm saying?

[Eric]

We were all expecting some sort of thunder and lightning and we got, you know, lightning.

[Justin]

But Smothers is like, he has some runs, man. Who's the, the receiver from Miami? The freshman? Tony. Tony. So Tony's like superpower is like you can drop them in the middle of four guys with the ball and he just figures it out. Yeah, Smothers has that. Whenever he gets like stuck in the mix with safeties and linebackers around him, he just moves really well. Well on the inside like once he gets through the initial line, that's something I thought was special. And then relik, like you said, he's just dynamic.

[Eric]

So he.

[Justin]

If you make a mistake or misfit a gap, he's going to score on you in. But don't get it. Like Smothers never got asked to block at NC State. Yeah, I watched his all 22. He was on flares and screens every time. So I don't want to discount his pass catching too. But still, I don't know. Have you heard anything on pass blocking, Eric? That's something that seems like it'd still be a massive hole.

[Eric]

No, that. Yeah, we. I checked that in the spring and I think I heard. Oh man. Who was best? I got it, man. I don't know, I, I definitely mentioned it in the spring. I'll have to check again on it.

[Justin]

It.

[Eric]

I think they like Cooper in that situation, but that's terrifying having a true freshman back there.

[Justin]

Yeah, yeah. You want one of your two starters to really be there because you don't want to be it to be a total dead giveaway what you're doing.

[Eric]

Well, it's also just a, it's also an awareness thing. You know, you don't have to be huge to be a good pass pass blocker. You just have to light into guys. Trey Weisner wasn't big and he was good at it.

[Justin]

Ryan Nelson. I think Brown is more explosive than last year guys, but what do you think his deep speed is? So release. Like actual downfield. He's a running back so he can fall off and get caught, but like he can get, he can get 40 before that kind of speed starts to trail off. And that's common with running backs. That was the knock on Bijan.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Justin]

Remember he would. You just kind of. They decelerate. They're big, kind of explosive carrying guys. So if, if you're asking them to go 60, that last 20, a safety can kind of catch him. So I don't know about like pure long speed. Do we have 100 meter on relief?

[Eric]

I don't remember what it is. I thought he, I thought he was like a 106 guy coming out of high school. I don't.

[Justin]

That's awesome.

[Eric]

I'm not too worried about his speed. And also he, you know, he's extremely explosive, which first and foremost is, is most important for a running back. You know, we talked, got Lana Williams callous the other day Saturday committed and I liken him to MJD. MJD's, you know, first 10, 10 yard split was 1.53. Bijan's was 1.52. That's what, that's the real measure of a running back. You've got to be quick to and through the hole. All right, 108 and that was, you know, freaking 10 years ago for that guy. Yeah. Really? Brown's funny. He looks fast on tape to me, man. I mean, he's running, he's breaking some long runs. So I'm not, I'm not worried.

[Justin]

No, he's fast on tape. The only time I've knocked him is whenever he's on yard 50. The safety can, can get him. Yeah, I mean you run out of that juice. That's common for running backs on like super long distances. But I think it'll be all Good. All right. Yeah. That room's going to be one to watch. Before we keep going though, let's hear a word from Andre. Texans know when you're injured. There's one name that gets results. Andre the Lawyer Trust the team that has secured millions for their clients and helped thousands of Texans win their injury cases. Car wrecks, slip and falls, 18 wheeler, accidents on the job, injuries, wrongful deaths. Don't let the insurance companies tell you what your claim is worth. Andre the Lawyer will fight for you. His principal office is in Dallas, but they serve Texans throughout the state, so don't wait. Call 214-444-8808. That's 214-444-8808. Contact info is in the description. Alrighty, boys, let's continue. Two starters I am excited to see. I say Emmett Mosley, the fifth, and then Rashin Biles. I'm doing my job as the lead propagandist for Rashin Biles. People are starting to come around. I'm starting to hear it more. That's good. My work is paying off. I think he's awesome and as soon as we got him. So I'm super excited to see him. I think he's going to be the best of both worlds. I think he's gonna make the flash plays to excite fans, but I think he's going to be far more sound than people think as well. Because we have this weird thought process. It's like because he weighs 220, that he's not a good run stopper. But it's like his tackling grade was like top three in power four. His run grade was like top three. Like he had no problems with the run. He might not do it where he stands up guys in the hole. But I think that's kind of a made up problem with Rasheen Biles.

[Evan]

You're smaller than they used to be. I mean that's, you can, you can be a more effective linebacker 220 than 10 years ago, 15 years ago. And he's clearly an effective tackler.

[Eric]

There are zero concerns about him playing the run behind the scenes.

[Justin]

Good, I'm glad, I'm glad to hear that because it's just like this. I'm like, where did that come from? I think they just equated 220 to not being able to stop the run. And then Emmett Mosley being injured last year, not seeing him in full time. I still. We'll see with Cam Coleman now, but he was the most skilled receiver. We would watch him in all 22 down the field. Stuff you couldn't see as a fan on tv. And he would just take these perfectly timed, just subtle step at the safety. Safety reacts and he makes his move. Stuff that. It sounds like I'm going after Ryan Wingo, but like Ryan would. Ryan would do the steps, but he didn't understand the dance yet. So like he would step kind of near a safety, the safety wouldn't react and he would go to his second phase. But he wasn't getting that like he was playing off the safety at that point. That was something with a young receiver. I think we'll see that change with Wingo, but Emmett was the only one that really had that consistently. So I'm really excited to see him as the third guy there.

[Evan]

Yeah, I was cheap propaganda a few weeks ago just talking about Mosley and what he did, I think against the Mississippi State game, I pointed out, and he was such a. And Wingo had a great game that game, but he had some issues late in the game. Mosley, the two touchdowns he had were really good routes and exactly what you're talking about, like the little stutter step he does on the safety when it's not broken coverage from Mississippi State. But I think the safety and corner kind of didn't know who was on who immediately and he just burned right past him. And then obviously that last catch down near the pylon, like game winner from a backup quarterback. So I mean, I think it's a great call. He's someone that's gone so under the radar because Coleman Wingo are the two names ahead of him. But this is, I think easily the best wide receiver three in the country. I mean, I might not know of some of the non SEC teams as well and maybe like one of the Ohio State guys really separates like that. Oregon's got a good group, but I mean, I think clearly of the SEC teams, like I, I wouldn't want any of their number three targets more than him.

[Justin]

Yeah, I think he's gonna be super solid. Eric, what are you hearing there?

[Eric]

Yeah, I mean the same day that Evan wrote that article, I, I was on a team call and the first thing that was mentioned was Emmett Mosley was having a great summer showing, showing more speed. He's gonna. Nobody's gonna benefit from the, the presence of, of Coleman and Wingo outside like Emmett. And also the fact that there's not like some super tight end target that they, that they truly love. I mean they're, you know, Nick is probably gonna round into that, I think. I think Mosley's gonna get a whole lot of pretty easy targets, favorable matchups, and Arch is the type of guy that's going to take advantage of him and Mosley, based on that speed, I think instead of going for, you know, 13 yards and moving the sticks, might go for 30.

[Justin]

Yeah, he's faster than we realize too. And skill can make you faster. All right. Eric says his offensive player is Melvin Siani. Recent word as of Sunday said he might be the best run blocker on the O line. That's great to hear.

[Eric]

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's either him or, or Goosebie. Right. And if, you know, they're talking about Ciani, like a future early round draft pick, first round draft pick potential. So, yeah, I like, I like what I heard on that phone call. That guy can disrupt my lunch anytime he wants to. And then, yeah, Bo Masco on the other one, with the reason being that we heard a lot about him during spring. You know, he's rooming with Arch the first week of fall camp. And that, that, to me, that says something right out of the gates. If I didn't know anything else, I would, I would be pretty hyped about that. You know, they're not going to put Arch with a scrub. They're going to put them with somebody that's been, you know, making him think in practice and making him work for his connections. So I really. Everything we've heard about Bo and somebody, one of the sources put him as the number four best player on defense. So that's pretty high given the fact that you've got a couple, you got a few absolute studs in, in Biles, Colin Simmons and of course Jelani McDonald. So, yeah, I can't wait to hear more about Masco. And again, he's matching up against Cam Coleman a whole lot. He had the most success against Coleman. You know, those two are just going to make each other better.

[Justin]

I think he's the most underrated addition that we got in the portal. I think it's awesome to have to be able to just bring in who could be a number one or number two corner like that. That's. We should not take that for granted. Ryan Nelson says Bo Masco is the most excited, the one I'm the most excited to see. And it's just a great pickup last year. Gilbo was a liability outside. If we get Bo and Cade Phillips as good SEC corners in secondary. Secondary, I cannot talk. Today takes a big step. I agree. Yeah. Not having to worry about corner one or corner two, it Absolutely matters. Let's see what you said here, Yvonne. I can't wait to see more of Ryan Wingo and the levels he can reach as an explosive playmaker. Give me any starting DB for the defense. I'll single out McDonald and Cade Phillips. Stock Wingood. First things first. Eric, what are you hearing on our man Wingo?

[Eric]

I haven't heard a whole lot of late. You know, obviously they expect big things. I haven't really checked in too much on them. You just kind of hear the same old, same old. I'm, you know, this year, this August, I'm going to definitely be checking to see if he's a little more nuanced. How are they using him? Are they just using him? Trying to get him in space, which we obviously know they want to do and they should do it. The dereliction of duty to not do that. But it's becoming more well rounded and nuanced. That's what I want to learn about him. But even if he's just a more consistent version of last year, that's really damn good.

[Justin]

Yeah, I don't think you need all the doubt. It's great if you get it, if he turns into the crazy downfield threat, but it's like, man, once you have Cam and Emmett in the backs, he can still just catch screens and it would still be awesome or run guys off. So if he takes that league, great. But if he doesn't, it's still going to be a good offer difference and

[Evan]

it's a big thing. I mean just, just talking about the consistency, Eric. If he catches four of those missed throws between he and Orange on those mesh concepts, I mean we're Talking about an 800 yard receiver turning into a thousand yard receiver. Maybe not that egregious of a difference, but I mean if he's just got better hands and can figure out how to catch those passes, like completely opens up the offense and what they can do on some of those like second and three times where they're trying to take a shot downfield but also have an athlete like him on crossers.

[Eric]

Yeah, if the offense really starts to hit its stride this season, you know, we'll see. We can go on some play action. Bombs. Because he can run vertically and run under the ball, Arch's timing has to be good, obviously, but. But we saw them hit a couple connections. Last year we saw them miss a couple connections. They had to get away from it because the run game wasn't good enough, the pass protection wasn't good enough. This year the climate should Be a lot better for those two to hit on some bombs.

[Justin]

We got the running backs from Charlie Rasheen. Biles. I'm good with that. We talked backs, we talked Biles, Tyler Horka, Cam Coleman. I think that's a very obvious one here. We're kind of hipsters, you know, we don't want to give all that. Most obvious. We don't want to say like, Cam or Arch, you know, but that's. It's a huge factor. Like, everyone's going to be eyes glued to the TV when Cam comes on. And then Ty, Anthony, Smith, too. I think that matters even beyond just like the obvious fan thing, because it's just I've questioned how Smith's role gonna work. And so seeing that's going to be something that I'm intrigued by. And then.

[Eric]

Well, back. Back to Cam real quick. If, you know, Horker wasn't here during the spring, so he didn't hear all the stuff that we heard where it's, you know, the guy's just a complete receiver. You know, Horka's understanding of him is probably. Is a vertical threat, acrobatic catches and that sort of thing. Yeah. But we have a more nuanced understanding of them, having covered them, you know, the last six, seven months. So we've heard about him off the field, heard about him on the field, and I think, you know, Tyler's going to be just as excited about what he learns about on this month as we have been the last few months.

[Justin]

I think Ian made a smart choice here to Wingo and Derek. So he's talking about kind of the number two at their positions, and if those number twos activate and become elite, then. Then you're in a really special spot. So a lot of people point out Jelani here. I think that's obvious. He's a special player, special athlete. What was it Sam Houston when he just, like, took off to the sky?

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Justin]

So clearly, as soon as I saw that as a scout, that I could just show you that clip as a

[Eric]

scout and you'd be done with your

[Justin]

athletic portion of the eval. But, yeah, can Derek return to his former athleticism? And even if he doesn't, does a smarter player that's older and experienced at an experienced position with better coaching, is he able to solve that? But I like Ian's picks here about making sure that we're bolstering the number twos as well, because it's not always just about your. Your top line.

[Evan]

I think the ceiling is just so high for this DB room with Wilmot's champ as their DC and I'm like, I mean, McDonald's an obvious one massacre. We've talked about a lot, the sophomores, but I think just all around, so many talented players and you've just got a kind of a fresh start with one of the best defensive minds and specifically back end defensive minds. I mean, Sky's kind of the limit for this group. We'll just have to see how A, consistent can be. And B, like, is it, is it more interceptions? How many more turnovers are they generating?

[Justin]

Yeah, I think, I don't think anyone said Arch here besides Justin. Yeah. So I'm just like, that's a good point. You know, like I said, we're all kind of going hipster. But yes, if Arch is really good, that's gonna help us too. We have a good mix of staff, some people. We get to the different layers of it. All right, two depth young players. I'm excited to see on this. Yeah, I did. So I went Jermaine Bishop and Rocky Cummings. So Cummings is very hipster because it's like, well, how much reps is he actually gonna get? But he looked awesome in the spring game. We know his future's bright. We'll see if he gets enough reps to even to justify my pick here, but I think he's gonna be absolutely awesome. And then Jermaine Bishop was someone I was holding out on. I was like, everyone is so hype on this kid, man. Like, it just felt a little bit too much. And then I started really paying attention to his tape and stuff like that. I was like, this kid's the truth. This kid is very good. So I want to see him. Hopefully we can see him early in Texas State, utsa, those kind of moments. Not saying he'll be a starter, but I think he can have impact early on. Games that we're. We're up in. What do you guys think of those picks?

[Eric]

Well, I mean, I'm, I'm just as excited about Jermaine to see if they, you know, figure out just ways to get them the ball on, you know, called plays in advance, not, you know, running, not playing wide receiver. Arch drops back looking for him, but you're giving to them on sweeps or now screens, that sort of thing. You know, I think we're going to hear about that at some point. I don't know how much in August and, you know, he's going to play slot outside. It's all going to happen at some point. But how soon, you know, the emergence of Emmett Mosley. At least what we've heard about the emergence behind the scenes could keep him off the field, you know, at least a little bit. They're still going to use them, but, you know, they, they really like that, that group of three wide receivers for schematic reasons as much as the individual talent. So, you know, we'll see about Jermaine. He's going to be a baller. It's only a matter of time. Cummings. Yeah, you're probably a little, you're probably a year early on him. You know, first things first, he's going to have to barge his way on the special teams, which I'm not sure he's there yet, but very bright future. You know, right now would probably be the fourth mike linebacker just because they could, they could slide Spence over there if they need to, but he's got, he's got the highest ceiling at mike linebacker probably on the team. And so, you know, when you start figuring for that, they can move up real quick if they start understanding a little quicker.

[Justin]

And also your sourcing has been really good about like mentioning like, don't, don't forget the young linebackers. Don't forget the young linebacker. They bring them up a lot. So I think that's a good thing. And often you're good about not leading the witness because you can, if you ask, tell me how arches are. You know, is Arch playing good? They're going to give you some version of that. It's one.

[Eric]

No. Yeah, I don't need the, I don't lead the witness. But also, you know, we talk about who's making plays, but also then we, we have to put expectations on it too. Just, I just want to, I file everything away right. You know, I already know Rocky coming is going to be a good college football player, but I don't know when. Yeah, I don't know when that's going to be.

[Justin]

Is he my Vernon Broughton?

[Eric]

No, I think it'd be better. I think he'll be better than Vernon. Vernon got better each year, but not at the pace I would have liked. Not at a pace that would have made me look genius.

[Justin]

Yeah, we'll see if he can hook me up next year. Eric says give me Derek Cooper at running back. He has the chance, albeit perhaps unlikely, to emerge as the lead back later in the year. So let's talk about that first.

[Eric]

So going by what I've heard as far as you know, you're talking about trying to grind out games in the SEC in November, which Texas has been pretty Good at. Other than that game against Georgia last year. Yeah, that could be. That could be his time to shine. Limited, sort of limited usage early in the year is going to make him fresher later in the year. Ty is going to have time in the run schemes, you know, so I think, you know, time for a young freshman running back is. Is huge. And it's. It's a position where they can emerge at a young age. You know, Cedric Benson famously did it after Ohio State or after ou, much to the chagrin of fans that felt he should have been playing earlier. But Cooper has that type of ability to play early. It's just that he's got two seasoned veterans ahead of him. But I. He's going to play a foundational role later in the season. I feel pretty strongly about that. And then Richard Wesley, we're hearing really good things. You know, Colin Simmons didn't start his true freshman year. They had Trey Moore. We're hearing Wesley's gonna. Colin Simmons is obviously going to start. He's one of the best players in college football, maybe the best player. But Wesley's going to play a lot this season as well. So I went with guys that I expect. I went with guys that I expect something out of this year, basically. Yeah.

[Justin]

And Wesley, what was that? Pickleball. Were they playing pickleball the other day? They were, yeah. Wesley looks confident and comfortable with his team. Should be a senior in high school.

[Eric]

He is physically mature and mentally mature behind his years. He's one of Will Muschamp's favorite guys on the entire roster.

[Justin]

Yeah, well, that's always good to hear, Evan. You go with Jermaine Bishop. That's a good pick, dude. And then give me Jonah Williams on defense. I think he's in for a big camp. Were you the only Jonah Williams guy? I think that's.

[Evan]

I think we've gone so far the

[Justin]

other direction on Jonah, because I think we got bearish. I think we got emotionally kind of pissed off at baseball. So I do think we've gone pretty bearish on Jonah fan, fan, base wise.

[Evan]

I mean, at the end of the day, he hasn't played baseball since March. And like, you know, I was obviously there looking into it, and I said as soon as it happened, like, well, for you baseball guys, this is about. Or you football guys, this is the best thing that could happen to him. Like, he's just gonna rest for a lot of this time. And if he was going to be playing baseball into what ended up being June would have really probably derailed a bit. Of his development for football. So now he's been able to hit the weight room with the football team. He's been with the football team for a long time, which also matters. And like we're talking about the safety room and how the, the number three spot. There's a lot of good, good guys and good opportunities. I think J.J.R. is going to be a really good run stopper. In particular, Kobe Black's going back there. But who's to say that Jonah Williams can't be a guy that emerges and now he actually has a full camp to kind of break out here and he's a really talented football player. Like let's not forget that he didn't just get given, you know, the five star rating because he played baseball. So I'm really, I would love to see if Jonah Williams have a big breakout camp and get some early reps in the year. But I think he definitely is someone that we talk about the, the players like you mentioned earlier with Wesley at the edge room, maybe not playing against Ohio State, but one of those guys that ramps up as the year goes on and gets some, get some meaningful snaps later on.

[Justin]

We hear anything there, Eric?

[Eric]

Yeah, just what I've been reporting. You know, if you could combine Kobe Black and, and jjr, you'd have sort of Jonah. You know, Jonah's just sort of different. He's got the range and the coverage and then he's, he's got the size and he can be physical in the box too. I tend to think that he's going to make his first impact at field safety, which means that JJR to me is safe at boundary safety. I, you know, I don't know if that's going to last forever or what, but that's. To me it seems like that's where it's trending to start. So I kind of see him and Kobe in, in a one verse, one competition for that backup to Jelani. Assuming they keep Jelani at field. They've moved Derek and Jelani back and forth between boundary and field. But yeah, he just needs a, he needs a big August and he's got to do stuff in pads. You know, he knows what to do on the field, on the walkthrough, in the classroom. He, he knows what to do, but you've got to process fast and you got to do it in pads. So I'm just waiting. You know, I'm excited, I'm definitely excited to hear about him. It's just he's been theoretical this entire off season. I'm Tired of talking about him.

[Justin]

Yeah, that's the fan sentiment too. Fans, with Jonah, we are tired of talk. It's time for him to stay healthy.

[Eric]

I'm not worried. I'm not worried about him long term. As long as the nagging injuries don't persist. I'm not worried about him long. He's a freaking sensational athlete. Yeah, he's a, he's a pure football player. It's, it, he's, he's ridiculous. It's going to work out for him. He just needs time and, and some health. My expectations for, you know, September are somewhat tempered, but he could change that with, you know, five, six good practices in a row.

[Evan]

Well, I know you guys aren't very tapped into baseball, but let it be known that the baseball team has added quite a few outfielders this off season. So I mean he's, he's not solidified at all for a starting spot.

[Eric]

That was my question in right before portal season. I texted you and Joe, I said, hey man, what's our sign here? If they take how many outfielders, is it a sign about Jonah?

[Evan]

They took four outfielders and they already had a starter. So.

[Eric]

Yeah, so. And baseball knows that, that Jonah is a football player first. You know, that's, that's kind of the deal of about having him in the first place. Football is paying the bills here.

[Justin]

Yeah. Let's talk about some other players our staff mentioned. Coach says Smoke Matthews. Yeah. How much do you think Samari can integrate?

[Eric]

Well, coach has a fond spot, a soft spot for Smoke since covering him so closely as a recruit. And Charlie's been right about him, man. He made a lot of noise in the spring. His problem is Warren Roberson is a starter level cornerback at number three, you know, but you know, if they rotate corners and we've seen them rotate corners a lot in the past, not quite as much last year. They'll rotate them if they feel comfortable and based on a spring and I assume he's going to have a good, good camp, you know, I expect to see him play. There's no doubt about it.

[Justin]

Tyler, we got a deep cut here too, man. Jamari and Carlton excited about that too. He gained so much weight.

[Evan]

He's a big boy.

[Justin]

That was remarkable. So he could play that four eye, maybe move into a three Tech defensive tackle. So nice pick, Tyler.

[Eric]

He's a guy that you just put in the smoker for a year. He's not a microwave guy, but he's going to be really good.

[Justin]

He's. Who was the, was it Taquan Graham. That came out of Temple. Yep. Yeah, Temples. Temples dropped some guys. Who else did we get from.

[Eric]

The thing for Carlton is learning about how he's got that physical mindset. He's a dog. You know, that's important because you got to be more of a dog the more. The closer you play to the ball. So, you know, we're hearing the right things about him, and he can. He's going to keep growing. I think he's going to be a very versatile. Maybe a. Maybe. I don't want to say. Yeah, maybe a better version of Ethan Burke, a guy that can play up and down the line, but one that you would feel a little bit more comfortable playing inside. Maybe on a rundown Ethan Burke return. Is that.

[Justin]

Is that something that could happen after that?

[Evan]

I've been reading up on that. I've been reading up on that. I don't. I don't think he would be favored to make their 53 right now. The only thing that helps him is that there's a lot of ravens edge room injuries. So I'm gonna keep looking at that, but I don't.

[Eric]

I. It'd be hard for me to see that, like, it's. It's time. It's time to play Xeno lot. You can't take Lance off the field a whole lot. Yeah, I don't. I don't know, man.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Evan]

And he wouldn't be able to transfer because of the. The injunction said the transfer rules still carry over.

[Justin]

Yeah, I like that rule. And then Ian, Kobe Black. So he's kind of keyed in several times here on, like, safety depth, which I agree with. We've been studying a lot with Pack how much the safeties matter in that system. So I think Ian's on the right track there. I think moving Kobe Black to safety was really smart. He showed that, particularly in Texas A M. A lot of his big plays were read and then come down and hit and make the play. So it's like, similar to a nickel or more of a safety. So I really like that move. And it was something that, you know, we've tried to whisper about for three years, but, like, you know, safety can be a slur to some corners, and then they don't love the concept of it, but it seems like we were able to get him over there in a position that I think is probably best suited for him.

[Eric]

Yeah, sometimes it just takes time. I don't think Kobe was super excited about it. Sure didn't want to play it coming out of high school, but Yeah, I don't know if the writing was on the wall, but, you know, I think, you know, he wants opportunity, man. It's year three for him. You want to get on the field by anyone, any means necessary.

[Justin]

I agree.

[Evan]

He had some really good moments last year and it kind of surprised me how he didn't get the snap counts that we might have thought he would in year two. And then like A M. He played a tremendous game. Was really, really present as a run stopper as well. So I'm looking forward to see how that changes the style of play he has, but also like, how much he can adapt to.

[Justin]

Maybe what fits him better, Tyler Atkinson. How much do you think. How's his progress coming along? We know he has the athletic traits, but, you know, learning must champ scheme. He's.

[Eric]

He's the same as Cummings where he's like the fourth will because Spence would play there as well. So, you know, you got Ty Anthony behind Biles, then Spence could slide over. So he's in the same boat as Cummings. Talented. Gonna be good. Still learning to process everything. Probably, you know, get on special teams first. My expectations for both those guys are tempered for this season, but they're not tempered long term.

[Justin]

And then Paul calls out Justice Terry. You see that picture the other day of him.

[Evan]

Oh, my God.

[Justin]

What's the place in California where all the bodybuilders work? Yeah. Yeah. Not even. No. On the beach.

[Eric]

Oh, Venice Beach.

[Justin]

Yeah, Venice Beach. And he's. He had those arms in eighth grade. I was worried that he was developmentally maxed out by the time he was 14 and luckily that. That is not the case.

[Eric]

But he's. He's not the type of guy that has to do the hands into the bicep trick. Doing that in a picture.

[Evan]

Yeah, him and.

[Justin]

Him and Quinn so.

[Evan]

Still look bigger than him.

[Justin]

Justice had some crazy plays. He had a pass rush versus A M. That just showed you what he's capable of.

[Eric]

Yeah, he's. That's a good pick. I like the. That's. That's why our. There are deep dive guys that Kobe Black and Terry picks are pretty inspiring because they have a chance to play a lot more or they have a chance to not play if, you know, it's up to them, you know, because there's talent around them. You know, Kobe could get jumped by Jonah Justice. Terry's got. He missed spring and there's a. They've got six defensive tackles, seven, including Terry, that could play this year. So the ball's in their court, man. They need they need good springs, but if they have. Or they need good August, but if they have that, then they're gonna probably have really good seasons. Yeah.

[Justin]

All right. Biggest breakout candidate. I went with Jermaine Bishop. That's a theme with me, I think.

[Evan]

Breakout.

[Justin]

Yeah. I. Can you even break out at this point, if everyone's calling it. But I, but I think, yeah, I just think he's super skilled beyond being a crazy athlete. So that's, that's my pick. I don't really need to talk more about Bishop. All right, Eric, goes with Cade Phillips here. Why is that?

[Eric]

Well, I think he's a potential 30 year player and if he's a 30 year player, he's going to start looking like that relatively soon this season, I believe. You know, there's a chance he could, you know, have a middling season. And then you've seen that guys, you only get one year of really good production out of. I've seen that college football actually quite a bit. But Kate showed very good signs last year. He's had a, he had a good spring going against Cam Coleman. He's rooming with Cam Coleman, which tells you that they've got a nice little rivalry. And, you know, I think if, if he's on the opposite side of Masco, it allows the defense to do so much more, so get so much more aggressive, especially with the safeties, which, you know, must. Champ loves to move those guys around. I think Kate's gonna have a breakout and I think it's going to help the whole defense.

[Justin]

So remember that where they caught the touchdown on Cade versus Georgia, you know, if you don't study football enough, he was in perfect coverage. So what I came. Came away from that is like, wow, that was excellent coverage. Like, if they just throw like that, there's nothing you can do. I was super impressed with that rep. Even though most people would be like, he gave up a touchdown. It's like, no, no, like that was just really well executed to be that young and be able to stay on that receiver.

[Evan]

It's like the Smoke Matthews clip earlier in the spring where he got mossed by Cam Cole and you're like, hey, that true freshman was smothering Cam Coleman

[Justin]

just kind of sucks. Yeah, exactly.

[Eric]

Cam Coleman just does that to you, man. Yeah.

[Evan]

I was like, sorry, dude.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Justin]

That has nothing to do with your coverage ability.

[Eric]

I think it's a year early on Jermaine Bishop as a breakout player. But I like Paul hedging the, the gambler that he is. Look at him.

[Evan]

Or yeah, Come on, now.

[Eric]

Because he knows. He knows it's going to be one of those guys fighting for those reps or, you know, it's. But there's a chance they split and then it's neither as a breakout.

[Justin]

But can you break out as a number three? Like. Like the highest receptions we've had As a number three for Sark has been 51 time with Jordan Whittington. So can number three even break out in that traditional.

[Eric]

Yeah. And Whittington had like, what, one or two touchdowns? You gotta have touchdowns to break out.

[Evan]

Yeah, well, they didn't have a number four on that team either. It was just the top three.

[Eric]

Yeah. The problem. The problem that. The problem that Bishop has is that he does have Mosley and their scheme preference for those three big wide receivers out there. It'. So if they, if they grind people down with that, with that offense like they think they will, Sark's not going to feel the need to go to Jermaine as opposed to. If they're. If they get to their situation in Mississippi State last year where they have to throw the ball around, then you're going to want to get it to Jermaine. Jermaine's got it in him to break out. I just don't think he's going to break out this year. That's why I went with a guy that's guaranteed to start.

[Justin]

Yeah. And then let's see what else we got here from Evan.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Justin]

Already talked about him. Okay. You did the justice, Terry. Okay. I'm down with it. Charlie goes with Nick Townsend, so I know Eric's excited to hear this.

[Eric]

It's a good one, because, you know, a breakout requires opportunity, and Nick Townsend is guaranteed to get opportunity. And then he's gonna make. I don't. I don't know if he'll break out from a pure football sense behind the scenes with the coaching and how they grades with blocking and all that, but he's probably going to break out with fans because if you get that guy in the open field, he's either going to truck somebody or he's going to run away from him. And fans love those exciting plays. I love those exciting plays. They stick in our memory. So I do think. I do think he's going to make some of those. Look at the. Look at his plays last year, right? We all. I remember his first play of the season vividly coming across the formation and just lighting into an Ohio State guy. I think that was his first collegiate snap ever.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

And then, of course, the Touch. He does exciting, fun, aggressive stuff, but we need to see him do that. It might be the wrong guy that

[Justin]

he's blocking, but he goes 100.

[Evan]

He's gonna lay the hammer on.

[Eric]

Yeah, he's launching into somebody. It might be his own right tackle. Somebody.

[Justin]

Yeah. And then also just the speed he had on that a. M. Quick give. So, yeah, he has all that exciting stuff. So, yeah. And then someone makes a point. You can't break out as a true freshman. You're just debuting. Fair. Fair. I agree. But I picked your main. Bishops are. Therefore, I disagree. Agree with you automatically. All right, Tyler wants Jonah Williams. We'll see. Talked about a lot of these guys here. I want to see what we have. So we had more Jermaine. Jermaine Bishop was kind of the clear, clear one here, though.

[Evan]

I mean, Cord points out Cam, which I think it's fair to say, like, what was Coleman's 700 yards, 750 last year.

[Justin]

And so that's the problem is the idea of Cam is so much more, is so different from production. And Eric's point this out several times because I'll say that, like, the wide receiver room doesn't have the highest ceiling. And Eric correctly points out, he's like, technically they do, because if you look at their production, it can go way up. And so I agree with that.

[Eric]

Cam was averaged 12.6 yards per catch last year or something. Asinine.

[Justin]

Dude. Cam's numbers were awful last year. And then you go and what? Then you get paranoid, and I'm like, oh, no, what are we doing? You know, because he's not going to be free. And then you go and watch the tape and you're like, okay, Auburn just.

[Eric]

This was our horrific usage, the Vanderbilt

[Evan]

game, where like the last three minutes, they just start throwing. Throwing it at him in the back corner of the end zone, and he just demolishes the cornerback he's on. It was some of the most entertaining, like, transfer tape I've ever gotten to watch.

[Justin]

Yep. Yeah, they. So yeah, I. I agree that Cam could actually be a production breakout, even though he's already, you know, super well known. But we could. We could phrase it like that. Lock it. I'm a locket guy. But Eric keeps, you know, with his intel, kind of just like, you can't

[Eric]

break out with Cam Coleman in front of you.

[Justin]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. He's just. That's the problem. But I love locket too. I think next year is the one for Lockett. I'll look for any excuse to hype up Kalique. All right, let's see what we got here. What's one thing you want to hear most about the offense's progress this fall? Me. They are putting themselves in ideal situations consistently similar to what I said with execution. Just don't make your life harder than it has to be. Whether it's penalties or being in third and longs, I'm a big success rate guy. I think it really shows your coat. I think that's the metric that shows how good of a coach you are. And so that's what I want to see. Just don't always have to be fighting or. I don't want Sark to always have to scheme up some play to get two yards. I just want to get it done. That's my big thing.

[Eric]

Yeah, call the first down play instead of call the touchdown play.

[Justin]

Well, no, it's like, remember the one I. And I think y' all got mad. Some of y' all got mad. I can't remember in the group chat, but like, it was like the first quarter of a game. It wasn't a big game. It was like third and two. We were on like our going into the end zone like the 30, and we called basically like a two point conversion to get a third and two with like trick play motion and all this stuff. I'm like, guys, it's just. It bums me out. We have to go there oftentimes. And it bums me out that you will need that. You. You could need that later in the game. That's what I mean. It's. It's. The little things really matter here. All right, Eric, the offensive line is gelling together and limiting penalties.

[Eric]

That's it. I mean, what else needs to be said? It's been driving me crazy.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

I have not been a fan of the offensive line really ever under, under Kyle Floyd, because you, you measure. You measure your, your considerations by expectations. You know, I don't think they've ever met the expectations I've had for that line going into the season. You know, it's even the 2023 team. Way too many penalties for the experience it had 2024 more of the same. Way too many penalties last year was penalties and just entirely ineffective.

[Justin]

What was that weird phrasing at SEC media days where Sark was like, our team has an urge to commit penalties or something that Sark has like, noticed some type of like, psychological addiction to

[Eric]

penalties that we have? I don't know. It's just. And it's not just the offensive line. I mean. And last year it was. Even if they cut their penalties in half, they still would have been like, you know, 50 or something. I mean, it's just 70. Just. Yeah, it's gotta. It's. It's got to be fixed, man. It's hard to. It's hard to pick them for a national championship, to. To be national champions when the offensive line has never really met expectations and they have way too many penalties. It's like. It's almost like anything else I'm looking at to try to get over the hump. I'm wasting my time, but I don't know. I'll get creative.

[Justin]

You could pick two metrics and it would just be like reds. Well, technically three. Red zone offense, red zone defense, and penalties. If you looked at those three, I think it could tell you the national championship or at least how far you're gonna get. I think they're. It's that important. All right, Evan.

[Evan]

Yeah. I kind of split their upgrades on you both years.

[Justin]

Yeah. Limiting some of the problems Sarkeesian offenses have struggled with in recent years. Penalty, red zones, execution. Dude, I totally agree. Let's see if anybody else picks something different. Coach Williams. The offense winning their fair share of battles of inside run and red zone situations. So being able to move guys vertically, I think has been a big problem for the offensive line and Tyler Horka. Arch Manning's timing with his targets look effortless. And a major reason for that being the case that the offensive line is giving him time to truly feel comfortable going through his progressions. So that's what we saw. He can progress at probably. I don't. Maybe the best in college football. Getting through his reads. Can he survive that? And then my thing too is just like, does the short game come alive? Can Arch win the easy ones? And Boyd. That Manning and Cam Coleman have a terrific connection. Of course. Ian. Philosophy and belief system is that, you know, outside receivers can change games. And he has very good evidence to prove, so. So I'm not surprised to hear that as well. Cord's kind of similar to Coach O. Line is moving defensive line at point of attack. Big factor. And then Paul gets it. Arch Manning finding easy money in the passing game with greater efficiency in the outside zone run game. Getting on track. All right. Justin Wells balance. If they find a harmonious rhythm of running past, this offense will be unstoppable. All right, what's one thing you want to hear most about the defense's progress this fall? I said defense limits growing pains from a new system. Install. I think Eric, yours is similar, right? Assignment soundness. I know there's a ton of individual talent, but it doesn't matter if much if they're blowing assignments.

[Eric]

Yep, that's install. I mean even with the experience, they're still install. And this is more of a problem with last year, I think, I think, you know, getting Gideon backup. There's a lot of familiarity between the players. Certainly all the players other than Bo Masco have been coached by Gideon. That helps. Gideon and Muschamp are familiar with each other, so that helped that you, you brought in Mark Stoops to help which, you know, there's just a ton of eyes on it. I'm not too worried about the assignment soundness in the back end, but I want, I want to hear more data from August from scrimmages and stuff to get over it because that's, that's the quickest way to lose a game or let another team back into it is just giving up big plays that, that can't happen with the experience. But then, you know, you got a brand new defensive coordinator, changeover turnover at that DB coach too. So it's, you know, it's something we got to watch.

[Justin]

Evan says confidence in stopping the run consistently. Is this because of kind of we're questioning linebackers in the run?

[Evan]

I think I just, I have more, more confidence in pass rush and DB play making for really good pass coverage this year. And you know, it's not just Biles is 220, therefore he can't stop the run. But you know, like when he and Smith are in together and it's not a heavier defensive line package, how does that look? How do the safety stop the run? Littleton is another guy who I'm keen in on. Like is that part of his year two growth, like being a bit more consistent as getting into the backfield, getting running backs. So just, just one thing I'm looking out for.

[Eric]

Yeah. One thing is that the run defense isn't as straightforward as it was last year. You've got guys replacing other guys more often. Right. So you know, then you got to be on the same page with that. You got a lot of. If you guys have guys in four eye, are you, are they getting caught? Who's, who's playing the force? You know, there's, there's, there's change ups in duties depending on the schemes, which is more than what we saw last year. And they were losing contain last year more so than they had in the past too. So team discipline.

[Justin]

I agree. Charlie Williams linebackers are fitting the run. It's kind of we hit Tyler Horca. Secondary is under control and cohesive. Similar to some thoughts with Eric. There are no Jade and no Michael Taft. Ian once again on the safeties. Derrick Williams and Kobe Black are taking the well. Must champs defense at safety like Fisher Water big theme with Ian should pay attention whenever he harps on something similar to me with core. They've acclimated the system. Paul, they stopped busting coverages. With competent coaching, I think that will occur. Justin wants to pay attention to linebacker play. Yeah, I think clear kind of themes throughout here. Linebacker play, stopping the run. And then is the secondary giving up, letting teams get back in games?

[Evan]

No one's concerned about Colin Simmons? I don't think. Yeah.

[Justin]

Is he gonna get sacks? Final question predictions. Texas overall record and will they win the SEC? I went 10 and 2 and I said LSU and then I kind of copped out but I some type of middle tier upset. Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State. Something with this hard of a schedule and this so many games you have to get up for. Of course we got close twice last year. It didn't happen, but somewhere in that middle. But I actually said yes to SEC champs so I didn't know we could

[Eric]

do a cop out.

[Justin]

Yeah, I, well, I, I presented it. You just have to say and it's a cop out. Damn it. You can do that.

[Evan]

What's the other version?

[Justin]

Just name two good teams. I mean, come on, man. I knew everyone was gonna pick, you know, one of the.

[Evan]

Did you notice a theme for all nine of us in this that people pointing out. I see nine losses to LSU through all, everything.

[Justin]

Yeah, I figured we were gonna have similar ones. So I was like something about this hard schedule is like the upset is. Is baked in somewhere probably. And then what were yours, Eric? You said 10 and 2 as well. So we're the same there. You say OU and LSU and then you'll explain in the comments you said, oh, you. Therefore you must explain. Right.

[Eric]

Yeah. Well, I mean, all right, I go back to 2023, which is fresh in my mind about, you know, Texas beat Alabama on the road, great win. And you know, I think there's a lot of confidence perhaps overconfidence playing ou. And OU outplayed him in that game from start. Texas played well at times, but OU deserved that win. And obviously Texas ran the rest of the schedule from there. This, this year could set up similarly the beat Ohio State. If they beat Tennessee on the road, they're going to be riding high. There's Going to be confidence given the last performance, few performances against ou. Oh, you can't score, blah blah blah. If OU comes out, momentum gets on their side, they could win that game. Now I'm not going to pick OU to win that game most likely, but this is this conversation right here. But you know, last year, you know, we went in the lion's den up there in Dallas and everybody was picking ou. Nobody was giving Texas even really a chance. It's kind of embarrassing the way that game played out relative to expectations going into it. Yeah. And so you could just see a role reversal and momentum's huge in that game. And you know, I can see John Mater doing some Dylan Gabriel type stuff where it's either going to be picked or intercepted or it's or a touchdown. You know those, those sorts of plays that can go either way and if they break go use way that they can win that game. But really it's just a cop out. They've got to lose to somebody. If I pick 10 and 2. Right. It's. So LSU is the easiest one to pick but they might beat LSU too. So I mean it's just, you're just playing probabilities at this point. You know, if you, if you pick 10 and 2, there has to be two losses. To me it doesn't really matter who they are to as long as it's not a M in the last game of the season. And I say that because you want momentum riding into the playoffs and fans

[Justin]

are going to hate this. But the reality is when OU is actually a functional team, they've. They've beaten us. We've had weird advantages in quarterback play and stuff like that too. So I think they're going to be more solid this year. So I'm excited for that because it's an opportunity to remove an excuse of injured quarterback or quarterback not playing or Eric, blah blah blah.

[Eric]

Justin didn't understand the assignment here.

[Justin]

He went about.

[Evan]

I don't think I made it clear enough. I think everyone else just got it a little more.

[Justin]

So Justin, Justin took gave us the whole season. Texas will end up 132 with a loss to LSU. They will win the SEC championship but they will lose to Notre Dame in the Natty. So the profit. Evan says 11:1 with a loss to LSU. Georgia defeats Texas flat circle brother in the SEC conference game.

[Eric]

Dude, your life on this story would have been way more if you would have finished that last sentence differently.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Or just 12 0.

[Justin]

Charlie is the most bearish. 9 and 3 they'll lose to Ohio State, LSU and Ole Miss. And Georgia will be the SEC champs. All right, Charlie, I'm mad at you. You answered the question. But Ian was very positive. That one's a bummer. Horka. Ten and two, Ohio State, lsu, Georgia's SEC champ. Can't be mad at the Georgia thing. Ian. 11:1 with a loss at LSU sure will clear out Georgia final. That's kind of how I feel, chord. 11 and 1. SEC champs, LSU, nine, LSU losses. It's not even because we're playing at the Valley. It's just like I think Kiffin's been waiting on this one.

[Evan]

And the schedule really does not go Texas's way. Building up. Yes. And it does for lsu. It matters.

[Justin]

Paul here. Of course, using a bell curve. 10 and 2 is the fattest part of the bell curve. Naming losses is a meaningless mindset with this schedule. I prefer.

[Eric]

This is a Wendy's. Just answer the question.

[Justin]

We get it, Paul, you're smart. I'd prefer to miss the SEC title game altogether in prep playoffs, but sure, why not be Georgia and get that monkey off of our backs?

[Eric]

All right, cool.

[Justin]

So fairly positive going ranging from 9 and 3 to 11 and 1. Still really solid. All right, that was the round table. Are we going to do one each week? Even leading up to season?

[Evan]

I was probably just gonna do one maybe the last week of camp or right after the last week of camp. But we can keep doing them if you want.

[Eric]

We can.

[Evan]

We can throw in some new questions.

[Justin]

Yeah, throw in some new questions.

[Eric]

We can look more globally.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Justin]

So that's gonna be fun. And then we got, Eric, how's reporting working? And then when are they getting ready for camp? When are they going to camp? All that stuff.

[Eric]

They report tomorrow morning. Camp begins at 2:30 Wednesday. You know, I don't think Texas cares much about the UIL rules about practicing in the heat. They'll be out there 2:30 on Wednesday and we will be there in mass, ready to report.

[Justin]

Alrighty. And you guys can stay locked in on all of those notes and intel the team will be sending your way. Join for $1, then 50 off your first year. Just click the link in the description below. It'll take you right there to sign up and then buy the 2026 Longhorn football prospectus. Thinking Texas football. Paul has given himself annual homework and I am glad he does. It's. It's awesome. It's going to be funny, historic. You're going to hear something about ancient Rome. You're gonna hear and of course, incredible insights. He almost does too much research for these things. It's an incredible, incredible thing. You need to go grab it. Everyone stay locked.

[Eric]

He also has a good research tool.

[Justin]

Yeah, he's.

[Eric]

What is it?

[Justin]

I was gonna say it helps give him a little bit of insight there, but he. He can get into third string tackles on Mississippi State in a heartbeat. So everyone stay locked in for the rest of the videos. Coming at you today. See you later there.