Texas Has ONE YEAR Left With Arch Manning — It’s Championship or Bust

Summary

Podcast Summary: On Texas Football – Texas Has ONE YEAR Left With Arch Manning — It’s Championship or Bust

Podcast: On Texas Football
Host: Jeff Howe (& frequent co-host CJ Vogel)
Date: August 13, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode takes a comprehensive look at the Texas Longhorns football program entering a pivotal season, framed around the urgency of maximizing the last expected year with star quarterback Arch Manning. Hosts Jeff Howe and CJ Vogel recap recent fall camp happenings, analyze defensive backfield concerns, debate key position battles, and discuss national “championship or bust” expectations for Texas and a handful of college football elites. The episode is seasoned with listener questions, lighthearted moments about memorabilia, Texas football history, and the latest uniform releases across college football.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Secondary Spotlight & Defensive Flexibility (Starts ~03:49)

• Cade Phillips’ Development:

  • Jeff Howe repeatedly highlights the importance of Cade Phillips stringing together consistent days at corner to stabilize the secondary.
    • "Maybe the defense as a whole, Cade Phillips and his ability to string together good days might just be the answer to all this." (04:38)

• Safety Rotation & Grayson Littleton’s Role:

  • CJ Vogel and Jeff Howe discuss the depth and versatility at safety, especially Derrick Williams returning to form after injury, and the intrigue of Grayson Littleton as a modern, instinctive safety who can match up with anyone—even in a Will Muschamp defense.
    • "He anticipates and reads very well... you don't play sticky man coverage on a guy like Jeremiah Smith as a true freshman unless you have great anticipatory skills." (06:21)

• Flexibility in DB Usage:

  • Muschamp’s defensive scheme may use players like Derrick Williams as a "box safety" or big nickel, moving Littleton back as needed based on opponent personnel.

2. Game Planning for Ohio State and Elite Receivers (13:21)

• Matching Up With Jeremiah Smith:

  • The hosts detail how Texas might defend Ohio State’s elite receiver, advocating for trusting their cornerbacks and adding physical bracket coverage, rather than assigning one player to travel with Smith.
    • "When you start trying to be way too matchup dependent like that, you can really get off your game plan." (12:52)

• The Chess Match:

  • Discuss the high-level coaching battle ahead—Arthur Smith (Ohio State OC) vs. Will Muschamp—and the need to balance focus on Smith while preventing other Buckeye playmakers from taking advantage.

3. Defensive Backfield Recruiting & Future Outlook (20:43)

• Building a Prototype DB Room:
  • The show takes several listener questions about promising freshmen and rising DBs (Hayward Howard, John Merritt, etc.), noting the trend towards recruiting taller, longer, more athletic corners and safeties to match modern offenses.
  • CJ: “You look at what you hope your corners look like whenever it comes to playing man coverage. That's exactly it.” (21:34)

4. Fall Camp Standouts and Position Battles

• Warren Roberson's Emergence:

  • With the shift of Kobe Black to safety, there’s confidence that Roberson can provide high-leverage snaps at CB this year.

• Left Guard Battle:

  • A closely watched competition between Dylan Sikorski and Lawrence Seymour is developing:
    • Sikorski's advantage is familiarity with the offense; Seymour must “earn” the job after transferring in – it was never a walk-in starter situation. (43:42)
    • Cole Hudson provides valuable depth as he regains conditioning.

5. Evaluating Texas' 2026 Scheduling Threats (25:24)

• Mississippi State More Dangerous Than Arkansas:
  • Citing dynamic QB Camario Taylor and the Jeff Lebby offense, both agree Mississippi State is a bigger “shock” threat than Arkansas, particularly during a grueling four-game SEC stretch.

6. “Championship or Bust” Teams Across CFB (65:24)

• Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia:
  • CJ Vogel breaks down why these five, returning elite QBs and loaded rosters, now fit the true “championship or bust” mold in this transfer portal era:
    • "Absolutely. You have one year of Arch Manning remaining. If you don't win a championship...difficult pill to swallow." (66:00)
  • Jeff adds that Miami and Indiana, last year's championship game participants, should round out the consensus preseason top seven.

7. The Texas “Top 25 Modern Longhorns” Debate (54:16)

• Discussion of Criteria & Notable Snubs:
  • Hosts reflect on how challenging it was to build a fair list—balancing single shining seasons versus long-term contributors, contemporary greats versus historical standouts.
  • Tony Brackens, Malcolm Brown, Jamal Charles, Deontay Foreman, and others are debated, as well as the (over)representation of defensive backs vs. edge players.

8. Lighter Moments & Listener Engagement

• Turnover Celebrations:

  • Fans suggest replacing Texas’ “Excalibur” turnover celebration with smashing a whiteboard—earning laughs and quick agreement.
    • “Sandman, that might have been the greatest thing that you’ve ever said.” (20:27)

• Favorite Longhorn Memorabilia:

  • The hosts share stories about their own memorabilia collections, including rare cards, signed jerseys, and a prized Sports Illustrated issue from 1965.

9. National CFB Topics

• Potential of AI in Football:

  • Listener asks about AI’s role in coaching; hosts see value in analytics and game management but doubt film evaluation will be fully automated anytime soon.

• Uniform Releases:

  • Unanimous praise for Tulane’s new City Connect jerseys—hailed as a rare, clear win on college football social media—and favorable nod to Cal’s updates.

10. Rule Changes Impacting 2026 Season (69:50)

• Fair Catch Rule, Targeting Reforms:
  • The new fair catch rule on free kicks and the possible end to automatic suspensions for targeting are flagged as intriguing, likely to influence late-game strategy.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I just think you can get away from what you do best as a defense, when you start trying to be way too matchup dependent like that.” — Jeff Howe, on defending Jeremiah Smith (12:52)

• “You look at a guy that feels like...he’s on track to be a contributor this year. Now, if he's wide or cornerback, I think you're in a good spot.” — CJ Vogel, on Warren Roberson (23:42)

• “You have one year of Arch Manning remaining. If you don't win a championship....difficult pill to swallow.” — CJ Vogel (66:00)

• “Sometimes a four yard run is a good play. And if you string three of those together in a row, you know what you got, you're moving the chains.” — Jeff Howe, on Sark’s offensive playcalling (40:30)

• “It made me want to get in my car and drive eight hours straight to New Orleans. These things were unbelievable.” — CJ Vogel, raving about Tulane’s City Connect uniforms (71:36)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:22 – Start of content, introductions
• 03:49 – Secondary battles, breakdown of safety/corner play
• 09:40 – Defensive flexibility with new personnel packages
• 13:21 – Ohio State game planning, handling elite receivers
• 20:43 – Listener Qs on DB recruiting, future prototype builds
• 25:24 – SEC schedule: Arkansas vs. Mississippi State trap games
• 35:05 – Favorite Texas memorabilia, collecting stories
• 37:41 – Texas-Ohio State: What decides the game?
• 43:42 – Left Guard position battle: Sikorski vs Seymour
• 54:16 – Intro to “Top 25 Modern Longhorns” list, snubs, debates
• 65:23 – "Championship or Bust" for CFB's elite
• 69:50 – 2026 rule changes: fair catch, targeting, impact
• 71:36 – Rave reviews of Tulane’s new football uniforms

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Final Thoughts & Looking Ahead

• High Expectations:
  The pressure is on Texas: leveraging their roster depth, especially with Arch Manning, makes this a “championship or bust” campaign.

• Roster Depth & Flexibility Will Shape the Season:
  Defensive backfield depth, trench competition, and the ability to adapt to different opponents are points of optimism.

• National Outlook Is Realistic:
  Texas is in the thick of true title contention with a small group of truly loaded programs.

• Engaged, Informed Fanbase:
  The episode reflects Texas’ fan intensity and the broader, evolving picture of college football—where analytics, NIL, and realignment have made program windows even tighter.

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For more recruiting updates, camp news, analysis, and top 25 debates, subscribe to “On Texas Football” and check in weekly!

Transcript

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[Jeff Howe]

wow, didn't really like that camera angle. Welcome back to Home Texas Football. Welcome to the Wednesday night live stream. I'm Jeff Howe joined as always on Wednesdays by AS Rod Babers has dubbed him the young prodigy of on Texas football. He is CJ Vogel. Cj no practice for the Longhorns today, but we got practice to talk about. Plenty of tidbits to get to if you got questions, comments, concerns, airing of grievances, shout outs, whatever you got on Longhorn Camp. We'll take it. Get them lined up. Super chats, as always. Jump to the front of the line. Hope everybody's doing well on a Wednesday night. We'll give a shout out to our sponsors here at On Texas Football throughout the show, including our lead sponsor on the Wednesday night live stream. That's Andy Ludicke and my perfect franchise, cj. You'll be happy to know I see a lot of day one of school for people in the comments section. Everybody had a good first day. I was not involved in the pickup line today, but I was told the pickup line was much smoother on day two. So hopefully we just got the fiasco out of the way on day one and we're good to go. Cj, I know start of school doesn't really mean a whole lot to you at this point, but good vibes here in, what, mid August?

[CJ Vogel]

Well, that's good. You know, eventually I will have to care about it, and eventually I will come on here. And Jeff, I'll, I'll commend you because I don't know if I would have had the same patience having to deal with the, the pickup lines. I don't know if that's something that's in my repertoire.

[Jeff Howe]

I love it. We're all just a bunch of crabs living in the vocal sphere. No doubt. All right, so we're talking Longhorn Camp. We'll talk, we'll go a number of different directions. Cj, I want to piggyback off something that, that you wrote and over on Texas football.com today and that you and Rod Babers and I talked about about for a video on the channel earlier tonight. I keep, I just keep going back to this in my mind when we talk about the secondary, obviously a lot of the focus goes to safety, and rightfully so, because Derrick Williams going to keep elevating and win that job. Is it going to be. Is the Jonah Williams surge coming or whatever, man, I just feel like your issues at safety, a lot of those concerns will be alleviated if you start to see and we start to hear about consistent performances from Cade Phillips. Like, I'm, I'm really, I'm just coming around to the idea that for the past defense, for the secondary, maybe the defense as a whole make Cade Phillips and his ability to string together good days might just be the answer to all this.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, it certainly well could. And I, I think it would help free up the safeties to not have to worry about one side or the other. Right now. I don't know if I'm. Yeah, I don't think concern is the right word for Bo Masco. I think ultimately I look at him and say I, I know what Texas will have with them and if that eventually turns into how I feel about the cornerback position opposite of him, I think that would be fantastic. It allows Texas play one safety closer to the box, allows one safety play that single high. If so, it really just helps alleviate any other worry back there, Jeff, while also allowing whoever else is in that room to venture out at the nickel or into safety and see if there are other avenues to get the best five out there.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, I'm man and Xavier Phil to me, not a knock on him. I'm not saying he's not a big part of this. I just feel like that Nicholas secondary to Kaden Phillips taking off, at least in my mind. But man, I, I'm so intrigued by the idea of Grayson Littleton at safety in a well must champ defense. Like I, I think maybe C.J. for his NFL future. That's probably where he might end up. I just you think about everything he brings the table like he can't. He's not a liability in coverage. Obviously he's. He's willing to be physical. He's got ball skills like everything he brings to the table. To me it fits so well with what the modern safety is in football right now.

[CJ Vogel]

And I think the thing that above all of those, Jeff, is he anticipates and reads very well. Right. He's a guy that seemingly is always in the right position. Now obviously being a great athlete helps, but you know, you don't play sticky man coverage on a guy like Jeremiah Smith as a true freshman unless you have great anticipatory skills. And so that's something that I look at and say does Texas have that right now at safety? That's my hang up.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah. Antoine makes a good point and wouldn't this be awesome said if we can get someone to just come on like desean Elliott did as a junior, we would be on the money. Yeah. Deshaun Elliott was a unanimous all American. And I think what kind of gets lost about desean is through his first two years. I'm not saying I'm not using a one to one comparison with desean and Jonah Williams, but like desean's deal was like he produced when he was on the field. He just needed to get healthy and get a shot to get consistent snaps. And once he got that 2016 and then going into 2017 he took off. Guys still playing in the league. So I don't know C.J. i don't know if Derek Williams has been as consistent as pre injury, if he was as consistent as Deshaun Elliott was, you know, those first two years going into 17. But I mean if it's gonna be somebody Derrick Williams is the odds on favorite. What what strikes you most like based on we we've seen, seen we saw him a little bit right in the open media windows and he's moving better than he has since he came back from the injury. Like he looks just on the hoof and watching move around about as close to pre injury form as he could possibly look.

[Mark Cameron / Book Advertiser]

Right.

[Jeff Howe]

What are you, what are you hearing though from your sources? And we kind of pulled reporting over on texas football.com what are you hearing about now that the pads are on and it's getting real? Is the progress still there?

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, I think so. And what excites me about Derrick Williams is he's not afraid to come hit. Right. A lot of times guys more so on offense when they come off of a non contact injury, you know, one they're a little timid to plant and cut and come up and face contact head, you know, head on. Essentially that hasn't been the case for Derrick Williams. Now again he'll be a year and a half fully removed or I guess almost two full years from that injury when the season begins. So you're looking at what should be a fully healthy ready to go and he is fully healthy. He's 100%. But all of that doubt should be out of mind. Right. And that's kind of the big thing that you worry about with guys with non contact injuries is do they trust the leg, the Achilles, you know, the acl, the pcl, whatever it is. For right now it sounds like Derrick Williams does trust his lower extremities and he is making folks pay. He is tackling very well. The physicality is there. I heard from my sources last evening as well as we saw it on that Texas clip from the Texas Football account that was released this morning, he's making plays at the line of scrimmage. And again if that's the case, whether it's Jelani or Derrick Williams making plays up the line of scrimmage, that frees you up for one of those two guys to be very effective in that secondary. Something that again, I think Texas needs more of when it comes to ball hawking and, and really just taking care of the passing game back deep.

[Jeff Howe]

The, the interesting thing too is I think it was the second media Viewing that we got when the secondary was breaking off and they were going into individual groups and must champ took the nickels. Derrick Williams was with that star group like it was. And it was some of the bigger safety. Somebody asked earlier in the chat about Jordan Johnson Rebelle, but it was like the bigger safeties like Filsamy, jjr, Derrick Williams. And again, this goes into the Grayson Littleton thing like it was. Certain opponents, if you play teams that run a lot of 12 personnel or heavy personnel or want to run the football, maybe you want to have that bigger nickel, like a Derrick Williams that can basically be like a box safety playing close. Close to the line of scrimmage. But you don't have to take Grayson Littleton off the field. You can just move him to safety if you want. Like, I just. I want. I just. That whatever we're talking about, and I know it's. It's kind of outside the box of. Okay, yeah, you do need a starting safety. Yes, I get that. But I want C.J. ideally, I want Will Muschamp, Blake Gideon, Mark Orfe. I want those guys to have as much flexibility as they possibly can to use Grayson Littleton as they need to use him week to week.

[CJ Vogel]

I would love that. And again, like Grayson Littleton, I think Xavier Phil, to me, is a plus athlete. I think he's quick. I think he's fast. The differentiator is. I think you see more anticipatory skills with Grayson Littleton. Right. I think there's more instincts at least reading what is in front of you and reacting as a result of. All right, I have to see it. I have to read my keys. I have to now trigger on what my responsibilities are to Grayson Littleton. I think he probably more than anybody. And again, I haven't seen a beaumasco just yet. Like, I think. I think with Grayson Littleton, man, there's something there. Now, if that grows with Phil semi there, I think you have something. You got something turning there, Jeff, in terms of moving Grayson Littleton back, in terms of giving Xavier Phil Smythe that room by the box as a bigger nickel, I think that would be something you'd really be cooking with. With grease and fire there, Jeff.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah. Tyler's got a good question. So thinking ahead. Speaking of Grayson Littleton, it's kind of dovetails. By the way. I like cooking with grease and fire. I dig.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, Everything.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, whatever. Peanut oil, whatever. You can throw it and just cook with it and let it burn. Thinking ahead, who will be following Jeremiah Smith around the field? What's must champs game plan going into osu what would Yalls game plan be? Does Masco Phillips, Littleton Go Mono Emano? So I don't know what Will Muschamp's game plan is going to be. I do the way the schedule sets up, like you can't just be completely bland. I don't think against Texas State because they, they do have 2,000 yard receivers coming back. They have one of the best non powerful quarterbacks in the country and Brad Jackson. So you're going to need to do a little bit. You don't have to completely show your hand like you're going to save some stuff for Ohio State. I don't know what Will Must Champ's game plan is going to be but CJ I don't think it's going to be to have somebody shadow Jeremiah Smith. You can bracket him and do some different things, but man, when you start saying all right, player X is going to shadow player Y on their offense, like that's when you start getting, you can really get out. Like get yourself off kilter trying to make sure you've got that matchup because it's going to be up to Arthur Smith of that Ohio State staff. Hey, they're going to move Jeremiah Smith around. They're not just I hope they keep him stationary in one spot the whole game. That'd be awesome. That way you know what he's doing. But dude, they're going to move him off all over the place. At least they should. So I just think you can get off of your game plan. You can get away from what you want to do, what you do best as a defense, when you start trying to be way too matchup dependent like that.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, look, if Ohio State trots him out to the same position on the field for every single snap, they're doing him a disservice. Now there have already been some reports that he is getting more looks out of the slot. Texas saw him both times that they faced him previously in the slot as well. Jake Hells, there you go. So it sounds like Ohio State is finding ways to move around their best football player, as you would expect. Now, I don't think Texas is going to have one corner this year that travels right or shadows an opposing. Opposing team's number one, right. I think this is a team where they trust Cade Phillips. I think they trust Bo Masco to stick on field boundaries left, right, whatever it is for Wilmot that he deems to be his fit given his personnel, that's how it's going to be now in certain situations. Could you see a Masco, could you see a, A Phillips shadow someone? Yeah, of course. But Texas did a phenomenal job taking away Jeremiah Smith the last two week or last two matchups. What do they do this week or this upcoming game to keep that same focus while not allowing a Brandon Ennis or anyone else in that, that Ohio State room to take advantage like a Cornell Tate did last up last fall up in Columbus.

[Jeff Howe]

I think you've got to kind of do more of PK's plan has worked the last two meetings. I just think you got to do more of what Miami did, be physical on the perimeter, try to disrupt timing and look, I don't think that collectively this Texas defensive line right now is where Miami's was last year. I think the talent is there for Texas to have one of the better defensive fronts in the county country. But it's not as proven as Miami's front was. But you can get after Julian saying if it's all got to work together. So I, I'm, I'm more concerned about the Muschamp defense, everything working in concert rather than let's just focus all attention on Jeremy Smith because it's not like you're playing random FCS team, like you're playing freaking Ohio State like they've got dudes. It's no different than looking at the Texas offense. Like if you want to double Cam Coleman, that's fine, that's fine. That's your prerogative. You can do that. But that means Ryan Wingo or Emmett Mosley or one of the backs or somebody else. Somebody's gonna be one on one. Somebody's gonna have a good matchup on every play if you want to do that. So if I'm Arthur Smith, I'm saying, yeah, devote all this attention to Jeremiah Smith that way you can. But that's going to be the chess match. And it's a chess match between two guys. It'll basically have one game on each other of how they call a game. So that last year it was the Sark vs. Matt Patricia matchup in that game. Now it's Arthur Smith against Will Muschamp. That's the matchup. I can't wait to see. We'll keep talking about Texas, Ohio State if you guys want. You guys control the show. So if you got questions, comments, whatever you got, get them in super chats. As always, jump to the front of the line. Right now we need to thank one of our sponsors here at on Texas football. As a matter of fact, let's thank our lead sponsor here on the Wednesday Night Live stream. That's Andy Ludicky and My Perfect Franchise. Are you stuck in the corporate rat race of two weeks of PTO with no patrol over the money you can make or your schedule in general? If that's you, then call Andy. He'll take you through a process to help you find a business that'll fit your skill sets and your financial goals. Franchise ownership is something that's not for everyone. But if you have a desire to take control of your destiny, call Andy or email him [e-mail] Again, that's [e-mail] and the shout out to Andy Ludicky and My Perfect Franchise for sponsoring the Wednesday night Live stream here at On Texas Football.

[Sponsor Host]

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[Jeff Howe]

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[Jeff Howe]

CJ Sandman says he has grievances and questions. Are you in the mood to hear any of Sandman's question complaints or concerns or questions?

[CJ Vogel]

Maybe.

[Jeff Howe]

Okay, not quite in a giving mood, but Sandman, shoot your shot.

[CJ Vogel]

See more grievances than than questions. All right, all right, here we go.

[Jeff Howe]

Hey, this is okay, Sandman. This is a legit question. Much appreciated. So hear me out. We do away with the text caliber celebration every time a defensive player player gets a turnover and replace it with smashing a whiteboard instead. I don't hate it.

[CJ Vogel]

Sandman, that might have been the greatest thing that you've ever said. Not just in this chat, but maybe ever. Because I like that idea a lot.

[Jeff Howe]

I don't hate it.

[CJ Vogel]

So I like that. I like it. We'll let Sam and Cook on that one.

[Mark Cameron / Book Advertiser]

We'll.

[Jeff Howe]

We'll leave it up. We'll leave it up for discussion. All right. Rocky P's got a super chat. Rocky B. Thank you for the super chat. So cj, you dropped a nug. That got me excited. Hayward, Howard and John Merritt at the db. Our future DB room is going to be massive. Add Smoke and Brandon Sherrard coming in. All six one plus. I mean, cj, this goes back to talk about this after the THSCA convention when I heard Will Muschamp basically give a DB clinic and went through the checklist of kind of what he wants in a defensive back. All these guys check whether it's height, length, body type, tendency, like really good in man coverage, physicality like we're seeing. And it's, it's interesting that my know must have didn't recruit Hayward Howard, but he's got him now. But you look at John Meredith, Brandon Sherrard, like all those DBs that are coming now, they all fit. That must champ blueprint.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, Rocky, let's work a little bit on the phrasing at the beginning of that question, but I'm with it. You know, again, that's length, that size. That is something that on the outside of your defense, you look at what you hope your corners look like whenever it comes to playing man coverage. That's exactly it. And I think John Meredith is the perfect example. I think Smoke Matthews has that in him. I'm really intrigued to see what Hayward Howard turns into because I think he's a ways away right now. Again, he's very young for his grade, moving in as a true freshman. I think obviously there's a, A lot of development needed, but he's moving at six two and a half, six three, as well as some of the other corners. I mean, I, I heard about testing times in the spring where he was leading not just that corner room, but the entire defense and some of the testing time. So that's something that I look at, but it's all about getting those reps. And right now, whether it's with the twos, whether it's the threes. If you get time against Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo, make the most of it because these are all guys that you look at in a year or maybe two, you say, man, how do you compete, complete a pass when every single one of these guys. Jeff is built like an octopus?

[Jeff Howe]

You know, another guy, I don't know if he's built like an octopus, but we talked about him too, and I think it bears repeating because CB says we're 24 days away from kickoff. Warren Roberson is this year's 24. By the way, Rocky P, thank you for the super chat. And CB's comment dovetails. What we're talking about, you know, Warren Roberson. I, I just, I keep going back to the move of Kobe Black to safety. And I feel like they wouldn't have done that if they didn't feel like Warren Roberson could actually play like high leverage snaps. And maybe it's just a scheme change and maybe. Look, I'm not saying he is this guy, but Warren Roberson may be like Shocky Brown back in the day, where all if all you ask him do say, hey, you just go cover that guy across from you. That's all we're going to ask you to do. You go be big and athletic and fast and physical and just stay on an island out there and cover somebody. Maybe that's the. The magic elixir. CJ for Warren Roberson because he's had a pretty good start to camp.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, he has. And he had a great finish to the 2025 season as well. Right. So if you compound the two, you look at a guy that feels like he's in or at least on track to be a contributor this year now if he's wide or cornerback.

[Mark Cameron / Book Advertiser]

3.

[CJ Vogel]

Jeff, I think you're in a good spot. I don't think you make the move of Kobe Black from corner to safety unless you felt like there was, you know, at least I'm getting distracted in the chat from Sandman here. But I don't think you make that move with Kobe Black unless you feel comfortable about what you have behind a Cade Phillips, behind a Bomasco. So Roberson absolutely is one that I look at and say this would be the time. Now that you're an older guy, you've seen a lot of college football. Maybe not consistently throughout each year, but you've seen a lot of college football go make your impact felt. I think he's best suited for this type of style defense as well.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, we'll. We'll just see. Maybe. Maybe this is the. Maybe this is the. The thing he needed. Just the scheme change we talk about. I. I like it all the time. When you have a coordinator change. Everybody kind of starts with a clean slate. Like there's no preconceived notion. So, you know, if you had a bad year the year before, it kind of doesn't matter because now you can just get on the good side of the staff and show them what you got. So after Fake says Roberson is physical and plays with an edge. Doesn't surprise me. Must champ like some. Doesn't surprise me either. We'll see if it works out.

[CJ Vogel]

There's a reason why Jeff, they. They heard he was going into the portal and said, wait a Minute, sit down, let's have a conversation. We have a plan for you, we have a future for you with this football team. And here we are talking about him as someone that certainly very well could be a big piece of this defense.

[Jeff Howe]

I think the, the three guys like the track in that regard. Zeno Mosulo, Warren Roberson, Kobe Black, like those are the three guys that, and there were more like they would have liked to have had Bo Barnes back and some other guys, but those were the guys that were headed to the portal. Some cases like entered the portal like Phil did, took the step to entering and Texas brought them back. So I just think that says a lot about how this defensive staff will much champion company value. Some of those guys. Buddy, pal, chief, big guy has an interesting one. CJ let's go ahead and start thinking ahead to the regular season schedule beyond Ohio State and Texas State in that September slate. But who has a better chance of shocking us, Arkansas or Mississippi State? Both teams have played us tough the last two years. Say this until I see different man, both those teams the last few years, how they play at home and how they play on the road are vastly different. That said, man, when you got a guy like Camario Taylor operating that Jeff Levy offense and knowing the weapons they still got on the perimeter, I mean still got Anthony Evans is still back. I know Brendan Brennan Thompson's off in the NFL, but you still got Anthony Evans. You still got some guys that can go fluff both back and running back. Like I, I think it's Mississippi State especially because it's like the run of games you've got in there too. Like you'll just be coming off that run where it's like, oh you, Florida and Ole Miss back to back to back. Can you do it a fourth week in a row?

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, it's Mississippi State without a doubt. For me. I think they have a quarterback that can transcend the talent around them. I think he can take over football games now. Will he do that against the Texas? We'll have to wait and see. But Marquis Johnson coming over to take the place or at least help balance out a little bit of the subtraction of Brendan Thompson to the NFL. I mean Jeff, they, they have a ton of speed, right? And in that offense, speed kills. And that's something that you look at and say, how do we defend two guys that run 10, three on the outside while also having to defend a freakishly athletic six foot four and a half, 230 pound quarterback that can run like the wind and throw a bomb of 400 yards, right. So there's a lot to worry about with Camario Taylor in my eyes now. I think Casey Jackson for Arkansas is a solid quarterback as well. He poses similar issues when it comes to athleticism, escapability outside of the pocket. Texas saw obviously a full half against Casey Jackson late at home a year ago. But I look at that offense, I look at Jeff Levy, I look at what side of the football do I fear the most of the four. And it's without any question, it's Mississippi State's offense.

[Jeff Howe]

I think too there's a chance. Look, I'm not I think the in the media pull the preseason media poll at SEC media days. I think Arkansas was picked to finish last in the conference and you got to wonder by that point in the year, like are they just counting down the days till it's over? Like where are they at mentally? Like you just got to wonder have they just gotten to the point where they're just playing whatever young guys are on the roster that they have a chance to bring back to not let portal? Like are they just playing those guys because it's first year staff? So I don't know. We'll see. But I think right now, if you ask me, right now, I think without question Mississippi State poses the bigger threat. All right, we got a couple. So we got some super chats lined up. We'll get to those here in just a second. But right now I need to shout out a couple more of us, a couple more of our sponsors if I can talk right here on the Wednesday night live stream. First of all, this edition of On Texas Football is brought to you by Prize Picks. Y' all know we're always looking for ways to make watching games a little more fun. That's why we here at On Texas Football love Prize Picks. It's America's number one sports picks app. And honestly, it's about as simple as it gets. For Player Picks, all you got to do is choose more or less on a few player stats and lock in your lineup. That's all you got to do. And if you're someone who likes picking teams instead of individual players, Prize Picks has you covered there too. Because now you can pick the winner, the spread, or the total on games or fights. Prize Picks is available in most states, including Texas, California and Florida. So chances are wherever you are, you can jump in today. And one feature that we love about Prize Picks is now you can follow users, different users on the platform. If you like their picks, you can tell them with one click. You can follow your friends picks too. Today our picks to click are Kyle Schwaber, less than one and a half hits and and Jordan Walker, the less than half a home run. So that's our our two plays today. I know one of those should draw producer Matt's ire, but nonetheless, here's the best part about Prize Picks. If you've never tried Prize Picks before, all you got to do is just play your first five dollar lineup and if you win, you'll get $150 in bonus lineups, 150 in bonus lineups. Just make sure you use the code HMA when you sign up. They actually just updated this offer so there's never been a better time to get started again. Download the Prize Picks app, use the code hma. Play that first five dollar lineup and if you win you'll get a hundred and fifty dollars in bonus lineups. Just remember the code to use is HMA on the Prize Picks app. And as always, please remember to play smart, play responsibly, play Prize Picks and another Sponsor we want to shout out here on the live stream tonight. Longtime sponsor here at On Texas Football. Shout out to Laura Baker. This edition of On Texas Football is brought to you by accomplished Austin Realtor Laura Baker. Laura and the Andy Allen team at Keller Williams can handle all of your real estate needs in the Austin area. Laura's not only a die hard Longhorn fan, she's a longtime Austin real estate expert. So whatever you need in the greater Austin area on the real estate front, give her a shout. 512-784-0505. Again, that's 512-784-0505. And we want to give a big thank you to Laura Baker for sponsoring the Wednesday night live stream here at On Texas Football. Well, all right, C.J. let's get to a couple of these supers. All right. Cubed with the super chat. Thank you. All right, Cubed, always appreciate your contribution. Said I wonder what uses AI could have for college football coaches. Obviously analyzing large data sets, but if it could analyze the all 22. Oh boy. CJ I'm gonna just pause for a second. I am way out of my depth on anything AI can do on that front. So I don't know if you've got a take on it, but the floor is yours if you do.

[CJ Vogel]

I'd like to designate Sandman to become our AI coordinator if you will. I saw he said earlier his only teacher right now is Claude. So Sandman, show me something. But in terms of the Game. Look, we've heard for years now every coach has a binder, right? Or they have a guy that tells them when to go for it. Winners, two points. You know, kind of the, the, the optimal solution for an offense given the flow of a game. I do think that there is an increase in AI across college football programs everywhere. And it's normally by a, a nerd quote unquote. You know, you know, some of these college football coaches are, you know, brute force guys, you know, where if something doesn't open, they'll, they'll break it open rather than finding the optimal solution to doing so. But that is something that's everywhere, right? It's. What is your best personnel scheme? Right. What is your best formation? What does, do you look better in 12 personnel, 11 personnel, 13, 14, whatever it is. So there's all sorts of different analytical, you know, avenues that these coaches are pursuing right now. But will they ever tell you what it is specifically? Probably not. Those are treated like government secrets.

[Jeff Howe]

No. You know, AI is probably only as reliable as the information that goes into it. So I would think in terms of something like all 22, I don't think you're gonna leave film breakdowns to AI, at least not now. I mean, look, this is, again, I'm way out of my depth on this. You may be a few years away from it, just collecting data, more and more data, as much data as possible to where it can give you something reliable. But I think until then, whatever AI model you're using, but I think until then, you're probably just going to trust the gas and the folks in your personnel department or whoever you've got your QC coaches on staff, just trust them to break down the film because it's like, it's easier to me for a guy like Will Muschamp to go to like his gas. Know what he wants. Like I don't.

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[Jeff Howe]

Again, I'm not. It's hard for me to see will mushy McJ trying to tell a computer what he wants on film breakdowns. Much easier that to a ga So I just feel like we're a few years away from that, but. All right, Cubed, appreciate the question. Always nice to. To make us think. So much appreciated. J. Pena 323 with the super chat. Thank you very much. J. Pena says Jeff, what's your favorite Texas item in your collection? See some slab cards behind you. Would be a fun forum for everyone to share their favorites. So behind me, try to stay on camera and on microphone. I've got TJ Ford, the 2002 tops finest redemption. So that's the XRC Taylor Youngman, first Bowman Auto, Colt McCoy Auto. I think that's number to 199 Kevin Durant rookie card and then a Tommy Nobis 1967 Philadelphia rookie. My favorite Longhorn item in my collection. That is tough. Probably. Oh, I don't know. Cj, do you have something? You got the Earl Campbell jersey behind you.

[CJ Vogel]

So yeah, that's. That's a pretty good piece. Right behind me I got demarvion signed on the football right here. I always enjoyed that one there. I have a two cards, Jeff. It's a Kevin Durant second year Sonics patch card which I've always enjoyed. And then Sam Ellinger, Texas. I don't know what set it came out of, but just an auto from Texas. You know, you just find things, whether it's early in your collecting career or whatever and you just get attached and so you got a couple, got a couple pieces.

[Jeff Howe]

So there. There's two things Jay Pena that I on the Texas front that I try to collect, I try to do first, Bowman refractor autos. Whether that's the Bowman U or baseball stuff. And then Panini's loud, lost the license. But, but playoff contenders, contenders rookie ticket, autos, whatever formats, try to match it up because sometimes some guys will be featured in the base set but they won't be featured somewhere else or they're not featured in the base set or whatever. So I've got all of those. The Ricky Williams one is really special.

[Mark Cameron / Book Advertiser]

I need.

[Jeff Howe]

I think Justin Tucker is the only one that I'm missing. But I got a Ricky Williams signed ball over here that I enjoy. My Casey Hampton signed jersey also probably in Omaha a few years ago, I think when Texas was there in 22. It's really hard, CJ to find good condition old sports illustrators without a mailing label. Yeah, and I found one at a shop in Omaha across the street from where Rosenblatt used to be. It is the Sports Illustrated with Ernie Coyle on the front from when Texas beat Alabama in the Orange bowl, the first night game televised nationally in college football history. So I've got that I love, that's a part of my collection I like. So, yeah. J. Pena, I'll, I'll share when I can. Don't know if anybody, everybody digs the card, the memorabilia talk. But I'll, I'll do it whenever I can. So much. Yeah. Hope that helped. Let's go ahead and get to a few more questions. CJ I'm gonna start running some of these down. I got a lot, we got a lot of Ohio State questions, so let's go ahead and run down some of these. Everybody's looking forward to that matchup with the Buckeyes. This says, what is the number one difference maker between a win a or a loss against Ohio State? C.J. i think it's the same thing that's decided the last two games. Can Texas out execute Ohio State in situational football in the half? 2 minute red zone, short yardage, all that stuff we talk about, like that's, that's where Texas is. We can look and you can find plays here and there. But whatever the case is, I think that is where Texas has lost the last two Ohio State games is the fact that Ohio State was better, played better situational football than Texas.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, look, I look at the first two possessions of the game a year ago in Columbus, Texas goes, they get a first down and then they go for an out, right? They go forward and fourth down, they don't capitalize, they turn the ball over immediately at midfield. What does Ohio State do? They then go for and out themselves, right? Right away they fail to get a first down. Texas has the ball right where they started back, right around midfield at, on first down. And you don't get anything out of it, right? If you're going to play that complimentary style of football, you have to take advantage of when your defenses bail you out of situations. Now, on the flip side, the red area, obviously a very important piece of this as well, that happened in the Cotton bowl, right? Texas ended up on the 1 yard line 4 opportunities. Didn't get it done. I know, I'm sorry. And then of course in Columbus as well, several trips to the red area, you don't come away with points. Ohio State, four downs to gain a yard. They got it done on fourth down. So that to me was the biggest differentiator is, look, when you out gain a team by 140 yards or whatever it was, you play well, but you have to maximize and capitalize when you're in an opportunistic situation in Texas in the two meetings has failed to do so.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, I agree. 100. And it's people mentioned red zone. Like, yeah, red zone's part of it. Third down is part of it. Yeah. End of half, like, go back to the Cotton Bowl. Like, how huge was the Travion Henderson touchdown right before that, where you're feeling great and then all of a sudden, nope, you just got kicked right in the gut.

[CJ Vogel]

Like, right before halftime. It strained and just worked so hard to finally put points on the board. And your defense had been playing so well, and then boom.

[Jeff Howe]

But, cj, this is. This is what you're talking about. Matthew can put that back up, please. Producer Matt It's a 147 loss with many rushing yards. That did not compute. Almost didn't matter. It's almost like Ohio State saying, yeah, we're Matt. Patricia's game plan was, we'll let you run the ball. Like, we're not going to let Arch Manning beat us. We'll let you run the football. But it's been proven quite a few times. Go back to the playoff semifinal in the Sugar bowl against Washington. It's almost like defensive coordinator C.J. like, I don't think Sark has the patience to run the ball that much. At some point, he's gonna have to take a shot. He's gonna have to do something. He'll get impatient. And more often than not like he does. Because I think as a, as an, as a play caller, sometimes you just get that itch. Like, you need the big play, you need to move it in chunks. And that to me, look like. Was the run game great last year? No, the numbers in the eye test bore that out. But there were games, like Mississippi State was one that just drove me nuts. Like, I think sometimes one of my complaints about Sark is you just need to just accept that, hey, sometimes a four yard run is a good play.

[Grainger Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jeff Howe]

And if you string three of those together in a row, you know what you got, you're moving the chains. So, like, I just think Sark sometimes just needs to. Needs to. I don't. I don't know if it's patient as much as it's just fighting off that urge. All right, we got. We got to throw a haymaker. Like, we gotta. We gotta go big right here. No, sometimes you don't, man. Sometimes you need to deliver a decent amount of body blows before you can go for the haymaker.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah. Start to me is a guy that, you know one of Your buddies that you play poker with pretty often and you've come to find out, okay, within the first 10 or 15 hands, they're not going to do a whole lot. Right. You know, they'll, they'll see the flop, they'll see the river, but they're not going to play big. Right. They'll want to see a guy get knocked out first, but eventually they're going to look at a hand and say, this is it. They'll just get bored of hanging around. They'll see other guys with chips start their stacks, get taller and taller and they're like, well, why isn't this me?

[Jeff Howe]

Right?

[CJ Vogel]

And then bang, they go all in. They kind of just push, right?

[Home Improvement Advertiser]

Yeah.

[CJ Vogel]

And then they get in trouble.

[Jeff Howe]

Right.

[CJ Vogel]

So that, that I think it's very light or, you know, very comparable in a way for, for Sarkis. I think at times you just get bored playing by the book.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, it's, you know, I, like I said, I don't know if it's patience, if it's just fighting off that urge, but I just like to see SAR take advantage and maybe cj, you've got the, you'll have the running game to do it. By the way, somebody mentioned earlier, I know you got the Twitter machine fired up today by posting a, a clip that you sent the. Send it in our OTF group text. Dude, that Lawrence Seymour situation, was it heart palpitations, cj, like, it made me uncomfortable watching that. Knowing you're a few inches away from disaster.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah. So let's clarify this one. Lauren Seymour not hurt.

[Jeff Howe]

Not her.

[CJ Vogel]

Lawrence Seymour finished practice and is going to practice again this week in scrimmage on Saturday.

[Jeff Howe]

Right.

[CJ Vogel]

He is not injured. 2. Was my wording as accurate as it could have been? Probably not. In fact, immediately after posting and seeing how some folks didn't, you know, understand it completely, I think the immediate caption that came to mind in my second go around was, oh boy, this made me pucker. Right. Because it did. Right? There's a long 200 pound body going right into what? I mean, the way that this cuts off, I mean, oh man, you know, it doesn't look good. But again, he's, he wasn't injured. He what? He finished all of practice. He will be good for the rest of the week. I'm more, more than anything saying Texas dodged a bullet with the way that this looked.

[Jeff Howe]

Right.

[CJ Vogel]

It could have been much worse.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah. And by the way, we got some super, we got a couple more supers on the board that we'll get to I do want to talk about Lauren Seymour. I did want to mention this because it's worth mentioning that left guard Battle is turned into, it's turned into a. Thank you, Sam and I, I'll pass that along to Sark and see how he, you know, how he feels about that.

[CJ Vogel]

Hey, that's our AI guy.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, we made just like can you have AI run practice? I don't know, practice simulator, whatever. Just keep everybody healthy. No, but the left guard battle, CJ at least to this point sounds like it's a Dylan Sikorski, Lawrence Seymour battle. And I think there's two things at play here. Number one, that one, Sikorski's ahead because he knows the offense better because he was here for spring. I don't think that should surprise anybody. Number two, and I think this is the bigger takeaway. And then look, we'll find out a lot more after the scrimmage on Saturday. But because you'll have had a couple of padded practices before that, Laura Seymour wasn't going to walk in and be given the left guard job. Like he has to go win the job. I don't know how much more we can hammer that home. That this was never going to be a deal where he was a walk in starter. Like he has to go earn that job. And let's not forget this about Sikorski. Yes, he played last year at Oregon State. This is a guy that you had to compete against an SEC foe to get him out of the portal because Tennessee was really wanted. Dylan Sikorski, you're able to fend off Tennessee and get him. So it's not like you've just got like just some scrub competing with him at left guard. Like I, I'm encouraged by the fact that we talked about it all summer, C.J. like, can Dylan Sikorski or Jaden Chapman, can one, can somebody in that group make it a battle? And at least it sounds like to this point in camp, a week through Dylan Sikorsky's making Lawrence Seymour go earn that job.

[CJ Vogel]

Now I think that's a great point that gets, that gets lost in revisionist history is it was Tennessee, it was Missouri and it was, it was Arkansas. And I know you look at it and say, well, it's not Ohio State, it's not Alabama, it's not Georgia. But look at how well all three of those programs have run the football over the last three years, right? They do so very well. They find guys that create running lanes. Now a lot of it could be scheme, right? I know Tennessee is a Kind of a gimmicky offense. But Missouri very, very, very much one of the best rushing schemes every single year. Arkansas, much of the same with their running backs, Mike Washington, Braylon Russell will be back this year. So I look at it and I say, those are all three programs with offensive line coaches, with coordinators, with evaluators that say, hey, there's something with this Sikorsky fella. It might just be his big old gut, Jeff. He's 345 pounds, but, yeah, there was something to like there.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah. And look, Cole Hudson's gonna be at worst case, a depth piece because he's still. Look, I said it before, I'll say it again at the risk of repeating myself. Like, there's a difference between doing what Cole Hudson was doing to stay in shape and keep himself ready and what Sikorski and Seymour were doing all summer and workouts with Tory Beckton. So it's gonna take. I don't worry about. In other words, like to me, with Lawrence Seymour and Cole Hudson, it's the exact opposite. Issues like, Laura Seymour needs to learn the offense. Like, I think physically he can go. He's just gotta figure out what he's doing. Cole Hudson, I don't know if there's a lineman in this program that knows the offense better than him because he's done it in multiple positions. But it's a conditioning and a stamina thing to get him ready to go. And the good thing is, C.J. hopefully, knock on wood, you won't need him early in the year. You can mix him in maybe a couple weeks in May. Maybe like that UTSA game. Could be a game where, you know, you give Cole Hudson some run. Maybe, maybe Ohio. Ohio State might be a game where you use him because he's been in those environments before. So it's a really good fallback to have having Cole Hudson in on the roster on the depth chart. Even though right now, based on everything we've heard at this point, it's a Dylan Sikorski, Lawrence Seymour battle for that left guard job. All right, we'll get. We got some supers. We'll get to here in just a second. But right now, want to give a shout out to another one of our fine sponsors here on the Wednesday live stream. Let's welcome our newest sponsor here at on Texas football. That is Poncho. Poncho makes the ultimate performance shirts for the outdoors. They'll be your go to for all seasons. They're the best looking and most comfortable shirt you'll ever wear. And now they've got their game day collection and here is a special Poncho has right now. It's their Natty back guarantee. If your team if your team that you buy that game day shirt of between August 2 and August 19 if they win the college football national championship, Poncho will give you a full refund on your purchase and you get to keep the shirt. So Texas fans biotexas poncho shirt between August 2 and August 16, Texas wins the national championship because of Poncho's nattyback guarantee. They'll give you a full refund on your purchase and you get to keep the shirt. So Poncho has Texas fans covered for college football season. And we've got another special for the On Texas Football off a.m. go to ponchooutdoors.com on Texas and enter your email to get $10 off and free shipping on your first order. That's P O-N C-H O-outdoors.com on Texas. Head over there, drop in your email and you'll get $10 off and free shipping on your first order. Once you try one, you'll get why everybody that likes Poncho shirts has a closet full. You're gonna love how these shirts feel in the Texas heat. Gotta love the extra pockets with zippers that let you store your stuff safely. You can go short sleeve or long sleeve. Sizes range from small all the way to 3xL. If you haven't dialed in your size yet, it's a breeze to send it back and swap it for another. Again, $10 off your first order and free shipping at ponchooutdoors.com on Texas when you enter your email. Thanks to the five folks at Poncho for sponsoring on Texas football and make sure you check out their game day collection with their Natty back guarantee. All right, cj, let's go ahead and roll through some of these supers. Speaking of clothing, Sailor Joe, thank you for the super chat said. I see we got the Gucci brand of boot sponsorship with Luc Casey. Now can we get some better hats for our boys? I'm sick of that silly cheap black hat. Cj I'm out of my depth on Western wear. I don't know if you know anything about cowboy hats, but the floor is yours if you do.

[CJ Vogel]

I think this is the time of year where you wear a straw hat and that's about the end of my cowboy hat knowledge. Jeff I did get a nice hat as a graduation gift on South Congress. I think it was one of the stores down there. No free ads here, of course, because we like our friends at Poncho, but that's about it for me.

[Jeff Howe]

All right, well played. So, yeah, we'll. We'll see how that works out, Sailor Joe. Sorry we couldn't go more in depth on the question there. Rocky P with the super chat. Thank you. Rocky P said, what is your dream? Longhorn memorabilia, I'd say V wise cleats from the touchdown run, Ricky's record breaking torn jersey, or Tony Bracken's punter hit helmet. I'll say this, none of those are going to be obtainable for me. I don't probably have that kind of dispensable income for any of those things. I tell you what I want. I'll put the word out. If anybody has a seat, a chair, anything from the Irwin Center. I'm not talking about something that's laying around now, but any seat or any kind of bench seat from the Irwin center reach out to me. I'm very interested in owning one.

[CJ Vogel]

I would like a bus seat from the Bo Davis ramp.

[Jeff Howe]

A tire, a tirade used seat.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, yeah, a sat in seat.

[Jeff Howe]

You know, like the bet. There's all different kinds of things. I just think back to like that two week period where I was like, man, this and that really was rock bottom for the football program, C.J. because it's pretty much been onward and upward since then. But I think the funniest part about that is Tavandre Sweat finally cop into being the one that, that laughed and then. Or that was laughing and joking when Bo Davis got on the bus. And then as Bo Davis is yelling at the team for T Sweat to be like, yeah, y' all take it seriously. Like, oh dude, you were the one getting everybody robbed. I just think that shows Tavandre grew up a lot, C.J.

[CJ Vogel]

from that moment, you know, it was funny. I was looking at, you know, we did our top 25 Longhorns in the last 35 years or something like that. I was Jeff. It didn't dawn on me at the time, you know, from When Tavandre took first step, first couple plays on campus. He played over 225 snaps in five years. Like I didn't realize he had that level of impact throughout his entirety at Texas.

[Sponsor Host]

Right.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah.

[CJ Vogel]

Think about, you know, obviously the massive year with Byron Murphy, his, his year with Moro Ojimo and DeAndre Coburn, the two kind of filtering in basically those final three years, he had almost 2, 000 career snaps at Texas. That's amazing.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, he like for a guy as big as he was to play as much as he did, to have that kind of stamina and basically just to, to, to be able to hang in there and be as impactful as he was over a full game. He's, he's a rare cat. They just don't make many guys like that. C.J. to be that big and still maintain like your the thing. Like I don't know if people remember, like Tavandre was a really good basketball player in high school too. So like to get as big as he did and as big as he is and still maintain the quickness and the athleticism and the burst, like, it's just. There aren't that many of those people. CJ walking walk in this mortal world, there's only a few of those made into Vondre is definitely one of those. So. So for cj, it's a, it's a tirade used bus seat. So we'll still see if at some point we can make that happen. Rocky P. Thank you for the super chat. Freelance Society. Thank you as always for your contributions and for the super chats. They're looking forward to OTF tailgating. CJ West Texas high school football teams will be stacked with talent this year. Favorites to win six A state this year.

[CJ Vogel]

It's a great question. I look at North Crowley, even with the quote unquote loss of John Meredith, they're certainly in the conversation. Duncanville will be there. North Shore will be there. Allen has a quarterback now, so watch out for Allen. We might be seeing the return of what in my opinion was one of the more intriguing high school powerhouses. Soto will be there. You know, it's very easy once you get to the 6A level to just be like, well, who's been there the last couple of years? They'll surely be there again. Watch out for Waxahachie walks a hatch. He's got some talent. Jeff, if, you know, if anyone can kind of disrupt that i35 Dallas area, you know that District of Doom area, look for walks of hatchet to throw a wrench in. The usuals.

[Jeff Howe]

Okay, awesome. 8$dar. Just keep the comments coming. I'm loving it. Again, if you. If you know, you know. So Freelance Society. Hope CJ was able to answer that question. Hey, we gotten some comments on this CJ and I want to put this up. I think producer Matt has the graphic of our OTF staff vote of the top 25 Longhorns in the modern era of college football. Shout out to Blake Monroe. Blake used 1992 as kind of the line of demarcation, because that's when you started having conference championship games. The scholarship limit went to 85. There's a lot of stuff happened in 1992. But you look at this graphic, CJ and I will say you, you know, you mentioned to Vandre Sweat being almost in the top 15. Not. It wasn't like a one year wonder. Like, there was some build to that. He just again, I think, needed to mature a little bit and put it all together. But some of the comments, a lot of it centers around we missed on not having Tony Brackens on this list. And I will agree, for me, that was, that was a miss because that was probably right. Right early in my fandom of watching Texas football. But, you know, it was one of those deals where I, I should have had them higher. But again, like, the tough thing with this list, CJ is once you think, oh, I need to add so and so on the list, it's like, okay, who, who are you going to take off?

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah.

[Jeff Howe]

And for me, my 25th spot, my number 25 for me ultimately came down to Tony Brackens or Malcolm Brown, defensive tackle Malcolm Brown. And I ended up putting Malcolm Brown on my b. If I put Tony Brackens on my ballot at 25, he probably would have made it onto the, the staff consensus list. So I guess if you want to blame anybody, blame me.

[CJ Vogel]

I mean, it's tough, right? You know, I'm seeing a couple of names that are being mentioned in the chat right now and you know, they're not mentioned in this graphic. And you're like, well, that was a pretty darn good football player. Right? Both for Texas and the NFL. And so it's difficult, right? It is so difficult to sit here and say, who are 25? And just cut it off there because we've talked about it, right? I don't have a Jackson. Jeff Coat. Right. Quan Cosby didn't make the list. Swede didn't make the list. Plenty of snubs when it came to who. Some of the most electric, important players that we've seen, Malcolm Brown, both of them. It's going to be interesting to see who of this team joins this conversation. But again, a lot of all Americans, a lot of guys that won legitimate positional trophies across the entire country. Jeff, it's tough, man. Tough.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah. Like you, you know, Marcus, Marcus Myers and I were talking about it. I think Marcus brought this up to the staff. Like, man, you've kind of got to be selective about defensive backs because if you're not careful, you could have half this list. Bdbs.

[Mark Cameron / Book Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jeff Howe]

And you can fully justify it. Me and half DBs. So this was, man, this was a lot tougher of an exercise than I thought it was going to be. It was a lot of fun because this is again, this is pretty much my time actually watching Texas football. The first Texas game I ever went to in person. Somebody mentioned Priest Holmes. Priest had some phenomenal moments in Texas, just the career because of his injuries. He never got to see like a full season of Priest at his best. But the first Texas game I ever went to was in 1993 and Priest had a couple of touchdowns in that game against Rice at home. So again, there was a lot of guys that I wanted to try to put on there but just couldn't fit. I'm glad Dan Neal made it on the list. I was surprised that he was that low. Yeah. Talk about a two time all American offensive lineman and Dan Neal. Somebody mentioned Mike Williams. Yeah, Mike Williams is another one that I thought about putting on there. But it's like, okay, do I put Leonard David, do I take Leonard Davis off, I put Mike Williams on or who am I taking off? So it's, I don't know. C.J. there were some, some calls that ultimately were really, really tough. But that's what makes stuff like this fun is inevitably when we do, when we limit this list of 25, somebody's gonna get snubbed.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah. Rocky P. Casey over DJ I. I don't know how many, how many people are gonna agree with you on that one, but I do appreciate the super chat and I will listen to the argument. The other thing, Jeff and I saw someone comment this on ontexasfootball.com Again, if you're not a part, go join $3. The what was it the question or the topic was players that made it made the top 25 by position and I think it was seven or eight defensive backs and zero edge rushers. And now I haven't fact checked that. So go at whoever commented that. Not me, Brian.

[Kalshi Advertiser]

Iraq.

[Jeff Howe]

Pos an edge row. He was an edge at Texas. So that's yes, seven to one. Yeah.

[CJ Vogel]

So point.

[Jeff Howe]

Your point still stands. Yeah.

[CJ Vogel]

It's going to be interesting to see how that changes. Right. Texas with a number of guys that, hey, if we do this exercise again in five or 10 years, go to Richard Wesley, make it go to Lance Jackson. You know, they're gonna have to really, really take a step forward in their careers. But they were five star guys. Right. Colin Simmons I would assume is going to be firmly in that top 20, but it's going to be interesting.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, it's interesting. We, so when we did this as a staff, we chose to exclude active players. So no voting for active players. I thought it was interesting. C.J. we got a lot of participation in the fan vote. Colin Simmons was in the top 15 in the fan vote which he's had a great career and everything that he, I mean he's going to finish among, you know, knock on wood, he's going to finish among the all time sack leaders at Texas when he's done and a multi time all American. The fact that he's all. But the fact that he's still got one year to go and he's already in the top 15, that just surprised me that Longhorn fans are already putting him up there that high in this era.

[Home Improvement Advertiser]

Yeah.

[CJ Vogel]

But hey, what is it, 21 sacks in two years.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, I mean he's, he's gonna join that elusive, I mean he's again, knock on wood, he's gonna be the fourth guy to join that 30 career sack club at Texas. He should by the end of the year. And again you'll look at his numbers and a lot of those guys did it over four years and I'm not taking anything away from the guys that did it. But you know, Sax one in NCAA recognized that at that point. But you know, okay, sacks, tackles for lost, like was there, you know, some, I'm not going to say fudging of the records but maybe a little, just a little, a little, a little extra added on there.

[CJ Vogel]

It's like Michael Jordan's turnover stats.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, yeah. You get what I'm saying. But Colin Simmons, it's going to be legit numbers and it's going to be all in three years. Like that's, that's why you know, when we did this, I'm just looking at my ballot right now like it was. I had Casey and I'm, I'm the biggest Casey Hampton stand in the world. But like I just, I put Derek Johnson ahead of Casey Hampton. I put D.J. at 3, Colt at 4, Casey Hampton at 5. I put Earl Thomas at 7, which I think was higher than anybody had Earl Thomas, but man, it was only two years. But if you look at those two years, I don't know that a Texas defensive back has had a bad, better two years that Earl Thomas didn't know.

[CJ Vogel]

And you know, there were a few comments for desean Elliott too in the season that he had that what he finished second in the Thorpe. And you're like, okay, how do you balance the one peak year versus guys that did it for two and three and four in the case of a couple of these guys. So look, I, I would imagine moving forward you don't see many fourth year guys or fourth, fourth year, four year contributors that make this list, given their impact, is probably done in three years and they're off to the NFL. But hey, you never know. You never know.

[Jeff Howe]

I think, C.J. i think I was lower on Jamal Charles too. I think I was way lower on Jamal Charles on my ballot than everybody else was because Jamal had some great moments and he had a Great, I think 1500 yards in 07. But I mean Deontay Foreman's 2016 to me was better than any Jamal Charles season. Yeah, really want to help Texas win a national championship at a great career at Texas. But I think it's one of those deals where. Okay, does some of this factor in. Is a guy more notable for what he did in the NFL necessarily? Is that, is that kind of playing into the thinking? So anyway, just wanted to bring that up because we got a lot of questions about it. So cj, is there anything on your ballot that you would like a do over on or somebody you didn't put on there that you really wanted to put? Mine would be the. The guy I wanted to try, really wanted to try to fit on there was Tony Brackens. I just couldn't bring myself to, to not vote for Malcolm Brown.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, look, I, I mean, tough for me. I wish I obviously done some due diligence and watched maybe a game in black and white to see Dan Neil. And that, that was mean. That was mean. Let me, let me back up, let me back up. The games that I wasn't quite well played.

[Jeff Howe]

It was a well played jab. I dig it.

[CJ Vogel]

The games that I had not seen previously of that area. I wish I had gone back and watched a couple or at least seen some highlights for, you know, you know, Brockermeyer a Neil, you know, some of the guys in that era, Brown another. But I felt pretty good given what I ended up with. Jeff, I think from that 2000 to really 2010 range, I mean that era was just so, so talented and had so many people deserving that were left out. So I feel like you could probably, if you had to pick 25 or 30 from 92 on. Like how half probably come in that 10 year span, if not more than half, 60%.

[Jeff Howe]

CJ you plan on getting me a walker at the OTF for the OTF Christmas party this year. Is that going to be. That gonna be the white elephant?

[CJ Vogel]

What do you think I would have to get Bobby then?

[Jeff Howe]

Oh, gosh. An oxygen tank? I don't, I don't know. But you know, hey, it's, it's subjective again. That's why I like these lists because F for fakes that anyone who would want fake Foreman over Charles needs their head examined. I'm just going by what they did while they were at Texas and you can definitely say Jamal probably had a more consistent career. But man, I'll, I'll take, I'll take Deontay's 2,000 yard season over. Yeah, a lot of really good years.

[CJ Vogel]

I had Foreman considerably higher on my ballot than Charles. And again, I don't feel good about it. But you run for 2100 and win a a Hulk. I mean, it's pretty impressive.

[Jeff Howe]

Rocky P named the other guy, Bryant Westbrook, like, but again, I. If you're not careful, you'll have like, you'll have half this list. But more than half this list be defensive back. So anyway, a lot of fun conversation on that. Cj, I do want to get to it. There's a couple of the questions I want to get to before we're done tonight. Antoine asked this. Cj, this is something you had on the Twitter machine, I think today or yesterday.

[CJ Vogel]

Oh boy.

[Jeff Howe]

So, cj, can you explain championship or bott bust for those five teams that you listed?

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, great question. I'm going off the top of my head. It was Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Georgia. Look, every single one of those teams returns a high level, elite quarterback. In my opinion from a year ago. All five of those teams should be very deep in the trenches. And in today's day and age, very difficult thing to do on the offensive side and the defensive side. Additionally, no head coaching changes from any of them. Right. That continuity is a big piece of it. Now, I do think that in today's era of college football, championship or bust is viable to more than a couple of teams, right? Previously it was Alabama or it was Georgia. Right. Clemson had their run, but that was basically it. You know, you have a window to win a lot of football games in a single season, perhaps more than anybody else in the country, based off of how your roster is stacked in today's day and age. You can flip a roster, you can flip a program's trajectory in one month. And that one month happens to be in the NCAA portal window. So I think that window widens for folks who would be classified as championship or bus. But I'll say it for Texas. Absolutely. You have one year of Arch Manning remaining if you don't win a championship. Now look, I think that's a difficult, difficult pill to swallow and say okay, if not now, then when? Oregon? Very much the same with Dante Moore, top five pick in the draft. Some would argue he's the top quarterback in the country. I would not. Ohio State. Your quarterback, Julian Saying just led the country with 76 completion.

[Jeff Howe]

Right?

[CJ Vogel]

Notre Dame, CJ Carr, and then Georgia. All Georgia's done over the last two years despite being down is one back to back SEC championships. Jeff. Yeah, I mean that team and I know a lot of folks projecting that 2027 will be the year of Georgia once more, but absolutely they classify for me given the talent and the NFL level talent that they are going to put out on the field this year

[Jeff Howe]

whenever the AP poll comes out. I know people can take the preseason AP poll for however they want. I just like the fact that at least gives you some kind of barometer to start the year. I think those five teams and the two teams that were in the championship game last year, Miami and Indiana, in some way shape or form. Those seven teams should make up your top seven.

[CJ Vogel]

Yes.

[Jeff Howe]

Really doesn't matter what order they go in, C.J. but I think those are the top seven teams. I think they're in. Those seven are in a tier by themselves to start the year.

[CJ Vogel]

Yeah, I don't think there should be anybody else outside of the seven that you mentioned in the top seven. I wouldn't listen to any other argument. And I had this argument with a buddy today. Why is Indiana not in that conversation? And to me it's just like, look, I don't yet trust Joe Josh Hoover.

[Home Improvement Advertiser]

Right.

[CJ Vogel]

I would put Miami in that conversation before I would do that with Indiana. And I know folks kind of got on and they're like, well, why is Miami? I was like, well dude, they just lost four future Pro Bowlers, their defensive line. Like I need to see that first. And I, I have no doubt that it's going to be good, but I need to see it first. The other thing with Hoover and I ran some of the Numbers today in five Big 12 road games, just Jeff and I don't remember him. I think it was Iowa State, Houston, BYU, West Virginia and one other in there, maybe Baylor. Five Big 12 road games, six touchdown passes, nine interceptions, 59% completion rate, negative 53 rushing yards. So look, I, I need to see it with Hoover Before I get on, on on board with him being another Fernando Mendoza, Curtis Rourke incarnate. I think he's going to be good in that system. And of course Signetti and his OC have been phenomenal at quarterback development.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah.

[CJ Vogel]

Nominal in offensive system in terms of execution. But look, there's red flags there that I wouldn't, I would certainly look at and say not yet in that conversation with a car, with shoot even a Mensa, more a Manning, a Saiyan Stockton. Not, not quite yet for me.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, it's because we're doing a show together because the program will cover every time you say men. So I shudder a little bit. But then I gotta remember you're talking about the Miami quarterback, not the former Texas head coach. Thank you for the clarification, cj. Much appreciate it. We got a super chat coming in last minute. Billy woods, you beat the buzzer. Thank you Billy for the super chat said. Do any rule changes stand out? I think the fair catch rule is interesting.

[CJ Vogel]

That's one. I look at targeting just in the sense that you're no longer suspended in for a half four targeting penalty. And of course it is experimental but I mean I think that's a no brainer. The fair catch rule is very interesting, Jeff and I, I do think that that's one like I don't know how often we're going to see that this year, but it certainly could have a big impact towards the end of halves.

[Jeff Howe]

Yeah, in the half, end of game. I mean I believe somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I believe the last time it happened in the NFL it led to a Cameron Dicker. I think a 56, 57 yard field goal at the end of a half for the Charger.

[CJ Vogel]

That's pretty electric.

[Jeff Howe]

So I think that's the last time it happened. But yeah, I, I kind of did. I kind of dig that rule. I, I wish, I wish we saw more rule experimentation in college football because I mean, let's face it, this is your minor league for the NFL because the NFL wants to try a rule out and try it in college football, see what works. That's, that's what I was kind of hoping they would do with the, the ufl, whatever, whatever iteration they're in now. Like hey, just do bits like you want to try a rule, try it there. If it doesn't work, great. But man, you might as well just do it in college football at this point. So yeah, the fair cat. I don't know if we'll see the fair catch rule come into Play, but I. I dig it. So, C.J. one thing I want to get your opinion on, on before we're done tonight. The two lane alternate jerseys, the special jerseys, the City Connect jerseys that came out today, everybody that I saw that was. It's very rare that in college football social media you can have something that is like an overwhelming win, like an overwhelming. Just something that everybody agrees on. The. The Tulane City Connect jerseys have been a hit.

[CJ Vogel]

Oh, my God, I love them. I love them. It made me want to get in my car and drive eight hours straight to New Orleans. Jeff. I mean, these things were unbelievable. I think the attention to detail is great with the beads. Now the number shadowing, you go four number or four colors deep on the 18 here might be a little bit much, but boy, I love that the. The striping on the pants. I love the detail around the collar. I think the colors are phenomenal. And Jeff, look, I'm a sucker for stadium rendering more than anything. Yeah, a good jersey release that gets me. Matthew, if you don't mind, Cow out of nowhere now. They look a little pity to me, but Cal, new jerseys.

[Jeff Howe]

I haven't seen cows yet.

[CJ Vogel]

Well, let me get your thoughts because.

[Jeff Howe]

So this will be a nice reveal after.

[CJ Vogel]

It looks like pit, but I like

[Jeff Howe]

the color scheme after whatever it was that the Buffalo Bills trotted out. Like, we need a palate cleanser. Okay, so Cal's kind of gone with that. I think that's like a throwback look that they were going with earlier, but now they've kind of blended it a little bit. So, yeah, I can. I can get behind that.

[CJ Vogel]

I might just be a sucker for the socks maybe. I mean, the socks just look great.

[Jeff Howe]

I. And you mentioned Pitt is keeping the script. Cal, on the helmet. I like that part. Just like I don't know why Pitt ever went away from like the Dan Marino era, Tony Dorset era script pit on the side of the helmet. Should have never done that. I'm glad they. They went back to that. So, yeah, I can. I dig the caliper, dude. The two lane ones are glorious. I knew after the Bills we needed a palate cleanser. And thank you, Tulane, for giving it to us. All right, that is gonna do it for the Wednesday night live stream. Cj, thank you for the time, the knowledge, the intel, the expertise. As always, thank you to Matthew behind the scenes for producing it. Hey, thank you everybody in the chat chat for keeping it lively on a Wednesday night. Thank you for the super chats that came in. Much appreciated as always for the questions really good questions tonight. Good conversation on the Longhorns and college football in general. Thanks to our sponsors tonight, that's Andy Ludicky and My Perfect Franchise, our lead sponsor. Thank you to Prize Picks, thank you to Poncho, and thank you to Laura Baker. Hey, if you're not a member over on texas football.com CJ mentioned it a little bit ago. $3 for your first three months of access for new members. We've got anything happening in on behind the Burnt Orange Curtain that's going on on the 40 acres. We're talking about it over at ontexasfootball.com so make sure you get over the site. Again, limited time offer for new members. $3 for your first three months of access over on the site. Hey, before we're done, make sure you hit that like button on the video. Make sure that you're subscribed to the on Texas Football YouTube channel and make sure you've got your notifications set. That way, anytime we go live or drop a new video, you're not missing any of our Longhorn coverage or breaking news. If you had anything we didn't get to question, comment, concern, whatever it is you can direct to the guys bright and early tomorrow morning, coffee and football. We got a scheduled player availability on the 40 acres tomorrow. Don't know who we're getting, but Team OTF will be down there after practice in the morning. Guys will be getting you ready for it on coffee and football. And tomorrow night on the live stream, it's that winning drive crew. CJ will be joined by Lifetime Longhorn, Rod Babers and our coach, Bob Shipley. So until then, for cj, For Matthew, for the entire On Texas football staff, I'm Jeff Howell. Thank you so much for watching and listening. And until next time, welcome always Hashtag, hashtag for Craig.

[CJ Vogel]

Stay girthy. It's a new one.