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On Texas Football
What's WRONG With Texas' 'Flawless' Roster?
00:20:16
Is the 2026 Texas roster truly flawless? Jeff Howe, Jerry Hamilton, and CJ Vogel react to Brooks Austin’s claim that the Longhorns have the best roster in college football and break down where Texas looks championship-caliber — and where real...
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- [00:00]
A
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B
Is the Texas roster flawless in 2026? We'll get to that on this latest edition of On Texas Football, brought to you by Price Picks. I'm Jeff Howe, joined by Jerry Hamilton and C.J. vogel. Guys, we're, we're looking at this in the wake of Brooks Austin, the film guy, friend of the channel, putting out his top 25, putting Texas at number one. And Jerry, that was a direct quote from Brooks. He believes this roster is flawless. This is always one of those things. Are we too close to it to know any better or does the national outlook, are they, are we seeing things that they're not? Where do you come out, Jerry? Not just on, is the Texas roster flawless or not? But if there's a position group that there's something personnel related that keeps it from being flawless. In your opinion, what is it?
- [01:47]
C
You know, I think it's, you know, we can get into the on the field stuff. You know, what can impact this Texas team? You know, penalties, disciplined play. But I, you know, look, I think there's questions to be answered at two secondary spots and I think there's question been answered at kicker. You know, before you talk offensive line, offensive line's been the first thing out of everybody's mouth all off season guys. But to me I'm like, how's our right hash looking when the money's on the line this year? Because Ship Mason Shipley didn't miss from 30 to 49 yards last year, zero misses. I mean, you're not probably not going to replicate that. So what's our right hash looking like in 2026. And then C.J. i would say there's a couple of defensive back spots. There's highly ranked guys to Brooks Point. Hey, there's a highly ranked guys off really highly ranked recruiting classes or Texas went to the portal and spent seven figures on a few guys. Right. But that doesn't mean you have ideal linebacker depth. That doesn't mean you have ideal secondary group right now entering the season. So I think you could pick apart like three or four positions and say they have to come through for this team.
- [02:56]
A
Yeah.
- [02:57]
B
C.J. we've talked a lot about safety this offseason. That's one where even as we get closer to camp and you start to hear things coming out of the off season, I, I still have no idea what to make to make heads or tails of what that position group's going to look like at the start of camp or by the time you get to September 5th.
- [03:14]
D
No, I'm right there with you. And again I, I look at that safety spot as really the clear blemish on this Texas roster.
- [03:23]
A
Right?
- [03:23]
D
And that's with Jelani McDonald, a guy that we all believe is going to be a day two pick at the latest. A guy who will be an all conference honoree at some point this year. I don't know if I can trust that second safety yet. And that's really the one spot. Jerry, you mentioned what linebacker depth, safety, spot kicker. I mean that all to me is splitting hairs in a way because you have all conference level players at literally every other position on the field, if not all American, right? And I think that's kind of where from a national scope you look in at Texas and say God, man, every position they have someone, right? Well at that safety spot you have just one is kind of how I'm putting it. I don't know if Derrick Williams is going to be the guy that you can rely on for a full 12, 16 games. Didn't have an interception last year. Xavier Phil Smeet I think is a better nickel than he is a safety. We still don't know about a Jonah Williams Is Zello 6 physically ready to make believe it. So there's a lot of questions within that safety room outside of Jelani and should he go down? Well now you're not just looking at a question mark, you're looking at a big oh no at that safety spot. So it's depth, it's personnel, it's front line. It's a lot that I'm looking at with that safety group saying Yeah, I think that's the one area that you look at. You just don't know if it will live up to what really every other position on the field is holding up to at the moment.
- [04:46]
C
I got a question for you two guys on this topic. Two years ago when Ohio State won a national championship, you could look at that team and they even barely snuck into the playoff. You could look at that team and would you say they had less holes than Texas did this year after Caleb Downs transfers and they got a great player out of the portal? I mean, obviously people would say, well this Texas team's better at quarterback with Arch versus Howard, but is that Ohio State team, did they have less holes than Texas? And you guys opinion was. I would say probably, probably.
- [05:25]
D
And to that point, you know, I don't know if, you know, obviously talents everywhere, I don't know if it was as front end at the moment, but you didn't have one or two even glaring weaknesses that you sat there and said, I don't know if given a matchup or given a situation, you could rely on them to make, you know, the steady level plays that you've seen the entire season.
- [05:48]
B
For me, it goes back to something that I always look at. What separates the, the national championship contenders from the good teams in college football is not just your depth. Do you have talented depth? I think we saw that with Ohio State, Jerry, because they had some injuries on the offensive line and they had to scuffle some things and like it took them a minute to get it figured out and they had some. I remember there's a game they had in the middle of the year against Nebraska where you're like, man, I don't,
- [06:09]
D
I don't know if they're going to
- [06:10]
B
beat anybody with a pulse the rest of the way. But you know, credit to that staff, they eventually got it together and figured it out that, Jerry, you mentioned the offensive line and I want to go back there because that's my biggest question mark about this team. In addition to safety. And it's not so much I'm doubting the personnel. Like you know what you're going to
- [06:29]
D
get from Trevor Gooseb.
- [06:30]
B
You've got a pretty good idea what you're going to get from Melvin Ciani and I. I love the move of kicking Brandon Baker inside the guard. Like that's been money from everything we observed in the spring, everything we've heard since. But Jerry, to me, Lawrence Seymour has to win. He's got to go win the left guard job. It can't be well, we invested in him, so we've got to put him there. No, he's got to prove that whether it's Jaden Chapman or Dylan Sikorski or whoever is the number two left guard. He's got to prove Jerry, that he's head and shoulders above them and can't for me to feel like, okay, this offensive line is definitely headed in the right direction.
- [07:05]
C
Yeah. 100 I totally agree with that. And Connor Robertson, right fall camp as a first time starting center, Baker at right guard. I know he looked really good in the spring. We've heard good things in the summer. Still got to do it. But here's where kind of why I asked that question. When Simmons went down for Ohio State, they had an all American guard to kick out the left tackle. Texas doesn't have that. You can't kick Lawrence Seymour out the left tackle if Goosby goes down. So like that. That's kind of part of the thing I was talking about like Texas versus Ohio State. But yeah, on the offensive line, look, there's competition I think. I think if you look at it just comparing Ohio State was more set than Texas was on the offensive line going in that season. Then they were able to overcome injury more to your point. So that's kind of where I'm at with Lawrence Seymour. It'd be much easier for us if he'd been in for spring practice.
- [08:02]
A
Right.
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C
So we had at least had some intel on hey, this is what, this is what he looked like picking up the scheme with pads on when the, when the so called bullets are flying in a practice one versus ones and you're playing against another NFL guy lined up across from you. Same thing with Connor Robertson who's practiced against really good players. And I think Connor will have a good year but they're still more unknowns out there with this Texas team for. And I'm not getting on Brooks at all. We love Brooks. I think Brooks is awesome guy and I love what he does. But to say that there's no flaws in this Texas team and maybe we are too close, Jeff, but I just, I don't see it that way.
- [08:41]
B
Go ahead C.J.
- [08:42]
D
i was going to say just one last thing about that safety position that I wanted to add is if you go back a year ago, the progression of the season, you saw your premier positions improve everywhere across the board. Offensive line quarterback certainly was better. Your corners once you found the starting tandem towards the back end played more on the more pass breakups, more pb. I mean interceptions, plays on the ball than they ever did. The first half of the year, that safety room did not improve. In fact, it got worse. Their worst games of the year were that back half of the year. That's another reason that, hey, I don't know. I don't know where they stand right now given injuries, given guys in and out of the lineup. I'm gonna have to see it before I sit there and say I'm definitively on board with this unit being a strength.
- [09:29]
B
And you didn't hire Will Muschamp and bring back Blake Gideon for that reason. But you gotta get safety figured out. It can't be what it was at times last year. I got a couple more things we need to get to, but right now I want to take this opportunity to let everybody know that this edition of on Texas Football is brought to you by Prize Picks. There's a lot of ways you can watch sports. You can sit back, check the score, maybe even flip between games. Or you can have something writing on every swing, shot, touch or possession. That's where Prize Picks comes in. The summer sports calendar is loaded between baseball, wnba, the World Cup. You got so much stuff to watch. And Prize Picks gives you a simple way to make all of it more interesting. You're just looking at player projections and deciding one thing more or less. That's all you got to worry about. Build your lineup, submit your picks. Now you're locked in from the first whistle to the final out. That's what makes Prize Picks fun. You trust your read, you make the call. Now, suddenly, every little moment matters. Prize Picks is available in all 50 states, including right here in the great state of Texas. So if you haven't done it yet, download the Prize Picks app. Use the code HMA when you do play. $5 and you'll get $50 in lineups instantly. Again, download the app. The code is HMA5. Get you 50 with prize picks. It really is that simple. And as always, please remember, play smart, play responsibly. Play Prize Picks. CJ we talked about the kicking game a little bit, and you know, this is where you get into, okay, other than personnel, like, what are things that can derail this team? And we talked about playing complimentary football a lot, whether it's with the offense and the defense. And that's why Sark makes the coordinator change. But you look at the game, CJ the close games Texas played, games they've lost. It's a missed field goal, it's a fake pun allowed, it's an onside kick. I, I, I've got To see the kicking game be a lot more buttoned up in some of these big games, to really trust it down the stretch when it matters.
- [11:14]
D
Jerry jokes about the right hash, but I mean, he's right. You know, those are three valuable points that could go a long way. And that was something a year ago with Mason Shipley that you didn't really have to worry about. Right. I believe it was just the Mississippi State miss to begin the second half that you sat there and said, I probably should have made that one. Beyond that, he was very good. Two other misses came beyond 52, 53 yards against Oklahoma and end of half situation and you know, you just 53 yards at the college level, not very easy to do. So I'm with you on that. Punting is another one because Texas went from a strength with Keaton Crawford and Keelan Robinson and Ryan Sanborn consistently downing opponents inside their own 5 or inside their own 10 yard line to the next year. You sit there and say, man, Texas certainly losing a lot of yardage in this field position battle because of the punting situation because of their gunners. So that's another under the radar aspect. Texas wasn't great with their gunners a year ago, but now you're working with guys that are all fourth year, some fifth year guys in, in several instances, let's see how that impacts the game as well.
- [12:22]
B
And Jerry, that takes me to kind of where we go to wrap this up, which, you know, I, I've said this about Texas the last few years and you know, in hindsight was wrong about it last year. But if they're not in the playoff, it's not going to be because they lack talent. And while, while we're talking about areas where this roster isn't flawless, they're question marks. It's not like they're just notable deficiencies. But Jerry, that takes me to the coaching staff and playing with discipline and the coaches doing their job. You bring up Ohio State in 2024. It was Ryan Day's stubbornness against Michigan just trying to force it to win that game in a phone booth that probably cost him an undefeated season and cost him a first round buy in the playoffs. It all worked out in the end. But Jerry, this is a really big year for Sark because you've been around this long enough. Jerry, this fan base, they appreciate the fact that you've been close. But like we saw under Mack Brown, you can only get close for so long before everybody's ready for you to break through.
- [13:16]
C
Sark has had a fun off season for media, the most important thing he said in the whole off season was at the Houston Touchdown Club when he said we got to cut out the dumb ass penalties. That's the most impactful thing he said the whole off season. Nothing about anything else. That is number one for me, man. I've said before, I want to see Texas replicate Ole Miss last year. Ole miss in 2024 is around 118, 120 in penalties. They went up and tied top 70 last year. That is, it doesn't seem like when you look at the number of penalties, that's a big change. We're talking about 1.3 penalties a game. But it tells you a lot about how that much they improved in terms of discipline as a football team over the course of a season. I want to see a jump like that. My goal, my number one goal for Texas football this year is to be in the top 70 in penalties per game, because that means they've almost cut it in half from where they were a year ago. And I think a team as talented as Texas, as long as they stay healthy enough, if they improve that much from a discipline standpoint on the field, there's no doubt in my mind they'll be a playoff team. And then when you get into the playoffs, you roll. You know, you just see where, you know, you just lay it out there and see what happens, because that's going to be. Health is impacted, your matchups are impacted. But my whole goal is to get there. And I think the number one way this Texas team is going to get there is be a much more disciplined team because then it just comes to talent. You're more talented than most people are. You can lose a game when talent's close. You can lose any game when you beat yourself.
- [14:58]
B
And C.J. i know you've done some number crunching in the off season on short yardage and goal line, you know, being more buttoned up. And to back up Jerry's point about penalties, I don't need you to be Indiana. I don't need you to be best in the country. But you can't be last. You got to be better. And I don't need Texas CJ to lead the nation in red zone offense or third down efficiency. But you got to be more consistent than you've been the last few years. Especially more consistent when you play opponents that have as good or equal or better talent than you.
- [15:28]
D
Yeah, look, and you're going to face a lot of teams with really talented quarterbacks and a lot of defenses with similar talent. If not equal talent to you. Texas stubbed its toe really a few times against specific teams with great defenses last year with similar to comparable talent to the offense. I, and I look at not just living ahead of the chains. It's easier said than done. But you can't live in third and 20. And Texas did that in the first half against Florida when the game was basically out of hand because of the way the flow of that game went. Fortunately, they lived in third and 20 against Oklahoma in the first half, but they were able to overcome that because of adjustments at halftime, finding a run game and also a stout defense in that game. So that's really where I'd like to see Texas improve is early game situations, really full game situations where you're not backed up because of penalties, because of snap infractions, because of illegal formations and sacks, keep your quarterback upright, stay ahead of the chains, and that offense is going to score as many points as they want.
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B
And Jerry, to wrap it up, this might sound like we're nitpicking, but again, we're talking about. These are the steps it takes to go from a contender to, to being a team that is not just talented enough, but across the board, you're doing all the little things you need to do to go win a national championship.
- [16:45]
C
Yeah, 100%. I mean, look, from a fan standpoint too. I say this when people turn on the TV when they're spending hundreds of dollars to go to games per seat, what you don't want to see is a team that beats itself. That is the number one thing you don't want to see. Then you feel like, man, why did I fly out here for this game? I spent all this time traveling just to watch them beat themselves. There's nothing worse than the fan base hates in teams that beat themselves, even good teams, because then you're living what could have been land. And that may be the worst of all. Man, we're nine and three. We didn't show up for Florida. We're undisciplined. And that really is what kept us from being a shoe in, in the playoffs, even though we lost at Ohio. There's nothing worse for a fan base than that. So that's the number one thing I look for. Look, if you, if you are a disciplined football team, and this is elementary stuff in sports too, basketball, unforced turnovers, you know, go down the line of all sports is the teams that don't beat themselves, their percentages go up to have a special season. If you're, if you have enough talent. I mean, it's very simple. The start of this whole every sport is very simple. Don't beat yourself out. Execute your opponent and your odds are go way up if you have enough talent to have a great season. So it's right there. I think Sark, that's why I loved what he said, because he said I don't think he was placating to a fan base. I think so. I think Will must Champ sometimes when Will Muschamp, a new coach, comes in, said, hey man, we didn't think y' all are disciplined enough to beat us. That re that, man, that hurts. That comments like that hurt. Jabar, Jaluk, we didn't Texas guys, we didn't think y' all are physical enough to come in the swamp. Those things hurt a coach.
- [18:31]
B
Yep.
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C
And with must champ and Jalute coming in, I think that is all Sark. I think Sark was already there. But that's all you need to hear from guys. You hire us. Hey, we didn't think y' all are physical enough. Hey, we didn't think y' all are as disciplined as a Georgia Bulldogs. So we felt good. We were going to come away with a win somehow, some way. Those hurt.
- [18:52]
B
All right. And we are approaching 50 days to go until we get to see what it looks like when Texas puts that product on the field. Hopefully a more disciplined, buttoned up product than what we saw last year. Jerry, C.J. thank you guys for the time, the knowledge, the intel, the expertise. As always, thank you to Matthew behind the scenes for producing it. Thank you to a prize picks for sponsoring this edition of On Texas Football. If you're not a member over@ontexasfootball.com make sure you get over to the site. Check out everything we've got going on over there. Make sure that you like this video. Make sure you're subscribed to the on Texas Football YouTube channel and make sure you got your notification set. That way, anytime we go live or drop a new video, you're not missing any of our Longhorn coverage or breaking news for Jerry, 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.
- [19:35]
A
Hey guys, Blake Monroe here from coffee and football. YouTube thinks that you're going to like this video right here. And if the algorithm knows ball, it's a good one. So go check it out. And then don't forget, hit that like and subscribe button.
- [19:47]
E
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