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Foreign.
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Welcome in everyone to the Longhorn Republic, your source for Texas Longhorn news, sports and opinions with a bit of snark built and we are members of the Dave Campbell's Texas Football Podcast Network and the College Football Huddle and you can find more about both those great organizations in our social media bios. If you like what we do, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts at Spotify helps get the show out there. Share this with your friends on any platform. We'd love to have them as part of our community. Connect with us on social media at Longhorn Pod and Twitter and Blue Sky, Facebook and Instagram the Longhorn Republic. Or shoot us an email Longhorn republic pod@gmail.com My name is Gerald Goodrich. Ever host this week like I am every week, and I'm joined by a man who's happy he's on the right side of the Red River, Kyle Carpenter. Kyle how are you today?
- [00:59]
C
Gerald it's it's it's always a fun week OU preview week, especially because we found decent community. We found good people on the other side of the Red river who can playfully joust and have have on the pod. So that's always good. But thank God I was born in Texas myself. Daryl it's exciting. We are this will come out into your feeds on Tuesday and if you're listening to it immediately, as I think all of you do tomorrow camp is starting. It is it is real. We are only eight days when you're listening to this from the official kickoff of the 2627 athletic season with new look soccer under Coach Bates taking on Houston Christian. Actually scrimmages start this week. Like when you're listening to this, they'll be getting ready to to host UTSA on Wednesday as well. So it's it's here. Gerald after the long, long wait. We are in sports season. We are in get to see Longhorns play sports that count are within spitting distance of football season.
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Kyle Our long national nightmare is almost over, which means that we're continuing to preview our 2026 football schedule, which is obviously one of my favorite things to do every year. We've got OU today and the friend of the show, Kamiyah Morabian is with us to help us preview that obviously then we'll close the show out, listen down the 40 and bang the drum. Well, we are five, count them, five weeks away from the kickoff of the 2026 college football season. If you are new to the podcast, because every week is somebody's first Week. Each and every week throughout the summer, we have gone through and previewed one of the opponents on the Texas Longhorns schedule, save for Ole Miss, but again, we'll talk about that on another date. Last week, we actually had two. The week before we did infrastructure week. So we got back on schedule. We're back on target now. We're back on task. Now we the one of the longest standing friends of the show here to help us preview the Oklahoma Sooners. Kabiyama Rabian. The man, the myth, the legend. Man. How are you doing tonight, brother?
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Dude, I'm doing well. Been a long time standing front of the pod for long. Gosh, this is like SB Nation and all that other stuff, so it's been a minute, but we were able to make the SEC transition and continue that. So I get to talk to you all every year and in between, each year I even I'm in usually texting Gerald back and forth, like about Texas and vice versa during the entire season. So if you're not listening to the show and this is the first time listening to the show, you guys should listen to this podcast, especially if you're a Longhorn fan or if you're a Sooner fan.
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C
It's good opposition research. Just listen.
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A
I agree. I agree with that statement. I'm on board with that.
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C
We. We may not always be the nicest, but we do welcome everyone. I mean, we will. It's. It's a large tent. We'll take anyone.
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A
This is a loving community. I already feel it.
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B
I love it. Well, let's. Let's jump in camp. You know, this time last year, we're having a conversation about Brett Venables and potentially the temperature of his seat. Well, he cracked off a 10, 3 season, ended it in a little bit of a lackluster fashion. Seemingly the temperature has cooled down a bit now. I will say, based on his pattern, he's up for a 6 and 7, right? He had a 6 and 7, a 10 and 3, 6 and 7, 10 and 3, 6. 6 and 7 is the next one up. Again, I'm doing patterns with my 5 year old, so my brain locked in. But, like, how much did last year really do to cool things down for Venables and the staff?
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Yeah. And it makes me think back to last year's preview when I think the. What was the narrative? Oklahoma, over and under was like four, five and a half, six and a half games that they would win. And, you know, I was in the, you know, the department of, you know, they should maybe go 9 and 3 if they got a couple of good lucky bounces. If they get super lucky it's 10 and 2. Most fans are expecting 8 and 4 and they got a 10 and 2 mostly or 10 and 3, excuse me off the backs of the defense and really almost could have made it into a quarterfinal performance or a semifinal performance in a cultural playoff. Pretty, pretty wild stuff. It's unique to think about Brett Venables and his tenure so far. He's had Dylan Gabriel in year one. Things don't aren't going to plan according to plan. Defensively they're still learning the the schemes offensively just doesn't gel year two with some consistency. They come come back, they don't win the Big 12. They rip off a 10 win season, have a good season and Dylan Gabriel looks like he's on his way out because well he looks like you have another guy coming in that's of kind going to be just fine. And well then you make your transition to the SEC and you find out that's not just fine because Dylan Gabriel obviously just stayed and went to Oregon and played quarterback there. And so then you see them sink back and get very much humbled in SEC where line play was not up to snuff on the offensive line and really no offensive identity whatsoever. And then finally you have transfer quarterback, a defense that knows what it's doing. The best in the in the nation voted against again the best in the nation basically carry them for the second half of the season more than the second half of the season really. And what I think is interesting is that there's a cooling of the seat but I now I think the expectations are yeah, the seat is chill but now it's in it's prove it mode. Like yeah, you've done it. We've seen you win 210 one season. That's more than the standard at Oklahoma. There's a reason why Oklahoma they weren't surprised to go 10 and two necessarily. They were actually just like elated to because they are blue blood. But at the same time the offense at more than at times, you know the offense 70% of the time didn't make a lot of sense. Of course the offensive line compromised a lot of the things they wanted to do but the defense won them all their games and it's pretty, it's pretty clear on that. You know let's not be you know let's not have like rose hinted glasses on and so they relied on the defensive completely especially the second half of the season beating you know like what red November, Tennessee, Alabama, whatever, racked it back to back. And so Hasida's cool, but he must prove it on the offensive end. And quite frankly if he doesn't win Texas this year it's going to be like okay, well he's one in three instead of trying tying up the series. If he maybe has another decent year like a 9 and 3 outing but continues to lose the Texas the following year, I think that's going to be an issue going forward.
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C
First of all, I'm proud of all of us. There was those references to 6 and 7 and none of us did the 6, 7 hand gesture. So kudos. This is a visual medium, podcasting.
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B
No.
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C
So you talked about offense, right? We know we'll get to the defense because that, that is kind of the assumption with Venables team. You're going to get one of the best defensive minds in the country. But you nailed it. I think for obviously Oklahoma fans, but even for Texas fans we know the defense is good. Offense has to be better if OU wants to be good. One of the biggest storylines in, in the SEC and certainly for I think the Sooners this year, you bring back John Matiere who passed for you know, nearly three, 3,000 yards with some injuries thrown in there, 14 TDs, over 400 rushing yards and another eight TDs. Besides, you know, increasing the, the pull ups and and dumbbell pullover regimen to get those lats, you know, touching the, the top of his helmet, if you haven't seen the shirtless photos, are impressive. What's the what's the next step for Matier this year for for his evolution for this offense to be what you want it to be?
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Honestly, it's simple quarterback mechanics go A set your feet B go through your reads maybe A go through your reads B set your feet. Probably in that order more likely. I think that's a that was an issue for him for this last year if I think about it. You can look at plays where he has predetermined where this ball is going to be thrown no matter what. You saw it. Heck you saw in the cultural playoff against Alabama. His guy's on a streak and he throws just a simple out route or a simple, it's not even comeback route, a simple out route and Bama catches in pick six and right kills the momentum the cultural playoff that they had going. So I think a big part of it and this is the reason why that he met with Sam Bradford and has has that actually extensive meetings with Brent Venables of coverages specific Coverages, what to do, how to shift, how to get out of coverages. You know, really just taking what's there for you. In addition to, of course, like, you know, the hand injury stuff, which wasn't completely overblown. It was something that everybody knew in the back of their minds that they're gonna say, oh yeah, like they're not gonna say much about it this year, but he's gonna have surgery about it and say it affected his play a lot in the offseason, which totally came to fruition. But at the same time, you could also tell this. The decision making at times was horrendous, like throwing in a triple coverage, double coverage, putting his guys into spots that were not great at all. And really, Isaiah Satania, thank God he's a track star because he could just run away from everybody and catch the ball. But really looking from John Mattier is the maturity to A, stay in the pocket, B, go through his reads, then see actually settle his feet when he decides to really commanding command a throw. Because there were times where he looked very confident and was dealing, and then there were times where it looked like the off balance short. That's why I said that the baseball player thing, the off balance shortstop sidearm throws that he's making, it's. It's not good for him as a quarterback. It doesn't make any sense. It messes with all the mechanics. And unless. And unless it gets there like a Baker Mayfield percent of the percentage around the time where, you know, it actually gets to where it's intended, cool. But for him, it's not, it's not resulting in those. And it's not something that I think the offense at the time wants him to do at the nature with the offensive line, which I think will take a step forward, but who knows?
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B
So I'm curious. This is not one of the questions I had planned, but as you talk about it, you know, one of the things that makes John Matier good is kind of that gunslinger, kind of almost. I hate invoking this, but like that Brett Favre, you know, effort, he's down there kind of ball that he likes to play. But it's also a big part of the struggles that I think folks in the 11 interceptions he had last year. So, you know, it's one of those hard needles to thread. Do you think that him dialing in on those fundamentals is going to cause those other kind of creative parts of his game to take a step back?
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I think that the big plays didn't necessarily get him in trouble I think the lack of tight ends really hindered his game. I think that's why the emergence of Jared Mechanic was super helpful. There was no threat over the middle of the field. That was a big massive target. Six foot six and Hayden Hansen, you know, six, seven and Rocky Beers, I believe. There was no big target over the middle of field that you could rely on as a safety blanket. You know, something that like a Cover 2 Tampa or something Cover Tampa 2 could work on. And so automatically the guys kind of like forced into scrambling, taking other shots they probably shouldn't be taking. Realistically though, but you're not wrong. I think. I think fundamentally what I want him to do is not at first sight of like trouble, but at the first sight of pressure. I wanted to hold on the ball just for a second. You know, there are other quarterbacks in OU history. I'm like names like Nate Hibbel that come to mind that would just like totally eat getting, you know, a face full linebacker, right? Like that would just totally eat dirt and. But still make the throw 30, 40 yards downfield if they needed to. And that's not something that we've seen John Mateer necessarily do. And the last time he did it, of course, you know, it messed up his thumb. So who knows, right, what his, what his mind was thinking. But at the same time, I think dialing those fundamentals is a big deal for him. At the same time as him actually having an intermediate game, which was virtually non existent last year, it was can you play the short game? Dialing up a lot of wide receiver screens that didn't work tight, not tight end zone, quarterback zone zone games read options where he should have probably gave the ball a lot more and a lot of like play action stuff downfield. There wasn't a lot of intermediate at all. And I think that maybe changes a little bit this year.
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C
So you talked a little bit about who he's throwing to. You know, you mentioned Satania, right, A talented transfer last year from Arkansas who comes back 67 catches, 900 just shy of a thousand yards, eight touchdowns. You lose. Dion Burks, you mentioned, you know, Karnak, who came on in that team last year. Keonte Lewis returned, the big tight end transfers. You, you kind of mentioned briefly all that is just a setup to say who is Parker Livingston rooming with this year?
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A
Yeah, no, that's a, that's a, that's a great question. And like that, that's the thing is like it was exciting when that, when the transfer happened because well, Oklahoma knew they'd gotten. They had already gotten Trail Harris like all right, fantastic. They got their cow from Virginia who's a stocky guy but quick and thick and like all the things you want from wide receiver one or maybe a two. And then you realize that you get Satania still back staying from the NFL because nil. Hey, like you're get the same amount of money and then you, you. You realize what getting Parker Livingston actually meant. It meant that Texas was going for broke on Cam Coleman and what that would potentially do for Arch Manning. So no, that's. That's a great question because it is an overhaul of the entire unit. I mean they have what just Satania as a. As a safety blanket. They have the running backs and they have guys that John Mateer needs to get used to other than really his offensive line. And I think that presents an interesting challenge at the same time because I mean like Dylan Gabriel going into year two, the reason why he was successful, he even mentioned it going in Oregon that he had that continuity but also continuity the players. That's something that John Mateers is not walking into with his personnel he's throwing to in year two. In year two he's got Satania, no doubt. But now you've got like three other guys that you really have to rely on and you have to know that they're going to catch you when you throw it to him on third down. He's got that with Satania. Can he get that with Troll Harris? He has. It was a couple of young guys. Does he have that with the Hayden Hansen? Does he have that with the Parker Livingstone where like in the spring game they tried as much as they could to hook up and it did not go well. And is. It was. It was, it was. It was a strange situation. And you know, of course all the quarterbacks will post their Instagram videos with their fake five on five camps or they're just like having fun whatever. But that, that's. That's something that is on the mind of suitor fans of. Has he actually established rapport with these receivers or is this another learning on the situation where he's. Or he's just actually teach the offense as our buckle is installing it for these new players in addition to that.
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B
So the best friend of a passing game when they're trying to figure it out is. Is a good ground game in Oklahoma over the years has been, you know, the offense is always the conversation. But really most people overlook that Oklahoma has a history of some of the best running backs in the country year in and year out thousand yard rushers, 1500 yard rushers, hasn't had a thousand yard rusher in a couple of years, but they have a pair coming back that combined for like 900 a year ago. So like, you know, do we expect one of them to kind of take the lion's share of the carriers or do we see a continued kind of, you know, a work share between Blaylock and Robinson or like what, what's the, what's. What should we expect from the running game?
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A
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, they actually hired a new run game coordinator this year in Dylan McCullough. He is a guy that, you know, Kevin Wilson, who was under Oklahoma as their offensive coordinator, of course he was offensive coordinator for who? Like Ohio State. He was head coach at Tulsa for a minute. He did something else or somebody else? I don't know. Kevin Wilson's been everywhere. He's with Oklahoma as well and so he's kind of been elevated on staff. Brent Venables, you know, the good old boys network never goes away and it just so happens dealing a cola. Also was the running backs coach with Kevin Wilson when he was at Indiana coaching them as well. We know that there's going to be a ton of zone, inside, outside, counter, etc. But at the same time Kevin Wilson has a deep relationship with Bill beatonbow, which is going to be nice to know because unlike last year, there's this feeling about the offensive line that we're not necessarily completely satisfied, but we have good feelings about now. To address your running backs question is who's one, who's two, maybe even three, right? Because you got Lloyd Avant from Colorado State who's really probably going to return kicks, punts, probably be your auxiliary guy. You got Stefan Walker, he's a freshman, a three star guy, but like he's physical and he looks like he could tote the rock on day one. But we always say that and then, you know, they fumble and practice and who knows. Same thing for John Had Jonathan Haddon, who four star recruit, really looked really, really all great during the spring game. But it's spring game. You're really trying to hurt people. You're just trying to wrap up and do the right thing. Then you get to Blaylock who played last year and looked really good at times, burst through the line, get to the second level. I always wondered why he didn't try to juke at the second level to avoid getting hit by the linebacker straight on because that's how he got an AC joint Sprain and that's how he stayed out of the season. Never made a lot of sense to me because he had the speed and breakaway speed to do so. Xavier Robinson also played with the messed up knee, especially in that Tennessee game. Going on to the end of the year, Xavier Robinson looks like he is the Bell Cow. He's the guy that kind of laid down the line as the year went on against the Alabama, against the Tennessee, against those guys later on in the year that really mattered. The Gotham get the College Football Playoff, quite frankly. And he's the guy that kind of just like moved the pile like what a yard. And then if it was going to be a game for two yards, he's the guy that got the third yard. And so lean on him. He comes back a little bit more lean. He comes back still with that same amount of muscle. Does he have the same amount of burst is really the question. My question mark is less about the running backs, of course and more so about the offensive line and how they'll take to that because the running backs again, like you mentioned Oklahoma's Adam I mean people take Kennedy Brooks for granted and it is the wildest thing because by Oklahoma efficiency standards of like Joe Mixon, Samaj P. Ryan, some of the most recent guys, he was the most efficient one. Kennedy Brooks was the best one out of all of them. By numbers wise. It's so it's a really unique position that Oklahoma's in to have that running back conversation. But I would say that right now X Rob is your number one Blaylock, you know, he could be your number one if it depends on the scheme. But they're going a lot of zone and that tells me if you're going to run a lot of zone. The SEC you're probably running a lot with X drops and you guys a little bit thicker. Some guy you can lean on, especially toward the end of the games.
- [21:01]
C
Yeah, we've talked a lot about the offense and and you know, 10 plus minutes without mentioning the defense must be making. We've been blowing and going, you know, nearly 15 minutes without talking defense. Then both would be upset, I'm sure. Let's just jump to it, right? Let's rip the band aid off. This is probably setting the ceiling on how good this team could be. Todd Bates returns what looks like a ton of production from a defense that was, as you said, one of the top units in the country. I mean, is this just a OU has found it. This is the venable system. It's what you expect. Never again shall they suffer? Do you expect more of the same? And, and what are the names maybe that Texas fans should be. Should be looking out for to get familiar with before our matchup?
- [21:46]
A
That's a great question. And you know this, this is a team built in Venables image. Truly. I was thinking about it today and that's why the Michigan game does not scare me in any way. It's Whittingham's first year there and Venables builds his teams like Whittingham. I mean, it's a power spread essentially is what he's got going. But on defense, you know, it's. It's kind of just the standard. Especially what you expect from a Brent Venables defense. You have guys on the defensive line that can come in waves. You have your superstars in the defensive line. That way you can only. You only have to rush forward to get pressure. That way when you do blitz and you are ultra aggressive like he already is, it's really confusing for quarterbacks when you aren't blitzing or it's really, excuse me, confusing for quarterbacks when you are blitzing because they're just getting used to the stunts and they're getting used to the other things that there is to the defensive line doing instead of like the cheetah position coming up or bailing on a random, you know, like all eight guys are coming up to the line of scrimmage. And so as far as the defense goes, it's kind of business as usual. And that sounds like really cocky. I mean, but if you have the rest of the SEC coaches saying, hey, that's the best defense in the sec, which automatically kind of gives you a chance to win the conference. If your offense can muster up maybe 17 points a darn game, that would be awesome. But some names to really look out for. If I'm kind of getting familiar with this Oklahoma team, you should already know about maybe Owen Heinecke, he's a linebacker. That was the middle linebacker. They got Cole Sullivan transferred from Michigan. You know it just get his spot. Oh, it turns out, oh, Heineke gets his. Gets his fifth year of eligibility. Taylor Wine on the defensive, defensive line, defensive end. He was the guy that, you know, when Oklahoma or Mason Thomas, he's what second round choice from the Chiefs this past year and is already killing it in camp. When AR Mason Thomas went out in that Tennessee game, well, it was a probable recovery for a touchdown while tearing his hammy. Essentially. People were worried about that left side of the offense or the right side of the defensive line and Taylor Wine took right from there, caused fumbles, wreaked havoc on offensive lines, whether it was Tennessee, whether it was Alabama, whoever it was toward the end of the year and really solidified that spot. So I would say Taylor Wine and then, I mean, you can't get past Oklahoma. I mean, I named Heinecke and Wine. Heinecke's a legacy, so that's kind of special for him. But you've also got the Bowen brothers, Eli and Peyton Bowen. One was a freshman all up freshman SEC cornerback. The other one has been a staple and right next to Billy Bowman when he was with, with the Sooners before he went to the Falcons in the NFL. I was curious or not Peyton Bowen would jump to the NFL. He stays. That's a really big win for Oklahoma. And so there's, there's several names to know, but those are the main guys, I'd say.
- [24:52]
B
Yeah, I was, I was shocked when both Bowens came back. I figured we'd be down one, but that's another. You know, it's again, the power of Venables. The power of like there's a lot that goes into it. I'm sure the paycheck was also pretty nice to get it back around to
- [25:07]
A
get Kip Lewis back. I was like, oh my gosh, this, this, this is a dream, you know, and you thought Owen Heinecke was gone and you got Cole Sullivan in and you're trying, you're freaking out how to get Cole Sullivan on the, on the mic. And now he's, he's your extra linebacker that can potentially play another middle linebacker spot, weak like weak linebacker spot or maybe even a Sam. They're thinking about Cheetah sometimes
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B
love to have options. So let's, let's kind of bring it to a, wind it down a little bit. What's one storyline that you, somebody who knows the team is watching heading into 2026. What's the one storyline that you're paying attention to?
- [25:50]
A
It's the only storyline, man. It's the offensive line. It's the only, it's the only storyline. It's the offensive line and that's that. That's the only thing Brent Venables has ever focused about and is the only thing he will focus on. And it's the same thing that everybody else in really in Oklahoma is thinking about. Yes. Is Jaan Matiere going to be back? Is he going to be good? Sure. But we're not going to act like we didn't sit back and see John Mateer. Not have time to even do read options. We're not going to act like we didn't sit back and see John Matier have the ball sit in his lap. And then as soon as he had that ball in his lap, there were two defensive ends right in his lap as well. Sometimes that's an issue. And now that you're finally heading into a season where you know that you've got six guys for sure that you're. You can start. It's depending upon who you win at right tackle, whether it's Marion Harris or if it's Ryan Fogey who did an excellent job last year. You know who your best four are. You got to figure out who your best five are and it's just contingent upon your right tackle. It's the run game. Like you guys mentioned earlier. That's what OU is missing. That's what really kept them out of the Ole Miss game was that they had to pass, pass, pass, pass. And you know, one John Matier mistake too many because he has to, you know, run the ball, pass the ball, especially with the messed up thumb. Is that ideal? So the storyline is offensive line. Can you show me you made progress because you spent all that money in Fojay, you spent all that money in Fusi. You've got Heatha Zaida back, you've got Jake Michaela back. You've even got some transfers in can beat him. Bow, can you put your money where your mouth is and really make this offensive line still continue to be better than it was at the beginning of last season? Because at the end of the last season it wasn't half bad, but still subpar of what people have been used to for Oklahoma.
- [27:53]
C
Yeah, any Texas fan who's, who's been, you know, has any bit of gray hair on them has. Has basically just assumed that line is good every year and Beatball always has it figured out. So it was a bit of a joy to watch, you know, our rival struggle in a department that honestly we have struggled in the past few years. So as we think about, you know, we're weeks away from. From football and, and the beautiful fall is hitting project Forward. Fall is done. We've headed into the cold winter months. It's. Let's call it February. You're looking back, you look back on the season and if it's a successful season, what does success look like for Oklahoma in 2026?
- [28:32]
A
Is this me personally or the fan base?
- [28:35]
C
This is, this is KMR's opinion. You can, you can hint at what the greater fan base Thinks, but I want to. We are. The reason we have you on is you're one of the most level headed, rational OU fans and always curious to hear your thoughts.
- [28:48]
A
I gotcha. If I'm looking back in February during hoop season and hoping that Oklahoma somehow gets on the bubble once again and saying hey, that was actually a decent season and look forward to spring updates and all that other stuff, I'm looking at Oklahoma likely going 10 and 2 again. Oklahoma wins in Dallas. Unfortunately we'll have to talk about that awkward moment when they lost at the Swamp, but I think Florida will be better that better this year. But the real success is Oklahoma. They have to take that next step forward and not like not just get to the playoffs. Win, win, win the darn game.
- [29:37]
C
Yeah.
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A
All right, folks like playoffs, cool. They've been there. You can hang a ton of banners about them. Win a game, you know, so you can actually, actually say you won something there. That's what it looks like to me. I mean this team, arguably they return eight guys who started on offense with a ton of experience. Same thing on defense. You're returning like eight guys and you've got a defensive genius coaching that guy. And you've also have a ton of talent on that side of the ball, the offense. If they marginally take a step forward and give you two touchdowns a game, I don't see how this team can't, with the exception of depth, how this team can't take a step forward and actually win a playoff game when they're doing that to SEC offenses who are touted very highly. And brand Venables is able to shut them down weekly with the exception of maybe Elaine Kiffin game which they aren't subject to this year.
- [30:40]
B
It'll be interesting again. You know, I. It's good for, for college football when OU is good. It's good for Texas when OU is good say for one Saturday in October. So like I'm with you. I think again, I think Oklahoma's got a, one of the more complete squads I think we've seen under Brent Venables, offensive line notwithstanding. But let's, let's put a pin in the, in the serious stuff because it's not really why we're here. Right. We have you on because you know OU and you're smart and you're level headed. But we also, we just like hanging out with you. So we've bringing back shooting from the hip. This, this name that's hit lasted more years than I think any other version of it. But let's let's start here. Kamiar. Very few people have made the Texas OU flip. We've seen it multiple times, though, recently, right? Darrell Royal is probably one of the most famous. But we saw Brendan Thompson did it a couple of years ago. Did last at. Oh, you ended up missing state. Things went well for him there, obviously. We mentioned Parker Livingston already. I want to ask you this question. What would it take for you to make that flip?
- [31:49]
A
For me to become a Texas fan? I mean, you know, that's a great question.
- [32:00]
B
A. I wish we were recording the video.
- [32:04]
A
The song I've been singing my entire life is, I'm sooner born, I'm sooner bed. If I look, if I. When I die, I'll be sooner dead. There's not just, you know, the, the annoying song. There are lyrics to it, I promise. But, you know, I. Despite the fact that I'm actually wearing an orange shirt right now, there is no way in hell I would ever become a Texas fan. I'm so sorry.
- [32:31]
C
You're not hitting the transfer portal. Okay. All right, let me. Let me pose a hypothetical. Gerald has a litany of kids. I now have a pair. Let's say your hypothetical children receive an athletic scholarship. You know, they've been blessed with your athletic genes and they play baseball, basketball, softball, football, whatever it is at the University of Texas. Are you throwing on the burnt orange to go cheer them on?
- [32:57]
A
Of course I would. If my child receives an offer from the University of Texas and they so choose to go to Austin in that wonderful city. Because it is a great city, by the way. If they go to that city and end up playing, you know, whatever sport it is or whatever scholarship they get there, then of course I'd be more than happy to go down. Be. Be that. Dad, where do they wear, like some dry fit longhorn orange thing with the, with the white longhorn on the, on the, on the lapel. Of course I would. I would do that for my family. All right.
- [33:37]
C
Just had to make sure there's a. There's a. A world. A minute possibility, but it's there. All right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna have a fun one. Next. If you could win that playoff game you talked about to make this successful this year, put it in writing, put it in ink, they win at least one playoff game. But the trade off is you have to go at least another two seasons without scoring a touchdown on Texas. Would you take it?
- [34:01]
A
Oh, that's a really good question. Oh. Oh, well, you know that, like I mentioned, like I alluded to earlier, that would probably mean the end of Brent's. No, I'm probably taking the College Football Playoff win because Oklahoma's been searching for one of those since they've been coming out. We're going real close to the Georgia one. Got real close. There's a split there, but, yeah, I got to take the win at this point, brother.
- [34:31]
C
Fair enough.
- [34:32]
B
Okay, so everybody loves Ed Harris, right? Ed Harris, famous OU alum. I love Ed Harris. Great actor. We cherry picked a few of his movies, and we want you to pick one just based on the name, Right. Not the plot or just the name that you think describes either your hopes or expectations for the 2026 OU season. State of grace. Absolute power. The third miracle. The way back. Pain and gain. Run all night. That's six. I could go pull up some more, but I feel like it's a good smattering and kind of across the board.
- [35:08]
A
I think you gotta go with pain and gain. I think. I think that with Oklahoma's mantra being hard to kill down the stretch of last year, when they could. Well, quite literally, they just meant they were just admitting they couldn't score points, but, you know, they could turn you over and score off of it directly. I think that mantra of pain and gain, of going through what they need to do to have the next guy goes up, next guy go up and basically just play a version of Snyder ball in a shotgun formation. That's. That's exactly what this team is, and that's what Brent Venables is. So 100. That's got to be pain and gain.
- [35:45]
C
I like it, Gerald. Maybe bearing some of the lead there, not including A Beautiful Mind or the Rock, but, you know, you could. You could spend. You could spend some time on it. Harris's IMDb, he's done some good stuff. Obviously, we've been asking this question to some folks this season, and I really like the answers that it's gotten as we've gone through reverse order, our SEC previews. What is one Oklahoma tradition? One OU tradition that you either hate or you find overrated?
- [36:16]
A
Oh, it's a good one. One OU tradition that I hate or I think is overrated? Ooh. It's not that one. It's not that one. It's not that one. Oh. Oh, okay. There's this new one that they just started roughly 10 years ago that I think is absolute awful. This is probably pretexting a conference realignment situation. They. They have the Walk of champions where they decided they were gonna do this strange kind of like, parade of players in suits before games. Even in the big. Toward the end of the Big 12, they started doing this stuff, and everybody knew it was kind of like a Alabama ripoff. I feel like they did this, like, right after 2013. So it made sense that they just played Alabama and said, hey, we kind of want to do that. And so they have, like, the walk of Champions. And I think it's. It's just so cheesy, and I'm not a big fan of it. But hey, like, it's also a time to, like, if you have kids and stuff like that, it's a good time to see the ponies. It's a good time to see the bet, the band and the drum line and maybe see your favorite player. But for the players themselves, like, I don't know if they like walking that much from the buses to the actual stadium. I'm pretty sure they just like to be dropped off at the stadium for being honest.
- [37:38]
B
I love it. So, last one. Before we let you go camp, man, we do this to you every year, and we want to hear it. We need you to say one nice thing about Oklahoma State and then we'll let you go.
- [37:51]
A
One nice thing about Oklahoma State. I will say that I am really excited for the fans, especially. That said, they were big. They were bedlam champs forever. Because now we get to actually rekindle the conversation because it looks like that we get to play again. And I'm really excited to see my Oklahoma State friends so we can bring back, you know, a Micah or somebody like that and talk, talk to the pokes once more about, you know, like, how we get to play and exchange things. And a more serious note, I am. I am curious and I actually will in a positive maybe light because I know they're not an Oklahoma schedule because we view kind of like you guys, I think we view each other as arch rivals and view A and M&OSU accordingly as like 1B, if we're being honest.
- [38:48]
B
Yeah.
- [38:49]
A
Depends on who you are, probably. I am looking on Oklahoma State to see if a transfer basically of a coach and his entire team from that school is going to work out. And if it does, how well it does work out in the Big 12 and maybe what that potentially suggests about the Big 12 as an entire conference as well as, well.
- [39:11]
B
Love it. Yeah, I mean, Oklahoma State will be an interesting experiment this year for sure, if they can. There's a lot of. But we're not here to preview Oklahoma State. We'll just leave it at that.
- [39:22]
A
Then we'll watch.
- [39:23]
B
Right. Came if folks want more of what you've got to offer, brother, where can they find you on the Internet, man?
- [39:27]
A
You guys can find me on Twitter. Ms. K. Erscore Merabian M E H R A B I N. You guys can just like, I don't know, like, I don't know. I'm always on the podcast, like whatever this, this podcast goes out on, you can find my name on that too. And then Google me. I don't know, like, like, like, like coach from, you know, Signetti. Google me. You know, I win, you know, I, I get things done so you can just. All that kind of stuff. So that's about it, man. Love it.
- [39:58]
B
Love it, man.
- [39:59]
C
I like a good Google me. That's nice.
- [40:02]
A
You know Signetti is a goat.
- [40:04]
C
Yeah, he's. I would like him to stop winning so much. I don't like that a new power has just erupted over overnight. But yeah, he's, he's real good at what he does.
- [40:15]
A
Mark Cuban. Money, right?
- [40:18]
C
Yeah.
- [40:19]
B
Hey, and money is money. It is what it is.
- [40:23]
C
Yep.
- [40:24]
B
Cool. Oh, brother, we appreciate it. I'm like an hour ahead, so I. But I appreciate your time. We're gonna record the rest of this thing so I can get it edited tonight and not be up all freaking night. But man, I appreciate it. And now that we have exchanged cell phone numbers because I'm never on Twitter anymore, we can actually talk.
- [40:43]
A
Get you. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me, y'. All and I'll talk to you later.
- [40:47]
C
All right, buddy. Have a good night.
- [40:48]
A
See ya.
- [40:49]
B
Always great to hear from our friend Kamiyah. But now let's jump into the part of the show where we whip around the rest of campus and we down the 40. And we'll start with the big recruiting news over the last week. High four star, five star, depending on who you ask. Running back Landon Williams callous commits to Texas. Honestly, more of an old school back than we're used to seeing in modern offenses. But a Richmond Randall high school Houston high school legend has been nicknamed Black Jesus. But ultimately the guy is a wildly productive back and brings, like I said, a very old school, three down running back kind of guy to the 40 acres.
- [41:35]
C
Yeah, it depends what you, what you think of. First of all, I'm very excited. I know I'm not going to start with the depends. Very excited. Incredible. Get one of the most talented players in the state of Texas. Like Vince Young is the all time Houston area high school guy that, you know, grown adults are talking about. Right. Like that will always be the standard I feel like a little bit of that buzz has happened here with Black Jesus. I feel like, you know, it's always interesting when is, you know, you heard about this sophomore out of Richmond, hey, you hear about this, this junior who's just tearing it up. Did you see what he did this week? Like when you get that kind of like you have as much cachet as as at least U of H, if not the Houston Texans, you know you're doing something again, nowhere near Vince Young. Stop everything you're doing. Watch these high school games level. But he definitely is putting himself in some rare fight air. I like I started the depends in my initial answer to say it depends how you feel about Jonathan Gray as one of the all time great high school running backs in Texas who kind of use some of the tread on the tires and that was a worry. So if you want to, you know, nitpick and have a concern maybe like an Aggie message board after you said this is the greatest recruit of all time and then he didn't get him. He said actually we didn't want him because he had too many high school carries. He does have a lot. 762 times he's rushed the ball for 7, 552 yards. Seems like a pretty good number. Also has 60 catches and multiple kick return touchdowns. Just basically a a walking touchdown who's carried his high school team and done it very well. I've heard Maurice Jones drew comps, I've heard some interesting comps for for him. He has legit speed, legit every down kind of potential. But the thing that I'm most excited about is think about the room that they're pairing him with and how these players could complement each other. I think Noah Roberts who's in this 27 class with him and Derek Cooper a class before who's going to have something to say even this year with LWC really creates the running back room of the future where all of these guys can eat. You look at Texas going out and getting two running back ones in the portal and it starts to give you an idea of how they view the running back position. I think in the years going it's like you better have multiple guys, you better have at different ages where one can step up next but you better have multiple guys right now ready at that position. And so I don't think he's going to come to Texas and need to carry the ball 30 times a game. I don't think anyone does that anymore. But he's going to get his and he's going to be very productive the moment that he does.
- [43:59]
B
Absolutely a sprinter in his own right. 10, 5, 7, 100 meter, 21, he's got a sub 22, 200 meter. It's going to be very interesting to see how it works out. And the offensive line recruiting in front of him is looking pretty solid. So it's going to be a great work in Texas up to number six in the country even without John Meredith who reclassified for that. So it's gonna be again for 27. The the class is now up to number six for next cycle or that's currently this cycle. But whatever the guys that'll be here in December because John Meredith is here in August. But that's another conversation for later. Keep it under the gridiron. Arch Manning, Cam Coleman were both named to the Maxwell launch watch list. Texas has had four winners in its history, but it's good to see those guys getting national recognition.
- [44:53]
C
Yeah, not a bad club if you end up joining Tommy Nobis, Vince Young Colt and Ricky Williams. That's a pretty elite company if one of those two can break through. This has basically become the de facto Heisman runner up which is again a great award to win if you don't win the big one, which is fun to do. That as well deserved. So for, for the what these two can do to complement each other that Coleman his vertical ability can unlock, you know, the offense, period, full stop. But the offensive potential of Arch Manning with that deep ball threat and what that means for his ability to do some other things as well. But also the converse of that and we talked about it in our wide receiver preview and we've talked about it multiple times is Cam Coleman has had some of the worst quarterbacks in the history of a college football career. Like just, just bad, bad, bad stuff and it still looked good. Part of the excitement for Camp Goldman is wow, if he can catch Arch Manning balls like deep balls, wow, what could the ceiling be? So we've only seen the tip of the iceberg from him. So I think both of these are projected on the other being very good as well and lifting both of them.
- [46:03]
B
Yeah, it's gonna be the. The combination. It's gonna be good that the them stealing votes from each other might be something to look out for. But moving on to the hardwood, the men's basketball officially announced its 2026, 27 schedule. The regular season opener will be against Chicago State on November 2nd. One of the big I guess the two big non conference matchups got Baylor in San Antonio on November 15th and then they'll be at Louisville in the SEC ACC Challenge. Kyle, what anything else about you, about the schedule or which one are you the most excited about?
- [46:37]
C
Well, first of all, I want to ask you, Gerald, do you know the color or the mascot for the Chicago State basketball team?
- [46:43]
B
Navy blue and white and the eagles.
- [46:48]
C
I like where your head's at. It is in fact the close to Baylor, I guess. Green and yellow, green predominant color for the Chicago State Cougars. I always love learning about brand new schools that didn't enter my plane of existence. But before they get scheduled on the Texas men's basketball or women's basketball, sometimes schedule, the Baylor in San Antonio one does jump out a bit. I was excited when I saw that got scheduled. I think when you look at the schedule, it's a really good SEC home schedule. If you're, you know, a basketball fan, the SEC is going to be really good. Texas gets some home games that are elite this year and hopefully the Moody home crowd home court advantage as well as the Moody crowd advantage can be something that continues. They're going to need it. But the Baylor one specifically as a neutral site is interesting. You are going to see this like you're going to see this from Texas and probably from most teams in the future. They don't really want to play good, you know, mid majors. They want to play solid P4 competition, you know, a couple more key games. You maybe have five or six games that matter before you get to conference play. And then you play some money games where you get to see, you know, some of the guys at the bottom of the roster. You get to see some, you know, 8th, 9th, 10th, heck, 12th, 13th guys on the roster getting some run and you know those are valuable for what they are. You pad the, the resume. You get to see some guys out there and you don't risk more losses because that is the state, that selection, seating, tournament and everything is in and it's the game and you know, it is what it is. Football. We've talked about it as well, like scheduling matters and so yeah, this tracks. There are some interesting games in here though. I think some, like I said, good games at home as well this year.
- [48:27]
B
And then finally the baseball team capped its recruiting class by adding sophomore outfielder Carlos Lugo from the Campbell Camels. I believe that's right mascot there, flexing it. A first T ball conference player as a freshman. But a big piece of depth needed for Texas though.
- [48:44]
C
Yeah, remember we talked all year in our baseball season about, you know, how Texas basically lacks depth at in the outfield because guys who they took in the transfer portal ended up getting drafted and going pro and then they had gaps, got the Jonah Williams injury. Like they just didn't recruit between portal and high school at the level that they would have and should have. And that was obviously an area of emphasis. They went out and got four guys this season in addition to the younger players who are leveling up. You know, you look at probably Pax Aletaria and Peyton Brennan as your, your starters, but Lugo could be that fourth outfielder. But really they're very easily a two, two deep across the outfield with those four. Trevor Goldnuts, who we talked about, Jonah Williams, who again, if he can contribute in one or both sports, like I, I think, you know, if he can contribute the baseball outfield, like he could really be an impact player. Got to be healthy, got to be there and then a big time freshman coming in Eastern Autry, like they have a lot more options this year. That feels like a position that's been very well taken care of. And, and Lugo, you know, by the end of the year just might mess around and be, be a starter. The outfield is, we'll talk way down the line in our baseball preview. But like looking at the players who make it up, there's some good bats, there's some good pieces, you know, across that. But what is their best starting three defensively look like will be interesting. We have plenty of time to think about that.
- [50:02]
B
Plenty of time indeed. But that brings us to the part of the show where we honor one of the best traditions in all of college athletics, Big Bertha. And we bang the drum brought to you by Joe Ruiz. So Kyle, what are you being the drum on this week?
- [50:14]
C
You know, I'm gonna keep it baseball. I saw an interesting thing come across my feed this week from Lamar Baseball, who I think we talked about on the podcast that Sean Allen, former pitching coach under Pierce, has been named the Lamar baseball coach after Lamar's coach got poached. Basically. That program is, is doing some good things down there in Beaumont for sure. And you know, Beaumont is in the Houston area, it's all Texas. But they went Centex heavy and specifically they announced this week their, their pitching staff names. You might remember pitching coach Chase Loomis. Longhorn, Trace Barrera, the hitting coach. Love Trace Barrera was, it was one of my favorite Longhorns when he was here. Had a nice little MLB career. Now coaching Ace Whitehead, Ace Boogie, who had to medically retire after going to USC when leaving the the Longhorns Austin Glaze, the director of operations, then John Cannon, recruiting coordinator who's been around some stops I think most recently Houston Christian. So knows the Houston area but was a high school coach at Hutto as well. So keeping it send Tech so excited to see, you know, Sean Allen. He was here for a cup of coffee for a couple years with Texas, so he's a Longhorn in his DNA. But bringing three Longhorns out of his five person staff tells me he enjoyed his time in the talent pool here at Texas. And to me that's always just cool. I like to see where Texas players end up again, whether that's the professional ranks or in the coaching ranks or whatever they're doing next. Always like to keep eyes on that. So excited for Loomis, Barrera Whitehead and of course coach Sean Allen down at Lamar.
- [51:44]
B
Yeah, I mean it's always Texas is a coaching staff producing roster in an organization and it will continue to do that and become a destination and stepping stone in the good way. I'm I'm back in the room this week on jersey patches and we've seen now over the last couple of weeks both Ohio State and Notre Dame have sold eight figure numbers for a corporate sponsor patch on their jerseys. And this comes hot off the heels of the Big 12 signing a eight figure deal for the entirety of its conference to have a co branded jersey patch. But that's not really what I'm here to talk about. But I'm here to talk about there's this conversation happening right now around college football, college sports, about the corporatization of it and kind of the branding and the loss of tradition, all of that. And as an old I'm 40 years old, gray hairs, three kids, you know, the whole shebang. I did though get out of the minivan life and back into an suv. So maybe I aged a couple and I was out of town. Last week my 16 year old niece told me she likes a band that I like. So that was a big feather in my cap. But that's not what we're here to talk about. We were just talking about the fact that I understand the conversation. The traditional side of me hates it. I already think the Texas jerseys are too cluttered, crystal Conti said a few months ago. Probably wasn't going to happen. I don't know if that's still going to be the case. But ultimately there is one thing that I like more than tradition. Winning football games. I like winning football games more than like do you know what's a great tradition national championship banners and trophies and new years on the bowl at Darrell K Royal. I like winning championships way more than any tradition. It's one of the reasons why we asked that question of our, of our guests is I want to see what they would give up to win in action. Because most people. There are two kinds of people in the world. There are people that like to win and then there are losers. And I like to win. So if it's. If Texas can fully, fully replace its nil Rev Share budget with a jersey patch that you will not notice from the wide shot on TV because that's how it's designed, I'm all for it. There are very few companies I would not want to see on that jersey. You could put anything I would say is offensive right now. Right. I would be willing to almost put an OU patch on the front of that jersey if they were willing to pay Texas $20 million to do it. $20 million a year replacing my rev share number with one jersey patch that you're not gonna freaking notice from the wide shot for the vast majority of the game. It might not happen. Del Conti's already said he's against it, but that was like six months ago before Ohio State got like $20 million a year.
- [55:05]
C
The game done changed. Yeah, it'll be nice.
- [55:09]
B
The brick went up, baby.
- [55:10]
C
And I almost think if it does happen, it'll probably not like Dell has been floated around for his.
- [55:16]
B
Dell or human. Those are the two, sure.
- [55:18]
C
But yeah, I almost feel like it's going to be a company we're not thinking of. Someone's just come out of the woodwork with some crazy number, you know? Yeah. So I. I don't know. The OU one might be where I drew the line. That was the first time I like actually felt a little bit of repulsion. I was with you all the way. I was like. I just. I don't that. That might be it for me, but for 20, it's an interesting thought exercise. We oppose that. To KBR next year. 20 million. Would he become a Horns fan? No. Interesting. Interesting. I don't hate it. If it's lots and lots of money, we'll find the right. The right deal.
- [55:56]
B
And that's what we've got for you this week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
- [56:00]
C
Oh, you can follow me on Twitter at Kyle Carpenter and also on Blue sky under the same handle. You can follow the Texas per gamer at Texas Pregamer.
- [56:08]
B
Follow me on both those spots at GH Coders, follow the show at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram. The Longhorn Republic chooses an email. Longhorn Public pod gmail dot com. We'll be back on Thursday talking about linebackers. The I think overlooked key to this team is going to be the linebacker group. So we'll talk about that on Thursday. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time, hook up.
- [56:29]
C
Hook them.
- [56:30]
B
It's 9:35, Sam.