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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 Dave Campbell's Texas Football Podcast Network and the College Football Huddle. 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 Podcast and Spotify helps get the show out there. Share this with your friends on any podcast platform. We love to have them as part of our little 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 Good. My host this week, like I am every week, and I'm joined by the conductor of a specific train that we're going to talk about here in just a minute, Kyle Carpenter.
A
Kyle, are you Gerald? I don't know if you mean the train through this great state of Montana. I don't know if you mean the pain train. I'm curious, what, what train am I conducting?
B
We're talking about the Rasheed Biles train, Kyle.
A
You know that. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. The Hype train. Yes. I was thinking bandwagon, but that's fine. I, I'm certainly the conductor of the Hype Train. There's no doubt about that.
B
Yeah. Much like I get credit for the Jonathan Brooks hype Train, we're going to give Kyle credit for the Rasheed Biles Hype Train. He's been talking about it.
A
If it works out, if it works out, like again, I still feel strongly, but at least yours has actually happened. I'm just going to say, people all over the world join hands. It's time get on the Hype Train.
B
So that is a little teaser, as we call it, to what we're talking about today. We're going to do our linebackers preview. So we've gone through and done every position group on the field. Quarterback, running back, pass catchers, offensive line, defensive line. We're now on to linebackers, which a lot of new faces for Texas. Quick Burn orange lenses for you. Just a quick dive through some of the professional lenses and we'll close the show out with some Godzillatron. But there are a lot of new faces at the second level for Texas here in 2026. Both of the names that Texas went into last year, starting at the, starting at the linebacker positions on, are no longer there. Anthony Hill took his talents to the NFL, while Leonga Lafau took his talents to Colorado for some reason, but I'm not going to say why. That's just another conversation for another day. So Texas has one familiar face that kind of came on late in the season even for Leona Lafau and Ty Anthony Smith and Brad Spence is a name you're probably already familiar with. Maybe not as high on your depth charts, but the guy that transferred in, Rasheem Biles, who a big name, one of the biggest names in the transfer portal and gets overshadowed by honestly all of the offensive transfer ads for Texas but may be the most impactful as you look at this group, Kyle I see a group with a really high ceiling in a very uncertain floor.
A
Yeah, I think that's fair. I think you look at just the known knowns and if you, if you kind of think about who's likely going to be on the field, Dianthony Smith is probably a half known at this point. We have seen what he can do in limited action. We've seen the upside that he has. We've seen him be very good. He was also out for summer with an injury. Brad Spence we've seen can do really good things. We haven't seen him have a true position. That's kind of his strength. He can play all over, but we know that he's a guy who can play on Sundays. Like he's just got a lot of talent. Like he'd be a great player on any team's roster because he can do a lot of things and he'll do him real well. I don't know if Rasheed Biles is a known known. We've seen what he can do at Pitt and that was incredible. But there is always the translated to SEC and he's a little bit undersized. To me, the X factor when we talk about the linebacker room, Joe, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about those three I just mentioned. Juice Crier is a name that fans may not be as familiar with. When he signed from Florida State, many of us were skeptical whether Justin Juice Cryer could be a starter at Texas. We've heard some things about the scheme that Muschamp's going to do and how he's lining up his defensive tackles and that kind of two eye and how that should spare a little work for the mic and if that's the case, he could be very good. He brings a lot of experience on field communication. He's a veteran, needs to have that. He has better athleticism than I think any of us saw at Florida State or expected from reports coming out of camp and against a run based team, I think he's a really feasible MIC option. He's had to kind of own that Mike position in camp with Dianthony Smith out. When Smith is fully healthy and they're competing for it, I'll be interested to see who wins out. And if there is matchup specific weeks where Crier, even if he's not starting, I think he'll play a lot. So those other three guys, I think Spence to me is a, is a floor and ceiling player to some extent, but those other three guys may peak to where the ceiling is. To me, I feel like Crier sets the floor. If that's your fourth linebacker at times you're starting third linebacker and he has a really solid season, comes into the SEC and steps up to the physicality and I think this room is in better shape than maybe the, the worst case scenarios that some of us feared. When we looked at who's replacing Ant Hill, which is a very tough thing to do and big shoes to fill, literally. And when Lafau, who we liked some of the things he did, left, we knew it was going to be a turnover at that position. And even if we go five DBs, we're going to have two linebackers on the field. We're going to have situations. We have three linebackers on the field, so got to get this one right. This is a very, very important position in modern football and this will dictate some of how good the season is.
B
I mean, you know, 43 tackles and eight starts coming off of an injury last year for him at Florida State. That's a, that's a pretty big number. It's, I mean, we're not talking about again, Rasheed Biles puts up like, you know, Black Hole numbers, 180 tackles over two years. But like that's a. That when you think about that being your third or fourth guy coming onto the field, that's a pretty good floor in a lot of ways. And I think we've seen the highs of what Ty Anthony Smith can be, especially in, you know, he had some big spots, two interceptions against Michigan, eight tackles.
A
That's the last time we, we saw him. I mean that's the lasting memory. If he's that every game going forward, we're going to be all right.
B
I mean if he's, if he's two thirds of that most games we're going to be doing okay. He's not going to be the kind of explosive blow it up playmaker than Anthony Hill was. But I think he's going to be really a consistent guy there in the middle. And I think the other conversation, the other thing that we really have to pull out here is like, where does somebody like Colin Simmons fit into what Will Muschamp wants to do? Because, you know, Colin Simmons traditionally last year was more on the line. You can't really say hand in the dirt because he. I don't think he ever. He may have put his hand on the turf a couple of times, but, you know, he's a guy who can play standing up on the outside. And Will Muschip likes to look up, you know, mix up looks. You know, if you want to get somebody off of that edge in a run, downhill pass rushing situation, I don't know if there's a better Scud missile in the country than Collins. And so getting him in that rotation on passing downs, on obvious second and long, third and long situations, I wonder if we see Mush Champ do some of that to get him in the rotation. Just create an extra body for offensive linemen to have to account for. It's. I mean, when you boil it down to it, the trenches and the pass rush is just a numbers game. Right. And so if you got six guys coming, you've got three down linemen, three linebackers, or, you know, whoever it might be at multiple depth. That's just the offensive line needing to pull in a running back, or the quarterback has to make a quick read and get the ball out. Right. So ultimately, like, what does Will Muschamp do with that kind of body? And it's a good problem to have.
A
Yeah. And before we go to any further linebackers and how they fit in this scheme, like, take a second to think about, we're basically going from passive bend, don't break, like a very effective form of that, but to the exact opposite. Right. And that's what Sark wanted in his defensive coordinator was a head coach of the defense and someone who, if you err. Err on the side of aggression, that can have its own issues. Right. If you're a football connoisseur, watching how well the linebackers fit, runs will be, you know, certainly against Texas State in the opening game. But what you're watching against Ohio State, and if they do that, well, man, that floor this defense that, you know, the sky's the limit. You talked a little bit about it. Musham likes to point and shoot his linebackers a little bit kind of aggressively. He likes to overwhelm with numbers the way he shades his defensive line like a five man blitz where they try to get three on twos with that blitzer coming free. Like again, if that's Simmons shot out of a cannon, even if it's, if it's Spence, you know, over there, if it's one of the other defenses, I don't know, it could be a really potent, a really potent kind of change from what teams prepared for in playing Texas. And there's plenty of things we can talk about with the scheme and especially when we get to the secondary and the way they're going to, you know, try to remedy some of the biggest issues of that intermediate wide open passing game in Krakowski's defense where it just felt like if you wanted to go over the middle for 8 to 12 yards, you could have it. And so, you know, I tie Anthony Smith, who he says not dynamic. I think he's pretty good in pass coverage and we've seen him make some big third and fourth down stops where he jumps the center and missiles into the backfield. Yeah, he's not a 44 GU guy, but he has some, some two way in his game. And then, I mean we've danced around it enough. Rashim Biles, like, okay, Colin Simmons is the best player on this defense. Best player on the team, best player in the country. Go as far with that as, as you want. Like I'm not going to argue with you at any of those stops. Rasheed Biles is the second best player on this defense, I think, bar none. Like that's how high I am on him and what he can do. Like Gerald mentioned, 180 tackles with 31 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, three interceptions. Took two of those back for a pick six. In a Mus defense which wants disruption, which wants havoc. He is the perfect havoc missile. He's not a big, he's not Anthony Hillside, he's not a big bodied linebacker. But the way he explodes into ball carriers, into tackles and wraps up like he doesn't miss a lot of tackles for his size, it's pretty impressive what he's able to do. Now that may not translate to him being a first round NFL draft because they're going to want the bigger body. But at the collegiate level, the NCAA level, he can be an all timer linebacker. Like he can be a guy we're talking about years from now with the year he could possibly have, he raises that ceiling for. I mean I just like, I like a lot of the, he's a cover guy. We've seen what he can do intercepting and Then taking those, those back with his speed, he's not just a blitz guy. I like a lot of the linebacker things that he does like, you know, and we talked about this a lot with Ant Hill. A slow second to diagnose the play, then immediately getting there before it blows up for anything like where young guys want to just go, go, go, and you get out of position, give up the big play. He does those smart diagnoses, give it a second, then get there and explode through. Like, I just like a lot of the way that he plays linebacker. And again, in Kwikowski's defense, I'd be curious how he fit in a must champ defense. I really, really like what he's going to be able to do.
B
Yeah, it's going to be interesting. And I also, you know, we talk so much about Muschamp being aggressive, but also he, he likes to kind of disguise coverage or kind of, you know, mask things. So you put Biles in a situation where he looks like he's blitzing, he pops back into a short zone and is able to make a disruptive play as a pass defender, not just as a pass rusher. So I'm curious to see how that plays as well. But I guess we talked about it two weeks ago when we talked about the defensive line. You know, we do need to see some sort of get home from this group in combination with the defensive line because, you know, Mus champ is going to put these defensive backs on an island. And we're going to talk about that a little bit more next week in our defensive backs preview. And you know, as good you can have the world's best cover corner and if you give a quarterback eight or nine seconds to diagnose and read and look, somebody's going to come open. So that's the thing. I think, you know, Anthony Hill was second to none at the linebacker position maybe in creating havoc plays in the backfield and really blowing up quarterbacks and doing those things. There was obviously some of the past, some of the past coverage deficiencies that we talked about. It's hard to find, you know, those super significant deficiencies with Anthony Hill, but if there is one that's to talk about. But there was no deficiency with Anthony Hill when it came to, hey, we need you to create a disruptive play in the backfield. That's basically all he did as a freshman was we're going to put you on the outside, put your head down, C ball, get ball. And that's what I think not is missing from this group. But I Think that's something that we are going to have to monitor especially going into that week two game.
A
And I, I do feel like the defensive line, I'm very, very bullish. You heard our preview. Like Gerald reference, I'm very, very, very bullish on that. Being one of the better units on the team. Deeper. Like they just, there's. They can throw bodies out there that are fresh, that are all talented, give you different looks. M that's going to be a real strength. And I think that translates to how good these linebackers can be because Biles is a little bit undersized. Like T. Anthony Smith isn't the biggest body out there. Like if you can keep Juice Crier from getting big guards, you know, getting a free block on him. Like I, I like if the defensive line. I mean remember we talked about in our preview that the kid from Arkansas might be the biggest human alive. Like he is bigger than Tavandre Sweat. Like let that sink in for a moment. He's 6 5, like 385. Like he's huge and he's just going to eat up blocks. And so I feel pretty good about what that does for the linebackers. Now they just have to take advantage of it. Sark, I think in SEC media days, I believe is where he said it was asked, you know, where do we need to improve defensively? We got to create more havoc. We need to create more negative plays. And if I went and looked up the sag, they ranked in the 20s in most havoc stats. But you know, if you look back a couple years before that when our defenses were really, really good, the two teams before that were a step ahead enforcing those explosive defensive play. So I think if this team and with Muschamp's aggression and what they can do here and with linebackers can go get the ball. I think they can create those plays that Sark is really looking for. Right. Kwikowski, we call him conservative but you know he would go and get after you with a havoc play. Just some of those times when it was the sit back, you knew it was and they could go get those when they wanted them, but they could also pin their ears back. So again, I'm, I'm very interested in Gerald. I think we just talked about four linebackers and that's probably who we'll see injuries happen at this position. Texas has the toughest schedule in the country as we know. It's grueling. It's SEC and includes Ohio State. Like it's, it's a tough, tough schedule. Injuries could happen Here and it gets really dicey when you look a little bit at the depth chart below that. Right. Like Brad Spence's main role, he's going to play every position but probably will be the starting. Sam could be the backup at the other two positions. If he is not, that means one of the freshmen, most likely Rocky Cummins or Tyler Atkinson is the one who unseated him to be the backup. If you know Dianthony Smith is not, I think he can play Microwill as well. But you know, Tyler Atkinson is a huge recruit, number one player out of Georgia. Like we got him for a reason. I feel like he just is going to play. Like I just, I just flat out think you don't go get that guy. Steal him from Kirby Smart. He's 61 2, 20 as a freshman. Like he'll play on special teams. Great athleticism. He's playing. Will it be on defense and by the end of the year will he. It's always tough for a first year player at a position like linebacker. But then you have a guy like Rocky Cummins who is the one out of the two freshmen who is unheralded but is getting the camp. But he's kind of getting the Grayson Littleton bump. Like everyone you talk to in camp. He's the name that's come up repeatedly on the defense believing he has potential to be a contributor this year. Not as a freshman, as a contributor this year out of everyone, he's, he's looking that good. So didn't expect that. Like we'll see how far he propels himself. But those are your freshmen. They went out and got depth behind him with Darius Snow who's a seventh year player in Michigan State, Marcus Boswell from Akron. But they aren't, they are absolutely floor guys. They are not ceiling guys. And so if either of those two are playing, we have to look at where our defense sits.
B
The only other reason I would see those guys is maybe Texas is up 35 to 42 points on Oka on Texas State in week one. Right. But you mentioned Tyler Atkinson and I'm glad you did because I think that's one that's really intriguing to see in that rotation because we talk a lot about these first year guys that you have to play. Right. And he's not one that's going to be pressed in the service because Texas doesn't have the bodies. He's probably higher up on the depth chart than he would be in an ideal situation. But he's a guy who's probably talent. Would Dictate him getting some run. Regardless. I think it's going to be interesting to see what his skill set can do for Texas and what they can deploy him. And if they get him, you know, on the edge, if they get him playing some of that, just be an athlete out there. I think it's a positive for Texas.
A
Yeah. I mean, he's a guy who's going to be playing on Sundays. He is a guy. When we talked about our linebackers, the build, the physicality, the type of mindset that he has that could be a first, second round type linebacker if he pans out the way that we think his potential is. So if he is a three and done linebacker, don't waste him. Just, you know, he'll play on special teams, so don't waste him this year if he's, if he's good enough. But yeah, he has that kind of talent, like watching high school linebackers. Like he, he moved different out there and he looks different in really good Georgia, you know, high Georgia football. So he's a guy I am excited about and I won't hide that again. If he doesn't have to play and he just makes big hits on special teams, cool. But if he does get in there, I will be watching very, very closely.
B
So not a ton more to say about the linebackers other than we'll see. Texas will get a defensive test early in the season, Week 2 against Ohio State, one of the most potent probably offenses they'll see all year. So that'll be exciting to see. Next up, defensive backs. Kyle. We're coming up to the final couple of weeks of these previews, so very excited to see that.
A
All right, Joe, now let's take a look at the world through some burnt orange lenses. A couple of cool names on here haven't heard from in a little while, starting with Jackson. Jeffcoat announced that he'll be in the hall of Honor. Gerald, we both love Jeff Coat as a contemporary in school. There may have been certain penalties in certain games that were heartbreaking, but he was an incredible player for us at Texas. Has been an incredible player in his professional career in the Canadian League. Excited for, for our guy Jeff Coat to, to be honored.
B
Yeah, I mean, does the CFL have a Hall of Fame? Because he might also have a case for that as well. But it's, I mean, he's, he's an awesome guy. He's a good dude in general.
A
So good to see, keeping it moving. We had another name that we love to see. Nolan Kingham was called up for The Rangers against the Astros this weekend he became the 120th Longhorn to reach Major League Baseball. We know we have that streak of going back 60 some odd years of having a player selected in the MLB draft, but you know, not every player who gets drafted or otherwise, you know, plays in the baseball farm system makes it up. So really, really for Nolan Kingham, a name who if you weren't following Round Rock Express or double A baseball a couple years ago, may not have known what he was up to. So excited to see he is in the big leagues for the Texas Rangers. Gerald A couple players who you know are big time and will one day be in the big leagues. Volleyball's Stafford and Spears, names that we are familiar with, named to both the AVCA Player of the Year preseason watch list as well as the preseason All SEC team.
B
Unsurprising, there 30 athletes made that list, so there's a lot of folks that made that cut, but I would not be shocked to see either of them on the smaller lists later in the year.
A
Yeah, Texas picked to finish second behind Kentucky, so I hope they have a chip on their shoulder and they're ready to knock them off their perch there. Kentucky had a number of names I didn't like. I think like five on that all SEC team. So let's, let's knock them down a peg. Gerald Big news in college football, in college sports maybe generally, Big Ten and SEC came out this week basically vocally backing the Protect College Sports Act. This could have been a bang the drum, but a Senate vote nears. I believe the Congress has a recess starting at the end of this week, so that's got to be, got to be close. This is weird that football right now happens, you know, on the field and whatever in the recruiting battles, but ultimately also it's fought in courtrooms. Like that is the state of our sport right now, but this feels like a big one.
B
Yeah, it really does. Obviously there's a lot in this and it still has to pass a Senate vote, get through the House and all of that. The salary cap conversation is going to be long and I wonder how quickly the legal challenges come to this based around limiting both coach movement and capping player compensation with the salary cap. And I, I like the idea of putting in measures that are going to standardize more across the field while also carve out specific money for female sports for women's sports, which is something that you and I both support wholeheartedly but ultimately like it. So much of this still feels like it's not going to stand up to long term scrutiny that I'm not super hopeful that this is, I mean turning to the US government to solve your problems. It's like the least effective bureaucracy, you know, going to the second least effective bureaucracy, you know, for solutions. It's just, it's an interesting end around on this.
A
Yeah, it sounds like the thing that got them is raising that cap from 21 million to 48.8 million. Addition 22.5 athlete retention pool. That's basically one of the big selling points of schools would have funds dedicated to retaining your roster. You've heard since nil started, basically you first have to recruit your own team. So combined with the proposed $21.3 million revenue sharing cap and an additional 5 million like Gerald called out designated for women's and non revenue sports, they have a theoretical cap around 48, 49 million. So just something to watch, keep you up in the news of things that will affect college sports. Gerald, speaking of affecting college sports with starts here changes the world. Sean Eichhorst, who spent the last eight years Texas most recently at the as the deputy athletic director was hired as the Wisconsin AD earlier this summer. And I missed the news. Just wanted to report that Crystal conte tree grows and it is always a good thing when coaches staff, all the people are coveted by other schools. It means we're doing something right.
B
Yeah, I mean, you know, he's, he's known at Wisconsin already, so it seemed like a good fit. But replacing a AD that went up to be the Big Ten's deputy commissioner, I don't know what the Wisconsin AD truly did to earn that because Wisconsin's been kind of mid at several things for a while. But like I said, he's, he's got experience at Wisconsin. But again, you know, it's great to see this level of talent coming to Texas and turning it into something bigger.
A
Yeah, he was at Wisconsin from 06 to 11 when Barry Alvarez was 80 and Bert was leading that football program. I think he also was the Nebraska AD who fired Bo Pelini. So there you go. He's made some big decisions, done some big things. And the last piece of news here, Gerald, I just had to get this in because I, I really just like saying this name. Lake LaRue. That's right. Lake LaRue, who sounds like a character from a dime store cowboy novel, was named the men's golf assistant coach slash
B
director of operations four years at Sam Houston State with the men's and the women's program coming to Texas. Good to have you Love a good D ops. That really does help keep things moving in the right direction.
A
Yeah, sounds like a Louis Lamour character. Lake Larue maybe is where my head was going there. Joe, let's take this thing home before I get this hype train off the rails. Their final segment, bit of Godzilla. Tron, what are you watching on your giant screen?
B
Yeah, so I watched the second Mortal Kombat movie on my phone on a flight. It was fine. It is what it is. It was. It was a dumb Mortal Kombat movie. I like Carl Urban in basically anything, so really had a good time with that. And then I also, on the plane, watched a movie called over your dead body, which it was. The premise was interesting. I saw Samara Weaving in the advertisers because that's why Weaving and Jason Siegel, which. Yes, it was Samara Weaving and Jason Siegel. The premise of the movie is they play a couple who's having a tough time and they both plan to kill each other in different ways on their co vacation to try to get an insurance check. And things go sideways from there. It's very dark comedy. It's got some really funny moments. I would not recommend it to anybody. It was not like if I hadn't been, you know, captive on an airplane sitting, you know, flying for four hours, I probably would not have watched it. It had some funny moments tomorrow. Weaving's good in basically everything. Jason Siegel was at his most insufferable, which is kind of the point of his character and kind of who he is as a person. It's fine. It's nothing. I really don't have anything major to write home about because I'm on the road for five days, so. But that was where I'm at.
A
We need to compare Delta movie option notes versus United. What I'm getting on United as I come to you from the great state of Montana once again, Gerald. I have been watching some plane movies, but also when I was home, started watching pop culture Jeopardy. Don't think I had. Don't think I talked about that on this podcast. It is hosted by Colin Yost, who is a. I never know, like, how much the general population likes him. I like him. I think he's funny. Michael Che Making him say things that are should get him canceled is one of my favorite bits of the year. But this is a nice kind of role to see him in something different. He plays himself. But there, you know, the one thing I'll say about why this show is good. Jeopardy. To their credit, Michael Davies, who was the host of the only other podcast, there's no other ones but a podcast that I listen to called Men in Blazers. It covers soccer, basically. Kind of left that post to reinvigorate Jeopardy. With. You've seen some of the celebrity Jeopardy. That's gone on with Mina Kimes and other favorites. You've seen the pop culture Jeopardy. So it's kind of cool to see. And they're done well. And it is fun because it's made for us, Gerald. And there's nothing better than feeling like a. I understand why the boomers felt so high and mighty, right? If you're a boomer, listen to this like you did. It was great. It's awesome. When all the content is geared towards you. Like when they say oldies, it's things that were oldies to us in the 60s. When they say, you know, like whatever, oldies doesn't mean it came out in 2000, which is nice. But it is a lot of our specific millennial kind of era pop culture. A little bit of the new stuff. But yeah, it's fun. I don't mind it. Other than that. Caught up on House of the Dragon. Oh, and then, Gerald, I will give a brief one. On my airplane movie, I got the hardest eye roll from my wife in some time when I told her I had watched on my first flight out here, the Ben Franklin Ken Burns documentary. Just the first one. And how jazzed I was on my second flight. And then United had different options on the second flight. So I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens. The American Revolution happens. Franklin's back from England and it's about to get good. So I will quickly finish that one up with part two. But I just love everything Ken Burns does. I'm a sucker. My wife then sent me a clip of a recent interview where Michelle Obama was talking, was being interviewed, and Barack said he watched Ken Burns and she just said, yawn. And so my wife then said, yawn. So if you, like me, have a wife who doesn't share your passions for our lovely history, I feel you. And also go watch Ben Franklin by Ken Burns. I don't know if it's new, but it's good.
B
If there's one person I feel comfortable you being compared to, it's Barack Obama. Kyle. But that's all I got for you.
A
That's right.
B
This week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
A
You could follow me. No, I'm not even going to try. I'm not going to do it. I will not. I won't I won't delete that audio. Actually, Gerald, you can find me on Twitter and Blue Sky. Kyle Kirmer. You can also follow the Texas Pregamer at Texas Gamer.
B
Follow me in both those spots at Ghettofall show in both those places at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram. The Longhorn Republic Shoot us an email Longhorn Republic pod@gmail.com. we'll be back next week continuing our season previews and our positional previews. Thank you so much for tuning in again. Until next time, hook up.
A
Hook up Machine Biles for the Nagurski.
Episode: Texas Linebackers Preview
Date: August 6, 2026
Hosts: Gerald Good & Kyle Carpenter
This episode of The Longhorn Republic zeroes in on the Texas Longhorns’ linebacker group heading into the 2026 football season. With both 2025 starters gone, the hosts dissect the new faces, key transfers, scheme shifts under Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp, and how Texas’ linebacker unit could define the defense’s ceiling (and floor) in the new SEC era. The hosts keep their trademark blend of fan passion, insight, and “snark” throughout.
[01:46–03:04]
Gerald:
“Both of the names that Texas went into last year starting at the linebacker positions are no longer there…This group, Kyle, I see a group with a really high ceiling and a very uncertain floor.” [02:40]
Quote:
“If he's two thirds of that most games, we're going to be doing okay. He's not…Anthony Hill…but I think he's going to be really a consistent guy there in the middle.” – Gerald [06:42]
Quote:
“If you're talking about a havoc missile…He can be an all-timer linebacker…he raises that ceiling.” – Kyle [10:29]
Quote:
“If that’s your fourth linebacker… and he has a really solid season…this room is in better shape than maybe the worst case scenarios we feared.” – Kyle [04:53]
[08:12–11:29]
Quote:
“We're basically going from passive bend, don't break...to the exact opposite. That's what Sark wanted...err on the side of aggression” – Kyle [08:21]
[13:01–17:19]
Quote:
“Tyler Atkinson...could be a first, second-round type linebacker if he pans out the way we think…just, you know, he'll play on special teams, so don't waste him this year if he's good enough.” – Kyle [17:19]
On Rasheed Biles:
“Rasheed Biles is the second best player on this defense, I think, bar none…In a Muschamp defense which wants disruption, which wants havoc, he is the perfect havoc missile.” – Kyle [10:28]
On the challenge replacing Anthony Hill:
“When we looked at who’s replacing Ant Hill, which is a very tough thing—and big shoes to fill, literally.” – Kyle [04:54]
On scheme shift:
“From passive bend, don’t break…to the exact opposite. If you’re a football connoisseur, watching how well the linebackers fit runs…if they do that well, man, the sky's the limit.” – Kyle [08:21]
On freshmen impact:
“I just flat out think, you don’t go get that guy—steal him from Kirby Smart…He’ll play on special teams…But if he does get in there, I will be watching very, very closely.” – Kyle [17:19]
On overall depth:
“It gets really dicey when you look a little bit at the depth chart below that…If either of those two [Snow or Boswell] are playing, we have to look at where our defense sits.” – Kyle [15:54]
| Timestamp | Segment/Insight | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:46 | Linebackers preview introduction & offseason departures | | 03:04 | Early breakdown of Ty Anthony Smith, Brad Spence, Rasheed Biles | | 04:53 | Juice Crier explained as stabilizing presence | | 06:02 | Recap of Smith’s Michigan performance and projected role | | 08:12 | Muschamp scheme changes—aggression, blitzes, pass rush focus | | 10:28 | Hype breakdown on Rasheed Biles, “ceiling raiser” | | 13:01 | Defensive line support & havoc creation, how LBs fit in | | 15:54 | Depth concerns, freshmen Atkinson & Cummins analysis | | 17:19 | Atkinson’s NFL-level potential, risk of overburdening | | 18:04 | Need to “wait and see”—Ohio State as early test, DBs preview tease |
(Quick Texas/Longhorns news round-up)
[18:24–24:44]
[24:57–28:56]
“Rasheed Biles for the Nagurski.” [29:37]
Texas’ linebackers are a high-ceiling, high-variance unit in 2026:
Key Quote:
“He [Biles] can be an all-timer linebacker…he raises that ceiling.” — Kyle [10:29]
Contact: @LonghornPod (Blue Sky/Twitter)
Email: longhornrepublicpod@gmail.com