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- [00:00]
Kyle Carpenter
Foreign.
- [00:19]
Gerald Goodridge
Welcome in everyone to the Longhorn Republic. Your source for Texas Longhorn news, sports and opinions with the meta snark built in and we are members of the 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 give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It helps get the show out there. Share this with your friends on any podcast platform you can find. Kyle and myself connect with us on social media at Longhorn Pod, on Twitter, on Blue Sky, Facebook and Instagram Longhorn Republic Shoot us an email longhorn republic pod gmail.com My name is Gerald Goodridge. I'm your host this week like I am every week, and I'm joined by a man who's so glad we're getting an Arch Manning conversation. Finally, Kyle Carpenter. Kyle, how are you?
- [01:01]
Kyle Carpenter
Look, honestly, thank you for the clicks. If you're here because you saw archbanning and you clicked on it, it's great. I'm going to start putting Arch Banning in the title of all of our podcasts. Our usual, you know, 500, 000 viewers we get every week doubles to 10 million. When we talk about our I get those are only slightly skewed numbers, but Arch brings the clicks. He does it for everyone. Arch is a narrative machine more than he is a a quarterback. Right? Everyone spends all of their time in ink talking about Arch and has since he was 16 or so. And we don't often partake in that other than to critique specifics. But we do get to step back every so often and talk high level about the Arch of it all. And you know, these are fun because we don't think that way all the time, but he is a player who is a lightning rod. Obviously the Manning Academy just happened. It's the name. We get it, we get to talk about it. Here we are.
- [01:58]
Gerald Goodridge
Here we are. So over the next several weeks of the off season we'll be kind of doing some inward looks. You know, on the Tuesday shows we do our kind of opponent preview. And so we will spend the next several weeks on our Thursday show doing the Texas internal preview. Kind of our conversations again. It's, you know, it's early July. Now that you're listening to this, you might be on your way to a Fourth of July barbecue. We're going out for a long weekend because a lot of us got Friday off. That's all well and good, but it's too early for A lot of the hard and fast numbers and stuff. We really want to talk about story lines and what we're watching for each of these position groups. And so you the Arch Manning of it all. Arch Manning has probably had more digital ink spilled about him over the last couple, couple of years than any prospect I can remember in recent history. Good, bad and indifferent. And I think one of the things that, you know, sticks out to, to me about the Arch Manning conversation is the people that stopped watching after week one.
- [03:00]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah.
- [03:01]
Gerald Goodridge
And the people that started, that continued to watch throughout the season. If you had a preconceived notion about Arch Manning going into week one against Ohio State, you probably came out with a similar feeling about it. But you know, Arch really grew into the role. His progression also seemed to coincide with TEC Texas figuring out what the hell it was doing along the offensive line. Shocker on that one. But you know, really when you look at like the final six games of the season, Arch averaged 285, almost 286 yards per game, including a couple 300 yarders in there, 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions over the year. He rushed for almost 400 yards and 10 interceptions, including two big performances to close the season. That 35 yard rush to clinch that win against A and m. And he had 155 and two in the bowl game against Michigan. So Arch Manning struggled early in the season. He dirted some mesh routes, which was really frustrating to watch. But he ended the season really looking like the quarterback we expected him to be and really showed some flashes of why he had the hype he did going into the year.
- [04:07]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah. And, and it's, it's interesting. He can break it down a multiple different ways. Right. Like the way he finished, if that's the way he plays for an entire season. And it was just true growth trajectory. You should be really, really excited if you're an NFL team that has a very high draft pick or if you're a Texas fan. Like there's a lot of things that we know he can do really well. There's some things that we think he could do really well. But consistency was one of the things we were looking for. And it's really interesting because his final six games, just unbelievable. Right. You know, 286 yards a game, 14 touchdowns to two interceptions. Also rush for 400 and another 10 TDs. So you, you know, really can just bump that number over 300 and, and lots of touchdowns per game and not a lot of turnover worthy plays. Right. Big run to clinch against the Aggies, like did it with arms and legs against Michigan, like he, he is a playmaker. We just have to like, it's been a long time reject the notion of what Mannings can, can't do and just talk about what Arch can and can't do. Right. And when you're doing your NFL draft, you know, tape and you're looking at who this player is, it's interesting because the things that stand out, you know, like pocket presence, I, I think you expect that from a Manning. But the way that Arch showed it with the terrible, you know, offensive line play that he had, like he has the best pocket presence of a college quarterback in the country right now. And I don't know that that's what gets talked about in, in his game a lot, but people, scouts breaking down tape of either defensive players against Texas or offensive line prospects on Texas consistently came down to, sorry, I was watching Arch Manning navigate that pocket with, you know, it was like the old Madden video games where they're, you know, shooting the things in your face and you have to step up, step back around them and make a throw. He had to do that every single drop back. He had more passing yards under pressure874 than anyone in FBS last year. Right. Like that's his game, that's what he does. And he had to do it. In spite of, as Gerald said, offensive line play, Offensive line got better, he got better, but he was good. Even when the offensive line had moments, like if you have five or six moments a game where he has to avoid a second, make a play, that's great. When you have 15 or 20, that's not sustainable for even the best players. So the line being better. And we'll get to our offensive line preview there. Like there's things you could talk about and we can go and talk about his weaknesses, but I start, you know, about his legs, you know, about his arm strength. I start with Arch with his pocket presence and his ability to extend and make plays while he's navigating the pocket.
- [06:43]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah. You know, I think his off platform throws are probably just as important, if not more important than what he does on platform. Dude is just, he's really worked himself into and I think like what you said, where you got to kind of forget what we think about Mannings and really understand and I guess depending on the vintage ball knower that you are, you may be able to think about what you expect from Mannings because he's more Archie than he is Peyton or Eli in a lot of Ways where the, the creative with his feet really getting after it and creating plays and really kind of being a spark plug for the offense. But you know, one of the, one of the conversations that's already happening around Arch Manning and I think this is the storyline that we have to watch is like, what is a fair set of expectations for Arch this year? Like is it Heisman or bust? Is it Maxwell or bust? Is it play himself into a number one draft pick? Like what is a fair set of expectations for him? Because it feels unfair to expect him to be the end all, be all for Texas. But also he is the second highest ranked recruit that Texas has ever had behind Vincent Young who led Texas to a national championship in an all time college football moment.
- [07:55]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah, that's a really interesting question about what the expectations are, right? Like I think Arch would honestly, like I really do believe this. He knows he's already got money, he knows he's going to make money. Like he would trade a Heisman for a national championship. So like when you judge Arch, it's almost because he's in that quarterback position, it's almost how far does this team go is how you judge Arch. And that's not, you know, always fair because he can't control every detail. But you know, do they make a deep playoff run and is he one of the, you know, top five, top three quarterbacks in the country? Okay, that's a good season, right? Is he the best quarterback in the country where they missed the playoffs? Do we judge that as a good season? I don't know. It's interesting, right? Like we talked about, I talked about his pocket presence, but his playmaking goes hand in hand with that. He's a truly good athlete. His ability to stretch, like, is it a rushing yards number that you're looking at, you know, to, to grade him on? Is it a Sax number? Right. To me, if you look at like what's the successful season for Arch, it's the processing and the decision making and then the accuracy once he reads it, right? So it's reading and that's from an NFL perspective, right? Like, but, but from a Texas perspective, go win the game. But what does he need to do to be really great? And what should Millweed and Stark be focusing on him? Right. Games 1 through 5 last year, Arch Manning had an A dot of 12 yards. They were saying sling it Arch, sling it. He also had a turnover worthy throws of 6.7%. When Gerald talked about people tuned in in the beginning and wrote Arch off, that was a big part of it right middle of the season, game six to 10. ADOT shrinks a lot. They take certain things out of the playbook. They're going to wingo screens and let them run after the catch. They're making things easy on him with the offensive line. It was the correct adjustment. ADOT drops from 12 a game as I said through the first five to 7.1. But also the turnover worthy throws drop down to 1.5 the last two weeks of the year, week 11 and 12. ADOT jumps back up to almost 14 yards average. ADOT of course is average depth of target. Zero turnover worthy throws in those last games we talked about. His last six were really good, but his last two unbelievable. And so like what version of Arch do we get? That's how I judge. Is it successful? Like can we have a different Arch for every game? Because there was an OU Arch that was game plan to say Arch, make the out route on 3rd and 12, that's 13 yards and put it in his chest where he can't drop it. Make the short quick throw. Because we like our matchup outside. Like we're going to need you to stretch and hit the deep outside or deep post route. Like to be able to be good at all those things and allow Sark to game plan for the defense makes this Texas really elite with the weapons that we'll talk about in future previews around him. Like can Arch be all of those things in any given week and be trusted to do all of the things a quarterback needs to do?
- [10:33]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, and I think it's, it's fair to say that because you mentioned that out route against Oklahoma. Like those are the plays that like people like, oh, the hype is real, right? Oh, this guy is the prince that was promised or whatever you want to call it. There are those moments where you see those flash. Heck, even in the game against Ohio State where he struggled, the man slung a stinking couple of balls that really made you wow. Even a good wow. Not a bad wow like him dirtying those mesh route crossing routes. But like you see those flashes of brilliance. So I think for me when I think about it it's like I would rather, I would prefer Arch to be steadily good or steadily great rather than elite in some moments in mid and others I think that to me is progress for Arch because ultimately like it's the, the highlight plays do get you drafted in the NFL but what gets you staying in the NFL and gets you really elite status in the NFL is, is being able to be consistently great. Being able to be at the top of your game at those moments. So that, for me, I feel like is a more fair expectation for Arch. On that same note, you know, we, we talk about the season overall and, you know, we're not going to spend a ton of time talking about the season overall this week. But, you know, there is a lot of expectation put on Sark and kind of this has been the year, I think, that they've been building to since Sark got here ultimately. And so, you know, I want to ask this question, like, is the season and Sark's time with Arch of failure if Texas doesn't win a title or if that's, you know, because championship or bust is such a hard expectation. So is it reaching the finals? Is it reaching the semifinals? Is it an SEC championship? Like, what is that? Because again, this is, this is the year Texas is very clearly pushing all the chips in. They spent a lot of money putting offensive weapons around Arch. They shored up two of their biggest deficiencies along the offensive line through the portal. They spent a lot of money there. They added a ton of great pieces on the defense. Hell, they fired the defensive coordinator and brought in a new defensive coordinator. So, like, this is seemingly the year for Texas, even if Sark would deny that. So what is a fair expectation for the team? And do you consider Arch's time with Sark a failure if they don't reach that mark?
- [12:51]
Kyle Carpenter
Man, Lightning rod of a question. Again, like, Arch bends all realities. You can't have a conversation about what success looks like. Like, if his name, as we've always said was, you know, if you listen to a. Sooner. If his name was Arch Williams, he's a, you know, a fifth round quarterback. Right? And obviously that's not true, but his name is Manning and he's Arch Manning. And it's, it's the number two overall recruit and it's Sark's big get. In addition, I think he's at 17, five stars since he's been here. So he's had a lot of big gets. But it's Arch, right? So me, Kyle, honest person who's measured and uses his brain. No, obviously it's not a failure. Arch tenure with Start, if they don't win a national championship, that's absolutely ludicrous. Like, it's really hard to win national championships, right? We always talk about injury. Luck plays a big part. Like the way balls bounce in the turnover. Luck. Like so many things have to go your way, including how you get seeded now in the postseason and how things line Up. Like, everything has to go your way to win a national championship. Like, think to the. The perfect season of all time, the 2019 LSU National Championship. Keanta Ingram doesn't drop a touchdown. And we don't talk about that team. Like, that's crazy. Everything has to go right. Luck, success. Like, everything. So is it championship or bust? That's crazy. Like, do we want Texas winning championships?
- [14:16]
Gerald Goodridge
Sure.
- [14:16]
Kyle Carpenter
First we want to be playing for championships. So we want to be a playoff team every year, make deep runs, get to the championship game, win the game. Signetti has thrown everything out and made expectations wild. I don't know what it is, but I will say objectly, Gerald, it is not a failure. If they don't win a national championship in Arch's time at Texas, right, they get five years eligibility. Who knows, maybe it's not his last year, maybe comes back another year. But in this year, assuming it's last year at Texas, if they don't win a national championship. But it'll be hard to swallow. It'll be something. We think about their legacy, we talk about Vince and we know what his legacy is. And we talk about Colt, and we love that man with all our heart. But it's different breath. We use a slightly different breath for Vince Young, who took us to the national championship and, and I mean, and won it, right? That's the difference between those two. So if Arch gets to the national championship this year, that'd be great. And he loses it like Colt does. Worst case, you're Colt McCoy. Like, that's a pretty good thing to be around the 40 acres, but yeah, no, I like, cut in some slack. There are some things that we want to see from him. Like, you know, how he shows up in moments. He can still make himself a legend, absolute legend. Go win games, win fans, win hearts, win minds. Without winning a national championship, I mean,
- [15:29]
Gerald Goodridge
it's so hard to like parse it because, hell, case McCoy is a legend for a run against Texas A M, right? Like, so do we want to mention Arch Manning, highlight a scramble against Texas A M to seal a win and ruin their season, Right? Like that. That to me is, is where it comes down to. Because ultimately, like I said, like Sark has been building to this year, like, we, we called it out when they signed Quinn Ewers. And then when Arch Manning committed, the plan was for Quinn to come in, let play as well as he can, let Arch sit, red shirt, get and then, and then step into the role when, when Queen, yours was gone. And I think for Arch, I Wouldn't call it a failure, obviously, but I think what I think about Sark, like, it's hard not to see it as a black mark on his kind of legacy. And again, championship or bust, there's so much vary, you know, variation in a 12 team playoff. There's so much that happens there. Like, you know, again, weird things happen, but like there are going to be things that we point to, moments that we point to Florida games that we point to that, you know, really become like even bigger black marks on Sark's era at Texas. And again, it's hard to feel bad. Like it feels weird to say this because Sark has only lost like three or four SEC games in his tenure at Texas. Like for first time SEC head coach at Texas comes in and is one of the three best teams in the league. Two of them are to Georgia who eventually won the conference championship. Right, like that. To me, it's wild to say it, but it's hard not to have that asterisk on this era. If they don't at least compete for a national championship and make it make a decent run.
- [17:13]
Kyle Carpenter
You want one stat, Gerald that I think will tell you whether he's going to be successful in college and honestly successful in the NFL and if they can get to a national championship. Gerald. First round quarterbacks, I'm looking from the NFL perspective here. Again, first round quarterbacks in the last three classes, these are quarterbacks who've had a completion Percentage on throws 0 to 9 yards, above 79, lowest to highest. Drake Mage, AJ McCarthy, Michael Penix, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Jackson DART those last three, over 80%. Right. I'm going to go down a little further. Who's had under 79 but above 70, that'd be C.J. stroud, Cam Ward, Bryce Young, Jaden Daniels, all over 75. Archmaining currently has a third or has a zero to nine yard passing percentage of 69.7. The easy stuff isn't easy. He's making throws. A lot of those are. Again, it could be drops. We can go on on underneath crossing routes. They could be, you know, where he just duffs a ball, whatever. He's an outlier. If he is to be the number one overall pick, if he is to be a top 10 pick, if he is to be successful at the next level, a player who is really bad at this, who has a first round pick, who is the outlier in this group? Anthony Richardson at 58.6, he's better than that, but he would be only above Richardson. He would be behind Every other first round quarterback of the last three years. So can he get better at the easy stuff? Can he take the things that are easy? We know he can create plays with his legs. Can he stretch plays with his legs and then make the throw on the run? Can he make a second read and check down and get the easy stuff? He's had games where he's done that really well. Can he do it for a full season if he does that? And again, a lot of those, I've been looking at third down statistics as well. Like a lot of those are coming third downs. Can he take the easy stuff on downs one, two and three? Can he make it happen when it's there for that, for the taking and not just make the home runs? If he does that, all of a sudden his draft stock goes through the roof. And Texas success probably goes through the roof. The offensive line allows that to happen. Of course, a running game with running backs who can make plays and it doesn't all have to be Arch makes that better. We'll talk about all these things in our subsequent previews. But if he could do the easy stuff, like go back to that, if he can increase that 69.7 percentage on, on throws 0 to 9 yards, get it up to 75, closer to 80. Now we're talking, now we're talking about a quarterback who NFL scouts have very few questions about and Longhorn fans are going to love because that will take us very far.
- [19:39]
Gerald Goodridge
Absolutely. So briefly, I know we've been done 20 minutes on Arch. We have to talk for a moment about the rest of the quarterback room. Because last year marked the first time since 2020 that a Texas quarterback did not miss a start due to injury. Now, Texas did see Arch Manning miss some snaps, got knocked out against Mississippi State with a concussion. He credits the concussion with his late season surge. So that's another conversation for another day. But Matthew Caldwell came in and had a 600 something quarterback rating for that game. One for one, 10 yards and a touchdown to win the game in overtime. So that means that K.J. lacy and Diabel will probably, or Diabell will probably have to step in and make some noise. You know, and it's always curious to me, I'm always. Again, this is the most inconsequential, consequential conversation that you have to have because without a solid backup quarterback, you could see a freak second half concussion. You could see a freak, you know, weird, you know, dysentery situation, whatever it might be, take you from a playoff team to looking on the outside being on the outside looking in. So, you know, what do you. I guess. Who do you think gets the nod this year as the backup and what's your justification?
- [20:52]
Kyle Carpenter
I think it's K.J. lacy. I think it's one of the J's. I don't think it's Diabell. I think it's K.J. lacy rather than M.J. morris, who I think is the. The. What is it? Coastal Carolina transfer quarterback.
- [21:00]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah.
- [21:00]
Kyle Carpenter
Who. There was a moment when I admittedly forgot about him and I was looking at some practice videos and he was the quarterback and I was like, wait, who is taking. Okay, that's right. It's mj. I mean he brings experience. Not a lot like Caldwell, though. Caldwell had a couple things I liked more and showed it. I think it. I think it probably is K.J. diabell. Sark called him the. The you know, most natural, natural pass for the football with a competitive spirit. Like that's good compliment. We know Diabell can be a really, really important piece of the future of Longhorn football, but missed a lot of his time in high school. At the end with. With an injury, doesn't have a college start. I think I like KJ Lacy better right now. Like again, both of them. That's why they went out and got M.J. morris. The lights are going to be bright and I want. How many times did we say this in our season previous year old. I want Texas to be able to get those guys in. In fourth quarters, heck, make it third quarters and let Arch get the Heisman stats early and then let him sit and rest and save his body a little bit for the deep playoff run. I want to see these guys. That means the team's functioning well and not have to see these guys as we often talk about with an injury that forces them in there. But if it is forced and one of these players has to come in. I think KJ Lacy gives me the best upside to run a lot of this offense. He hasn't done it at this level, obviously, but what he did in high school is pretty legendary. And, and I think, you know, to me that speaks to. To what he could do right away.
- [22:26]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah. And I mean, you know, you mentioned his high school stats like 10,000 yards and 122 touchdowns in three years at Sara Land High School, which is huge. But you know, I. I think the thing for me and it's why they went out got Matthew Caldwell last year and it's why they went on got an experienced guy.
- [22:43]
Kyle Carpenter
The.
- [22:43]
Gerald Goodridge
I think the reason why K.J. lacy probably gets the nod is because he's been in the system longer like that to me is, is the what. What it comes down to. Sark wants somebody with experience and Sark wants somebody who can see the defense and read the defense and make those calls at the line. There's a lot of, a lot of decision making put on the quarterback. And as much as Diabell will be able to do those things in the future, I don't expect a 19 year old to be able to do those things. And an additional year and you know, being in your, you've got a spring, you've got a full fall, you've got another spring, you're going into your kind of fourth football semester here at Texas. So he's got basically the equivalent of two years of college experience at this point. So there's a big difference there for him. But I think that to me is really where the differentiator is.
- [23:32]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah, I mean again, let's get both of them in. Who knows about eligibility and red shirts and anything anymore. Let's get both of them in and be so up in games that they get, you know, 200 snaps between them. That'd be great. But again, because not injury, but because we're beating the tar out of someone.
- [23:49]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, let's get, let's put Texas State in the dirt. No offense to G.J. kenny and get these guys some rep. So that is our first of our Texas Longhorns naval gazing previews. We will be back next week to talk about the running back room which is the newest look room on campus. There is a lot of new faces in the same places we're used to them being. But we will be back next week, talk about them and we'll keep that rhythm going throughout the off season.
- [24:18]
Kyle Carpenter
All right, Gerald, now let's take a look at the world through some burnt orange lenses. We're starting with the MB giraffe. We're a couple weeks out. There's a holiday in between here, Fourth of July. People are going to be celebrating USA going deep in, in the World Cup. All of Houston obviously is celebrating the Netherlands, our hometown team, lifelong fans since a week ago myself. So let's not lose sight of the fact the MLB draft is coming up in about two weeks, July 11. And there was an update based on that from Baseball America with their latest rankings which I think is really interesting to Texas fans. Before I say that, I'll just mention baseball trying to be like other sports and have there's some new changes of what might be in the future. An international draft. They may have some new rules on, on drafting. And they have a combine this year, which is interesting. Six Texas players invited to that combine. One senior, Ruger Riojas. Okay, done with eligibility. We know he's there. The juniors, we pretty much expected. Aiden Rams, Carson Tinney. Then you have Ethan Mendoza, Thomas burns, and Hayden LeFue. We'll talk a little bit about if any of those players we think are going to come back. Mendoza and lefue both have injury pieces that could lead to them returning. Casey Borba was not included, which I think is notable when I put these notes together. He then declared recently that he is coming back for his senior season. So it's notable because he is coming back. He was hot at the end of the year, and I think if that carries over one of the best power bats, that's big for our team. But it'll be curious how many of those players go. And then you look at high school kids, Gerald, and it's really interesting. I broke the Baseball America updated rankings into a few groups and I'd be curious your thoughts as well. Like, there's a top group that I say these guys are gone and it would take a miracle to get them to campus. There's another group we'll see and we'll talk about. And then there's kind of a fourth group with a lot of pitchers in it, and then a bottom group with a bunch of baseball, high school baseball players in it that we would like to see make it to the Burnhorn. So I'll just quickly run through this. Grady Emerson is the biggest name in this high school recruiting class. He's baseball America's number two prospect. I've seen mock dress having him anywhere from one to three. He's a shortstop who will never play for the University of Texas, unfortunately. But go get your money, son. Grady Emerson could be the number one pick in the draft, so he won't be here. The next highest player, Aiden Robins, 24. Another high school player, Brody Bermilla, who have you watched him, is unbelievable. He's a lefty at 34. If he falls out of the first round, who knows? But just. I. I doubt it. He ain't gonna be here. Carson Tinney, 40, and then Rugerio has it, 83. Those are all gone to me. Like, those are just those. Yeah, none of those. If Brody Bromila somehow makes his way to campus like something wild has happened and good on our nil team. But then the next group is interesting, right? And there's three in this Group, they're all high school players. And I, I said off the bat. I think if we get a couple of these, if we get two, if we get more than one of these, it's a steal. If we get one. Okay, we've done our job. We've recruited hard against our own kids, which you have to do in baseball. 86 to 126. 86 is pitcher Cooper Harris. 118 is third baseman Bo Preston. 126 is Trey Ringel. If you can get one of those two pitchers, heck, if you get both of them. But if you get one of those two pitchers, you feel pretty good.
- [27:22]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, I think that's, that's really what it is. Like one, one is good. Two is playing with house money at that point you're not going to get. I, I would be shocked if you get all through. I think the likeliest of the three is probably Trey Rangel. But again that again, you need to add the pitcher.
- [27:38]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah, love to get Bo Peterson, but we'll see. There's another third baseman in the class. Esinatri. We'll talk about just a moment. Who might. We'll see. The next group is kind of that, that was third to fifth round grades. You're now getting a little bit lower. The 180s to 213. So gets a little interesting here. This is all pitchers in this section. 189 is Thomas Burns, 190 right after him is James Jorgensen out of high school. 210 is Cooper Webb, all righties listed out of high school. And then 213 is our big lefty Hayden LeFuel. Can they get both high school arms and one of the two relievers is what I, I think about this section. Right. Like Burns came on late and lefue had some issues late. So I wonder if we get the latter of those and, and not the first and can they get both of those arms? Right. If you say Rangel and Harris are both gone in the. The two rounds earlier group of pitchers. Okay. Assuming we can get, you know, Jorgensen and Webb I think would be huge if we get both high school and again to me, if we can get one of those two big relievers.
- [28:41]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, I mean I think of my, of the two of the experience. Obviously Burns is great, but you want to have. It's nice to have a lefty in the rotation. And so I think having the few in there, despite his few struggles he had at times this year, it's good to have him there. Like you said, if they miss on, you know, Harris and rangeland getting three or four here I think feels like a good proposition for 20, 26, 7.
- [29:08]
Kyle Carpenter
All right. And then closing out the last group. 287 right handed pitcher Hayes Holton out of high school. 388 is Brady Marietta, who we've talked about a catcher with big upside. 431 is a name we're familiar with. Second baseman Ethan Mendoza, who did go to that combine. And then 448 is lefty pitcher Finn Beard out of high school. I think they should get all four of these. I think the some injury issues with Mendoza. As much as I like that kid, I think he can play really well next year and bump up his stock considerably from, from being the 431st drafted player if that's where he truly goes. Am I crazy, Gerald, to think we might be able to get all four of those, including big high school player Marietta?
- [29:49]
Gerald Goodridge
No. And I think that when you look at how Texas has treated especially like the transfer portal. We talked about Marietta last year or last week with the, the transfer auditions at, at catcher. Like the reason why they get like a one year rental at catcher. That's an elite guy is because you, you expect to get Murrieta on campus, let him develop for a year and then step in play two years and hear his name called much higher than 388. I, I would be shocked if we don't see these guys back on campus.
- [30:19]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah. And, and, and Schloss has said right. Like he wants to focus on high school recruiting. A big part of that is getting them to campus. Right. Double recruiting them. Even if we lose some of these players, there's some good ones outside this top 500. This isn't all of our high school players, but it just shows you how deep this class is that there's this many Texas commits not necessarily enrolled yet who could be drafted just outside the 500 is right hand pitcher Carson Reader. And then Easton Autry who's really interesting. He's our fourth highest rated player in this class according to Baseball America. So you would think, oh, he'll be top 100. But he really, I think part of that ranking is that he's going to be in burn orange. Like I think everyone knows that he's not like the high schooler who just has all the physical tools. He's just a dang good baseball player. I think he's a guy who actually really would benefit from the college game for like at least two years, but he could come in and instantly start for us. He's that level of production and so he's one who's really interesting to me and then readers a guy they've talked about who could come in and maybe carve out a starting role within a couple years. So two really great players and again I'm not listening everyone who's outside of that but just wanted to run down as that list came out it's interesting with the draft a few weeks away let people hear some of those names again who if you haven't been following baseball recruiting which it's hard to because there's another recruiting window basically that happens now and right after the draft then just wanted to run that down a bit of Texas very well represented in that top 500. Gerald another place Texas represented I just wanted to call out I saw stat come across the social medias Jack o' Dowd promoted to the Double A Rockies organization you know the Double A team the Rockies organization.
- [31:52]
Gerald Goodridge
Joe the Yard Goats.
- [31:55]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah of course that's the Hartford Yard Goats. We all were screaming that one at the top of our lungs as the number two OPS in all of minor league baseball as a single A player that'll get you bumped up pretty darn good if he can keep that going he'll be AAA before for you know it we'll close baseball out and talk a little bit of some other sports First I'm going to talk about softball Gerald keeping it diamond sport after seeing their two coaches from the you know both publications major publications coaching staffs of the year saying Kristen Zelinsky is the new head coach at Utah State and early wine joining Tennessee we talked about the Southeastern Louisiana coach coming in last week and since we recorded softball added their other major coaching assistant coach and that's Amber Freeman. Gerald you remember her as a player she was a force the former Pac12 Player of the Year all three time
- [32:46]
Gerald Goodridge
all American at Arizona State really loves the desert seemingly right spent the past two seasons in Arizona as well two Big 12 Player of the years under her tenure there also time at Georgia so she has some SEC experience and Cal you know again Texas is really becoming like a destination for that next person up in it and and I'm going to say this thing and this is probably my wokest take that you'll get today. I love that it's a lot of female coaches I always love seeing more female coaches especially in the softball ranks like it's softball and basketball you know I I again I I there are not enough opportunities for the the there I just love seeing more female more women getting Opportunities to be head coaches. And so this seems like a pipeline for her.
- [33:36]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah, she's one of the, like, strongest, like gonna be. Everyone knows she's gonna be a head coach in a couple years. She's, she was a very sought after assistant in the market. So Texas did well, both these hires. I think last in this section here, Gerald the Texan, who did well. And, and the, the conversation around well is very interesting to me. Scotty Scheffler finished a rare Monday morning playoff after they couldn't finish on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, so had all night to think about what he was going to do, and then he just kind of blew it. He missed a putt, as Scotty does. Right. He's great at everything, at golf, at putting. He's mediocre at times. And Mr. Putt gave the win to Victor Hovland, and it really showed that everyone is, is calling it a slump. Scotty is, is in a slump. Joe, what do you think? Is Scotty Scheffler the best slump of all time?
- [34:28]
Gerald Goodridge
6. Six months does not a slump make. I mean, it's, it even like, so he won in January, has four runner up finishes, eight top fives, nothing outside the top 25. I. If my slumps featured eight figures, yeah, I'd be great.
- [34:48]
Kyle Carpenter
Yeah. Currently the money leader, 15.14. The guy, he's about to have more runner up finishes than wins, which people say he chokes. No, he's just always good. Like he's always a lock for top 10, if not top five, if not top two. 19 runner ups to go with 20 wins. Yeah, it is a tough six months for him and really a couple months before that from not getting the wins and not finishing the way he would want to. And he would tell you that. But again, if your rough is 15/plus million dollars more than any golfer in the world, he could likely win player of the season with only one win. Like he's playing that well. He just hasn't been able to get over the top. Then you're pretty darn good and deserving of the number one player in the world. And we will always love Scotty on this podcast. All right, Joe, let's take it home. A little bit of Godzilla. Tron, what are you watching on your giant screen?
- [35:36]
Gerald Goodridge
Yeah, not a ton of watching outside of the World Cup. I mean, we're in the knockout stages right now. Just super, super fun to watch. It's just this is the part where the unity starts to dissolve a little bit. Where it's been the group stages but everybody's having fun. And now it's like, hey, I need you to go. So that's always. The tension is there, but we're getting. My wife and I are getting caught up on Top Chef. We're relatively pretty behind this season, but we're still trying to get caught up. I'm reading continue to read the Indian Lake trilogy. So I finished off the second one, Don't Fear the Reaper, over the last week. Still, Stephen Graham Jones continues to just be the goat. And then I. This is another one that I. I started reading a while ago and then got caught up with other stuff. I think I started reading it, like, right at the start of last football season, so I didn't get into it, but Joe Abercrombie's the Devils, it's kind of like the Suicide Squad or like Guardians of the Galaxy, but in, like, a fantasy world. So it's a bunch of misfits with random, you know, magical fantasy stuff. There's a. There's a vampire and a necromancer and all of that. And they're kind of this mod podge group of people who are volun told that they are going to take a new princess to end a civil war. Basically, for lack of a better term, like, oh, we found the missing princess. You're gonna transport her home to end the civil war. And, you know, it's Joe Abercrombie. So it's very character work heavy, which I really appreciate. The dialogue is incredible. And as somebody who, like, kind of is a fledgling, like, fantasy writer, it frustrates me how good his simple prose is. It's just ridiculous. Like, the way that he says things in a novel way, but so simple. I'm just. It's beautiful. His work is a little more pessimistic then maybe compared to, like, Brandon Sanderson is one of the other big names in fantasy right now, but I'm a big fan of Joe Abercrombie, and I just restarted it, so I'm, you know, probably 10% of the way into that book.
- [37:40]
Kyle Carpenter
The only Abercrombie I know is and Fitch. Yes, Gerald? I. I always love how different we are. Gerald. I have also, though, been watching World cup and Top Chef. Have you. How far are you in Top Chef? I can. I can hold a couple spoilers back if you are not particularly far.
- [37:58]
Gerald Goodridge
We are not particularly far.
- [38:00]
Kyle Carpenter
Fair enough. Fair enough. Okay. I will just say this season of Top Chef has been interesting to me, though. It hasn't had, like, the person you love, the dominant player, when you think of it from the gamification of it all. Like the Buddha or the, you know, just like, oh, my gosh, I'm in love with this, this particular person in their storyline. It's had some really good people and who are talented and some really lovable people. But I think this was kind of a testament to the enduring, like, nature of Top Chef. If you love Top Chef, you love Top Chef and the season fits in that bill. I do think as much as I love Padma, that I like Kristen fully now, full stop, as the better host. Like, when emotional things happen and she just gets so emotional, like, it pulls you. She's just really good. Padma was the consummate professional. I loved her dearly. But yeah, Kristen Kish is just unbelievably good at this particular job. Yeah. I'll just say, like, there were a couple people who came on late of like, oh, they're talented or, oh, I like this person. But I don't have, like, I wonder in three years, when I think back to the season if I'll remember a bunch of it. There's years where you remember a lot in those years. And again, if you're not a Top Chef fan, you don't get any of this. But if you are, you understand what I'm saying, there's years that you kind of remember a lot more moments or just someone's dominant streak of six weeks being unbeatable or whatever it is this year. Like I said, just a solid B plus season. Good. There were times it was like in the middle, a little slow, a little boring, wasn't the greatest thing, but a good, strong ending. I think it ramped up towards the end, which is probably what you want from that show and. And not entirely dissimilar from the World Cup. Maybe if I type my two main watching pleasures together. You know, we're hoping for that major ramp up at the end of this World Cup. Keep the good, good streak going, even if it lulls a bit little in the early group games. I'll just say we bleed orange in Houston, Netherlands, till we die. At least weeks of fandom.
- [39:51]
Gerald Goodridge
And that's all I've got for you this week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
- [39:55]
Kyle Carpenter
Oh, you can follow me at Dear Netherland. Now you can follow me at Kyle Carpenter and also follow Texas Per Gamer at Texas Gamer on both Twitter and Blue Sky.
- [40:05]
Gerald Goodridge
Follow me on both those places at G.H. goodridge. Follow the show, both those spots at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram. The Longhorn Republic. Shoot us an email Longhorn Republic Pod at gmail com. We'll be back next week. We'll have another schedule preview and a running backs preview for you on Thursday. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time, hook him.
- [40:24]
Kyle Carpenter
Hook him. Arch is the greatest dual threat quarterback
- [40:26]
Gerald Goodridge
in the country,
- [40:40]
Kyle Carpenter
Sam.