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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 in. 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. Our social media bios if you like what we do, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or comment on Spotify. Really helps get the show out there. Share this with your friends on any podcast platform. We'd love to have them as part of our community. Connect with us on social media at Longhorn Pod, on Twitter and Blue Sky, Facebook and Instagram where the Longhorn Republic or shoot us an email long cornerpunkpod@gmail.com My name is Gerald Goodrich. My host this week like I am every week, and I'm joined by a man who's so excited to talk about the trenches again, Kyle Carpenter. Kyle over you.
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Not just the trenches here we finally get to talk a little bit about defense. I know it's a Steve Khokesian team and and so we focus on the offense. But Sark has been winning with defense for years since he's come to Texas. We are talking about Will Muschamps unit that's been Pete Kukowski the past few years. Big move there and we finally get to start talking about that side of the ball, which I don't want to say is more interesting. The offense is incredibly interesting. But I am excited. I'm excited about defense and I'm excited to see talk about the defensive line where Texas has been a pipeline of talent for as long as we've been alive and, and much before that actually as well. But they have really stocked the room and the unit that we're going to talk about and we'll break it into kind of two parts. But there is, there is talent aplenty and we get to break it down. I'm excited to talk about it with you, Gerald. For our our dear listeners.
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He's ready to do his punches, whiteboard his job today. So we're going to talk about the defensive line and what it looks like under a reconfigured defensive front. Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. A lot to talk about, Bol. Some recruiting, some pro stuff happening and then we'll close the show out with a little bit of Godzilla truck. But we'll start with the defensive line, which frankly has been pretty solid for Texas over the last few years and frankly, last year was one of the better ones we've seen in Quite some time. Colin Simmons led the charge of a group that you know, started the year he was opposite Ethan Burke on the edges, Alex January and Murad Watson or in the middle there. And Colin Simmons turned out one of the all time seasons from a edge rusher, a sacker in Texas history. The first player since Jackson Jeffcoat in more than a decade to have double digigit sacks. And he has an opportunity to do something that Texas hasn't seen in two decades. If he has another year like he did last year with back to back double digit sack seasons. We'll talk about that in just a minute. But you know when Mil, when, when they replaced Pete Kwikowski with Will Muschamp, you know something that is a very natural and obvious point of conversation is a lot of the guys in this room were built for more of a 4 down or 4 man front and Will Muschamp notoriously is a 3 ish man front kind of guy. So how do the bodies fit? How do they look? And so obviously you know, you've got Colin Simmons who's going to fit in literally any defensive scheme because he's a monster. Opposite side of him replacing Ethan Burke is probably going to be like a Lance Jackson who we talked about Lance Jackson it feels like six years ago, but Lance Jackson showed up on campus for bowl season two years ago and looked like he could have just strapped it on and played. So he's there on the opposite side. So Texas has a pair of elite edges I think there and it may be something interesting. And even the rotation like Xena and Colton Vasick would be, you know, defensive end ones in some rooms in the country. So the middle is going to be interesting to see how that works out because you know, frankly there's a lot of, you know, beef there. But do they fit what a traditional nose would do in this three down system? And so I'm curious, Kyle, what are your feelings on her? How do you, how do you think this group, are they going to be able to consistently generate pressure? They going to be able to keep offenses off balance and allow Coach Boom to do the things he likes to do to create disruption?
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I mean I think plain and simple, yes, I think this room is really interesting. Like when we look at the NIL era, it's hard to stack the kind of talent and depth that they have. And we'll talk specifically I guess in the edges first. It's hard to do that if, if I am a gm, to me it is easiest of any position to hit on. Really, really Good high school defensive ends like that position bust the least of any. Right. Like it's projected a lot on your physicals and physicals translate more than probably any position. And so I'm going to go out and get Colin Simmons. That's a good model for doing business. Like those guys sometimes bust but it is significantly less common than other positions. And so what have they done? They've just gone out and assembled really, really, really great talent. Like this team to me can do anything. They can be game plan specific. They can change in the course of a game to what feet kind of is worse for you as an offense. Like I think Muscham is going to have his fastball. I think he's gonna have a lot to prove he's back at Texas like you know all the history that's there. I think he's going to want this defense to be aggressive. There's going to be different concepts. But I think I'll steal the words of sophomore potential breakout player on this defense who you reference Lance Jackson, who believes Texas edges are both the most versatile group position group on campus as we're previewing groups going across the roster and also the best group of edges in the nation. And it's hard to argue with them. I do think there is positional versatility here. Like I think you are going to see especially a guy like Jackson who's actually by all accounts come back bigger and kept his speed and continues to look more like an NFL ready guy like he did from his first snap that he actually played. But I mean this is. They're gonna see a mix of whoever they put out who can do a little bit of the fact that Xena, who is Xena, you. I'm just gonna leave it. There is a backup here. Like he could portal today and go play on any SEC team. Like I legitimately believe that. I think he's got that much quality. He could go to the Big 12 and win Big 12 Defensive Player of the year. Like he just. He. He's our, our third defensive end, right? Colton Vasek who's been great and the. The advertisement of even greater when healthy is. Is our fourth I guess defensive end we haven't even talked about justice Terry who can go inside, can go outside, can play four I can do literally I think he and Jackson can. Can be what makes this. I think their versatility. Gerald, to answer your question in a very, very long way actually can be their greatest strength. Right? You have guys who can play traditional edge four I over a tackle a defensive end in Three man sets. You know, they might have pass rushing sets where you have some of these defensive ends slotting in and playing defensive tackle. Like, you know, in their nascar, I think I've heard it called something else, but their NASCAR package. I've heard Simmons has been playing the four I incredibly well. Like, the one thing about Simmons, and I know I've answered your question with a lot of wind here, the one thing about Simmons, we talked about this last year and I don't want it to get lost as we do this position preview. There's a lot of really good defensive end in the country last year and this year as well who go out and put up big sack numbers and they are sack hunters. And the strategy when you play them is to run the ball at the sack hunter because he's blowing by trying to get his numbers. It's a glory position where you make lots of money both at college now and at the NFL level, but you can usually exploit that aggressiveness and that desire to get sacked by running at them, by doing things, putting them in other positions of conflict. Colin Simmons is incredibly good at all of the other things and works just as hard in the run game as he does. Like he could have, he could have easily tried to play that way and had 16 sacks last year. Like he could have been that player. But the fact that he's such a well rounded defensive end, he does so many things in addition to being the best pass rushing defensive end in the country and I think the best defensive player in the country in this upcoming season. Like, talk me out of it. I, I doesn't seem that crazy, like that's your anchor in this group, but there is so much talent outside of him that if he were pulled out, this would still be a top, I don't know, five, six unit in the SEC without him. That's, that's the crazy thing to say. I think there's that much talent, but obviously you get to add the best player in the country and this just takes it over the top.
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I, I have zero doubts about this. I, I think I've just got some PTSD from Texas not being able to generate consistent pressure and especially because of, and you know this is going to bleed into our secondary preview a bit. But like, especially with how much man scheming that Will Muschamp likes to do on the back end to allow things to, you know, create pressure and create those explosive plays. The, the problem with man schemes behind the defensive line is if you don't get pressure and you're playing man, eventually somebody's going to come open, right? That's just how football works. A quarterback has long enough and you're playing man schemes. That's just how it goes. And so ultimately like that is the key to it is creating disruption and doing things that cause quarterbacks to hesitate and have to double clutch and read. And so again, you know, Texas just line up, you know, Lance Jackson and Colin Simmons on either side and be just fine with that. But I think the rest of those guys that you mentioned, I mean, Hero, Canoe, Gford, January Watson, Justice, Terry, all of those guys can create some of that pressure up the middle. Now the cure, the curiosity I have is like against the run, what do those guys do for the linebackers? Because you know, Texas has had been spoiled. Like, you know, I would have loved to see a guy like Byron Murphy or Puna Ford play in the middle of a Wilt Muschamp defense. I would have loved to see what that unit could do, right, because those are like in my mind your ideal kind of guys for this because they not only create disruption in the backfield on pass plays, but they also can just sit there big behind down and be an anvil in the middle of the scheme. And so, you know, who is that guy going to be for this unit? You know, Texas played around with multiple different looks last year at that guy. So who is it going to be again? You know, my, my mind goes, it's, it's modern offense is very pass heavy. We're all worried about pass rush and disruption. But in the SEC being getting run on is going to get you beat. And so that to me again, I mentioned it on Tuesday when we talked about the offensive line, defensive line, similar question is like, who's going to be that space eater in the middle that can occupy a center and a guard and keep them from getting into the second level and allow the incredibly talented linebackers that we're going to talk about in, in a couple of weeks to be the heroes.
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Gerald, can I tell you the most exciting thing I heard this entire offseason? We've often touted Byron Murphy. You just mentioned him as probably the best eval in this kind of modern era of Texas football. You could argue Sam Cosby or there's a few others, but to the three star who we knew from the day he committed like, no, no, that kid's good. Like he's a player and then he got to campus, he's like, no, that that guy has the mentality of a, of a NF NFL hall of Famer yeah, he has a mortgage and three kids at 17. But no, like he just, he looked like a grown man. The most exciting thing that I heard this entire off season as I heard someone describe Justice Terry as having Byron's mentality and mindset, like his internal drive matches that. Now take the size power specimen that Justice Terry was. Remember his recruitment and how he was one of the most coveted players in the country. He came to Texas and he kind of bited his time. He didn't play a ton, but when he played, he's done some things well. Take that five star pedigree, size, talent, more athleticism, those things and put Murphy's mentality inside of him. Good lord. The other thing when you ask who's our space eater? Well, there's a little fella named Ian Griffard Who's I believe 6, 5, 378 pounds, he slimmed down. He was listed at 387 on Arkansas's roster last year. He played 400 snaps for them like he was their interior. I think the best thing for Texas defensive tackle and you saw it in their strategy to kind of say, hey, this was a position of need. We're going to go portal and get a bunch of guys in years previous after losing kind of the Murphy to Wonder sweat pipeline that they had and they went out and portal to heavy and it's. Why are they getting so many? Well, obviously their strategy is to keep them fresh and limit hey, our big guys, let's get them in for 15, maybe 20 really meaningful snapshots and, and let them go dominate in those ones. Alex January has been a revelation in what he's been able to do. Hero Canoe is one of my favorite players singularly on this team. But I think the ability to play Canoe, to play the big former Razorback, to play Alex January, to play Murad Watson, to play Justice Terry, all those things in the middle and keep them fresh with the speed that you have and the talent that you have. Maybe Jackson plays in the middle as well. The speed that you have on the edges, like it, it becomes very deadly. Like Hero Canoe is good at a lot of things, but he gets, like you said, a lot of pressure up the middle. I think if they tell him, hey, like you're going to let Big Eng soak up blocks for linebackers, but also Canoe, I'm going to need you to go get tackles for lost this year. Like he's the type of player who just you, you send him on a mission and he's going to go get it done. He's a great football player who's growing in his game still, which is incredible. And one of, like I said, one of my favorite players on this team. I just like the whole defensive line depth, top end, complimentary pieces the way they can. You know, I think Mush Champ is going to have best defenses at Georgia level of cat and mouse. Yeah. I mean, like, they can toy with you and, and, and give you different looks. Like here's the thing, like, they've had really, really good defenses there. Colin Simmons is as good as any player they had on any of their defenses like that. Just going to come out and say it. He has that much talent. I think the pieces that they have. I'm not saying this will be George's defense at its absolute peak, but I think they have enough talent in this room that they can give you enough looks that they can make it that awful for people. I don't know if they'll be able to sustain that every game across the entire season with the, the opponents that they have, like there's. The dam is going to break. I'm not saying they're going to be a team that gives up 180 yards a game. Like those days are kind of gone as well. But I do think that the talent is immense in this defensive line. I've been excited to do this preview because, like Gerald, I want to take you back. Think back to when Sark arrived in 2021. Can you name the starting defensive ends in Week 1? I believe that was Louisiana Lafayette that week. Who Sark trotted out,
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There's a zero clue.
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There's a reason you can. It's hard to remember Jacoby Jones was.
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Okay, okay, solid.
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It's hard to remember Ray Thornton, who came in and played a little Alabama
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transfer that was a linebacker.
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I believe he may have been also. He may have been lsu. Ben Davis was the linebacker from Alabama who was our leading sack getter that year with two and a half.
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That's right.
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Backups were Ovia Gofu, who actually, you know, put in a nice shift for us. DJ Harris, who I didn't remember existed, and a true freshman named Alfred Collins, who again, had a really good go of it moving inside. But back then we thought maybe he's just a big defensive end. Collins was our best defensive end that year with 15 pressures, led the team. Gerald, we had seven players with more than 15 pressures last year. Like, think about how far this team has come. They couldn't generate. You talked about the need to generate pressure. They simply could not do it without blitzing that year. Like for the hits that they've had in recruiting. Baron Sorrell in 21, Ethan Burke and 22. There's Jamon Tap and, and Walton, Ross Akana, our guy Justice, Finkley, Brown, Thomas, like big names, big gets big recruits, but they just didn't have the hit rate right now. Texas with this in credit to Kenny Baker and, and Lyle and Clark and the, the whole entire staff and PK now into Muschamp, like they have had an incredible hit rate lately where they've been getting guys in whether it's Portal, whether it's high school recruiting who've. Who've turned out. It just. We talked a lot about the Pancake factory and the way that Sark came in and instantly transformed the offensive line. I don't know that it gets the same and sure Krakowski deserves some of that credit as well, but I don't know that it gets the same and Bo to some extent gets the same overall praise for what Sark did to transform. With a mindset of recruitment and Portal spending and, and getting absolute necessity to get the defensive line, this position group has probably transformed more in that short five years than, than any group. Like we just have an expectation now that this group is a top five unit in the country. And like we were nowhere close to that.
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Not at all. And you know, we talked about it after that first season from 21, going into 22, you know, the offensive line group, DJ Campbell, Kelvin Banks, like that class gets a lot of the hype. But like they had just as many defensive line additions and in that recruiting class and now we're seeing what having that cupboard full does for them. So we'll see what this off this defensive line can do. Week one, probably not as much, but week two, they're going to Ohio State and that's going to be that. Ohio State offensive line is going to be good. It's going to be a good test. And can they keep that passing game on its heels? Because they're going to need to. They're going to come at you hard and fast.
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All right, Gerald, let's move out. As much as I'm remiss to do so I could talk D line all day, you wouldn't know. I was a receiver in safety the way I like to talk defensive line. But we are going to do a little bit of burnt orange lenses. Take a look at the world through our burnt orange shades, starting with football. Keep it here. Nike announced deals with some additional Longhorns. Cam Coleman, Colin Simmons adding more Superstars to their, their stable. If you think in wrestling terms of nil athletes. So very exciting for those guys. A little bit honestly surprising when you think they did their blue ribbon nil. And I think it was 15 players in football and a maybe smaller list in different sports. But it's interesting that those guys I just would assume to already been there, but joined some other very good players of present and future being paid and rocking the swoosh.
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Yeah, I mean, you know, you got, you mentioned Coleman and Simmons, Wingo, Jonah Williams, Diabell. Already there for that. So big, big shoes. I think it's funny that Diabell hasn't played a single meaningful snap but already has that. But again, it's, it's great to see. I mean, he's got the, you know, the pro pedigree, so.
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That's right.
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Makes sense for them to lock him down early.
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They did, they did. When they did their first nil college deal, they also did a high school one and, and see who's in that elite crop of high school players. So if you were a really good college player who's just in the next band of players, next apron of players below the 15, you probably scoffed at the high school guys getting it, but they are making that right. Cam Coleman, Colin Simmons, Ryan Wingo, Jonah Williams, Diabell. Maybe more to come in future years, I would imagine. Speaking of football and exciting things, Gerald, I talked about the Justice Terry quote that, that excited me in our earlier preview, but I just hadn't tied this thread together until I heard someone asked Sark the question and he, he talked about it, about playing Bishop at cornerback. And he said when we were at Alabama, Devonta Smith was our emergency corner. He would take first scout period. He would go with the defense. Coach Saban played corner. Then he'd come over and play wide receiver in the second scout period. The year he won the Heisman Trophy, he was practicing on defense part of the practice. I'm not saying our freshman wide receiver is going to win the Heisman this year. I mean, it would be a shame if he didn't in the next three years. But like, that's, that's pretty cool. Like, that's pretty cool that Sark came out and said that, like, no pressure, kid. But everyone who's seen Bishop play at any level at high school, obviously, but since he's been in Austin and on the 40 has raved about this guy.
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I mean, we've, we've talked about it. He's one of those guys that you like, have to play, right? Like and not in the bad half to play, but, like, he's just too damn talented to keep him on, to keep him off the field. So, like, it makes sense to have him. And this is not the first time that Sark or the third or fourth time that Sark has done this. Ador Corey Jackson, usc. John Ross at Washington. Like, having a guy like that. We've said it about multiple guys, and I think Bishop was a guy that I thought probably had too much upside on offense to not, you know, play him on offense, but, like, get him on campus, see where he clicks and let him play. I mean, a guy, you know. Travis Hunter played both ways and won the Heisman. So, like, it's just. I'm just. I'm just saying now, do I think Jermaine. Do I think Bishop is on Travis Hunter level? Maybe. I don't know. He could be. We haven't seen him play down a college ball yet, but ultimately, like, find a way to get this kid on the field because he's that stinking good.
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Yeah. Special teams as well. Let him. Let him just play wherever he wants, whenever he wants, and he's gonna do good. I. I'm sure of it. Jared. Let's move to some other sports. Women's golf alum Pharaoh Keefe earned low amateur at the Monday Evian Championship in France, the second time this year that o' Keefe is the low amateur in an LPGA major championship. Gerald she is getting dangerously close.
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That's her 17th point on the amateur pathway program, so if she hits 20, that'll get her her card for the LG. LG LPGA, which would be great for her.
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And she's just on an iconic run right now. Wrapped up her third tournament in three weeks and in as many countries. First the Women's Amateur in Scotland, the Arnold Palmer cup in Ireland, and now the Amundi Evian Championship in France. I would love to just be her caddy. It seems like it'd be a nice life to be following her right now. And that one just in this most recent one, Lauren Kim also made the cut and finished 64th overall. Not as an amateur, 64th out of all competitors. So good on both of the recent successful Texas longhorned women's golfers. Let's keep it moving, Gerald. With some other alums. Utah Jazz going big on Texas bigs, I guess signing Mo Bamba and Jackson Hayes. Texas had a litany of athletic bigs for a few years there, but they're doubling down.
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It's weird to see these big guys that should have been five stars or all star guys at Texas not quite live up to that. Bomba has, you know, he's had a several. He's had a cup of coffee or two in the NBA. Played for a couple of games with Utah last year. So re upping with them. Hayes coming from the Lakers. The Lakers are doing something very weird post LeBron. I don't know what, but so, yeah, I mean he's, he played in 66 games for them, so he's a guy who's seen the court quite a bit. So again, maybe it's going to be hard for me to want to cheer for the Utah Jazz, so I need them to stop signing Texas players.
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I agree with it. That was my big takeaway from this is I don't want to be a Jazz fan in any way, but I often will gravitate to, to the, towards the team with the most Longhorn. So someone just needs to go heavy kd where, you know, get your recruiting arm on and get like three more Longhorns so this doesn't happen. But Bamba did play, like you mentioned, Gerald, a few games with the Jazz Last year in 19 minutes a game in, I think two games, averaged 10 rebounds and five points. He dominated though, for them in the G League in 23 games, 17 points, 11 rebounds and two and a half blocks in 28 minutes. So they're hoping he can replicate that form. He's still, he's still youngish. He's still got, I think he's played eight seasons, something like that. I can't believe it's been that long. But he's still got gas in the tank. So one of those two hopefully wins the starting spot. The other is the, the backup big and they just throw alley oops to each other all game. I don't know. Let's keep it moving, Gerald. One of my favorite news stories of the past, this may have been a little bit over a week ago. Women's tennis signed a player out of. I believe you're gonna pronounce it Baloney, but Bologna, Bologna, Italy. And her name being from again, for my joke, I'm gonna call it Baloney is Ariana Zucchini. I triple checked that. That is in fact her name. It's. It's not a typo, it's not a joke. Ariana Zucchini will join the Texas women's tennis team in fall 2026. And she's very good, but I am just very excited that Charati went out and got an Italian and her name happened to be the most Pixar sounding character of all time. Ariana Zucchini.
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Is it a Pixar? It. She honestly sounds like a Veggie Tales like.
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Oh true, true.
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Yeah. Like Bob the Zucchini. You know, Bob the. Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber. Ariana Zucchini is like their long lost cousin.
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That's right.
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But a top 500 WTA singles player, top 600 in the double.
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So good addition and a top 10 name.
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And Texas had really good luck with Italian players. I mean Tierratis are not too far in the rear view.
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That's right. That's right. Well one Terati is coaching and so she I imagine would have recruited her but yes, this, this is. I think Linguini was the, the Ratatouille chef. So maybe that's where my brain went. Picks are. But it's not just the women going internationally, of course the men, I think that's a third international commit. But men's tennis sign international standout mate Dudish I believe is how we're saying that. A native of Ocean Croatia, which I'm sure is a beautiful town with red roofs and beaches. I don't know, Croatia seems lovely to me. I haven't been yet. But he's really, really good, Joe. Like legitimately for their junior team. One of, one of the, the top players for, for Croatia junior and internationally out there. He's really good.
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Yeah. And I, I don't know how the, the like he's got ATP pro wins like nine singles and doubles titles. I don't know how that works with college eligibility playing now. But none of it, none of the rules matter anymore But a sub 200 singles ranking for him. Team Croatia for the, the international Davis cup this year. So like Guy has got a lot of experience and should be a stalwart on a team that's looking to reclaim a title. Yeah.
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If worse comes to worse and he doesn't get eligibility, you know, play basketball for lsu. Who's, who's fielded an entire team.
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I mean professionals find a favorable judge in Travis county that doesn't know college sports. Give you an injunct.
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There you go. But yes, he did play for Team Croatia in the Davis Cup. This is a, a great ad. And then just to round out our ads, beach volleyball added Leanne Wise, who's one of the nation's top juniors, reclassified and will join the Longhorns in this upcoming 2627 season. She's very good. There's, there's reasons to like her, Gerald. But most Importantly, she comes from. Competes for the two one zero beach in San Antonio.
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The.
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The premier beach volleyball squad in the Centex region, I'm going to assume, or at least in the San Antonio region, which is big for you and I. Gerald, do you know Stockdale? You familiar with Stockdale outside of San Antonio?
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I am. I've seen and heard and driven past Stockdale. Kyle. The last time I heard two one zero beach was after a fight downtown. I'm just joking. I love it. I love it. But I mean, she's been competed on the junior circuit. Again, just elite player. Texas, the beach volleyball team. Getting some of these players now that are like, would have gone out of state or would have gone to tcu. Now getting them in Austin, like we talked about this when they got all these transfers in. There are a ton of players that would have wanted to play in Austin but didn't have an option. And so adding this beach volleyball team continues to pay dividends. And now it's not the transfers coming home from California or coming home from Fort Worth or coming home from wherever. It's now the homegrown talent that. That. That's coming to Austin.
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Yeah, there's a. That's absolutely right. And your joke was stellar and shouldn't be overlooked. Gerald and I are from a part of the Northeast, San Antonio, where it's kind of like you get that whole east band, a lot of folks, you know, shirt, Selma, you know, Converse area. Obviously, if you head out into the country a bit more, you get past, you know, Lavernia, New Berlin and these places. If you're from the greater Centex area, hopefully I'm speaking. Speaking life into you in your ears right now, but you go down past Lavernia, past Sutherland Springs. If you hit Floresville, you went too far to get to Stockdale. Now if you keep going past Stockdale on 87, you hit Pandora or all the way to Smiley, you've gone way too far. But, yeah, this is. That's. This is. I mean, this is down towards post, which is where I grew up hunting. I mean, this is. This is. I believe the Aggies call this God's country. This is not a lot out here, except apparently elite volleyball players. So excited to welcome her. I'm excited to welcome a tennis player from Bologna. That's Bologna. I understand. Don't. Don't tweet us. Do tweet us. Go ahead. It's fine. And a beach volleyball player from the international city of Stockdale, Texas. Gerald, we're gonna take it home here. Our final segment for this final show of the week. Godzillatron. What are you watching on your giant screen?
- [29:36]
B
Yeah, it was, it was an interesting streaming week for me without a lot of world with less World cup games on. Fewer World cup games I should say on had some more opportunity to stream. I did a ton of travel. I was in Louisville, Kentucky for five days for work and got to do some really cool stuff, but that had a couple of longer flights. And so I caught up on some movies that are not like they're not scary movies, but they're not not scary movies are probably in the thriller category. Three of the three of the four movies I'm going to talk about are thrillers and one is probably a straight up horror movie. But so the three of them that I watch that are very similar in theme. Z Beat Starring and they Will Kill you, which is about a young woman going to search for her sister, her younger sister who has disappeared into this web of billionaire people. She's gone to been caught up in this kind of web of entry. We've even web of intrigue. But they're. They're come to find out they're like they're killing poor people. And so her sister gets caught up in that. Her. Her whole goal is to just go and get her sister out. And then I went and saw Ready or Not, which is starring Samara Weaving, who I found out is not Hugo Weaving's kid, which is something I was not prepared for. I just assumed she was. But anywho, Ready or Not, about a young woman, young orphan who marries into a billionaire's family. Oh, and come to find out they are also killing people, poor people to. To keep their billions. The sequel to that Ready or Not, to similar theme Billionaires Killing Poor People. Very thematic week for me on those. But it really is all revenge tales for a class struggle. And interesting look at, you know, concept of, of, of the billionaire class exploiting those that maybe are less financially viable than them to maintain their status in society. I don't know, maybe, maybe. But then the other piece of it that I watched is a film called Obsession. It was a indie horror flick that was made for like $750,000 and is made nine figures at this point in the box, at the box office. I just hit streaming and wanted to check it out. If it had come out like a decade ago, I would have said it hit you over the head with its themes too much. But the state of media literacy currently, it did not hit you over the head hard enough with them maybe I will say, but A guy makes a wish that the girl that he has unrequited feelings for loves him more than anyone else in the world, and things go sideways very quickly based on that. It's a. It's a conversation about consent and about stripping people of consent and about the nice guy trope that doesn't actually exist in men who feel like they are owed something because they're nice to people. And just a lot in that. So very much about the male loneliness epidemic or the lack thereof, but very, very. The themes in the writing are probably better than some of the performances, but the female lead absolutely kills it. Like, she is, like, I think of Sissy Spacek and Carrie levels of, like, carrying the film. So absolutely incredible stuff. They're free to stream if you're on Peacock, so check it out. It's not a fun watch, not a light watch, but it is. It has something to say, and I appreciate that.
- [32:51]
A
If you're no longer streaming the Spanish language rights on Peacock, you can now move to streaming this. Of World cup games, that is, of course. And also, George, what's the show they've been advertising? The Lord of the skies 1.
- [33:04]
B
The El Senor de Losiellos.
- [33:07]
A
Yes, that's right. That's right, Gerald. I watched something that I, I, I don't know if it's going to be the best show I've ever seen. I think it's probably gonna suffer. I only watched the first two episodes, I think, But I love this person. I love what he creates. My wife loves him even more, which always shocks me, and it's hilarious. But I love Larry David. I, I like Seinfeld. I love Kirby enthusiasm. I think it's a better show. Fight me. I think Larry David is so singular and, like, if you understand him and his humor, his new show, Life, Larry and the pursuit of unhappiness is like, so singularly him. And it's cringe and it's grown, and it's basically like a concept. Is a, like a mockumentary, you know, 250th, you know, what is that? Sesquicentennial celebration of the United States history. And it opens with Barack Obama. And you think it's like an advertisement for something, you know, giving this very dignified. And then it zooms in and it's Larry David as a founding father. And it's just like, it's very ridiculous. And, and the thing I always say with Larry David comedy is, like, he's not wrong when he says something. It's just usually the way he says it. The way he insists on it, the timing that he says it, the, like audacity socially to. To say it. If you like that kind of cringe. If you like the Larry David. I think it's gonna be good again. I haven't watched enough of it to give my full. I think it's like six episodes maybe. So I've only watched two. But it was good to have Larry David back on my screen. The guy just keeps getting older, but still very funny. And I hope he makes stuff as long as he is able to and wants to. And I will consume it. And then Gerald, I finally have started catching up. I think I'm also two episodes, maybe even three. It might be three. And now on Hot D, of course, that's House of the Dragon. I think I talked about on this how much I enjoyed Night of the Seven Kingdoms and how it felt like a return to Game of Thrones and how much I wasn't enjoying House of the Dragon, like last season. A ton. This feels like a good return to, like, Game of Thrones level of storytelling. And so far, again, through it might be three, it might be two. I think it's three episodes through this season that I've watched. Yeah. Feels good again. It feels like I'm liking. Even though I don't love all the characters, certainly, which is always the case with Game of Thrones universe. I am liking this. Are you. Are you caught up? Are you watching it currently? I can't remember.
- [35:26]
B
We. We are not caught up. That is a binger for us. We usually, like, get up a bunch of episodes together and then watch them. It's just, it's. We have so much that we're watching together. We have too many shows as a family, so we usually, like, group them together.
- [35:40]
A
Fair enough. Well, it's good when you get there. I'll be curious to hear your takes. I know in our main Best Friends for Life group chat, the other two are current. And I noticed you and I do not interact to avoid spoilers when they're talking about it, so I figured that was the case. We haven't exactly talked about it. What a better time to talk about it than on a podcast that we're putting out to our millions of followers. So we're discussing maybe we'll make dinner plans on air next. I'm kidding. But yes, House of the Dragon. I've started. Gerald will start soon. You should start. It's a good one.
- [36:11]
B
I think once we get. Once we finish Top Chef, we'll then catch up on House of the Dragon. That's what we've got for you this week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
- [36:19]
A
Oh, you can follow me on Twitter Blue Sky Kyle Carbo. You can also follow the Texas Per Gamer at Texas Per Gamer.
- [36:23]
B
Follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky GH G. Follow the show both those spots at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram. The Longhorn Republic Shoot us an email Longhorn Republic pod gmail.com we'll be back next week with not one, but two team previews for you in your ear holes to get you through that next week and get us caught up with our preseason schedule. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time, Hookham.
- [36:43]
A
Hook them. Thus concludes Infrastructure Week. Sam.