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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 the better snark built. And we are members of the Dave Campbell Texas Football Podcast Network and the College Football Huddle. And you can find more about both those great organizations in our social media bios. If you like what we do, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify helps get the show out there. Share this with your friends wherever you found it. Any podcast platform you could find, Kyle and myself, 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, the Longhorn Republic. Or shoot us an email longhornrepublicpodmail.com My name is Gerald Goodrich. I'm your host this week like I am every week, and I'm joined by a man who's holed up in the mountains, Cal Carpenter.
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Cal, are you Gerald? I, I regret to inform you that I'm recording from, I don't know, about 73 degrees outside in Montana and I may never come back, at least until winter. Yeah, it's, it's beautiful up here. Things are, things are going well. But you know, we get to talk about some things going on back in Texas that are, that are pretty hot as it's nice and cool here. I'm excited just to catch up with you. The one thing that lacks in Montana, Gerald, is D1 football. That's what I was going to say. I wasn't going to say anything else. Yeah. Missed you.
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You know, it's, I'm glad that we're here. I'm glad that we're back. Had a good conversation with our Missouri on, on Tuesday. If you want to go back and listen to that again. We are in our, our summer preview so you can go back. Check that. We're also in our position group preview. So we'll have the running backs today, new look for Texas, complete facelift in that room as well. And then we'll slam in all the other stuff we didn't do on Tuesday so you get down the 40. We'll also have Bol like we normally do on Thursday, the burner wrench lenses. We'll have some Godzilla Tron and we'll close it out with Bang the Drum. But we have to start Kyle with the room on campus that looks, I'll say the most different than it did this time last year. This time last year, Texas had Quintrevian Wisner who was coming off A thousand yard season. They had C.J. baxter who was coming off an injury season. High, high ish hopes but you know I think Texas fans were pretty realistic about what it could be. The football video game came out and Gratravian Wisner was damn near untackleable in that game. And so maybe it raised my hope hopes a little bit for what his expectations were in this in 2025. But ultimately the Texas running back room fell short of expectation due to a combination of injury, offensive line woes and just kind of poor play from them. And so Texas had its top four running backs transfer out of the portal and went big game hunting and landed two of the biggest fish in the portal with Hollywood's mothers and Relique Brown. Two very different, different running backs in that coming in the portal where Smothers is more of an every down back where Brown is a more explosive kind of multi tool player. Smothers coming over from NC State and Relique Brown coming over from Arizona State. So you know we've, there's been a lot of talk already about these two but I think Kyle, as we look at them in their skill sets, why or how do you feel about Texas kind of moving on from these kind of established guys to bring in two guys? Let's be honest, they're kind of one year rental mercenary types for what they're I guess assuming is going to be running a national championship.
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Yeah, I mean look, if Koutravian Wisner got to play a rival every week, he would have been the guy. You don't, you don't even think about moving on, averaging like 200 yards a game against our biggest rivals. The problem is every team sees this as a rival. Texas doesn't see them as rivals. I had to try to get into the psyche of Wisner here. All joking aside, like they're just C.J. baxter was the promise of the next great Texas running back. And due to injuries and everything else, it just never really, it never really materialized. And so for him to move on is a good chance for him. And we said that at the time when the news broke that he was entering the portal before we knew who was coming in. And for Wisner it hurts a little bit more because of how beloved he was, how he was a special teams guy who real fans just love to watch get out there. How him getting the chance with injury and things lining up and him making the most of it, like just one of those guys you think about 10 years later and you have affinity for maybe outsized to his impact again, mainly on the backs of absolute incredible performances against some of our biggest rivals. However, as woeful as the offensive line was last year, and we'll talk about that in our O line preview, there was a lot of meat on the bone for runs that could have taken some of the pressure off of the pathing game at times. And archmaining, if we could have had an explosive run like we got spoiled with the deja of Bijan or even pick, you know, really good running backs, not all timers where it's just like, you know, any point in any game a run could go 20 plus yards and that just. We didn't see that explosiveness. We didn't even see the maximization of runs. It was a lot of the line gets you three yards and so you got three yards, right? And maybe you got three and a half if you really fought for that extra. We just didn't see any of the breakaway, the explosiveness, which is I think what we went out in the portal and addressed. Right. If you look at the stats, Wisner and Baxter combined for not a ton. Gerald, do you want to guess how many breakaway runs in 2025?
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Not many. I know that number.
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Seven. They combined for seven. Do you want to guess how many Hollywood Smothers and Relique Brown combined for in 2025?
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14.
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30. That's. That is, that is, if you're a math major, that's more than four times as many for your two back. So there's a clear, I think, desire for Sark to have balance. We've always said that as much as he gets, you know, the plaudits historically for the way he calls the passing game. He's a former quarterback, the quarterback guru, whatever. Sark likes a good running game. He often likes a bell cow running back, but we've seen a shift to a little bit of running back by committee. Don't forget he had Reggie Bush and Lindell White, maybe one of the more famous thunder and lightning combos. So, you know, this, this really fits. I think what Stark wants from the running game, which is the ability to maybe you have short passing games, make things easy for Arch, and you can bust a run that goes 14 yards or 28 yards and that really takes some pressure off and makes defenses think twice. You know, you take the way A and M fills gaps out and Trey Wiser, his ability to break a couple of runs there and without the breakaway speed to turn that into a touchdown. But nonetheless, like that number is even smaller. So for most of the season, we just never saw our running backs get down the field. We also didn't see them in the passing game get down the field the way that we have maybe in years past. So I think this went out and addressed what Sark wasn't seeing in his offense, which he wants to be balanced, in which he starts with an identity that's establishing the run.
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Yeah, and you mentioned the breakaway runs. I think the, the, the stat that jumped out at me and I'll have a running backs kind of breakdown and preview coming at Bon here in a couple of weeks. But Texas had last year 57 runs over 10 yards, which was good enough to be in the bottom third of the country if you take out arches runs from that. Texas running backs had 36, so Arch had 21 of the 57. Relique Brown had 31 on his own. Hollywood Smothers had 24 on his own. So like, those are the things that I think again, you know, Sark talked about wanting to be more explosive. If you go back and listen to like his pressers after like the Kentucky game and those kinds of games where the running game was just absolute dog crap, that's really what he talked about is being able to be more explosive and really being, you know, we talk about balance, you talk about being multiple. You know, those things are misnomers in a lot of ways because people think balance and they think you run the ball and pass the ball 50, 50, but really it's like you're able to get what you need in the phase that you need. It is, is really what balance is in modern football. Right. You're able to run the ball in the fourth quarter with a lead to salt away a game. And Texas didn't, was really unable to do that. And we saw that kind of bite them in the butt a couple of times last year. And so ultimately, you know, and again, I think these two do very different things. Where Hollywood Smothers has been like the bell cow at NC State, he's averaged over six yards of carry over two over two seasons, hit 1,000 yards, I believe in two out of his three seasons there. Relique Brown is bounced around a little bit, let's be real. But had a good kind of come up season at Arizona State in his one year. And so I think that to me kind of spells what Texas is going to do. And I'm curious and the question I have is like, you know, Texas had four straight years of thousand yard rushers. Bijan hit it twice, Jonathan Brooks hit it twice, and then Quintrevian Wisner did it in 2024. And again this is not, you're not going to hear us as Trey Wisner haters. We are Trey Wisner fans. He is. There is no world in which Trey Wisner should have been RB 1000 yard rusher on a college football playoff team and he's part of the reason why Texas made that run two years ago. But you can see on the same token his inability to bounce back from that injury and be back that we had seen from him and really be a top end threat is part of the reason why the offense had a cap on it last year. And so I say all that to ask this like Texas hit those four straight thousand yard rushers. Obviously B. John's an anomaly but Jonathan Brooks was another three star kid who made good right. And so like can Texas get back to that standard with these two guys? And I think the sub question of that is does it need to have a thousand yard rusher to be successful and hit their goals for the year?
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You know it's, it's really interesting to me. I think about a Bijan Roshan combination. You know if one of these guys established themselves as the main back you're still going to see the other maybe a little more balanced and with not fully the Bijan upside I'm not going to predict that. If you talk about an every down back in in smothers like he's still 5 11, 195 like so they both, they both have speed and they both do a little bit of the same thing. So I to me I'm just really curious what this share looks like. Like will they get a thousand yards combined? I think it would be a huge disappointment if that wasn't the case. Will one of them break a thousand yards? I don't know. Will both of them break a thousand yards? Man that would be fun. We'll see. I don't really predict that. It's interesting with the scheme too right. Like they've really been an outside zone team mostly and out of shotgun outside zone like a quick one cut guy with a little bit of size to him like Jonathan Brooks is perfect for that. If you can make that cut and get something and then if you can make a second level cut and explode like that's where I think they're trying to emulate a little bit of some Jonathan Brooks which I know Gerald, again we have to give you your credit as the president of that fan club. So do I think it matters that they get another thousand yard rusher? No, no, I don't think that that matters. I think, you know, Jabbar Jaluk, the new running backs coach has a lot of weapons at his disposal. I also think they recruited Derek Cooper so hard that it would be wild to think he's not going to get some participation as well. He's obviously the future of it by next year, but could get a little bit. I mean he's a little bigger at 6, 1, 2, 10, has quickness in size. He's kind of prototypical for that system. I don't know does that, that. That might lead into it as well. I think you're going to see a heavy dose of those first two and by the end of the year you probably see more Derek Cooper. Also injuries, right. You have to build a running room today for injury. So it could be that one of those two goes down in game six and we luckily have another one to lean on and maybe then you do get a thousand yard rusher. But if they both stay healthy in this split, look 50, 50, 60, 40, maybe even as much as 70, 30, we shall see. I don't think so. Maybe you do get a thousand yard rusher, but I would really be looking at the combined running back stats. And again, don't overlook young Derek Cooper who I think is exactly the running back Sark wants for the future of this offense.
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Part of the, the my curiosity and when I think about this I also wonder like is part of the appeal for both of these guys because they could have gone to different places and been RB1 in their own right and gotten it, but they both kind of chose and went into this with another guy who's going to be a RB one. I almost wonder if that's part of the appeal for guys that very clearly have an NFL eye for the future. Right. They're going to come to Texas.
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They.
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They're going to make probably a million a mil at least for a year's worth of work at Texas and be a tandem where each of them is going to get rather than being the 20 touch a game guy, each of them is like an 11 touch a game guy. And so there's more tread on the tires, less potential for an injury and then ultimately both of them go on to greener pastures and turn things over to Derek Cooper. And don't you also forget James Simon who's there as well, who's very much a guy who I think also fits that short yardage kind of vibe that I think neither of these two guys that that's been an issue For Texas, I think since Bijan left, and that's another question I have is like, you know, the, the red zone and the short yardage stuff has been a bugaboo for Texas under Steve Sarkeesian, period since Bijan left. Right. Since you had lost the generational running back in Bijan, since you lost the, the running back turned quarterback who could run the Wildcat in Roshan, like there's been a precipitous fall in both of those statistics, you know, and neither of these guys really smothers or Relique Brown are that, you know, get you a yard when it's nasty kind of stuff. Texas really hasn't had that. But they've got James Simon who's a red shirt freshman. Now again, I don't know how we're going to call that now because the five to play five. So he's just a second year guy. 511, 200. You mentioned Derek Cooper, first year guy, 6, 1, 2, 10. Both of those have that body to be that, you know, down low banger guy. Do you, do you, do you feel like that is a ample enough role for these two to feel taken care of and like they're, they have a future at Texas?
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No, I don't. Honestly, I don't think that if Simon is looking for PT this year that he's going to get enough. Like, I don't maybe I'm happy to be proven wrong. I don't think he's going to instantly take that. But I remember when we first got really brown and I wish I had the stat in front of me. Someone pulled up a stat on him, his short yardage runs and he was actually wildly effective for his size and what you expect him to be as a burner and whether that was, you know, a case of the offense he was in, what he was needed to do or you know, if that is truly a secret talent of his. I just wonder if those, if you're in the red zone and you presumably spent the money you have for those two running backs, if you're going to be able to take them off the field, if they're going to be okay with that. Right. Like the, the two things like you think about running back on downs one through three, like pass blocking doesn't get talked about enough. Sure there's short yardage, but there's also. So I don't want to jump yet, but I also wonder what the screen game could look like in the passing game to the running backs. Like I think that is something that was missing last year that was a crucial part of Quinn Ewers offense and Stark offenses for the past few years in the Ewers era. And it just never felt like it hit last year the way they wanted it to. Whether that was an arches or running back issue, a line issue combo of all three. I wonder if your main Bishop in some of those packages or relief Brown with their speed could be really viable. So like how they get running backs on the field will be really interesting. Like what down in distance, what situation. To me it goes beyond just the short yardage, you know, back. But that needs to be something they look at. But think about the Keelan Robinson. You know Texas kind of always has that, that guy and I think, I do think really probably, really Brown probably fits that. But yeah, his speed is, is the game changer probably. We talked about Bishop and we could talk about a couple of the wide receivers who show now but truly a guy who's going to play every down. He could end up being the fastest guy on this offense.
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Fastest guy on this offense is a, a big title. So we'll see how that works out. But again there's a lot to be said. Texas has one of those good problems at running back. They've got probably too many options and so we'll see. And again we'll talk about the offensive line here in a couple of weeks. But I think that's also going to have a lot to say about what, what the heck this is going to even look like in the future. So anything to add Kyle? Before we put a pin on, on
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the running backs, I mean we talked a little bit about it. I don't remember. It wasn't in one of our specific previews a week or two ago I talked about how much I feel like Rasheed Biles has been a little bit overlooked as maybe the most high impact transfer portal addition. Just point blank period to any contender in the country. Like he could be the most influential to the outcome of the season. If he is as good as we think he's going to be. We'll have our linebacker preview to talk about that soon. I think the tandem of this running back and the importance they're going to have basically owning the running game and overhauling that and what it allows start to do could be pretty close if you view them as kind of one position group transfer versus one versus the other to a top five top ten most impactful transfer room in the country as well. Like I think legitimately it's that important. When we did this preview, I've Been thinking a lot about this, like to bring in both of those guys as you said, like there has to be something that was pitched to them. That said we think this can be special. We think we can take an all big 12 guy who you know can, can put up 1500 yards and we think we can go get one of the coveted every down backs out of the ACC and we can turn that into something. So I again I just think the potential of this works is to raise the entire ceiling and obviously the floor of this Texas team and expectations of this Texas team for postseason goals. If it doesn't work there will be a lot of questions.
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This running back room is a push all the chips in move. Much like what we'll talk about next week when we talk about wide receivers. Texas is pushing all the chips into the center of the table to try to capitalize on what they've got in Arch Manning who presumably is gone after this year. But that brings us to the part of the show where we whip around the rest of campus and we down the 40 and I say whip around the rest of campus. We're staying on football here because there's some big news on campus. Literally big news. Texas landed yet another five star player for the class of 2027. This one, Ismail Camara, offensive tackle out of Gilmer, Texas. 6 340. Number 14 nationally, number two or number three at the position depending on which list you like to look at. Massive get for Texas.
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Yeah, I mean huge, literally and figuratively. We talked a little bit about this as a strong rumor with a lot of smoke that we hoped would happen last week's podcast. This is the man, remember called the French freak. He also at 66340 is out there running routes in videos and looking good, moving like moving fluidly, agilely catching football like I don't think that's going to necessarily be a secret package but who knows. But just showing his athleticism for a guy who again late to the sport but just has every tool naturally French made. French born, Texas made I guess to, to be a real game changer, to be a elite college lineman who gets drafted very high in the NFL is where his upside is. You know, first round level guy. You see a five star tackle who could slide in and play guard even at his size because of how he moved. So yeah, hard not to be excited. Truly one of the most intriguing and limitless potential prospects in this, in this entire class at any position. So huge, huge get one of the, with our, with our cornerback, the two five Stars, honestly on offense and defense, obviously anchoring the two biggest gets of this class.
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Yeah. And I mean, you know, the. I think the wild thing about it is he's, he's so good and he's still so new to football. He's only been playing for a couple of years. I just don't know how much of my life I can dedicate to being obsessed with French people. Because you've obviously got Wemby. I've. I've fallen in love with Killian Mbappe as of the last couple of weeks of the World cup, and now Kamara. Like, I have a lot of my life invested in being not cool with the French. And so this is really challenging me in a deep way. But I mean, if you haven't seen it, go watch the video of him running routes. Like, nobody at that size should be that fluid. Like he is. That is a refrigerator on ice skates. Like, dude is absolutely ridiculous. He was not the only big name that Texas landed though. In that. In the window, four star quarterback Brandon Sherrard from Shadow Creek made his commitment to Texas over LSU. Number 157 overall according to the composite. Again, another big kind of corner in this class. And, you know, really having him as almost an opposite bookend to a guy like John Meredith, who's the number four player in the country. Like Texas is going off in this and they've already got, you know, Montre Jackson in the class as well, who's another top 250 corner. Like, the secondary is going to be nasty and we probably have to be prepared obviously for one of these three to transfer out in like 18 months or so. But those are later problems.
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That's right. Yeah. Get them on campus, figure it out, see who rises. Like cornerback is interesting. Like, there have been guys, you think about racing Littleton, right? Like, he was not expected to be the breakout corner of that class with a five star and Kate Phillips and some other, you know, highly rated cornerbacks ahead of him. And he just was so good to. He was unplayable. A great evaluation by the staff, but one of these guys is going to rise a little bit sooner than the others. And it's like that's the world you live in. Stock the talent pool, let one of them jump up and take it. And if the one of the others needs to leave, I guess I understand. That's just how it works in the modern game. But yeah, I think with greedy flipping to lsu, as we all saw the writing on the wall, this makes sense to lock in two cornerbacks. Who are both big four stars, big talents who have the upside again to be elite college cornerbacks and play in the NFL. That's just stock the cupboard with those guys. Figure out how you're going to feel the backfield of them. Someone, you know, safety or corner who knows moves and gets that star position. We'll see. But there's more spaces for defensive backs than there were in the old school game. You pretty much can have five on the field most times and six, you know, a good amount of time. So if you're good enough, they'll find a way to get you on the field.
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Yeah. And you know, it's. It's much like I've said another conversations about like a guy like Kamara who, you know, we don't know where he slots as a guard, as a tackle, as a DL, like with these, you know, corners. Get him on campus, get him into a strength and conditioning program, get nutrition and see how it sorts out. Like Meredith probably is a lock to be a, a shutdown. Like what, what we thought Manny Muhammad was gonna really develop into if he had hit his ceiling and kind of stayed there. This is going to be a very. Like, Sherrard is a big physical corner. Like I'm really, I really like what he brings to the table. He may end up also playing safety because of that size and skill set. We'll see how you know what Coach Boom and even what Coach Gideon have to say about it. But it's gonna be interesting to see how that shakes out guys that are already on campus. Texas landed five on the Walter Camp preseason All America team. The most interesting of these names, I'll say last, but you got Trevor Goosby, Arch Manning, Colin Simmons, all expected on the first team. And then the guy that we've been talking about, the most overlooked man in this transfer portal, linebacker Rasheed Biles. Also named first team preseason All American. Cam Coleman second team all American. Which again, if you're listening to and reading the press, that might be. That those two might be the most surprising moves because not a ton about Rasheem, a lot about Cam Coleman. The impact is going to be incredible from either of those two.
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Yeah, Biles has to hit like for our linebacker room and our defense to be where it wants to be. And I just like much champ coaching him. The Biles at the second level, Simmons at the first level is the best first level, second level combination in college football. Like that's, that's. You can't argue that the Cam Coleman one is interesting because I think the reason it's hard to put him first is even though he is the best receiver on the staff and the things you know on this unit we'll talk about next week that he can do. I think there is going to be some spreading the ball around. I think Wingo probably was miscast as your go to number one receiver but in the things that he does well could get a lot like he could be part of that screen game. He could do some things that he does well and without the second person who's going to be looking at Coleman like he could have some space. Not to mention again, I won't steal our wide receiver preview coming up next, but there's some really good receivers in that room and that's the only reason I can think that there might have been, you know, two guys who are more locked out. Like it's hard to say Jeremiah Smith isn't going to get the look on every the first look on every single snap because he's that talented. So maybe it's just that that Coleman has good receivers around him and Arch might spread it around a bit more.
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Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how the shakes out the most in the country on that preseason All American list. Indiana and Oregon have four so one behind Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame all have three on that list. So Texas among their peers, at least the peers that they want to looking back at some All Americans, Anthony Pack Jr. And Sam Kozart on the baseball team are officially consensus freshmen, All Americans. After earning first team honors by D1 baseball over the weekend. We knew this. This is not anything that's going to surprise anybody listening to this, but it's good to get those good to get those accolades on paper.
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Yeah, I mean we saw a postseason where Pac was honestly our best player. Other players who have been bright lights and who had carried us through the year didn't show up as well and he did. He continued to be our best player and Kar just, you know, is a player or is a pitcher who I think is going to be a leader in a incredible piece of this team going forward. So to have both of those be as good as they were as freshmen is scary. They can build around with with some some tools and we think they're doing a pretty good job and Schloss is pretty confident in what they're doing. We shall see. But very, very, very well deserved for those two. Wrapping out many, many awards in the season and again, can't argue with either of them. All right, Joe, let's take it home with our final segment starting with burnt orange lenses. Six former Longhorns on NBA summer league rosters. Max Asmus with the Utah Jazz. Trey Johnson with Washington Wizards. Arthur Kaluma with the LA Lakers. J getting paid in Portland. Traymond Mark with Phoenix. And our latest edition, first round draft pick, Swain. Dylan Swain with Chicago Bulls. Which one of these are you actually going to tune in to Summer league? It's hard. It's hard, but sometimes it's fun. Which one are you going to tune in and watch on your NBA summer league league pass?
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I mean, I'm really curious to see what Max Asmus looks like in the summer league. I think he's a guy that I kind of just have like a personal affinity for. And so again, plus, I mean nobody else is going to watch Utah, let's be real about that. So at least give them one viewer. And obviously Swain, you want to see what he's going to do because Texas can finally have one of these lottery picks hit. That's not Kevin Durant. That'd be great.
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Yeah, it would be nice. That's interesting, honestly, because Asus does feel like the guy who will dominate summer league. He'll dominate, you know, G League. He will dominate if he ends up in Europe. Like he's not a prototypical NBA size. We knew that but like give him the basketball and he's going to make it go through the hole in historic fashion. So yeah, that's actually a really good shot. I didn't think of him as my number one, but that's, that's not a, not a bad, not a bad say. But I think yes, Wayne has to be number one. The excitement, I mean honestly, Trey Johnson, the shine hasn't worn off. He had a great rookie year and we'll see if he can continue in that energy into year two. Back to baseball just quickly. Luke Harrison and Anthony Pack are in spots on the 2026 USA Baseball Collegiate national team. We mentioned they were in, in the camp. Few other players actually there as well. Harrison, the late addition to that camp, but he and Pac earned the spots on the 28 man roster for the inaugural World Collegiate baseball championship.
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Yeah, 11 days to try out an exhibition contest in there. Unsurprising to see this. Luke Harrison team best 10 strikeouts, four to third scoreless innings in the exhibitions. Pack again unsurprising. Five RBI is a triple. The home run stole four bases, earned their spot in Taiwan, which, I mean it's, I think it's nice this time of year.
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Nothing like Taiwan in the Summer. I've always said that, you know that about me. For longhorns named to the U21 national team, Gerald, we're now talking rowing, of course. That's Henley Anderson, Genevieve Harris, Taylor Harvey and Abby Vanderbaal. A 14 person squad competing at the 2026 Norteka Women's U21 Pan American Cup. We always tune in for the Nortek. Excited to see longhorns just repping all over in the national, national ranks.
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What starts here wins on the world stage.
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I love that. Joe, let's take it home with our second to last segment here. We got Zillow, Tron, Gerald, what have you been watching on your giant screen?
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Yeah, so on my giant screen I have been watching quite a bit of soccer. But the rare soccer watching I did, did not. The rare non soccer watching I did over this last week was a little movie called the Sheep Detectives. Heard of the Sheep Detectives?
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I had not until you posted about it on your blue sky.
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Yeah. So the Sheep Detectives is a family film. Air quote starring Hugh Jackman. Because this is not a spoiler because it's in the trailers. He's murdered early in it. He's a, he's a shepherd in the, in a kind of a peaceful English countryside. He's a shepherd. He believes in a very agrarian like lifestyle and he like, you know, he thinks all the sheep have personalities. He's. Because most people think sheep are really dumb animals. And that's one of the recurring jokes in the movie. Like he treats them like people and he reads to them and he reads mystery novels to them and then he is killed in mysterious ways. And so then it switches to the sheep's POV and the sheep are like having to solve this problem as the Sheep Detectives. And it is just like if you're, if you're the kind of person who loved like Babe back in the 90s or early 2000s, like sheep detectives is going to be your jam. If you're a movie crier, be prepared. It is going to make you cry. I am an unabashed, unashamed movie crier and I cried two and a half times. Full cry is twice. Misty Eyes, a third good. Like just wholesome family fun. Like really silly. The kids had a blast. Brett Goldstein as two rams with an attitude problem is perfect. It's like just, just good family fun. It's on Amazon. You're probably already paying for Amazon prime, so go watch it. Like we had a blast. The kids loved it and I had a good time as well.
- [32:09]
A
It sounds utterly delightful and Charming. Patrick Stewart. I seen it. Bryan Cranston, Emma Thompson, what a cast here. Nicholas Braun, who's the nephew from succession and who.
- [32:22]
B
So Patrick Stewart and Bryan Cranston both are voice actors for sheep in the film. Incredible.
- [32:27]
A
Couldn't love that more. No, this is absolutely gonna be. I might watch it without him, but when my kids get a little bit bigger, this will be going in. I also a movie crier, so it'll be good. It's good for your kids to see that. Let them know you have emotions as a father as well. Gerald, one thing, I could have cried. I could have shed tears and some flights. So I got to watch some airplane movies. When is the last time you've watched Independence Day?
- [32:57]
B
It's been a minute. It's been a minute.
- [33:00]
A
It had been, I mean, well over a decade. Like, I legitimately hadn't watched, you know, clips pop up here and there. Sure. Boy, did I love this man. Like, here's my takeaway. I watched the Mummy the other day and I came on here and talked about it. I watched Independence on a flight because they were still advertising it on united for their 4th of July, I guess, celebration. They just used to make the hell out of movies is what I've come to like. Action movies of a different era just absolutely rocked. Independence Day is effectively a perfect film. Like, I don't really know how you improve on that, Mr. Fourth of July. Will Smith. I don't remember if this was his first. It was pretty close to his run of like 12 years of dominating that box office day, but it. It's just perfect. And I have never obviously watched it with kids, so it hit a little bit different with Bill Pullman and his daughter and even Will Smith and his stepson. No spoilers there, but it's like Prime. Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch is in it. Just great. Like, Viva K. Fox. I mean, at her prime, looking incredible. Randy Quaid, who makes any movie just better by being in it. Like, yeah, there's some things. There's some plot holes. Like, can you just punch an alien in the head and knock it out for 12 hours? Hours or whatever, I guess, you know, like, can the President just jump in an airplane and fly a fighter jet? Like, I guess. Did they really address the fact of how many millions of people had probably died? No. But all in all, edge of your seat stuff. Incredible. Perfect. No notes. Like, if you haven't watched Independence Day, go back and watch it. It holds up. It's. It's perfect.
- [34:46]
B
Welcome to Earth.
- [34:50]
A
There's a Lot of lines in that movie. Just a lot of lines.
- [34:52]
B
It's so. It is. I. I need to go back and watch it. But I remember, like, that when you talk about, like, well done, I feel like that movie might be, like, 10 minutes too long. Like, it's like two. It's a solid, like, two and a half.
- [35:03]
A
It is long. It is long.
- [35:05]
B
But either way, like, it's good stuff. It's Will Smith at the. At the peak of his powers. Like, you know, Jeff Goldblum being Jeff Goldblum. The Independence Day speech, the. Hey, boys, I'm back. Like, there's all. Just all sorts of incredible stuff. Speaking of incredible stuff, Kyle, that brings us to the part of the show where we honor one of the best traditions in all of college athletics, Big Bertha. And we bang the drum. Brought to you by Joe Rui. So, Kyle, what are you banging the drum on this week?
- [35:33]
A
Here's what I'll say. I have been traveling. I've been working. I've been up here in the state of Montana doing some work. And besides getting to watch airplane movies, I've been busy. And I haven't watched a whole lot besides the World Cup. Take it in. A whole lot besides, you know, the Longhorn News we reported. So I struggled for a moment to understand my bang of the drum. And then I decided, Gerald, I think this is my chance to make a pitch for the state of Montana. If you, like me, have gone the majority of your life without visiting the Big sky state. It's unbelievable. Like, it is really an incredible place. I'm in the capital, Helena, which is, I think, the fifth smallest capital in our great nation at 30,000 people. It's a quaint little town that happens to have a seat of power in it. There are bigger cities. Bozeman might be the one that you know, or others, depending on your Montana knowledge. But it is. It is gorgeous up here. I mean, it's. It's. The air is crisp, the pine needles smell wonderful. The mountains, the trees, the clouds rolling off of them. It really, like, I've seen pictures of the big sky and of what you have to be here to kind of experience it and see it. And I. I had slept, and I'd always had a dream to come fly fishing up here. I'm not going to get a chance to squeeze that in, so I know I'll definitely have to be back for that. But it just, like, in the summer, leaving Houston and coming to Montana, like, is one of the smartest things I've ever done. This is Just like a not adequately rated state. I don't feel like it's on anyone's top 25 states to get to in their lifetime. And it probably should be in your list somewhere around like 9 to 12 range. I mean, if you really like the outdoors, bump that sucker up to top, top, top six. You know, this is, it's a wonderful place out here. I've really, really enjoyed myself. Everyone is so friendly. The food is better than I thought. I was really expecting the worst and just lack of seasoning, but it's good and the portion size are Texian. It's a great place that I have honestly thus far, no complaints about. I've got to go out and see some beautiful country and some nature and see the Missouri river and see some nice things here. They got nice breweries. It's a, it's a nice, wonderful place. I recommend Montana. This advertisement not paid by the state of Montana, but it could be a sponsor.
- [37:47]
B
They absolutely could be. Montana has been on my list of like when I want to go on a vacation and nobody talked to me like that is the thing my wife and I have talked about, like get a cabin somewhere in Montana when it's nice and snowy. She can read her books. I can light a fire and just watch the snow fall in the woods and have the best day of my life. But it's on the list. I'm banging the drum this week on a couple of different things that are all wrapped in up. You may have seen this on on Twitter recently. Trevor Goosby, Texas offensive lineman, preseason All American presumptive first round NFL draft pick here in about six months or eight months or so, is hosting a free youth football camp in the Austin area alongside with other players and his brother. Austin Goosby, who is now, now playing for the basketball team as well to benefit the Children's Heart Foundation. If you don't know, Trevor Goosby actually had to have open heart surgery at 16 because he was having medical issues and he was telling a story about how like his coaches were calling him fat and out of shape. It turns out he had a bad ticker and so like that was part of it. But you know, it's really awesome to see because this is the kind of stuff that players couldn't do previously prior to the NIL era, they couldn't lend their name, image or likeness to raising money for charity and doing these kinds of things. It would end up being an issue for them. And on top of that, because of the era that we're in, because of the revenue sharing because the nil Trevor Goosby's putting up 20k of his own money as a match, as a donation match for people. And so like, again, these are the kinds of things that the NIL ERA allows for these college athletes to do. And yes, players are being bought and there. There's all sorts of downsides to it, but being able to see a guy like this put his name beside a cause that he really champions and is literally near and dear to his heart to be able to do that. This is what it's all about. And it's so cool that we live in an era now with all of the. Despite all the bad stuff that like this is the kind of thing that can happen.
- [39:52]
A
Those are great stories like that. That's just. That's the stuff we were in addition to being movie criers. We've been E60, right? Was that the Bob Lay 90s, you know, ESPN package criers? I love a good sports feel. Good story. Love it. It's honestly my favorite part of sports. And these are the good ones. Gerald, I do have a rejoinder. I missed this and it will be my second. Quick bang the drum here, Gerald. I missed this piece of news until literally as we were recording, I just came across it. Daryl, did you realize Longhorn. Great. I'll just go ahead and say it. Or Longhorn are we loved. Kendall Weaver is one of the 12 players suing the the NCAA seeking additional eligibility after he played at UT Arlington, then three years at Texas. He said I'm not going anywhere. He's hoping so at least with the new 5 for 5. We mentioned as soon as we reported on. On that breaking couple weeks ago that there would be lawsuits that we should just to be expected. I didn't know there would be any Longhorns included in that, but filed in. I don't remember what county, but in Tennessee with Jared Van. Jared Washington from Vanderbilt. Not Jared Vanderbilt. He's one of the 11 who joined him. So 12 angry men, I guess. But Weaver out here changing laws potentially. We shall see.
- [41:12]
B
Do you know how many players are currently on the Texas basketball roster, Kyle?
- [41:15]
A
Oh, he would have to go in the portal. He'd be somewhere else because there's a lot of.
- [41:18]
B
There are 14.
- [41:18]
A
Yeah. Oh, wait, that's 15 spots. Gerald.
- [41:22]
B
There are 15 spots. We can have another year of Kendall Weaver in Burn Orange because there's a spot currently on the roster. That's all we've got for you this week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
- [41:33]
A
Oh, you can follow me on Twitter and bluesky@montanagov. No, I'm kidding. I am at Kyle Carbon Falls, a Texas pregamer at Texas Pregamer.
- [41:42]
B
Follow me on both those spots at GH Goodrich. Pop the show on both those places at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram. The Longhorn Republic. Shoot us an email longhorner publicpod gmail.com Full transparency I am traveling for a big chunk of next week, so our release schedule next week might be a little weird, but we will be back back in your podcast feeds next week. It might be a day late like it was this week because again, Kyle's in the Great Mountains and we had all sorts of stuff happening. But we will be back. We will have multiple shows for you next week. We'll keep previewing stuff. We'll get you through the summer. It's travel season for a lot of folk, getting those last vacations in before. We want to make sure you have a fully loaded podcast feed. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time, hook them.
- [42:20]
A
Hook them. If you go to Montana, go to Helena Hand Basket. Sam.