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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's Republic of 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 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 platform you found it. We'd love to have them as part of our community. Connect with us on social media, on pod, on Twitter and bluesky, Facebook and Instagram the Longhorn Republic or shoot us an email longhornrepublicpodmail.com My name is Gerald Goodridge and your host this week like I am every week and I'm joined by a man who's also not eligible for the supplemental draft, Kyle Carpenter. Kyle, how are you?
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A
You We've spent more time and I think we put a moratorium on conversation about this joke opener here talking about Sourceby all for look, as good as we think we are in making jokes and and putting a fine point on things, I will say the attorneys for the NFL in their judicious and excruciatingly sharp takedown of Sourcebee, it was, it was some of the best side eyed legal writing I've, I've ever seen. I was very proud of the petty the NFL displayed on that. Yes, we're talking about Brendan Swordsby. If you missed it, he's not gonna play in the NFL this year either.
- [01:40]
B
Yeah, so the NFL wrote a we'll just call it a scathing rebuke of Brendan Sorsby's eligibility for the supplemental draft and basically said we're not gonna do it and hopefully this is the last time we have to talk about it because frankly he never played for Texas Tech so he never really played for a team we don't like. So I'm kind of gon move on. Which means that we're going to talk about teams Texas does play and actively hate, the Arkansas Razorbacks. We're continuing our season previews. We've got our friends from Hogs on the Hill coming up in just a second. I was able to connect with them about the Arkansas 2026 season, first year post Sam Pittman. So we'll talk to them. If you missed our Texas A and M preview last week with Jay Arnold, we'd love to go back and check that out. It's probably it's one of the favorite ones that we've done in recent memory. Jay's just instant friend of the pod status. We're glad that he's on down the 40. There's a lot of recruiting, just football, but a lot of commitments and portal stuff happening, Bol. A lot of coaching moves. And then we'll obviously close the show out with some Godzilla Tron and bang the drum. Before we jump into the interview, I want to point out we have some audio issues on the tracks. We're trying out some new recording software for our summer interviews and dealing with some technical issues. We didn't catch them in time, but we'll be back to our normal quality audio for our next round of interviews.
- [02:57]
C
We are somehow 12 weeks from the Texas Longhorns kicking off their 2026 campaign. So if you are new to the podcast, we talked about it, we started this last week, but we've done this every offseason since we've existed throughout the offseason. We'll go week by week through the Longhorn schedule in reverse order, taking you from our week 12 opponent all the way down to week one. So frankly, we don't have to preview Texas State twice, but nobody's mad about that. But we'll take you through the schedule. Last week we did Texas A and M with Jay Arnold of the Aggie War Pod. You can ch out. It's already in the feed. But this week we're continuing the rivalry double dose, I guess. And we've got Trey and Caleb from the Hogs on the Hill podcast. Fellas, how you doing tonight?
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D
I'll doing pretty good, you know, just, you know, recovering after it's a heartbreaking baseball season and, you know, getting ready to get into this, this new era of Razorback football and remaining optimistic with, you know, Coach Silverfield at the helm.
- [03:58]
E
Yeah, and I'll double down exactly what Caleb said. You know, it is a new era, a new show is in town, so I look forward to seeing what we got. And like, also, Caleb said it's a hangover season from baseball as well, so a little rough, man.
- [04:12]
C
I. We were hoping to have at least one more week of baseball coverage in our feed, but Texas just cannot seem to beat Georgia at damn near anything. And it's really killing me. It's just. It's ridiculous. But that's. That's not what we're here to talk about today. I've already talked about it in therapy. We're moving on. We're talking about Arkansas. So Arkansas moved on from honestly one of the few guys in the sport that kind of is widely liked by his peers and other fans. Like, you know, Sam Pittman was an all time kind of good guy, but after a 2 and 3 start last year, they decided to go in a different direction. Ryan Silverfield comes in. Ton of experience for someone his age, relatively young, 45 years old. I've been coaching since the 90s, which is wild to say, both in the NFL and at the collegiate level. So, like, just first off, like, what. How do fans feel about the higher his addition? Like, what's the, what's the vibe about the, the Silverfield era?
- [05:07]
D
Yeah, I think you, you have almost, you know, split fan base with that because you've got the fans that, you know, optimistic, excited about the, you know, the fresh change, a kind of a younger guy coming in and taking over. And then you kind of have the other half of the fan base that are like, well, this isn't really an exciting hire, a big time move, you know, a guy that kind of just makes you go, wow. And I mean, if we're being honest, frankly, the chances of us getting a quote unquote, big time, wow guy is not high at the top of the list. So, I mean, for what we were able to do and go out and get a guy like Silverfield that, you know, has shown he can win at a program like Memphis consistently and, you know, half jokingly, it was like almost, you know, if you can't beat them, just steal them. So, you know, that's what happened with Arkansas, you know, that, you know, I feel like that game was, you know, one of the kind of going downhill points for Arkansas to begin with. But, you know, in terms of, I think us, me, I'll speak for myself, and I think Trey as well, I think we're optimistic in terms of, you know, what we've got with Silverfield, the energy he's bringing, the, the culture shift it feels like he's bringing inside the program.
- [06:26]
E
Yeah. And, you know, exactly like you said, Caleb, the culture that he's bringing. You know, luckily for our podcast and our socials, we're able to con or connect with a bunch of former and current players to the Silverfield era. And there's constantly one word they keep talking about, and that's culture and era. The era of a new beginning. You know, Silverfield's big saying right now is the time is now. So that's, you know, he's really gotten all the players to buy into his dreams and his visions on where he wants this program to go. And I'm Just hoping, you know, and I think Caleb, I can speak for him, too. We just want to see a competitive team this year. Not necessarily a dramatic or dramatic improvement, but just something that will go out and compete any Saturday night.
- [07:14]
C
I love it. So you. Have you all mentioned the. The shift, but, like, what is different now that, like, Pittman's gone, now Silverfield's coming in? You mentioned the culture shift and kind of what's different? Like, what is different? What are, what's. What's he bringing to the table?
- [07:28]
E
Yeah, I think they just. The energy alone, that's the big thing right there, is energy.
- [07:35]
D
Yeah. I think the other thing too, you know, coming in is, you know, he's bringing accountability. That's big. I mean, I think towards the end of the Pittman era, you kind of saw some, you know, guys giving up, you know, some locker room issues, a multitude of problems kind of start to pile up with him. And, you know, on top of, you know, maybe not having the best nil and, you know, that's one of the biggest game changers, too, I think, you see with Silverfield is, you know, he's. He's getting the boosters excited. You know, he's got, you know, like I said, 50% of the fan base kind of optimistic. But, you know, the big thing is he's going out there and, you know, selling himself in the vision of the program to the boosters. It's like, I like to tell the story that, you know, was talked about, you know, right after he got hired, and I think it was at one of the basketball games is, you know, before the game, he was, you know, spent 10 to 15 minutes talking to a booster and walked away. You know, of course, had to go talk to somebody else. And, you know, that booster came to our athletic director and decided to, you know, pledge a significant investment into nil after just, you know, 10 to 15 minutes talking to Silfield. So I think, you know, it's a fresh face, a fresh vision, you know, and like Trey said, the excitement and, you know, for me, the accountability coming in and, you know, how he's going to build this program.
- [08:56]
E
Oh, I was gonna say real quick drilled, you know, and for me, it's just even something as simple as, you know, when Sam was here, whenever we had recruits come in and do, you know, post pictures for their socials and all that other stuff, it was just him and Sam, the recruiting Sam just kind of posing together. Well, this year, Silverfield has gone with the younger generation and they've created backdrops. They Got props. They got all this stuff to really build up that hype for that recruit and for his following and for his brand as well.
- [09:28]
C
I love that. So you talk. It's all fresh, right? There's a lot of new in Infinite Villa. You know, we can talk about either side of the ball. The offense actually was really quite good last year, folks. That from the outside wouldn't say much, but it's going to be a lot of fresh faces on the offensive side of the ball. Let's start with the new offensive coordinator. Springs are weird for everybody, so we don't see a ton of what's going on with, you know, the, the new players and the new staff. But from what y' all know, like, what do we expect from a, a Tim Kramsy offense from. Kind of compared to what we've seen in recent, in history?
- [10:01]
D
Yeah, I think you're going to go from, you know, especially this past year, from what you saw with kind of the Petrino offense with like, you know, a lot of wild scheming and a lot of motion and shifting and things like that to, you know, I think a Tim Cramsey offense is just going to bring a, you know, straight up football. We're going to line up and run the ball. I think you're going to see a lot more usage out of the tight ends potentially this year. But you know, from just seeing, you know, Silverfield and Ramsey, that duo at Memphis, you know, they like to run the ball a lot and you know, if you're going to be competitive in the sec, as we all know, you've got to be able to run the ball. And you know, Arkansas has had, you know, some great running backs over the past few years and just unfortunately couldn't capitalize over that talent. I mean, like you look at last year with Mike Washington, what you had, you know, a guy that came, I feel like almost out of nowhere from New Mexico State and then, you know, had one heck of a season on a 2 and 10 Arkansas team and got himself, you know, up on the draft boards and got himself, you know, drafted. So, you know, I think you're going to see, you know, a fairly run heavy team, but a team that is also not going to be. Be afraid to step up and throw the ball.
- [11:17]
E
Yeah. And you know, kind of double down on that one as well. You know, when it comes down to Tim Cranzy, you know, kind of like what you're saying, Caleb is he's more of a west coast style pass concept guy with a lot of zone Reads, you'll see a lot of heavy pre snap motion, a bunch of play action, you'll see a ton of formations. But here's the one that I really like about him is he has a bunch of QB friendly REITs to be a QB in his system. He makes it, I'm not going to say easy because I mean hell, we're talking about the SEC here. Playing quarterback is not easy. Yeah, but he, he does everything he can to really slow the game down for these quarterbacks and I think that's where we're going to see a big difference. Because last year you look at Taylor, you know, for example, when he played Texas last year, Taylor was running all over the field to save his life. And that's a credit to your defense too. But you know, we'll see. Like I said, I think that's going to be the biggest thing and they, and hopefully the biggest improvement we see out of this offensive line this year too.
- [12:22]
C
Yeah, and let's talk about that because you mentioned that was probably in an offense that was pretty effective. The offensive line showed some, some holes. Especially you know, obviously the Texas game is my, my bell count my bellwether for that. But you know, it's a, it's a relatively experienced offensive line. They've got some classman transfers in, a couple from Memphis, a couple from elsewhere got some, you know, red shirt seniors and elder guys that are been on the roster already. But you know, we, if you listen to Bill Conley, not all returning experience is good returning experience. So like what are the expectations? Because you know, with a young quarterback, we'll talk about in just a second, a lot of young, a lot of young skill, talent like what is the offensive line? Can they get this young quarterback time to get to those reads because Reed friendly offenses are great but if you're, if you're able to look downfield, I
- [13:13]
D
think you look at the offensive line, to me the biggest position you know is one of those returners is redshirt senior Kaden Kittler. You know, your center, you know, the offense, the quarterback of your offensive line, if you will, the guy that's going to kind of make those reads, make those adjustments on the line and you know, let the quarterback know, you know, some pressures that maybe he sees that he doesn't, things like that. So to have an experienced guy like that anchoring that, you know, that middle, that offensive line especially like you hinted at, you know, we're going to have a new quarterback, going to be some youth in the backfield, you know, under Center. And so, you know, to have a guy like that, I think that couldn't be more important. But also to your point, you know, you have some returning guys that are experienced, have starting experience. And then you went out in the transfer portal and you got several of the, you know, top one or two guys out of the transfer portal in terms of the offensive line, you know, the biggest one is Ryan Williams that you got over from Louisiana, who had a great career there, is coming over and you know, brings some, you know, great size at 6, 7, 3, 19. And so, you know, I think a combination of talent and experience is going to be very helpful to what could be a young quarterback that's going to be taking over for Taylor Green.
- [14:34]
E
Yeah, and I'll say this too. And again, Caleb, you hit it right on the head. Kaden is going to be the heart and soul of this year's team. Because while we have quarterbacks who. And K.J. jackson who played in the SEC last year, we got A.J. hill who's coming over from Memphis, who has played SEC caliber defenses. But let's be real here, he played against Arkansas and we all know how terrible our defense was last year. So you know, having that center who knows the formations, who know, you know, what the stunts are and all that stuff is going to be a pretty, a pretty big role in whoever our starting quarterback is going to be this year.
- [15:13]
C
And so let's have that conversation about the starter because you know, K.J. jackson's a hold over from the previous. He's honestly kind of built like Taylor Green in some ways kind of a big athletic quarterback. They got A.J. hill obviously from Memphis that came over with the coaching staff and then Braden Fuller from, from Angelo State came over. Like there's, there's quite a bit of new from various reasons in the quarterback room. Do we have an indication of like who's going to be the guy? Is it Jackson, Is it Hill? Is it somebody else? Like what's, what's the vibe? Who do we think?
- [15:44]
D
Yeah, I think, you know, with, you know, Silfield made it very clear that more than likely you're not going to know a starter until probably almost clear to week one. But I think a lot of Arkansas fans would probably lean towards KJ just based off of he's, he's a little bit more experienced. You know, AJ was a true freshman last year. You know, KJ did get some run down the, you know, down the stretch towards in the year with, you know, Taylor obviously, you know, like we like trade mentioned earlier was kind of the story of the season was he was having to run for his life a little bit and you know, injuries set in and I mean, you look at, you know, one of KJ's first big experiences, you know, ironically enough in the SEC against you guys.
- [16:26]
C
Yep.
- [16:27]
D
You know, Taylor went out, KJ comes in, you know, go 16 of 29, 206, one touchdown and 20 with a decent day there. And then also has four carries for 24 yards and a touchdown. So, I mean, he showed that dual threat ability and quite frankly, I was very impressed with his performance and coming in to a tough environment, you know, unexpectedly having to play and step up and, you know, perform well and, you know, almost felt like he was trying to keep Arkansas late in the game there.
- [16:58]
E
Yeah. And you know, so you know, KJ, he's 642-23. AJ is also 6 4. He's got a little more meat on his bones coming at 234. But Gerald, there's also a. Another quarterback we have on our roster too, reclassified to join this roster this year. And that's going to be your true freshman quarterback, Hank Hendricks from Fayetteville High School. Just right down the road, there is a lot of buzz of especially Razorback fans that if AJ or KJ doesn't work out, who we're hoping to see Hank out there on the field, you know, obviously a true freshman coming in and taking over right away is slim to none, but you know, it's never zero.
- [17:44]
C
It's tough to see a true freshman in anything, but especially the sec. And if Arkansas fans are hoping to turn things around, it's always tough to turn it over. So let's. I've been, I've been delaying this because I didn't want to pick the scab. But we do have to talk about the defense. The, the Arkansas defense was not good last year. Like there's no two ways around it. I tried to find a stack that looked good for them and I just could not find one. Just not, not good at all. Unless, I mean, that's fine. That's part of why the change was made. And so, you know, they've got Ron Roberts who again this, I think the through line with this coaching staff is like a ton of experience. Ron Roberts has been coaching again for like 30 years at a bunch of different levels, but this is like really his first, you know, big bite at the apple major school, got the D.C. job. Like what do we hope to see from the, the. That unit? And do they have what it takes to kind of not Even turn it around, but just like not be an active detriment to what they're trying to do.
- [18:45]
D
I think the biggest thing is, you know, it is a big uptaking for this upcoming season. You know, this is essentially a case of, you know, between guys leaving guys trans around, new coach stuff, all that. You know, this is a case of tearing this defense down to the studs and having to, you know, rebuild back up. And, you know, that started out with a, you know, insane push in the transfer portal clash. Got several, you know, D line coming in and that was the big one, is you had to get some depth there because that was a big part of last year's struggles. You didn't have depth there. Went out and got some talented linebackers and, you know, one of the probably most key positions that we're going to need, especially next year, is you got one heck of a depth chart of dbs for this upcoming season. And, you know, quite frankly, some talented guys that performed at, you know, maybe some, you know, not necessarily power four levels. I mean, you've got some guys that are extremely talented and, you know, probably hungry to prove themselves. But, you know, I think it's just a case of you got to rebuild. And, you know, that's one good thing about the transfer portal is when you're trying to rebuild like this, this is an easy way to at least kind of, you know, bridge the gap until you get kind of recruits in, you know, that can help build the program. And from a long term standpoint, you get guys that come in and kind of be instant impact guys.
- [20:16]
E
Yeah. And, you know, kind of go back on Ron Roberts a little bit. So he did have some time at Baylor, Auburn and at Florida. And if you go back and reflect on those teams, they're built around stopping the run and forcing offenses into obvious passing situations. And if he can do that, his systems usually consistently ranked well within the tackles for loss sacks and red zone defense. So that's, you know, like you said, drill last year's defense, I mean, they couldn't, they couldn't do anything. So, you know, it's all about him, the players buying into his system and coach Silverfield system. And from what we're seeing, even at our scrimmage game, Caleb and I went to it, there was a different type of buzz. The players felt excited. They. They felt like they wanted to be there. And that's what really got me kind of buying into the whole Silverfield hire.
- [21:16]
C
Love it. So let's, let's kind of put a couple of caps on this thing. So one, like, what's one storyline that maybe y' all are watching this year? Whether it's something we've already talked about or something we haven't talked about? What's one kind of storyline you're watching heading into fall camp and then as the season starts.
- [21:33]
E
So for me, I want to say it's going to be the development and the production that we get from our star running back, and that's Braylon Russell. I truly believe that it's going to be a lot on his shoulders because we are going to be a heavy run offense. So if, you know, we're talking about Arkansas going above 500, which just for full transparency, if Arkansas can even finish 500 this year, I'm pretty sure 99% of the raceback fans would be happy just because of the gauntlet of the schedule that we have.
- [22:06]
D
Yeah. And, you know, I agree with Trey there. I think for me, you know, I really want to see what kind of development Silverfield can do with these quarterbacks. You've got a very young quarterback room, and as we all know, you know, it starts with the quarterback because if this offense is going to operate, you've got to have a guy that can come out and lead this team, you know, progress throughs, reads, can, you know, be effective, whether it be, you know, simple, you know, out routes, easy, easy completions type of thing to building that confidence to have take downfield shots. And, you know, I am truly interested, you know, to see who is named, you know, that guy in game one. You know, I wouldn't be shocked either if we go into game one saying, all right, say KJ starts, but then you, you know, you give AJ Some run as well as they're, you know, they want to see what they got. But, you know, for Arkansas schedule purposes, I mean, you're going to really need a decision pretty quick on that after that first game, because you go from playing North Alabama to hitting the road and playing at Utah. So you're going to need to know who your guy is. Pretty. But the other thing is, I just want to see for me, and it's like we've kind of hit on it is, you know, even though, yeah, like Trey said, 500 would be fantastic for Silver his first season. I just want to see these guys, you know, come out, be competitive, leave it out on the field. You know, last year we saw signs of guys late in the game, quite frankly, quitting and, you know, and, you know, with a new era, new coach, you know, it's like Trey hinted on when we were at the spring game, it really felt that these guys, it looked like they were back to enjoying playing football. And you know, that's the biggest part of it. And so you know, anytime you have a coaching change, anything like that, you know, I think that's the biggest thing is what buy in you get. But then also can you see that change that this coach is talking about? It's like we've talked about so far up until this point. So Fields checked all the boxes on paper and you know, now it's time to, you know, see, see the product on the field, if you will.
- [24:23]
C
So I love it. So last one before we move on to some silly questions. So let's say it's December or January and we're looking back on the season and you both feel like 2026 was a success. What does that look like? What does the season look like? We don't need a, I don't need a, a record prediction, just like what does it look like, what does it feel like? What are fans talking about?
- [24:46]
E
Yeah. So for me it's gonna be exactly what Caleb hit it at. Is the, the heart of the team, you know, not giving up. You know, let's say we do go down the, we visit you guys and we go blowing out. Yeah, okay, that's fine. We can get blowing out. But did they quit or were they keep. Were they playing? Because last year's team would have just given and it's just going to be about all about looking back at and seeing progression instead of regression. And I think if we have a regression then there's a lot bigger issues than what's being talked about right now. But yeah, just for me it's progress. I mean I can, that's kind of a catch all answer. But as simple as this season that we had last year, it was terrible. And just progression is key at this point.
- [25:35]
D
Yeah. And I think for me kind of same what Trey hit on is you just want to see that competitiveness and that fire out of these players. But I think part of it too is you want to see development out of these guys as the season goes, see these guys grow. Like, you know, since you have a young quarterback, I keep going back to the quarterbacks but to see that, see them develop as the season goes, you know, it's like, you know, love Taylor, loved what he brought to the, the team over the past couple seasons. But it's like you kind of saw, you know, and I think this was some of the question marks in the NFL Draf for him was, you know, you kind of seen him, saw him make the same mistakes over and over again and not really progressing, you know, from those. So I want to see, you know, the development here, whether it be quarterbacks or these other players, like if they make mistakes, let's not make those again. Let's improve upon that and get better.
- [26:26]
C
I love it. So let's, let's move now to some of the silly questions you'd like to ask at the end. We call it shooting from the hip. So these are again supposed to be light hearted. Don't need to think too much about them. But Arkansas boasts of its alumni base not one, but two of kind of the elite coaches at any level. Jerry Jones or Barry Switzer. Pick one based on any criteria you want.
- [26:49]
E
Barry,
- [26:52]
D
Yeah, I would agree. Barry Switzer just with his success, you know, love Jerry as alumni for what he does for the program. But you know, it's these most recent years has been tough for him.
- [27:06]
C
Yeah, fair. I love it. So Arkansas has been a mainstay in the basketball post post season for forever making some deep runs, especially over the last five or six years or so. I think five of the last six have made it to at least a sweet 16, if not deeper. Would you trade that basketball success for football success?
- [27:28]
B
Oh,
- [27:32]
E
that's a tough one, Gerald. Yeah, you know, I, I think with the current events around our basketball program right now, you know, we're on the up and up and we're considered, we're considered a favorite and Silverfield's still building as at this moment. I wouldn't trade it for me.
- [27:53]
D
If you, when you say success, if, if you can lump, you know, a playoff appearance, potential national title appearance, then yes, if, if we're just talking about success year and you're out having consistently winning seasons, that's a tough one. I'd have to almost go with, you know, staying with the continued success of basketball.
- [28:15]
C
That's fair. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes you choose to basketball schools. Right. So Ben Rector met his wife at Arkansas, a famous Arkansas alumni. Which Ben Rector album would you use to describe the upcoming season? I've got some options for you. In the morning, into the morning, something like this. The walking in between magic, the richest man in the world or brand new.
- [28:37]
E
I think with this year we got to go with brand new, brand new Coach Caliper. He's still kind of brand new to Arkansas. You know, there's a lot of Arkansas fans that were hoping a brand new, get a brand new ad soon. So yeah, to me it's got to go with brand new.
- [28:55]
D
I was about to say same cinnamon as trays. It's like you get that it speaks for the season is like, you know, especially with the, you know, new mantra that Silfield has is an all in and kind of the time is now. You know, the hype's there, you know, the optimism's there and it's a, it's kind of almost like, like we kind of hit it off. A brand new era for Arkansas football.
- [29:17]
B
I love it.
- [29:17]
C
So this is my deep dive in Wikipedia on Arkansas famous alumni. So Lawrence Luckinville is an actor and a playwright. He has written in and starred in four one man shows. One Teddy Roosevelt, one Ernest Hemingway, Clarence Darrow and lbj, the President. That's a connection between us and y'. All. If you were to have him nominate somebody for him to write a one man show about an Arkansas football player or coach, what would be the most interesting one to you?
- [29:49]
E
Well, so for me there's already a movie out about him, but it's Brandon's Bosworth, you know, all time legend for Arkansas, Tragedy, accident, promising young man who came from nothing to a lot of something. And so I feel like that would be another good one and he could probably write it better
- [30:15]
D
for me thinking about, you know, some of the history and you know, some of the, the big things. I think it would be an interesting to see him ride a one man show around. You know, obviously one of Arkansas's greatest basketball coaches, Nolan Richardson.
- [30:35]
C
Love it. I love it, I love it. I'm still. You mentioned Brian Burlsworth. I'm still salty that drew me. Estamaker won the Burlsworth over Michael Taft last year. But that's another, that's another conversation for the day. So last one before I let you go. At the end of this, we always make folks say one nice thing about their rivals. But again, much like last week, it feels self serving to make you say something nice about Texas. So I want you to say one nice thing about either LSU or Missouri. Your choice.
- [31:03]
E
Well, I would say with Missouri, I guess they could, we could. Or they could say thank you to us for having their coach come from our backyard. But you know, with lsu, I gotta say I've been to Death Valley. That stadium at night is electric. That is, it's definitely one of the top venues in college football and I'd say in all sports. So their fans show up, they show out. Just be careful what you say on the way out of the stadium.
- [31:36]
D
Yeah, I'd have to Agree with Trey is like, as much as I don't like them, you've got to admit, the environment at Death Valley, you know, those fans do show out and show up no matter if it's an 11am game or if it's a nice afternoon or night, you know, six o' clock prime time kickoff. So, you know, kudos to them, but, you know, that's always tough.
- [31:59]
C
I get it, man. Thank you all so much for your time, man. If folks want more of what y' all have got to offer, where can they find you on the Internet?
- [32:06]
D
Yeah, so you can find us over on Facebook, Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it at Hogs on the Hill, also on Apple, podcast, Spotify. And our most up to date current stuff is on YouTube. You know, we go live twice a week and we do recap shows on Sundays. And then, you know, during the week we have our, depending on time of the year preview shows. We talk about recruiting, we talk about all things Arkansas Razorbacks, you know, not just, you know, the, the quote unquote, big three sports. You know, we, we cover gymnastics, softball. You know, we get all the, the primetime sports here at Arkansas. So, yeah, go check us out. Hogs on the Hill. We're across all social medias and YouTube app podcasts and Spotify.
- [32:52]
E
Yeah. And so for me, same thing. Everything Caleb just said, I'm gonna say ditto to that, but I'm on X and Instagram @trade22. Bailey. I focus a lot on recruiting. So if you guys are wanting to, you know, find some information about recruits or whatnot, I'm your guy.
- [33:11]
C
I love it. Awesome. Well, fellas, thank you so much and best of luck this year.
- [33:16]
E
Thank you, Gerald. And you know, I will say we were talking nice things about lsu. I will say about Texas, you guys got one heck of a coach, an amazing football facility as well, and I look forward to seeing how we line up again against you guys this year.
- [33:30]
C
It'll be. It'll be fun. Man, I. I want good things for Arkansas. I'm a. I was. I was a Darren McFadden fan back in the day, and so I've always had a soft spot for them. But, man, we appreciate, we appreciate y' all and we will talk soon, fellas.
- [33:42]
B
So now that brings us to the part of the show where we whip around the rest of campus and we down the 40. And it is summer recruitment commitment season and Texas is building some momentum. In chronological order, Texas is at 44 commitments over the last week or so, and they'll probably have some more. By the time you listen to this, I think they may have one hitting on Wednesday, maybe one later in the week. A couple of others we're not sure about. But four star offensive tackle Brian Swanson from South Oak Cliff, number one cornerback in the country, John Meredith III from North Crowley, who played at Euless Trinity before that, three star wide receiver Kyron Brown and then four star defensive tackle Tyler Alexander have all committed to Texas. The Longhorns this time last week were like number 17 in the overall rankings and now they are number seven based on the added potential. There's a lot to talk about here, Kyle. Obviously Swanson, a literal big human, 66315. John Meredith is, you know, based on the recruiting rankings, the third highest rated recruit that Texas has had behind Vince Young and Arch Banning. Kyron Brown is, you know, he's a three star kid, but he's an explosive athlete. A state qualifier in multiple hurdle disciplines. And then again on the other side of big humans, Tyler Alexander is just the perfect fit for the middle of a well, mush champ defense. Kyle, there's a lot to talk about here. Which one excites you the most?
- [35:05]
A
Well, that's cheating, Gerald. John Meredith look like we've never had a recruitment this highly rated on the defensive side of the ball, right? You know what you're getting in a quarterback when you get, you know, Arch Quinn or Vince, for better, for worse, like they're gonna have all the hype and expectation of the entire nation on them. I wonder what it'll look like for a cornerback, what the hype cycle looks like and what the expectations put on them are. But I mean they're high. They're high for him to come in and be a contributor. They're high for him to be here for as many years before he goes very early in the first round of an NFL draft. Like that's the expectation of a player this good. 631 8. He looks to be just your, your prototypical NFL style lockdown corner took visits to A and M in Texas and ultimately made the right decision for his career in his life. Just like a really unbelievably exciting get. This was kind of the big fish in this class that, that Texas wanted. There's some other ones that are, that are, you know, not small fish. And I'm not just talking about big Tyler Alexander, but in this class. But you know, it really, all the, the ceiling of this class was set by did they get Meredith or not? And they did. So again, love getting a big tackle. Love Getting a big defensive tackle. Love a three star wide receiver who comes and says I want to play even with all the talent you have in that room. I love everything about these four that we just got kind of this week and all the momentum coming out of this big, big recruiting weekend that we've had, some of the players we had on campus and just all the momentum and all the energy and all the hype coming out of that. But I, I think it, it really tips at the top with the, the commitment of John Meredith.
- [36:48]
B
I mean obviously I, I queued that up for you to take the easy one, but you know, Tyler Alexander is a guy who 46 tackles as a nose tackle. Like he is a trend setter or a, a line setter for this Will Muschamp defense. You know, he's really like a true nose guard. You know, Nick Saban talks about how much he likes big old back ends and Tyler Alexander fits the mold. Again, I'm a trans trench watcher. We talked last week with Jay about how we're both trench guys but like it's hard not to be excited about a guy like Swanson especially. You know, Texas hasn't really real like they've, they've been able to get recruits out of dfw. When you look at like Swanson out of South Oak, Clifford, you mentioned Meredith out of North Crowley. Like I, I really hope that, you know, Texas can land these kids, but they don't always pan out like we have. Manny Muhammad panned out as a South Oak Cliff guy, but I'm trying to think of any other like South Oak Cliff or North Crowley kids that really panned out. So I'm, I'm very excited to see them. But you mentioned the momentum. Texas, Texas, like we, like we mentioned already, potentially is going. Will add some more players in the coming weeks. Appear to be the leader for number 38 overall, Landon Williams Callous, who's a running back. There's a, a cornerback from the DFW area as well that may commit by the time you're listening to this. And then 2028, which feels silly to say out loud. Also potentially will start for Texas as well with quarterback Neiman Lawrence, who's set to announce on Thursday. Currently considered a Texas lean. Probably the next guy in the, the cycle as we look at what Sark is trying to build.
- [38:27]
A
Yeah, and like I said, there's, there's a lot of momentum. There's a lot of. I don't think this one is, is over. Just if you talk about those two. You talked about right. And again, anytime you take a kid who Aggie paid a lot for and, and used a lot to, to kind of inflate their momentum from them, get one of the top players in the state in lwc, you get a top quarterback of the future. Like that's, you know, we're going in Florida to get quarterbacks. I don't hate that. Those are good things. But again, there's like, you know, good buzz around some players who, I'll just say seemed like other teams were putting them number one on their board and they were betting big and Texas might be behind. And then all of a sudden things flick, flip and there's momentum and Texas's why not us and just the rich get richer. So if all of the things, you know, including giant wide receivers to go with our other wide receivers, like all of the things that are possible happen, happen, I mean this, this could be a pretty unreal recruiting event this past weekend that ultimately leads to all of this and a class ultimately or two in the case of a, you know, and a 2028 kid here. But this is, this is, this is really nice, really nice momentum, good off season stuff.
- [39:41]
B
Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Some bad offseason stuff. Kate Hogg, the inside linebacker from Kingswood, decommitted Nansen. You know, I'm not sure what's happening at linebacker. The rumor is that there was some nil disagreement here. Texas has other options, but I think the linebacker room is something that we'll need to keep an eye on for, for the, for the near future. On the baseball side of things, there's been some movement as well. The biggest one potentially coaching staff. Nolan Kane going back to Texas A and M for effectively the same position they had at Texas. Came over with Schloss in 2024 and now heading back to College Station. Don't know why you do that on a quality of life, but you know, it is what it is. Can't fault him for going back to a place he loves.
- [40:27]
A
Yeah, I mean look he, you could be cynical and say he's, he's going there to be the successor to early when he gets fired next year. But Nolan Kane, you know, known as a great recruiter and the recruiting coordinator and you know, the Aggies have been successful in that area. Longhorns got some big recruits even I guess instead of him but you know, him on the way out so it's interesting. Interesting. I, I, I, it doesn't make a lot of sense other than I've, I've heard Some rumors that he's the Aggies for the optics of it all were willing to pay a quadruple premium. Like he is probably the highest paid assistant coach in in college baseball now and you know, maybe he's worth it. So he gets to go coach with his good buddy early who again is on a very hot seat and gets to try to build a team without Schloss's as players because they basically have been they had some freshmen this year no doubt who are pretty good but living on some of those great slosh players who are still there the past few years. So very interesting. We'll be watching. A lot of Aggies have to delete a lot of tweets once Nolan Kane is coming back home because they said some not so nice things.
- [41:37]
B
Yeah, you know it's fine. They that's that's just the nature of being an online fan. Another one that's on the way out which is connected to one of the players on the way in. Get your Andrew Ermes who came in I guess last year in the off season to to back up Carson Tinney who's now on his way out which forced Cole Chamberlain out. He is on out the door because Texas signed two or got commitments from two key portal targets, St. Mary's catcher Ian Armstrong and Kent State outfield fielder Soros Solitaria, two of the top players in the portal and two positions of need for Texas.
- [42:12]
A
Yeah, Ermes was was good depth who you know it is never going to get the start there and so again you bring a starter in the backup who I think he started seven times first in relief of Tinny, makes his way out. But yeah, I think Solitaria is one of those that and I don't follow Mac baseball, I won't pretend to but from Kent State who a lot of people are really excited about and basically said you could have just gotten an age where Robbins clone from a non baseball powerhouse or whatever and get a get a Midwest kid who comes down and balls. I'll take that. But an outfielder who's the 2024 Mac freshman of the year hit over 362 RBIs, 10 stolen bases. Then in 2025 second team all Mac hit just under 316 home runs. So up that number a bit, 47 RBIs likely takes over an outfield. He can play some infield as well. I would assume he's going to be an outfielder for us. We'll see if that's the last outfielder that they take. I imagine not. St. Mary's catcher Ian Armstrong. There's basically two catchers in this whole portal. There was the Savui guy or whatever and, and Ian Armstrong who, you know, both were top players and number one and two in the portal. Their position looked like Texas kind of looked at both, looked at the price tag for both, looked at the offense versus defense for both and realized that they liked, you know, Armstrong as their top guy, went out and got their top guy. So the Aggies got the other one. Two seasons eligibility left for him. Considered a probably one year rental due to pro evaluation. Stepped in as a freshman and was great. Hit.346, 11 doubles, 3 triples, 5 home run, 40 RBI. Bumped those numbers up even more so last year.351, 16 home runs, 654 slugging. Really solid year again, great defensive player as well. And the, you know, the thing I like about him is St. Mary's got one of the biggest upsets of the year in getting UCLA in the regional super regionals regional. And he's the guy who had the, you know, the, the hit that sent the run across so like can come up clutch. Like I think that's what at times this team needed was another player who could have consistency. Like again like a catcher who's batting over 350 and clutch hitting from that position. That'll be, that'll be exciting.
- [44:30]
B
Yeah, Texas needs more of that. We saw that dry up a bit against Georgia and we also, you know, one of the other advantages that Ian Armstrong, because he's probably a one year rental that lets incoming freshman Brady Murrieta, who is a going to be a stud, but give him a year to kind of get used to the college game and get up to speed before he has to get by on the plate. On the other side of the diamond. On the ladies, they added two of the top players in the portal to hopefully go for the three peat. FSU star shortstop Issa Torres, who is a Austin area native, deciding to come home after three all American years in Seminole country and adding another arm to the bullpen. I think that's going to be huge for next year. Samantha Lincoln from Texas Tech coming over seven and oh in the circle for her.
- [45:16]
A
Lincoln is a really good get. Getting someone from Tech. She's a lefty to compliment, to give it kind of different side look from what you're getting up top of Tegan, a recruit out of Massachusetts who went to Texas Tech. It's a crazy sentence to say. Spent two seasons, attacked 15, 3 career record, 123 strikeouts in 146 innings through a perfect game as a freshman was the number 17 recruit in her class. Has all the bona fides. But look, Joe, I think we have to talk about getting. Issa Torres might be the biggest transfer portal get in Texas sports history. Like I'm trying to think of a bigger one who is a more established player. And because she's a softball player, because she's a woman, I don't know if people are, are fully comprehending how big this is. They went out and got the National Players of the Year. Someone from Georgetown. Her teammate just committed. High school teammate for Georgetown just committed. I have a friend who coaches at Georgetown and talked about how good that softball team was their senior year. But yeah, you go out and you get the best defensive shortstop in the country. That's pretty cool. She also was the best offensive shortstop in the country. She's one of the, maybe the best offensive player hitter in the country. Like she is so good at every single thing you're asked to do in softball. You, you know, go hit over 500. She hit 530. She can hit home runs, she can get base hit. She hits in clutch moment. She's a just the, she won, you know, the Gold Glove. The best defensive shortstop. She could do everything. It probably shifts Viv over to second base. And you, Viviana Martinez is a really good shortstop. You now have the best middle infield maybe I've ever seen, but certainly in the nation next year. And, and just unreal getting. She posted the picture when she committed of her as a kid growing up in Georgetown, decked out in Longhorn gear. You know, it's been a Longhorn fan at the time when she, you know, could go to any school in the country. Florida State was really higher than where Mike White has gotten this program now. And so to see her coming home to finish out her career, we'll talk a little bit about five and five and how maybe I don't maybe get two years out of this. We'll see how this all plays out. But you know, bringing, bringing her in again, I'm trying to think, yeah, we just got Cam Coleman in football and that's pretty cool. He's a very good player. She's better at her job than he is at his, which is crazy to say like he is. She is likely the, the biggest transfer we have gotten in any sport in Texas history. If I'm wrong, tweet at me, hit me up on social media, let me know who I'm forgetting. But yeah, it's a very Very big one. Isa Taurus is going to be an absolute monster and absolute fan favorite and a favorite of this podcast.
- [47:50]
B
I mean having to, you know, it's like getting the, you know, the Maxwell award winner to transfer in to a in state. We'll call it air quotes rival the Heisman.
- [48:00]
A
The Heisman, the Heisman Award winner. The the she won the best player in the country award.
- [48:04]
B
Yeah, all of the above. So let's, let's run through the rest of the recruiting. Probably I'll grab three top 10 commitments in a week. Number eight, Kayla Hafer from Fort Wayne, Indiana, a 58 libero, Sarah Floyd from Highland park, ranked number five, a 63 oppo hitter, one of the top players in the country. And then number one to Amine Aninu from Honolulu, a 511 setter, top ranked player in the 2028 class. Women's golf side, Charlotte Naughton, the number 88 ranked amateur in the world from Northumberland, England. Absolutely incredible player. And then men's tennis signed standout Tomas Burkita. We're going Burkita from Warsaw, Poland. A lot of talent coming to the 40 acres.
- [48:48]
A
Yeah, Burkita. We'll see, we'll learn, we'll get that one. Good. I have to brush up on my polish. But yes, a huge get on the tennis side. A guy who can come in for, you know, instantly be a player and be here for four years. Women's golf got the youngest player at the Curtis cup that, you know, Pharaoh Keefe just won, but the youngest player representing Great Great Britain and Ireland, the Northumberland native there was the number 88 ranked amateur in the world. And as you talked about just three huge gets in volleyball, getting the top libero, getting one of the best opposites and then getting the best setter and best player in the country. We've seen Hawaiian setters, tall Hawaiian setter, she's 511. Tall Hawaiian setters work out really, really, really, really well with Sage, KT and and some others for Texas. So no pressure there, but that could just that could win you national championships in the future. That get so pretty big week for volleyball as well. Gerald, let's take this home. A little burnt orange lens as we look at the world through the shades of burnt orange. We'll start with some I thought already happened but well deserved, I guess, recognition for two baseball players, Houston street and Bobby Lane, who will be inducted in the National College Baseball hall of Fame. They announced this week they become numbers 15 and 16 of Longhorns now enshrined in that hall of Honor.
- [50:07]
B
I think Bobby Lane was already in the College Football hall of Fame.
- [50:11]
A
He's in the NFL hall of Fame. So yeah, I imagine.
- [50:14]
B
Yeah. So like a double hall of Famer at the college level. So like that. I think that might be where the confusion comes in.35 and 3. I guess I didn't realize. I knew he was good at both sports but I didn't realize how good good he was. Right. Like and yeah this is when you're just an athlete. Not, not a specialized guy but 35 and 3, a 28 and oh mark in Southwest Conference play. Top 10 Heisman finalists on top of a four time all Southwest Conference player. You know, just great at both. I mean players are highly specialized nowadays but I'm still of the mind that like guys that are playing both usually are multiple sports are usually less injury prone and also tend to have a higher ceiling. But that's just my. My two cents.
- [50:58]
C
Yeah.
- [50:58]
A
Lane through a no hitter against the Aggies as well. There's legendary stories about him. I'm sure many of you heard some of those. We'll let you google them. But he's just yeah one of those dudes who could have gone out and played golf and been a great golfer and ran track and been a great you know, track. He could have done hurdles for the first time and been really good at that. Like just one of those. You have to put him in the conversation for one of the all time greatest Longhorns just athletes. Point blank period. Just how good he was in two sports. Obviously not to belittle Houston street who even he I am, I was surprised wasn't in there. Three time all American who's widely regarded as the best reliever in college baseball history from the famous street family. His dad pretty good quarterback at Texas as well and yeah so good on both of them. Deserved honor. They will be honored next year. February 11th of 2027 the official ceremony. So congrats to those guys. Just a bit of news here. We talked a little bit about some of the recruiting but softball coaching staff had some shake up over the past week or two. Softball named first of all as the ATC and NFCA national coaching staff of the year. Their second consecutive third overall. But also had some shift in that as Christian Zelinski and Aaron Erlewine were both left the program and they so far have replaced those two with one of probably the the least expected but likely best hire you will see in softball or you know, major sports this year. They took the the I'm Trying to think of the basketball equivalent it would be I guess like if instead of Sean Miller being our head coach coach, he was an assistant coach. They took the best mid major program, best mid major coach. A guy whose, you know, teams led the nation in steals. Like did the things you need to as a mid scrappy, tough like took a no nothing program at Southeastern Louisiana and turned it into a perennial NCAA tournament team. And just like a really, really good coach who I have to imagine is here for a couple years of finishing school before he gets the really, really big coach. Because it's hard to go from a head coach to an, you know, AHC no matter how big the step up in program is. So it's a huge, huge get for Mike White.
- [53:08]
B
You think about a guy who maybe isn't getting the, the bigger name looks that he wants and so he's like I'm going to go and be at a big school as an assistant for a couple of years rather than making the jump or trying to make the jump. Like I think it makes sense. And again folks really want to work for Mike White and learn. It's. I'm wondering if it's going to, you know, he's going to become like the Nick Saban finishing school but of softball. Right. Because you know this is a guy who was one of, who led a, who led a program that became one of just eight Division 1 programs to win 40 or more games in each of the last five seasons.
- [53:43]
E
Right.
- [53:43]
B
He is an 11 season head coach. Right. Like so this is, this is an opportunity I think for Texas to kind of level up and then you know, give, give Fremen an opportunity to jump into a much bigger role elsewhere and continue to be, be a springboard and be seen as a springboard to attack, attract top talent like this.
- [54:02]
A
Yeah, it'll be interesting. The one note that I don't know if anyone is, is really in the softball weeds. Fremen's wife is on his staff at Southeast in Louisiana. She was a standout player in her day. I don't know if she's joining in any capacity or what that means for the staff. But yeah, I mean you're right. Coach White has had multiple coaches go on and be major program hcs. Chelsea Spencer, Steve Singleton last year year Kristen Zelinski just got announced as the new head coach at Utah State. Who was on the staff last year. The Aaron early one one was interesting. She was named the AHC at Tennessee so didn't go to a head coach. But I wonder if there's anything there? I don't know all the details. That one was a bit interesting. Probably a very short order head coach if, if not coach and waiting at, you know, Tennessee, then somewhere else will be interesting if see what happens there and we'll close this section out. GERALD Last bit of news. The NHL was reported today. According to ESPN's Emily Kaplan recording this on the 23rd. Hit your newsfeed. It'll be yesterday. The NHL is reportedly exploring future expansion opportunities in the state of Texas with both Austin and Houston. So where I sit now or where we both sat in class, Austin or Houston, likely the potential destination. And I would imagine two years before it goes live for a second professional hockey team in Texas.
- [55:24]
B
Yeah, I mean it'll be interesting to see. You know, I, I wonder, you know, if the, the stars have anything to say about that, you know, kind of having a corner on the market. You know, I, I wonder where they would do what they because they couldn't really do it at the Moody center. So I wonder where they would do like the games for a team in Austin. But again, logistics. They'll figure it out. But it'll be great to see it again. Either way, it might be an easier on ramp for folks like me.
- [55:52]
A
Yeah, that's fair. That's a good point. And I, I believe I saw that a new arena for either of the cities would be a part of the expansion deal. But you know, it was a topic conversation to the NHL's annual Board of Governors meeting this week in New York. The person who will be owning that franchise if it goes forward is Dan Friedkin of the Friedkin Group, gulfstate, Toyota and the Burge Resorts would be that owner. He also owns, if you're a soccer fan, as Roma and Everton in the English Premier League. So bringing some international ownership experience to the NHL and to Texas, joining, you know, a small group of professional sports owners in the state of Tech. Gerald let's take this bad boy home with our closing two segments starting with Godzilla. Tron, what have you been watching on your giant screen?
- [56:39]
B
Yeah, so lots of World cup over the last week. That's been a big one for me. I also forced my kids to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Secret of the Ooze for our Father's Day family movie night Friday situation. So my kids had a blast and I had a blast. And now my youngest is making a little two Raft jokes which has been fun. But the big one I watched, I went and watched the Furious over the weekend. It's kind of my father's day gift to myself because nobody else wanted to see it. If you're not familiar, the Furious is basically if taken in the raid had a baby. And I mean that as a compliment. Effectively the story is a a young girl is is kidnapped and put into human trafficking and her father is a martial arts, you know, beat badass that they, they don't ever really tell you why. But he teams up with a journalist who's looking for his wife who disappeared who was looking into this child trafficking ring and they basically kicked child traffickers in the head for an hour and a half. So it was good. It's not as good as the raid. I heard somebody say that it was, it was on par with it, not quite in my book. I think there's, I think the raid just worked better. But it is an incredible like the martial arts are incredible and like the, the, the, the, the last like 30 minutes is just one big fight that spans like three different locations. It's honestly really cool. But I had a blast. If you're into martial arts and you like seeing human traffickers get kicked in the head, check out the Furious.
- [58:00]
A
So Gerald, before I give my what I've been watching, I'll just give an update that we have breaking news as we're recording this podcast. Dalen swain was picked 15th overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2026 MB NBA Draft. Huge get for him. I believe it's the 21st first round selection in the history of UT basketball. 17th since 2000. The first time having back to back first round picks going along with Trey Johnson since they did it in 2017, 18 and 19. So huge. Huge. We we all appreciated how good day and Swain was. There was the brief moment we thought will he come back and join this all star roster. But hard to turn down 15th pick money.
- [58:51]
B
Yeah, I mean he wasn't going to make 5 mil at Texas so I can't fault him at all.
- [58:56]
A
Yeah, 51st player as I just looked it up all time to be drafted in the NBA draft out of Texas. So pretty huge. All right. So what have I been watching Gerald? Like you just pretty much the World Cup. I haven't actually supplemented that with almost anything else. But I did actually get to go to a World cup match this past weekend so I will give a brief update on that. I went to the Netherlands Sweden match here in Houston which was incredible. Did the orange walk with you know 10,000 plus of my closest friends. It was this enormous multi mile walk from Rice Stadium which love seeing Rice's stadium Making my way through there straight to the NRG entrance with a bunch of crazy, decked out in orange, Netherland fans and a ton of Houston fans who put on Astros jerseys or Houston Dash or Houston Dynamo. We have a lot of orange in the city. Or Longhorn. So much Longhorns orange. Different shade, but still counts. It was very, very cool. It was one of like a once in a lifetime experience. We'll always remember that. Making our way into the stadium just, it was a lot of fun. It didn't feel like an hour and a half of walking and 175% humidity in Houston. We were all soaked, we were all wet. So maybe actually most shades of orange look closer to burnt orange because we're all real wet, especially the poor Europeans. But it was very cool. So again, didn't watch a ton on my screen other than more World cup, but got to actually do things in person and see it with my own eyes rather than on the screen. And then watch the game, which was, you know, a six goal game with like 30 shots on goal across the two teams. Just a lot of action, a lot of fun. It was, it was truly one of the more fun sporting experiences I've ever had.
- [60:39]
B
Yeah, I mean it's the world. We'll talk more about this, but it's been a really incredible moment in US sports. So 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 Ruby. So Kyle, what are you paying the drum on this week?
- [60:54]
A
I was going to talk about the EA Sports ratings, but I'll wait till we get the game in hand and get a little more feel for it. Joe, I just wanted to again break the news, I guess today on the day of recording this, the eligibility rules leaked and I believe they've officially passed. But they won't go into effect until the like full conference is done. But it's, it's effectively finished that the NCAA panel approved the new eligibility rule giving Division 1 athletes five years to play five seasons. So no red shirts, no extension, five years of eligibility. That's how it works. If you don't get hurt, as I understand it, you can play five seasons. So that's where I joked earlier in the show. Like we said, why not three? Pete, why not us? Tegan, Kavan, come back. Kate and Henry come back. Why not four people? Why not stay an extra year for your fifth year of eligibility? And this again will be interesting in sports where there Isn't a professional league like the NFL or the NBA or the MLB that will pay guaranteed huge contracts. This, this could be a thing where these nil deals that are so sweet for women's college athletics. For slightly smaller sports, it is more lucrative that they'll have to do that calculus and decide to stay a fifth year and play a fifth year. Right. So the clock basically starts either at 19 or college enrollment, whichever is earlier. And then you have five years, there's going to be lawsuits. This is going to have some. Everything now happens in the courts, I guess, for our sports. But it's very interesting. There's exceptions stated for pregnancy, military or Mormon or religious mission. But yeah, I mean, this is huge. This is huge for sports. You know, we talked about like, you know, in baseball, like, oh, having your pitching staff, I think slossing even talked about it, like having your pitching staff be old is huge come Omaha. You know, we talk about it all the time in March Madness. Like having your. The people handle the ball in the tournament. Be old, be able to rent a car is huge. Like, you know, experience and age matter. It's going to really change the calculus of a lot of sports, especially probably like we jokingly refer to as down ballot sports. So it'll be a very interesting monumental shift and like I said, effectively removes waivers, redshirts, extensions, all that to kind of flatten that. And there will probably be some round of edits to this, but it will spend a year figuring out what this actually means for college sports. But it's an interesting, interesting decision.
- [63:20]
B
Yeah, it'll be, it'll be interesting to see. It almost feels like an overcorrection to just all the weird Covid waivers. But it also like, like, hopefully it gets the NCAA out of court on these like, random weird eligibility cases like we saw with Diego Pavia, now the. The Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss. Like it's just gonna be. Hopefully it's just going to clean things up. I'm fine with it. It. If it makes things cleaner and easier and gets folks out of college at 23 instead of 24, 25, 26, I'm all for it. I think from this week on, kind of a continuation on Kyle's Godzillatron. But, you know, as we've been watching the World cup, it's just been a reminder that like, sports are supposed to be fun. Like this is supposed to be fun and bring people together and we let it be so divisive and, you know, there are some like, dumb political things that are happening and swirling around the World cup, but seeing, you know, teams that have never scored World cup goals and their fans getting hyped about it and like one of them ruining Ronaldo's afternoon this last weekend was just great, right? Like just all sorts of cool things like that. Seeing, you know, the fans and like the, the Korean and Mexican fans having like these moments of unity and just like it's all been so fun and so cool. It's just a reminder of how awesome sports are and the power that sports have to bring us together. We really like focusing on that. It's so easy to let all the negative things around it really piss you off, but. But it's been great to see, but it's just a reminder heading into the season.
- [64:47]
A
Yeah, that's a great point. Like, sports are supposed to be fun. That can mean many things. But like, keep your mentals in check and don't let this get you too high or too low. Maybe get too high, I don't know, enjoy it. Ride the wave. But yeah, it's, it's. The World cup has blown my mind on how like whatever level of success we thought it could be. And again, maybe it's because the men's national team is also doing very well, but it just is exceeding it just infinitely. And again, I had my first Buzzball with some Dutch college age students who I made friends with en route to the stadium and like just they were talking to me about their road trips. You know, they're going to head up to Kansas City for the next Netherlands game and they're stopping off in Shreveport, Louisiana. And so I was able to educate some folks from the Netherlands on Shreveport, Louisiana, which I describes at least a top 300 city in the United States. So yeah, you know, it's like just wild, like just, you know, this has been what a time this has been. There will be a real fatigue and hangover when this is done. This is shined a light and a brightness on our country and our people and our society and our world that we've needed. Honestly, admittedly, as corrupt and awful as FIFA is the fun of it. The fun of it is like, it's great. It's unmatched.
- [66:06]
B
Yeah, it's gonna be so, I mean, just continuing to watch it gonna be absolutely fun. But that's all we've got for you this week, Kyle. Where can the good folks find you on the Internet?
- [66:14]
A
You can follow me at Buzzbow. You can follow me on Twitter at Kyle Carpenter. Also the Texas Pregamer at Texas Pregamer. Follow both those on Blue sky as well.
- [66:22]
B
You can follow me on Twitter I'm blue sky at G.H.
- [66:24]
A
goodridge.
- [66:24]
B
Follow the show on both those spots at Longhorn Pod, Facebook and Instagram. The Longhorn Republic. Shoot us an email at longhorn republicbot@gmail.com. we'll be back next week with two shows. Should have a a Texas Focus preview and then another schedule preview coming for you. Thanks so much for tuning in. Until next time, welcome Hug a blue
- [66:43]
A
pig Justin Texas get everybody. Sa.