And welcome to the inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by inside Texas calm. I'm Joe Cook. We've got LC on assignment this week. So I'll be stepping in for Monday night live fellows. We're on the eve of spring football. And there's always that joke that there's two types of football season at Texas, the regular season and then spring football season. And those are the only sports that matter will be talking a lot about spring football will take a little bit of a trip through the depth chart, talk about some notes and different things we all want to see from spring practice. Of course, we'll get to your questions. Happy to have everybody here with us as in about, I don't know, 13 hours, the Longhorns will be on the biggest fields and then a little bit later this week. There's some basketball. So we'll talk about that. But love to get your questions. Love to get your comments. Eric, you're up here. You and I will be checking out things tomorrow. What do you want to hear? I guess excited to see and excited to hear about after, you know, we've been waiting months since the past fellowing complete in the sugar bowl to see the Longhorns back in action again. Yeah, I mean, we're always monitoring the depth chart. You know, I'll write a, I'll write a depth chart late tonight, early tomorrow morning that kind of is a projection based on what we know from last year what we've heard from the first season. But you also have to understand there's always some, some politics going on. They're not going to have a brand new transfer leapfrogs some guys that have paid their price for the program. You know, there's, you know, you might, you might see John take cook ahead of Isaiah Bond and John take cook at field receiver when in reality John take cook is probably going to play slot receiver quite a bit this spring as an example. You know, maybe Ethan Burke will be ahead of Trey Moore, even though Ethan Burke has a chance of moving over to Jack as spring progresses. So I'm curious to see the starting point for the depth chart and then we'll chronicle it throughout the coming weeks. Ian, you've written a lot about defense over these past few weeks and I think the main storyline. I think the one you touched on first was what's going on at defensive tackle. Seems like they have options there, but that's going to shape a lot of what happens behind the defensive line going forward this spring. Yeah, they have a lot of guys that could be really valuable players, but they don't have guys that are like the guys they had last year. So the positions might look a little different. Me and Eric were, we're texting earlier about what who's going to be where on the depth chart. Kind of figure. Jeray Bledso is going to be in the mix a lot. Alfred Collins is probably going to be the main guy Vernon Bratton has the seniority and also has become a pretty good player, but that they just none of these guys are like your traditional nose tackle. Most of them are guys that are going to be at their best when they're like slanting or shooting a gap. So we'll see how they will see how they sort them out and who goes where. And then even what positions they list them at may not necessarily tell the full story because they may use them completely differently than here ago. It's Eric, like you like to say, it's zero some at this point and it's kind of even more zero some considering they're not opponent. There is not an opponent quite yet to get ready for but Paul kind of just thinking about spring football. You can talk about the specifics, the, you know, all these position battles that they're getting ready for and, you know, even portal needs that they're assessing right now. But what are some high level things that you want to see from this program, not only coming after a, you know, the run that they made but heading into season one and the SEC. Yeah, I mean, I've got the portal never closes any, I mean, good heavens, it's, it's going to reopen again right after spring. And there's an opportunity for Texas to evaluate its needs. There's also an opportunity for Texas coaches and players to have a candid conversation and talk about some of these guys. Future that Texas. And it may be an opportunity. Is Joe, are you being heckled or pestered in some fashion. No, not at all. I just, I got a bunch of different things on here to keep track of everything. Look like you're trying to show gaming. Is Joe gaming while he's doing this? He's just, he's on, he's got his board laid out. He's pointing to the board. I guess when I hit a certain point, he points at it and he gets excited. But yeah, I think the portal is going to be interesting. I think more interesting for me, Ian and I've been doing some interesting deep dives the last couple of weeks talked about the technical position. Last week, we talked about secondary. And I think we both agreed that we'd like to see some experimentation there. We want to see them try to kind of like an offensive line approach. We want to see them go for a best five approach. And, you know, if it ain't broken, break it. And by the way, it might be broken a little bit. So I think they need to revisit some of the things that they were doing last year, some of the concepts they were teaching. And, you know, look at what the best fit, what the best grouping is. And when you move one guy, like a jude Baron to corner, then that's going to have a knock on effect of who you moved the nickel and who you moved the nickel deprived safety potentially. And then you can have all sorts of different permutations. But, you know, what is encouraging is that there's a lot of talent in that secondary. We've just got to get in coached up focused and put in the right positions, because, you know, right now we've got guys like. Giovanni, who we don't even know their best position. And I'm not sure the coaches know it until they throw them out there in the spring and let's just try out different stuff, try them in different positions, see who has a knack for it. And then, and then try to build on it. So I think this is a great opportunity for experimentation, especially on the defensive side of the ball. It should be a lot of fun. That's going to be, I think, just seeing, like you mentioned, Jelani McDonald, seeing where Jude Baron ends up. But we'll go through a little bit, not a little bit, all the def chart at this point. And I think this comment from from Jones L gives us a good jumping off point. We have a good idea what quarterback's going to look like to high profile quarterbacks, but quarterbacks kind of in a certain pecking order, nonetheless with Quinn and then Arch. But wide receiver, that's going to be the position to watch. Of course, Texas is replacing basically the whole pass catching core. Xavier Worthy's gone, Adni Mitchell's gone, Jordan Whittington's gone, Jitavian Sanders is gone. And after a fashion in the pass catching core, Jonathan Brooks has gone too. Now, you've got John, John Tae Cook, who to Jones L reminds of Antonio Brown on the field, not off and can play all over the field. And Eric, something that we've mentioned on inside Texas is that some of the guys like Matthew Golden, guys like Isaiah Bond, they're probably going to have certain roles. But this year's wide receiver core, especially compared to last year's, can be a little bit more maneuverable compared to the 2023 receivers. I think all three of those guys can play all three of the positions if they need to. You know, there's a lot of different ways to get the ball to all three of them. I just think it's most likely that you'll see golden at boundary and bond in the, to the field, replacing worthy. I mean, that's kind of what he was brought in to do. But he's right, John Tae can play all three positions. He's probably going to play all three positions in his career. But the big need right now, especially with spring with, you know, before Silas Bolden is there is John Tae Cook is probably going to play a lot in the slot. He's probably going to play a lot in the slot. And of course, you know, we'll hear some about Ryan Niblet as well. But, you know, John Tae just wants to be on the field and he's going to ultimately end up where the best opportunity is right now, just, you know, reading the tea leaves, that's going to be in the slot. But yeah, he's right that John Tae can play all three positions. Ian, when you were looking over, I guess, Isaiah Bond's work last year, I think we've talked a lot about this and especially when he first committed a Texas is that he was a, not because of his style play, but because of the Alabama offense. He's basically boom or bust because Jalen Millro would either be chunking it 50 yards downfield or chunking it 30 yards wide but two yards downfield so seems like there's opportunity for her bond, especially to be able to show a little bit more of a refined skill set than what Alabama might have asked him. There wasn't a whole lot of well orchestrated timing routes and their passing game last year, although when he did run a couple they looked pretty good. And I think he was kind of their go to guy when they had when they needed to get the ball out and get yards for a first down. So a lot of times he was kind of moving around or in the slot some, but a lot of what he looked like most dangerous doing was more outside. I think I've been as yards per target were pretty bad last year. It was kind of similar to Xavier worthy in 2022, when his yards per target were terrible, because Texas would like take five or six shots to him every game and never land a single one. It wasn't, it was, you know, akin to that at Alabama last year. I think that kid has a whole lot more in his repertoire than we've seen on film yet. And the spring game really should be might be a kind of coming out party for him. But it seems like the spring game's always been a very interesting moment for wide receivers thing back to Isaiah and they are like, Oh, there's Queen Ewers and fortunately the ACL didn't last you look back to last year I think John take cook made some plays but what do you want to hear as far as receivers go, especially heading into the Queen Ewers third year in the offense. Well, to give you an idea that sometimes we don't really know anything and we can analyze this and have incredible intel. And while I go even further back to the Charlie strong era john Harris was a thousand yard receiver for Charlie strong and on a terrible offense, right. He was the only bright spot. People forget that spring game before that season. And so people in the doghouse that they played him with the fourth string and the walk on, and they made him finish the game where he was the only scholarship player out there, like near the very end, because they were so mad at him. And of course, you know, we all wrote him off I write my thinking Texas football preview I was like john Harris, you know, physical presence will not contribute, you know, based on the spring game. And that becomes our number one receiver. So, look, I just think that we're going to throw these guys out there and find out how good they really are. I mean, so how good is Silas Bolden we don't know. And he's not even there he's not going to be there till May. Well, that's a good point. So we won't even know till May. Great point. But, you know, I suspect as a bond is really good I suspect Matthew Bolden is very talented. He may be limited, apparently, but I just think they're going to throw these guys out there we don't really know how good john take cook is I suspect, he's going to be a star eventually but is he a star this year. There's a star as a junior. We don't know. And so, you know, there's this sense of I understand the fans always kind of want to know like, who's going to be the guy or who's going to be it's like, hey man, like it's a competition. You know, throw the ball out and throw, you know, run the offense and find out who's going to win the job and take it. And, and whoever does as long as the competition is good is going to be a really good player. Another example of that is, if y'all correct me if my memory is wrong, but I think little Jordan Humphrey didn't move to the slot until fall of 2018. Okay, we got to get him, we got to get him and Colin Johnson on the field at the same time. So then they, then that was like the defining feature of a big 12 runner up. You know, one of the better Texas teams until SARC finally let him out of the wilderness right. And that was another late development. One of the unique aspects about the receiver core is, think about the offensive line. Kellen Banks third year guy. I mean, just looking at the returning starters, everybody's a third year guy at least Queen Ewers is a third year guy. Jane blues third year CJ Baxter's a second year player, but that wide receiver core. It's probably the youngest unit on the offense, because even a Maury and I black being fresh to Texas at tied in, still a junior gunner helms a senior Juan Davis is a senior as well if he is able to crack the rotation. So the one intriguing thing about the, the wide receivers is, yeah, they had to go get golden, bold and bond just because if not, they were going to be low in numbers and guys like Ryan Wingo who we've heard positive things about would have been pressed into even more action than maybe he should be asked to do this upcoming season. As far as some of those freshman wide receivers, Eric, maybe outside of Wingo or including one go. What have you heard from them over the course of winter conditioning? Well, I think we have to talk about Wingo. Hey, I just saw him last Sunday at a workout in Houston and he is, he's athletically sensational. He's big, fast, the workout was really fun to see them incrementally up the intensity so you saw him work on his technique early on and he was going kind of quarter speed and half speed and then when he truly opened it up it's a sight to see man that guy is a thoroughbred and he's a total animal. And there's a chance if, if, if Isaiah Golden is not Isaiah Golden, if Matthew Golden is limited, then I think yeah those names just kill me man. It's a giant portmanteau and if, if Golden is limited, then I think that Wingo is going to make some noise this spring and it wouldn't be surprised by it. He's going to moss some guys. He's going to run by some guys. He's going to out physical people. It's, yeah, he's definitely want to watch this spring in it. You know, outside of SARC's, you know, preference for not playing a deep bench at wide receiver otherwise otherwise I'd be bullish on on Wingo making plays this spring out of this year. Well, you know, we'll see how it plays out. He's going to be stone is big and fast, just like his high school evaluation. That's no surprise. You know, I haven't heard, you know, somebody told me that he's as fast as Adni Mitchell on the field now I don't know about that and I just ran a 434. But as far as, you know, I think that caused by surprise. The Parker Livingstone plays fast. He ran 2169 as a, as a sophomore in high school then, you know, we already know he's got the ball skills and he's got the body control and the size to make some plays. I don't expect much this next year, though. Bernie DeVos did or not make it not expecting much. They're going to get the most out of the Canada first four or five guys DeAndre Moore I would include as somebody that could get some playing time this season. But I don't think they're going to go deeper than five guys but I do expect they'll play a little bit they'll rotate a little bit more than last year. So, Paul, here's a question or comment from Jeff G. I think can lead us a little bit to the quarterback discussion. Any potential takeaways from Quinn throwing at the pro day on Wednesday. What will scouts be looking for? And it's interesting if that with Quinn being the reported quarterback for all these different guys Xavier Worthy, Adni Mitchell, Jordan Whittington, who needs to have a pro day performance. We know who the previous pro day quarterback was until it sounds like Quinn is going to be the guy on Wednesday. Was it arch? It was not arch. It was David Ash. They would bring him out of the bullpen over and over and over, not just for himself but just to have a guy in Austin who they thought, okay, he can hit the receivers and make them look good but take away from Quinn being the reported quarterback of the of the pro day for the Longhorns, not just for his own pro prospects but I guess to help out all these other receivers put on a great showing. Just that first and foremost is to help out his guys and like throw good balls and let him show their best face and they're going to run things that they're comfortable with so on a pro day. You sort of have charted throws that you do the scout, you know, where's the NFL combine they'll have you do what they want you to do right on your pro day you script. Hey, hey, there's the routes we're going to do so they're going to get a guy who throws a good ball and knows all these routes and then wants to make these guys look good. You're hitting on their break and all that kind of stuff and the secondary reason is Quinn can get in front of the scouts a little bit. They're going to look at him and they're going to evaluate. I mean, he throws a bunch of ducks. That's not good. You know, if he goes out there and he looks like he's still 191 pounds or whatever he was. That's not good either. I think he's already put on some weight and I think he'll put on more. I think they're going to take a look at him, but primarily he's actually doing it just to help out his guys and, you know, secondarily he's getting in front of their eyes. The scouts are not. They're not using this as a vehicle to evaluate when yours primarily they're doing it because they're interested in these three receivers. You did mention Jordan Whittington. I think, you know, we know Mitchell and worthy are going to go on day one or day two, certainly. Whittington is going to be interesting. You know, is he going to be a late ground draft pick or would he actually be better as a as a as a coveted free agent, right, who can pick where he wants his destination, the best fit. I think actually the main thing he needs to do. I think his testing will be fine. I think it needs to catch the ball well and look more fluid. He's got pretty good hands running certain routes. But if you've ever watched Whittington run down the field and try to track a ball and catch it in the basket, it's kind of awkward for him. He'll actually turn and twist and try to catch the ball. Instead of just catching it in stride. And, you know, that's something I think the scouts want to see is a little bit more fluidity on some of those kinds of routes. We already know that the stops and slants and that kind of stuff that he can do screen game obviously and then they know the value adds he brings as a blocker, you know, good attitude guy. I think they also want to evaluate his size and and also, you know, is this a guy that you can have, you know, be a contributor on special teams, not as a returner, but as a gunner or as a blocker or, you know, a guy that, you know, can actually provide some value there. I kind of wish he'd actually had the opportunity to play that more in college, but, you know, we had some really elite guys manning those positions, but yeah, I think there's, there's some, there's some stuff there for him to gain. But I think the main thing is he needs to look really comfortable catching the ball in different ways. I like that one. We got a good recording question. The question is real quick. Go ahead. You can, or you can, you can just never too late to play safety, Jordan. Yeah. I think you can be, I think you can be an NFL elite special teams player. We just didn't see it, but it's it's projection based on his mentality that we saw that was evidence in his blocking, but he's, he's going to, he's going to turn some heads with his 40. What do you think about Brandon Brown. What are your thoughts on what are your thoughts on Brandon Brown? We got a good question from, from Brett Nelson here asking about Texas defensive line commit Brandon Brown and what his ceiling is. Yeah, I would say, you know, probably not quite Malcolm Brown, but somewhere in that maybe a four year Malcolm Brown sort of player. I don't think he's going to be as good as early as Malcolm Brown was. Malcolm was a different animal, extremely mature physically and mentally mature player. When he got to Texas, you could tell it's freshman year kind of like Kelvin Banks. He was a three year player, but I think he's kind of similar in, you know, he's not the tallest guy, but he moves very well at a very pretty similar size to Malcolm. So let's call it not quite Malcolm Brown. He can be really good. Yeah, that's a pretty good player right there. And that's, I don't know if y'all saw Malcolm Brown is the new head coach at a Catholic school Catholic high school in the Austin area Dominic Savio. So, we've got to update that horns on the headsets thread. I guess we can move on to a little bit to offensive line, or would you all rather talk a little bit about the quarterback room at Texas. I don't think there's much to talk about with quarterback office a lot's good ones with entry because we're already 20 minutes in and there's no way we're going to get to all these positions quarterback everybody knows the deal there. Office of line they've got really, you know, if if if Cam Williams owns right tackle. Is there going to be a position battle at left guard, you know, some sources think it's going to be a hater again and I just don't know how you keep. Cole Hudson and that's who we as you live in the program if that's the case. It's when you got seven offensive line signees in one class there's, they're all going to try to be making it in but Ian you were you were texting with us a little bit about maybe some size. Looking at the different sizes of some of the guys on the offensive line including Hayden Connor. But I mean it looks like there's basically one spot up for grabs or maybe a couple more than one spot there's two spots up for grabs but how do you think the best deployment of the offensive line would be kind of projecting a little bit further ahead into the season. Well, I think at least three spots are pretty much just locks. I think everyone realized last year the majors has become a legitimately good player. The more they run outside zone and the healthier he got the more apparent it is that he's a good player banks is a lock at left tackle Campbell. It's interesting to me I wonder why Campbell wouldn't potentially move to left guard to play next to banks but he's a lock at one of the guards. And then it's interesting I would have thought Hayden Connor could really make a push it right tackle because he's been a better pass protector at guard than he has been a brilliant mauling run blocker. And then obviously he could be potentially the left guard still if he could beat out Cole Hudson, but he can't. I don't know if it's not really fair if you want him to be a part of the line to ask him to compete for two starting jobs at the same time. Sounds like you're just turning him into utility player at that point. You know that might be as best you seeing. Oh yeah, I think so but I don't know if that's what they're going to do. I would make him my number six offensive lineman I make him my sixth man off the bench effectively and you know Cole Hudson has shown a lot of physicality. He's also shown that he was a freshman when he played as a freshman. You know, he hasn't had a healthy off season. He hasn't had a healthy end season. And I think he's going to have a chance to really develop this spring and this summer. The coal Hudson that shows up in August. He could be a really interesting player because he's going to have an opportunity to physically develop the attitude is there that the willingness to be really good is there. He can improve his past blocking and just get more experience you know any offensive lineman just always benefits from time on the field and time under tension. But he's got the physicality he's got the attitude. I think he could really prosper and benefit from a full off season of strength and conditioning and lifting weights and just getting a lot stronger to go with that attitude. I remember he was trading he earned a spot as freshman year and then it was trading series kind of towards the end of that freshman year DJ Campbell got that starting right guard spot Hayden Connor had the starting left guard spot. The coal Hudson played one of his best games at Texas against Alabama. Both DJ Campbell and Cole Hudson were doing really great things. He was able and unfortunately had that injury. I think either against Wyoming or maybe a little bit after that so he was playing good football despite what you were talking about Paul that lack of a physical you know development that he you know that he has not had at Texas so far in his career so he has a lot to prove and could be competing for one of those spots as well. You want to move over to the defensive line because there's a pretty darn good question from Spencer Hogan. That was one of the positions Ian that you highlighted. This one I'm not sure if he'll have a bigger impact than Colin Simmons in year one but Eric do you think that do you think there's a chance that Alex January does make an impact tries to crack the rotation this year during his freshman season. I think he's going to play more than Sir Mitchell he came in more advanced and Sir Mitchell you know for having sort of a similar body type and positional projection. More than Simmons in year one no no that would just be that would be a contrarian level take that I'm not even sure Ian would be on board with. Let him ruminate on this a little bit he might by the end of the show he's going to be all in on January more than Simmons. But he did he did come in ready to work you know he shows the evidence is some technique as a pass rusher in high school that not a lot of guys have. I think it helps that his dad played you know in college he's got a good coach and get Duncan bill. He's he's more control of his weight than Sir Mitchell was works hard he's got you know came in with a really ready to go attitude. I'm expecting pretty big things for January is you know woefully underrated as a recruit. But I do think that you know the bigger you are the longer it does take you to acclimate to the field and it will take a little bit of time but I do think he's going to be able to give this team 10 snaps a game next year if need be. Paul he's listed at six foot five three twenty four but he also wears number 97 so good bad on the the numerology front. Yeah I mean I'm for those of you don't know or new to this I'm the foremost numerology expert on the planet. It's really not a debatable you tell me it players jersey number and I'll tell you if they're going to bust or be a superstar I'll tell you about their character or their work ethic. And it's my hit rate is not 100% but it's about 97% just like his jersey number 97 is a good choice. He chose humility obviously if he chose in a single digit he's not going to play the run and he'd be a bust. He's a pre Madonna. And he chose wisely obviously as a good father that raised him right he was a starting linebacker at University of Texas and yeah choosing 97 shows exactly the correct mindset for a big defensive lineman inside. So it's about you you watch based off your time zone you watch a good amount of pack 12 or pack two football. What are your thoughts on what Tia survey may end up bringing to this team not only just as a transfer you know via the portal out of position of need but also someone that Johnny Nansen didn't necessarily bring from Arizona to Texas with him but also that UCLA with Johnny Nansen is that Arizona with Johnny Nansen and now he's at Texas with Johnny Nansen and they've been together all three of these stops what do you expect from him this upcoming season his first and Austin. Yeah so if you want to more extended analysis of this in and I did a deep dive but we just broke down the defensive tackle room and we kind of talked about him. So there is probably not the stereotype that you have a big Pacific Islander interior lineman. He's actually more of a movement guy. He's not a good pass rusher at all. In terms of like power in terms of snap in terms of technique. But he's actually really good on the move against the run game he's good at slamming he's good at stunning he's good at you know sliding over and filling space and he's good at the timing of it. He's better at it as the year went on he was actually not the sort of clear cut starter at Arizona. And sort of nor the near the end of the year. He became one of the more reliable interior defensive linemen and guys for them and in fact played really well against OU against kind of an undermaned offensive line in that in that bowl game so he's a he's going into the country to the existing personnel inside he's, he's like Dre blood so he's like brought him he's like Alfred Collins, a little bit of a more of a movement guy quickness guy. I wouldn't say finesse necessarily, but not to Andre sweat, not Byron Murphy. You know guys you can effectively play anything you know they can to gap they can they can sprint upfield they can do whatever. I hope the hope is and Nina and I talked about this you guys should go back and watch the steep dive from two weeks ago. The hope is that we're going to modify some of our tactics on the line. Because if we try to play survey like a run anchor like a two technique, you know he's getting double teamed. It's not going to work out really well for us. And that kind of seems to be the profile of this like you mentioned Paul this defense this 2024 defensive line to where basically for everybody it's going to be a lot more movement and deception maybe more than just brute strength like you could do with Byron Murphy and Devondre sweat. Yeah, I mean just guy after guy. Some of the when Alfred Collins looks like an absolute freak. A lot of the time is when he's like stunting and moving like a like an edge across gaps and then showing up in the quarterback's face with like way faster than any liner quarterback expected him to be. Broughton when he's like a past Russia or he's shooting a gap is a very different player. And when you ask him to take on a double team. There's a way Paul just broke down. Dre Bledsoe Dre Bledsoe could maybe do just about anything just seems really naturally powerful, but he's really fast too. So if you get him on the move that's great. This is kind of what I was alluding to earlier like these guys, they have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things and they're going to have to ask him to do those different things. Just as well. Just hear it in the chat. Got a good diary comment. We'll save the basketball takes for a different episode. I want to talk a little Texas basketball at some point, right? Yeah, we will definitely get to that. I like this question though. We kind of have a good sense that Anthony Hill is going to be moving into Jalen Ford's spot replacing him in the defense. Is he going to be as impactful as Jalen Ford because he was around the ball that often. I think he had he was I remember in 2022. I think the number was like six or so it's turnovers responsible for maybe even more than that. I don't think he matched that in 2023 but Anthony Hill forced fumbles over under four and a half. If you think about him maybe as a pass rusher and some situational deployment and maybe some opportunities for sacks. I think he can get there Eric. What do you think about the way that they'll use Anthony Hill this upcoming season. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean he's probably going to have some blind side looks at the quarterback. He's going to probably have some punch out opportunities on the running backs. What helps him is he's just a nationally violent football player. And you know the more violent you are the more the ball tends to pop up. You know I don't know if he's going to match Ford's turnover production from two years ago but he's overall better linebacker than Ford. That's, you know, that's just the way it is. If the NFL still prioritize linebackers Anthony Hill would be obvious first round draft pick at some point. You know the guys. I don't know who he's as violent as Ruben Foster was if you want to recall a violent linebacker he's every bit the quality linebacker that Ruben was in college and it'll probably be a better pro. So I don't know that's you know turnovers can be kind of a look at the draw sometimes but he's a violent football player that's going to be very active and fast and get to the ball. I wouldn't surprise me if he if he had that many punch outs. Hey little trivia for the panel here. What Texas player holds the record for Fumbles forced and how many was it in a season. Shirley, Shirley Derek Johnson's nine is the answer right. He nailed it. Yeah. It's Johnson forced nine fumbles one season. Keith Jackson had the, Keith Jackson had the misfortune of calling it his patented reach around. That's right. He did. And he didn't even call the UTEP game that gets Texas. Oh my God. Jackson. RIP man. I heard he just died recently. The sun bowl has the sun bowl, the rose bowl, the cotton bowl, Derek Johnson performed and all of them. I think one last place we get to get, we have to get to before. There's a recruiting question in there. Eric and I'll let you wax about Lance Jackson a little bit. You talked about it a little bit, Paul, but the secondary and Ian you've written about it. I wrote about it today about how, hey, the Longhorn past defense was ranked number one 16 last year and a lot of that has to do with the pushing poll of teams not running on Texas, but at a certain point, one 16 is one 16 is one 16 and as we. You're using lost at using circa 1992 football analysis. I mean yards per play they were in the top 50, but I also saw Michael Pinnox go 29 for 39 for 430 yards. Our secondary was amazing. Go in season. I was a heavy critic and sort of early critic saying, Hey, there's something kind of broken about what we're doing. And then I think everyone kind of agreed later in the year. But it does need to improve. It's not the 116 passing defense in the, they were one 16 and passing yards allowed. Yes, because no one could run the ball because we had Byron Murphy and Devontre sweat. I admit that, but I still think there's a push and pull that doesn't excuse over 250. I'm the whole man and Joe's the young guy and I'm lecturing him about advanced statistics. He's like, a yard is the yard. You got to adjust for context, Joe. This is this is embarrassing. Oh, Joseph. But we know that this year it's most likely not a most likely it's not going to be a talent problem. It's going to be a deployment, not even problem, just a conundrum to figure out and a lot about that specifically as it relates to Jada Baron as well. I mean, they need to get better at corner. They have exceptional talent, have a lot of different solutions they could throw at it, and they need to, it needs to work out. And then the last year, they went into the air with like three of the main guys were Michael Taff jail in Catalan in gerund Thompson. And they're all very physical and very heady and reliable. But none of those three are guys that you really want to like man up on a receiver. And this year they'll be like polar opposite, like Taff is back, he'll be better. He has a lot more eligibility left than people think like Paul I was always liking the joke. And then they have guys like Makuba, Derek Williams, Jelani McDonald, these guys are all very long, fast, athletic, can play man coverage. So it's a completely different lineup. And we'll see what changes about how they play with them. Eric, one of the things about, I like that you mentioned Jelani McDonald in that sentence, Ian, because I think if I remember way back when during the Army All American Bowl, they had Jelani McDonald playing corner. And you could tell it wasn't his like natural position like he was football player at Waco Connolly, but he didn't look lost. And Eric, do you think that could factor into him probably seeing a little bit more time at safety because of his physical gifts. Yeah, I mean, that's why they started him at star, you know, they took him with linebacker in mind, but that's, you know, it kind of depends on where your body's going to go is dead play linebacker. The number one reason they took him is not only because he is a football player as far as position goes, he could play wherever, but he's got football disposition, he's got the linebacker disposition in right now what is a safety body. A lot of times you have these athletes that can play multiple positions, they want to play the smallest position possible, even though a lot of times they've outgrown it already we see that recruiting all the time. Jelani doesn't care where he plays. Like I said, he's got the physicality to play linebackers, got the cover skills to play safety. I think safety probably is his ultimate position is, I think it's going to be his permanent landing spot. I was a little bit wrong about the evaluation mainly because Texas thought he was going to be a linebacker. Seeing him in person, obviously he's big for safety, but it would be small and undersized for a linebacker. I think he's got the cover skills for the position, which is the name of the game, you know, if you could play corner of the Army All American Game, it's probably going to be tough to isolate you as a safety. So yeah, very excited about him. Again, but a lot of it comes down to his mental eval is 100% what that do. Paul, as far as someone like Derek Williams goes, who I'm not sure I can't remember how many starts he picked up towards the end of last year, but he was definitely playing, you know, starters minutes, starter snaps. What do you want to see or hear about him as the spring progresses as he enters his sophomore season? I just want to see his progression. I mean, he was a de facto starter by the end of the year and he was the most. He was the guy on the field that was different, right? You would see him flash or do something and you go, whoa. Oh, okay, that's that's Derek. Yeah, that makes sense. He was kind of the guy that was making those plays. And I think the key with his progression is just he needs to make that the mundane play now, right? And that's typical for any young freshman. I mean, I'm impressed he was able to play as much as he did. And you know, his head wasn't spinning out there. You know, if you've ever lined up at safety and I didn't do that much. I mean, I played like linebacker and guard and defensive end and stuff growing up, but I remember in pop Warner, I lined up at safety. And what's amazing is before the snap, you can see everything. It's amazing. We got to talk to Kelson about this. The minute the ball snapped, particularly if it's a run play, you can't see anything. It just becomes you're standing back there and there's just this jumble in front of you and you can't tell where the ball is going to pop out. Like, and you know, it gives you a lot more sympathy for guys who get their ankles broken when running back sprints out of the scrum unexpectedly in a spot he doesn't anticipate, right, based on the scheme. And in the passing game, I could only imagine with four, you know, five guys out on the route and even just an average passing offense. There's a lot to look at. There's a lot of places where your eyes can betray you. Right. And so Williams just needs to get more sophisticated there. The physical part, I think he's got, I did notice his body weight was kind of low on the roster. I don't know what that's about, but I'd like to see him up around 200 or over 200. I think that's probably his best playing weight. He looks like he's 62. He's listed at 62 193 so just needs a little bit more. I remember players during interviews last year, they would always rave about his tackling ability, which is kind of interesting to hear about, you know, you hear. Or he gets there faster. He's got no, they would talk about him being able to tackle. And so that's what always caught me because, like, if you have that, then you're going to be set for a few years if you can find the guy and bring them to the ground. I mean, that's the name of the game. I know coverage has a lot of different stuff going on, but if you've got tackling down, I feel like that portends well for the future. A 15 minute conversation about Bert Auburn, or let's actually talk a little bit of recruiting. Eric, you wrote something that today about Lance Jackson, Texas commit from from Texas or Canada. Pleasant Grove got to see him in action at the Under Armour camp. And you gave him some pretty lofty praise a pretty lofty comparison based off what you saw. Well, I didn't compare, I didn't compare him to Miles Garrett. I said he's the best defensive end I've seen since Miles Garrett, as far as a recruit goes. That's not really talking about outside linebacker like Colin Simmons, where it's, you know, it's not surprising that somebody's a specialist calling six to 225 pounds, they move like that, you know, just those guys bucks are easier to find those outside linebackers, you know, you got Caleb on chasing Joseph OSI was tremendously high on Joseph OSI coming out of high school but as far as like a pure defensive end, a guy that would play defensive end in the NFL. Lance Jackson is as good as I've seen since Miles Garrett he's just an absolute stud 66 to 60 moves like he's 62 could easily be an all star all everything tied in if you wanted to be like the all world sort of tight ends that stretch the vertical seam. Just a just a total stud and drills and then he was he was really good in in one on ones plays with very good leverage despite his height and his length. So he so he's not going to lose to the low man battle despite his height. Yeah, just any he's a very mature kid, you know, it doesn't want anything to do with the recruiting process he's a throwback in that regard. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's my favorite favorite prospect to cycle it's pretty easy to see greatness written all over him. With you had to kind of think about it right now. I think the Korean more seems like the number one offensive player is he going to be the number one defensive player if you had to put some rankings together. So I think I would have Lance number one, as far as defense go I would keep the Korean one because he's I mean he's ridiculous not another's the priority on scarcity and the large humans and all that. Decorian it's it's easily that he's going to be starting the NFL feel pretty pretty and confident about that he's got the soft skills and he's the lead athlete as well. But you know I think the only concern I would have with Lance is he has been dinged up at times in his career. That's one thing to watch long term but yeah I think he's probably the safest thing on the defensive side of the ball. Zion Williams I have Zion a lot higher than what the national rankers have I would have DJ Sanders a lot higher as far as the big guys that can they can move or rare. He's the one defense player in the state to me. Maybe Devin Sanchez a corner I don't know I have to rethink that a little bit. But yeah Lance is Lance is awesome man he's going to be in the NFL for a long time. Ian and he's a pretty tailor made fit for that that Jack position correct. Ideally that position is a guy that can slide inside and play like a big strong side defensive end but then has the athleticism to vendor on the corner in the pass rush or even drop back into coverage. Maybe someday we'll see Texas get to that like Pete walk keep like Pete Quikowski did in Washington. Whether they do or they don't I think he's a just an amazing is exactly the kind of guy you want at the strong side in where you can blend the pass rushing and the and the run stopping. Is it time to talk about Kyrie Irving being a glorified sixth man or we still have other topics to get to you. I had one question I think about it's a very cultural question, but it's a question just about spring practice and what the the Longhorns you know next season is going to be. They're going to be in the SEC next year and I know that you know the big 12 logo still going to be on the field for this spring game it's going to be on the helmets and anything like that but Paul do you think there has to be any sort of added sense of urgency. Because of that change or should there just be a sense of urgency as a baseline because it's Texas and you're in the work competing for championships not necessarily because your conference is changing and your schedule is featuring some different opponents. I think SARC's providing his own urgency, irrespective of the SEC move I think everyone knows it's big I think everyone knows it's it's leveling up to the big leagues. But you know SARC wants to leave a legacy. And in the big picture stuff with this program he's handled it really well. I mean, it's it'd be hard not to give him an A on his report card so far. So, I don't think he needs additional prodding or urgency or like, you know, we weren't going to practice hard this spring but now we are. I mean, I think this is a self motivated team self motivated staff I think they're creating a right culture. And I think, you know, the urgency should be, hey I'm bringing in a bunch of amazing athletes. Show me that you want to start. Show me that you want to be the guy. You want NIL, great, earn it. Go show us. And, you know, that's where the urgency is going to come from and that's that's the real. Oh, there you go. That's that's that's that's authentic urgency. It's not a coach standing up there with PowerPoint slides telling you how urgent they're going to be. It's a bunch of dudes who don't want to sit on the pine who want to change their family tree, frankly, and try to get any other felt. So I think that's where the real urgency comes from. Eric, have you heard of anything that's going to be specifically emphasized this upcoming spring or is are we probably going to hear whenever we get to talk to. Start tomorrow, you know, it's competition. It's it's development. Are we going to get those regular platitudes or is there something specific? Maybe they're trying to keep harping on in these 15 practices. You know, I haven't heard of anything, you know, I think it's just competition, you know, like like Paul is going on about like the. We start we started to see it last year where there's this competition at every single position and there's not just competition competition for first string. This competition for second string that third string is trying to try to climb the ladder to it's not just to trying to go to one is three trying to go to two. But you know, we'll we'll see what the themes are. We're going to cover spring ball like we always do. We're going to have the best insight on all that. We're going to know what's emphasized in practice. Sark is big on that. You know, what you emphasize is what you get in return. So we'll see what the emphasize we learn a lot about that this season where they're working on a goal line, which are red zone offense, which, you know, we were emphasizing. I think I wrote about four practice reports in a row during the season about the emphasis on goal line. Yeah, we'll see what the spring has offer, but for right now, it's, you know, it's just competition. It's a it's a healthier roster. There's not a lot of glaring holes. And I think, you know, this team, I think has has his trust. I don't think he's that where I think I think the whole reason they're starting after spring break rather than the week before is because he trusts them. You know, I think last year he wanted to put up, you know, put a buffer in them before they went to spring ball, you know, kind of have control them that week before and then a week after to see if if they treated themselves right during spring break. This spring break, we wrote a lot of articles about how hard these guys were working on their own or with their trainers back in their hometown. So I think he has, I think this team, he has his team's trust and vice versa. I don't think there's going to be any motivational tactics or anything out of the ordinary, but you know, we'll pay attention to what he's saying behind the scenes and you know he's pretty candid in front of the scenes too. Good comment again from Jeff G, that'll show up draft weekend. We can, I guess, touch real quick on pro day. That's on Wednesday. We already talked about the the Quinn viewers factor talked a lot about the, you know, the wide receivers. And Jordan Whittington specifically one guy who I think has to have the best day out of anybody there is is Jalen Ford. You talked Eric about how the league does not value linebacker as much. But Jalen forward and I know there's only so much that that can be gleaned from physical testing but he didn't go through any of it at the NFL combine I know a lot of that's for obviously medicals and, and for interviews, but I know Paul there. They want to see that the things that they see on tape are also in the Jalen fords case matched by physical gifts it'll play to the next level. Yeah, I mean I hope it was injury that kept him from testing. Because typically guys you know when Xavier worthy was saying I'm going to, I'm going to drop a four three or better in the, in the draft, you know, the combine, he wasn't just like chatting, he got timed. These these these guys are getting timed in their, in their special camps that they're doing. And so the concern is sometimes when a guy opts out, they don't test very well. And so they say, hey, it'd be better if you just opt out and then try to build up for pro day. I don't know if that was the case with Jalen Ford was legitimate injury stuff. I think the main thing for Ford is his, his tape is going to do his talking I think they know that he's not some sort of crazy Mike a Parsons level athlete. But what you don't want to do is test out as a big outlier, because some teams just have a board, which is sort of a parameters. And as long as you're within the parameters. You're fine. And they're just going to look at your tape to evaluate you. Once you fall out, I think it was Bill Parcells said if you, if you draft a team of exceptions, you end up with a terrible football team. Right. And, you know, I think Jalen for just doesn't want to be exceptional in a bad way. Right. You don't want to run a 5040. You don't want to have a shuttle that's the same as, you know, an offensive lineman and stuff like that. So I think that's the main thing he did most of his talking on the tape. You know, he's going to get drafted. And I think he's going to be a multi year starting NFL linebacker. I'm excited to see some of the things that Keelan Robinson's able to do. I know that he tested pretty well at the combine. That's someone who kind of similar to Jordan Whittington. We look at as a more of a special teams, probably type player. And I remember last year, a lot of these players talked about by seeing Brendan Schuler by even seeing Adrian Phillips, they know special teams is the way to make it in the league. They like the idea that you can make money off special teams. And I think that was seen in guys like Trey Weisner. So I think that if Keelan Robinson can test well and show that he's got the quickness and pair that with the tape where, remember, in the big 12 title game, takes that little, you know, return motion pass. 50 something yards for a score. Next time down on kickoff, he's making the tackle. I think he's able to show that type of thing, just that he has those physical skills and want to during his pro day. It'll bode well for him as well. To get people an idea of what's at stake there. Because people think, Oh, well, you know, if you're not drafted in the first round, or you know, if you're not drafted at all, you can't make money and blah, blah, blah. The NFL minimum is $825,000. Okay. If you stay four years in the NFL for making 825 a year, you have lifetime health care and a lifetime pension. Four years. I mean, you could start off your life pretty well in your 20s with that. I think I'll find you, assuming you're not a fool with your money. So there's a lot at stake here to catch on and be a special teams guy and, you know, God bless the Shane Lechlers of the world that played 20 years. You know, you probably never made more than two or three million. I don't know when he made actually, but I'm sure he's really set. I mean, because of his accrued pension and all the money he made and just the sheer number of years he played. Yeah, I mean, if you can, if you can get four years in the league, lifetime medical, everything covered for the rest of your life pension, which is incredibly generous. And then you're making 825 a year as the league minimum 825 a year. Is it shabby? We all make at inside Texas, but, you know, let's let's spread the wealth and hope that this guy, these guys can make it too. And Malik, Malik Jefferson stopped by the house yesterday. We were he was going down to Houston to see a friend and came by and we were talking about that because he's a free agent right now looking to catch on and. And yeah, you know, you look at you, there's that you want to start your life after football, right? You know, you start, start making out, making these plans and contact, contacting people and networking, but then that enticement of, you know, 800 grand to come back for one more year of football. That's a lot. That's a hell of a life. And, you know, if you invest wisely, you know, you shouldn't have to work after the age of 45. If you put a lot of that towards the stock market, you know, just, just the rule of 42. I think it is that you should double it every 10 years. You're in a good place. And so hopefully some of these guys can catch on. I'm thinking, Jed Bush is going to do something surprising and I don't think he's done playing football. I'm not saying he's going to be in the NFL, but I could see him in Canada if he wanted to be or something like that. I think he's a better athlete than people give him credit for. So it's, it's fun to see how, how these really hungry guys go about it and try to catch on. I feel like we're going to do 72. 72. Yeah, 72. I wish it was 42. That'd be sweet. I feel like we're going to see most, if not all the NFL teams. I wonder if we'll see some head coaches. But of course, like you mentioned Eric, like, CFL team show up. You, FL, whatever the rocks football league is called now, they're going to show up like there's a lot more avenues for someone to play football in than there's ever than there ever has been just because of these spring leagues. So I didn't, I didn't consider that for guys like jet Bush, but it's not NFL timing day. It's, it's pro day. And that's pro football. One last topic and we can get out of here on this one. Victor Santiago thoughts on the men's basketball team receiving a seven seed. Texas is in the Midwest regional. They'll be playing in Charlotte on Thursday and they await a matchup between Virginia and Colorado state. Ian, you've got your, your concerns with, with Virginia. I think everybody knows they play slow. Why do you think that the, the calves would be a tough, tough matchup for the horns. I just don't feel great about Texas playing a team that is smart and careful with veteran guards. I know the thing in the tournament teams with smart guards that get good shots down the stretch win. And the teams that don't have the ability to consistently get good offense going lose. It's been very easy to bet against Texas and the tournament most seasons safer last year when they were outstanding at guard, because they've just been so bad in that regard. And I remember even picking them to lose to what was the really embarrassing one, Abilene Christian. It was really embarrassing. It was just like you just knew that they had the capacity to blow it. They're not as bad now. But when I've watched, I just don't feel great about their guard play. And I think if they, I, the seating is good, but I feel like the draw is a little bit tough. I have a better chance against some of the other teams in the tournament. Virginia is just always a pretty disciplined team and Colorado State has some pretty talented guys. Paul, you live in pretty close proximity to the Rams, not in the same town, but not far away, same state. Mountain West was a good league this year, got six in, probably one more than they should have because New Mexico won their conference tournament. What do the Rams bring and what potential matchups could they give the horns if they beat Virginia tomorrow, I believe? Yeah, so Colorado State's actually favored in that game, what it's worth. We'll see what happens. Tony Bennett is kind of a Vegas favorite, typically in the tournament, because he plays such an alternative style that Ian was referring to, but Colorado State is favored. And I think it's two and a half. So that's interesting. I have watched Colorado State play one basketball game, and the guy that stuck out to me is their point guard. He's a superstar. His name is Isaiah Stevens. They played UNLV at 33 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and he's a six foot tall point guard, very dynamic, great shooter, like great shooter, but actually unselfish, you know, he uses his shooting ability and his speed off the dribble to create for others. And his teammates are kind of a much worse version, but comparable in a sense of like, if you level down to the Mountain West of like the TJ Ford teams, where they were like really good role players that TJ, you know, they, TJ was the son and they were the planets revolving around him. Colorado State's kind of like that with Isaiah Stevens, and they don't have a guy, they don't have a true post, they don't have a guy over six seven or six eight, but they've got a bunch of guys who play smart, they can shoot a little bit. They don't defend well though, and they're not super athletic. So a guy like, you know, Dylan Mitchell, if he brings it, could actually really dominate on the boards using his quickness and his length. So, I think it's going to be an interesting, I will actually watch Virginia, Colorado State and see, you know, what Texas is in for. As far as Victor Santiago Santiago's death, while regrettable, save lives. I was actually surprised we got a seven to, I, but I think that was the strength of the big, big 12 we had what the big 12 got eight teams in. So, I don't know. Not Oklahoma, but I mean, how many are going to get in right. I just think that ultimately there was the strength of the conference or the perception of the strength of the conference that elevated Texas, and I didn't, they didn't want to put them on that 891. You know, good for Texas, they got a seven, I didn't think they were going to get a seven myself. I thought they're going to be a nine. Got the seven and got that first four matchup, which I think is is an advantage. I know a lot of these, these teams have been playing all year, but it's the NCAA tournament and I think any extra ounce of energy that you have maybe compared to your opponent is going to go a long way. Paul Isaiah Stevens from Allen, Texas, so a product of the Metroplex. But I mean, we're kind of talking past point, we could see Rick Barnes in the second round with a spot in the sweet 16 on the line. Rick, this may be his best Tennessee team. And he's had some really good Tennessee teams. He's got an all American candidate and Dalton connect. Can't say I know much about St. Peter's this year though. But remember a few years that back they made it to the sweet 16. I think even to the elite eight as a 15 seed. So obviously the teams are different, but still it's the tournament. It's always the one of the most fun weeks of the year and it's always great to see the the Longhorns involved again. Gentlemen, anything else. Eric, you and I will be able to see a lot of spring football tomorrow. We'll have stuff on here, probably tomorrow afternoon and it'll be time to see some pads, almost popping some some gentle to vigorous contact but not full contact and football will be it won't just be underwear Olympics anymore. There will be some actual things to discuss. Yeah, I can't wait and I'm glad you didn't ask me a basketball question unless you're going to cut me off like LC does Ian every week. So, yeah, I'm ready for it. Hopefully we have some up early early afternoon hopefully around lunchtime. We'll see if we can get something posted as soon as possible. Thank you for watching this video. Make sure you like the video. Subscribe to the channel. We will have a ton of updates and some great footage here on the channel this upcoming week. Looking forward to a bunch of different reaction. And if you go to InsideTexas.com, you can get one month of access for just $1 that'll take you all the way just about all the way up to the spring game and we're going to have all the info you can get on Longhorn football over on Inside Texas. So, we will be doing this again on Wednesday. We'll have some takeaways from practice. We'll obviously have a bunch tomorrow and we will see you next time on Inside Texas Football YouTube channel powered by InsideTexas.com.
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