Justin and Eric give the most up to date team news following another week of spring practices. Subscribe to Inside Texas to stay locked in with your favorite team every single day https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/join/
Inside Texas Football
Inside the Program: Defense Punches Back, Big Scrimmage, Priority Recruits on Campus
Welcome to Inside The Program brought to you by InsideTexas.com. I'm your host Justin Wells. With me, as always, is Eric Nolene. This is our staple every Friday. Thank you so much for making us a part of your day. Like our video, subscribe to the Inside Texas football YouTube channel. We're climbing up to 7,000. Help us get to that to that mark. And also use the promo code. We've got a new, a new special. IT1 gets you two months of InsideTexas.com for only a dollar. It's IT1 two months for only a dollar. We are literally giving away some of the best information in the Texas Longhorns sports stratosphere. And today is no different. We've got a practice report. Eric Nolene popped it up this morning. We've got big things to talk about with a visitor list that resembles a junior day. Let's jump right into it, Eric. It seems like the last few weeks, we've talked up the offense quite a bit. We've talked up the quarterback play quite a bit, you know, for good reason. A lot of a lot of talent there. Sounds like the defense is starting to turn it around a little bit. I know it was a zero sum practice a couple days ago, but it sounds like the defense has really ratcheted up. What's the latest you're hearing on that side of the ball? Yeah. Well, first, you know, they were, Sarcs said it was supposed to be a tempered practice after after a lively Tuesday. Thursday was supposed to be a little bit of a break before a scrimmage. I think he's trying to keep everybody's legs fresh, but then, you know, Travis Scott showed up and everybody went bonkers. I think the, I think that took the practice to another level. You know, we were hearing it was going to be a little bit more laid back. It wasn't full pads, but it ended up resembling a full pads practice. I think the combination of Travis Scott, perfect weather, and those boys were ready to play, man. So it was physical. I think that really brought the best out on the defense. You know, they had struggled versus in the run game, in the recent practices. I think that had to do more with playing. They were playing poor assignments. They were not playing the proper run fits. And, you know, the details and the linebackers weren't synced. The safeties and the linebackers weren't synced, and it was creating too many running lanes. On Thursday, they played much more assignment sound that left a lot less running room. The edges have been solid. So yeah, overall, the defense won the day. There's, there's a little bit more to talk about we can get into. The offense did look okay in quarterback water receiver one on one. There's just so much talent there. It's the, the, the corners are in a tough spot, but overall team defense situationally looked a lot better than had in recent practices. Yesterday, they interviewed a handful of players for the, the, the evening media availability, CJ Baxter, Anthony Hill, they asked them about, you know, practice, but they also asked them about what it was like seeing a celebrity show up at one of their practices, like Travis Scott. And for, for anybody that doesn't understand, he is an unbelievably popular musician. I saw the, I saw that I looked at the clothing line. You can buy a pair of sweats for $160. I'm going to urge every single one of you to just buy 168 one month deals at inside Texas rather than a pair of sweats. Yeah, the, the cactus Jack stuff is a little pricey. It's a little pricey. It's kind of like the concert tees. They, uh, they aren't cheap, but that's, that's, that's it. But I love what Baxter said. He said, you know, that's not uncommon at a Texas practice to see celebrities show up from time to time. That's part of the cool part of playing football at Texas is you never know who's going to show up. And when he walked in to, to, to the music of hyena, those, those guys, I don't think I've seen him as excited since the Alabama win. Like they were having a good time. Not to mention banks was looking at him in a little bit as a special teams role. He did some kick returns. He did some part returns. Travis Scott may have some eligibility left. If he does, Texas is his leader, sources tell us. But on the football field, you know, the defensive line is something everyone keeps asking about. You lose it to Andre sweat. You lose a Byron Murphy. And then you automatically start questioning. Okay, where's the direction? What's the identity? What is that D line shaping up to right now? And, and, and what do you, who are some of the names that are really kind of asserting themselves in the third week? Well, on the deal, I wouldn't say they're asserting themselves. Alfred Collins was named as having a good practice for sure. And that's going to, they need that, you know, they, they can't have a good defensive line without Alfred Collins stepping up. It would be impossible. Uh, him and Vernon are still, you know, one and two out there together. And then behind them, they've got Aaron Bryant is the, basically the third defensive tackle. He's a solid run player. Uh, and then Tia Savaya, the transfer from Arizona, they're still seeking out depth behind them. Uh, they're young and inexperienced. Uh, you know, Jeray blood, so it needs to step up. He's not exactly young at this point, but he still lacks in game experience. They, they're, you know, I think they're going to have to hit the transfer port still, but, um, you know, they're lacking a little bit of heft ups front, but there's no excuse for them not to play assignment sound. And I think as long as they do that, they'll be okay this season. It just won't be a team strength at linebacker. We, we hear that the two names the most are Anthony Hill and David Benda. And he'll actually spoke to the media yesterday and he sounds like a seasoned veteran. It's, it's almost like Anthony Hill's been interviewed since his freshman year in high school. It's like he's had a lot of practice. Um, after he'll and Benda though, what are some of the names you had a couple names pop up in the report this morning at inside Texas.com. They kind of took, got a little bit of attention. Talk about some of the other linebackers that have been kind of, I guess we could say asserting themselves. Well, Maurice Blackwell is number three. Um, you know, he's, he's having a good camp and he's a reliable veteran at this point. Definitely knows the defense brings the energy every day. Good locker room guy, uh, physical player. So he, he's your number three. Right now, uh, León Lefal would be the backup at Mike, uh, behind, uh, Hill and he's kind of a do it all linebacker. He could play either position. He's smart, physical, good football athlete, wouldn't necessarily, uh, you know, blow everybody away in a combine setting, but he moves it very well on a football field, pretty stout player, smart, good and coverage. Uh, he'll, he'll, at least right now, he'll be the backup. Uh, we're starting to hear some things about daring to let, which I find quite encouraging. You know, he caught my eye at, uh, at practice. Uh, I had to look at, at his number because I wasn't, obviously he was big, but I was a little further away, but I could tell by the way he was moving that it was just really naturally, he was playing, uh, with a lot of comfort, uh, for his size. So I caught, I was very happy to see his name when I looked at his number. Um, he's playing Will right now, uh, opposite León, uh, and then you've also got him working some at Sam linebacker with, uh, Maurice Blackwell and also Trey Moore. So it's nice to start here and daring to let, because he had so much athletic upside. He was a little bit behind the curve coming out of high school as far as his understanding of playing the position. Obviously missing his senior year didn't help either. Uh, but it seems like he's right online. I'm not predicting big things for him this season, but I think he's going to be ready after they lose a couple guys after the, after 2024. You know, someone else that plays really good defense that, that, that we always have, have, that we've become a little close to is Andre the lawyer. This guy, you know, if you're injured, you need to call Andre the lawyer. He's located in Dallas, Texas, but he helps everyone, not just injured Longhorns with car wrecks, slip and falls, workplace accidents, 18 Wheeler, uh, incidents on the job entries, wrongful deaths. Andre is a proud member of the inside Texas community, but again, he will help anybody. If you get stuck, if you get in a position where you need good linebacker play, you call Andre the lawyer, two, one, four, four, four, four, eight, eight, zero, eight. It's two, one, four, four, four, four, eight, eight, zero, eight. Eric, they've got a pretty big scrimmage coming up on Saturday. They've got some parents coming in, but even more so, they got some recruits coming in. So Saturday's kind of got a de facto junior day vibe to it. Where do you want to get started? What's the, what's the best outcome aside from everyone being healthy coming out of Saturday scrimmage? And then we'll lead into talking a little bit about this recruiting list that is, uh, absolutely stacked. Well, I had zero concerns about the offense going into next year. So I'm most interested in how the defense plays in a one-on-one or ones versus one setting. Um, you know, obviously, it'd be in a scrimmage setting. You know that Sarc is going to have a lot of goals in mind on what he wants to accomplish on offense. He's going to have to die. He's going to dial up the intensity. We know that anytime there's a scrimmage with a lot of people in town, uh, he's going to make it as game-like as possible. I'm interested to see how the defense responds to the recent run game success. I have some concerns that Thursday's practice will start taking the foot off the gas a little bit, letting them restore some confidence on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, I'm curious to see how the D line does, uh, in a scrimmage setting and a bunch of individual players I'm curious to hear about, you know, the Trey Moore get two or three sacks, if so, who's off of a lineman he was going up against. Um, how do some of the younger players that need to step up at Aaron Bryant? We have to start, we have to start investigating him a lot more with, uh, with the more mentions that we get of him. So there's plenty, all my concerns right now are on defense. And, and, and, and like, you know, we've talked about this, I feel like all week on the inside Texas football YouTube channel, you know, recruits, they love coming to campus. They, they like the facility. They like meeting everyone, you know, doing that whole thing. But seeing practice is big for these recruits. Seeing a scrimmage is even bigger because you're seeing that intensity. And a lot of times high school players don't understand until they're literally standing on the sideline and they can sense it and they can feel it. And so, you know, this list is large. You got a couple quarterbacks coming in, one committed in KJ Lacey, you got a pair of running backs coming in, Texas looks real good on. You got some outstanding receivers on the defensive side. You got some priority dudes showing up from the D line and from the secondary. Let's just kind of narrow some of this down. What's the biggest offensive guy? I want one of yours and I'll give one. The big, the biggest offensive recruiting your opinion that's going to be on, on campus this weekend. Well, you know, it's not a position of need. Let me think about this for a second here. Cause the Corian is going to take the, it's, it's a long game, right? We might as well talk, you can ask me the same question in a November football game. Who's the biggest visitor on campus this week? And we'd probably say the Corian more. So I'm not, I'm not talking about the Corian in that, in that way. I'm, and you know, running back is not, not a huge need. So Jordan Davison is obviously, I, I, I'm, come on, man, dude, both those freshmen are already studying out. It's, I know, I know. So I mean, you talk about needs and wants. He obviously, he's a huge one and he's going to be very good in college. And I do hope that they land him, but let me see, you know, maybe I would love to see them just go all in on colleague locket. Honestly, I'm trying to think in the offensive lineman that they had there. Lamont Rogers supposed to be there as well, right? So that's, that's a big one. We'll see how hard they go there. I hope, I would love to see them. I'll sleep better at night. If they get a stud wide receiver committed fairly early, and I can stop worrying about, you know, who's, who they're pushing for, who they're not. That's fair. That's fair. And you're right about Corian. You're right about Jordan. Jordan was going to be mine just because there feels like there's been somewhat of a shift. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's why it's a good one, but I'm just like, you know, if they don't, if they don't get that kid at running back, Texas is going to be okay. However, I am very curious about what you're about to talk about. Well, I was going to mention, not just, I was going to mention Davison in the Ohio State push and, you know, hiring Lachlan out of Oregon, and he had a connection with him, you know, a year ago when, you know, when that recruitment started. But honestly, you know, from it, and again, it's probably not a need. I love that KJ Lacey's there. I love that he's going to be interacting with the Korean more and Kel-Shawn Johnson and Colique Locket and all those guys in Nick Townsend. Like, that's a guy, maybe we should talk about a little bit more. You've already got to tie it in in this class in Amari Winston. They're, they're in the thick of it with Jasper four star Kiadi Armstrong. Yeah. There's something about this, this Nick Townsend kid, you have been enamored with him since we started following his recruitment. I feel like they need to stock that tied in room. And from a need position, I think too high in tied in is incredibly important. And so I think this with Townsend, because since his last trip in January to Austin, he has been stacking offers. Yeah. A lot of the great towns is a great one to mention. No doubt. I'm a huge fan of him. We, I write about him all the damn time. Yeah. I just, I feel extremely confident they're going to get one of him in Kiadi. Now the dream is they get, they get both of them and add it to Amari Winston because they are Emery Winston. There's, there's room in the program for those three with, with, with how the roster's currently stacked up. But you know, that's just being a little greedy. I don't know if the staff is going to see it the same way. I kind of think they do just because of the last couple of classes have gone, only taking one last year and Shannon and, and Will are still taking, taking some time to develop. But you know, I want, I'm finally going after two of those guys because even if you split aces, you're doing okay, right? You still got a chance to win two hands. And I think that goes up. That's a good transition to defensive tackle, because you've got Zion Williams and DJ Sanders coming on campus. That's it. Like offenses, maybe a little more clear defense with DJ Sanders and Zion Williams. And then that big safety from Galveston ball, sitting in the back and Jonah Williams, you could say that the need spots are more so on that side of the football. Let's start on the D line. I'll start with Zion Williams. How important this guy is. We broke it a couple, a couple, about a week or so ago that he was going to be on campus. We all know the LSU is, has taken a lead here. Bo Davis, his relationship that they built in Austin, carried over. And, and you've got to give that guy credit. Getting him back on campus to me is a huge data point, because if, if he would have gone without seeing Austin from January to his late June, weekend official visit, I don't feel good at about that at all. It would have been over, it would have been over before he got to campus if that was the case. Amen. And now with him coming back in, coming with his mother, look, he's got a good relationship with Sarg. And, and PK and him talk on a pretty regular basis. Kenny Baker is the key here. And I don't think they're going to put it all on his shoulders. He's never been in a position where he's had to recruit such a high-end guy at a high place. This is going to be, this is going to be a, a village type recruitment here for Zion. And they're going to have, he's a musket. I know you've got that category for only the best of the best. Zion's on that. Give me the latest on DJ Sanders. I get a Texas, Texas A&M vibe there as well, that him being on campus this weekend, I feel, is also a plus. Yeah, you know, Austin County and Belleville has kind of split UTA and M heavily, I would say heavily favored among communities, community is fair between A&M and UT with the favorite being the Aggies. It's, it's more rural environment. But there's a, there's a pretty good Texas influence out there as well. Man, when you talk to people around him, and I, you know, I'm from the area. So I've got, you know, some of my good friends are have their kids in school. They say he likes Texas, but they, nobody really seems to know where he's going. It's a secretive recruitment. I've been up by the school a couple of times. And they're just don't give away a ton of information. So you have to read the situation. You have to poke and prod. You have to kind of pick up any hint that you can. But what every hint that I get points it to Texas versus versus A&M. Everybody wants them, of course, you can go anywhere in the country. He's probably got the highest upside of any defense attack on the state. I think Williams Zion probably has a better higher floor. Texas has to get one of these two. Ideally, they would get both because they can play in tandem. You could play, you could play DJ where they had Byron and you could play Zion where they had to Von Dres sweat. So they fit perfectly in that, in that regard. But, you know, everybody's fighting after these guys. We always talking about it. The bigger they are, the harder they are to get because everybody needs it. There's just not as many big guys like these guys. There's been a, there's been a little bit of a shift and another recruit. And that's Jonah Williams. You know, a couple of months ago, we heard, Hey, this, this guy is leaning heavy to Oklahoma. We had heard he had potentially could have given a silent. We know the baseball program was heavily involved in that recruitment and whoever gets him is going to have to have a good sales pitch on the, on the diamond as well. But you had heard a lot in the last few weeks about how Texas is kind of pushing themselves in more to that recruitment, you know, assuring him. He's a safety assuring him. He can do a few things. You, you, you posted an update last week. Jonah Williams come in and Eric, how big is this? It's very big. You know, they have to make up for lost ground. They were recruiting Matt linebacker when everybody else was, well, not everybody, but a lot of other schools were recruiting Matt's safety. And you know, that's not to say that other schools don't see him at linebacker. I think a lot of schools have. I just don't think he's going to play linebacker. I don't think that that's a position he wants to play. And if your heart is not in playing linebacker, you don't have a chance of playing that position that just demands too much of you. So I think he's going to be a safety or potentially an offensive player. It depends on how big he gets. You know, I think if he makes an effort to stay around 220, he can do it. He's going to have to eat right, run a lot and all that other stuff. What I, what I like is that, you know, he's got a bit of an analog out there to see himself how he fits in that defense in Jelani McDonald, you know, Jelani's not a little guy. So he's going to see, hey, if Jelani can do it athletically and at that size in this game, then I can do the same. So I think that the staff will be wise to point them in the direction of watching Jelani. Hey, look, this is how we're going to use you because it is how they would use them. But they love him. He's a high priority. The staff is all over him at this point. There's not a whole lot of people that there's not a whole lot of guys I know of that the staff likes more than John Williams as a prospect and as a person. So now it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. He's going to, it's going to, I think he just set up LSU for early June. A&M is going to be in the mix. These programs that have good baseball teams are going to make a make a big effort. And Texas has good baseball, you know, some of the best baseball history in the sport. So I like Texas chances. When I met that kid a couple of years ago, I was like, you know what, I could really see him at Texas. And then it kind of tails spun with the original evaluation. But I think it's getting right back on the original track that I saw two years ago. We'll see this big weekend to really make inroads. But I think Texas is right at the top of his favorite right now. I love that analog with Jelani McDonald because if there's another guy that's an equal to athlete, I think it's Jelani. A guy that did three or four different things in three or four different sports. Man, so much good stuff happening this weekend. Please come to insidetexas.com and check it out. We're going to have updates all throughout Saturday, all throughout Sunday. Please use the promo code IT1 and you get two months of insidetexas.com for only a dollar.