Let's discuss what happened during the spring game. Use Promo Code “IT1” To Get 2 Months of InsideTexas.com for Only $1: https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/join/
Inside Texas Football
Post Spring Game Live: Arch Manning's Spring Performance, WR Room, Texas Defense
Ladies and gentlemen, we have done it. We have joined the people. We are amongst the folks. We are at Posse East in Austin, Texas, just coming off of a monumental spring game where honestly Texas was able to pull it out in the end. It was a bit of a nail biter. They were able to successfully find victory. As you can see, we've got some folks hugging our own Eric Nalene here at Posse East. I'm joined by Ian Boyd and Paul Watlington often in places far beyond Texas. So let's get straight into it. This is our opportunity to talk about all the major stories of this and let's start with you Ian. What are you seeing? What's going on over there? How is this experience for you? Seeing some of the new players, the new faces? And what were some of the storylines for you? It kind of looks like the playoff game at times. OK. You guys like they're playing inics and Roma Dunezag again. Arch and Treo, it's just dropping bombs. This receiving core looks amazing. Oh my god. Yeah. I don't think the secondary is going to be a disaster. They do need a little bit of work on some things we've talked about and just general technique and one-on-one coverage. But I mean, they loaded the box. We got to see the offense throw the ball in a lot of just passing game kind of stuff. And the passing game looks outstanding. Really strong. Well, and that was this. Obviously, yours is coming into this with a limited pitch count, which we knew going in. There's no doubt that the national media will be talking about the backup quarterbacks and what that actually means. But the quarterback play was fantastic. And I'd love for us to talk about that for a second. Go ahead. Whatever you're ready, Paul, the floor is yours. Yeah, I just am reading the chat. Everyone's fired up. James Lee in the chat says, that's the best spring game I've watched in my 42 years on this year Earth being a Longhorn fan. Definitely dynamic, definitely fun, lots of fireworks. I don't think the timing of the deep dive that we did could have been any better, Ian, where we talked about some of the interesting things about arch manning and his mechanics and the duplicability of his mechanics. And he can make the medium to easy throws like a metronome. And just very impressive, the thing that really impressed me about arch was he was always ready to throw. His eyes were always downfield. He's making small minor movements in the pocket to get windows. His eyes are there. The ball's ready. His feet are always a perfect width apart. And the minute he sees it, he throws it. And it gets there. Can you expand on one of the things that's clear that we've seen in very small sparks with arch is obviously he's an athletic guy. He can get himself out of trouble with his athleticism. And I feel like that actually buys him some confidence in the pocket. It allows him to stay in the pocket and really find those routes. Yeah, you noticed on that third downrun up the middle. He looked. He's looking for windows. He's calm. And he realizes, hey, it's third down. I've just got to go get the yards. And what was interesting is if you watch that play, he's got big legs and big butt. Like he's powerful. So he's not just sort of elusive, which is not uncommon for a quarterback. But he put his head down and started sprinting up the field. And he got up to speed quickly. And you could tell if he wants to be, he could even be a little bit of a load to tackle. I don't recommend that he embraced that Tebow-esque play style, but he's a big guy. And I don't think people realize how big he is when you see him out of context. You know, since we're on the quarterback, obviously, we're not going to stay on the quarterback. So there's a lot to talk about in this small sample size of where the University of Texas is right now. But I mean, the quarterback showed out there was quality quarterback play out of the depth chart. And let's not discount Trey Owens. I mean, the young fella came out and he came to play. He has some good zip that he can put on the ball. I think we knew that coming out of high school, but it always is different when you see it against SEC athletes and future NFL athletes running the routes and kind of cover them. He definitely-- he's like a few years away. If and when we see this guy, it's going to be in a few years. He looks like he could be made game ready, like Malik Murphy last year, maybe this year. Shouldn't come up, right? That's like a worst case scenario. But he's very poised. I think he got lit up on a corner of blitz that he didn't see. Or he would have been lit up if he were allowed to be-- he nearly threw a pick six to a dropping edge. Zima Umeazulu, would you see that ball? He's a good drop. All the kinds of things that if they happened in a game, it would really matter. And you'd be like, oh, this rookie, this freshman's terrible. But boy, it's his first spring. And he looks pretty comfortable, like he belongs, for sure. Hey, Pussy, do you want to just throw out some players that caught our eye? I would. I think it's appropriate, if you don't mind. Let's just finish the quarterback room, and let's talk about yours. Again, we had a limited play now with him. And they were not messing around. I mean, they gave viewers some defense to play against. So there was some single high that we noticed in the-- certainly in the first few series. I'd love to hear your comments on that. And it can-- super small sample size out of this game. But what were your impressions? We'll start with you, Ian. Overall, I mean, for reviewers. You were so curious, yeah. I mean, we didn't see very much. It's a little bit disconcerting that he got to pass batted on an RPO again. But you know, shades of the playoff game against Washington again. I mean, Ethan Burke is 6'6", though. So it happens. It's unfortunate for viewers that it happened in some of the only snaps. But he rebounded pretty well after that. He made a couple of pretty good throws. He was facing some pretty tight coverage early. He didn't get to throw the ball, where the defense blows the coverage on the switch route. And the Andre Moore's running right up and down the sideline. I'm sure if he'd played a full game, he would have had his moments too. But he didn't know. We're going to get New York postal run wild tomorrow morning. I think we can all read the headlines now. Absolutely. Paul, do you have any comments that you'd like to make? Again, it's a super small sample size. There's really, unfortunately, not much to talk about in that regard. But we can move on if you'd like. It's entirely up to you. No, just the batted ball in the RPO was unfortunate. Ethan Burke did a good job getting his hands up. Ethan didn't really have to jump for that, which had something to do with your release point, which is something we've talked about. And also, he needed to throw it out there a little bit earlier or take a step out to create some space and a window. And then Alfred Collins scooped it up, got a big man touchdown. So good for him. And then I thought he was inaccurate on a couple of other balls. Yours had a nice little in cut that was opened up. Isaiah Bond, and he was low on that on a third down. That should have been a little bit higher, and it should have been up earlier. So yeah, I mean, look, he didn't get much time to knock off the rust and get moving and get in the groove. And there's a reason he had the limited series. He's the starting quarterback for Texas. So Sark has established the hierarchy. But I think people should be rightfully very excited on what they saw from Altmanning and to a lesser extent trail, and even Cole Lord threw a couple of good balls. There is JW's favorite player, Cole Lord, absolutely came involved out. So well, let's move on. Obviously Justin is going to be talking about Cole Lord, that guy being his favorite player of all time. I'd love to hear your impressions. Who really stood out to you today, Paul? Were there any players in particular, especially maybe even some new names that we haven't seen on the 48ers before that we're really showing out? Well, the walk-on wide receivers put on the clinic in some instances, we had Thatcher running around out there like a madman. So good for him. Colton Vossack just repeatedly flashed. He's long and he is quick. And it's clear that he is covering ground much faster than the offensive tackle is anticipating. Because when they let him go on a little stunt or run inside or not just play straight up, he is very disruptive. Very early in the game, he had a pressure. Obviously, he didn't get whistled dead. And then later, he was really disruptive in the running game. Tackles for loss, just very difficult and he's slippery. There's something about him that he's long, but he can get low and he's kind of bendy. And he just doesn't stay engaged. And it's a hard trait to teach to a defensive lineman, particularly an edge. And boy, he just repeatedly flashed. I understand why Jamon Tap transferred out now. And we're going to probably see some potentially even more edutrition. So he stood out to me. Another guy that stood out to me was Jordan Washington late. The young freshman tight end looks good running. He made a terrific catch bailing out the quarterback in the middle of the field and on a fourth down no less. And he just looks good. And he moves easy. He's long. He's got really long arms. He's built long. He's already 240. I don't know if you recall this. But a year ago, inside Texas, interviewed him. And we were talking to him about his weight. And he was like, oh, I'm 207. And of course, you guys know my pet peeve that, yes, young men can put on weight very quickly if they want to, especially elite athletes. And of course, Jordan Washington's now 240 a year later easily and carrying it beautifully. He looks really coordinated, and he's going to be one of these guys that as he gets stronger, he gets more athletic, not less athletic. So those two jumped out to me. I had more, but I want to let Ian get in on this. Yeah, absolutely. What do you have for us today, Boyd? I wanted to talk about Vosik as well. Vosik, I thought, was really impressive. You're allowed to. It's entirely. There's no rules. I didn't claim him. Vosik is for everything. He's everything is for every-- We're amongst the people today at Vosik East. You can talk about the same player again. Well, you know, everybody's been excited about Colin Simmons, who actually looked extraordinarily twitchy and is immediately heavy, like in a good way. Like he looks big and built out for SEC play. But I've been cautioning people like, hey, they still have this other blue chip and built in Vosik you haven't seen yet. And you should wait and see what that guy turns into, because he was better than Ethan Burke at Westlake. And Ethan Burke has turned out to be pretty darn good. So I mean, they are just-- I mean, Paul already said this, but boy, are they loaded at Edge now. You can see why they're hosting all these big nose tackles on campus today, like J. Toya from UCLA, and sorry, guys, I don't remember who else is there. I believe there's another guy there as well. Like PK wants to be able to run his defense and let those guys just go eat. And that's easier if the guys inside can just hold the ground and do Yeoman's work. They remind me a little bit, like one of the things Michigan had going for them last year was they were too deep at both Edge positions with guys who could come in and disrupt the passing game. Like more potentially NFL edges. And I think Texas is approaching that now. And probably next year, the year after this one, they will be there. Hey, Ian, what about Trey Wingo? Ryan Wingo? What about Ryan Wingo? Is that what-- is that what people are calling him? Did they call him? No, someone messed up in the chat. OK. What about Ryan Wingo? He is like-- I mean, we talked about him. I remember on a podcast a while back. He's like, change of direction. He's like-- he would have played running back in another era is I think what we said at the time. And that looked very true in this game. Like his change of direction after he caught that slant. He's just a very unique athlete, right? And then when he ran by the guy on the early touchdown pass, I was like, well, that was really nice. But I mean, he just ran by that, dude. I'm going to look up his number and see which walk on that was, right? And then it was blue chip Kobe Black. He was a freshman. He's a freshman. He did not look bad today, either. No, and he ended up making multiple plays. Kobe Black did. He had an interception. He had a tackle. And I think a pass breakup, they were all-- they're all looked really nice. He just ran by. I was like, that's a 4-9 walk on. I mean, that's great, but that's not going to translate. That was not a 4-9 40 walk on. Wingo, I don't know how they're going to get him on the field. Is there so loaded at receiver? But it might happen anyway. In terms of-- I mean, obviously, we're not going to see much today in terms of being wrinkled, for schemes. But we did see a few things that I know that kind of caught your attention, Ian. And what did you see from the defense today that stood out as a whole, writ large schematically? Well, I guess, I mean, the most interesting thing was that they would just played a lot of single high coverage. Now, they already had that in the playbook. They had zone. They had match in just like straight man. All these things are already in the playbook. So this doesn't mean, like, oh, they're single-eyed defense now, and they're going to build around that all season. It's not uncommon in a scrimmage format to just play like single high man, you know? Especially if you're like, hey, let's not have a spring game be our run defense getting run over for four quarters. Like, that's going to just depress everybody, and it's not going to be good television or excite recruits or anything. Let's play man coverage and just have our receivers and our DBs go at it, right? So this is all a caveat to say they may not major in that coverage. They sure did play a lot of it. And we got to see how they looked in it. And there were some promising things. Jelani McDonald looks really good in the box, for instance. They have some guys that can turn and run, obviously. And then there were some things that were not great. The leverage was often bad. The linebackers weren't always-- didn't always get great drops. Multiple times, cornerbacks got just definitely toasted one-on-one. And then that first arch manning touched on gas's feature, just an absolute blown assignment in the secondary, where it looked like everybody was playing zone that Terence Brooks. So there's a world in which it wasn't his fault, but it was probably his fault. So another play like that Ian, the touchdown throw to Thatcher Milton. They unleashed Thatcher like it was 1982 Britain. So Milton ran a nice route. It was a good throw from Trey Owens. But Xavier Filsame, the true freshman safety, took a terrible angle and realized it during the play. And as Thatcher Milton runs past him, he goes, he does like the, what's the famous painting, the scream, you know, where you're existential. That's what it looks like on the field. I think his defensive backs position coach will be saying to him, hey, on the field, you don't-- you actually turn around and chase the guy that you messed up and try to tackle him. You don't just get to go like that and go, ah, and rock on the field like your Dustin Hoffman and Wainman. So yeah, that was an interesting play. OK, Colin Simmons, I thought on a clear pass rush down, when you know that the other team is throwing the ball, his get off is really good. But I didn't notice Trey Moore. Did-- did you guys see him? I just-- there was too much for me to watch in my first live viewing. I just didn't see him. Yeah, no, I didn't. Yeah, he did not-- no, there was no standout as far as I-- I can see him from it. It was-- again, this is a-- there's so many variables on who's on the defense at a good time. There's so much less consistency. I think we're good to do that. But if you're ready, I'd love to switch over to just the offense now, which-- and we did specifically talk about the quarterback. But what are we seeing, again, either schematically or what individual players outside of those quarterbacks stood out? For me, I'd love to start talking about CJ Baxter, because that man ran today. He came to run, and he was sending messages. And my God, leave Michael Taft alone. That we need Michael Taft. We need to keep him alive, CJ. Yeah, we need-- We need the great communicator in the defensive backfield, keeping Terrence Brooks on task. But yeah, I liked what I saw from CJ Baxter. I really liked what I saw from Jayden Blue. But CJ looked good. My criticism of CJ last year, and he's a true freshman, but he wasn't breaking tackles. He wasn't adding to runs and finishing runs and getting those extra yards there, just him, not the play call, not the offensive line, not the blocking. And he showed that today that he was capable of finishing and driving his hips through the tackle, and not just getting stopped the minute there's contact. So that was very encouraging. Jayden Blue, a couple of really nice catches. I mean, he looks so fluid in running a route. And then also, he was open a couple of other times where he didn't get the ball. There was also a third down where they handed him the ball up the middle. And it was clearly like a gut check kind of carry. And he just burrowed in there and put his head down and drove with his thighs and legs and added those extra yards to carry, exactly what he was doing. He's not just a big play guy, right? He's also in every downback. So very pleased with both backs. Trey Wisner had a couple of moments and looked solid. Jared Gibson and Christopher and his hearts certainly looked apart. They didn't get a ton of action. Ian, did you do anything specific for you on the offense stick out? It's hard to evaluate the run game very well, because they loaded the box so much. They had some issues that seemed like running the ball. I don't know what really to make of that without a better, closer look. The depth of athletes is just kind of overwhelming. I don't think I've ever seen a Texas team with this many speedy skill athletes ever of this caliber. Can you Paul, like the 2005 offensive starter is nothing at all to this? Probably 2005 probably couldn't even match 2023. And 2024 is just another level beyond. It's kind of remarkable that it took this long to get here because the state of Texas is uniquely loaded with skill athletes. It's just been kind of a squandered advantage for the last decade or so. But they got it going now. And it's going to be interesting to see what it looks like on the field. We haven't seen it before. That's what I'm trying to convey. We have not seen a team that's loaded before. The closest we've got is last year. Yeah, the LC meeting the people. I'm in amongst the people. Apparently there is a food delivery happening. All right, there you go. Hey, I agree. I think, look, ultimately, your upside as a football team is going to be determined by your stars and your top line players and what they can do. But it's really helpful to have a roster who you feel pretty good about 40, 45 guys going out on the field and playing at a good or better level. That's huge. So part of the alchemy of this in the era of the portal and NIL and these guys constantly getting tampered with-- by the way, we probably can't put a little as well-- is how do you sell them on the future and the dream? And hey, I understand they're offering you this now. I understand your third team. This is what we see for you in 2025, right? And that's a hard thing to sell young men on, but it looks like Sark is walking that tightrope. And look, for two years straight, we've taken a lot more from the portal than we've given to the portal. And I think that's going to continue it. How much of that would you attribute to the fact that the future of the quarterback position is pretty sick? There's going to be less uncertainty after the starting quarterback leaves. I mean, that's a unique position for Texas. I mean, I don't know Ian's thoughts. I'll give mine very succinctly. If you're a wide receiver and you watch this scrimmage and you're not excited about going to Texas and playing with the next couple of quarterbacks they have, you're nuts. Ian, any thoughts? I'm going to bring on our very own Justin Wells here in a moment, but he is deep in chat. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on the-- This has sort of been-- It's sort of in Sark's MO at USC in Alabama as well. Even at Washington, they were kind of getting there. Like, if you look at the team that he left for Chris Peterson in Washington, it was absurdly loaded. How does he do it? I don't know. I mean, he just-- he delivers on promises, I guess. Like, if you stick around here and you give me your upper-classmen years, after a few years waiting around, it will pay off for you. You know, USC there always stacked with just obscene talent. Alabama was like that before Sark got there, obviously. He was not responsible for it. But certainly, he didn't diminish it. It worked out pretty well there, too. It probably helps that he's at a university with one of the bigger NIL salary caps, sort of the beak of any team in the nation. But I mean, like we've said before, like, you can get an NIL discount if you can deliver on an NFL payday down the line. And this draft and the next ones, I think, are just going to-- The rich will get richer in Austin. I would love to get your closing thoughts before we switch over to what arguably could be an absolute cluster cusses. We try to do this live in this bar with all these folks. But I want to give it-- I want to shout it out to R. Jacob. Wood, you're thank you so much for the super chat. As we're going through this, your super chats, all the stuff that's coming in on the comment section, we are seeing that. We've got the Texas Homer on the backstage there. He's looking at everything and trying to put as much of that stuff on screen as we possibly can. But as I go and wrangle these boys up, I would love to hear your final thoughts on this. We'll start with Paul, and then we'll bring out Ian. And then we'll get little Justin Welles on stage here so you guys can hear Lillie's texts. Yeah, I'm excited. I thought there were a lot of individuals that flashed and excited me. I have a little consternation about our secondary and communication. I think that needs to still improve. I think there's still plenty of time for that to happen. The quarterback room looks terrific. Offensive line looks pretty good. And then I think there's some players that-- I mean, they flash. And I think it's going to be really exciting to see them build on this offseason, getting stronger, getting bigger, getting faster. And then they're going to show up in August. And we're going to have some guys that we weren't anticipating being breakout type players. And they are going to break out because they are going to make themselves play. And I think that's exciting. The wide receiver rotation, I don't regret trying to set that thing up because we seem to have multiple guys that can play. Any closing thoughts here Ian before I bust out show the world what Justin Wells looks like in the live? I think it kind of cemented the impression that the offense has a chance to be truly elite this year and carry the team. The defense has some question marks still that are substantial. But I mean, I'm not-- I wouldn't panic about that yet. But I mean, they obviously have some work to do. And they have a lot of insurance on offense. I think Quinn Ewers would be wise to stay healthy this season. Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, we really appreciate you guys stick around. We may be coming back to you a little bit later, but we do have Justin Wells with us here today. So we're going to move this over. The boys will be able to hear you, Justin. But unfortunately, you're not going to be able to hear them. So what were your thoughts? Where were your impressions today? And we got our camera right there you can look at. I like the score. I'm always defending. What do you both want to do? All right, so we can't hear Justin. All right, here. You take this one. All right, here you go. I'm a fan of scoring. I'm a fan of any time we can put points on the board. I think that was tremendous today. I think they made the spring game fun. I think it was fun for the crowd. I think the players, especially the young guys, were enthusiastic. They wanted a chance to go out there and make a play. It wasn't just going through the motions. It felt like they really wanted to be out there and have fun with it and do it. And then again, when you're hitting deep bombs with Archmanning and Trey Owens, that just makes it that much more fun. And so off the top top of my head, you've got to talk about Archmanning. I mean, the dude threw for almost 400 yards. It's a spring game. I get it. But at the end of the day, that's what we need. Texas needs that durability in the quarterback room. And if Quinn goes down again, which he has the last few years he's been there, then they've got someone that can come in and I think can pick up right where they left off. Yeah. So again, we're live, so we're sharing this little dead cat right here. We're going to get all this fixed. But so let's talk a little bit about recruiting here. We had some-- I mean, look, transfer portal folks in. This is a massive weekend for us. Obviously, we've got some of our high school recruits in as well. Who won our standout list? So we're really-- obviously, we're focusing on a lot of folks here, but who, for you, was really standing out this weekend? Yeah, the fact that they've got two transfer portal defensive linemen on campus. Jay Toa from UCLA, Bill Norton out of Arizona, via Georgia. That, to me, is big. They're on official visits right now. And we feel really confident about where Texas stands with those guys. They needed to go portal hunting for the defensive line, and they did that. They're doing that, and they're going to continue to do that. Then you had commits. You had guys like Nate Kibble, signing. You had Santana Wilson, 2024 signing. You had Lance Jackson, 2025 commit. And you had Riley Pettijon, one of the best linebackers in the country. He came in right before Elijah Barnes, one of the newest commits to the 2025 class. It wasn't his star heavy, because there have been so many high priority big time guys come in over the last couple of weeks. And so I think a lot of that was that. But just talking to the guys earlier this morning, they were excited. The parents were excited. I think they were thrilled about the weather cooperating as anything, to be honest with you. Because we didn't know exactly how it was going to go. The weather was perfect. The Lord blessed DKR. He's like, look, y'all play? And then I'm going to bring the rain. And so the fans had fun. I think the players had fun. And again, if Texas gets out of that thing without an entry, that's a dub. Yeah, absolutely. I will have to say that this-- just in terms of experience, you know that this is something that isn't-- let's be honest. Probably the most exciting thing that the football program wants to do for that very reason. They want to keep injuries down. But this is a massive event, Ned. The pump, the circumstance, it's all there. The pregame is there. We've got all the fire sale. But let's face it, all the big 12 gear. Everything must go. Everything must go. We've got all of these things just absolutely flying out the door. And the kids-- I mean, look, to be honest with you, we started with little no contact. They're just popping a little bit. And then by the end of it, we really got that going, do you need to take that call? I do. You do take that call. But I'm not going to leave you on here. I can call him back. I'm not going to leave you hanging. Paul and Ian already did that. So I'm going to stand tight with you. But no, you're right. Everybody had a good time. And that's what you want. The coaches, they don't want-- get away from the entry bug. I think that was the big worry today. Because when you play an inclement weather, that's when bad stuff happens. And so the fact that they were able to get this thing in before anything happened. Sarkin, those guys have to be excited. Oh, wow, it's people bringing a swag. OK, so for those of you not paying attention-- and it's really easy not to. But we are at Pause East right now. This is our live feed that we're doing post-game. And I have to tell you, the atmosphere has been fantastic. We have a lot of IT people here today. It's nice meeting people from the board, people from the community as we go through this experience. So that's been really wonderful. And we appreciate all those folks who did come out. We do have a special running right now. It is IT1. Now, that's the promo code that you can put in there. That's going to be two months of inside Texas for $1. This is the time to do it. We are about to go into it. I think it's going to be a very surprising transfer portal for a lot of folks when it comes to the University of Texas in a very positive way. The sense we're getting from sources is that they are committed. Let's put it that way. They are committed to the cause of really making a run at it this year. And I think that's something that's really exciting for Texas fans, especially now we have the experience of going into the playoffs last year. And we're getting that sense of it. So when you're talking to the recruits, when you're talking to their families, I mean, that's also got to be exciting. You're seeing that the organization that they're signing with is committed to making those runs. They're not passive about it. They are-- it is a well-oiled machine when it goes to come and getting these guys. If there's one thing that sells a program, it's the NFL draft. If there's another, it's winning. Winning cures all. And in Texas for whatever reason, in Texas is winning, things are really, really good. And I think Sart has the temperament for this position in this job, in this climate. I think he knows how to stock the roster and turn the bottom of it in the NFL franchise style. I think he learned a little bit from Saban and Pete Carroll along the way. And listen, you can't-- you can't Steve Sarkeesian enough quarterback play. You give him some weapons. They're going to put points on the board and they're going to do a good job. And Pete Quackowski's been tremendous the last few years in building around that defense. If they can continue to stockpile that defensive line and we feel like they're going to do that heavily in the portal, this team can make a run. They'll see. I mean, that's just the way it is. They lost some guys. They lost, what, 80% of their offense. And they added a ton of speed. And you added a lot of guys coming up and Johnson Cook, DeAndre Moore, both were active today. Ryan Wingo is going to have to see the field. My god. I mean, the dude on a Wingo in a prayer, the guy is that guy. And so it's a fun time right now and it should be. But with parents and players, they see the good-- they see that in the locker room. They see that in the facilities. They see that family atmosphere. They feed off of that. And that makes that decision easier because Sarkees does not push. Most college coaches try to push at some point. Chimbo Fisher was known for the trap door. He had this remote control that-- his office door opened. If he pressed the button, it closed behind a recruit. Sarkees doesn't do that. And so at the end of the day, man, just a great atmosphere, a great time. Like I said, everybody getting healthy off the field, I think was big. Vernon Broughton had to miss. Big man's getting married. He's going to give him his nu-- Fair enough, yeah, absolutely. --to give him the nuptials to that. Today, Baron wasn't able to play today. No reason for him to play at all. And so Baron Sorrell actually wasn't supposed to play. He got in a few series. I think some of these guys kind of got caught up in the moment. It's like, you know what? I think it can go a series. Because they know they're not going to get football against a lot. That's a long gap. And even for us, imagine for them. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, listen, Justin, we're going to let you take that call. I know that's really important. You know, I definitely saw who was on the caller ID. And I want you to take that call. We're going to bring in Mr. Eric Nauline, who's obviously at the game as well. This is an opportunity for us to get a sense of like, look, again, this is a massive opportunity for recruits. It's a massive opportunity for the community to see what's going on in the particulars in terms of what is the atmosphere like? What is it like if you're a recruit? What is it like if you're at somebody in the transfer portal to play at the University of Texas? And Eric, I think what we'd love to hear about is, you know, what Justin and I talked about was the recruits, obviously. We have the high school guys coming in. And there seems to be, you know, without revealing too much, there seems to be a commitment by the team on really making a run this year and really making the best of what they can with it. Yeah, I think, yeah, Paul would probably be proud of me for saying like positive inertia. I think there's just a lot of excitement around the program. That game was way more entertaining than I ever expected. And I think it's an outgrowth of the fact that they're having so much fun being at the University of Texas and playing this first challenge. And I think that's going to be infectious. And I think it's going to be a very positive fruit on the guys that they land out in the portal. Guys, people want to be apartments. I've said this so many times, players don't want to leave this program. They're usually out because they're just not going to play. People want to be a part of the University of Texas. It's fun to cover the University of Texas right now. I don't know if you can hear the background noise here. It's a boisterous crowd. And that was just a spring game. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is-- this is as far as I'm concerned. Well, it is. It's a game day atmosphere. We're here at Possees. We've got a lot-- like I said before, we've got a lot of our friends from the board. We're putting faces to screen names for the first time, which is a really-- it's a great opportunity for all of us. And again, that community atmosphere that's really coming together for a spring game, a glorified practice, really tells you the state of the program, where we are right now, and the trajectory is really, really positive. Now, again, so we know that we're looking at defensive tackles. We know that that's something that we're trying to focus-- it has been a discussion. Let me stop you there. OK, thank you. They're going to wreck shop on defensive tackle. All right, fair enough. All right, there it is. You've heard it. That's as much of the predictions we're willing to be right now. But it's pretty-- for those of you reading the tea leaves, know exactly what that means. Are there any other positions that might surprise some folks in terms of-- in terms of some players who are bringing in? I honestly feel like I'm in for a sunrise. We have great sources, but I feel like I'm in for a surprise. I don't know what to expect, just because of how committed they are to win. They know the brain trust. The Texas ecosystem knows that there's a chance to win a national championship this year. So they're not going to hold fast. If they can upgrade the roster up, better position, they're going to go for it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And listen, I really-- I think this is it, man. I mean, if you're a Texas fan, this is exactly where you want to be. You want to be in the conversation. You want to be in the mix in a national time. It's not a-- we've moved on from hope to possibility. And I think that's a really fun place for us to be. Is there anything you'd like to add before you that? And we'll bring Ian and Paul back. We all love to have the last word, and we're going to give it to him today. Paul has to have the last word. Paul has to quit. Like, he's always threatening me with quitting if he doesn't do the last word. I can see him now. No, no, again, it was just a lot of fun. If I like to see the spring game, I'm checking out my practice reports. Why was I wrong? Why was I right? Why was I right? Why was I wrong? And so I'm always trying to self-scout that and figure it out. So I'll go back to the tape. I'll go back to the recording, and we'll figure out what we got right, what we got wrong. That's great. Let's, again, that's Eric Nalini's-- all right, where we're going to do this very fun time. We're here at-- again, Posse East, if you want to bring that up, Homer, where it is getting to a packed house, which you could probably hear right now, you got to throw the cans back on as it were. And we're going to come back here with our boys with Paul and Ian, if you're willing-- let's bring Ian back on. You guys will have the last word. And then we will-- we'll get back after it. You can see there's a lot of hugs going on. Really, it's a happy atmosphere. And it's a happy time to be a Texas fan. So I think that's being displayed here in-- well, let's be honest, there's some libations that are really helping with that. But let's start with you, Ian, any final thoughts before we close this thing out? They look like they're ready to celebrate another championship. I mean, that's going to-- we'll see. We'll see what the season holds. Texas fans are famous for getting out ahead of our squeeze. But that was certainly an explosive team we watched today and DKR. And might as well be excited. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, Paul, it's your time. It's your time to shine, buddy. Well, I'm going to know, I had to bump out for about 10 minutes. Did Eric say anything wild and controversial? Well, that's the thing. You're going to have to check it out. Like and subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel. And go ahead and subscribe to InsideTexas.com. We've got a great special going on right now. It is IT1 is your promo code. So, Paul, that's what I would recommend that you do. If you really want to know what happened during that period of time that you stepped away to get your diet soda, then you'll have to do it that way. So now you have the final word. What are your final thoughts about this game? How does it pretend to the season ahead? Final thoughts from you, Paul. You notice Elsie specified a diet soda, because he's noticed that I've put on a little camera weight recently. They say that the camera adds 15 pounds. I must have three cameras on me, so it's not good. It's a lot of-- Hey, I just think that this is an exciting talented team. It's deep. I think it's ultimately ambitions will be realized by the play of the very top-line talent. And then I think the team will have a very good floor because of all that depth. I think that there's an ability for this team to come at opponents in waves, particularly on the defensive line, particularly a wide receiver. Hide-end, I saw some guys and saw some things that I wasn't anticipating that is a positive either this year or down the road. And then obviously, the quarterback room looks really solid to put it mildly. The one thing I would say is I think the secondary-- don't overreact to when a walk-on got burned. I mean, they're not going to be on the field in September, October, November. But I do pay attention to Terence Brooks. Looks like he blew a coverage early, which is something was pretty basic. It was a switch route, double post. And he sort of got gawking. That's not good. And I will give ourselves a little pat on the back on our different inside Texas forums, whether it's this channel or whether it's the board. Ian and I and Kelson and a bunch of other folks have talked about the fact that best five in the secondary is not the most talented five, necessarily, in a testing room. It's best communicators, best understanders of the scheme, best guys who can make adjustments, best guys who can play cohesively as a fist, not just five fingers, each doing their own thing. So that's something to look for if you want something to grow on, right? The old after-school, one to grow on. That's one to grow on for this defense. I think we have a lot of talent, a lot of ability. I'm really excited, but the way you lose those close games is give up a cheap seven or 14 points off the best of coverage. Absolutely. And I do think that this isn't the time. Look, we are delivering a lot of Kool-Aid today. Let's be really honest. It's a lot of positivity. There's a lot of great things going on. And we're leaning into that because, frankly, we're in need of that. We haven't had that in a while. And it's a really nice position for us to be in. But that being said, and I've said it before, Ian mentioned it. And obviously, Eric was alluding to it earlier. This is the time. This is the time when they're going to make a run. So this upcoming season, honestly, these next few days, for those of you that are subscribers to the site, that's where that information is going to drop first. You heard Eric say it, we're certainly going to be wrecking shop at Defensive Tackle. And there may be some more surprises for you in that Transfer Portal. And we invite you to come along on that journey with us. This has been a little bit of a wild time for us doing a live feed. We've learned some lessons where we're absolutely going to get better at it as we move on. And for all of the boys, for Paul, for Ian, for Eric, and meeting Justin Welles today in person for the first time, super cool. We're going to go out there again. We're going to put some faces to those screen names and meet a lot of people in the community. And for those of you at home that signed in and watched this with us, we really appreciate it. It's an opportunity for us to share the joy that we have with the joy that you have. And we really, really respect and appreciate your time. So if you'd like to subscribe to the page, we'd really appreciate that. That keeps us going. That allows us the opportunity here. But outside of that, we really appreciate you guys. Thank you so very much for all of your time and being here and hook them. Thanks, guys. You take care. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)