Good morning, team. We are coming to you live. It's 9 a.m. Central 10 a.m. on the East Coast, which is where I am. This is where the East Coast is now. We live in beautiful, sunny weather times. This is an experiment. Obviously, we're going to see how this goes. We hope we can get your questions answered. The board has been awesome. They've already provided us with some questions that we're absolutely going to get to. But before we get to those questions, there's two things we really need to talk about. The first is our new DB that we've got and what that means for an elite IQ, heavy secondary, and then we're going to talk about the transfer portal. Are we done or are we still in play? I've got the usual suspects here. We've got Eric, Nalene, Paul Waddlington, and Ian Boyd. Eric, let's start with you. Obviously, we had a great session yesterday with Coach and Joe, and I invite you all to check that out. We're breaking down our new defensive defensive back. But I'd love to get your and Ian's opinion on this, certainly, because this is one of those acquisitions that we've had. I've seen you guys probably the most excited about, at least in this cycle, with the level of intelligence that this is going to bring to our secondary. And I'd love for you to expand on that if you can. Well, they replaced Brooks with Cole. And to me, that's going to limit some assignment busts that we've seen in the past. And that's the name of the game in the secondary. Just don't give up any big plays, make them earn it. Sark was talking about the other day. It's hard to have these eight, 10-play drives. It's hard on offense. That's where he's pointing out. You want the defense to force that. I think Terrence Brooks, with all the talent he had, gave up too many big plays. You know, people said that 80% of the time, he was amazing, but that other 20%, you know, you've got a it's tough to work around. And then on top of it, Cole is a just assignment sound. He's a good athlete. And he's very smart. He's going to be a good zone defender, which is always a concern. It's a lot harder to play zone than it is to play man. I think he comes in with a very good head start on what they're going to run this season. Ian, you, this was schematically something you were pretty excited about. What's Cole bringing here that is going to change the makeup of the abilities of our defense? Well, he's very skilled at executing match coverages. So his profile is pretty interesting, because he ran like a 10, 6, 100 meter as a high school senior in Oakland, which is great. So you would think you would have thought he would have had a better recruiting options than going to. I think he went to Cal Poly and then transferred to San Jose State last year. Now he's finally getting out of the Bay. So you would think that a guy like that would just be like a press man coverage specialist who's dominating lower level athletes. But that's not the case at all you watch him. He's playing a lot of cover three. He's reading what's in front of him. He's staying in position over the top. He matches the right routes. He can break on the ball because he's fast, but he's not just manning a guy up. And then at times when they did ask him to go play straight man coverage on a guy, he could do that too. So he's kind of a, they kind of struck gold here. They found a really talented guy and they were smart to lock him up quickly before it became like a national recruiting war for him. One of the things that I think is would be helpful is if you could just give us a brief explanation about the different skill sets required for either being boundary or field and where you see him playing more frequently. What we'll stick with you here in. Probably a field when you're in the boundary, you're closer to the action. So you're more likely to blitz off the edge. You're more likely to mix in some like cover two assignments where you are playing the run on the perimeter and you also have to muscle up the receiver sum. You can't play off as much and rely on breaking the ball because the ball is going to get there too fast. The quarterback isn't much closer proximity. He's not a big guy. He's like 180, I think, 510. To the field side, you're playing in a lot more space. And so your ability to see things develop and then break on the ball is the bigger question. And that's where he excels. So I would expect to see him more in space than uptight in the boundary. Paul, with this addition, one of the questions that was asked on the board at Inside Texas Doctrine, which we obviously invite you to subscribe to and check out, was the idea that one, Texas may need an elite secondary in order to win the national championship. And more importantly, the predecessor to that is what does Texas need to do with its current stock of players to get to an elite level? Is that something that's even possible this year? At the secondary level, could they be elite? I'm not sure. I'm not sure they could be elite. They could be very, very good partly because I hold elite as rarefied air. I don't think being top 10 makes you elite. I think top three makes you elite. So I can only look at, I only see one elite secondary or maybe two coming into the season. And then we'll see if Texas can join that whole. I think there's two things about him that are interesting. Or actually three. One, I actually kind of know that area from having lived in the Bay Area before. And Oakland, the high school that he went to, I think, is McClemmons, is an off-the-radar high school. It's not even one of the powerhouse is in Oakland that even people know about. And Oakland, in and of itself, is a little off the radar just because you can get some interesting stories there. And college recruiters sometimes feel like they're wasting their time. So I think he's just a guy who can flew completely under the radar. And I just, I think that obviously there's a huge beneficiary. He's also emblematic of the fact that I was saying, I think I wrote a piece saying the FCS football, you know, was recently, is in this decade, the FCS Cal Poly level football put out 20 NFL draft picks one year. That's never going to happen again. I just don't think it's going to happen ever again. And he showed the portal in action. Year one, FCS school, Cal Poly, year two, G5, year basically four, I guess, Texas. If you're really good, you're going to get identified, you're going to keep leveling up. And the track record on those guys performing well at the next level is good. A player keeps leveling up. There's something going on there physically with the player, or you just missed him entirely coming out of high school. And he just keeps getting better in a way that the failed five star for four years at Alabama, probably not going to have that fifth year where he breaks out. So that's, that's, can you clarify a little bit for me, Paul, because are you talking about not having an FCS player? Finish? Let me refer to that. They're not finishing their career at an FCS level. And then going to the NFL, you see the constant progression. So they may start there, but they're, they're not going to finish there. And I think that's an important distinction, because one, this is, this is also just changing the way that players, you know, can enter this, this atmosphere of power five football. And I think this, this kid is a really good example of resiliency and fortitude and betting on yourself, right? Just throwing yourself out there being like, look, I understand that I'm not going to one of these top schools straight out of high school, but that in no way is going to mean that I, this is where I'm going to end up, right? He's really, really pushed for that. And I think, to me, and this is, I think is what you're talking about, this is indicative of the, the shift in not only recruiting from a high school level, but how players view themselves in the developmental process of a football, you're going to have the Jason Kelsey to the world that, you know, start out as linebackers, maybe not get any offers, go to Cincinnati, and now they end up as all pro centers. So that obviously, this is not the direct path. But I think what we're showing kids now is that there's a lot more opportunity than there was in the path. What, what are your thoughts, Eric, on this, this concept of an elite secondary and whether we can get there and what we might need to be doing? Well, first, the same, the same phenomenon Paul's talking about happens with coaches all the time. Look at Willie Fritz's career trajectory, look at Brian Kelly, these guys that started nowhere schools, Lance Leipold, they started nowhere schools and they went at each stop. It's a pretty safe bet that they're going to win the next one. They've got it. They've got some things clearly figured out. And I think he's a smart corner. We know that's going to translate. It's more of the Silicon Valley to Austin brain drain that you know, Austin is benefiting a little bit more of. I, you know, I think that I'm going to, I'm going to judge the secondary by house, a sounded place behind the defense front seven. You know, there's going to be a lot of, they're going to have to be a replacement tacklers in a lot of instances to make up for the loss in the defensive tackle. So I'm looking to see how well they play together, how cohesively, I don't think they're going to be elite by NFL draft measures. You know, you're not going to see the 2005 NFL draft, 2006 NFL draft that you saw with Texas. But I think they're going to be very good playing behind the line backers and the in the front. That's what I was most worried about. The playing cohesively through all three units is my greatest concern going in the next season. Adding another intelligent piece, I think helps that a lot. And you like that he has some ball production. He's got ball production. Manny Muhammad's got it for the little bit that he's played. Michael Tath had it. Makuba had it when he was at free safety. He didn't have it as much as, as a, as a nickel. Jay Barron has it as a nickel. So it's just a very smart cohesive unit. At least it should be on paper. And then you've got some stud talent like Derek Williams that you're going to bring along. He's got a chance to start still, of course. And he got some younger corners to work in Warren Roberson. But, and I think that guy can play in the boundary. I know he likes him at the field. I think he is going to play in the field. But if something happened to Manny, Manny Muhammad, I think he can fit and sleep seamlessly to the field because I think he processes so quickly. That's the reason Muhammad's in the field at the boundary to begin with. What if you were to, if you were to have one element of your defense, let's, let's take the defensive tackle position. That's, that seems to be the main topic of conversation that, that isn't as strong. Maybe that's, let's say that's your weakest point. And I'm not suggesting that. What other area, what one other area do you want to be really strong to compensate for that? Cornerback. Okay. And can you expand on that a little bit Ian? If you have a lockdown corner, or, I mean, two is even better. But if you have just one, where you don't have to devote a safety to helping them out, then you can just allocate those resources to cover up holes elsewhere. A lockdown cornerback is one of the most like force multiplier things you can have in coach football. And then the only other competitive spot, I would say would be a dominant defensive tackle. Right. I was just right. I was going to say pass rush. Go ahead, Paul. I was just going to say, I think Ian's right from a big picture, whiteboard perspective. Because if you have any, and so this was kind of my critique or suggestion or whatever going into the Washington playoff game, which was, hey, we've got these two elite guys inside. Washington doesn't want to run necessarily and they've got an injured running back who isn't that explosive anyway. Let's try to stop their run game with five guys. And let's just dedicate, let's just flood the field with defensive backs and have coverage, layered coverage everywhere with man under. And, you know, because that gives you the flexibility. Conversely, if you don't have the defensive tackles, play the corners, count on them or lie on them, and you can bring an extra man down and then you can stop the run with numbers. So, Eric, you're going to say pass rush? Yeah, I was going to say pass rush, just because I think that makes life easy for the whole secondary. It gets off. It's behind the sticks a lot. They're going to get off the field. It's hard, you know, once you have a negative play, it's a lot harder to convert a first down. And I think to have the guys to pull it off, you know, I think that pass rush is going to be by far the best, at least off the edge that they've had. And maybe even inside, just because they might have to stunt their way to it, and they've got Alfred Collins, who's poised for a breakout, I believe. But I think pass rush coming off the edge, they've got the horses to do it this year. With the, and this will lead into our second topic of discussion, the idea about the transfer portal and whether we're done or not. But let's say we're talking about not filling any more positions in the defensive tackle area. And we've already highlighted our edge being a strength. We were talked about the intelligence and the maturity of our secondary. We'll start with you here, Paul. Do you see anything given that personnel changing schematically? Or are we going to stick with the, the PK of old? That's a great question. I mean, we were experimenting with some different stuff. I mean, stuff, PK of old, I mean, what vintage, right? He's done different stuff in his career. He did seem pretty married to too high for big portions of last year. I think we're trying to look at single high, meaning one safety up high, versus two. So I think we're going to look at that. And then, you know, the Justinian Cole or Gavin Holmes, or maybe even Jadae Barron, whoever they want to play out at the field corner. Quikowski does have a history of that guy having a little bit if they trust him and there's the guy's smart. He has the ability to freelance a little bit. He has the ability to kind of play off coverage or show off coverage and then just break hard on a route underneath him and try to take it the other way. And he's, he's demonstrated the willingness to do that. So as you get a little more experience and you communicate better and you get a smarter secondary, you can start to do unpredictable things right before the ball snap. And it's the other, it's the offense that's going to bust because of you doing that rather than you busting because you tried to do something different and throw a different look. So I think that's what could be different. And as Eric said, I just expect the pass rush to be better, not just because we have edges that can pass rush, but we have some interior guys who can pass rush. We've got blitz linebackers who can bring it. Bend up can come. I mean, we've seen that. And certainly Anthony Hill is a guy. You're not averse to having sprinting up a gap and trying to cause some problems. So I think, you know, there's a potential to be interesting. And I think it is very important this offseason for Nancy to push some of PK's boundaries on what he's willing to entertain in September, October and November. And we've seen, you know, just PK having, obviously, like Patterson, all these people in there, he's amenable to that, that level of input and and and malability in the way that he approaches things. Ian, are you seeing anything or I know that we've talked a lot in these these last few months about exactly what Paul was alluding to this single high coverage and and changing the way that we approach that. But all the way through from the from the guys in the trenches back there, do you see any other major schematic changes that might affect this specific specific personnel? I the single high one is really predominant, probably. If you look at how Nancy liked to stop the run at Arizona, it was basically get as many guys on the field as you needed to play man coverage and then outnumber the run by stuffing extra bodies in the box. Even smaller guys like he played his dollar package where he had three big defensive linemen and then every most everyone behind them was a defensive back, except for a single linebacker who was like 225 pounds. So that that approach of we're going to stop the run by just killing it before it gets started by stuffing bodies around there. Makes a lot of sense for Texas this year. And that would be why you would experiment with single high. So you could have that dynamic to your team. Other than that, I mean, there's a number of other things they could or might mix in, but that's probably going to be the one that we're going to talk about the most because run defense without those two big defensive tackles might be such a big thing. Eric, any thoughts on this before we transition over to where we are with the transfer portal? Now, I'll just say, you know, what we heard in the spring is not going to be indicative of what we hear in August. You know, there's a build up to it. We've got so many new bodies in camp. A lot of new guys getting more reps than they ever had before. They're just getting them familiar with the basics of their scheme. So we're going to hear a lot more about Nancy's input in August. Everybody's really excited about his coaching ability. Like he's extremely detail oriented. We've heard numerous times that you could tell he's a coordinator, not a position coach, not necessarily at Texas, but that's his upside that that's his ability. You could tell that he's done it before. So we're going to hear a lot about a lot more of what they're, you know, they're going to be cooking up stuff all summer, summer long to input and try and experiment with in August. And they'll come up with some interesting things up. I feel, you know, I think Chuck was a fantastic coach, but I think that his hitting him tied at the hip with PK was probably not the greatest thing for going into this next season. So Nancy coming in with new ideas like Paul and Ian are talking about. We'll start hearing about a lot, a lot more about that in August and practice reports are going to get a lot more interesting and August than they were in the spring. And transitioning over what where are we now with the transfer portal? I mean, it seems as if the needs that we were really pushing for at least highlighting were certainly at the defensive tackle position. Bringing in arguably with the top, if not one of the top quarterbacks in the portal, not to mention what we did prior to the last prior to this window. Where is Texas in this? Are we done? Are we, I know you posted a little bit about this on the board at inside texas.com today, but where we are today? Where do you see it moving forward? Well, I'll say that they, they feel they got the best corner in the, in the transfer portal. They, you know, they looked at a number of other guys that that's, but he's the one they wanted. I think a lot of that had to do with scheme fit in the direction they're headed, but to them that he was the best guy. Yeah, they're, you know, they're still looking. I'm not optimistic that they'll find somebody worth truly pursuing, but they're definitely they're looking as hard as they were, you know, two weeks ago. They're, they're, you know, going back over guys, seeing if they missed something about them. Obviously nobody knew is going to go in now. So they're kind of left with the guys that have already evaluated, but they're, they're turning over every stone, you know, making sure everybody's signed. And, you know, they're happy with their situation at the school that they committed to. And, you know, if you try hard enough, usually something pops up, but we'll see if it's some worth truly pursuing just because, you know, the roster's in really good shape. But yeah, if a defensive tackle somehow emerged out of nowhere that they maybe missed the first time or, or, or didn't, it's in sign of school, fully signed, you know, maybe some will pop up. As we, as we move forward in this, let's, you know, what are the questions we had from the board? Our, our friends Taylor T is asking this season, moving forward. And this is more of the fun type of the questions. And we'll go around the board and ask this. We'll start with you, Ian. What three games do you have circled and for what reason? I mean, obviously there, there are great mashup games, but is there any personal that you're really excited to see? Well, I, if I were the coach and I were just trying to decide which three games need the most attention, I would go Michigan. It's almost my default. It's the only real game in the non conference. So if you're not giving that extra attention, it doesn't really make sense not to right. Oklahoma, Steve Cirque really does not need to be getting into a one, three hole against Oklahoma is the head coach of Texas. Last year was pretty bad, frankly, to lose that game. And yeah, the first game to, I mean, they should have arguably should have won the first time as well. And then this one will be controversial. I say A&M over Georgia as the third game to put the big emphasis on for a couple of reasons. One is that it's through a new role of a rivalry. And you really want to, you really want to establish the big brother thing as quickly as possible for recruiting, for just for everything. It would be very satisfying to the fans. Secondly, you can afford a loss to Georgia in the playoff picture much more than you can afford a loss to Texas A&M. If Georgia is everything that we expect them to be this season, and Texas makes it to the playoffs, they will likely is not get another crack in Georgia. You only get this one shot at the renewal of the rivalry with A&M. So yeah, I would say when those other three games, if you lose, plus Georgia is right after Oklahoma. I mean, that's tough. That's tough to get back up to that game. So it seems like maybe Paul agrees. I'm curious. Yeah, let's hear your thoughts, Paul. Yeah, I thought I was going to be controversial because there's only four right answers, right? It's Michigan OU, Georgia A&M. Well, I mean, is it Kentucky and Colorado State? Probably not. So I disagree, but we can we'll get to that. Oh, interesting. Good. I'm glad. So I actually thought this through. So Texas could actually lose to Georgia and still win the SEC title. Texas could lose to Georgia and not see them again or whatever and still be the five seed, which as we've talked about in prior shows and we've written about that's actually not a disadvantageous position given how the playoff structure is built. You're going to be hosting a G5 team more than likely, right? So I think actually Michigan for the reason Ian said, I think OU for the reasons Ian said, I think A&M. I just think if you drop OU or A&M, you actually are less likely to get playoff cred. And Georgia, I mean, is the best team on the schedule? So it seems odd, or at least preseason, they're the best team on the schedule. It seems odd not to circle them. But if I were circling three games would be Michigan, Georgia, and A&M, I guess you could say maybe you can take a Michigan loss early and then rally through the SEC schedule. But I just think that that's a little bit of a black mark. And it would actually make me less confident in Texas because I think although the Michigan defense profiles to be excellent, the Michigan offense does not. And that would be concerning if we can't handle them early. So I'm curious. What do you think, Eric? You guys make compelling points. If Michigan was like Alabama last year where we expected them to be a title contender, I would probably go with them as the top three game. We saw the bounce that Texas got. Texas probably doesn't make the playoffs if they lose that game and maybe not lose to Oklahoma, then it gets really tight, right? I mean, they got into playoffs because Alabama was in the playoffs. At least that's what made it a no-brainer. That same doesn't work with Michigan. I'm going to go with Georgia. And this is where it shows that I'm a guy that follows recruiting closely is because I think if they win that game at the same time, they're trying to get these big bodies out of the Southeast. I think that'll go a long way. The Alabama win helped. Now you beat Georgia. You slay those two dragons and back-to-back seasons. I'm going to go with them. And then just to make my Twitter life a lot easier, you got to go Oklahoma and A&M. But also, that was pretty important for Texas too. But selfishly, it's got to be Texas and OU. And then I go with Georgia because I don't think Michigan is going to be good. It's going to be tough to win there. I think this team is going to have a whole lot of confidence based on how they went into Tuscaloosa last season. I'm worried about the game because their defense is so good. But I feel good about Texas going up to Ann Arbor. I'll go with Georgia. I think that you're going to get a recruiting bounce right when recruiting starts to heat up October, November, December. It could go a long way. Elsie, let me just say, I think Eric is right. A Georgia win is more meaningful than a Michigan win. Yep. So it just kind of depends on how you come at it. But if you're a coaching staff and you're trying to circle three games to give extra attention to, you're going to end up circling Michigan because it's the non-conference game. Whereas Georgia is packed right in there in the tougher slate. Well, and again, it's easy to motivate the guys through the summer if you've got, defending national champs as your second game of the season. They've got Michigan written on a chalkboard somewhere. That's the rallying point. That's something they're getting people fired up for. And obviously, the three, it's a great number for us to use. It's obviously an arbitrary number. I mean, I think we all would agree on four teams. I think the only outlier I have there is obviously Vanderbilt. I mean, we have a losing record against Vanderbilt. We can't fix that this year. I mean, that's the problem is we can't just win this game and then have a winning record against Vanderbilt. So this is going to be a process. It's going to take us some time. Obviously, we're in their building. If you want to call it a building, I'm pretty sure it's just a field next to the labs. But it is. It's an opportunity for us to go in there and reclaim some dominance because frankly, if you look at the lifetime record, well, Vanderbilt has pretty much worked us like a part-time job. So I think taking the three that you guys have established, and then again, starting to let's get a little pry back in this team. I don't know that I would circle it, but I'm obviously not the coach with anything else going through here, guys. So this is it. This is our 9am. We're giving this a try to see how it goes. We weren't getting hit as much on the super chats or any chats if we're being honest moving forward. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to do this in the future. We really thank you for your time. And I promise you, I'm going to keep my hands up here, boys. Does anybody have any closing thoughts? Do you want to do a going going gone on chat questions in case anyone's got a itchy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Brett Nelson must be working right now, huh? I don't like it. I don't like it. Well, Brett Nelson has to have that job so he can throw us some super chats. I mean, it's one of those on Brett's availability. That's at their point. We just just set up a calendar and just see when Brett can keep this thing funded. That would be really, really helpful. People should sign up for inside Texas. We're on the move right now. If you follow recruiting, I've got I've got two stops today, one in Con Road to see Dorian Brew. And then I'm heading off to Lufkin to see Zion Williams. So two of the biggest priorities in the entire class for Texas. Justin, they'll be hitting the road hard this week. Charlie, be hitting the road hard this week. So if you follow recruiting, make sure to sign up. Use our promo code UT1 for two months for $1. Paul, we do have one question. And it's an over-under question. And because you're a degenerate gamble, would you take the over it over under on 10.5 wins? This season. So regular season means no conference, championship, game, potential. Is that right? Yeah. That's typically how big is that? 10 and a half is a problem, gentlemen and ladies, because that's the proper line. That is the proper setting of the line. And really, what you need to look at is what's the minus and the plus on either side of that. That's what would influence your bet. So if it's plus 122 plot, you know, over, that's where you want to lean. If that over number is minus 122 or 125 or even 118, no bueno from a gambling perspective. That's not good. You know, Texas could play really well and lose to a really good team, which we've just talked about in the four team scenario, right? I think you could stuff your toe once that happens. Go 10 and two. You're still a playoff team. You can still win the national title and not cover this bet. So that's the fear and the danger of it. The upside of this is if you get plus money on the over part and I mean decent plus money, then yeah, Texas can get on a roll and go undefeated or even just lose one game. So hey, I do have a bonus thing to throw in that maybe we should talk about, please. So I think part of what happens is we know that we have a need at a position and then there's a guy that you're familiar with the name and then he goes in the portal and everyone gets all fired up and so I think that happened with Dominic Williams, right? I think I think there's a common man perspective that Dominic Williams is like a high level potential all American and we've not seen that from his play. His best play was his freshman year as Ian pointed out with some good players next to him. So either he slumped off a little bit or maybe he needs to see one-on-one blocking to be really effective but he didn't have a great sophomore season. He didn't have a bad sophomore season. He just was a guy at a need and one of many potential guys and then I think people feel like they got the carpet pulled out from him on him and then we get this no-name guy from G5 San Jose State. Well, this isn't good. This isn't satisfying. I mean, the truth is I don't think Texas lost anything in that exchange other than corner was a useful luxury whereas DT we feel like there's more need but there's still four months. We can improve the defensive tackle room internal. Like guys can get better at football. Jeray Bledso could figure some stuff out in the next four months and I would just mean the off season getting stronger and more explosive but he's got a month of August practice to get better and learn his trade. He could bust out. We could get more consistent play from Alpha Collins. Vernon Broughton's wife could allow him to practice and not over schedule him to go do like pottery, pottery barn and color me mine art projects. So there's all sorts of potential. Oh, do we know what Vernon's new last name is? I know he goes by Mrs. Vernon Broughton. Is there a hyphen in there now? Yeah, man. I'm just kidding Vernon. I'm just kidding Vernon. It's Broughton Horowitz Chang. Interestingly enough. Yeah, who wins the big 12 this year? I'm going to go with Utah if Cam rising is back and he's right. They've had a couple losses in the transfer portal. I mean, this is the first year that I don't have much to say about the big 12 because I don't need to anymore. I've been an expert on it for like 14 unrewarding years and it's not very relevant anymore. I think it's a really fun league. I'll probably still end up watching a lot of games because there's such amazing parody now. But I don't have great analysis other than that Utah seems like the strongest program and they have good answers for the problem that plagues most big 12 teams, which is how to get big athletic bodies and the trenches that can win. And Utah has always got all these big. Well, let's talk. Well, I'll say this about those really quick if you don't mind. Sure. It's going to be the only conference that I know of where eight teams could legitimately win it. So if you're a bet for, I would shy away from the favorites and I would try to find an underdog that looks interesting to you that may be benefited in the portal, but the truth is most big 12 teams didn't win in the portal if you read. Guess what league won in the portal overwhelmingly? It's not a trick question. Yeah. S. You see. So, you know, the big 12 as Ian, I lament the fact that I've built all this expertise in this league that is no longer useful to me in any way. But yeah, there's legitimately eight teams that could win the league. Um, and you know, I think find three that you think are getting really good odds and then sprinkle some money on it rather than trying to throw it all in on a favor. We've been talking a lot about the defensive big men. Let's talk about the offensive big men for a second and how they would pair up with the, the legend areas that were SEC defensive lines. What are our thoughts there? I mean, how, I mean, this is, this is probably at least in modern history, depending on what timeframe you want to assign that to the most experienced offensive line we've had in a long time. What are your thoughts here, Eric? How do we, how do we match up with the defensive lines in the SEC? They match up. Well, you know, we've got some data on that, uh, Alabama game last year where they put the, they put that game away on the ground. Uh, you know, everybody is looking for defensive tackles, even Georgia, Georgia wasn't necessarily after guys, but they weren't not after guys either. They were, they were, they were in the market too, if the right guy appeared. So they're, they like their guys. I don't think they have as dominant players. It's like once did LSU is in dire straits of defensive tackles. They'll take anybody. They just lost, they need Dominic Williams more than Texas. They just lost Simeon Barrow to Miami. Uh, they're hurting bad. Everybody talks about Texas needing defensive tackles. It's, they're in a much better position than LSU. Uh, so I, you know, I feel good about the Texas is offensive line going against the other SEC deal. Now that there's not going to be any weeks off because those guys get drafted up and down, uh, Mississippi State will have a guy or two. Ole Miss, we know it's just, you know, Ole Miss is going to have some guys that just got, uh, uh, Walter Nolan, uh, if they play them at some point. Um, so I mean, there's going to be the, the level is a lot better than the big 12, but I think the Texas OL with its maturity and experience matches up very well. Ian, what are your thoughts? Uh, the best defensive line Texas will face is like 15 minutes from my house over in Ann Arbor. Um, a lot, like, like Erica's just noting a lot of the big SEC schools are actually a little bit weak there. Georgia even, they'll be good, but they were down last year on defensive line, which is why they lost the SEC championship game. And, uh, I don't think they're fully rebuilt. So, uh, it'll be a thing. It's a, it's more of a thing. This next season on like a week-to-week basis, you just face a lot more quality single players than you would in the big 12. But I don't, there's not a lot of dominant looking lines in the SEC for next year. The, the, the second best defensive line Texas basis next year might be A&M. So I can actually, and I could tell you the third, and it'll surprise people, Kentucky. I don't know. And yeah, they actually have some really good guys and they've got a guy in the interior who will be a first round pick probably. So, um, that's the thing about the SEC is you can have years where Kentucky or Mississippi state has two or three NFL guys in their front. Fortunately, the rest of the team usually doesn't check out, but that's kind of the weird thing. You don't really, we didn't really get that in the big 12 where you play, you know, a middling big 12 team and they've got three NFL guys in the front. That doesn't really happen. But I, I love the matchup of the Texas O line against most of the D lines we'll face. I mean, we'll, we'll be in much better shape than most other SEC offensive lines and, you know, Michigan's offensive line on the other side. They'll be scrambling to put some stuff together as well. So Eric, you get these questions a lot, but who's our, who's our starting, secondary first game of the season first series rolling out there? What do you see? And obviously we're going to hold you to this. This is, this is going to dictate whether you actually know what you're talking about or not. Oh Lord. Um, yeah, I go Muhammad, uh, Cole at corners free safety. I'm going to go with, um, Eric Williams, boundary safety. I'll go with Michael Taft. Nickel, I'll go with you today, Baron. Um, I think Makuba is going to be getting into contributing a lot. Yeah. Makuba is going to play a lot, but I think that's, they'll roll out Williams and Taft at safety, I think. I was going to say exactly what Eric just said. It did at least to start the year. Right. Yeah, we're talking first series. It's going to get benched. I saw it in my mentions. I don't get it. All right. Let's move over to, you know, Dennis, uh, Donaldson has decided to give us a super chat and we really appreciate that. Any, anytime you throw a super chat in here, we're, we're going to speak to it. So if Bryant is third, uh, Alex would be four, Mitchell five, what, uh, what do we need to figure out and about adding more defensive tackles at this depth? I mean, are we just, where do we see us going with this? Yeah, he's looking at depth at three tech and one tech. It sounds like detachable in those, uh, your details are probably going to be often calls. We know that without a doubt, uh, probably Vernon brought him behind him and then Jerry blood. So that's your one through three, uh, nose tackle. I think Bill Norton's going to start behind him. I think it's probably going to be, oh, I go, I, I struggle with Aaron Bryant and Tia Savaya because Savaya is not all that damn big. Um, I think it's going to be Bryant and then Savaya, but I'm not sure. And then, you know, I think Alex January is going to be pushing to do your Mitchell all August. So that would be your four. I think Alex January is going to play it. Maybe, uh, show Carter snaps at least later in the season. Severe Mitchell was the last guy I'd want to push. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not getting on to hear this for this season. He's got, he's got to come with it. Uh, yeah, I think, so I think they're going to be okay. I think, uh, worst case scenario, I think that's a, you know, Norton and, and Alfred Collins can be a top three or four detachable tandem in the league, I think. Based on what we were just talking about, we will not, we'll not go here in, in the SEC. Well, again, let's, and a, this is alluding a little bit to what we were just talking about with defensive tackle depth, but, and I'll give this one to you, Paul, we'll, we'll facing deeper teams compared to playing teams with gimmick schemes, like what was in the big 12. Like, so obviously, I think, I think the, the translation here is big 12 was maybe a little bit, uh, able to skew away from their lack of depth with some more gimmick type offenses, but obviously when we're getting into the SEC, things are a little bit more straight and narrow. What are your thoughts on depth, uh, and moving forward? I think in my opinion, I think Texas has set up pretty nicely for this, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. So the SEC is actually schematically more sophisticated than the big 12 now, which is surprising to people, but it's coaching, coaching determines that. So, uh, the big 10 is about to have an X's and O's renaissance, uh, with Kailin DeBore and Jonathan Smith and guys like that joining the full. So, um, yeah, I mean, I think you mean, uh, Oregon, Oregon and, uh, and Lincoln Riley going to the big 10. Yeah, yeah, that's part of it too. Yeah, Jonathan Smith or the new head coach at Michigan State. Yeah, you said Kailin DeBore who's down in the SEC now. Oh, God. What am I doing? I'm sorry. That's okay. That's nine AM show. It's fine. Don't worry about it. You're fine. Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah. Accuracy's not important in this. Uh, my point is the SEC got Kailin DeBore. That's going to level you up. Obviously you've got Steve Sarkeesian. Um, say what you want about OU, but they're not going to run conventional stuff anyway on offense or defense. You're, you're going to have to understand that you're going to, you're going to face some, some scheming and some trickeration when you play OU, especially Texas, right? Talking about a circle game. So yeah, I mean, it's odd to, to think, but the SEC is far more sophisticated as an X's and O league than the big 12 is now. The big 12 is actually went more conventional, which is, which is kind of funny. You know, my gun be still in the league, you know, whatever. But, uh, it, it ain't, it ain't, uh, the big 12 of, of art riles and, and, you know, those guys running stuff. So I think it'll be very interesting. But yeah, I mean, look, the SEC's the best league. And there's really a bit, as I said, two leagues that are going to matter. And, uh, so Texas has to be ready on all fronts. You've got to have a deep team. You got to have the X's and O's. And then you got to have the front line starter talent, not just depth, right? You got to have some elite guys who can actually go win the game for you. Just to, just to emphasize that Tennessee, Josh Heifel runs Art Braille's game. Yep. Oldness, Lane Kiffin. They run something similar to the Braille's game. Oklahoma, Jeff Levy, that's Art Braille's son-in-law. Uh, Alabama now with Kaylin DeBore. Hey, Jeff, Jeff Levy is at Mississippi State now. Oh, you're right. But they still run that team. They got Jo-John Finley and Seth. My experts are on fire. We have no credibility. That's like four or five teams that are running schemes that are that are that originated to them extended a big 12. So like Paul said, it's different. If you are looking for this level of expert analysis and any deeper, please check out InsideTexas.com. We're running a special right now. If you can, this is promo code IT1. We'll get you two months for a dollar. Uh, we really appreciate your time here. I'm just curious now that, now that Bill had checked in, saving or coaching Wichita State, what, what are your thoughts on that, Eric, moving forward? I mean, do you see them having the dominant defense that they should or are they going to skew more towards a single wing offense? Uh, I think they're going to shock a lot of people.
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