and welcome to this edition of Inside the Program brought to you by InsideTexas.com. I'm your host Justin Wells, with me as always Eric Nolene, managing publisher at InsideTexas.com. Hey, it's Friday and what we always do is we go inside the program, but first what I need you to do is like our video and subscribe to the YouTube football channel. We're climbing towards that 8000 mark. The fans and community have been tremendous. Come see us, come hang out with us. Also at InsideTexas.com, we're running a promo IT1. We'll get you two months for only a dollar. That gets you through May. All the recruiting visits are the spring evaluations. It gets you into June, the official visits. It gets you into everything when the summer workout start out. Guys, you got to come see us at InsideTexas.com. There really isn't a better time. Eric, good morning. Good morning. We talked a lot about the Longhorns during spring football. We talked about a lot of guys, but I felt like today there were five guys we didn't talk enough about. Guys that did make an impression, guys that did solidify a spot in the rotation, guys that really are starting to ascend up the depth chart. Today, that's what we're going to tackle. We're going to talk about five guys that we think didn't get enough love. We're going to start off on the offensive side of the ball. With one guy that I felt, we talked about in pre-production, he could turn into a leader in that room. That's DeAndre Moore, wide receiver. Last year, three guys get drafted. Exagger worthy. Add an image. Jordan Whittington. But honestly, Whittington was the leader in that room. The old man, the vet, he set the tone. DeAndre Moore is taking on some of that. It's what we're hearing. Why haven't we talked enough about DeAndre Moore? What are some of his expectations we need to now know about going into the summer? Well, we haven't talked about him enough because there's so many new toys. Everybody was talking about Isaiah Bond and Matthew Golden. John Tate Cook is always going to take up a bunch of oxygen in that room. There's a leadership vacuum in that room with the departures of those three, especially Jordan Whittington in that regard. DeAndre Moore is definitely taking up that mantle, I would say. He's still a little young. He doesn't have the experience out on the field. He always wants some experience on the field before people really start paying attention to what you have to say. I asked the source in the middle of the spring. It's been a block like Whittington. DeAndre Moore was the first person mentioned at that slot receiver, which you've got to have. That guy's on the moving out in space quite a bit. You might make that block that springs Jaden Blue for an ADR, you never know. I asked on a scale of one of Jordan Whittington how good of a brought blocker is. I heard of eight. Jordan Whittington's a 10. Eight's pretty damn good. We probably need to talk more about more. We'll pay a little closer attention to him in August. That room is full. You said it. New toys. Ryan Wingo. There's a lot there. DeAndre Moore, that's a guy that when Arch Manning came in enrolled early last year, that's a guy that was working, he was working out with privately. They were doing throwing sessions. DeAndre's a smart guy. He attached himself to the right signal color coming into that class. The next guy I want to talk about is another pass catcher, but he's a little bit closer to the O line. He's a guy that's replacing some pretty big shoes, and that's Gunnar Helm. Obviously, we don't talk a lot about Gunnar even though because he's really just solid. There's not a lot to his game you don't like. He does everything pretty well. Then he came on the third and Longhorn podcast and really opened up. You got to see another side of Gunnar. He's a guy that he wants to be the guy now. He wants to step up. He wants to be all conference. He wants to play in the league. I don't think people give him enough credit for that. Gunnar Helm, why is he a guy? We didn't talk enough about this spring. Eric. I've always liked Gunnar coming out of high school. He had some footage out when he came out of high school. He's doing a backflip at 6'5", 230. He's hitting a golf ball about as beautifully as you can for somebody that big. You're like, "Okay, there's some weird coordination here. There's some excitement." Then you see it on the field like, "Okay, yeah, he's a really good, he's a talented player." I think the NFL has blurred us to what we expect out of a tight end. They're supposed to be all these freaks. Six, seven, six, six running down the scene, looking moving like wide receivers. You can actually have a good looking guys. Yeah, you can actually have a really good NFL career by just being a good blocker and good receiver and being where you're supposed to be at the right time, being smart when you see zone coverage, knowing where to squat down, and just finding those open spaces. I think Gunnar Helm has that. Then when Sarg does scheme him open like we saw in that touchdown last year, he's going to take advantage of. He's got enough athleticism to take advantage of. He's a good player. It was funny two years ago. I heard that they thought he was an NFL player, and I think he's right online to become that. I'm not going to be drafted in the first couple rounds, but I think he's going to carve out a good career. He's solid. There's no holes in this game. The thing with Helm, too, is there's so many other weapons in this offense. Helm is going to get some freebies. He's going to get some open opportunities where everyone's focusing on the bigger guys, the faster guys, the bigger names, and Gunnar's going to spring forward. He's going to do some stuff kind of like he didn't against OU last year. Let's move in even a little bit closer. Now, this guy doesn't catch passes, but he is essential because he touches the ball every single snap on offense. Why haven't we talked enough to spring about Jake Majors? I'll even preface it with, are we taking Jake Majors for granted? Because everyone else, Calvin Banks, D.J. Campbell, Dan Williams at Right Tackle, Connor, musical chairs. Jake Majors is the solid, consistent guy in this bunch. Why have we talked about Jake enough? I don't think anybody's taken up for granted after the OU game last year. I think I started to appreciate him a little bit more. He was kind of a whipping boy there for a while. That's everybody. Texas fans always have their guy that they're going to complain about. Jake Majors was out for a while. Christian Jones was out for a while. We just saw him get drafted pretty high. Jake has just been there forever. We talked about that before the show. It's like, you know, people don't like to talk about players that are known commodities. You know, they always want that shiny new toy. But Jake has called the second best offensive lineman on the team this spring, at least by one of my sources. Obviously, Calvin Banks, number one. Jake is just steady. And he's a leader in that room. And fans always, you know, they underrate leadership. You know, leadership is a huge part of building a team. It's part of the culture that Sark always talks about. And Jake is the guy in that room. You know, we want him to stay healthy because behind him, there's still questions. They'd have to move. I mean, I guess Hayden Conner could play there. Cole Hudson could play there. But you know, we saw that when Jake Majors is off the field, you know, the level play drops pretty obviously. So he's just a good solid player. That guy, he's going to end up in a, he's going to end up in a training camp in the NFL. I don't know if he's going to get drafted. Maybe he's got a chance to get drafted fifth, sixth, seventh, but he's going to be an NFL training camp. Solid player, smart player, good leader. Yeah, guys that can play center like that. They've got a spot in the NFL. They usually, they usually get to hold the bucket for a while. Let's go over to the defensive side. And you know, after we were catching up a little bit with sources recently, you know, we wanted to figure out a guy we weren't talking enough about on that defensive side. And to me, it's Baron Sorrell. This is a guy that's been so consistent. He's gotten better incrementally. Every season, he adds a little bit more to his game, to his repertoire. He's such a, you know, what the highest rated guy, he came in with the highest rated work ethic. Big, big, big time contributor, contributor. Good in that locker room. Why are we talking about that man, Baron Sorrell enough and how valuable we, the edge position has grown. We've seen it with Ethan Burton as a ascension. Trey Moore, Colin Simmons. Why is Baron Sorrell the guy we didn't talk enough about this spring? Well, he's not flashy. You know, he's that he's that workman-like guy, the lunch pail guy, the hard hat guy, John Madden was still around. That's what he called him. Like you mentioned, he came into the program that way. He's got that work ethic. We knew early on, he was one of the guys who heard about, hey, this guy's going to be a good player just because, hey, he's got the frame and the build, but the way he works. Now, he's not a flashy pass rusher, and that's why I think he kind of goes under the radar to some degree. But, you know, why I had a source, Colin, one of the 10 best players on the team. And I don't think people, you know, even you and I, like we don't talk about him like he's one of the 10 best players on the team. He's just steady, good against the run, good against the pass, not a bend. He's not an arc runner or a bendy guy, but he motors his way into place in the backfield. He just works really hard. He's smart. And yeah, he's a leader in that room too. I guess we always talk about leadership. We always talk about the middle eval. And that's where he hits 10 out of 10 in those regards. Our last guy, we really had to go into it. And this was a hat tip to our boy, Joe Cook. He's the special team's guru. And somebody has to minus about special teams, right? Yeah, somebody has to, you know, Jeff, I don't want to phone call from Jeff Banks, because we're not covering the third phase of football enough. Which I wish banks would call us up. He knows everything. That's a good point. Bert Auburn, sideshow, Bob. Listen, this guy, if you're not talking about the kicker, you got a good kicker. I really feel like that's kind of the thing with Auburn. You know, he's been clutch. He was really good last year. He's gotten, he's like Sorrel. He's gotten a little bit better each time. The man has a Goldman Sachs and IL deal, you know, he knows what he's doing. And he's got a chance to kick on Sundays as well. I can tell you why we don't talk about, you know, Auburn enough in the spring, because he's a kicker and we take it for granted or have we? I mean, Bert Auburn's a guy that I think is going to be clutch when you need a guy for 13, 14, potentially 15 games in a 2024 schedule. Well, hopefully 17 games, Jess. I don't know what what Texas Longhorns you're covering next year. I'm trying to cover 17 games. I forgot about the additional playoff to the playoff to the playoff. Sounds like you're going to take January off. No, Bert, you know, Bert, he's good between the 40s and in the 40s, right? And that's where you need. That's the money yardage right there, because I thought of it. They're probably going to go for it or they're going to punt it up. And he's just good. He's, you know, I feel bad for Bert, because he's made some of the biggest damn kicks in Texas Longhorns of this century. And it just didn't go to wins, right? He had a huge one against Alabama. He had a huge one tied up against Texas Tech. And then, you know, Texas lost that one on the road in overtime. I had another one that was really big that didn't go that didn't register like it should have. He's just such a good kicker. A lot of people are like, Hey, why is he not on scholarship? Like, you know, I wish he was on scholarship going wrong. But I don't think he's paying for his for his school. And you know, he's getting taken care of. He's a good kicker. He's clutch. He's, you know, he's well like behind the scenes for sure. But man, remember all the questions coming into 2022? Do they have a kicker? You know, what's what's going to happen there? And he just started nailing them left and right. And what I really like about that guy, you can tell he's got mental toughness, because he started off a little slow this past season. And when a kicker has has issues, you don't know what it's going to just be gone forever. Like it can be like golf or putting or a real chuck, chuck, chuck, knock, knock, throw on the first base. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. He just regrouped, started nailing them again, man. He's just a good, solid kicker. Texas is lucky to have him. Absolutely. And that's why those, we wanted to do this segment because we know that there's so many guys we talked about on a regular basis at InsideTexas.com and on the Inside Texas Football Championship channel, we really wanted to dig in this week on five guys we didn't talk enough about to make sure those guys, I know one guy we talk about a lot. And there's a reason for that. Because he's clutch. We talk about this guy in the spring in the summer, the fall and the winter. And that's Andre the lawyer. Listen, whenever you're in trouble, you've got to call this guy. He is a trusted Longhorn that has been helping guys forever. Anytime you're getting in trouble, getting in a workplace accident, a slip and fall, a wrongful death, car accidents, you name it. Whenever you get in trouble, please be sure and give Andre the lawyer a call. 214-444-8808 Andre is there to help you at any time in any way. You hate to be in that position. But hey, this is a guy that's going to, he's going to take care of you. So be sure and give Andre the lawyer a call if you're ever getting stuck. 214-444-8808. One more, one more segment. And we are, this is something you and I are kind of starting to look forward to a little bit more every day. They all have to be elite series and Nashville. And so to, to, to, to let the cat out of the bag, Eric and Alina and Justin Wells are going to be in Nashville for the on three elite series. There's way too many, too much talent converging in Tennessee and way too many Texas targets with relevant, relevant stuff going on. And so look, I'm going to go through just a couple of these kind of quick, you know, rapid fire just to give Texas fans the expectation when we get there, it's going to be big. There's a lot of talent heading into Nashville. Decorian Moore, Kalique Lockett, Jamie French. Those are just the wide receivers. That's the pass catchers. And if you know Texas big board, that might be one, two and three on their big board as well. And so that's big on the defensive side. You got some DBs in Dory and Brew, who you went and saw Conroe a couple weeks ago. Jonah Williams, who I caught up with last night, whose brother was actually committed to Texas. Oh, man, hold on a sec. Now I'm a fan here. I didn't know you caught it with Jonah last night. How'd that go? It went well, you know, we, you know, I reached out to a handful of the guys that all got invited to the on three series just to kind of say, hey, congratulations. We're going to be there. I can't wait to see you again, you know, kind of a little, just a little check in that I do with all these guys. And I'm kind of talking and Jonah's like, you know, my brother was committed to Texas at one point. And I thought, all right, that's another angle. But, but yeah, he's doing well. I've got a, I've got an overnight trip next week to do some reconnaissance on that recruit. But so I'm looking, I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, he's a, he's a stud. I'm glad to see Texas back in the mix on that guy because, you know, first of all, the internal evaluation on that guy, they think he's, he might be the best player in the state. And just, he's a great kid, you know, great kid, a great family. Big competitor. And, and as we've always said, he's a, he's a baseball kid. So this recruitment is going to be a legit two sport pursuit. Lance Jackson, Texas commit, he's going to be there, was in Texas or Canada this week. Got to talk to him just for a few minutes. He's excited. You know what? The biggest thing going on with Lance, he was the best man last weekend for his brother's wedding. Landon Jackson got married, Eric. And I, and I, I texted, I was texting with Landon during the week. I was saying, you're all grown up and stuff now, man. Congratulations. So, Lance is going to be there. Michael Fassusi, number one pro, offensive tackle prospect on the big board. He's going to be there. And you and I both know, Michael Fassusi, there's not a trip that he doesn't love. He will take any, he will take any official visits you give him. But I think two other guys, two other guys that I think are going to make it a little interesting. KJ Lacey, Keland Russell. What's that going to be like when we get those two side to side back to back? And we get to talk about what the Texas class of 2025 and quarterback might look like. Yeah, man. I don't know how soccer navigate. I don't know how soccer navigates any of these quarterback issues. It's just so difficult. I'm going to see how that plays out. I was talking to a college coach the other day. He was talking, he was just raving about Keland Russell. He knows he's not going to get him. He wants him, but Keland's profile has risen too much. It's, yeah, it's going to be interesting. But that, you know, it's further interesting is that college coach has seen KJ Lacey twice. He recruited him at his previous stop. Obviously wasn't going to get KJ, but he said, you know, Sark is trying to recreate Bryce. You know, that's what he's doing with KJ said, you know, KJ is not exactly Bryce, but he's a very good area. He's a fairly close approximation. And so that it was interesting talking to that college coach and his pretty keen insight on both those quarterbacks. He didn't really say he had a favorite, but he's definitely all in on trying to get Keland even though it's not going to happen. Yeah. And that's the fun part of being able to go up to Nashville and getting to see these guys. We really do appreciate on three for putting these on. And the best part about the on three series is there's a running back targeting James Simon out of Calvary Baptist and Shreveport. And Texas is in good shape for him right now. You know, we could see something coming up pretty soon. I felt like with that recruitment and I could see that tying in with that on three elite series as well. Hey, we're going to have finished with with one more segment. Where are they now? And Eric and I have been doing this long enough to wear. What does he have the Andre Moore here? It's DeAndre McNeil, you've both talked about DeAndre Moore. See, that's that that's why. Got a finesse. Yeah, that wasn't finessing. Joe wasn't finessing, but he got the safe. It didn't Joe. He didn't Josh Hader this. We need. Don't bring up Josh Hader. We need Homer back. No, no, no, no. Well, it wasn't over the other. Either way, we have relationships with a lot of these older recruits that went on to play in the league or became adults. They have families. They have kids. DeAndre McNeil, finessing. I got, did you ask him the most important question I could think of? Are you still waiting for that first touch at Notre Dame? Oh, man, yeah, he was getting peppered with questions. First of all, I didn't know he was coming out. And so he showed up behind that scene in since Malik's draft night. What was that 2018? I don't know. It was a long time. He said he finally grew into those shoulders. I always told him it's going to be a linebacker. He's big. He's not out of shape, but he's he's a big guy. Just moved back to Dallas from Florida. His general manager at Echo Park car sales place and I actually bought a car from Echo Park one time. It's pretty easy. So if you're looking for a car, go see DeAndre. But it was funny, you know, he's not the kid that we saw back in the day. You know, he's sitting there eating sushi with a glass of red wine. It's just funny how how how time flies, man. I never would have thought I'd be sitting there watching DeAndre with with a glass of red wine. It's a sushi. It's pretty funny, but he's doing great. Happy to be back in Dallas. We're on his family again. And it was just good to see him. Yeah, DeAndre was always a good kid. That was a fun recruitment. Those are memories we're going to have for the rest of our lives. And DeAndre was, you know what, he took it in stride. He kept fighting. He kept looking for a spot and you got to give that guy credit. And so also plug in his car dealership at that. That's a big time. But that's what we do. Go see DeAndre McNeil at Echo Park. We might have to get him on it at some point. He's he's he's the fun guy to be around. Yeah, yeah, because I promise you, he is a few Charlie strong stories that I think would resonate very well on this platform. So guys, please keep keep watching and paying attention because sometimes we'll bring people in and out that you never know and they'll they'll have some of the best stories. You know, lastly, you know, this is fun. We talked about who we didn't mention enough in spring. We talked about the on three elite series and then where are they now? The major thing we want to talk about come see us at inside Texas.com. We really are having the best time. The momentum is real. There's so many new things going up each day. We've been on the road like crazy this last week killing it. I want to say inside Texas staff hit as many as 13 14 maybe 15 schools this week. It was a tremendous content event. And so you got to come see us at inside Texas.com. IT1 will get you two months of inside Texas for only a dollar. IT1. So come see us and also please like the video. Subscribe to the inside Texas football YouTube channel. Like I said, we're climbing to 8,000. Keep helping us get there. We can't wait to see where we're going to be in the summer. We can't even wait in the season in the August and in the fall. 2024 is going to be a lot of fun for Texas fans. This is the time to get in right now and get with Eric. As always on Fridays always a pleasure to hear your voice see your face. I'll see you again at same time same place next week. And thank you to all the viewers for for joining us and making us a part of our of your day on the inside Texas football YouTube channel power by inside Texas.com.
Eric Nahlin and Justin Wells talk about the five Longhorns not talked about enough this spring, Texas recruits heading to the On3 Elite Series, and more. Subscribe to Inside Texas to stay locked in with your favorite team every single day https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/join/
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