Andy & Ari On3 - Texas Deep Dive: Can Arch Manning lead the Longhorns to a national title?

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

Deep dive week continues and today, we head to the Lone Star State of Texas to preview the Longhorns. As Steve Sarkisian was one play away from advancing to the national championship game, Texas has its eyes set on getting over the hump this season. With Arch Manning stepping in at quarterback, all eyes are on Austin. Will the Longhorns rise to the occasion, or is the bar set too high? Find out here as Joe Cook from Inside Texas joins Andy & Ari to examine the Longhorn football program. More news on Texas: https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/ (0:00-2:14) Intro: Texas Longhorns(2:15-4:34) Joe Cook from Inside Texas joins(4:35-6:29) Can Texas FINALLY capture the title?(6:30-12:57) Arch Manning as QB1 in Austin(12:58-16:07) Longhorns in the trenches(16:08-20:37) WR room for Texas(20:38-22:59) Defensive side of the ball(23:00-30:44) Real Expectations for the Longhorns(30:45-33:59) Wrapping up(34:00-35:03) Conclusion Watch our show LIVE on YouTube M-F at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three deep dive week continues. We've talked Georgia, we've talked Clemson. Now it is time to talk about the team that both Ari and I had at preseason number one in our off season top 25s. That's right. The Texas Longhorns, Ari's hooking them. Ari's been predicting the rise of Texas. The Texas is back of it all for a long time. I think we can safely say Texas is back. Now it's just a matter of can Texas get over the hump and win a national title? No excitement whatsoever going into this year.

Certainly no famous last name at the quarterback position. Certainly no former five star recruits that are coming into there. Oh wait, that's, they've got all of that. Texas has it all. Thank you Joe Tess. What is this? Do you hear this? I hear it. Are you knocking on wood? I'm knocking on wood but I'm knocking on the door baby. They've been banging on the door for two years now and we talked about this. We talked when that person who, you know, asked the question about how mad

should I be at Steve Sarkeesian for having a terrible red zone offense? It's like, bro, like where were they two years ago? What is wrong with you? Last thing they need to fix once they fix that they're unstoppable. Twenty years not a player taken in the first round of the offensive side of the ball in the draft. They're back.

They're fully back. And like you said, and I totally subscribe to this, teams that continually find themselves on the stage in the fourth quarter of games that will send them to the national championship or advancing to the championship will eventually win them. Georgia is the perfect example of that. There like were there were columns written that Kirby Smart couldn't get over the hump. Remember that like 1980 jokes over and over again, 1980 jokes. So anyway, I think Texas is you know one of the.

You want to pick a team that hasn't won a championship in the playoff era to win one next. They are one of two options. Them are Oregon. I think they're ahead of Oregon. So that would be my pick. And I think they could do it as soon as this year. Well, let's talk to a guy who would never call a toss play on the goal line against Ohio State.

Joe Cook from Inside Texas. How are we doing, Joe? I'm great. Just a fine summer day, Texas heat, not as bad as usual. But I'm counting down like you all are to see the Longhorns head up to Columbus. But a lot of talking to do until then, right? I'm not as bad as usual but uh I'm I'm counting down like I find with the fan bases, they tend to nitpick a little bit more. What's the thing about Texas that the Texas fans have been harping on all off season? What do they feel like needs to be fixed to make sure this team can compete for a national title? Well, I could start on that goal line offense thing y'all brought up.

But that was, and I listened to that episode where y'all talked about that, and Ari, I couldn't agree with you more about, you know, if this is the small problem in an era where there are no perfect teams, the small yet magnified 500% problem, then it's something that Steve Sarkeesian typically is able to fix. He, he has a problem solvers mentality. He's done that via the portal. He's done that with how he's approached play calling, defense, offense, all that. So if there was a big problem last year, it was like y'all mentioned in y'all show,

red zone scoring, red zone touchdown convergence. So that's something that of course Texas fans are gonna key in on. But at the same time, the big talk around is, hey, it's time to make a run at the national championship and it's Arch Manning's turn to be the guy in control. On the door, two straight ears, semi-final appearances, a play away a few yards away from the end zone, from being in contention to advance to the championship game and falling painfully short once the runner up in Washington and once to the champion in Ohio

State. So like you like you mentioned Ari, they're they're knocking and they they want to bust through that door. Sarkeesian wants to bust through that door in Texas, you know 20 years without a national title isn't the same.

What was it 35 like it was 20 years ago, but it's still quite a drought for a fan base that is more patience now, more reasons to be patient, I guess, but is always wanting to get back to the mountaintop and get there as fast as possible. I went over to a Texas fan's house. It was a live in Dallas and I'm amongst the Aggies and the Horns constantly. And he's become a good buddy of mine.

We went golfing together a few days ago and I was talking to him about Texas and that episode. And he goes, it feels really good to be Texas fan right now because I know we're gonna get one in the next five years. He goes, I know it's gonna happen. And I'm like, I think that's an interesting way to look at it, but I actually feel like I agree. Like I don't know that there's a planet

where Texas does not win the national title in the next five years. Yeah, one of the reasons that Nick Saban was so good, our guy Ian Boyd at Inside Texas, I'm sure this term has been used all over the place. It's marshaling resources. It's getting everything that a program can acquire and putting it in the right direction.

Darrell Royal called it putting the BBs back in the box. It's all about getting the talent. Texas has done that with top six classes over the past four years. They've done it through the transfer portal. They've done it at quarterback, obviously. And now it's, and they have the coaching continuity that really helps those talented players continue to know what to do on these big stages.

Steve Sarkeesian is not gonna turn over play calling despite some goal line struggles. Pete Kwiatkowski just kind of feels like a defensive coordinator lifer. He's never really had aspirations for it to be a head coach. Doesn't honestly seem like the head coach type. And what he's been able to do these past two seasons, especially last year has been incredible. So you look at the talent, the people, the ability to sustain and maintain and create rosters that compete at the highest level. And it's, it's hard not to think that at some point, no matter what this playoff looks like, tech may be the last team standing.

I am fascinated by the Arch Manning situation. Obviously, we talk about him a ton. The sample size is not miniscule. Like we saw him start a couple games last year. We saw him play a role when when yours yours ankle was bum and so arch kind of played the running quarterback in the Texas A&M game. But what will this look like with him at the controls of the offense?

How different will it be from say the offense under Quinn yours? There's a hope that the the deep shot. The deep shots start getting converted. That was when Quinn viewers through all of his injuries, whether it was his first one in 2022, just kind of that underarm area for, after the Alabama hit, 2023,

when it was some shoulder problems. And then 2024, again, when he had that oblique strain, he really just lost mechanics, or lost the ability to maintain mechanics when throwing downfield. It was hard to find somebody better than Quinn Ewers throwing in the mid-range and throwing screens. You know, sometimes it's seen as a given, but putting it on the face mask at the line of scrimmage is still important. But when it came to hitting downfield shots, which is a key part of Steve Sarkisian's offense, just was not something he was able to do. Um, except, you know, you saw it there in that, in that Arizona state game. That was,

I'll count that as a deep shot, the one of Matthew Golden. Um, so that was deep and very important. Exactly. Yeah. Fourth and 13. Um, but that was something that, you know, paired with a run game that had in 2022, Bijon Robinson, and then in 2023, Jonathan Brooks for most of the year. That's the type of like, pull them in, pull them in, throw over the top of them,

that they just weren't able to convert as often as they'd like. Now with Arch Manning, the hope is that, and something that he did do very well in that limited sample size, especially against Mississippi State, is throw that deep pass, is convert those opportunities and also be able to stand in the pocket.

Quinn Newers, I think there was a clip, I forget who drafted Mikell Williams, but that team tried to show a clip of a rep against Kelvin Banks and everybody kind of looked at it like that wasn't Kelvin Banks' fault. I think the Falcons got him. And so it was like, ah, NFC South, funny, funny, but- It was the 49ers.

49ers, that's right. So NFC, I guess, but the video showed Quinn, you were self-sacking. He did not have good pocket presence. And that's something that, yeah, we're going to have to figure that out with Arch Manning. But there's a hope that, okay, if you're 6'4 and 2'25 and have been learning how to do this all your life, and you're also a third-year player with two starts and 10, 12 games of experience, including a lot of action in the

SEC, then you're maybe going to be able to handle that a little bit better than Quinn Ewers who very often needed the right picture in front of him to make the pass. He completed well, but he needed that picture in front of him to be very clear. Yeah, I mean, I've been engaged in arguments all summer with people about the assumption assumption that Arch Manning is gonna be a Heisman finalist and awesome Like you're around the program. You're there all the time. You saw him in person last year Like can you just try to contextualize that reasonable expectations are for him and like am I going crazy thinking? He's just gonna be awesome and like there's like it's like impossible for not not to happen Yeah, I'll start off the field. I remember for that sugar bowl. They

don't really make freshmen available unless they're playing understandable. And so it was on the field at the Superdome and you have the tables for the big guys that kind of half stages and then just bleacher seats for all the freshmen play through arch in the bleacher seats. And then everybody's sprinting over there and he had I listened to the whole thing. He handled it really well. Um he got his opportunities last year and you know he I sometimes I don't like this term but he is a football guy like he's very much like his dad and his uncles like he's a great teammate. He's there to be

good at the game, great at the game. Um and he understands what it like to, you know, be one of the guys and be a leader. And that's that's definitely started to take shape over the course of this offseason. Even talking with him during spring football, he didn't really want to get into like all these different, you know, very, very gracious about Quinn and sitting and saying like, look, I started from eighth grade to my senior year. Sitting was weird. But then he understands his celebrity. He understands all that. And so he's very composed. He's a third year guy.

He's a junior in college, by year, not by classification. So he's got that aspect. As far as what he's been able to do on the field, there is an aspect of maybe some nonchalant that you might not have seen from anybody else in his family where he will make a post-splitting throw, a post-safety splitting throw that Texas may not have seen anybody else make all last year.

And it'll run to the sideline and it's like, oh, completion. All right, next one. Let's do that. So there's a lot of confidence in himself in that ability to do what this offense needs. As far as, you know, what's around him though, I like what they've added on the pass catcher. We'll see about running back. We'll see about offensive line, but when you have a quarterback like that, and again I keep bringing this up, in an era where there really isn't a super team because of the portal, because of recruiting, all that different stuff, to have a quarterback differentiator like that, is he gonna meet everybody's super high expectations and start playing like

1-1 right away. He could, but I'm not I don't think you people should expect one one right away. I think we'll still see a handful of growing pains from from Archie. Everybody wanted to see him come in for Georgia and everybody forgets he had a fumble and look just as lost as Quinn did for a little bit. So there'll be some time but as far as having situation, if you're passing the keys off from a three year starter, having a third year quarterback who, by the way, is just is arch manning. Like, let's let's not forget that. Like it's about as good a situation as you could ask for. Well, and a key piece of this is a lot of that offensive line is gone

from last year, Calvin Banks first round draft pick, obviously. But they had some very good players that are now moved on. I have gone down a Trevor Goosby rabbit hole of late, right? Especially after seeing the times that he's clocking in some of the workouts. This is the guy who's supposed to start left tackle, by the way. They did not freak out and go into the transfer portal, Joe. And I've harped on this all off season that I feel like that's a good sign that that that says to me that they feel like Kyle Flood, who's their online coach, has developed guys behind the ones last year that are ready to go. But where is that group? Where do they where do they rank compared to the group that was playing last year? Where do they rank compared to the group that was playing last year?

It's a good question. You can left tackle, you're gonna see a step down from Kelvin Banks. Unless Texas just has another Outland Trophy winner that was just sitting on the bench last year. Trevor Goosby played great for banks against A&M, against Georgia, stepped in against Clemson, did some great things there as a, I believe, a red shirt freshman and as someone that Texas could see basically, and then Georgia stepped in against Clemson, did some great things there as a, I believe a red shirt freshman and as someone that, you know, Texas could see basically possibly being another one year guy heading off to the

NFL, just like Cam Williams. But if you go across the line, there are maybe some guys who don't have the, you look in the game notes and see returning starter by their name, but they're not completely lacking experience. Or, you know, they're third or fourth year guys, and there's definitely value to that. Or they're a five star, and there's value to that. So Gooseby there at left tackle. Left guard looks like it's going to be someone named Neto Umiozulu, a red shirt junior from that same recruiting class with Banks and Williams. Someone who's been waiting behind Hayden Connor and pushed Hayden Connor last year.

Connor's now in the Cardinals, so Umi Azulu has his shot. At center, it'll be Cole Hudson. Again, not a guy who you call a returning starter, but played meaningful snaps against Alabama in 2022, 2023, would rotate at guard. Maybe he didn't get starts, but saw plenty of snaps to where this isn't this guy's, you know, this isn't gonna be his first time seeing SEC competition. Maybe at center it will be, but seeing that, you know,

on the offensive line won't be a change for him. Right guard returns DJ Campbell. He's the one guy from last year's line who does come back. Five star was actually ranked higher than Kelvin Banks. Four year player, basically from the second half of his freshman year, all the way to now has maintained that spot. Right tackle is gonna be something to track at this point. It looks like it's gonna be a five star in Brandon Baker.

And he may be the only second year player or younger who ends up playing, you know, or starting for this line. So that's what you look for. I've been saying this offseason, if you're going to replace starters, you want some guys who either have a little bit of experience or like third or fourth year players, or they have a lot of stars next to their name. And that's a good combination for Texas to have. And it's a group that they're gonna wanna see more out of when it comes to the run game. I think we're probably more certain about what Texas is gonna be defensively with Colin Simmons and Ant Hill and those guys. The thing that I am interested in is the receiver position.

And I also have sat on the show to Andy a few times that I anticipate that Ryan Wingo will be really, really good and has kind of been overshadowed by other classmates like Jeremiah Smith and Cam Coleman and Ryan Williams. How good is Ryan Wingo and our Texas's receiver is going to be very explosive and help arch out this year? I think Wingo is justifiably behind, you know, those big three that you named. He I'm trying to think of what he looked who he compares to he is about six two and a half six three two ten but has speed of a guy a lot smaller and and lighter. You saw

that in the Michigan game and that speaks to Will Johnson that Will Johnson tracked him down on that long run but he was his issue a little bit last year was he was just playing athlete sometimes. That's why they would get him in the ball on some of those reverses and in screens, because there were times when his route running would get thrown off, he would lose battles at the at the catch point. There were times when you know he just was going against a defensive back who is playing more technical than he was The hope it arch and in Wingo have maintained a connection ever since they both arrived in their class I'm not sure if y'all saw a few weeks ago. It made its round on Twitter. Yeah

Yeah, Ryan Wingo hosted a camp up in st Louis and there's Arch Manning and his Vory and hanging out in the near North St. Louis like he's at home. And that's a that is a connection that he has with Ryan Wingo. So lots of lots of hope that those two will be able to continue to connect and that Wingo does a few more receiver things. And I think if he does, he could be someone who people maybe not elevate above that trio, but start to think, okay, he's worth being in the same conversation as. Other side of things, he'll probably end up on the boundary, but you all know Sark

and everybody kind of moves receivers all over. De'Andre Moore comes back, number zero, caught some big passes in the SEC Championship game and in the Peach Bowl. A player who for the most part has been in the slot, been really reliable, really fast. Jordan Whittington's successor could end up being someone who stays in the slot or he could move outside. They trust his speed out there and they trust what he's able to do

in a decently complex offense for receivers. The transfer they brought in that kind of flew under the radar compared to some of the other receiver transfers that Texas has taken in past years was Emmett Mosley out of Stanford. Got healthy at the, you know, right at the beginning of last season, took over and played really well for a Cardinal offense that wasn't really great at passing the football, had some good games against good competition, 6-2, about 190, and that's someone who they

may throw in the slot. Hope can block a little bit, but also if you go watch what he's able to do, a lot of tough, over the middle, those types of catches that you hope that that guy who's running those routes and going against linebackers is able to haul in So that's that's probably what the top three is gonna look like Sark runs a lot of 12 personnel so you may only see two on the field. I'd better be More and then Wingo and then behind them the name to know is Parker Livingstone I think he's a redshirt freshman out of the DFW area. 6'4".

Has a little speed. He's deceptively fast. I'll play that card. But he's someone that has definitely earned a lot of positive reviews throughout spring. And then maybe one of the guys they just signed in the 2025 class ends up being a player that they can use this year. Jamie French was highly rated, Kalik Lockett I think was maybe a top receiver, a five star. They assigned Dailin McCutcheon to Kimuay from Florida State. Then they got a five-star athlete, Michael Terry out of San Antonio who they're playing at receiver. Lots of young options there.

Aaron Butler, another player to remember. Stark likes having an experienced and older wide receiver room um just because of the way his offense works but he may have to rely on a little bit more youth than he's used to this upcoming season. So not relying on youth at all on the defensive side of the ball. This is a group that was really good last year. Now, they they lost a couple of good players but when when you bring

back Michael Taft, when you bring back Colin Simmons, when you bring back Ant Hill, should we expect fairly similar results? It's gonna be tough to be like that number one, number two, number three, and you know, total and also yards for play, SP plus but I the Texas can definitely have another elite defense. Colin Simmons could end up being one of the best players in the country. It's someone who looks, maybe not looks like Will Anderson, but can have the type of impacts on opposing offenses that Will Anderson had.

And that you might have to take a couple of guys to take care of him and make sure he's not taking care of your quarterback and putting him in the dirt. But then on the other side, they do lose Baron Sorrell. He was drafted I think in the sixth round by New Orleans. Had been a three-year player at that strong side defensive end position. They'll look to bring Ethan Burke who made that tackle versus Texas A&M and Kyle Field, that goal line stand. He's been playing plenty since his freshman year. So those are probably the two guys on the end.

And then Trey Moore, who started ahead of Colin Simmons last year at that weak side spot, he's moved a little bit. He'll probably still do a good amount of stuff like Simmons does, rushing off the edge. They want him to do a little bit more off ball stuff. And apparently that's come fine. He's not gonna be Anthony Hill, but it's nice to have Anthony Hill. That is someone just a true ball-hawking,

see hole, fly through hole, destroy ball carrier guy, who did learn a lot about playing in coverage last year and did it really well as part of, you know, recording a hundred tackle season. He's got a lot of charisma. You know, he did that, the SpongeBob dance, I think is what he called it when bringing it around town. Someone who is just, you can tell he has fun out there and has fun hurting people on the football field. And he's probably, you know, he can joke around only once, but that's someone who's going to go in the top 32 next season. They're my favorite to win the national championship this year. Where are your thoughts on the upward trajectory of this team? Like is that crazy to you? Is that where they should be? Are they as talented as they've been in the past?

Like am I in over my head a little bit here? Like just just what's rational about this team? This is a team that believes it should be playing for the national championship. Getting there is difficult. That's something I always maintain. Every national championship should be celebrated because it's really dang hard to win them. And Texas over the past two seasons is great evidence of that.

They've had a top defense and yet, you know, could not get things done offensively under an offensive head coach to get there last year. Similar applies a couple years ago. It's really hard, but that is what their goal is. They are not trying to just get to the final four, win the conference title, and be like, wow, this is a great year, haven't done something like this in two decades, or decade and a half, time to see what happens next year. Like, this is a team and a program that puts all its effort, or the way it conducts itself, is to trying to win a national championship.

That's, that's what they're trying to do. They feel like they have a window that did open with Quinn Ubers and remains open with Arch Manning in order to make those efforts. The recruitings there, you know, when you stack up classes like that, when you're successful in the portal, when you bring in all the players that you have and you have the schemes that I think are pretty advanced for not to play the SEC dumb ball trope, but like, you know, these are two respected minds in their fields as far as offensive and defensive play calling goes. Like this is a team that should put a lot of fear into opponents. And yeah, you know, there's going to be some difficult challenges those two that Gator and that big old G is going to be tough. And you can ever

discount the one with the asterisk on it it but then there's that one at the beginning too which we can't ignore the schedule is despite what many people may have said last year and maybe even ahead of this year the schedule makers did them no favors in creating this year's slate and they know they're gonna have to go through that they know they're gonna have to be battle-tested in order to be a champion and that's where they want to be they they expect to have to go through that. They know they're going to have to be battle tested in order to be a champion. And that's where they want to be. They expect to be there in late January. As these schedules go, I think it actually spaces out fairly well. There's some SEC schedules you look at and it's like, oh, God, they have to do this,

you know, back to back to back to back to back with with Texas. At least they've got the at Ohio State to start, but then they've got three non-conference games. The at Florida, Oklahoma in consecutive weeks, that probably is the toughest spot because, you know, they get Vandy before Georgia, they get Arkansas between Georgia and Texas A&M, but that Florida, Oklahoma one,

I think would feel like the one I'd worry about back to back because I would assume Oklahoma is gonna be better than they were last year. And the other thing, I think they're by is either I think it might be right after that Kentucky game, but if you look at all those different all those different opportunities, they are not at home through the whole month of October, Florida in the swamp. OU is in Dallas, Kentucky in Lexington, state in Starkville, and then they finally come home to play Vanderbilt in a day game on November 1st.

Then they get their bye. And then, OK, then you got to go to Sanford Stadium. So that starts, even though you can think less of Kentucky, Mississippi State, and what those teams may be this year, starting your stretch of a month away from home, from your home stadium with Florida and then an Oklahoma team that's tired of not scoring offensive touchdowns against you or not having healthy quarterback play against you and most of Brent Venable's time there, that's a difficult stretch. If they get through that, yeah, you feel good about Kentucky, you feel good about Mississippi State, Vanderbilt,

and then you start up again. Then it's Georgia, Arkansas, A&M, conference championship, and you start up again. I think you're right. It spaces out. All schedules are tough, but it's not something that you look at and you're like, wow, you know, Greg Sankey. Yeah, it's Oklahoma's back half. The back half of Oklahoma schedule is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. So Texas does benefit there, but yeah, it'll be interesting. Do they get the Georgia monkey off their back? Because it's weird. As good as Texas was last year, they lost twice to Georgia. And it wasn't the most dynamic Georgia team in the world, but it did feel like they played their best two games against Texas.

Mike Bobo did some real magic in the SEC Championship game. Yeah. The first game, it's hard to go against Kirby Smart when he's pulling out some of the tricks that he did. I've seen a few clips of those pop up on social media recently, and when you're literally changing fronts at the snap and all the different magic that he can pull,

and one of those guys happens to be Michael Williams, and just all the guys that they can pull out there, it's real tough no matter who you got trying to block them. But that second game, yeah, they thought it was one of it was a ugly game, you know, and maybe if Texas has a kicker who start can trust a little bit more. You watch your game. You watch your mom. My guy is a bird, Auburn truther. So if he regresses to the mean, he will be a quality kicker from Miami. His 2023 was great and his 2024 end was bad.

But those were opportunities that Texas had. And some of that comes from goal line stuff, which we can rehash if we want. But he did the whole show on the goal. Wait, do you want to talk about that? Because we have a half hour under our belts talking. Oh, man. And like a 40 minute texting conversation

with Ralph Ruzzo about it too. Oh, man. Well, you should come to the message board and start that topic and see if anybody wants to check in on Steve Starkeesian's play calling. But that to be said about those Georgia games, they were close. And they were rocky games.

They weren't smooth. Somehow Gunnar Stockton loses his mind but hangs onto the football. That changes, Texas walks out of there with a bye. It's a game of inches, it's an all-blonde ball. But I think that second game, maybe more than the first, showed kind of how close the margins are. There's still some wide margins when it comes to defensive line versus offensive

line and what the, you know, very reasonable concern is with offensive line. Even one that had all that NFL town on there getting a work by Georgia. But yet despite all that, Texas was there, took overtime. It took, you know, a lucky hold on by Gunnar Stockton for that to continue. And yeah, you could also say it took an unfortunate snap of a tendon for Texas to be in that position. But it does show that the Longhorns are not out of place at all and look right at home contending at the top of the league. Yeah.

I mean, at the end of the year, they were exactly where they were supposed to be, you know, right? Like in the semifinal yard away from tying a game against Ohio State in the fourth quarter. So like, you know, it's, it's a team that I think has grown program, I should say that it's grown tremendously over the course of the past few years. And my anticipation is that it'll continue. I I'm excited to see it.

I just, it's been interesting, Joe, because I was wondering when somebody was gonna be able to get Texas together. And I think, yeah, I've written this a couple of times. I think Sark obviously deserves a lot of credit. I think Chris Delconte, the athletic director, deserves a lot of credit for getting, you mentioned marshaling the forces

and putting the BBs back in the box and all that. Like you had to do that with people outside the program who maybe didn't have the same ideas about how the program should work. And now it seems like everyone's on the same page. Is that, you know, does that give you hope for, for Texas to be able to do this for a while? Absolutely. Um, the, you will hear Steve Sarkeesian talk about leadership until he's, until he's blue in the face. Um, it's just one of those things that he values. And I think, I don't think any coach really understands how important

it is until they get a good situation like that or they're in a terrible situation. You see them trying to flee it as fast as possible. But when you think back to why Texas became the punch line that it was and if you really

want to go on for 40 minutes, well, I got a lot of time. But just to try to make it real brief, like in the late 2010s, a lot of political infighting between the governor's mansion and the board of regents and people who took sides between get rid of Mac and keep Mac. The save inspector was there if you want to believe that or not, I still do. But at the same time time there are so many people battling that Just nobody's going to win and that's why when you know everything said and done He's resigning at a dinner with official visitors there and saying okay. I'm done and then a search has to start

So you know and then that search is conducted by Steve Patterson who's one of the worst sports executives to walk the face of the earth. Ires Charlie Strong, Charlie Strong was behind the eight ball from the beginning. Lost to Kansas, still can't do that. You bring in the wonder kid and Tom Herman under a interim AD and Mike Perrin, and things look all right with Tom Herman. You think, okay, you got the urban disciple. You've got the guy who's going to bring new spread offense to a Texas program that basically doesn't have a lot of great passing records because its history

is the wishbone. Sam Ellinger tries, but recruiting fails by Herman, cultural fails by Herman. And, you know, some personal fails by Herman have cultural fails by Herman, and some personal fails by Herman, have him shipped out early. There was a Urban Meyer flirtation for a while, but then I think Chris Delconte, President Jay Hartzell, who's now at SMU, and then the chairman of the Board of Regents, Kevin Eltaiff,

they decide on Sark, they find their guy, they get someone who I think everybody knows as that, or he likes to tell everybody, he's got that combination of Pete Carroll and Nick Saban, has that offensive play calling Acumen, it takes a year. But then NIL comes around. And I know people may, you know, scoff at this, but I'll put it this way, Texas likes the NIL rules as they are now. It's a way that they can succeed and it's good for Texas. Exactly. They can help build, it can help them build a roster, it can help them retain players, it can help them appeal to players that they may have never had a chance with. So that recruiting comes around. Now you're in the SEC, now you're competing, and it's a great perfect storm that Steve Sarkeesian has been at

the forefront of after you know, like like y'all have seen a lost decade for Texas where instability made so many problems and now stability is helping Texas contend for national titles. Beautiful. Beautiful. I cannot wait. Oh, ours. Ours already hooking them. It's one of the most interesting teams in the the