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Posted

Signing Day tomorrow...

Who is returning on Texas O-line for 2026 season...

Keep hearing talk that Texas team is young, but will be better next year??  Feels like o-line, WR, TE, RB all need help??

And our defense is losing several starters too... 

Posted

Need portal studs at RB, OG, OT, C, LB, and CB, plus backfills for any unexpected losses from the projected 2 deep.  If we don’t address the OL we are fucked.  Otherwise we should have a better team next season. 

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Posted

OL obviously (3-4). I don't know why we need WR's? They all come back, unless Moore thinks he's a high draft choice, which I doubt. Two 5* WR's haven't even had a chance to prove what they can do. TE has a couple of studs, just young. Would love to get a stud at RB. Clark will probably portal, don't blame him. Even Simon coulda portal. I wish Baxter would portal.  Shipley SR so K. Other positions if we can get a real difference maker.

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Posted

Really, the only thing we 100% need is 1 starting-caliber OL (although 2 would be nice).  Not ideal, but you would expect Brooks to be able to slide into a full time spot since he played a little bit this year (yes, I know he sucked, but was a true Freshman).  Neto, Stroh and Cruz are some experienced backup options (yes, I know they all sucked as well).  Surely there is some type of development happening in the OL room right???

Unless we can get a super-stud in the portal, Wisner is plenty good enough to take 70-75% of the carries and maybe Baxter looks a little better the further out he gets from his injuries.  Simon and the stud Freshman can fill in if needed. 

Don’t need any WRs or TEs. 

Defense is good. 

I guess we need a Kicker & Punter again??

 

 

Posted
19 minutes ago, EZ$ said:

Really, the only thing we 100% need is 1 starting-caliber OL (although 2 would be nice).  Not ideal, but you would expect Brooks to be able to slide into a full time spot since he played a little bit this year (yes, I know he sucked, but was a true Freshman).  Neto, Stroh and Cruz are some experienced backup options (yes, I know they all sucked as well).  Surely there is some type of development happening in the OL room right???

In the portal era, there is no excuse for your Plan A to be young players developing into quality starters when you can just go buy proven, experienced players.  Expecting Brooks to start next season after sucking this season is idiotic.  We need 3-4 interior OL guys out of the portal.  Neto, Stroh, and Cruz are not options in any sense.  Stroh is the worst offensive linemen I've seen play at Texas in 20 years.  Neto is so bad he couldn't get snaps over Stroh or true freshman Brooks.  Cruz played like, what, 20 snaps this season?  None of those guys should be relied on as contributors next year.

Quote

Unless we can get a super-stud in the portal, Wisner is plenty good enough to take 70-75% of the carries and maybe Baxter looks a little better the further out he gets from his injuries.  Simon and the stud Freshman can fill in if needed. 

Love Wisner's vision, patience, and decisive cuts.  But he runs like a 4.8 in the open field and he can't run through contact.  He is not good enough to be the primary running back at Texas.  Baxter is a shell of his former self and not worth the NIL we're wasting on him.  We need to open up the wallet for a proven SEC starter like Jadan Baugh or Kewan Lacy, or a G5 monster like Caleb Hawkins at North Texas. 

Quote

Don’t need any WRs or TEs.

Agree.

Quote

Defense is good.

Not at all.

Safety - Michael Taafe is gone and Jelani McDonald may go pro.  Derrick Williams is looking really shaky since coming back from his knee injury.  We need to get at least one guy here, two if McDonald leaves.  No one behind McDonald and Williams have played enough to be relied on as starters next year.

Corner - Guilbeau is gone and Muhammad will probably go pro.  Cade Phillips and Kobe Black have had bright moments in limited snaps.  Warren Roberson seems like he sucks.  Graceson Littleton could move outside and cover one of the corner positions, but that creates a void at Star/Nickel.  So, no matter what, we need at least one portal guy with starting experience to play outside corner and another guy with starting experience to play the opposite corner position or Nickel in place of Littleton.

LB - We lose Anthony Hill (almost assuredly) and Trey Moore.  Liona Lefau and Ty'Anthony Smith are both quality starters, but we have no experienced depth behind them.  We could move Brad Spence from Edge back to off-ball LB, but he's pretty valuable in the Edge rotation.  I think this is lower priority than the secondary considering we have proven guys who can step up to cover our losses, but we could use 1-2 guys here as depth and rotational pieces.

Edge - We good here.

Interior DL - We lose Travis Shaw and Cole Brevard, two guys who were giving us a quality 30-40 snaps a game.  That sucks but assuming Hero Kanu comes back we should be good here.  Kanu, Alex January, Maraad Watson, and Lavon Johnson give us a solid, experienced 4 deep rotation.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Fumbles said:

In the portal era, there is no excuse for your Plan A to be young players developing into quality starters when you can just go buy proven, experienced players.  Expecting Brooks to start next season after sucking this season is idiotic.  We need 3-4 interior OL guys out of the portal.  Neto, Stroh, and Cruz are not options in any sense.  Stroh is the worst offensive linemen I've seen play at Texas in 20 years.  Neto is so bad he couldn't get snaps over Stroh or true freshman Brooks.  Cruz played like, what, 20 snaps this season?  None of those guys should be relied on as contributors next year.

 

Still trying to figure out a good plan at O-line for 2026.  Both guards and possibly center need help.  Is Goosby returning???

Gone:  Hutson, DJ Campbell

IMG_20251203_110408.thumb.jpg.d81928768079fc9a477250e14be150c9.jpg

  • Not sure if Robertson gone?
  • What the hell is story on Neto?
  • Stroh please stop taking a roster spot!!!

 

Posted
1 hour ago, EZ$ said:

Really, the only thing we 100% need is 1 starting-caliber OL (although 2 would be nice).  Not ideal, but you would expect Brooks to be able to slide into a full time spot since he played a little bit this year (yes, I know he sucked, but was a true Freshman).  Neto, Stroh and Cruz are some experienced backup options (yes, I know they all sucked as well).  Surely there is some type of development happening in the OL room right???

I have not been among the knuckle draggers calling for Sark's head during this season, but if Connor Stroh starts at Texas next year, I will personally fly down to Austin and kick Steve in the nuts repeatedly until he agrees to quit coaching altogether. I'm sure Cooper Manning would be lined up right behind me to get in the final kick.

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Posted

I doubt Connor Robertson goes pro.  He wasn't awful when inserted into the lineup, but he wasn't great either.  He's definitely not getting drafted and I can't imagine any team looking at his tape and saying, "Yeah, get this kid on the practice squad."  Unless he has a desperate need to sell insurance next year, I think he comes back.

I have no idea what's going on with Neto but it seems like something more than he doesn't look good in practice.  We were practically pulling people out of the stands to try them at left guard when it became obvious Stroh wasn't cutting it, but Neto still barely got snaps.  He's in someone's doghouse.

Yeah, Stroh needs to get processed like a McDonald's nugget.

I think the plan is to go into the portal and get the best 3-4 interior linemen available.  Hold open competitions in the spring and find your starting guards there.  And hey, let's give everyone some looks at center as well because it's not like Robertson was lighting it up.

I think Goosby is the most important piece to bring back for next season.  If Goosby stays, that means all of our glaring portal needs are relatively cheap and generally available (interior OL, RB, secondary).  But finding a quality starter at LT in the portal is not cheap or easy.  

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Posted
3 hours ago, Fumbles said:

 

I think the plan is to go into the portal and get the best 3-4 interior linemen available.  Hold open competitions in the spring and find your starting guards there.  And hey, let's give everyone some looks at center as well because it's not like Robertson was lighting it up.

What She Said GIF by The Free Mama
 

Go find starters for the interior OL in the portal. That makes all the positions on offense better.

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Posted
3 hours ago, Fumbles said:

Love Wisner's vision, patience, and decisive cuts.  But he runs like a 4.8 in the open field and he can't run through contact.  He is not good enough to be the primary running back at Texas.  Baxter is a shell of his former self and not worth the NIL we're wasting on him.  We need to open up the wallet for a proven SEC starter like Jadan Baugh or Kewan Lacy, or a G5 monster like Caleb Hawkins at North Texas. 

Yeah, Wisner is a gamer and is one trait short of being a great back.  He needs to be either bigger or faster.  Either of those 2 things combined with his elite vision and agility and he would be one hell of a back.  But he doesn't have either of those things and we should upgrade at running back as a result.

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Posted
3 hours ago, Fumbles said:

I doubt Connor Robertson goes pro.  He wasn't awful when inserted into the lineup, but he wasn't great either.  He's definitely not getting drafted and I can't imagine any team looking at his tape and saying, "Yeah, get this kid on the practice squad."  Unless he has a desperate need to sell insurance next year, I think he comes back.

I have no idea what's going on with Neto but it seems like something more than he doesn't look good in practice.  We were practically pulling people out of the stands to try them at left guard when it became obvious Stroh wasn't cutting it, but Neto still barely got snaps.  He's in someone's doghouse.

Yeah, Stroh needs to get processed like a McDonald's nugget.

I think the plan is to go into the portal and get the best 3-4 interior linemen available.  Hold open competitions in the spring and find your starting guards there.  And hey, let's give everyone some looks at center as well because it's not like Robertson was lighting it up.

I think Goosby is the most important piece to bring back for next season.  If Goosby stays, that means all of our glaring portal needs are relatively cheap and generally available (interior OL, RB, secondary).  But finding a quality starter at LT in the portal is not cheap or easy.  

On some other thread there was speculation that Robertson might grad transfer to a school with a strong program in whatever his academic field is…

Posted

In the NIL era, you have to manage your roster and make hard decisions. You pay NIL money for performance and there's just so much NIL money available at a given time. Loyalty to the maxed-out 3-star "good kid from a good family who bleeds orange and gives us 100% every time" is a luxury you can no longer afford. NIL has made it a two-way street now: If you perform, here's a check; if you don't/can't perform, hit the door, kid, we'll bring in somebody who can. Cold and harsh? You bet. Necessary? You bet. 

Posted

I think the defense can be better in 2026.

Phillips, Littleton, and Jackson all exceeded expectations. I have little doubt that those three will be sophomores in the mold of Hill and Simmons. 

Smith doesn't have the pass rushing skills of Hill, but I think it's possible he could be an improvement in coverage.

As long as we retain several DTs and they develop along a similar trajectory as Collins and Broughton, I think we'll be salty.

Posted
I'm curious about this. We have always assumed this to be the case, but then he didn't participate in senior day.
Interesting, could this be our first case of NIL making jumping the NFL at the first opportunity no longer a priority?

Not getting my hopes up, but I think he would have participated in senior day if he already decided to make the leap.
Posted

I added a 2026 tab https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TzoBTIvCXfZIk7Sz3C9txMg0yPvrXyVM/edit?gid=1327300395#gid=1327300395

Players that are widely known not to be returning (NFL or transfer) are in italics. There will be many more leaving, but I'll let that play out. The starters and rotational guys will change quite a bit after portal season. I couldn't bring myself to color code an entire 2-deep since we have so many shitty options. We need need a lot of portal help.

There's a legend at the bottom that explains the abbreviations after a player's name:

RS - Used a redshirt
WO - Walk-on
EE - Early enrollee
TR - Transfer
BS - Blue shirt

I haven't seen a reliable list of early enrollees for 2026 yet, so that will need to be updated. I also updated the Texas by Class and Texas Grid tabs.

Still need to add the 2026 class to the Aggie Grid tab, but the players with no more eligibility have been removed and redshirt status has been updated. Concepcion will be declaring for the NFL. Bisontis, Ricks, and York have been mentioned as possibly declaring for NFL as well.

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Posted
13 hours ago, Hard Times said:

OL obviously (3-4). I don't know why we need WR's? They all come back, unless Moore thinks he's a high draft choice, which I doubt. Two 5* WR's haven't even had a chance to prove what they can do. TE has a couple of studs, just young. Would love to get a stud at RB. Clark will probably portal, don't blame him. Even Simon coulda portal. I wish Baxter would portal.  Shipley SR so K. Other positions if we can get a real difference maker.

Sark will always take an elite WR someone else has developed for us, regardless of who we have on the roster, as he should. We don't seem to be developing them, so might as well take one that someone else has. Every leading WR we've had since Sark got here, outside of Worthy, has been a transfer. Mitchell was just 169 yards from tying Worthy in yards, but had 11 TD's to his 5 in 2023. 2024 it was Golden, Helm, and then Bond. So outside of Worthy in 2022, and we went count Milton, he's taken a WR no matter what. He isn't going to stop unless the well runs dry for a season. This year Wingo was the leading WR, but Mosley didn't even start playing until week 9 at Miss St. So in 5 games he's racked up 23/357/3 15.6 ypc. Who tf knows what he could have done had he played from the beginning. 

Posted
19 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Still trying to figure out a good plan at O-line for 2026.  Both guards and possibly center need help.  Is Goosby returning???

Gone:  Hutson, DJ Campbell

IMG_20251203_110408.thumb.jpg.d81928768079fc9a477250e14be150c9.jpg

  • Not sure if Robertson gone?
  • What the hell is story on Neto?
  • Stroh please stop taking a roster spot!!!

 

@someguy has said Robertson is transferring.

 

imo we need to bring in a minimum of 3 interior OL

Posted
14 hours ago, AP101S said:

I added a 2026 tab https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TzoBTIvCXfZIk7Sz3C9txMg0yPvrXyVM/edit?gid=1327300395#gid=1327300395

Players that are widely known not to be returning (NFL or transfer) are in italics. There will be many more leaving, but I'll let that play out. The starters and rotational guys will change quite a bit after portal season. I couldn't bring myself to color code an entire 2-deep since we have so many shitty options. We need need a lot of portal help.

There's a legend at the bottom that explains the abbreviations after a player's name:

RS - Used a redshirt
WO - Walk-on
EE - Early enrollee
TR - Transfer
BS - Blue shirt

I haven't seen a reliable list of early enrollees for 2026 yet, so that will need to be updated. I also updated the Texas by Class and Texas Grid tabs.

Still need to add the 2026 class to the Aggie Grid tab, but the players with no more eligibility have been removed and redshirt status has been updated. Concepcion will be declaring for the NFL. Bisontis, Ricks, and York have been mentioned as possibly declaring for NFL as well.

Nice.  So the moves I’d like to see:

RB: swap Baxter for a portal stud

OL: swap Neto, Robertson and Stroh for 3 portal interior OL studs

K: add a kicker

DT: replace Hills with a depth option from the portal

LB: replace Hill with a depth option from the portal

DB: replace Muhammad with a portal stud

5 portal badasses (RB, 3 OL, DB) and 2 depth guys (DT, LB) should be too much to ask.

Posted

FCB put up some info on players who need to make decisions

Wisner- Considering turning pro

Moore- Considering turning pro

Muhamad- Considering turning pro, likely to do so

Hill- Most likely of anyone to turn pro

Kanu- "I'm hearing Kanu wants to turn pro but might be willing to listen if Texas shows him how much he's appreciated."

McDonald- "sources indicate Texas is making an attractive offer to entice McDonald to return for his senior season in 2026, and from what I've heard, McDonald is seriously considering returning next season."

Endries- "Endries walked for Senior Night, raising questions about if Texas had low-balled Endries in terms of NIL money for 2026. We'll see."

Robertson- "Robertson walked for Senior Night, indicating the former Austin Westlake O-lineman might be ready to move on."

Brad Spence- Good chance to return

Goosby- Good chance to return

Posted

I will NEVER look down on Wisner...yes we could have a more "elite" back there, and if they do find one great.

But Wisner behind a good OL will be just fucking fine in this offense. Just need that Blue type off back to really throw some shit at them IMO.

 

So sure, upgrade the position...but I won't be slandering him in the process.

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Posted

This is the year in which some guys are going to truly learn their actual value, it appears. Texas is alleged to be getting aggressive at upgrading key spots and letting guys walk who think more of themselves than the market likely says they should. Moore, in particular, pulled some bullshit late last year and that pretty much destroyed all goodwill once he did jack shit to justify his contract this fall. Good luck with the "NFL", which I interpret to mean UCLA or Colorado or SDSU or some other program downgrade for moderate NIL.

Not saying Texas will go to the portal for WR, just offering Moore as an example of spots that can be upgraded, sometimes with development within, sometimes with standouts from the portal.

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Posted
I will NEVER look down on Wisner...yes we could have a more "elite" back there, and if they do find one great.
But Wisner behind a good OL will be just fucking fine in this offense. Just need that Blue type off back to really throw some shit at them IMO.
 
So sure, upgrade the position...but I won't be slandering him in the process.
Nobody has a right to slander Wisner. Iirc he was either the lowest rated RB commit in his class, or lowest non-special teams player overall.

Kid has played with a chip on his shoulder since day one, and has had some good days when healthy and the O-line decides to block someone.
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Posted
1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

This is the year in which some guys are going to truly learn their actual value, it appears. Texas is alleged to be getting aggressive at upgrading key spots and letting guys walk who think more of themselves than the market likely says they should. Moore, in particular, pulled some bullshit late last year and that pretty much destroyed all goodwill once he did jack shit to justify his contract this fall. Good luck with the "NFL", which I interpret to mean UCLA or Colorado or SDSU or some other program downgrade for moderate NIL.

Not saying Texas will go to the portal for WR, just offering Moore as an example of spots that can be upgraded, sometimes with development within, sometimes with standouts from the portal.

Am I crazy for thinking the portal and playoff timeline probably gave players more leverage last year? By the time UT's post-playoff window opened, it was too late to get someone to enter the portal from other teams as replacements. Plus, Texas players were among the few options for other teams to tamper with (supply vs demand).

Now they can just say goodbye, we'll go find someone who is more reasonable (if not a young guy on the roster). Hopefully you're right and they do that.

Posted
2 hours ago, Fondren & Main said:

Who's slandering him?

When people say he's not good enough to be the feature back at Texas that's pretty close to slander no?

Posted
3 minutes ago, Drew said:

When people say he's not good enough to be the feature back at Texas that's pretty close to slander no?

Do you think that is closer to being a false assertion or a realistic statement?

Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

Do you think that is closer to being a false assertion or a realistic statement?

I'm not sure what you're implying here.  He's proven that he is, in fact, good enough to be the feature back.  Can we improve? Sure.  But not as a slight(ie. slander) to a guy who's done all he can for us and absolutely hates OU and aggie as much as we do and proves it on the field.

Edited by Drew
Posted
7 minutes ago, Drew said:

I'm not sure what you're implying here.  He's proven that he is, in fact, good enough to be the feature back.  Can we improve? Sure.  But not as a slight(ie. slander) to a guy who's done all he can for us and absolutely hates OU and aggie as much as we do and proves it on the field.

If you wanna get misty-eyed over Wisner because the only two games he showed up for this year happened to be against our rivals, I get it.  I was super happy watching him break into the open again and again on A&M.  But the reality is, lots of backs could have made those runs with the lanes the OL was opening up.  And there are some backs that would have done a whole lot more than Wisner did with that real estate.  If we want to do more than just beat OU and A&M next year, like compete for a national title, we need to upgrade RB.

Posted
28 minutes ago, Drew said:

I'm not sure what you're implying here.  He's proven that he is, in fact, good enough to be the feature back.  Can we improve? Sure.  But not as a slight(ie. slander) to a guy who's done all he can for us and absolutely hates OU and aggie as much as we do and proves it on the field.

I think he's a good player, but he's not elite.  When I think about a feature back, I think about a guy who can put the entire offense on his shoulders and grind people up.  Wisner is more of an APB in my opinion.

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