2025 Texas Round-Up

Austin, TX.: The 2025 University of Texas Longhorns will probably not be the club football fans reminiscence of 20 years from now while passing along memories to younger generations across the great Texas plains, but maybe, just maybe they'll find their place in UT history.

Seven win seasons would have been applauded, even lauded over the course of Longhorns history, but coming off a surprising BigXII Championship season, Texas fans were dreaming bigger than they ever had before. This, they hoped in unison, would be the year Texas stepped out from beneath the Oklahoma school's shadows and turned the BigXII on its head.

But the sudden retirement of a championship coach and the subsequent promotion of an assistant not ready for the job, coupled with an ever-changing (rules) landscape, exposed the devastating flaw in the Longhorn's design: No longer could a high-powered offense cover up any weaknesses on the defensive side of the ball. Now, both units would have to show their worth and for Texas, this meant years of neglect would rear its ugly head.

The already weak Texas secondary took a heavy hit when 2025 top recruit Kenneth Stephenson was dismissed from the team after a historic failure during camp. New rules meant ill-prepared walk-ons were tasked with stopping 7 bowl teams from the year before (and OU twice). Under-skilled linebackers were tasked with defending star running backs in open space. The only bright spots were the contributions of James Strunk and Jackie Battles, who combined on 33 sacks on a unit that finished bottom-third in the NCAA.

Offenses across the board took a step back this season as well. Still, Texas rolled out a Top 10 unit again this season. Carroll McCartney, a Heisman vote-getter from last season, finished with QB rating over 97. Andrew Jetton showed Texas fans there is yet another receiving weapon on this team by finishing with 104 catches. Center Michael Crafts allowed 0 sacks in 723 pass plays. In fact, Crafts along with guards Matt Brimhall and Hector Loftis, allowed only 6 QB sacks in over two-thousand combined attempts.

Following a 12-4 championship campaign with a new coach posting a 1-4 record that led to that coach's firing, you would not have been wrong to hang your head and wonder if 2024 was a fluke. Well, here hoping you didn't tune out as interim coach Edward Barto inspired the Longhorns, finishing his tenure at 6-5 and a second-place finish.

So, what will the Longhorns look like next season with a new head coach? Barto's plans looked to have righted the ship, will a more experienced coach lead to even bigger gains? Can the Longhorns strike gold in recruiting and find some pass defenders to go along with the pass-rushers? The Big XII isn't getting any easier with OU staking claim to "top dog" status, OSU reloading for another run, and Kansas becoming more than UT's former cellar-dwelling mate.

Just a reminder: you can grab all of your Texas Longhorn family gifts just in time for the holidays by going to texassports.com and clicking on the "Shop" tab for all of you officially-licensed Longhorn gear.

Crafts named nations top center

Austin, TX.: University of Texas senior center Michael Crafts has been named the 2025 Dave Remington Award winner. The Auburn, Alabama native took home the award with over 78% of the vote. Michael is currently working towards finishing his degree in Corporate Communications.

Longhorns tab Graham as new head man

Austin, TX.: The Texas Athletic Department has schedule a press conference for 11am today to introduce Spencer Graham as the Longhorns new Head Coach. Graham, 38, had been the wide receivers coach at Kansas prior to accepting the head coaching role at Texas. Graham is seen as an up and coming coach and brings with him a game plan that should mesh well with the Texas roster. Catch the press conference live either on the ESPN Longhorn Network, or join online at texassports.com.

love it Snow!!!!!

A comprehensive look at all the new-signees' success at Longhorns training camp:








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2046-Week 1 @ Alabama - W 31-6

Things that stood out in this game: A surprise. Redshirt Freshman DE Neil Arias who had a fairly lackluster training camp came out of the gate starting at RDE and was disruptive all game long garnering 6 tackles and a sack. Coaches moved him up on the depth chart just shortly before kickoff and Arias will move to the left side in the upcoming game, 2046 RRR Part I, in Norman, OK.

Sophomore WR, Everett Kent nabbed two big plays in this matchup with Bama that showed coaches and fans the explosiveness they'd been hoping for since his signing day, 3 seasons ago. 3 catches 125yds and 2 TD's.

Defensively overall the Longhorns need to do better. Aided by 4 big penalties, the defense allowed 250yds of total offense by a Bama team that is definitely not upper echelon. Even with that, it was good to see some inspiration on the defensive side from Redshirt Senior Transfer Gerald Edwards who was second in tackles, behind a cornerback, in the week 1 matchup. That cornerback is True Freshman Rob Hanson with 9 tackles.

And finally, the Quarterback. After an indecisive first 3 years at Texas. Coach Bryno has made it clear that Junior Frank Thompson will be the starter, going forward for the 2046 season. From what we've seen in the preseason preparation of the signal caller, his job will be to manage the offense with a less than prolific passing attack. The expectation drawn, from what has been seen so far, is that the Horns will rely on a running attack that will apparently be supported by a committee of running backs, led by Redshirt Junior, Calvin McNitt.



UT has improved by 1 win per season during Bryno's tenure at the helm, narrowly missing the CFP last season. Due in large part to falling short in a few games last season in which they were solid favorites. Starting off this season with one of those games in Tuscaloosa and dominating...is hopefully a sign of things to come, with a VERY difficult schedule in the front half of the season.

A look back: Texas surprised Oklahoma in Norman last year, in Week 10, getting a 50 yard field goal by Wendell Irby with :48 seconds left in regulation for the 24-21 win. The Longhorns survived a 4th quarter rally by the Sooners after building a 21-7 lead at the start of the final stanza. During the last 5:00 of the game Dillon Gabriel hit Nic Anderson for a 56 yard TD pass. That Oklahoma TD was followed up by miscue on offense by the 'Horns, when RB Ed Davidson fumbled own their own 22 yd line. The Sooners' Albert Bowen tied the game with a 1yd punch to tie the game at the two-minute-warning.

As with any Red River Rivalry game, the Longhorns will need a full 60 minutes of focused, error free football to have any chance in Norman. Especially with the Sooners getting their asses handed to them in Week 1.

Just bring this with you when you come. :)

2046-Week 2 @ #7 Oklahoma - L 19-20

Things that stood out in this game: Defense. The Horns defense stepped up a bit from their first game, playing more stingy against a much better team. The D-line only snagged 1 sack but containment on the running game was the best it has been for a long time. (it does help that the Sooners didn't run the ball a lot) Arias and Gore are certainly a big part of the reason why containment is better, but the RS Freshman DT Donald Hiner (Day 2 Signing) has helped get pressure in the interior. RS Freshman (transfer, Rutgers) Nelson Martinez had a good game, logging the only sack of the game for Texas. More of that is needed This line has taken 3 years to awaken from the coma it was in, upon Bryno's arrival - it's awake...but has so far to go.

QB Play: Frank Thompson is off to a decent start to the season. Pretty unfortunate that his first interception of the season came when he was just trying to throw it away under a heavy blitz that was coming down on him.



Oklahoma wasted no time in capitalizing on the miscue - a 25yd TD pass from Cooks to Hester. On the season, Thompson 33/53 (62%) 415y 4TD 1INT

RB Play: Calvin McNitt saw more carries in this game than vs Bama but inexplicably, the Horns ran the ball much less overall. It was thought that Texas ball this year, was going to be more run focused....not sure why they relied on Thompson's arm so much more against the Sooners. McNitt only has 18 carries so far on the year. Puzzling.

The first home-game is upon us as the Longhorns open chapter TWO of a horrifying stretch of games here in the early season. Welcome to Austin, the

#10 Navy Midshipmen

. Bryno has never beaten coach loanblood with any team that he has coached. It's going to take near perfection (not to wear that out) to send the Middies home with a losing record. Navy is coming off of a shutout over Texas; archrival OSU, 13-0. Navy's defense was very stingy in that game, allowing only 153yds of total offense.

The book of horror continues down the line. Texas has:

#5 BYU

in Provo next week, followed by a visit from the previous year's national champs,

#2 Clemson

in week 5,

#4 Miami

in week 8, and

#9 Kansas

the following week. That's a pretty sweet 3rd-place-in-your-division s c h e d u l e right there!! SIX top-ten teams in your first 9 weeks!

Since the game is at our house this week, I guess it's customary for us to provide the chips and drinks?

Swing by the student union before the game and say hello to your old pal Coach Garrok and we'll reminisce about the good old days of Army vs Marshall...