THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas commitment Samari Matthews is still damn good
On Saturday afternoon, I got the following direct message from a former colleague about Texas commitment Samari Matthews …
“I just watched Samari Matthews beat the living piss out of my son’s team. He’s a complete prospect. Enjoy.”
Our little exchange was a reminder that I was never able to connect with Matthews when he committed to Texas back in July. I reached out for an update, including to see how Matthews’ first couple of games of his senior season have gone (apparently pretty well).
Statistically, Matthews isn’t filling up the box score because teams have been avoiding his side of the field. Instead of racking up interceptions or PBUs, Matthews said he finds enjoyment in playing bully ball against whoever he’s lined up against. Oh, and also being a team leader.
“I feel I’ve shown my ability to lead a team while still holding up my end and shutting down my side of the field,” Matthews said. “I’m going to just keep improving my leadership skills as the season goes on.”
The consensus four-star Matthews has remained locked in with his Texas pledge ever since he made it, and he represents his future home every time he takes the field.
“It feels great making it known to everyone this is where I will be attending,” Matthews said.
Matthews will be in Austin later this month to watch the Longhorns host Sam Houston. He’ll also be in Dallas for the Texas-OU game and is a maybe to attend the Longhorns’ home game against Arkansas in November.
Reflecting on his decision, which saw him pick Texas over schools like South Carolina, Florida State and Miami, Matthews said there were a number of factors that set the Longhorns apart.
“Looking back, what really made me want to be a Longhorn was the combination of tradition, opportunity, and culture,” Matthews said. “Texas has such a rich history of excellence, not just in athletics but in the way they develop people for life after sports. I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself.”
2. Losing sucks, but there are a lot of positives that can be taken from last weekend’s game
In the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s loss to Ohio State, it was easy to be critical of the Longhorns’ performance and pick the team and players apart. Arch Manning wasn’t good enough. Steve Sarkisian wasn’t good enough. The red zone performance was dreadful. The playmakers didn’t make enough plays. The defense didn’t make any big plays.
But in reflecting on that game over the next 48 hours, I’ve begun to view it in a different light. Manning will be better moving forward, likely much better. The defense will force turnovers. The red zone scores will come and Sark’s game plans will come together.
Let’s take a glass-half-full view and focus on some positives, despite the final score …
– The offensive line was better than I expected. I’ll be curious to see Alex Dunlap’s grades in the Deep Dig. It certainly wasn’t a flawless performance, including a couple of pre-snap penalties, but the line did pave the way for 166 rushing yards and kept Manning clean for most of the game. If this is a group that should continue to improve as it gains more experience, Saturday was a pretty good start.
– This ties in with the offensive line, but the run game production was MUCH better than what I expected. In talking to sources during fall camp, one of the biggest concerns that was brought up was Texas’ seemingly difficulty in establishing a consistent ground game. Against what should be a very good Ohio State defense, the Longhorns averaged 4.5 yards per carry and both Tre Wisner and C.J. Baxter were efficient.
– Graceson Littleton looks like a stud. We heard all of fall camp that he was performing well and he backed it up on the biggest of stages. He’ll need to back it up for more than one week, but there’s no reason to think he won’t.
– Jack Bouwmeester looks like he’s the best punter Texas has had since Michael Dickson. He’s another guy we wrote about in fall camp, and boy did he back up those high expectations. He might have been the best player on the field on Saturday … for either team.
– Parker Livingstone flashed the potential we’ve been hearing about. In the spring and in fall camp, every time I’d check with sources, Parker Livingstone’s name would come up as a player who was making plays on a daily basis. He made the most of his targets against maybe the best backfield he’ll face all year, including scoring the Longhorns’ only touchdown.
– C.J. Baxter looks healthy and ran as well as he did before his knee injury. Baxter has had better statistical performances, but he ran aggressively and looked as quick as he did during his true freshman year.
– It was a pretty clean game as far as the number of penalties and mental mistakes Texas made. The timing of some of the penalties negatively impacted the game for Texas, but the team was pretty well prepared. Not as prepared as Ohio State, which committed only two penalties, but Texas didn’t make a bunch of mental errors despite playing in a hostile road environment.
– I’m not going to sit here and blow sunshine up your keister in regards to Arch Mannin’s performance, but he did show some flashes in the second half of what I think we’ll see fairly consistently moving forward. When he was allowed to “let it rip,” as Sark said he wanted him to do before the game started, Manning made some NFL-level throws. He also used his athleticism at times to make plays against a very athletic defense.
3. Texas is prioritizing WR Tre Moore in the 2027 class
Pflugerville Weiss wide receiver Tre Moore continues to stay in close contact with Texas wide receivers coach Chris Jackson, and Moore will be at UT’s home-opener on Saturday.
Moore heard from Jackson over the weekend, and he watched the Texas game against Ohio State.
“I talked to coach CJ (on Saturday). He FaceTimed me, but I was in film so I couldn’t answer. He sent me a video of him talking, said they’re ready, ready for me to come play up there,” Moore said.
While some Texas fans (and some national media) are piling on Arch Manning after his struggles in Columbus, Moore said he expects Manning to bounce back.
“I feel like both defenses were amazing. That’s a hard game to be Arch’s first big-time game. That’s Ohio State, and going up there. It was a pretty hard game for him to start with. But he’s going to be fine,” Moore said.
The 6-2, 185-pound Moore is coming off a strong performance in Weiss’ season opener, catching 8 passes for 132 yards, with 3 going for touchdowns. Always humble, Moore gave the credit to his teammates and coaching staff, and he said he can play better.
“My O-line, quarterback, the coaches calling plays helped with my success,” he said. “My grade, I would probably give it a B+. I can always be better.”
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. What are everyone’s recruiting questions?
B/S-Sark should go all in on 2-3 proven WRs from the portal every year even though high school recruiting would suffer (for WRs)
Sell – I would take it year by year. One a year seems reasonable, but I’m not sure you need to get two or three every year. I still feel that the best programs are going to be predominantly built by recruiting elite talent from the high school ranks.
Why doesn’t Sark get an offensive coordinator? He enters the twilight zone inside the opponent’s 20 yard line.
It’s a legitimate question. We’ll see how the rest of the season unfolds, but if the offense struggles and red zone struggles continue to be an issue, the cries for him needing to hand over playcalling duties will only get louder. I’m not to that point yet, but I can understand why some are.
Is James Johnson officially on flip watch after Miami’s win on Sunday night?
Yes. I’m not predicting that anything is going to happen in the coming days (although Johnson is wildly unpredictable), but him being at that win over Notre Dame wasn’t good for Texas.
All you mods got caught up in the hype, but what happened to the damn quarter?
Ha. I guess the quarter was reading too many Longhorn press clippings!
Given our inability to push the ball in (via run or pass) inside the 3 yard line, and the probable increase in scholarships, does Sark start taking flyers on mismatches? I.e. a 240lb linebacker as a RB…high jump specialist to leap over the pile (like Priest Holmes) or a power forward who can catch jump balls in the end zone?
I get it’s gimmicky, but why not experiment given our historical lack of production in short yardage?
Unlikely, but if the scholarship limits eventually get pushed to 105, anything is possible.
Arch has been here for two years now, and all of the sudden his throwing mechanics have become an issue.
Has this been ongoing ? What is with the sidearm crap?
I think a big part of that was Arch being a little nervous in playing in such a high-profile game in a road environment. I’m sure he’s heard about it nonstop since the game ended (how could he not) and I would expect it will be something that will be corrected this week. Sark mentioned it in his press conference on Monday so the coaches are almost certainly working on his mechanics already.
The side-arm stuff seems to be the new norm with a lot of young quarterbacks who have watched Patrick Mahomes have success with different arm angles. There was one play where Arch had to adjust his angle to get it around a defender, but most other times he could have set his feet and squared up with his target.
Any reaction from the Florida kids at the Miami game last night? Good win for them.
It’s been quiet with Derrek Cooper, but James Johnson gave the visit high marks in a story with Rivals.com’s Chad Simmons. Johnsons saying “Stay tuned” when asked about his Texas commitment status isn’t the best of signs.
B/S Recruits will start to wonder if Sark is truly the QB guru and offensive genius that we all believe him to be?
I don’t get that sense at all in talking to some recruits this week. Now, if Manning struggles in the coming weeks, that could change.
2. How do the SEC programs rank after last weekend’s slate of games?
1. Georgia (last week: 2) – Gunner Stockton was pretty efficient against Marshall.
2. LSU (last week: 3) – The Tigers had the marquee win for the conference in week one.
3. Florida (last week: 6) – A 55-0 shellacking of mighty Long Island University.
4. Texas (last week: 1) – I could make a case Texas should be lower than this after last week, or I could make a case that this is too low. I expect the Longhorns to climb the rankings.
5. South Carolina (last week: 5) – Quality win against Virginia Tech.
6. Texas A&M (last week: 7) – I wasn’t overly impressed with what the Aggies showed in week one.
7. Oklahoma (last week: 8) – New QB John Mateer went for nearly 400 yards in the air.
8. Alabama (last week: 4) – Ugly loss to FSU … is this too high?
9 Auburn (last week: 12) – I’m not at all sold on Jackson Arnold but that was a solid road win at Baylor.
10. Ole Miss (last week: 9) – New QB Austin Simmons threw for 341 yards and 3 TDs but also had 2 INTs.
11. Tennessee (last week: 10) – The Vols actually had one of the better wins of the league in week one.
12. Vanderbilt (last week: 11) – Easy win over Charleston Southern.
13. Missouri (last week: 13) – They’ll get a better test this week against Kansas.
14. Arkansas (last week: 14) – Hard to judge much off their first game but they did win easily.
15. Mississippi State (last week: 16) – They climb out of the cellar after beating Southern Miss by 17.
16. Kentucky (last week: 15) – They got the win over Toledo, but not by much.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas lands wide receiver Tre Moore
This might be a bit early because schools like Texas A&M and Oklahoma are going to be a factor, but it feels like Texas is in a good spot with 2027 receiver Tre Moore. The Pflugerville Weiss product is a local product. He’ll be at Texas this weekend (and probably others this fall). The fact that Chris Jackson FaceTimed him on Saturday before the Ohio State game tells me Jackson is prioritizing him. Add it all up and the odds of Moore staying home and playing at Texas feel pretty good.
