Is football here yet? This Texas Longhorn needs to step up this spring | Bohls and Golden

It seems like just yesterday that the Texas Longhorns' football season came to an end in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl, but before you know it, spring workouts will be here. That's on our minds even as college baseball begins and college basketball churns toward its postseason:

Spring preening: eyes on Texas spring football

1. Which Texas football player has to step up the most this spring?

Bohls: I’ll go with Vernon Broughton. No one had any realistically high expectations for T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II last August. So Broughton should take command of one of those interior positions in April.  Even if he does plug that hole, I expect Steve Sarkisian to dip into the transfer portal in the spring windows to find a behemoth or two for the defensive line.

Golden: I’m going to the very top of the food chain. It has to be quarterback Quinn Ewers. With the bevy of offensive weapons departing for the NFL — Jonathan Brooks, Xavier Worthy, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Adonai Mitchell and Jordan Whittington — the pressure will be on Ewers this spring and summer to establish a good rapport with some new faces. Transfers Isaiah Bond, Amari Niblack, Silas Bolden and Matthew Golden will have a great opportunity to play with an experienced quarterback who's on the rise.

Things are lining up for Texas this fall

2. Will Michigan, with a new coach and 18 players headed to the NFL combine, take a big setback in 2024?

Bohls: Of course it will. And those defections, coupled with an offensive coordinator who has no prior head coaching experience replacing Jim Harbaugh, should give Longhorn Nation a ton of hope for a huge win in September that could catapult Texas into playoff contention early. Yes, UT has 11 combine invitees as well, but it has filled most if not all of its voids already.

Golden: Unless the Wolverines repeat, there isn’t anywhere to go but down. I would be more concerned with the loss of Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers in addition to the stars they lost. Sherrone Moore has never been a head coach at any level before subbing for the suspended Harbs last season. Michigan can still make the 12-team playoff, but I don’t see the Wolverines making it back to the final round.

More: Uncle Eli has sage advice for Texas backup quarterback Arch Manning: be patient | Golden

Let the Pac-12 earn its College Football Playoff spot

3. Does what’s left of the Pac-12 deserve an automatic playoff berth in next year’s 12-team format?

Bohls: Come on. You kidding? Does the Sun Belt winner deserve one? No. It’d be a joke to award the Pac-2/Mountain West one of those five guaranteed spots, even if they co-opt the Pac-12 name after the cows have left the barn.

Golden: I don’t see it. The powers that be didn’t really do enough to keep the league’s blue bloods in the fold, so why should the CFP reward what’s left of the carcass? If one of the remaining schools has a good season, there are 12 playoff spots, but the mass exodus of the name programs should put an end to any automatic talk.

More: Texas coach Steve Sarkisian should dominate West Coast recruiting without Pac-12 | Bohls

Making a pitch for Texas baseball's MVP

4. Pick the likely MVP for this year’s Texas baseball team.

Bohls: Outside of pitching, which has to have Lebarron Johnson Jr. as its anchor, I’ll take first baseman/outfielder Jared Thomas, the team’s leadoff hitter and an emotional leader who already considers himself a veteran even though he's only a sophomore. He burst onto the scene as a freshman and showed he can be a dynamic player.

Golden: I’ll throw my vote at Porter Brown, who has a chance to improve upon that 12-homer total from last season. He and Peyton Powell could be the league’s scariest 1-2 punch if the players hitting in front and behind them can do enough to make opposing teams have to pitch to them.

Finding a new home for Texas volleyball (or building it)

5. Does Texas need to build a new arena for volleyball?

Bohls: Sure, why not? Now, that statement comes with some hesitation because volleyball has fashioned intimate Gregory Gym as a wonderful holler house for a monumental home-court advantage. But there’s nothing to say a shiny new arena like Moody Center wouldn’t offer the same edge and maybe even lure a top recruit or two to Austin. I mean, the ones not already wanting to be Longhorns.

Golden: I know Gregory Gym is just dripping with nostalgia, but the athletic department doesn’t own the facility. It not only makes financial sense to upgrade their home digs as the school enters the SEC, but a shiny new building will also aid coach Jerritt Elliott in recruiting, as if he needed it. The Greg holds 4,000, which is fine, but the program is on such an upward arc with consecutive national championships that upgrading to a new facility is the right move.

More: What happens once the Longhorn Network goes off the air? Texas has a plan.

Goodbye, Big 12 vs. see you later, Big 12

6. Should Texas play other Big 12 teams in the future in football, in the other sports or not at all?

Bohls: Yes. I have a soft spot for nostalgia, and I wish the Longhorns would still play Big 12 schools from the state of Texas, even though such games would represent more risk than reward. But Texas will insist that any of those games be played at Royal-Memorial Stadium. I do see the Horns playing the other rivals in the nonfootball sports. The sandbox is big enough for all to play in.

Golden: No, not with the way the Longhorns left under the cover of night with Oklahoma to the SEC. They say time heals all wounds, so I would suggest they not play them in football. It doesn’t feel as emotional when it comes to the other sports, so I expect a sprinkling of Big 12 nonfootball opponents.

With Patrick Mahomes in place, a threepeat is possible

7. What are the chances the Kansas City Chiefs become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls?

Bohls: The Chiefs positively have to be considered the favorites, don’t they? Patrick Mahomes is already in the conversation as the best NFL player ever outside of maybe Lawrence Taylor and is 15-3 in the playoffs. His team also has $24 million in cap space. I’d put KC atop the contender list, followed by the 49ers, Packers, Lions, Eagles and dark horse Texans.

Golden: As long as No. 15 is playing, the Chiefs are a legitimate threepeat threat. I would feel much better about their chances of doing it if they weren’t in a minefield conference of great young quarterbacks with Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and C.J. Stroud, but none of them can hold a candle to what Mahomes is doing in the City of Fountains. Only the San Francisco 49ers are a heavier favorite to win the title next season. I’m not about to start doubting Mahomes.

More: Texas softball team aims to stay hot in Florida tournament loaded with ranked squads

Looking ahead to Caitlin Clark's WNBA impact

8. Was Sheryl Swoopes right when she said Caitlin Clark won't dominate the WNBA as a rookie?

Bohls: Of course not. Has Swoopes seen Clark shoot? She just became the all-time career scorer in women’s basketball and is setting her sights on Pete Maravich’s historic record for any player, no matter the gender. She's shooting 40% from 25- to 30-foot range. Crazy stuff.

Golden: Swoopes was correct, even if there was a slight taste of hater-ade in her tone. Clark is averaging 32.1 points, and she’s doing it mostly as a perimeter player. She'll encounter some of the greatest defensive guards in the world when she enters the league, and all will be hellbent on not allowing the most exciting player on the planet to light them up as a rookie. Is 20 points per game possible? Absolutely. But that’s not 30-plus.

Shake it off: revisiting Travis Kelce's sideline outburst

9. Travis Kelce said his bumping and sideline tirade at coach Andy Reid were “unacceptable.” You agree?

Bohls: I do. A similar act by any number of other players — say, A.J. Brown or Stephon Diggs — would have stamped him as a tempermental troublemaker. But somehow America’s sweetheart — Kelce, not his girlfriend — gets a pass because he makes funny commercials.

Golden: Big Red took it all in stride, but his diplomacy was much easier with champagne corks popping in the locker room. Had the Chiefs lost the game, the narrative might have been a lot less festive. Kelce was borderline unhinged. I could only imagine how the media would have reacted back in the day if someone like Terrell Owens had bumped a coach.

The Dubs and the King: LeBron as a Warrior?

 10. The Warriors went after LeBron James for a trade. Should he have considered it?

Bohls: Why wouldn’t he? The sand is racing out of that hourglass. Even as good as he still is, you just know he covets another ring as he chases Michael Jordan. Won’t shock me at all if he’s playing in a different uniform next fall.

Golden: No. A player many consider the second-best of all time shouldn’t be jumping teams to chase rings this late in the game, especially since he's playing in Los Angeles, a destination franchise. Shoot, he’s already playing with Anthony Davis. He’s better off playing this out and hoping the organization will add another piece instead of leaving to go caddie for Stephen Curry.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football needs players to step up this spring and summer