Golden: The Texas quarterbacks room just got an upgrade with the hiring of Paul Chryst

The quarterbacks room just got better at Texas and its youngest member could benefit the most.

When Steve Sarkisian brought in veteran coach Paul Chryst as a special assistant over the weekend, it was a message that he isn’t standing pat on any success his program made from Year 1 to Year 2.

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With Gary Patterson having moved on after one season on campus, Sarkisian was in need of some proven coaches and mentors in this business and he landed some nice ones in Chryst, NFL special teams guru Joe DeCamillis and FCS defensive coordinator Payam Saadat.

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As for Chryst, I’m surprised he isn’t a head coach somewhere, but him not running a program is a win for Texas. His years as the offensive coordinator and head coach at Wisconsin coincided with some of the most prolific offenses in program history. He and Sark have so many commonalities that him coming here can’t help but be a benefit to the offense.

Both are former quarterbacks who went from quarterback coach/play-caller to head coach under coaching legends, Chryst with Barry Alvarez in Madison and Sarkisian with Pete Carroll and Nick Saban.

I’ll be even more interested to find out how much time Chryst will spend with freshman quarterback Arch Manning. While the Horns hold their first summer workout on Tuesday — Sunday was moving day — the freshman quarterback is walking the stage for the Isidore Newman Class of 2023 on Wednesday before returning to campus for the first summer of his college career.

Sarkisian, Chryst and his staff will surely have a keen eye on Ewers, who had his ups and downs in his first year as a starter, but I’m also interested to see how it affects Manning, who appears to be the No. 3 quarterback behind Ewers and Maalik Murphy, who shined during the Orange-White game.

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Sure, Manning grew up in America’s first family of quarterbacks, but he still must stand on his own. Uncles Peyton and Eli were known as sponges who couldn’t get enough of learning the game to get the most out of their ability — something they learned from their dad Archie — and it appears young Arch has studied his history and listened to the family elders.

“This guy wants to be great,” Sarkisian said on our "On Second Thought" podcast earlier this month. “He wants the install a day early. He wants to watch his reps and how can he get better and extra time. He wants the extra time and wants to throw after practice. That’s the characteristics you want. In the end, it’s the competitiveness that drives him to be the best.”

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Sarkisian said he doesn’t know when that will come to fruition, whether it’s one year, two years or even this upcoming season, but it’s certainly a great advantage to have two seasoned offensive minds to learn from in one’s first year.

A Paul Chryst in team meetings brings immense credibility to this offense and will not only benefit young Manning but also Ewers, who still must show the consistency needed to take an eight-win team to higher places.

Great hire.

One of a kind

Denver's Joker in a class of his own: I hope basketball fans are appreciating the blossoming of the most unique big man to ever play this game.

If you haven’t tuned in this postseason, watch Denver’s Nikola Jokic in the NBA Finals, which start Thursday. No one has ever played the game the way he does, from his feathery touch at the 3-point line to outlet passes that are reminiscent of Wes Unseld, to footwork that channels Kevin McHale and soft hands comparable to Tim Duncan, the 28-year-old Serbian has all of a sudden made the center position sexy again with his array of skills.

At 6-foot-11, 284 pounds, he plays the game with the skill set of each position on the floor. He can run the offense up top, set up shop on the low post or even lead the break after grabbing the rebound off the rim.

“He’s one of those guys who can get an organic triple-double,” all-star Portland point guard Damian Lillard said on his Instagram Live over the weekend. “Joker might be the best player in the league. He’s smart as hell. He can shoot, pass, play team ball, he cares about winning, he’s humble, he stays true. I like how Joker do his thing.”

In an era of 7-foot small forwards who have little interest in playing in the trenches, no team in the league has an answer for Jokic. He’s why I’m taking the Nuggets to win it all.

Hopkins would elevate Dallas' offense

Cowboys should target Hopkins: The Arizona Cardinals have all but announced they’re rebuilding with the ousting of head coach Kliff Kingsbury, the uncertainty surrounding quarterback Kyler Murray’s surgically repaired knee and, most recently, the release of star wideout DeAndre Hopkins.

The 12-win Dallas Cowboys were exposed as a team that was in sore need of a receiving complement to CeeDee Lamb last season and D-Hop would make for one of the most explosive wideout duos in the game.

That is, if Dallas is interested.

Hopkins is reportedly seeking a deal in the neighborhood of the annual salaries of players like Tyreek Hill ($30 million), Davante Adams ($28 million) and Cooper Kupp ($26.7 million). Dallas traded for Brandin Cooks in the offseason and is on the hook for his $12 million salary this season. Cooks is solid, but he isn’t Hopkins and the returning Michael Gallup is always injured.

At 30, Hopkins has plenty left in the tank.

If they’re really serious about competing with Philadelphia in the NFC, Jerry and Stephen Jones should make bringing him in a priority. The Cowboys have $10 million on the salary cap and Hopkins will soon find out no team will be willing to offer him $25 million for 17 games.

Despite missing the first six games on a PED suspension last season, Hopkins still caught 64 passes for 717 yards and three touchdowns in nine games. He's right outside that top tier of wideouts and would represent a nice upgrade at the position.

'Succession' was a classic

A finale to remember: "Succession" was brilliant, and the series finale followed the delicious path that made it a classic. The writers somehow made it possible for us to hate the characters even more than we already did.

Sociopath Kendall had the one thing in his life taken from him by his younger sister who pulled the biggest shocker that rivaled his betrayal of his dad earlier in the series. Watching him stare out into the water in the final scene encapsulated his feeling of loss and betrayal.

We're left to ponder if Shiv just landed the role in the remake of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" Or did she just come to the realization that this company would eventually consume all of them, therefore making the call to save her family. She crushed her brother, just like the men in this family had crushed her so many times before. She just couldn't bear to not win and chose to make them all losers in the end, that is, if we can call three billionaires losers.

And Roman. What a meltdown over the last three episodes. He was never going to be Logan Roy and deep down, he knew it. Behind all the off-color jokes and insults, he was a petulant, frightened little boy who was never going to get over losing Daddy. And how about Tom Wambsgans — my least favorite character next to that parasitic boot-licking Greg — walking away with the ultimate prize? It was amazing and infuriating at the same time. Shiv couldn't even lock fingers with her husband in the limo. No one wants to lose to Tom, especially his sociopathic non-blushing bride.

I will miss this show. Put it right up there on the HBO Mount Rushmore with "The Sopranos" and "The Wire," not to mention AMC's "Breaking Bad." It belongs there.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football gets upgrade with hiring of Wisconsin's Paul Chryst