Texas football may be on the verge of becoming the newest NFL assembly line | Bohls
While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:
Yeah, I think Texas is ready for the SEC
1. A super draft for Texas: You think the Texas football team was lights out in 2023? The NFL may soon agree with you. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller wrote this week that the Longhorns would have no fewer than six Longhorns taken in the first two rounds. Six! And I’m right there with him. He pegs defensive tackle Byron Murphy II as the first Longhorn off the board by Seattle’s Seahawks at No. 16, saying his “ceiling is incredibly high, and he’d be awesome in new head coach Mike Macdonald’s defense.” He has wideout Xavier Worthy going with the last pick of the opening round to Kansas City, which I think should take him for his speed — “maybe the fastest player in this draft class” — or Adonai Mitchell for his hands, routes and money plays with 11 touchdowns and 41 first-down catches in one season. (Miller projects Mitchell to the Titans at No. 38.). Since the Bengals don’t have a single tight end under contract, Miller has Ja’Tavion Sanders going to Cincinnati at No. 49. The “immovable” nose tackle T’Vondre Sweat will take his game to Cleveland at No. 54, Miller thinks, and even with his torn ACL, running back Jonathon Brooks is penciled in for the Packers at 58th. … Six players in 58 picks is damn impressive. No other program had more in this mock draft. College Football Playoff teams Washington and Alabama each had five projected in the first two rounds while national champion Michigan and Georgia each had four. Just think, if Quinn Ewers had come out, he too might have gone that high to put seven Longhorns in that hierarchy. So would sophomore offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. and perhaps linebacker Anthony Hill, if they were eligible. Yes, I’d say Texas is SEC-ready.
The SEC and the Big Ten are definitely the haves
2. Fair and unequal: So the SEC and the Big Ten are forming a “joint advisory group” of their own presidents, chancellors and athletic directors to tackle the current issues facing college sports. I think they’ll be giving more advice than they take. It’s their world and the rest of college sports is living in it. With a lot of trepidation. Their commissioners said this should not be construed as a move to separate from the NCAA, which makes me think this tis, well, a move to separate from the NCAA. They’ll forgive everyone else for being a bit skeptical of motives. For his part, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said in a statement, “The Big Ten and the SEC have substantial investment in the NCAA, and there is no question that the voices of our two conferences are integral to governance and other reform efforts. We recognize the similarity in our circumstances, as well as the urgency to address the common challenges we face.” … I’d just like to see them do what’s right for the greater good, not just the good of the soon-to-be 34 of the 134 FBS schools. Somebody, anybody please do the right thing before college athletics slides off a cliff. The problem is this ain’t a democracy. Television and money rule. And those two conferences know most college football fans want to watch their two leagues, and these two leagues want the lion’s share of the money. Hell, they’ve got the whole zoo’s share already. That’s all well and good, but don’t make decisions based only on what’s best for the SEC and Big Ten. My sincere hope is they don’t just thumb their nose and try to diminish what less-prominent teams, including all of those in the Group of Five, bring to the sport. I don’t want to see just two leagues and 34 teams vie for a truly national championship, something that the new 12-team format should help guard against. I get where the College Football Playoff model should go to a system with five automatic berths and seven at-larges. The Pac-12 is deader than Jon Gruden’s career. But I’d prefer the two big-pants leagues advocate a format with five automatic berths guaranteeing the highest-ranked Group of Five team and seven at-large bids that also includes a guarantee of the next highest-ranked Group of Five team if that team obviously appears in the Top 25 CFP standings. Let ‘em push for athletes getting a percentage of TV revenue. Try advocating mandatory injury reports, an early signing period in August not December, a ban on conference title games and tournaments, bonuses for playing in bowl games, an end to the Electoral College, etc.
Bohls: Hey Texas, can you spare a golf course? Austin's Lions Municipal depends on answer
In order to form a union
3. Dartmouth, start your demands: A day after a landmark ruling that could ultimately alter college sports forever by allowing NCAA athletes to unionize, St. John's basketball coach Rick Pitino threw his support behind a proposal to institute a salary cap. The school will undoubtedly appeal after a National Labor Relations Board regional director in Boston ruled Monday that Dartmouth men's basketball players, who had petitioned to be recognized by a local union, are employees of the school. Even Ivy League schools, which don’t give out athletic scholarships. Northwestern’s football team attempted the same in 2014, but that unraveled in part because it was the only private school in the Big Ten. Pretty weird that it might be an Ivy League school to trigger monumental change. This wouldn’t just open Pandora’s box, but a whole lot of boxes that schools are deathly afraid of. Everything would be fair game and on the table. This development, of course, would necessitate a collective bargaining agreement between schools and athletes, and who sits at that table? While the players could negotiate work conditions, travel (insist on first class; that’d be a big plane) and health insurance and could presumably result in players demanding not to practice on Thursdays or refusing contact drills, schools could insist players play in bowl games and not transfer more than once. This wouldn’t be chaotic at all. Wink, wink. Pitino suggested the major conferences in college basketball should join forces and create a salary cap of up to $2 million. Even with a cap, there’d be abuses. Right, Nick Saban? Pitino didn’t say whether this would constitute name, image and likeness payments or those would be in addition to pay. Nor did he say if the schools would fund this directly. This is without question the tip of the iceberg. Icebergs rarely lose.
Texas has another Directors' Cup within sight
4. On point for Texas: Texas won the Directors’ Cup emblematic of the best athletic department in the country twice in the last three years and, with 344 points, ranks third behind North Carolina (372.5) and Stanford (371) after fall competition. The Tar Heels hold the top spot after winning women’s field hockey. Come on, Chris Del Conte, when are you starting a women’s field hockey team? North Carolina and Stanford also scored big in men’s soccer, a sport Texas doesn’t field, but the Longhorns did earn 100 points for the volleyball crown, 80 for making the CFP, 100 in men’s and women’s cross country and 64 in women’s soccer. Other Big 12 programs show up with No. 6 BYU, No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 27 Iowa State. Six Big 12 athletic departments rank 85th or lower with Oklahoma at 107th. … Speaking of the Sooners, major love and respect to singer Toby Keith, who died Monday night of stomach cancer after touching so many lives with his from-the-heart music. He was among the biggest OU fans and most loyal patriots. For me, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” ranks No. 1 among all his hits.
Golden: Texas basketball needs to play with more sting in its Moody Center beehive
Things are looking up for the Texas men
5. A slow rise: Texas basketball is alive and well after another huge road win at TCU. The Big 12 is so damn strong — the best ever in my opinion — the Longhorns have moved up to 26th in kenpom.com and 31st in the NET rankings with an impressive 4-4 Quad 1 record. Only Houston and Baylor have more Quad 1 wins at 6-3 while star-studded Kansas sits at 5-3 despite no depth. I applaud Rodney Terry for inserting Chendall Weaver into the starting lineup, and he helped spark a defense while forward Dillon Mitchell found his elusive jumper and showed some offensive skills that could pay off in a big way down the stretch.
Texas women's basketball catches a scheduling break
6. Sizing it all up: Vic Schaefer’s game plan worked to perfection in his Texas women’s basketball team’s victory over No. 2 Kansas State, a win that elevated the Longhorns to No. 7 in the nation. He relied on his bigs. Yeah, and the always reliable Madison Booker. “We need to utilize our size more,” Schaefer said. “We turned down DeYona Gaston and Taylor Jones in the first half. I’m definitely with those bigs down there. I wanted us to go back inside, and we did that in the third quarter.” Gaston and Jones both had critical buckets in the last two minutes — the latter with 27 seconds remaining — to hold off the surging Wildcats. … Texas (8-3) does have an advantage over Kansas State (9-2) in the remaining schedule, but Oklahoma has taken over first place with a 9-1 record with West Virginia right there at 8-2. The Sooners overpowered the Longhorns at Moody, but face four winning teams in their last seven contests with only three home games. Kansas State has to twice play Iowa State (7-4), hosts the Mountaineers and finishes the regular season at Texas Tech (5-5). In the Longhorns’ final seven games, they will face only two teams with winning records in OU on the road and Iowa State at home. Texas’ last three home games are against TCU and BYU, a pair of 2-8 teams in the league.
Texas should be just fine at running back
7. Blue-blood: Texas may still be bemoaning the early loss of tailback Jonathon Brooks, but it’s in good hands with Jaydon Blue and C.J. Baxter. Except for their two costly fumbles in the Sugar Bowl loss to Washington, both running backs showed up big-time after Brooks’ season-ending knee injury and provide tremendous hope for 2024. Blue, in fact, averaged 6.1 yards a carry, the same as Brooks. Between the two backups, they totaled 1,058 yards, not far behind Brooks’ 1,158 yards. … Longhorns running backs coach Tashard Choice recently compared Blue to former Alabama back Jahmyr Gibbs, who ran a 4.36 in the 40 at the NFL combine and starred for the Detroit Lions this season. “Speed-wise, he is very similar to Jahmyr Gibbs,” Choice said, “because he’s fast, and he can catch the ball out of the backfield. They’ll look a little different in how they play the game, but the more Blue matures, he has a chance to be better (than Gibbs).”
Looking for a former Longhorn
8. Scattershooting: While wondering whatever happened to former Longhorns guard Avery Bradley, who was so smooth and graceful as a player.
Meanwhile, from the greatest seat in the world ...
9. On the couch: Wrapped up the “Griselda” Netflix true-life, six-episode series about an infamous, ruthless female drug cartel leader from Colombia who ran a murderous rampage in Miami. A Washington Post story said the show took liberties with some details, but said she was responsible for the killing of more than 200 people and did name her youngest son Michael Corleone because she loved "The Godfather." Stars Sofia Vergara, who does a terrific job. Gave it 7 ducks, but it is gory.
Check back with me in seven years
Crazy prediction: The College Football Playoff will expand to 24 teams by 2030.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Byron Murphy II the leader of the Longhorn pack, and it's a big pack
