December 17, 2025 • 16 mins
InsideTexas' Evan Vieth joins the show and shares his thoughts on a bounce-back victory for Texas Men's Basketball, the latest Longhorns to enter the portal, potential positional targets for Jabbar Juluke and the Texas staff, as well as this weekend's CFP matchups.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Back.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You're on a Wednesday, joined by Evan V from Inside Texas. Evan,
It's it's yacht rock Wednesday on the Craig Way Show.
Are you Are you much of a fan of sticks
and come sail Away?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh? Come on, I have about Renegade by Sticks. That's
where we're really at.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's you know, I don't claim to know as much
yacht rock as Craig Way has forgot. He might he
might weigh in on whether this song is actually yacht rock.
We'll get his thoughts on that a little bit later,
but I want to start by getting your thoughts on
Longhorn basketball. I know Leamoyne's not a great team, but
you wrote in your recamp last night this was some
of the Sean Miller offense that US folks were, well
(00:53):
Texas fans, I should say, we're promised. What did you
see that kind of excited you on that side of things?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, kind of finally right, It's felt like you've been
promised this, this Sean Miller offense since he's been hired,
and you knew, you knew they were gonna be growing
pains coming into the year. I think there's a little
bit of a poor roster building identity with the lack
of a point guard and maybe a true, true number
one scorer, and they had to go through that in
the first few games of the year. I do think
that you saw big change in the Yukon game, where
(01:21):
you know where you're at as a Texas basketball team.
A seven point seven or eight point loss really isn't
that big deal to a team like Yukon, probably a
top five team in the nation. Against Lamoine, you know, offensively,
Lamoint which is not quite the team that can compete
with Texas, but Longhorns were getting too shots into spots
in the on the court that you were hoping you'd
see that do against SEC teams in Misissippi State first
and then Tennessee when they play them, and hence these
(01:42):
other opponents. It was a lot of Dalan Swain was
making good passes into the corner. They took a lot
of corner threes. Most of their shots otherwise were in
the paint. I mean, that's that's NBA offense. That's what
Miller likes to do. That's that's the philosophy came in with,
is where he's gonna take shots that are efficient and
not force ourselves into these long twos or these Intestine reason, Yeah,
you're gonna have tougher defensive competition going forward into the SEC.
(02:03):
But I liked the spots they were getting to and
the way that some of these players like Mark and
Cope and Swam were dribbling on ball. We'll see how
that actually shows up in the SEC play, and they were.
There was a little bit of an eight eight minute
stretch where they looked poor offensively, but otherwise it was
a good showing and they really got got that game
wrapped up with about ten minutes left in the second
four or second half.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Sorry, what'd you make of the showing in Hartford against Yukon?
It was one of those losses that I came away
from the game feeling a little bit better about this
team ceiling than I had before. With that said, though,
they lost the game and really leave non conference play
without that signature win.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, and I think you could maybe the problem is
that they didn't get that win before Yukon. That should
have been penciled in beforehand. And now they did get
one on them Maley Invitational, but when it's for the
five to six that it's not quite the win that
you're looking for even the NC State. It's a good program. Yeah,
I think you nailed on the head. This is a
game that was pretty much a true away game. It
wasn't quite in the home of the Yukon, but it
(03:03):
was in Hartford, Connecticut. But you saw a few contributors
doing their things, specifically guard play with Mark and Pope,
and that's what you need. They have to have those
guys playing like scoring point guards because they're not going
to be these elite passers and playmakers. They have to
be able to get to their spots in the score.
And I think they did that really well. Now it's about,
especially as matas spoke Titis, getting him into the positions
(03:24):
against these higher level plays because he looks like the
best player on the court when they're playing Lemoyne or UTRGV,
but when they're playing Yukon in Virginia, he's really struggled.
So they have to figure out how to keep him
solid defensively when he's getting attacked by these good guards
while also, you know, let's get into the free throw line.
He's got one of the best free throw rates in
the country. He also hits his free throws, so him
only having nine to nine game definitely hurt the long rues,
(03:44):
but thirty combined from Hope and Mark, that's a good
sign going into SEC play.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And we'll hear from Sean Miller get some of his
thoughts on last night's victory a little bit later on
in the program. Right now, we're talking to Evan Vith
from inside Texas. You can follow him at Evan Veeth
over to football and the long defense. We knew would
have a lot of turnover coming into the twenty twenty
six season. With leungel of foul entering the transfer portal
earlier this week, that's becoming even more evident. So with
(04:12):
this defense not getting a lot of experience back, how
quickly do you expect Texas to strike here in the
portal and other potential targets you think they've already kind
of zeroed in on.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, I think they were going to take a linebacker
no matter if Leon Willa fasted them on this team
or not. They just definitely needed another guy with he
and Smith and Spence. Excuse me, maybe bo Bonds gives
you something next to me, you can't bank on that
when you're making a title run. I think what they're
going to do is take two and have one of
these guys be a true Mike linebacker that they can say, hey,
(04:43):
we are going to plug and play. It's a position
in college football you really need experience that more than anything.
You can get away with wide receivers for just great
athletes and great players. In some ways, you can get
away with that at edge if you got the right athlete,
But linebacker's got to be able to be in the
right spot to make a tackle, and that can come
from someone who played or G five football the last
three years. But they're gonna look for someone with experiences,
(05:05):
no matter if that's a G five guy or they
can pay up for someone who just left a powerful program.
And I think they're also going to try to look
for one of those kind of plus one guys where
I think we talked about this in the show a
few weeks ago, where you're getting him because he can
maybe help you this year, but really what's nice is
that he has another year of eligibility, maybe a third.
That's what you're seeing with Brad Spence, who's going to
take over the trade war role in twenty twenty six.
(05:26):
I think Spence is gonna be a great player on
the defense, but they need more linebacker linebackers right now,
it's just Smith, a pure will an athlete, but he's
a little smaller. Elijah Barnes and Tyler Atkinson who are
very new to this college football Talleer Akinson hasn't gotten
the campus yet, so they're gonna need two in my opinion,
But I don't think it changes all that much about
their overall philosophy for the position.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And there's a philosophy question to surrounding Grayson Littleton. I
liked your headline to star or not to star. The
long Horns have a decision on their hands. Do you
move Grayson Littleton to the outside to use his cover
skill that we saw really from the jump last year,
or does he stay as that kind of true nickel
role that he won from the beginning of this year.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It's really a hard discussion, Jake, because a lot of
it predicates on what you have and who leaves, also
what you add in the portal and who's available and
who wants to come play there. Right now as I
see it, if Jrelannie McDonald returns, you know three players
that must start for your team. McDonald, Littleton, and I
think Kate Phillips has gotten himself into that position where
he should be a starting cornerback next year. Now that
could mean that the two cornerbacks are Littleton and Phillips,
(06:30):
or if you really like what you got from Kobe
Black and then Warren Roberson, you can add a death
guy as your fourth cornerback because Texas always wants to
have four outside guys. Then maybe that's when you're fine
keeping Littleton in the slot. Wardell mack Leaving, if that
were to happen, would definitely probably keep Littleton inside and
then maybe they go after and bigger fish at cornerback,
a true number one guy. But that's hard to do.
(06:51):
It's a lot easier to find an experienced slot defender
who can keep up with players and tackle than it
is to find out your number one lockdown corner in
the portal. But I think no matter what, it's one
of those Champagne problems for Texas. You've either got a
guy who is so good at nickel that he started
there as a true freshman, which I looked up some
snapcout numbers. There hasn't been a power for true freshman's
(07:11):
played four hundred plus snaps in the slot since twenty
twenty two, and that's what Littleton did this year for Texas.
So you already know what you've gotten him in the slot.
Now it's more is his best long term either to
get to the NFL or your Texas the best chance
winning a championship playing on the outside. If they truly
think that, which he'll see raps in the bowl game
from this, then they should move him outside and see
what you got on the inside and that safety. But yeah,
(07:33):
like I said, it's not a bad problem to have.
You have a really talented guy, it's just where's the
right place to put him.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I'm kind of curious what that group was, like a
freshman who have played that many snaps on the inside.
Was it a bunch of future pros? Or did it
kind of surprise you? I think, you know, because I
don't remember the name specifically. I think it was some
college players, good players, but nothing crazy. Not any guys
who I remember either becoming great nickels in the NFL
or moving outside.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Specifically, I believe Pittsburgh and Washington or two of the
teams that had used those guys early on.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Oh interesting to note.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Okay, we're talking to Evan V from inside Texas flipping
to the offense where Jabbar Jaluke comes in as the
running backs coach.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
We knew that room was going to look different.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Now, does this hire give you any insight into maybe
the type of running back that Texas could add via
the portal?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah? Well, the home run hit is Chelou's former former
player Jaden Va, who's arguably the best running back in
college football heading in the next season. He's tremendous talent,
one of those real bruisers. He comes in at two
h hundred twenty five pounds as soon as he hits
the campus this season. Now, I think bo is a
guy who's gonna be a tough get. He's real. He's
loyal to the Florida team. But at some point, it's like,
(08:43):
if you already know you're going to be a really
high draft pick at running back, do you want to
go to the do you want to stay on the
team that has had a lot of turnover? You have
no idea who's playing quarterback. You're probably need to get
run into the ground because they're going to rely on
you a lot on your offense, or come over to
Texas and be the number one be sold contrayment Wiser
and Archman taking carries. If not him, They're still going
to look for a number one. I believe, even if
(09:05):
Simon and Clark are here to stay, even if Wiser
is here to stay, they need a power back, someone
that can run in between the tackles, that can get
them yardage every single down. Texas just really struggled with
the guy to find a guy that had four or
five yards in him every carry. But Travan Wiser had
his big games. That was two games. What about the
other ten and really the other three or four that
were super important. They need someone who they can rely
(09:26):
on fully as a starter. And I don't know how
many positions outside of running back in no line that
truly needs starters starters four, but that is clearly one
of them.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, they'll have to replace a starter on the outside.
DeAndre Moore is going to the NFL draft. Out of
the guys that we saw from this young wide receiver
room in twenty twenty five, who maybe one or two
who stand out could most naturally fill DeAndre Moore's role
in the offense.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, I think the two obvious ones are Dylan McCutcheon,
who came in as clear slot guy in that really
loaded twenty twenty five W receiver recruiting class and was
the first guy to play out of that group. He
was I think he was the fourth highs rated of
all of them, but he played against Ohio State, played
throughout the year that they really like this kid. I
mean he's one of those guys that came in early
and impressed the staff. Has kicked or kicking punt return
(10:13):
the opportunities. Not sure if he'll do it next year
with Ryan nibbling around, but he's someone that could maybe
be confident in just playing the slot next year. That's
but with DeAndre Moore, he wasn't the high secuited guy,
but true Softwell was starting on the team. Then there's
also am At Moseley who made profile better as a
slot receiver. I mean he played some a little bit
at both both of his schools, but just his body
type and the way he plays, it might be better
(10:33):
to have him be that blocking slot receiver. You have
him go do your fade routes if you need to
have the slot, and then hey, maybe you go to
the portal. Maybe Parker Livingston is another step guy I'm
looking out for is Khalek Lockett ready to be a
real full time player. I would love if if they
could have their end kind of end game group be
an elite trio of Wingo, Lockett, Moseley. I'm all there
for that, but that that is based on how well
(10:56):
you can develop and how well the Cutry and Mosley
can play in the slot. So this man also be
a portal position. But I do think that they're going
to try one of those two in this loot.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, it'd be very very interesting to see how that
wide receiver room develops. What you make of the way
the national media kind of reacted and reported on arch
Manning's decision to return. I mean, those of us who
cover Texas day and day out, I don't think anybody
was really all that surprised by it. Does it speak
more to the state of college football today?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, it felt like a no duh, Like, did anyone
really believe that outside of you know, people that kind
of wanted him to not to not succeed in Austin
say he's gone, or maybe some draft guys who were
high on him. But yeah, we knew this was coming.
We felt this way before the season started, and then
the season didn't go his way, so of course he
was going to come back this This has probably been
the plan all along. I'm not in ours Fanning's mind,
(11:49):
but that's the way it's been reported forever. I didn't
think it needed this whole you know, the way USC
does it where they're talking about resigning their players. Texas
didn't need that. I think Sarkisian and Manning both a
mutual idea that hey, we're just going to quietly return
next year and get you ready for a national championship
heis and contending season.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
That's Evan Veith from inside Texas.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Before you go, let's get your thoughts on the college
football playoff matchups this weekend. It might be a super
Bowl of hate watching from a long Horn fan perspective.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Youve got Oklahoma and A and M.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Texas has two bitter rivals to the Longhorns by the way,
beat by multiple scores, each hosting playoff matchups. Should Oklahoma
or Texas A and M feel better about their matchup
this weekend? Which one do you think might have a
better chance of advancing?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I think Oklahoma likes there's a little more, I think
just because purely from how these two teams play. Between
them and Alabama, they don't play very great on offense. Really,
I mean, it's two struggling teams that can't run the
ball that well, can't throw the ball real well. Then
they're two hyped up quarterbacks really decline, and two elite defenses.
But when you look at how these two teams profile, A,
(12:59):
they've already been Alabama B. If you had to say
which of these run games will do better, I think
the answers Oklahoma see who is the better defense Oklahoma's,
And then you also get the fact that Oklahoma probably
plays better special teams and is at home. I think
A and M is looking and going. Man, this Miami
team just always the most inconsistent great team in college
football for the past three years. But if you get
(13:21):
the right Carson back and Malachi Tony and that offensive
and defensive line, they've got game breakers on the other
side of the ball. For Marcel Reid, who just had
to deal with Colin Simmons recently, I'd be pretty scared
of them kind of leaving their own plays, like how
do we lose this game? But I think the Oklahoma
matchups better for them to just win a sixteen to
thirteen game, whereas if this gets to a highest scoring
(13:42):
with Miami, you never know who's going to come out
on top.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
In College Station, did you see, Miami, The Kyle Field
crowd will be almost double the largest away crowd that
the Hurricanes should see in the season. That we could
still learn a lot about them in this game Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
It's also the cold. Who knows how it's going to
be there? Who knows in Miami you can play there?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yes, the frigid cold of College Station, all right, it
is a concern for Miami though.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
As far as the national championship.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Winner odds out in Vegas, Ohio State is the favorite,
followed by Indiana. Then you've got a little bit of
a gap towards the rest of the field.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
If you were to be.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Given an option right now, you can have Ohio State,
Indiana or you could have the field. Is that as
obvious as the lines seem to make it that you'd
take those two big ten teams? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I think the only one that would really put a
mix into that is Georgia just because they're really coming
together at the right time. They've got all the ingredients.
But I would take the two honestly, it doesn't help
that part of that field. Right, four teams get eliminate
in the first round, and two of those are as
non competitors. One of the teams is going to go
onwards is Ole Miss who doesn't have a coach, so
there's no way there winning. I'm not super bullish on
(14:51):
either any of ann Miami Oklahoma, so it's Oregon Tech
in Georgia that you're betting against at that point. I'll
take the two vers those three. Really, I do think
that they're the two best teams in the Big Ten.
I think Ohio State is probably the best team in
the nation. You know, Indiana beat them in the Big
Ten championship game. But because Indiana beat them, that means
that they can probably beat anybody. So yeah, give me
(15:12):
those two over the field.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I tend to agree with you.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
But if Ryan Day is going to keep kicking surrender
field goals, I don't know if I can get on
board with it.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
He's got to stop those. Oh my god, that was
game ruining for him.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
It was appalling.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I'll talk a little more about it as those games
get closer. But Evan, thanks so much for stopping by.
I always appreciate your time. And we'll talk after the holidays.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Definitely sounds good, Jake, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Thank you to Evan Veth from inside Texas As always
good to hear the latest on the transfer portal movement
in and around the Texas Longhorns. I've said it before,
it's this time of year that no news kind of
feels like good news, especially with some of the other
headlines going on around college football at the moment. We'll
take a quick break, come back with some stories from
(15:57):
the Inconceivable file, including some transfer portal tie ins, right
here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
Back.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You're on a Wednesday, joined by Evan V from Inside Texas. Evan,
It's it's yacht rock Wednesday on the Craig Way Show.
Are you Are you much of a fan of sticks
and come sail Away?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh? Come on, I have about Renegade by Sticks. That's
where we're really at.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's you know, I don't claim to know as much
yacht rock as Craig Way has forgot. He might he
might weigh in on whether this song is actually yacht rock.
We'll get his thoughts on that a little bit later,
but I want to start by getting your thoughts on
Longhorn basketball. I know Leamoyne's not a great team, but
you wrote in your recamp last night this was some
of the Sean Miller offense that US folks were, well
(00:53):
Texas fans, I should say, we're promised. What did you
see that kind of excited you on that side of things?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, kind of finally right, It's felt like you've been
promised this, this Sean Miller offense since he's been hired,
and you knew, you knew they were gonna be growing
pains coming into the year. I think there's a little
bit of a poor roster building identity with the lack
of a point guard and maybe a true, true number
one scorer, and they had to go through that in
the first few games of the year. I do think
that you saw big change in the Yukon game, where
(01:21):
you know where you're at as a Texas basketball team.
A seven point seven or eight point loss really isn't
that big deal to a team like Yukon, probably a
top five team in the nation. Against Lamoine, you know, offensively,
Lamoint which is not quite the team that can compete
with Texas, but Longhorns were getting too shots into spots
in the on the court that you were hoping you'd
see that do against SEC teams in Misissippi State first
and then Tennessee when they play them, and hence these
(01:42):
other opponents. It was a lot of Dalan Swain was
making good passes into the corner. They took a lot
of corner threes. Most of their shots otherwise were in
the paint. I mean, that's that's NBA offense. That's what
Miller likes to do. That's that's the philosophy came in with,
is where he's gonna take shots that are efficient and
not force ourselves into these long twos or these Intestine reason, Yeah,
you're gonna have tougher defensive competition going forward into the SEC.
(02:03):
But I liked the spots they were getting to and
the way that some of these players like Mark and
Cope and Swam were dribbling on ball. We'll see how
that actually shows up in the SEC play, and they were.
There was a little bit of an eight eight minute
stretch where they looked poor offensively, but otherwise it was
a good showing and they really got got that game
wrapped up with about ten minutes left in the second
four or second half.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Sorry, what'd you make of the showing in Hartford against Yukon?
It was one of those losses that I came away
from the game feeling a little bit better about this
team ceiling than I had before. With that said, though,
they lost the game and really leave non conference play
without that signature win.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, and I think you could maybe the problem is
that they didn't get that win before Yukon. That should
have been penciled in beforehand. And now they did get
one on them Maley Invitational, but when it's for the
five to six that it's not quite the win that
you're looking for even the NC State. It's a good program. Yeah,
I think you nailed on the head. This is a
game that was pretty much a true away game. It
wasn't quite in the home of the Yukon, but it
(03:03):
was in Hartford, Connecticut. But you saw a few contributors
doing their things, specifically guard play with Mark and Pope,
and that's what you need. They have to have those
guys playing like scoring point guards because they're not going
to be these elite passers and playmakers. They have to
be able to get to their spots in the score.
And I think they did that really well. Now it's about,
especially as matas spoke Titis, getting him into the positions
(03:24):
against these higher level plays because he looks like the
best player on the court when they're playing Lemoyne or UTRGV,
but when they're playing Yukon in Virginia, he's really struggled.
So they have to figure out how to keep him
solid defensively when he's getting attacked by these good guards
while also, you know, let's get into the free throw line.
He's got one of the best free throw rates in
the country. He also hits his free throws, so him
only having nine to nine game definitely hurt the long rues,
(03:44):
but thirty combined from Hope and Mark, that's a good
sign going into SEC play.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And we'll hear from Sean Miller get some of his
thoughts on last night's victory a little bit later on
in the program. Right now, we're talking to Evan Vith
from inside Texas. You can follow him at Evan Veeth
over to football and the long defense. We knew would
have a lot of turnover coming into the twenty twenty
six season. With leungel of foul entering the transfer portal
earlier this week, that's becoming even more evident. So with
(04:12):
this defense not getting a lot of experience back, how
quickly do you expect Texas to strike here in the
portal and other potential targets you think they've already kind
of zeroed in on.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, I think they were going to take a linebacker
no matter if Leon Willa fasted them on this team
or not. They just definitely needed another guy with he
and Smith and Spence. Excuse me, maybe bo Bonds gives
you something next to me, you can't bank on that
when you're making a title run. I think what they're
going to do is take two and have one of
these guys be a true Mike linebacker that they can say, hey,
(04:43):
we are going to plug and play. It's a position
in college football you really need experience that more than anything.
You can get away with wide receivers for just great
athletes and great players. In some ways, you can get
away with that at edge if you got the right athlete,
But linebacker's got to be able to be in the
right spot to make a tackle, and that can come
from someone who played or G five football the last
three years. But they're gonna look for someone with experiences,
(05:05):
no matter if that's a G five guy or they
can pay up for someone who just left a powerful program.
And I think they're also going to try to look
for one of those kind of plus one guys where
I think we talked about this in the show a
few weeks ago, where you're getting him because he can
maybe help you this year, but really what's nice is
that he has another year of eligibility, maybe a third.
That's what you're seeing with Brad Spence, who's going to
take over the trade war role in twenty twenty six.
(05:26):
I think Spence is gonna be a great player on
the defense, but they need more linebacker linebackers right now,
it's just Smith, a pure will an athlete, but he's
a little smaller. Elijah Barnes and Tyler Atkinson who are
very new to this college football Talleer Akinson hasn't gotten
the campus yet, so they're gonna need two in my opinion,
But I don't think it changes all that much about
their overall philosophy for the position.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And there's a philosophy question to surrounding Grayson Littleton. I
liked your headline to star or not to star. The
long Horns have a decision on their hands. Do you
move Grayson Littleton to the outside to use his cover
skill that we saw really from the jump last year,
or does he stay as that kind of true nickel
role that he won from the beginning of this year.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It's really a hard discussion, Jake, because a lot of
it predicates on what you have and who leaves, also
what you add in the portal and who's available and
who wants to come play there. Right now as I
see it, if Jrelannie McDonald returns, you know three players
that must start for your team. McDonald, Littleton, and I
think Kate Phillips has gotten himself into that position where
he should be a starting cornerback next year. Now that
could mean that the two cornerbacks are Littleton and Phillips,
(06:30):
or if you really like what you got from Kobe
Black and then Warren Roberson, you can add a death
guy as your fourth cornerback because Texas always wants to
have four outside guys. Then maybe that's when you're fine
keeping Littleton in the slot. Wardell mack Leaving, if that
were to happen, would definitely probably keep Littleton inside and
then maybe they go after and bigger fish at cornerback,
a true number one guy. But that's hard to do.
(06:51):
It's a lot easier to find an experienced slot defender
who can keep up with players and tackle than it
is to find out your number one lockdown corner in
the portal. But I think no matter what, it's one
of those Champagne problems for Texas. You've either got a
guy who is so good at nickel that he started
there as a true freshman, which I looked up some
snapcout numbers. There hasn't been a power for true freshman's
(07:11):
played four hundred plus snaps in the slot since twenty
twenty two, and that's what Littleton did this year for Texas.
So you already know what you've gotten him in the slot.
Now it's more is his best long term either to
get to the NFL or your Texas the best chance
winning a championship playing on the outside. If they truly
think that, which he'll see raps in the bowl game
from this, then they should move him outside and see
what you got on the inside and that safety. But yeah,
(07:33):
like I said, it's not a bad problem to have.
You have a really talented guy, it's just where's the
right place to put him.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I'm kind of curious what that group was, like a
freshman who have played that many snaps on the inside.
Was it a bunch of future pros? Or did it
kind of surprise you? I think, you know, because I
don't remember the name specifically. I think it was some
college players, good players, but nothing crazy. Not any guys
who I remember either becoming great nickels in the NFL
or moving outside.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Specifically, I believe Pittsburgh and Washington or two of the
teams that had used those guys early on.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Oh interesting to note.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Okay, we're talking to Evan V from inside Texas flipping
to the offense where Jabbar Jaluke comes in as the
running backs coach.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
We knew that room was going to look different.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Now, does this hire give you any insight into maybe
the type of running back that Texas could add via
the portal?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah? Well, the home run hit is Chelou's former former
player Jaden Va, who's arguably the best running back in
college football heading in the next season. He's tremendous talent,
one of those real bruisers. He comes in at two
h hundred twenty five pounds as soon as he hits
the campus this season. Now, I think bo is a
guy who's gonna be a tough get. He's real. He's
loyal to the Florida team. But at some point, it's like,
(08:43):
if you already know you're going to be a really
high draft pick at running back, do you want to
go to the do you want to stay on the
team that has had a lot of turnover? You have
no idea who's playing quarterback. You're probably need to get
run into the ground because they're going to rely on
you a lot on your offense, or come over to
Texas and be the number one be sold contrayment Wiser
and Archman taking carries. If not him, They're still going
to look for a number one. I believe, even if
(09:05):
Simon and Clark are here to stay, even if Wiser
is here to stay, they need a power back, someone
that can run in between the tackles, that can get
them yardage every single down. Texas just really struggled with
the guy to find a guy that had four or
five yards in him every carry. But Travan Wiser had
his big games. That was two games. What about the
other ten and really the other three or four that
were super important. They need someone who they can rely
(09:26):
on fully as a starter. And I don't know how
many positions outside of running back in no line that
truly needs starters starters four, but that is clearly one
of them.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, they'll have to replace a starter on the outside.
DeAndre Moore is going to the NFL draft. Out of
the guys that we saw from this young wide receiver
room in twenty twenty five, who maybe one or two
who stand out could most naturally fill DeAndre Moore's role
in the offense.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, I think the two obvious ones are Dylan McCutcheon,
who came in as clear slot guy in that really
loaded twenty twenty five W receiver recruiting class and was
the first guy to play out of that group. He
was I think he was the fourth highs rated of
all of them, but he played against Ohio State, played
throughout the year that they really like this kid. I
mean he's one of those guys that came in early
and impressed the staff. Has kicked or kicking punt return
(10:13):
the opportunities. Not sure if he'll do it next year
with Ryan nibbling around, but he's someone that could maybe
be confident in just playing the slot next year. That's
but with DeAndre Moore, he wasn't the high secuited guy,
but true Softwell was starting on the team. Then there's
also am At Moseley who made profile better as a
slot receiver. I mean he played some a little bit
at both both of his schools, but just his body
type and the way he plays, it might be better
(10:33):
to have him be that blocking slot receiver. You have
him go do your fade routes if you need to
have the slot, and then hey, maybe you go to
the portal. Maybe Parker Livingston is another step guy I'm
looking out for is Khalek Lockett ready to be a
real full time player. I would love if if they
could have their end kind of end game group be
an elite trio of Wingo, Lockett, Moseley. I'm all there
for that, but that that is based on how well
(10:56):
you can develop and how well the Cutry and Mosley
can play in the slot. So this man also be
a portal position. But I do think that they're going
to try one of those two in this loot.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, it'd be very very interesting to see how that
wide receiver room develops. What you make of the way
the national media kind of reacted and reported on arch
Manning's decision to return. I mean, those of us who
cover Texas day and day out, I don't think anybody
was really all that surprised by it. Does it speak
more to the state of college football today?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, it felt like a no duh, Like, did anyone
really believe that outside of you know, people that kind
of wanted him to not to not succeed in Austin
say he's gone, or maybe some draft guys who were
high on him. But yeah, we knew this was coming.
We felt this way before the season started, and then
the season didn't go his way, so of course he
was going to come back this This has probably been
the plan all along. I'm not in ours Fanning's mind,
(11:49):
but that's the way it's been reported forever. I didn't
think it needed this whole you know, the way USC
does it where they're talking about resigning their players. Texas
didn't need that. I think Sarkisian and Manning both a
mutual idea that hey, we're just going to quietly return
next year and get you ready for a national championship
heis and contending season.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
That's Evan Veith from inside Texas.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Before you go, let's get your thoughts on the college
football playoff matchups this weekend. It might be a super
Bowl of hate watching from a long Horn fan perspective.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Youve got Oklahoma and A and M.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Texas has two bitter rivals to the Longhorns by the way,
beat by multiple scores, each hosting playoff matchups. Should Oklahoma
or Texas A and M feel better about their matchup
this weekend? Which one do you think might have a
better chance of advancing?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I think Oklahoma likes there's a little more, I think
just because purely from how these two teams play. Between
them and Alabama, they don't play very great on offense. Really,
I mean, it's two struggling teams that can't run the
ball that well, can't throw the ball real well. Then
they're two hyped up quarterbacks really decline, and two elite defenses.
But when you look at how these two teams profile, A,
(12:59):
they've already been Alabama B. If you had to say
which of these run games will do better, I think
the answers Oklahoma see who is the better defense Oklahoma's,
And then you also get the fact that Oklahoma probably
plays better special teams and is at home. I think
A and M is looking and going. Man, this Miami
team just always the most inconsistent great team in college
football for the past three years. But if you get
(13:21):
the right Carson back and Malachi Tony and that offensive
and defensive line, they've got game breakers on the other
side of the ball. For Marcel Reid, who just had
to deal with Colin Simmons recently, I'd be pretty scared
of them kind of leaving their own plays, like how
do we lose this game? But I think the Oklahoma
matchups better for them to just win a sixteen to
thirteen game, whereas if this gets to a highest scoring
(13:42):
with Miami, you never know who's going to come out
on top.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
In College Station, did you see, Miami, The Kyle Field
crowd will be almost double the largest away crowd that
the Hurricanes should see in the season. That we could
still learn a lot about them in this game Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
It's also the cold. Who knows how it's going to
be there? Who knows in Miami you can play there?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yes, the frigid cold of College Station, all right, it
is a concern for Miami though.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
As far as the national championship.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Winner odds out in Vegas, Ohio State is the favorite,
followed by Indiana. Then you've got a little bit of
a gap towards the rest of the field.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
If you were to be.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Given an option right now, you can have Ohio State,
Indiana or you could have the field. Is that as
obvious as the lines seem to make it that you'd
take those two big ten teams? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I think the only one that would really put a
mix into that is Georgia just because they're really coming
together at the right time. They've got all the ingredients.
But I would take the two honestly, it doesn't help
that part of that field. Right, four teams get eliminate
in the first round, and two of those are as
non competitors. One of the teams is going to go
onwards is Ole Miss who doesn't have a coach, so
there's no way there winning. I'm not super bullish on
(14:51):
either any of ann Miami Oklahoma, so it's Oregon Tech
in Georgia that you're betting against at that point. I'll
take the two vers those three. Really, I do think
that they're the two best teams in the Big Ten.
I think Ohio State is probably the best team in
the nation. You know, Indiana beat them in the Big
Ten championship game. But because Indiana beat them, that means
that they can probably beat anybody. So yeah, give me
(15:12):
those two over the field.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I tend to agree with you.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
But if Ryan Day is going to keep kicking surrender
field goals, I don't know if I can get on
board with it.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
He's got to stop those. Oh my god, that was
game ruining for him.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
It was appalling.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I'll talk a little more about it as those games
get closer. But Evan, thanks so much for stopping by.
I always appreciate your time. And we'll talk after the holidays.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Definitely sounds good, Jake, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Thank you to Evan Veth from inside Texas As always
good to hear the latest on the transfer portal movement
in and around the Texas Longhorns. I've said it before,
it's this time of year that no news kind of
feels like good news, especially with some of the other
headlines going on around college football at the moment. We'll
take a quick break, come back with some stories from
(15:57):
the Inconceivable file, including some transfer portal tie ins, right
here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
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