July 21, 2026 • 11 mins
On today's show, we were joined by Joe Cook, who was on site at SEC Media Days to preview the upcoming season for Texas Longhorn Football. Joe provided insight from the event, discussing the expectations surrounding the Longhorns as they enter a new chapter in the SEC, key players to watch, and the biggest storylines coming out of the offseason. The conversation covered Texas' roster, coaching staff, position battles, and what it will take for the Longhorns to compete at the highest level in the SEC. It was a great inside look at the program as Texas prepares for a highly anticipated season.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go back to the morning kickoff right here on sports
(00:02):
Radio AM thirteen hundred to is one Mike Harball, hars
WWE Hall of Famer and World Strongest Mandez Henry, and
of course we got Cole on the boards. But right now,
let's talk to our guy, Joe Cook of Inside Texas.
You can follow him at Joseph Cook eighty nine and Joe.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Football season is here.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
SEC Media Days kicked off yesterday and there was a
lot going on. Whether it was Oklahoma and John Mattier
talking a little bit about his hand situation from last
year and not being able to read defenses. I guess
that was part of it. To Will Stein of Kentucky
saying that he will be the reason that they win.
(00:45):
This is something that we all get excited about because
this is the blowhards time of the year. Everybody's got
something to say. But what was your big takeaways from
the SEC media's opening day.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, the big things I kind of gathered in were,
you know, Greg saying he getting his opportunity at the microphone.
Usually he's up there from a position of strengths. I
don't think he's from in that same position as strengths.
We saw a little bit of that SEC spring meetings,
so him kind of laying out a little bit of
you know, previous frustrations that I think we covered pretty
(01:24):
pretty fully back in May, and then some of the
protect College Sports Acts stuff, lining up some of the
different things that you know, the league wants. But I
think this is the fact that he acknowledged, like, yeah,
there have been actual conversations about breaking off. You know,
nothing to say like, oh, we're about to do it,
Like he even trying to dissuade the idea of using
(01:45):
that as a as a leverage play, but like that
it's something that even Kirby Smart admitted that, you know,
he told his UGA's president about like, well, what if
we broke off and did our own rules and a
lot of different problems with that.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
But I think the fact that that was just acknowledged
was pretty big.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
As far as on field goes, the biggest thing I
took away was that, you know, Texas schedule, it's already difficult,
and if a Mott Hardy is healthy for Missouri at
running back, man, that's a really tough game. I've been thinking,
you know, some people want to label Arkansas as a
trap game. I don't think they're good enough to be
a trap game for Texas this year. Missouri definitely is
(02:20):
just because of where it is on the schedule, what
time of day it'll be, where it is in Columbia.
And you know, with one of the best running backs
in the country is recovered and is recovered from his
gunshot wound to play and play well, and URI's gonna
have a pretty good offense this year, and him being
there is only gonna and look and you know, I
(02:42):
think this is something we all wanted, the fact that
he's going to be able to be healthy enough to play,
But that's only going to make texas difficult schedule even
more difficult.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, I wanted to ask you about what if John
Mattia has sleeves on, because he's been rocking have shirts
and those sleeves all summer. He's visibly bigger than he
has been in years past. Did they talk about any
(03:13):
of his physical development.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, that that's something that you know, I'm curious about
because I think, you know, I think we can all
look at John attire and note that he's a pretty
tough guy. Being tough doesn't make you a great quarterback.
It helps, but it doesn't that's not that's not what
it does. And if they're bulking him up, like maybe
they that's one of the places that they think can
(03:39):
really improve their run game, because I know Brent Vinnables
talked about how their run game just was not where
it needed to be last year. Uh, And that's something
you know, that kind of marries to the idea of
him not being able to read defense as well. If
none of those Oklahoma offensive linemen can get a good
push and the running back situation is not great, well, okay,
(04:00):
then you can just play coverage. If you add Matier
and who already took on a pretty heavy running workload,
if you make him, you know, a little bit bigger,
maybe may be able to absorb a little bit more
impact over the course of a season. Then you know, yes,
do you put your quarterback at risk a little bit?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But do you open things up in your run game
because you have the capability of putting them on his hands. Yes,
And I think Oklahoma's offensive line is gonna be better,
So I think him bulking up maybe a sign that
they might want to be able to use him on
the run game even more. Which, man, that's that's a
(04:39):
that's a big ass considering his hand injury, which I
think he suffered against either Michigan or maybe somebody else.
You know, it really put a damper on their season
even though they made the playoff because they didn't compete
for the SEC championship and they lost to Texas with
how scored a touchdown. So uh, you know, I think
(04:59):
that's one of those things where we'll see what Brent
Vinnables and Ben Rbuck will have cooked up. But I
wouldn't be surprised if him bulking up is to maybe
help with you know, provide some more opportunities in the
run game to open up the rest of the run
game for Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
We're talking to Joe Cook of Inside Texas. You can
follow them at Joseph Cook eighty nine. And Joe, as
we sit here today and we start to look at
the upcoming season, you kind of mentioned the stuff about
the schedule for the University of Texas, but looking across
like today, Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs will take
(05:38):
center stage, and Kirby's the elder statesman now of the SEC,
and a lot of people are kind of not really
speaking of them. Texas is obviously getting a lot of
the shine. But how dangerous can the Georgia Bulldogs be
by bringing back Gunner Stockton and some of those playmakers
that they have.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, that's that's a good question.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think Stockton is the perfect guy for that offense.
You know, someday they'll they'll do something a little bit
different at quarterback, but not until it really just doesn't
win the mESC Championships and put them in contention for
national title.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Stockton's tough, He's very efficient with the football.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
He knows how to get that offense, which I think
does not get enough respect because of its complexity, knows
how to put that offense in the right spot. And
I think he's just someone who does what Kirby Smart wants.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Done on the offensive side of things.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
They also returned, you know, really good running back, some
really good running backs.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I think they're staying fairly old on their offensive line.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I know they lost a couple to the NFL, but
you know, that's that's life at Georgia, and you know
there's always gonna be a good tight end there so
that that offense is always going to be just the
right level of what Kirby Smart wants. And I don't
think that means they can't get into a shootout like
they had to win to shootout against Tennessee last year
(07:02):
to get past the balls in Knoxville. You know, they
put thirty five points up on Texas like that. It's
a it's a team that can definitely score. It's just
a team that doesn't really do it in like this.
I don't know high profile way I do. They just
do it efficiently. They're they're dangerous in their they're kind
of boredom, I guess is the way to put it.
(07:23):
So that's just a team that's always going to be
well coordinated. They're always going to try to ground and pound,
and you know, when the opportunity presents itself, have Gunner
stocked and take shots downfield.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
But he protects the football.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He's tough, he can run the football, and he fits
into that program just the way that Kirby Smart wants
him to well.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
And in certain positions. They have a venture experience. But
for overall they're pretty young team. Do you think that's
gonna have an effect on whether or not that they
can finish games? You know, a young team can start well,
but can they sustain.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You know, I think that's by design.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Over the past few years, you've seen Kirby Smart maybe
make a few forays into the transfer portal, and basically
until last year or this most recent offseason, Texas was
the same way. They liked staying young because they liked
recruiting and developing and retaining high school talent. And you know,
if some of those guys left after three years, and
(08:25):
they'd leave and the next guy up would probably be
a sophomore, and then you know, you get two good
years from that guy, and then he leaves and the
next guy ups the sophomore, and that's kind of flying
a poet, you know, in opposition to again, Indiana maybe
an outlier just because of using some of the dregs
of the COVID years. But like Indiana, they what they
(08:48):
did was they got good players. I don't think anybody
would label a lot of these guys as great players
until now, but good players at least in the their
scouting system, who are old. And you know, whether you're
whether you're playing nose tackle, whether you're playing left tackle,
whether you're playing quarterback, whether you're playing wide receiver. There's
(09:08):
a benefit to being twenty three or twenty four that
you just don't have when you're twenty in college football,
especially if you're playing other eighteen and nineteen year olds.
I think even though Texas and Georgia are going to
be young, they're not going to be super young in
some of the more difficult spots. That that offensive line,
that's where you know, it's really not young. Everybody's got
(09:31):
a good amount of experience there, and they brought in
guys with experience. I mean wide receiver, yeah, I mean
it's a bunch of third year players.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I don't know if that qualifies as young.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Tight end is a bunch of third year players running
back maybe where they could be viewed as young. But
like that offense doesn't have a ton of youth on it.
It's really on the defense. But that youth is talented,
and it's you know, Grace and Littleton, who was a
full year starter last year. It's it's Kate Phillips who
was a starter by the end of the year. It's
it's ty Anthony Smith, who you know, even though he's
(10:03):
heading I think to his third year, like started a
bunch of games. Like it's Colin Simmons, who, yeah, third
year player, But like that youth is not lacking that
youth does not lack experience, and that's a little bit
different than the way it was last year.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Spot on as always there he is our guy, Joe
Cook of Inside Texas. Make sure you follow them at
Joseph Cook eighty nine, but also get over to Inside
Texas and on three for all of the latest as
always man, Appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Appreciate you y'all see you this week.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Sounds good, guys, Take care all right there he is
Joe Cook of Inside Texas. We'll have more conversations with him,
uh next week and get a little bit more. But
we're gonna do a little buy or sell it. We're
gonna talk about it, the contenders and the pretenders and
of course who has the upper hand. We'll talk about
(10:57):
it right here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio
AM thirteen under the Zone and always free on the
iHeartRadio app.
Go back to the morning kickoff right here on sports
(00:02):
Radio AM thirteen hundred to is one Mike Harball, hars
WWE Hall of Famer and World Strongest Mandez Henry, and
of course we got Cole on the boards. But right now,
let's talk to our guy, Joe Cook of Inside Texas.
You can follow him at Joseph Cook eighty nine and Joe.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Football season is here.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
SEC Media Days kicked off yesterday and there was a
lot going on. Whether it was Oklahoma and John Mattier
talking a little bit about his hand situation from last
year and not being able to read defenses. I guess
that was part of it. To Will Stein of Kentucky
saying that he will be the reason that they win.
(00:45):
This is something that we all get excited about because
this is the blowhards time of the year. Everybody's got
something to say. But what was your big takeaways from
the SEC media's opening day.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, the big things I kind of gathered in were,
you know, Greg saying he getting his opportunity at the microphone.
Usually he's up there from a position of strengths. I
don't think he's from in that same position as strengths.
We saw a little bit of that SEC spring meetings,
so him kind of laying out a little bit of
you know, previous frustrations that I think we covered pretty
(01:24):
pretty fully back in May, and then some of the
protect College Sports Acts stuff, lining up some of the
different things that you know, the league wants. But I
think this is the fact that he acknowledged, like, yeah,
there have been actual conversations about breaking off. You know,
nothing to say like, oh, we're about to do it,
Like he even trying to dissuade the idea of using
(01:45):
that as a as a leverage play, but like that
it's something that even Kirby Smart admitted that, you know,
he told his UGA's president about like, well, what if
we broke off and did our own rules and a
lot of different problems with that.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
But I think the fact that that was just acknowledged
was pretty big.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
As far as on field goes, the biggest thing I
took away was that, you know, Texas schedule, it's already difficult,
and if a Mott Hardy is healthy for Missouri at
running back, man, that's a really tough game. I've been thinking,
you know, some people want to label Arkansas as a
trap game. I don't think they're good enough to be
a trap game for Texas this year. Missouri definitely is
(02:20):
just because of where it is on the schedule, what
time of day it'll be, where it is in Columbia.
And you know, with one of the best running backs
in the country is recovered and is recovered from his
gunshot wound to play and play well, and URI's gonna
have a pretty good offense this year, and him being
there is only gonna and look and you know, I
(02:42):
think this is something we all wanted, the fact that
he's going to be able to be healthy enough to play,
But that's only going to make texas difficult schedule even
more difficult.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, I wanted to ask you about what if John
Mattia has sleeves on, because he's been rocking have shirts
and those sleeves all summer. He's visibly bigger than he
has been in years past. Did they talk about any
(03:13):
of his physical development.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, that that's something that you know, I'm curious about
because I think, you know, I think we can all
look at John attire and note that he's a pretty
tough guy. Being tough doesn't make you a great quarterback.
It helps, but it doesn't that's not that's not what
it does. And if they're bulking him up, like maybe
they that's one of the places that they think can
(03:39):
really improve their run game, because I know Brent Vinnables
talked about how their run game just was not where
it needed to be last year. Uh, And that's something
you know, that kind of marries to the idea of
him not being able to read defense as well. If
none of those Oklahoma offensive linemen can get a good
push and the running back situation is not great, well, okay,
(04:00):
then you can just play coverage. If you add Matier
and who already took on a pretty heavy running workload,
if you make him, you know, a little bit bigger,
maybe may be able to absorb a little bit more
impact over the course of a season. Then you know, yes,
do you put your quarterback at risk a little bit?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But do you open things up in your run game
because you have the capability of putting them on his hands. Yes,
And I think Oklahoma's offensive line is gonna be better,
So I think him bulking up maybe a sign that
they might want to be able to use him on
the run game even more. Which, man, that's that's a
(04:39):
that's a big ass considering his hand injury, which I
think he suffered against either Michigan or maybe somebody else.
You know, it really put a damper on their season
even though they made the playoff because they didn't compete
for the SEC championship and they lost to Texas with
how scored a touchdown. So uh, you know, I think
(04:59):
that's one of those things where we'll see what Brent
Vinnables and Ben Rbuck will have cooked up. But I
wouldn't be surprised if him bulking up is to maybe
help with you know, provide some more opportunities in the
run game to open up the rest of the run
game for Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
We're talking to Joe Cook of Inside Texas. You can
follow them at Joseph Cook eighty nine. And Joe, as
we sit here today and we start to look at
the upcoming season, you kind of mentioned the stuff about
the schedule for the University of Texas, but looking across
like today, Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs will take
(05:38):
center stage, and Kirby's the elder statesman now of the SEC,
and a lot of people are kind of not really
speaking of them. Texas is obviously getting a lot of
the shine. But how dangerous can the Georgia Bulldogs be
by bringing back Gunner Stockton and some of those playmakers
that they have.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, that's that's a good question.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think Stockton is the perfect guy for that offense.
You know, someday they'll they'll do something a little bit
different at quarterback, but not until it really just doesn't
win the mESC Championships and put them in contention for
national title.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Stockton's tough, He's very efficient with the football.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
He knows how to get that offense, which I think
does not get enough respect because of its complexity, knows
how to put that offense in the right spot. And
I think he's just someone who does what Kirby Smart wants.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Done on the offensive side of things.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
They also returned, you know, really good running back, some
really good running backs.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I think they're staying fairly old on their offensive line.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I know they lost a couple to the NFL, but
you know, that's that's life at Georgia, and you know
there's always gonna be a good tight end there so
that that offense is always going to be just the
right level of what Kirby Smart wants. And I don't
think that means they can't get into a shootout like
they had to win to shootout against Tennessee last year
(07:02):
to get past the balls in Knoxville. You know, they
put thirty five points up on Texas like that. It's
a it's a team that can definitely score. It's just
a team that doesn't really do it in like this.
I don't know high profile way I do. They just
do it efficiently. They're they're dangerous in their they're kind
of boredom, I guess is the way to put it.
(07:23):
So that's just a team that's always going to be
well coordinated. They're always going to try to ground and pound,
and you know, when the opportunity presents itself, have Gunner
stocked and take shots downfield.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
But he protects the football.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He's tough, he can run the football, and he fits
into that program just the way that Kirby Smart wants
him to well.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
And in certain positions. They have a venture experience. But
for overall they're pretty young team. Do you think that's
gonna have an effect on whether or not that they
can finish games? You know, a young team can start well,
but can they sustain.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You know, I think that's by design.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Over the past few years, you've seen Kirby Smart maybe
make a few forays into the transfer portal, and basically
until last year or this most recent offseason, Texas was
the same way. They liked staying young because they liked
recruiting and developing and retaining high school talent. And you know,
if some of those guys left after three years, and
(08:25):
they'd leave and the next guy up would probably be
a sophomore, and then you know, you get two good
years from that guy, and then he leaves and the
next guy ups the sophomore, and that's kind of flying
a poet, you know, in opposition to again, Indiana maybe
an outlier just because of using some of the dregs
of the COVID years. But like Indiana, they what they
(08:48):
did was they got good players. I don't think anybody
would label a lot of these guys as great players
until now, but good players at least in the their
scouting system, who are old. And you know, whether you're
whether you're playing nose tackle, whether you're playing left tackle,
whether you're playing quarterback, whether you're playing wide receiver. There's
(09:08):
a benefit to being twenty three or twenty four that
you just don't have when you're twenty in college football,
especially if you're playing other eighteen and nineteen year olds.
I think even though Texas and Georgia are going to
be young, they're not going to be super young in
some of the more difficult spots. That that offensive line,
that's where you know, it's really not young. Everybody's got
(09:31):
a good amount of experience there, and they brought in
guys with experience. I mean wide receiver, yeah, I mean
it's a bunch of third year players.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I don't know if that qualifies as young.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Tight end is a bunch of third year players running
back maybe where they could be viewed as young. But
like that offense doesn't have a ton of youth on it.
It's really on the defense. But that youth is talented,
and it's you know, Grace and Littleton, who was a
full year starter last year. It's it's Kate Phillips who
was a starter by the end of the year. It's
it's ty Anthony Smith, who you know, even though he's
(10:03):
heading I think to his third year, like started a
bunch of games. Like it's Colin Simmons, who, yeah, third
year player, But like that youth is not lacking that
youth does not lack experience, and that's a little bit
different than the way it was last year.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Spot on as always there he is our guy, Joe
Cook of Inside Texas. Make sure you follow them at
Joseph Cook eighty nine, but also get over to Inside
Texas and on three for all of the latest as
always man, Appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Appreciate you y'all see you this week.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Sounds good, guys, Take care all right there he is
Joe Cook of Inside Texas. We'll have more conversations with him,
uh next week and get a little bit more. But
we're gonna do a little buy or sell it. We're
gonna talk about it, the contenders and the pretenders and
of course who has the upper hand. We'll talk about
(10:57):
it right here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio
AM thirteen under the Zone and always free on the
iHeartRadio app.
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