A former player offers thoughts on the 2025 Texas Longhorns

I have to get on the road soon to speak with the Houston McCombs chapter at Cadillac Bar so I’m going to make this as quick as possible. Yesterday I talked to a breakfast group near the Galleria. These are not ‘large’ groups, so an addition of 20 attendees over the previous year is an indication of fan excitement and expectations. There were four former players in attendance

1. Legendary Bob Moses. As legendary as he is for his playing days he’s been the quintessential University statesman his whole professional career. I’m lucky to call him a friend. Of course, Bob has A LOT of friends.

2. Doug Dawson. He had to leave just before it ended so I didn’t get a chance to speak with him but what a career he had at Texas before having a good run in the pros. Sounds like things continue to go well for him, “He has had a career as a wealth management advisor in the Houston area for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company where he ranks in the company’s top 20 all-time.”

3. Selvyn Young. He attended last year. He’s an entrepreneur in town and always fun to engage with.

4. One I’m going to leave nameless simply because he played for Sark and we talked for an hour after the event. 

His thoughts on the current team:

– When Neto Umeozulu gets a hold of you you’re not going anywhere. “I was strong but had no chance when he grabbed on. Huge hands.” He said Neto’s going to get a couple of penalties after the whistle this year. That’s just how he’s wired. He really likes DJ Campbell’s aggression too. 

– He’s heard similar good things regarding Cole Hutson and Connor Robertson to what IT has shared. 

– He’s heard really good things about Brandon Baker, with one person telling him that Baker will be good this year. In general, he had a lot of good things to say about Kyle Flood. 

– One of Sark’s super powers is getting the team focused internally. He essentially said everyone focuses on the “style” aspects of Texas and Austin but the “substance” is “really we just wanted to play football and hang out together.” 

– Loves Jelani McDonald. He calls him a complete player and said he would have been a ridiculous linebacker had his body gone that direction. The staff originally viewed him as another Overshown. 

– Absolutely loved Jahdae Barron “just a natural football player” and a “great person, you wonder, is he really like this? He is really like that.” However, he thinks the pass rush is the great equalizer for the defense this year. He loved the addition of LaAllan Clark for the Edge room.

– He’s a big fan of Tre Wisner and thinks Wisner will be the guy who gets 1,000 yards. Tre does everything right and “having a 1,000 yard runner is a source of pride for Sark.” I quipped luckily Sark has 16 games to keep the streak alive while still distributing the ball to deserving players. 

– I mentioned how I felt very strongly Sark was going to succeed after going 5-7 when I heard about the player led offseason draft. If you don’t recall, there were 10 teams of 10, with a player captain and sub-captain drafting their team. This was all designed to cultivate leadership and accountability. At the time I joked how Bijan “got it” because he drafted a bunch of walk-ons—guys who normally do things the right way. This former player said, “it was a great way to bring democracy to the team and have players take control.” It’s become public since but he also mentioned T’Vondre Sweat getting drafted last was the wakeup call he needed.

– He believes Arch really is That Guy. He concurred with my characterization of him being a man of the people when it comes to leadership. Everyone’s equal. He raved about Arch’s athleticism. 

– He’s obviously a bit biased but he thinks the pieces are in place for Texas to dominate this year.