Texas has a chance to put a couple of its own names in the record book this season, and if that happens, the Longhorns’ national championship case gets a whole lot stronger.
The first big number belongs to Arch Manning. After just one season, he already cracked Texas’ top 10 in single-season passing yards, finishing with 3,163 and moving past Vince Young’s 3,036. Now Manning is back for a second full year as the starter, and the next target is a much bigger one: Colt McCoy’s 3,859 yards from 2008.
That’s a steep climb, especially with Manning’s scrambling ability and the expectation that Texas leans more on the run game. Still, the door is open.
Quinn Ewers got within 380 yards of McCoy’s mark in 2023, and Manning may be working with the best receiving group Texas has had since then. With Cam Coleman arriving from Auburn to join Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley, Texas has the look of a three-man receiving punch again, the kind that can drive a quarterback season into record territory.
If Manning can lift his passing average from 243.3 yards per game to around 255, and Texas plays about 15-16 games, he’d be in range to chase down the record.
The defensive record is a tougher ask. Kiki DeAyala’s 1982 mark of 22.5 sacks is on the books, and while Colin Simmons has the talent to make noise, that kind of total still feels like a long shot. Will Muschamp’s defense also makes it harder for one player to pile up numbers in the pass rush.
A more realistic benchmark for Simmons is Jackson Jeffcoat’s 13 sacks from 2013, the most by a Texas player in a season since then. Muschamp’s last run as Texas defensive coordinator produced two double-digit sack seasons in 2008, when Brian Orakpo had 11.5 and Sergio Kindle had 10. With the extended postseason, Simmons reaching Jeffcoat’s total doesn’t sound far-fetched at all.
In Other News...
Texas Just Lost A Blue Chip Commit Fans Thought Was Safe
Texas 2027 recruiting push took a hit when four-star safety Greedy James changed course after originally pledging to the Longhorns in December. The move came after weeks of speculation, and it is the kind of flip that can sting even when a class is still sitting near the top of the national board.
Even with James gone, Texas is not exactly scrambling to recover. The Longhorns still own a highly regarded 2027 group that remains among the best in the country and near the top of the SEC, which is why this one feels more like a warning sign than a collapse. But losing a blue-chip defender who had been viewed as part of the foundation is the sort of development that keeps a recruiting staff busy long after the headlines fade. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Spears Jr. Just Gave Sean Miller A Huge Texas Moment
Texas basketball has spent the past few years searching for the kind of momentum that can steady a program through coaching turnover and uneven results, and Sean Miller just got a significant boost on the recruiting trail. Marcus Spears Jr., one of the more highly regarded frontcourt prospects in the country, has committed to the Longhorns, giving Texas another cornerstone piece as it tries to build a roster that can hold up in the SEC and eventually make noise in March.
Spears Jr. picked Texas over Arizona, Kentucky and LSU, a win that matters well beyond one signing. The Longhorns have already put together a strong recruiting class and added transfers, and this is the sort of addition that can change the way a roster looks in the seasons ahead, especially in a league where size and depth are never optional. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Fans Wont Believe What A Rival Coach Said About Sarkisian
Big 12 Media Days usually bring their share of sharp edges between in-state rivals, but Joey McGuire took a different tone when the conversation turned to Steve Sarkisian. The Texas Tech coach made it clear he respects what Sarkisian has built in Austin, pointing to the kind of sustained success that has been hard to find at Texas for a long stretch.
For Longhorn fans, the praise lands with extra weight because it comes from across the Red River rivalry line and arrives after Texas has put together consecutive College Football Playoff trips while also navigating the move to the SEC. McGuire acknowledged how difficult the rebuild has been, which is part of what makes the compliment stand out even more, especially with the two programs still operating in the same heated conference landscape. [Read more 🡒]