Texas has no shortage of headline names heading into the season, and ESPN’s preseason top 100 only drives that home.
The Longhorns landed seven players on the list, tying defending national champion Indiana for the second-most in the country. Only Oregon, with eight, had more. For a Texas team ranked No. 5 in the preseason, the star count is exactly what you’d expect.
At the top of the group is Colin Simmons, who checks in at No. 3 overall. The SEC sack leader from last season has 21.0 total sacks over his two years in Austin, and ESPN’s Andrea Adelson called him “A preseason All-America candidate, Simmons has played in 29 career games and has the experience and ability to lead a strong defensive front with big plans to help get the Longhorns back to the CFP,”
Texas also placed Trevor Goosby at No. 12.
The junior left tackle anchors an experienced offensive line and gives Arch Manning the kind of protection that should let the quarterback settle in and operate comfortably. Goosby is ranked as the second-best offensive lineman in college football, trailing only Georgia tackle Carter Smith.
Manning comes in at No. 13, and the expectations around him are still enormous. The hype was already loud, then got louder after a slow start last year as the full-time starter.
But Manning’s finish turned the volume back up for the right reasons, capped by a four-touchdown performance against Michigan in a bowl win. He enters this season as a potential top-five draft pick, with NFL teams watching him as a possible future franchise quarterback, even as he still has some refining to do before getting Texas where it wants to go.
Another major offensive addition is Cam Coleman at No. 15.
He’s the third-highest-ranked wide receiver on the list and the top pass-catcher entering his first season with a new team. Coleman made his name at Auburn against SEC competition, and now he joins an offense that figures to give him plenty of room to build on that success.
Texas is the only team with four players inside the top 15, which says plenty about the talent stacked at the top of the roster.
The defense brings more high-end pieces, starting with Rasheem Biles at No. 44.
Adelson described him as “The Pitt transfer was one of the best defensive players in the ACC last year and did a little bit of everything for the Panthers from his linebacker spot,” Biles steps into the center of the Texas defense after Anthony Hill Jr. moved on to the Tennessee Titans. Last season, Biles posted 101 tackles, recovered two fumbles, broke up six passes and picked off two more.
Texas also has two backs in the rankings, with Hollywood Smothers at No. 47 and Raleek Brown at No. 85.
Smothers, who was unranked in last year’s preseason list, earned his spot after two strong seasons at NC State. Bill Connelly noted that Smothers sharing the backfield could “could keep him fresh and maximize the potentially extreme physicality of the Texas run game.”
Brown arrives from Arizona State, where Big 12 coaches named him a first-team all-conference rusher last season. He adds pass-catching ability to a backfield that has been completely overhauled from a year ago, and that versatility fits the way Sarkisian has used running backs before.
In Other News...
Texas Camp Concern May Actually Be Great News For Sark's Defense
Fall camp has offered an early hint that Texas may have found the kind of edge Steve Sarkisian needed on the other side of the ball. With new coordinator Will Muschamp steering the defense, the Longhorns have looked sharper than the offense in practice, and the emphasis has clearly changed from merely surviving drives to forcing opponents out of rhythm and off the field.
Muschamps approach is a noticeable departure from the old bend-but-dont-break mindset, leaning into more man-press coverage and a more aggressive posture overall. For Texas, that is not just a schematic tweak. It lines up with the offensive plan and could give the Longhorns a more complete identity if the defense keeps turning camp concerns into something closer to a strength. [Read more 🡒]
Vic Schaefer Just Added Another Piece To Texas Loaded Roster
Texas womens basketball keeps stocking up with familiar-looking international flair, and the latest addition brings a different kind of rsum to Austin. Jayda Clark, an Australian guard with professional experience and time spent in the countrys youth national-team pipeline, has signed with Vic Schaefers program, giving the Longhorns another perimeter option to plug into a roster already heavy with overseas talent and a highly ranked recruiting class.
Schaefer has made clear he values Clarks scoring touch and versatility, and those traits should only deepen the competition once Texas gets into the thick of its season. The appeal here is obvious for a program already built to win now: another proven guard, another layer of depth, and another sign that the Longhorns are assembling a roster with plenty of ways to keep opponents guessing. [Read more 🡒]
Former Longhorns Give Texas Fans A Real Reason To Watch Week 0
Texas wont be on the Week 0 schedule, but Longhorns fans still have a few familiar names worth tracking when the season gets underway. Four former Texas players, Tre Wisner, Jordan Washington, Daniel Cruz and JaMond Tapp, are expected to make their debuts with new college football programs, giving observers in Austin at least one early reason to tune in even without the Longhorns taking the field.
The most intriguing watch is likely Wisner, who landed at Florida State and is expected to be the former Longhorn drawing the most attention from Texas fans. Washington, Cruz and Tapp are also in line to open their new chapters this week, though their availability and roles may vary depending on how their respective teams handle the first game of the season. [Read more 🡒]