The 2026 Texas Longhorns are drawing a kind of attention that only comes around when a roster starts looking less like a team and more like a collection of stars. Texas has spent 132 years building one of college football’s most decorated programs, with 972 wins, four national championships and 129 All-American selections spread across generations of great players. This group, though, is being talked about in a different lane.
After keeping its best players from last season and landing a top-three transfer portal class, Texas enters 2026 with a roster that looks loaded from top to bottom. The argument isn’t just that the Longhorns are talented now. It’s that they might be talented enough to stack up with the best Texas teams ever assembled.
That’s a serious claim, and the history gives it some weight.
The 1970 Longhorns went 10-1 under Darrell K. Royal and shared the national title with Nebraska.
That team leaned on a punishing ground game, averaging 374.5 rushing yards per game behind All-American fullback Steve Worster and All-American offensive tackle Bobby Wuensch. On defense, All-American Bill Atessis helped Texas limit opponents to 117.5 rushing yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry.
Jim Bertelsen was among the other key pieces, and even if the numbers from that era are tougher to compare cleanly with today, the team still belongs in the conversation.
The 2009 squad belongs there too, even if its legacy is wrapped in frustration. Texas entered the BCS National Championship with a perfect season, only to see Colt McCoy go down early and Garrett Gilbert, a true freshman, thrown into the fire.
Gilbert was overwhelmed and threw four interceptions in the loss. That defeat ended the perfect run, but it shouldn’t erase how loaded that team was.
McCoy finished third in Heisman voting while winning the Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm, Maxwell and Manning awards, and he was a consensus All-American. Jordan Shipley was a consensus All-American at wide receiver, and Earl Thomas, a future NFL great, earned the same honor at free safety.
Then there’s 2005, the last Texas team to win a national championship and one that still gets mentioned in the same breath as the best college football teams ever. That roster featured four All-Americans and four major award winners.
Vince Young headlined the group, earning All-American recognition while taking home the O’Brien, Maxwell and Manning Awards. He was joined on the All-American list by defensive lineman Rodrique Wright, offensive lineman Jonathan Scott and Jim Thorpe Award winner Michael Huff.
Against that backdrop, the case for 2026 starts to make sense. The Walter Camp Football Foundation put four Longhorns on its 2026 preseason All-American first team, which matches the 2005 group.
Arch Manning, Trevor Goosby, Colin Simmons and Rasheem Biles all landed there, and each has a real case to be the best at his position. Texas also has depth behind those names that looks as strong as any group the program has put together.
On paper, this team belongs in the same conversation as the giants that came before it. The rest now comes down to what happens on the field.
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 🡒]