{"id":12198,"date":"2023-07-31T03:39:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T08:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=12198"},"modified":"2023-07-31T03:39:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T08:39:46","slug":"explaining-why-texas-always-sets-high-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/explaining-why-texas-always-sets-high-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining why Texas always sets high expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas<\/a><\/strong> wants to be back so badly. The good people of Austin have spent a long time waiting for the Longhorns to arrive<\/a> again at the top tier of college football<\/a>. They\u2019ve done so because, in the eyes of On3\u2019s J.D. PicKell<\/a>, the Longhorns consistently have talent that justifies those lofty goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PicKell took the pulse of Texas\u2019 program<\/a> in an episode of \u2018The Hard Count\u2019<\/a> last week. He pointed out how the Longhorn\u2019s continued success on the recruiting trail<\/a> has generated a lot of hype considering the talent that is on their roster and where it should be at this point of their development under Steve Sarkisian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly? For Texas, the reason why they feel like they always have a chance is because they\u2019ve consistently recruited<\/a> well,\u201d PicKell explained. \u201cSince 2018, they have been outside the Top-10 in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings<\/a> one time. One time!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tells me you consistently have a Top-10 class, which should equate to, typically, a Top-10 roster if you\u2019re doing it right<\/a>. Developing right, having the good culture, and all that,\u201d said PicKell. \u201cThe talent in Austin, Texas is always there. Talent is good reason for optimism. It is good reason for expectations<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As PicKell pointed out, Texas has recruited at a high clip on the national level over the last three classes of Tom Herman\u2019s<\/a> tenure and Sarkisian\u2019s first three. In that span, the Longhorns have four top-five classes in 2018<\/a> (third<\/a>), 2019<\/a> (third<\/a>), 2022<\/a> (fifth<\/a>), and 2023<\/a> (third<\/a>). They finished ninth<\/a> in 2020<\/a> and were still a respectable enough 15th<\/a> in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the past two classes, Sarkisian has earned six commitments to Texas from five-star recruits<\/a>. That includes IOL DJ Campbell<\/a> and OT Kelvin Banks<\/a> in \u201922 as well as QB Arch Manning<\/a>, LB Anthony Hill<\/a>, RB CJ Baxter Jr.<\/a>, and WR Johntay Cook II<\/a> in this year\u2019s class.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t even to mention what Texas has been able to do as of late far as additions in the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

If you do it right, talent should lead directly to production. From there, production should lead to results<\/a> which, in the end, is exactly what fans down on The 40 Acres are ready for<\/a> as Sarkisian heads into year three<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McElroy predicts Texas to go over 9.5 wins<\/h2>\n

Everyone wants to see if this is the season where\u00a0Texas\u00a0is\u00a0officially back or not<\/a>. Many are high on\u00a0Steve Sarkisian\u2019s\u00a0squad coming into the year and among them is ESPN\u2019s\u00a0Greg McElroy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McElroy looked at\u00a0Texas\u2019 win total of 9.5<\/a>\u00a0during a segment of\u00a0\u2018Always College Football\u2019<\/a>\u00a0on Monday. He recognizes that several other people have already hopped on the bandwagon when it comes to the Longhorns. Even so, he does see several reasons to, especially considering how many close games they ended up losing in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Texas Longhorns? They come in at 9.5,\u201d McElroy said. \u201cEverybody and their brother is hot on the Longhorns this year, right?\u00a0So hot<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about where they were last year. How close they were in so many games? Lost five games last year all by one score. And you think about a couple of those games? They had some leads that they just couldn\u2019t hang on to,\u201d explained McElroy. \u201cThink about the\u00a0Texas Tech<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0game, think about the\u00a0Oklahoma State<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0game. They had significant leads in both games. They just could not hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the direction that they Longhorns are moving in, and moving in quickly, McElroy believes that they\u2019ll\u00a0exceed that 9.5 win total<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0reach double-digit wins for the second time in the last 14 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big boost is coming for the Longhorns this year<\/a>. I am very optimistic about it. I think\u00a0they\u2019re a Top-10 football team<\/a>\u00a0coming into the season,\u201d McElroy said. \u201cA lot of it has to do with\u00a0the progress made offensively<\/a>, progress made on the front seven defensively. But, given the strides made from \u201921 to \u201922, I think they\u2019re going to continue to ramp it up. I\u2019m taking the over on 9.5.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Explaining why Texas always sets high expectations<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas wants to be back so badly. The good people of Austin have spent a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}