Position Group Confidence Rankings: Is Texas Ready This Season?

0:00running back at four. I feel like still might be a little low. You can go seven deep in two of those guys are first team all conference guys and other power for conferences. Welcome back to on Texas football. I'm Jeff Howell, joined by CJ Vogel. We're talking about confidence rankings in the position groups on the 40 acres. This was after one week of spring ball. This was an article CJ wrote over on Texas football.com as the team gets back from spring break and gets back on the practice field. CJ, I want to look at a couple of these and you rank these one through ten. No specialists. So we're down to just individual position groups on both sides of the ball offensive line. When you wrote this, you had them in number nine. And in your defense, you wrote this before Lawrence Seymour's eligibility case was finalized. So again, just want to reiterate, he's not with the team right now. He's not enrolled in school. Won't be with them in spring ball at any point. Won't be on campus until the summer. But CJ, when you look at your confidence in the offensive line, is that group higher than ninth given what you've seen on the practice field with the addition

1:04that we know is happening now with Lawrence Seymour? Absolutely. Look, are they going to shoot up to the top three? Probably not, but they're no longer ninth. And I think that for most Texas fans is very welcoming to here, right? And what's funny is I think I published on this and about two hours later, we got the news that Seymour's waiver was approved. So in a way, there's a jinx involved there, Jeff, but no, they're no longer ninth. Where do they go? I would say maybe sixth, maybe seventh, right? There's still a bit of an unknown. You have what you think to be a very solid tackle tandem with Ciani and Goosby. Connor Robertson is returning fifth year, second year starter in the program. That's fantastic. But the question still remains. How quickly will Lawrence Seymour be able to get acclimated to the system? The calls, what he needs to do playing alongside Robertson and Goosby on the left side? It's an unknown, right? What does Brandon Baker look like spinning from right tackle to right guard? I think we all agree. The second half of the year last year for Baker was a strong one, right? He looked good at right tackle, still to new position.

2:09And that's something that you kind of have to adjust for. So with some of the movement right now, guys not being on the field fully in the spring, I'm not going to get over my skis here. They're not going to be a top five position group, but they certainly are no longer in ninth place, which, again, is a step in the right direction. And this is a spot that I look at. Should things go well on the field? I would love to be the most wrong about any position possible with this offensive line. And it might be shaken up to be that direction. So I thought it was interesting that when I talked about I, because I wrote an article right around the same time you did about talented depth positions that I feel have talented depth. And for the positions that I mentioned are in your top five. I think we probably know I had a little different order, but you went edge wide receiver running back in defensive line. I think we might have had defensive line and running back flip. Regardless, CJ, your number one is quarterback. Now, obviously, you return a guy that could potentially be a Heisman candidate. He's as a Heisman candidate could potentially be in New York with a chance to win it, could potentially be the number one overall picking the draft and archmanning.

3:12How much of your confidence in that position though is what you've seen and heard about KJ Lacey through that first week spring ball? Yeah, it's a lot of it. Look, you know, with the quarterback spot, only one of them's on the field at a time. So when you talk about the peak and the height of the position and what it could be this fall, what you just mentioned is a lot of it as well. Archmaning in the conversations to be a preseason Heisman favorite once again, feel great about the position. But now that I'm getting to see and hear about KJ Lacey taking meaningful organic snaps, with the first team unit this spring, that gives me a lot of confidence that should archmanning have to miss time or come out of a game for whatever reason. The offense won't take too much of a step back, right? KJ Lacey's not just the number two all-time leading passer in Alabama state high school football history, but we've heard for two straight-off seasons now. This is a guy that moves the football when he's on the field for the longvorns. Now, that competition will ramp up, that gives me confidence. Once again, that should he be a guy that comes onto the field,

4:12Texas will be able to find ways to put points on the board offensively. I will and I like where you're going with that and look, I've been a big proponent of talking about KJ Lacey saying we're probably not talking about it enough. And now that we've done, we might be talking about it too much in terms of how the strizies made. But I will remind everybody, CJ 2019 with Sam Ellinger was the last time Texas went wire to wire in a season where he didn't need to back up quarterback to come in and help you at some point. You know, the following year, you need to Casey Thompson in the Alamo Bowl to finish that game because Sam got hurt. And then through Starks 10 year up until last year, two quarterbacks started. You need at least two quarterbacks to start every game on the schedule. And to your point about the back of quarterback, we don't know when it's going to happen. We don't know where, but does Texas finish off that Mississippi state game if Matthew Caldwell isn't the guy that comes in and drops that dime to Emmett Mosley in overtime? So we talk a lot about it because at some point, man, if that backup quarterback has to be called upon, it's a really tough spot. It's almost like bringing in a relief pitcher, say, hey, you,

5:14we haven't even talked about throwing you all day, but bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded, go out there and get that last out for you. It's a really tough deal. It absolutely is. And you know, to talk about how deep the room is behind him is a five-star freshman quarterback, Diabel. Will he be someone that Texas relies on this? You're probably hopefully not, right? But even then, that same breath is MJ Morris coming in a fifth-year experienced guy with a win over Davos, Swinney and Clemson. There's a starting quarterback. There's depth there. And that is so important in the SEC. Yeah, it's, you know, there's a reason why you win another portal needing a QB3 instead of a QB2 like you need to last year. But like I said, when that QB3, your QB3 has legitimate power conference starting experience. You feel pretty good about where you are from a positional standpoint. CJ, we talked a lot about the safety position. And I bring that group up because they were 10 out of 10 position groups on your list last. And I'll go back to what I said. When we talked about talented depth and we talked about other things relating to the safety position and the

6:15concern there, it's all health. I mean, it's just we just don't know what that room is going to look like once, you know, Xavier Filsamy and Zellas Hicks and Jonah Williams. What's all these guys are back in full go? There's just a lot of unknown in that room. Yeah, again, it may not be completely fair to that room at the moment to rank them 10th. But look, I don't know what my confidence is in the room at the moment given that they're all hurt, right? So they have to go 10. Does that necessarily, you know, mirror the talent that's in the room? Certainly not. I think we all agree. Jolani McDonald's a top 100 pick next fall. We're all really excited to see what Jonah Williams and Zellas Hicks can bring. Xavier Filsamy shown flashes a little bit of what he could do in a extended role a year ago. But right now, looking at what this team is doing on the field, it's it's tough, right? And I guess the next point is Kandaric Williams really be the catalyst in the X factor in this room to raise the ceiling and potential of that room. That's what we hope to hear coming out of the spring. But again, at the moment with all of these guys a little nicked up

7:17or damed up or not fully active this spring, it's going to be tough to raise that level from kind of that lower end of the rankings. I do like Derek Williams this spring though because he's got a chance to go from a guy that flirted with the portal to he could in spring locking down a starting job. So he's he's one of those guys to watch through the second half of spring ball, not for the guys are back from spring break. In that same vein, CJ, I want to go to corner and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think you and I are on the same page. I like the top three of Grayson Littleson, Kate Phillips, Bo Masco, like those top three outside of those three guys. I have no idea what you got for the most part. No, that's exactly it. And I have cornerback rank number seventh, but look, I think it's a healthy seven. Bo Masco comes in all big 10 honorable mention. We obviously liked what we saw Grayson Littleton, Kate Phillips, the two guys led the Texas defensive backs a year ago and pass breakups as true freshman for Phillips specifically playing the ball as often as he did and as limited snaps as he did, even more encouraging. But what does that next role look like? Also, what does Will Musham from Mark Orfe do with their rotations? Texas

8:22a year ago didn't rotate all too often. Who your starters were? Were your guys that were going to play the majority of the snaps? Do we see rotations at all in 2026? What I do know is there's plenty of bodies. Would Oh, Mac, Warren, Roberson, Coby Blacks, Murray Matthews. We'll see about Hey, where Howard and the mix as well. But right now, how many are proving commodities at the height of the position rankings that we see right now with all conference guys? That's why they said a little bit lower. Smoke Matthews got the campus. So I don't have to worry about the jinx anymore. He's in a uniform. So now I can talk about how much I like him because every time I did that with the prospect, the last cycle would seem like they want elsewhere, but I love me some smoke Matthews. So excited about his future. CJ, we'll just run him down real quick. One through five again, it's quarterback edge wide receiver running back in defensive line at five. Any of those top five position groups right now that you feel good about any of them vulnerable to sliding down into the bottom five. See, that's a great question. I don't know necessarily, like, look, for running

9:25back specifically, I know that I talked about it on the website with a couple of our OTFOGs on Texas Football.com. Running back at four, I feel like still might be a little low. You can go seven deep. And two of those guys are first team all conference guys and other power for conferences. That position is as healthy as it's been going into a season since 2022. And you had number seven overall pick or top 10 pick. Beijan Robinson and three or four other draft picks in that room in particular. So that room is very healthy at the moment. The depth, the top endability, love that position. And I also think I might be a little too low or at least at five. The defensive line feels low. But that is a place that returns a lot of production with a lot of experience and hero Kano coming back leading the way there. I think it's all the reason to be excited about what that room can do in 2026 as well, Jeff. So that's your top five and then six to 10 linebacker, which it's not a knock on that group, which is who are you knocking out of the top five, which position you're knocking out of the top five to move linebacker up. Corner at seven,

10:26tight end offensive line at nine, which you've already said that group is moving up and then safety at 10. CJ, other than the offensive line, which of those other four position groups, do you think could have a chance to get into the top half by the time the dust settles on the 26 season? Yeah, I think the easy answer is linebacker, right? Rashim Biles, Anthony Smith, Tyler Ackinson, right? What does this unit do? To me, it's going to be the depth. Do you have the guys that can elevate the room? To me, that's Marcus Boswell, that's Trust and Cryer. Can these guys Rocky Cummings or Koseo Kapala really make an impact to help elevate that room as well? That's going to be something that I monitor, but look, I think the top end guys, if Rashim Biles and Ty Anthony Smith, you feel great about it. They've done it. They've been out there. They've got skins on the wall. They've made big plays. They've created havoc and turnovers. That's what Texas needs in the middle of their field and they've got that right now, but who can help elevate that room? That's one that I think is very close to getting inside the top five. Awesome, great stuff. CJ, thank you for the knowledge and expertise. There's always thinking of Matthew behind the scenes for producing this one. SCJ said, if you're not a member

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