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Longhornfrenzy

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  1. The mental gymnastics in this 1 screenshot is astounding
  2. It's amazing how Texas schedule was a cakewalk. Now, according too those dips shits Texas could lose 3 or 4 games
  3. Ryan Brauninger TexAgs' recruiting analyst Ryan Brauninger joined TexAgs Live on Wednesday morning for another edition of Recruiting Country, highlighting the latest news and notes from the recruiting trail surrounding Texas A&M. Key notes from Recruiting Country You wonder going into football season, A&M has this amount of commitments, and here's the group of players that they are after. You're talking about a Tobi Haastrup‍ or Lamont Rogers‍. The receivers they've been after Daylan McCutcheon‍ and Malik Clark‍. Clark is the outlier. The pool of players they're going after is not vast and expansive. It is really just the same names. A&M has not cast a wide net. We're halfway through the season now. By this point, the Hudl tapes have made the rounds. Anybody who's had really good seasons has been scouted. You have to wonder: A&M must feel good about its recruits because they don't feel the need to stretch themselves right now. What we also do not know is how much each year they will allot to the portal. Even though this is their first recruiting class, they were behind in the class of 2025 in terms of relationships and getting to know the important decision-makers. I think we'll see in the class of 2026 a really clear picture of how they want to operate going forward. For the class of 2025, I think they're really comfortable with how its looking. Right now, it looks like the plan is to hold firm with what they've got, be really focused on the targetted players, and look to get the rest of them from the portal. They really need a running back. This makes me feel like they're allocating this spot for a transfer from the portal. Deondrae Riden‍ had a great weekend, and I think they're excited to have him as their high school running back. Le'Veon Moss is looking like he is going to the NFL, so it looks like they're going to need another running back. I think they would like to find a tight end who they feel confident in as an in-line blocker and also can function in the passing game. Nick Townsend‍ is an outlier there because he's a freak show of an athlete. Maybe, they're looking for more of a Max Wright type of body style. You can go position by position, and I don't think they're going to take a body to take a body. It doesn't seem like they're going to expand the player pool just because they need more bodies. There is a kid out of Austin Anderson High School named Ed Small‍. He was once committed to Texas to play baseball, but now he's going the football route, and his stock keeps going up and up. He's now committed to TCU, but I love his game. We don't know how Mike Elko really wants to operate. With the way that player movement happens now, I think that being rigid in the way that you approach recruiting is even more faulty than it ever has been. Just saying every year that you want to take X amount of kids from highschool and X amount from the portal, you really don't know how the portal is going to look by the year. Being rigid like that is pretty shortsighted, and I don't think the coaching staff is going to think like that. Texas is really trying to be a thorn in their side as much as they can with Kelshaun Johnson‍. Chace Sims‍ looks locked in, but Texas is definitely going to try to get him to campus. Oregon hasn't gone anywhere with these West Coast kids. USC and Husan Longstreet‍ have been a big talking point, but I haven't heard anything about that. It was all speculation. I think we have not said the coaching staff has not been doing a great job because the closest thing to a flip was with Chace Sims, where they nipped it in the bud and got him on campus the next week. Tiger Riden has always had that sort of volume in his game. He was due for a game like that since he is so talented and plays for a great team. You're going to see their star players come to the forefront in the district-run and even in the playoffs. Texas A&M is interested in the younger kids on that Prosper offensive line. Zaden Krempin‍ is one of them. He is a huge target for A&M in the 2026 class. I forget the other one's name. They have an incredible offensive line. Connor Carty‍ is committed here. They have great players there. Ryan Williams is crazy. There are hardly any humans that can change direction the way he did in the Georgia game. Texas A&M is not in on any players like Ryan Williams. I mentioned Malik Clark and Daylan McCutcheon as kids they are kicking the tires on. Billy Liucci has said they are going to keep the window open for transfers this offseason. I think Helaman Casuga‍ moving his commitment date has more to do with him making sure all his family can be there. I don't think it is too much to read into as far as where A&M stands. Anything can happen, but we feel pretty good about where A&M sits. He seems like he'll end up wherever he commits because of the kid that he is. Our limited interactions with him and his family have been super. It seems like he checks a lot of the culture boxes that Mike Elko is looking for, especially in a signal caller and a leader. We are going to get a much clearer picture with this 2026 class of how they want to run a recruiting class from start to finish. They were behind when they came in for the class of 2025. A lot of folks are saying this is Mike Elko's most talented team. There is no way for you to know that. You have no idea if this will be his most talented team. I think people are saying that because of the 2022 recruiting class. Pull up that class and see how many of those guys are impact players at Texas A&M. Go look at the 2023 class that wasn't rated as high. It has some real players in it that are making an impact on Saturday. If you believe that this is going to be Mike Elko's most talented football team, then you can't come in behind that and say he struggles as a recruiter. Let me go through the names of the players that Mike Elko recruited that are playing on Saturday: Cyrus Allen, Terry Bussey, Jabre Barber, Tre Watson, Shane Calhoun, EJ Smith, Ar'maj Reed-Adams, Koli Faaiu. All those guys are playing, and some of them are playing a bunch. If this offense is going to take a jump, it is going to be those guys. On defense, here are some of the names: Dezz Ricks, Will Lee III, Jaydon Hill, Trey Jones III, Marcus Ratcliffe, Scooby Williams, Solomon DeShields, Nic Scourton, Cashius Howell and Myles Davis. All those guys are either playing a bunch or a little. They all committed to Mike Elko when he came in as the new coach. The last names on my list are Shemar Turner, Bryce Anderson and Tyreek Chappell. Elko played a massive role in recruiting all those guys as they were coming out of high school as well. If you say that this is a super-talented team, then you better give props to the head man for being a recruiter. Jalen Milroe would have come here without question. Jimbo Fisher & Co. chose Eli Stowers over him. They had them in back-to-back days at camp. Milroe has gotten better and better, and he's turned himself into potentially a Heisman trophy winner and first-round pick. Anthony Evans III, the wide receiver from Converse-Judson. The Aggies never really got into his recruitment and he went to Georgia. Now he is returning punts and kickoffs for them. Julian Humphrey is a cornerback for Georgia. He is from Clear Lake High School, and A&M never pursued him out of high school. He was good enough to go to Georgia and start. Dillon Bell might be Georgia's best receiver. He is a Houston Kincaid kid. It is always funny to track the kids that A&M did not pursue from the state of Texas that go to these big programs in the SEC or nationally. I am not talking about kids like Donovan Jackson who A&M really wanted. I am talking about the kids that A&M did not push for who went to schools like Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Ole Miss or LSU. I wonder if this new staff will take that into account and be more aggressive in pursuing Texas kids that they may be fringe on to prevent them from going to another school and playing against him. You have to trust your own evaluations, but if another school is pursuing someone hard, then you may need to give them another look. A program that makes everyone in Texas give a kid another look when they offer is Utah. They have a reputation for scouting the state and offering kids, and then a lot of folks go back and reevaluate
  4. Liucci Segment 1 (00:00:00 - 13:56:12) *Liucci walks in, jamming to “King of Wishful Thinking” by Go West and “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson* Texas' schedule is easy as hell. They have remarkably easy schedules in year one and year two of the SEC. Whereas, Oklahoma got hammered by the schedule. Florida got hammered by the schedule. Georgia has it rough. Texas has it easy. They hear me say that, and then they run to Twitter. They don't hear me say that Texas A&M got gifted a nice schedule for this year. Next year, it gets harder. It's mostly because of the flip between road and home. Next year at home, Texas A&M plays Florida, Auburn, Mississippi State and South Carolina. The way Florida and Auburn are going, you think that you should win all of those games. On the road, though, Texas A&M plays LSU in Death Valley, Texas in Austin, Missouri in Columbia, Arkansas in Fayetteville and Notre Dame in South Bend. I don't take offense if someone says that Texas A&M drew an easy schedule by SEC standards. It is still tougher than Texas' schedule. I normally visit friends at halftime or talk to some people in the stands. I just stayed down there. I was stressed. I told one of the news guys on our football staff that that is how the Arkansas game always goes. It is also how every Saturday in the SEC goes. Look at Georgia. Look how great Georgia is and how their last couple of games have gone. They have had to stress it out against Kentucky. They walked away feeling lucky to get a win. They come in this week and look up, and they're down 28-0. Georgia's last two weeks have been holy hell. I heard Kirby Smart say at one point in the game that they were down that big against Texas A&M at Kyle Field. I guess he was talking about 2013 when Alabama was down 14-0 and 21-7. It was never 28-0 or 30-7. Maybe it felt like that to Kirby Smart because no one scored on them back then. Texas is No. 2. They are no worse than one of the five best teams in the country, if not No. 1 or No. 2. Time will tell. They played a team that has looked like the worst team in the SEC, with a backup quarterback, at home and had a letdown. I still think Texas would have won, but it may have been a fourth-quarter game. That is the difference. You saw what Kentucky did to Ole Miss. Imagine if you had to go to Kroger Field this week. It gets really tough in this league. I wonder how many times Nick Saban had to win a game in the last five minutes in the past two years. Unless you are one of those top three to four teams in the SEC, every game is going to be like what A&M dealt with on Saturday. Even then, look at Ole Miss and Kentucky. If you can get two out of your eight SEC games to look like the Florida game, then you are either lucky or one of the top three to four teams in the league. Segment 2 (13:56:13 - 18:08:04) In 2012, we were up 20-0 against Alabama. The next year, we were up 14-0. An endzone pick on a fade that the receiver should have at least jumped up and broken up happened. I don't know if A&M would've gone up 28-7 or 21-0, but they were up 14-0 to start that game, and still, to this day, I think that was the loudest I've ever seen Kyle Field. When Johnny Manziel just fades to Mike Evans left and right. This was all built up as Nick Saban's revenge, and they ended up winning that ball game the next year. One of you, either David or Olin, said that Notre Dame was one of the worst quarterback showings that we had in a big game. I think you guys were going back to that Conner Weigman game against Notre Dame. Kyle Allen against Alabama in 2015. Three pick-sixes against Alabama in a game. Then Kyler Murray came in and threw a pick. People now make fun of it like it's not a bad thing because he didn't want to play because of the way they were moving quarterbacks, but that's not funny to me. That is the sign of a loser. That you don't want to go in and compete against Alabama and you threw a pick that half the guys on the team thought was intentional. That's not cool. I don't care if you don't like your coach. You don't want to play against Alabama? Segment 3 (18:08:05 - 20:07:24) The 2022 Alabama game was a fun game. Texas A&M went in there not expecting to win and came down to the final play. It is crazy what one play can do for a season or coaching tenure. You think of Jimbo Fisher, that play on the goal line, and the chance to beat Alabama again. You think about Kevin Sumlin, and if Deshawn Capers-Smith intercepts that ball, maybe you won't lose that first game to UCLA. It was not his fault. I picked one play out of thirty that I could have picked. I'll give you one play from Saturday. The Aggies are about to go for it near midfield early in the second quarter. Texas A&M gets a penalty, backs up five yards and punts. If they don't get the penalty and don't convert on fourth down, Arkansas gets a short field. Who knows if A&M would have gone down 21-7 or 17-7? Instead, you punt it and pin Arkansas deep. Shemar Stewart blew up a play, you recover the fumble, and then it's a tie game. You never know when these plays are going to win or lose a game or alter a season or coaching tenure. Segment 4 (20:07:25 - 44:41:24) I don’t think the goal is to trend along all year like that because, as we also saw throughout the Jimbo era, it certainly keeps you in the danger zone longer. If they can be playing the level of defense that they are playing now, which isn't perfect yet, but it is good, solid SEC defense without question. If they can keep doing that and if they were to get more explosive on offense, they would be a really dangerous football team. As it stands now, this team on that schedule can win every game they play. Until they get more big play explosive, you're going to be in the danger zone every week. That is most of the league for different reasons. LSU is explosive as hell but they're going to give up a lot of plays. Every team is trying to get out of that. LSU is trying to get better on defense, and A&M is trying to be more explosive on offense. I think they're getting closer. It’s hard to see. The running game is getting better, even though they struggled throughout that game. First of all, Marcel Reed was sacked three times and two of them were by Landon Jackson. I still think they did a good job of giving him time to throw and protecting him. The running game is hard to do when you're outnumbered. Le’Veon Moss started running like a man possessed. On Saturday, you had the 58-yard touchdown to Noah Thomas. If Marcel connects with Noah, you might've had a 75-yard touchdown. That was the closest we've seen to this offense opening it up, attacking down the field, making the opponent respect and back off. There is a ways to go before we say that this is an explosive, lethal, dangerous passing group. I am looking to see this week against Missouri, the following game after a bye week against Ole Miss. Can you make enough plays to win that one? Then when LSU comes in here, can you do that? I think it's moving in the right direction. I think people are underestimating that you had a quarterback that won the job, hands down. You have a very inexperienced quarterback who played four quarters of a low-quality ball game, and now he made his third career start on Saturday. He has shown so much as far as checking boxes, but he is very much still a developing quarterback and passer. When A&M's winning these games, you either get a much better Reed week-to-week or you get Conner back. As long as Marcel is progressing, I don't think you change it. This week will be interesting because it's three weeks in. They went neutral against Arkansas in a four-quarter game. They had an unexpected test with Bowling Green in a B-game, maybe even a C-game, but they won on an off day. If you had asked me where they would have been this week, I would have said 4-1, and they are 4-1. Maybe, I would have had them 5-0. But I think if they can beat Missouri this week, they really have a chance to get this thing going in the right direction. Arkansas probably won't be going to a bowl game, and Florida probably won't be going to a bowl game. I think they both needed to beat A&M to go to a bowl game this year. Most people don't know much about A&M this year except that we have a young quarterback and Mike Elko. I don't know why beating Arkansas close or beating Bowling Green close should catch anyone's attention. You win on Saturday, and you catch everyone's attention. Not only because you beat a top-10 team at home, but because you would be 3-0 in the SEC, you would be 5-0 on a winning streak. Then people start going, "You were actually close to beating Notre Dame." I'm looking at A&M's schedule and don't call it easy because it never is, but realize you could have been dealt a lot worse hand than you were. This schedule in year one for Mike Elko could have been a lot more tough. Jimbo's second year coaching here, you had No. 1 Alabama, No. 1 Clemson, No. 1 LSU and a Georgia team that was No. 1 earlier in the year. You had Bo Nix and Derrick Brown at a top-10 Auburn team. Like, let me get my footing. They've set it up so that once they get better, the Aggies can get their footing. Segment 5 (44:41:25 - 48:55:24) I think pass breakups, interceptions, and tipped passes intercepted for pick-sixes are flashy. How many pass breakups did Will Lee III have on Saturday? He had four. That is pretty special. He set the single-game record in the Southwest Classic. That secondary has been good. I said before the game that Arkansas was more of a test than we had seen. Not because Arkansas has a great passing game, but because of Taylen Green's elusiveness and mobility and their receiving corps. Green's passing ability is probably driving Bobby Petrino nuts. I think that the Arkansas receiving corps, Andrew Armstrong, Isaiah Sategna, Isaac TeSlaa and Tyrone Broden, is the best that A&M has faced so far this year. They don't have a guy to consistently get them the ball in rhythm. They are not like Alabama or LSU. There is no Malik Nabers, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, or Brian Thomas Jr. The secondary gave up some yards, but it was mostly the one big play. It was a busted play. Green should have never had that much time. He made a great move. Three Aggies had a shot at him. He did a great job of getting through that and finding a guy over the top for a touchdown. Other than that, I thought the secondary did a great job. It was nice to see Dezz Ricks get an interception. Mike Elko is still figuring things out in the secondary. Dalton Brooks has missed almost two full games from targeting penalties. He looked great on Saturday. Bryce Anderson only played 17 snaps because he is banged up, so you saw more Marcus Ratcliffe and Trey Jones III. You lost Tyreek Chappell, who you loved at nickel. You saw a mix of Jaydon Hill, who did some nice things in the box. You saw more BJ Mayes. They started Dezz Ricks over Jayvon Thomas, who still played and was impactful. They are still figuring out what the best look is. They fool good about what they have in the secondary. There will come a time when there is a defined four, nickel and dime unit. One guy that you know will be a part of that is Will Lee III because he has been really good. Segment 6 (48:55:25 - 57:53:11) Noah Thomas had six catches. He had five other catches outside of the 58-yarder, so he had five catches for 50 yards outside the big play. He had some important catches. I remember he caught one of them on a first down in a key moment to get ahead of the chains. Mike Elko and Collin Klein really believe Noah Thomas can be a big factor in the passing game. There was a quarterback change. I don't know what it looks like if Conner Weigman doesn't get hurt. I'm sure Thomas would have been a favorite target of his. He is capable of these types of games everytime he takes the field. He did it against Ole Miss last year. He is a big-play wide receiver who has gotten better in the possession-receiving game as well. He can do this more consistently. He can have 100 yards and a touchdown in any given week. He needs to make sure it happens by playing well, but he should be a five or six catches and a 45 to 70 yard-guy every Saturday. It would be amazing to see him stack performances like that. When was the last time we saw a receiver stack performance like that? Jahdae Walker did last year against Ole Miss and LSU. Before that, I don't know how long it has been. I would assume it would be Ainias Smith. They need that in this offense. Noah Thomas needs to emerge. Le'Veon Moss is forty yards off the SEC rushing lead. Ja'Quinden Jackson had about 200 yards against Arkansas Pine Bluff, so that is a little misleading. Segment 7 (57:53:12 - 1:01:00:13) The touchdowns for our tight ends will go up as they continue to show that they can make plays. I have liked Tre Watson since he got here in the spring. Theo Melin Öhrström has been a great find in the passing game, and I think he's getting much better as a blocker. I think that position is becoming a quality position. The credit for that goes to the coaches working with that group and credit to Collin Klein for getting them involved. It's so hard to get those yards in the red zone. Collin Klein at Kansas State was lethal in the red zone, and to get two plays from five yards out against any SEC defense that is especially that easy, just lob it out to your tight end. Those are the touchdowns you pray for. That is outstanding playcalling. I continue to be impressed with the tight end position. Hopefully, we'll see more of them. I think Marcel can find the tight end more as an outlet if he starts to go through the progressions as he continues to develop
  5. Three things are getting shorter every Friday
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