Inside Texas October 11, 2021 | Red River Rivalry

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OCTOBER 11, 2021 Despite record day from Xavier Worthy Texas falls to OU in a wild 55-48 shootout LOST IN DALLAS WWW.INSIDETEXAS.COM

THIS WEEK: Publisher -- Eric Nahlin | InsideTexas.com Editor -- Justin Wells | Lead Writer -- Joe Cook | Contributors -- Ian Boyd, Paul Wadlington, Gerry Hamilton, Bobby Burton | Designer/Photographer -- Will Gallagher To Subscribe/Customer Service -- Phone: 512-659-8167 | Email: help@insidetexas.com 4Heartbreak in Dallas | by Joe Cook 2021 Red River Rivalry was a tale of two halves Five Quick Thoughts | by Justin Wells 8 12Post Mortem | The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the Cotton Bowl by sCipio tex Up 28-7, the Longhorns surrender 25 4th quarter points in 55-48 loss 20Recruitng Trail News | The Longhorns picked up a big commitment this week by Justin Wells

Texas vs Oklahama | October 11, 2021

SENIOR NIGHTHEARTBREAK AT THE

DALLAS — Where to begin? The beginning of the 117th Red River Shootout that saw Texas take a 28-7 lead in the first quarter? The middle when Caleb Williams replaced Spencer Rattler at quarterback for the Sooners? Or the end, when Kennedy Brooks’ 33-yard touchdown run capped a monumental Oklahoma comeback and sealed a 55-48 victory for those in crimson and cream?

BY JOE COOK

Bijan

NIGHT SUCCESSTHE COTTON BOWL Robinson

his father wearing burnt orange as one of the 92,100 in the stands.

But if you looked in the trenches, you wouldn’t see much crazy. In fact, you’d

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RECAP: Oklahoma Sooners 55, Texas Longhorns 48

see a consistent outcome. Texas, despite 48 points, was dominated for the most part along the line of scrimmage. While the offense put up 48, the defense allowed more.

Wherever you look, Texas’ annual matchup with Oklahoma had a lot of cra zy. More than 1,000 total yards and 103 points, the most in series history. Wild, game-changing chunk plays, punctuated by several replay reviews. An 85-yard punt from Oklahoma later countered by a 78-yarder from Cameron Dicker.

just the line, though. The Long horns’ off-ball linebackers, even with 22 combined tackles, were part of an effort that saw the Sooners tally 339 yards on the ground to make things as easy as possible for Williams during his first extended, meaningful game action.

RIVALRY 2021 -

Brooks’ 25th carry was his most impor tant, but the other 24 were of high quality. He rushed for 217 yards and two scores, con stantly acting as a menace to Longhorns defenders. When it opted to go to the air, Oklahoma converted those plays, too. In relief, Williams was 15-of-24 for 211 yards and two touchdowns, both to WilliamsMims.brought a different skill set to the quarterback position. Rattler rarely runs, but Williams’ rushing ability is one of the hallmarks of the former five-star recruit’s game. He rushed four times for 88 yards, his 66-yard TD run early in the second quarter the main source of his Theproduction.secondary wasn’t blameless, RIVER

More yards. More points. More oppor Ittunities.wasn’t

Those crazy plays were matched step for step by the Sooners, even though it took a little while for them to get going.

- RED

runs from Bijan Rob inson, and 261 receiving yards from Xavier Worthy, who also had a pivotal turnover that set up Oklahoma’s first go-ahead score midway through the fourth. An inspired 20-of-34, 388-yard, five-touchdown performance from Casey Thompson against his father’s team with

OU had a disastrous first quarter that saw Texas score on the first play from scrimmage, block a punt, and score again before two minutes elapsed; that was followed by three glorious 15-min ute segments for an Oklahoma program that has seen plenty of glory in recent seasons. Marvin Mims keeping his toe in bounds by millimeters to tie it late was one of the standout events before Brooks’ winning jaunt.

Xavier Worthy

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- RED RIVER RIVALRY 2021 -

21-point lead. Then, also the sting of a first Big 12 loss and a difficult pathway toward 10 wins, if that was something considered feasible.

But Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley knew his team had the advantage up front. The only question was whether OU had enough time left for that rush ing onslaught to pay off.

7October 11, 2021

In addition, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian mentioned Jordan Whittington injured his clavicle late, and Jacoby Jones missed most of the game after leaving with an early leg injury.

The next step is a week from Saturday against the Cowboys.

The Sooners’ defensive line feasted as well. Nik Bonitto had five tackles, including 1.5 sacks. Isaiah Thomas and Perrion Winfrey notched two TFL each.

Bijan Robinson

The result is a heartbreaker in multiple ways. First, the obvious of losing a

The clock ticked and ticked and ticked. Brooks ran and ran and ran. The last mo ments of possession for the Sooners capped a day that saw them win the time of pos session battle 35:23 to 24:37, encapsulating what was an exhausting day not just for Pete Kwiatkowski but for his defense, too.

either. B.J. Foster turned over Rattler with an interception before his second benching in two Red River Shootouts, but Foster got lost on a downfield 50-50 ball at a crucial juncture in the game.

Play after play, Oklahoma’s defensive line made life tough for a new-look Texas offensive line. When Thompson found opportunities, he typically made the most of them. But more often than not, he was running away from white jerseys.

And in the end, there were enough crazy plays outside of the trenches that went the Sooners’ way.

Jean Delance

one small glimmer of hope as they left the grounds of Fair Park and begin preparation for Oklahoma State. They think they can see this Sooners team later in the year in the Big 12 Champion ship Game and envision doing what it takes to get there.

But the Longhorns’ players held onto

touchdowns, Robinson, who rushed for one, or Thompson, who played a heck of a legacy game, there was pain in their voices after the game.

And the Texas players hurt. Whether it was Joshua Moore, who caught two

It did, with seconds to spare. It capped a wild comeback the rivalry, and Oklahoma’s program, had not seen before.

Joshua Moore had 10 catches for 76 yards and zero touchdowns in the first five games of 2021. He notched 67 yards on three catches and two scores in the first half alone. Sark had this team foaming at the mouth before kickoff and that’s a must when coaching at the University of Texas.

5

From the first play of the game when Casey Thompson hit Xavier Worthy on a swing pass and the freshman phenom made a juke, threw a stiff arm, and went 75 yards to the house before fans were settled on their seats, it showed what was in store for the rest of the game. It was the beginning a big day for Worthy with 261 yards receiving on nine catches plus a pair of touchdowns.

Preparation and getting your team up for its biggest battle of the season is important and Steve Sarkisian gets credit for that. Thomp son went 20-of-34 for 388 yards and five touchdowns in his first start versus his father’s former team. DeMarvion Overshown was spectacular with build-your-draft-stock highlights.

By Justin Wells

Here are my five quick thoughts following OU’s 55-48 win over rival Texas at the Red River Shootout on Saturday from Fair Park.

After tying the game late in the contest, OU’s Kennedy Brooks took a handoff to the house with only seconds remaining to

But the other aspect of this annual fight is finishing. Stalled drives, penalties, offensive line play, taking sacks; it was a conglomeration of highs and lows. But when Xavier Worthy went up and grabbed the tying touchdown catch at 1:35 in the fourth, this game went nuts.

#1: Texas came To fighT, ou came To finish vs

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seal the Sooners’ biggest comeback over Texas in series his tory.

QUICK thoughts

Unlike in the past when going to ride the rides at AstroWorld and Six Flags, this roller coaster of a Red River Shootout made you sick.

#2 firsT half horns, second half sooners

Xavier Worthy

When you open the Texas-OU rivalry with a touchdown toss on the first play for the first time in series history, maybe we should’ve seen the crazy coming. Whether it’s blocking a punt, an interception from BJ Foster, four reviews, or OU switching quarterbacks, this game had it all.

Texas had significantly more yards in the opening quarter than the Sooners (214 to 75). A fox also ran on the 25-yard line. The opening act of the Red River Shootout gave us a little of everything. Texas dominated in the first, OU owned the second. The Soon ers had over 600 total yards, many coming the last few quarters.

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Wrong.

Williams went 8-of-16 for 186 yards with one touchdown, while adding 86 yards rushing and another score for the freshman dual-threat.

Give the Texas defense credit; they rattled the Rattler and coach PK brought the heat from all sides on Saturday in the first half.

#3 oklahoma finds new quarTerback

Even down big early in the game, OU kept swinging with Spencer Rattler. Until the bat broke. Once they inserted former five-star Caleb Williams, who might have a hand cannon on his right shoulder, he instantly delivered a spark.

- 5 Q uick T hough T s | ouFollow Inside Texas twitter.com/InsideTexas

Alfred Collins

But even after his 66-yard scoring scamper on a crucially early fourth down, Riley went back to the Rattler. OU was running the ball relatively well, so it goes without saying that Riley thought the run would set up the pass for his starting signal-caller.

#4 bijan for heisman

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#5 nexT saTurday in ausTin...

He has scored a touchdown in eight consecutive games, the most since Jordan Shipley in 2009. He went over a 100 yards in the first half, again.

If you thought the talk of Bijan Robinson’s Heisman hopes were premature, and I’m not certain you did, get ready for it now. After a 20-carry, 137-yard, one touchdown performance, including a pair of runs worthy of SportsCenter’s Top 10, he’s now in the mix.

- 5 Q uick T hough T s | ou -

Bijan Robinson

Texas heads home for Oklahoma State and a huge recruiting opportunity with some of the best prospects in the nation converg ing on Austin. From On3 No. 1 overall prospect for 2023 Arch Manning, to Earnest Greene, Jacoby Mathews, and Johntay Cook, among others, next Saturday is a pretty big deal.

The more time Texas spent in 3rd and long, the less satisfac tory the results. Texas was 1 of 6 on 3rd down conversions in the second half and Casey Thompson spent far too much time under duress as the offense had to play in a pure drop back

Not only did Casey coolly nail a very high percentage of those throws, Sark’s play calling freed up as many wide open Texas receivers in one game as I’ve seen in a very, very long time. The 38 point, 355 yard first half destruction of the Grinch led Sooner defense was remarkable.

POSTTex-MORTEM | OFFENSE

What’s clear is that Texas started losing 1st down when Grinch rallied his troops. The Sooner front started getting home and 1st half heat started turning into second half hits on Casey.

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What explains the second half? Perhaps it’s the law of offensive gravity. What goes up, must come down. Maybe Sark ran out of tricks to flummox Sooner coverages.

The Sooners had no idea what hit ‘em. Whether it was Texas attacking the edge on 3rd and short with receiver sweeps, a steady diet of Bijan on wide zone, red zone rub routes to spring Joshua Moore, or Casey Thompson going deep on play action to an open Moore and Worthy.

repeatedly attacking the edges of the Sooner defense to slow down the pass rush, create pause, and force Texas wide outs into single man coverage against OU’s weak secondary on play action.

Much of the Longhorn recipe for big play success on offense rested on Casey Thompson’s ability to hit the critical throws that Steve Sarkisian schemed up against the Sooner secondary.

Texas was crushing the Sooners in every way conceivable,

by Scipio

ANDREJ KARIC (69), JUNIOR ANGILAU (75), JAKE MAJORS (65), DEREK KERSTETTER (68)

passing game that it wasn’t well-suited to execute, in contrast to the first half of play action wizardry and edge attacks that slowed the Sooner pass rush just enough. Over roughly the last 16 minutes of the game, Texas was outscored 31-7.

I could not be more proud of Casey’s effort, overall play under fire, and his ability come up big on multiple throws that he hadn’t yet connected on this year.

WR/TE

QB

The throw to Worthy was a hell of a pure ball with the Horns down 7 and 1:27 on the clock in the game. Thompson delivered that pass in the only place you can put it. It’s also notable that the play was not off of play action. Big boy pocket throw.

XAVIER

#11 was 20 of 34 for 388 yards and 5 touchdowns with zero turnovers. Thompson played his best game as a Longhorn. That’s not reliant on inference from gazing at some gaudy statistics. Remove the stat friendly 75 yard TD to Worthy that was about 70 yards of Worthy or even the Moore layup (and you shouldn’t do that - Casey made the open throw) and you’ll still find multiple good throws and relatively few mistakes while #11

I’ll cover the fumbled kickoff in the D/ST post mortem. Suffice to say, he should not have been returning a kick five yards deep in the end zone in that situation.

got hammered. He spent a lot of time under inordinate pressure and the mistakes he made were all part of playing in a heated rivalry game taking big shots and facing moments of withering pass rush. Playing through a banged up wrist as well.

WORTHY

Similarly, he hit Worthy for a big 39 yard gain on a straight up timing fly route in man coverage earlier in the game.

Xavier Worthy played the best game a Longhorn freshman receiver has ever played and is living up to the DeSean Jackson comp. 9 catches, 261 yards, 2 touchdowns. Unreal. His combination of fire, playmaking, and pure ability (watching him stiff arm Jaden Davis into the ground on one catch and then point at him is ex actly the right amount of chippy the Horns are missing).

RB

Bijan was as good as we all expect him to be. 20 carries, 137 yards, 1 touchdown. I’ll defend our use of him for anyone grum bling. Game script. Down and distance was not the Texas of fense’s friend in the 2nd half and some attempts to be stubborn with the run were not rewarded other than a 1st and 20 conver sion for 33 yards. Bijan had four targets in the passing game and there were a couple of opportunities blown up that could have gone for big yardage.

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Texas had six second half possessions (nine in the first half, scored on six). Three 2nd half possessions were three and outs - each with a significant negative play on 1st or 2nd down (-4 yard Robinson run, a Thompson sack, Majors penalty). The other three? A field goal drive to put Texas up 41-23, a drive that ended on downs on the Sooner 24 yard line, and then the tying touchdown drive to notch it up 48 all. Those last two drives were the Horns’ final efforts. The Texas offense had regained its composure late, but other units rendered that fact irrelevant.

The Texas offense is an imperfect product, but Sark can scheme it, this team can score enough most Saturdays, and the offen sive scoreboard in Dallas seems to agree.

Second half slowdown aside, be clear about what side of the ball didn’t show up.

Joshua Moore had his best game of the year. 4-70-2 touch downs. Jordan Whittington played really well until injuring his clavicle and we’ll need others to step up. Marcus Washington blocked well and made a great effort on sideline/end zone catch that could have been but for a half inch.

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OL

Three observations:

1. In the second half, OU was attacking Longhorn protection rules as much as individual play ers. Yes, you will see a play in the second half where a Sooner three man rush has both ends meet at Casey Thompson as they beat Karic and Jones and that’s got nothing to do with protection rules, but more often I saw free men outside or inside because OU had the Horn pro tection scheme dialed in. Specifically, how they “help” and deal with an extra man or a slant. That’s as much a coaching issue as a player issue. Bottom line: Texas didn’t get hat on hat.

BIJAN ROBINSON

On balance, it’s very difficult to argue that an offense that put up 48 points and over 500 yards at 8.5 yards per play with no turn overs didn’t get it done. The second half offense felt particularly dire because the play of the Texas defense was so feeble. We shifted the entire weight of our expectations to the only unit that demonstrated any ability to perform.

3. When the OL started to fall apart, rather than get reorented and reorganized, you saw composure slip and mistakes com pound for too long. Texas got it together late and may have been fine offensively in an overtime situation, but the Longhorn defense denied an opportunity to know that.

On rewatch, they did many good things (yes, really), but they struggled badly in pure, predict able passing situations.

2. Texas is a run and play action passing team. Outside zone and attacking the edge with jet/fly was very good to the offense for most of the game, but it got less reliable as the game went on. At least some of that was a diminishment in motion and eye candy that helps freeze defenders. In fairness, OU also started ignoring deception and just attacking. That really showed up on a couple of play action shots where pulling Texas OL were asked to block OU DL with their ears pinned back. Those plays didn’t end well.

Jared Wiley caught a touchdown and would have had another if not for an overthrow. He is the worst pass blocking tight end I’ve ever seen at Texas. Brewer caught 2-18 and competed hard in all phases.

Final

Texas surrendered 55 points and 662 yards at 8.1 yards per play in one of the more hapless Longhorn defensive performances in Red River shootout history.

For context, the Sooners amassed 8.2 yards per play against the least feared of all directional CarolinasWestern Carolina - in their 76-0 rout of the Catamounts. It is noteworthy that the Oklahoma offense managed only 29 points and 385.8 yards per game against their four other FBS opponents: the murderer’s row of Tulane, Kansas State, West Virginia, and Nebraska. Those four

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POST-MORTEM | DEFENSE

teams are a combined 9-15 so far this year.

Sooner freshman QB Caleb Williams, inserted into the game after Lincoln Riley had his fill of Rattler for the second year in a row, threw for 202 yards and ran for another 88, running the Sooner offense as if he were fac ing the Sooner scout team. 66 of those 88 yards came on one short yardage touchdown run bust that was a foreshadowing of what Texas fans would see again later with respect to run fits and tackling.

Before Dallas, young Caleb had thrown 11 collegiate passes in spot action. Against Texas, he went 16 of 25 with two passing touchdowns and no turnovers against Pete K’s schemes. Perhaps Caleb is the key that will unlock the Sooner offense to epic levels for the remain der of the year. Or maybe OU just stopped the stupid turnovers and ran the ball against a poorly coached run defense and converted several contested deep throws against the Texas secondary?

I could go on. And I could break down each player and unit per usual as if individual or unit performance has any relevance to what we watched. I don’t think it’s helpful. That was a total failure at the most basic levels of the

Before this game, the Sooners were averaging 155 yards rushing per game as a team at 4.6 yards per carry. Before Brooks racked up 217 against Texas, no Sooner running back had eclipsed 100 yards in a game, much

BRENDEN SCHOOLER

Sooner RB Kennedy Brooks ran for 217 yards at 8.7 yards per carry, including the final kill shot touchdown run that came on the Sooners’ final play of the game. The same direct snap misdirection play that gave the Soon ers the lead on a prior one play 18 yard touchdown run that would have also scored from anywhere on the field.

This was a freshman QB leading a previously subpar Sooner running game and offensive line to an absolute destruction of the Texas defense. Did Texas get some bad breaks? Sure. There were holds. The Sooners only drew two penalties all game. A Sooner receiver ran him self out of bounds before notching a 29 yard gain. There was a pretty clear offensive pass interference on a 50/50 ball. None of it accounts for that decimation.

less 200. Yet, the Sooners amassed 339 yards rushing at 8.3 yards per carry as Kennedy Brooks outproduced Bijan Robinson.

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It’s one thing to get lit up by a loaded Sooner offense starting 8 NFL draft picks and a Heisman QB. This wasn’t that.

TheMurphy.DLwho

are decent to good are clearly struggling to play in a methodology that puts on onus on playmak ing (or play erasing) from linebackers and safeties. The middle of the field at the 2nd and 3rd levels might as well be the Russian steppe before a Mongol cavalry.

Remember under the Herman regime when the DL was underachieving and didn’t make many plays and they fired Orlando and Texas just let them gap it and go in the Utah Alamo bowl game and the front dominated and racked up sacks and tackles for loss like a sorority girl abusing Dad’s Amex? Maybe how you play the DL might influence how they play. Of course, it’s also who you play...

Vernon Broughton played snaps at both DE(!) and DT. I don’t know why. Carrying bad weight, stands straight up, too weak. Keondre Coburn has spent most of the season watching. He made a play in the early 3rd quarter and I nearly fell out of my chair. Who is #99, I thought? Oh, Coburn.

Texas has a number of nonuseful players in its DL rota tion getting equal minutes to viable players. They were/are actively taking developmental snaps from players with viable upside, namely Collins and

Jett Bush earned a number of snaps, a few of them at 3 technique (!) on passing downs. He does try hard and did draw a holding call though. You play a really light guy inside on a passing down because you’re going to play games with him and run some T/E stunts with other quickness guys. Nope. Texas instructs Bush to fire off and try to collapse the pocket. Against a guy who out weighs him by 100 pounds.

I lost count of the number of missed tackles from line backers and safeties at the second level that resulted in an extra 200+ yards of Sooner rushing (and three long touchdowns). Jerrin Thompson, Brockermeyer, Foster, Overshown, Schooler all were victimized.

They were the unblocked run force on some huge Sooner runs and they bounced off of Kennedy Brooks (or a freshman QB) as if they’d encountered a prime Earl Campbell. No other defense OU has played this year has experienced that phenomenon. Is it because the tacklers from Tulane and West Virginia wrap up?

JETT BUSH (43) AND ANTHONY COOK (11)

Tackling is appalling, particu larly at safety and linebacker.

Pad levels remain poor on much of the DL. Pad level relates to coaching, anthro pometry, and physical strength (the ability to stay low and generate power). I’ll let you decide if Keondre Coburn started standing up because his center of gravity changed in a year.

Texas (D)efense:

game. So I’ll just plainly state (or restate) a few things I’ve been observing all year.

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BJ Foster is much worse as a senior than he was as a true freshman. He’s also physically weaker. I don’t know how that’s possible when a guy eats for free and is obligated to spend time around 30 million dollars of weights. I have no idea how a classic physical box safety once full of dawg has degenerated so badly and is now being played as a two deep spectator with limited range and ball skills feebly throwing shoulders at ballcarriers expecting them to go down. He got manhandled by OU receivers (including Drake Stoops) on several runs. Stoops is a 5-10 slot receiver who looks like he has a paper route.

Speaking of player’s getting weaker and struggling to hold ground, win 80/20s, or hold low pads...strength and condi tioning looks pretty poor. This is a physically weak defense overall. As if they spent the entire offseason screwing around with light weights and doing rate of force ahem “functional” training.

That may not yield a good defense, but it will yield a watch able one.

Special Teams

Playing two deep safeties works when they can tackle reliably filling the alley from deep, have real lateral range, and play with anticipation. 0/3.

A terrific punt block early led to a huge swing of momentum and easy points. The punting game was also influenced by wind, as both punters notched massive punts when it was in their favor. Both field goal kickers were also on point. Obvi ously, the game swung when Xavier Worthy fumbled a late kickoff that he fielded 5 yards deep in the end zone trying to make something happen. Stud freshman try to make things happen no matter game context. That’s why they are studs. Coaches exist to inform true freshman studs that he’ll make his play on offense in the passing game and that he needs to fair catch that. Did that piece of instruction occur?

Final Six games into his tenure, Pete Kwiatkowki and his defensive staff have failed in what they’re trying to do with the Longhorn defense. He’s locked into doing it his way. Right now, it’s the other way. Scheme, philosophy, and personnel need a major rethink, but none of that matters much without low pads, bet ter tackling, and the right players demonstrating an under standing of the defense.

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Don’t ever call it a 50/50 ball when a Texas DB is involved. It’s 80/20 and I know who has the 80.

In addition to his recent trek to Austin, Thompson also

saw the Longhorns on a trip during the summer with several other recruits and Texas commits in town. Trevell Johnson, Maalik Murphy, and even Evan Stewart after his Texas de-commitment connected with Thompson and made progress toward Thompson’s desire for a family feel.

RECRUITING TRAIL NEWS

The 5-foot-10.5, 180-pounder chose Texas over finalists Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. He had over 35 offers including Oregon, Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas Tech, and USC.

Longhorns get a big commitment from Brenen Thompson

19October 11, 2021

PHOTO COURTESY OF THOMPSON FAMILY

Steve Sarkisian needed speed at wide receiver. Upgrade confirmed. After a recent official visit to Austin, four-star Brenen Thompson had enough data to make a deci sion on his college future. He announced his decision Wednesday when he verbally committed to Texas.

by Justin Wells

The Spearman (Texas) speedster and On3’s No. 40

“Definitely just treating us like family,” Thompson told On3’s Gerry Hamilton about his decision to commit to the Longhorns. “I knew that was going to be a big deal in my recruitment from the start. I wanted to be somewhere where I was treated like family, and UT did a really good job with that, the whole coaching staff.”

Cole Hutson (Frisco)

Jaray Bledsoe (Marlin)

Ronald Lewis (Warren Easton – LA)

J’Mond Tapp (Ascension Catholic – LA)

Thompson was named to the Texas Sports Writers As sociation 3A all-state first team in 2020 and received firstteam all-district honors at receiver and cornerback. He earned the district 3-3A D-II newcomer of the year award as a sophomore.

Thompson is the 22nd commit of Texas’ 2022 class joining

Accordingly, Sarkisian isn’t the only coach on the Forty Acres excited for Thompson’s commitment. Track and field head coach Edrick Floréal was also fired up for Thompson’s choice, according to the Spearman star.

Strengths: An electric athletic talent in a slight build. There’s probably already a hashtag at Texas to “FreeBre nenThompson.” Ridiculously fast track time that trans lates to the football field where he is most often at the QB position giving defenses fits with his ability to crease defenses and dart upfield for big plays.

The track staff and the football staff get along really well and they really want this. They have kids that are going to do both. I believe in it 100 percent.”

PHOTO: JUSTIN WELLS

Derrick Brown (Texas High)

Trevell Johnson (Arlington Martin)

Maalik Murphy (Junipero Serra – CA)

strength to fight through contact and shows a very strong lower body to drive through glancing blows.

Justice Finkley (Hewitt-Trussville – AL)

Jamarion Miller (Tyler Legacy)

Will Stone (Austin Regents)

Jaydon Blue (Klein Cain)

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“I’m excited to be in the offense,” Thompson said. “I’m excited to go be a big playmaker. Coach Sark is doing a great job. He’s great at what he does. I believe in him for Duringsure.” the 2021 track season, Thompson notched a 10.40 100m in the 2021 UIL 3A state finals and recorded a personal-best 10.38 earlier in the year.

Evaluation from Recruiting Notebook

Connor Robertson (Austin Westlake)

Areas for Improvement / Concern: As a QB, arm strength is lacking as is complexity of the pass offense. Will need to play at least 20 pounds heavier for durability purposes but they can’t catch him anyway so that may be moot. If not Texas, please not OU.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” Thompson said about his track future. “I’m not too sure now. We’ll obvi ously have to make it work with both of them.

Lance St. Louis (Williams Field – AZ)

Zac Swanson (Brophy College Prep – AZ)

Shows tremendous short area quickness and accelera tion as one might expect. Change of direction is very good and rarely does he decelerate unless he wants to. He has surprisingly good balance and upper body

Kristopher Ross (North Shore)

Aaron Bryant (Southavenz – MS)

Austin Jordan (Denton Ryan)

overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class is the 13th member of the On300 to join the Longhorns’ class.

Eoghan Kerry (Mater Dei – CA)

Bryan Allen Jr. (Aledo)

Armani Winfield (Lewisville)

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