The case for why Texas is finally back, a true Top-5 contender in 2024
On the heels of an incredible 2023 season featuring a Big 12 Championship and an appearance in the final four-team College Football Playoff, On3’s Andy Staples is finally all-in on Texas.
As part of a discussion with Jesse Simonton on an On3 YouTube live stream Tuesday morning, Staples broke down his current preseason top 25 for college football and explained why he rated Texas at No. 5 in the country heading into 2024.
“I am, yes, fully guzzling burnt-orange Kool-Aid,” Staples declared before walking through the reasons that the Longhorns are all the way back.
“I realize this is not as high as Texas fans want, but remember, I was a major Texas skeptic for a long, long time, and I am coming around on the idea that (Steve Sarkisian) has fixed a lot of the issues that plagued Texas,” Staples added. “The one in particular was that they didn’t create NFL players anymore. They didn’t develop guys once they got them. They’d get these four and five-star recruits and then nothing would happen. They had 11 guys drafted last year, to which you’re going to say, ‘Oh, they lost so much.'”
Except, Andy Staples still sees a loaded roaster in Austin despite those losses.
“But look at what they’re bringing back. Like, Kelvin Banks at left tackle, one of the best in the country,” Staples said. “The two quarterbacks, you got Quinn Ewers and you got Arch (Manning). You’ve got (Vernon) Broughton and Alfred Collins on the D-line who were rotating with T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy last year. They have top-line guys that can compete with anybody.”
Staples also liked some of the Longhorns’ transfer additions, and believes a certain other team in Orange ought to have the same philosophy as Texas when it comes to the portal.
“Then, they went in the portal and they got Silas Bolden from Oregon State, Isaiah Bond from Alabama, they got Amari Niblack from Alabama,” he continued. “We always talk about, what we think Clemson should do, they did, they spot-filled everything they needed.”
Jesse Simonton jumped in to point out where he thinks this Texas roster is really strong.
“One guy you didn’t mention was UTSA pass rusher Trey Moore who led the country in sacks. And I think the secondary, honestly, is going to be a lot better,” Simonton said. “You get Andrew Mubuka from Clemson, you have a couple other guys who are going to be healthier. You did lose Terrance Brooks.”
Simonton is on the same page as Staples and fully believes in the ‘Horns as a top-five club and one of the primary contenders for the title heading into this coming fall.
“I think Texas at five is totally fair. I think it’s Georgia and Ohio State in their own tier, and then Texas and Oregon, Alabama, however you want to rank those teams for that next tier,” Simonton said.
Texas: a surefire national title contender according to On3’s Andy Staples and Jesse Simonton.