1st & 10: Saturday's junior day marks the beginning of what should be a successful, eventful 2025 cycle

Junior days have captivated Texas fans for almost two decades. Mack Brown made them marquee events on the recruiting calendar because they coincided with the issuance of precious few offers and then high-profile commitments as a result of those offers.

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We’ve all seen recruiting, and junior days themselves, change in that time. Commitments are still possible, but it’s more likely that one and maybe two jump in the boat (if any at all) than over a dozen like in the Brown years.

Steve Sarkisian and staff are likely unbothered by that evolution. This weekend, they’ll host upwards of 60 of the top recruits in the 2025, 2026, and 2027 classes with a focus on letting elite juniors know that a Texas program that just won the Big 12, reached the College Football Playoff, and is embarking on its first season in the Southeastern Conference is the place to be. Those are some of the many tailwinds aiding the staff in the 2025 cycle, a cycle where Texas sits in as strong of a position as it has in 20 years.

And the junior day marks what I consider the beginning of Texas’ quest for a fourth consecutive top-five class.

Plenty of groundwork has been laid with top juniors. Top 100 players like Jordon Davison, Jaboree Antoine, Elijah Barnes, and Chad Woodfork (among many others) have a level of familiarity with the Longhorns thanks to previous gameday trips and even junior day visits last year as juniors-to-be.

But now, considering remaining recruits for Texas in the 2024 high school class can be counted on one hand, the focus turns to the 2025 class. The chance Texas gains a commitment on Saturday isn’t particularly high. The chance that Texas gains a commitment down the road from someone who attended this event? Extraordinarily high.

These types of events either lay the foundation or build upon a previous one for what will be an eventful remaining 11 months of the recruiting cycle for prospects, parents, and coaches alike. Many previous interactions that were quick conversations, possibly only the initial offer, will now have meaningful face-to-face interaction paired with it.

And with that meaningful interaction comes time to learn specifics for the players. Things like…

• What is Sarkisian really like?
• How do the assistants coach?
• What would life as a UT student like?
• How do players really feel about the program?
• Do the schemes I see on TV fit my skill set?

The answers to these questions will be key in advancing to the next stage in the process for many of these recruits, which is taking official visits. if the prospect gets the right answers? Then Texas will get the chance to build the relationship with player and parents, something many top recruits list as being the difference-maker.

Why is that a difference-maker? When you’re recruiting against the Georgias, or the Michigans, or the Ohio States, and, yes, even the Alabamas of the world, those programs can all conceivably check the same boxes.

So not only is responding to questions with the right answers paramount, but so too is, at a junior day like this, earning the right to build trust and relationships with the families.

For 2026 and 2027 prospects, most of whom have only played one season on varsity, this is a “get to know you” event. Unfortunately because of the NCAA, prospects can’t take pictures in uniforms on unofficial visits. That’s a fortunate development for recruiting staffers, though.

Offers may even be issued for players making their first or second trip to see the Longhorns. There’s a lot of time left in the recruiting cycle for freshmen and sophomores. But Texas can still capitalize on the excitement around the program with those top players.

No matter what, it’s an exciting time for Sarkisian and his program. Unlike at some previous junior days, Texas is operating from a position of real strength. That position isn’t just compared to teams around the region, but around the entire country. We’re likely to hear on Saturday that prospects will be visiting some regional schools later this winter and spring. We’re more likely to hear compared to previous years that prospects fit their trip to Texas in between other appearances at national powers.

The real start to the 2025 cycle is just a few days away. Should Texas play its cards right on and off the field, this event will be the beginning of the journey toward another top-five class.

1: The questions listed above? They’re of course answered by coaches and other members of the recruiting staff, but Texas has made sure to bring in prominent players and even parents of players in years past for them to provide their take on what’s going on inside the walls of Moncrief.

With so much emphasis on culture, the more evidence the better for Sarkisian’s efforts. Having people from both inside and outside the walls vouch for the Longhorns’ culture only cements the message with the target audience.

2: These are typically all-day affairs, with arrivals in the morning, presentations with focuses on academics and athletics, time spent with position coaches, potentially a trip across the street to the Moody Center for Longhorn basketball, and Sarkisian interacting with as many people as one human possibly can. Not only is it an all-day event, it’s an “all hands on deck” event where everyone from Sark himself, to director of player personnel Billy Glasscock, to director of recruiting Brandon Harris, to director of recruiting operations Taylor Searels, to any member of the player personnel department is on duty all day long. It takes a lot of effort to put these events together, especially with as many prospects as Texas has coming in this weekend.

3: Junior days are great for looking back at how many of the players who are stars in college football today, especially on the current Texas team, began their relationship building process with the Longhorns. Here’s a picture of Quinn Ewers from a January 2019 junior day.

4: A trend has emerged on the coaching carousel. For FCS and even lower level FBS head coaches, the path to “better jobs” is now considered to be through becoming a Power Five coordinator or, at some programs, a Power Two assistant. Alabama just hired two sitting head coaches to assistant roles: South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack will be Kalen DeBoer‘s defensive coordinator while Buffalo head coach Maurice Linguist is set to be a defensive assistant.

These aren’t the first coaches to do this. Lincoln Riley hired the North Dakota State head coach to oversee his linebackers. Deion Sanders swiped a sitting head coach from the MAC to call plays… before demoting him.

But the trend may have conceivably started in Austin with Sarkisian hiring Montana State head coach Jeff Choate to be a co-defensive coordinator in charge of inside linebackers back in 2021.

The move paid off for Choate, who would have likely had to have fought against other Power Five coaches if he wanted other head coaching jobs in the region he was familiar with most. Now after three years coaching linebackers at Texas? He’s the Nevada head coach.

This trend has its positives and its negatives, but Texas is obviously on the aggressive side of it. Heck, they just nabbed a sitting defensive coordinator in Johnny Nansen to be a linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator.

5: Texas was ranked No. 16 in the preseason D1Baseball poll. The Longhorns have as formidable of a one-two weekend punch in Lebarron Johnson Jr. and Tanner Witt, a quality portal addition in Duke first baseman Luke Storm, and several key cogs of the 2023 conference champions returning for one more go in the Big 12.

The Longhorns will be tested plenty, but they have the ability to go blow for blow with other strong programs like a Texas baseball program should.

6: Texas faces UCF in the Moody Center tonight in what is a must-win game considering what follows on the schedule. After the visit from the Knights, Texas battles No. 9 Baylor, No. 15 Oklahoma, No. 20 BYU, No. 5 Houston, No. 19 TCU, and No. 24 Iowa State over its next six games. Wins in those games would go a long way toward bolstering a currently paltry NCAA tournament resume.

7: Intrigue at Michigan is a big offseason topic for Longhorn fans considering Texas travels to Ann Arbor in week two of the 2024 season. Jim Harbaugh has now interviewed for the Los Angeles Chargers job and the Atlanta Falcons head coaching gig. All while a contract extension with Michigan is being negotiated.

Any thing to knock down the potency of the defending national champions before the two schools clash for the first time since the 2005 Rose Bowl is to the Longhorns’ advantage.

8: Vic Schaefer’s women’s basketball program is 17-2 and humming right along even with Rori Harmon out for the year with a torn ACL. Texas is 4-2 in conference play with four dominant wins and two close losses to ranked Baylor and Kansas State teams by a total of nine points.

While Rodney Terry‘s team will battle in the Moody Center on Saturday, Schaefer and company head to Stillwater to battle the 10-6 Cowgirls.

Texas currently sits in fourth place in the Big 12.

9: Longhorn softball was ranked No. 5 in D1Softball’s preseason poll. The Longhorns are second in the Big 12 behind perennial power Oklahoma, who unsurprisingly checked in at No. 1 in the rankings.

Mike White’s program finished second in the Big 12 last year and made it to the Knoxville Super Regional before failing to reach Oklahoma City. Along with baseball, big things are in store for softball and for all athletics on the eastside of IH-35 this season

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10: Congratulations are in order for Logan Eggleston, who was named the NCAA’s 2023 Woman of the Year. Leading the Longhorns to the first leg of back-to-back national titles in 2022, Eggleston was the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player and the 2022 AVCA National Player of the Year. Eggleston also earned the 2023 Honda Sport Award for Volleyball, which is presented to the top collegiate female volleyball player, per NCAA release.

“It was such an honor to be nominated,” Eggleston said. “There are so many amazing student-athletes across the country who are going through their own journeys and their own hardships and finding ways to power through, find success and just grow as people. To be listed alongside some of these amazing student-athletes is incredible, and I’m so honored to have even been considered.”