IT Week in Review: Another Big 12 Road Win, Junior Day, AD Mitchell, Collective Control

On3 imageby:Joe Cook01/22/23

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The Inside Texas Week in Review talks Texas Longhorns men’s basketball, the recent junior day, the addition of AD Mitchell, and the influence of collectives in the current college landscape.

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Longhorns hoop splits two road games, which is about all you can ask for

No matter who the opponent is, whether it’s Iowa State or West Virginia, winning on the road in the Big 12 is no easy task. Texas was unable to accomplish that specific assignment in Ames, Iowa during the week, but the Longhorns were able to finish the job in Morgantown, W. Va. on Saturday in a 69-61 win over the Mountaineers.

Both games had a lot of similarities. Texas scored 69 against WVU and 67 versus ISU. The Horns were 4-of-17 from three on Tuesday and 3-of-13 from distance on Saturday. Dylan Disu was efficient all week, pouring in 10 and two versus the Cyclones and 13 and five against the Mountaineers.

The key difference between the contests, and what led to the Longhorn win on Saturday, was defense. In Hilton Coliseum, the Cyclones played a physical style of basketball on both ends of the floor that Texas could not respond to. ISU soundly outrebounded the Horns and also made effective use of their time at the free throw line thanks to forcing the issue against a Texas defense that failed to adequately respond.

At WVU Coliseum, defense, and specifically a smart adjustment from interim head coach Rodney Terry, helped the Longhorns prevail. A quick switch to zone at a key juncture in the game made life tough for the Mountaineer offense, and forced them to eventually have to foul to stay in the game as the deficit was too large for conventional game defense for WVU head coach Bob Huggins. Texas, as it has all year, was successful at the line, hitting 14-of-19 to help seal the win in Morgantown.

Defense was always Terry’s area of emphasis as a member of Beard’s staff, and it has remained a strong suit for Texas save for a one-off performance against Kansas State, who might be the hottest team in the country. A smart adjustment helped Texas split two road games this past week, which is about all you can ask for during Big 12 play.

It’s not going to get any easier; Texas hosts Oklahoma State on Tuesday before traveling to Knoxville, Tenn. to face the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday. There’s a quick turnaround for Big Monday when the Baylor Bears come to town, then a trip to Kansas to face K-State and Kansas in back to back games follows.

Taking care of business at home and then winning half of the road opportunities is as good as one can ask for in the current situation. Most everything else is gravy, and gravy likely means Big 12 title contention after seeing the head coach suspended and fired in the middle of the season. That’s definitely feasible with the current 5-2 record in Big 12 play.

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AD Mitchell

Wide receiver was an area of need for Texas, even with the return of Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington, plus the additions of Ryan Niblett, Johntay Cook, and DeAndre Moore Jr. It took until the very last few days of the transfer portal window being open for the Longhorns to find their preferred target among the pool of transfer candidates, but they found a high-quality option in Georgia transfer AD Mitchell.

The former Bulldog committed to Texas on Friday.

Mitchell, who began his high school career at Ridge Point High School in Missouri City, Texas before moving outside the Nashville, Tenn. area, missed a good chunk of this past season for the Bulldogs due to a high ankle sprain.

AD Mitchell and Kirby Smart (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

When he was cleared to play, he recorded no stats versus LSU in the SEC championship game before turning in a performance that harkened back to his 2021 College Football Playoff excellence. Versus Ohio State and TCU in the 2022 College Football Playoff, Mitchell caught four passes for 65 yards and two scores, with one touchdown in each game. That follows his 2021 CFP performance where he had touchdown receptions versus Michigan and Alabama as part of the Bulldogs’ back-to-back championship teams.

Texas ran a lot of 12 personnel this year for a reason. One of which was because they had faith in Ja’Tavion Sanders and sixth OL Andrej Karic. The other was because outside of Whittington and Worthy, Texas didn’t have a ton of faith in its receiver corps, Casey Cain’s 100-yard game in the Alamo Bowl notwithstanding.

Mitchell ideally gives Sarkisian and company the liberty to stay flexible with personnel, including 11 personnel. That might fit more into Quinn Ewers’ comfort zone, and the comfort zone of the stable of young backs who’ll be tasked with replacing Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson.

Of course, Mitchell is a quality player in his own right. He should give Sarkisian and whoever the next wide receiver coach is the ability to make the most of a top four of Whittington, Worthy, Mitchell, and one other receiver (maybe Isaiah Neyor?) in Year 3 of the current regime.

Mitchell serves as a wanted and needed addition for Texas via someone who is from Texas. The development (and recovery) of that quartet is a major storyline to track this spring.

Jaden Rashada

On3’s Jesse Simonton had a great column this week regarding the recent situation with four-star quarterback Jaden Rashada.

The CliffsNotes as I best understand it is Rashada committed to Miami, flipped to Florida, had a reported understanding about what his NIL compensation would be with Florida collectives, and ultimately asked to be released from his national letter of intent because the Florida collectives couldn’t hold up their end of the agreement.

Simonton’s article had a line that resonated with me: “Your head coach can be the best recruiter on the planet, but if the system around him isn’t functioning properly, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

According to the On3 NIL Collective database, Florida currently has three collectives. One is the Gator Collective, another is the Gator Guard, and a third is the Gator Marketplace.

Compare that to the solitary Texas One Fund, which was a consolidation of various collectives for individual sports like football, basketball, baseball, and golf.

More information on how the Texas One Fund works can be found here, but just understand that the November decision to morph several UT related collectives into one force shows a level of alignment that isn’t present in Gainesville, Fla., and might have just cost the Gators the quarterback they needed most in the post-Anthony Richardson era. That unity will serve to benefit Texas in the coming years.

Look for more information on this and how it relates to UT on Inside Texas in the coming days.

Junior Day

I can’t remember the last junior day in Austin that didn’t have me bouncing around the grounds of Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium trying to snag interviews with players. That’s to say that in the almost seven years I’ve been full time with Inside Texas, I’ve covered a lot of events like the one the Longhorns hosted on Saturday.

I also cannot recall there being this many prospects at a junior day. Someone could correct me, but there were more than 50 prospects from the 2024, 2025, and even 2026 classes on the Forty Acres this past weekend.

That is somewhat of a deviation from years past, and I believe that is due to several different factors. First, previous staffs attempted to make these events a touch more exclusive so as to show real levels of interest in prospects. That may have been necessary because that special show of attention was the bump needed for the several Longhorns staffs to keep them in contention with other programs in certain recruitments.

Second, the kids have to show up. That alone is a sign of interest in the program.

So Sarkisian and company had over half-a-hundred prospects in town, some with offers and some without, for what was essentially an open house that showcased what the University of Texas and its football program has to offer.

The total number of prospective student-athletes don’t show up in Austin on Saturday unless they believe there’s at least something to see at Texas under Sarkisian.

That’s a sign of a program with a decent amount of recruiting momentum, and it’s obvious Texas has more than a decent amount at this time.

Just ask AD Mitchell.

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