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Jonathon Brooks' on-field honor at the Big 12 title game speaks volumes, plus portal notes

On3 imageby: Bobby Burton12/05/23BobbyBurton87
On3 image
Jonathon Brooks (Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports)

At the end of the Big 12 Championship Game something very special happened.

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Arch Manning received the final snap, took a knee, and then marched directly to Jonathon Brooks, the injured running back who was lined up 10 yards behind, to hand him the ball.

It was a fitting moment. It was the absolute cherry on top.

Brooks, a junior from Halletsville, was the team’s breakout star for much of the season before he tore his ACL against TCU on what at first looked like just another football tackle.

Well, this morning, I am told that Brooks is set to undergo surgery in Dallas to repair his ACL.

Brooks and Texas delayed the surgery one week so that the young man who put the Texas offense on his back several times this season would have a chance to relish a Big 12 championship with his teammates — and do so on the field of play.

Steve Sarkisian, that was a class move. Same to you Tashard Choice. Same to all of his teammates who clearly wanted to celebrate someone that meant so much to them.

Brooks will have that memory the rest of his life, something he can tell his kids and grandkids about. So will I.

It will also serve as a testament. That’s how you appropriately honor someone who has meant so much.

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The Transfer Portal is in overdrive.

Half the A&M roster is talking about leaving. Yet to me, a lot of it sounds more like they’re just trying to extort more NIL money out of the Aggies. The Aggies are so desperate not to let Texas go into College Station next year and beat them that they can’t see straight. That’s the sense I get.

For instance, allowing players to openly talk trash multiple times about your program but then welcome them back with open arms? It feels very Aggie.

I get the sense Sark wouldn’t be so quick to welcome them back.

**

The other curious note to me about the portal is the number of quality quarterbacks entering.

From the Big 12 alone we already have season-opening starters Dillon Gabriel, Will Howard, Tyler Shough and Blake Shapen who have hit the portal.

Even 11-1 Ohio State told its starting quarterback to hit the road.

In so many ways, college football sure feels like it has changed.

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But somehow at Texas, it doesn’t feel that way right now. Why?

Because we’re too busy celebrating a 12-1 team headed to the College Football Playoff.

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