Stories Inside the Man Cave
Stories Inside the Man Cave
Ep 435: Lets Talk About It; Uncovering Texas Longhorns' Recruiting Triumph with CJ Vogel: Insights and Future Aspirations
Get ready to uncover the secrets behind Texas Longhorns' triumph in college football recruiting with the renowned CJ Vogel. Promising insights await as we explore how Texas snagged the number one overall recruiting class, spotlighting standout defensive recruits like Justus Terry. With CJ's expert perspective, we'll unpack the impact of these exceptional talents and their role in navigating the fierce SEC landscape. Join us as we analyze the strategic layering of talent and the intriguing mix of star recruits and determined three-star athletes, with a focus on what Texas needs from the transfer portal to keep their competitive edge strong.
From the adrenaline-pumping potential of two-sport sensation Jonah Williams to the unsung heroes like Caleb Chester and Jackson Christian, this episode promises a rich tapestry of stories. We'll weave through Texas football's history, drawing parallels to past glories and igniting hope for another SEC championship. The excitement is palpable as CJ Vogel and I relive Texas' legendary moments and dream of new milestones. This episode is bursting with enthusiasm and anticipation for the Longhorns' bright future, promising listeners an engaging ride through past triumphs and future aspirations.
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Speaker 2:University of Oklahoma.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you can't win them all, especially in this modern day of college football or college athletics recruiting. It's a fun time of year, a lot of people still getting used to the early signing period. There's two signing periods, but for programs like Texas and Oklahoma, the first one is the most important one. Yeah, michael Fasusi goes to Oklahoma. The big old lineman seemed like a perfect fit to be in the UT system but OU gained a big one.
Speaker 1:I am Sean Clinch, the host of Stories Inside the man Cave podcast and coming up on this abbreviated edition of series of episodes called let's Talk About it. We bring in one guy who I respect on his coverage of not only Texas sports but recruiting. It's fun and it shows. And CJ Vogel is going to join us and whenever we have an opportunity man he has a lot of feedback. So, early signing day for the Texas Longhorns and across the country let's talk about it. Here is the guy CJ, vocal of On Texas Football. He is literally just arrived in Atlanta, georgia. I got to ask you. From what I gather, cj, you're not too fond of TSA entry and I can relate to that. I saw a tweet and I said you know what I feel? His energy. I feel the exact same way.
Speaker 3:I don't know why it's so bad at Bergstrom, but it is, man, it's not easy, it's not as easy as it should be, but hey, we got through Atlanta, we got to Atlanta, we got through the flights, we're here, we made it.
Speaker 1:We made it Safe and sound and we even had a short window to do an episode of let's Talk About it. And, speaking of, give us a shout follow on each of our social media platforms and, as we head into this big SEC title weekend, we're going to have some content. And follow CJ Vogel on Twitter and on Texas Football. Bobby Burton and that crew with CJ do an amazing job and they do it well. Thank you, cj. Let's jump into it. Get your analysis of the number one overall recruiting class according to On3 and, on Texas Football, your quick review of what Texas accomplished in this early signing period.
Speaker 3:It's exactly what you'd like to see if you're a Texas fan. Right, you know, you've developed and produced the number one defensive team in the entire country so far in 2024. And you go out and you sign the number one defensive class, an overall class, in my opinion. I think the defensive side of the ball here is tremendous, you know, and it starts up front. Obviously you look at the trenches and that's where defenses are born and really molded from. But Josiah Sharma, myron Charles we'll talk about the new addition coming up but you go out to the edges with Lance Jackson, a Smith and Robo. You got a lot of big humans with a lot of special talents and traits about them, but it starts with their athleticism and their speed. And then you got five defensive backs, once again this year with a lot of versatility, headlined by Cade Phillips and Jonah Williams. Hard not to be very, very happy with this group, but Texas has done a tremendous job again of stacking classes with big-time talents in consecutive years once again.
Speaker 1:It's pretty amazing when you think about it. And ironically or just coincidentally, Texas is playing Georgia a second time and they steal a player from the great state of Georgia. Justice, Terry, Tell the folks what this guy brings. I mean obviously highly recruited and another big human, but a guy that big has a ton of upside, correct?
Speaker 3:Oh, 100%, you could argue this is the biggest interior defensive line win for Texas in the last 10, 15 years. Maybe Of course, he's ranked right now as the number one or number two defensive lineman in the entire country, depending on which recruiting service you base it off of. But the point is Texas has done well in developing these defensive linemen. They've not done necessarily an overwhelming job in recruiting the elite defensive linemen. Well, now you got both, and so I think that's really encouraging. There's going to be a void at defensive line next year and this is going to be a spot where I think you see Justice Terry on the field pretty early in his Texas career. What a win for Texas to go into the Peach State to knock off Georgia, to beat head-to-head Kirby Smart for a guy that they normally win 10 times out of 10. Massive win for Kenny Baker.
Speaker 1:That is a significant reason why other people are starting to have that criticism of Texas. You know Texas is going to be the villain now, more so than everywhere they go in the SEC. One guy that I'm excited about because obviously you and I are very similar we love baseball but there hasn't been you don't see this often a two-sport star who will be receiving an opportunity um to play both at texas from galveston, galveston's ball high school, I mean ed small in the austin area could do that. Going to tcu football, potentially baseball, I don't know, but this kid. Tell us a little bit about jonah williams, because I've only seen film of him on the football side.
Speaker 3:Yeah, jonah Williams is a freak. You know definition of it and he's doing it at 6'3", 215, 220 pounds right now On the football field. There's been a lot of comparisons to Kyle Hamilton, who was a first-round pick out of Notre Dame, now with the Ravens A really talented, rangy center fielder on the football field. And then you see him on the baseball dime and you think, oh, okay, he could do it over here as well. He throws 93-94 on the mound. He can bring it from the left side but also at the plate.
Speaker 3:There was a summer ball travel tournament down in Georgia earlier this summer where he was one of the top exit VLO hitters in the entire showcase and that's some of the top prospects in the entire country as well. So he's going to arrive in Austin in January. He's not necessarily going to go full time into football workouts because during the spring he will be lacing up his spikes and playing over at Dish F field for jim schloss nagel and the texas baseball program, but certainly one that texas football will see the benefits of very early in his career as well.
Speaker 1:So slosh and sark. Uh, did the old tag team doubled up on that recruiting effort? That's uh, that's amusing but impressive at the same time. Oh yeah, you have quite a bit of knowledge from top to bottom of recruiting classes. Or just scouting these talents On that list that you know, it would take probably an hour to go through all of them. But who do you think is a surprise that maybe Texas fans can look forward to watching not only play but the growth of one individual who many people may not be talking about right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think there's one specifically that you might not be hearing a whole lot about, and it's Caleb Chester, I think, out of the Fort Bend Marshall area down in Missouri City. That is a very smart football player and you need those type of high IQ guys outside of cornerback, right, you know Texas has seen the benefits of one of the smartest football players that's come through the university in a decade or so with Jadé Barron. Right, you know, he's not the most physically gifted, but he's a guy that understands schemes, coverages and route concepts, and I think that's what you get with Cale Chester.
Speaker 3:I had the privilege of getting to speak with him earlier in the cycle, right after he committed to Texas, and we went over a little bit of his film. He said, hey, you just made a heck of an interception, What'd you see? Take us through that. And for about three minutes straight we had to cut him off because I didn't think he would end. He just went through what he knew about the opponents, the strength of the quarterback, the strength of the wide receivers, tendencies that he's seen on film. He gets it up here and I think that's half the battle at cornerback. So, while he's not one of the highest rated. You know he's not one of the five-star guys that Texas fans have been oohing and aahing over so far in this cycle. He's a guy that gets it and I think that goes a long way when it comes to development and overall long-term production on the field.
Speaker 1:CJ. One thing that I think it's just human nature for fan bases like Texas you want the highest, highest rated five four star guys. But if you look across to your point about the surprise of this class, there are some guys that are not under recruited but you have those. It's a good combination of healthy three star, hungry three star guys. I mean, is he one of those guys? Yeah, I think so Absolutely.
Speaker 3:You know, again Texas has brought in a lot of cornerbacks and defensive backs in total over the last two cycles 10 in total, and you know you stack up those two classes. The rankings probably wouldn't favor Caleb Chester per se, but again that's a guy that's going to come in with a chip on his shoulder and really play some smart football, trying to prove it to everybody. Another name I'd throw out there as well is Jackson Christian out of Fort Nature's Groves, the offensive lineman. That is a mean football player and you like those kind of guys on your offensive line and I think there's some similarities there with Hayden Connor with the way that he's kind of progressed and developed during his time in Austin this year. Specifically, if Jackson Christian turns into what Hayden Connor is right now, you got yourself a heck of a football player and I think that ceiling is very high for him.
Speaker 1:You need those guys because that permeates and, of course, P&G, the traditional power, which was sleeping a while. Now they've awakened, they're back where they were in the past and I think this is a topic that I think fans are trying to get used to, that you have to leave space for potential transfer portal additions. What are the needs, in your opinion, to get from the transfer portal for Texas?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the defensive line absolutely is one Look, you lose a lot. You lose your top four guys very similarly to last year, right, and you go out there. You add three. A year ago I bet they add at minimum two. You just need experience, you need depth there.
Speaker 3:Texas has talent, but it's young talent and again, trenches not necessarily a place you want to be super young at, especially young talent, and again, trenches, not necessarily a place you want to be super young at, especially in the SEC. So defensive line is one for me Texas will go out and add a wide receiver. Again, this is coming off of returning DeAndre Moore and Ryan Wingo and the development of Parker Livingstone, plus two, five stars from this class alone. You're saying we should be in pretty good shape, right? Well, again, wide receiver is one where you can go out there and there's always going to be a stockpile of talented wide receivers who have production. I think they'll add one as well out there. And then who knows what they do with the specialist kicker punter. I know some folks are up in arms with the way that that kind of side of the football has played this year, but I think Texas likes Bert Auburn and I think there's a desire to want Michael Kern to develop for the remainder of his Texas career as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's one thing that I found bizarre and to your point about Auburn they haven't needed him that much. I mean it feels like his kick attempts field goal attempts have gone down because of the offense, but you definitely need someone that's reliable. Burt's been there, but you've got to keep that cycle going, so we're going to take a quick break. I cannot wait to hear what CJ has to say, and it's the reason why he's in the ATL First year. Texas is in the SEC and they're playing for the SEC championship, something I have to point out that Texas A&M has never done. I just have never experienced. We'll talk about that.
Speaker 1:On the other side of this break, the Saxton name resonates in Austin, jim's late father. James Saxton is a Longhorn legend, a Heisman finalist while playing for Darryl K Royal, and Jimmy is a UT football legacy from Westlake. He has been insuring Austin for decades. He and his staff will give you old school hospitality when servicing your insurance needs of the night and he smacked viewers, has pounded the ball comes out and in fact over the middle, and it's intercepted. Instead is smith and he's wrestled down behind the line. Old school Georgia football. Nobody believed us and then they tried to rob us with calls in this place and these guys are so resilient.
Speaker 2:You know we just took away that. You know we have to. You know, take care of the ball a lot better than we did in that game, and you know it, just you know taught us a lesson that you know we can't against teams like that. You know we got to do the little things right.
Speaker 1:CJ. Last time out, georgia at DKR, ut's only loss of the season and Georgia has two losses. But I think would you agree that the running backs to what Jaden Blue was saying they did not pick up the blitz very well. I mean they were a reason why Texas or Quinn Ewers saw the turf often. I mean that can't happen in this game.
Speaker 3:No, it certainly cannot, especially with what might be a bit of a hobbled. Kelvin Banks right, he didn't finish the A&M game. He's going to be tested quite a bit. Look, it was kind of the miscommunication and kind of the targeting of DJ Campbell and Cam Williams from Georgia in the first game. Of course, they won a lot of one-on-one battles regardless, but this weekend I think that Georgia might be looking at that left tackle position whether it's Banks, whether it's Goosby as a place where they can bring some heat and some pressure. And, to your point, texas has to protect better, right, they have to leave a tight end. They have to see contribution from the running backs, which has been hit or miss for basically the entire season when it comes to fitting their pass protection assignments soundly. So this is the game where you need a clean pocket for 20 yards and, above anything else, this is a game where you need to run the football, which is something Texas did very poorly in that first meeting against Georgia.
Speaker 1:What gives you someone who looks at it objectively, not so much from a fan, but what gives you hope for Texas? Or why would you lean toward Texas in this second go-around against Georgia to win this game? I mean, obviously we all know and I hate to be cliche it is hard to beat a team twice, especially in a championship level. What is change that gives you such positivity, leaning toward Texas in this game?
Speaker 3:To me it's a. It's a combination of a few things. It starts with the running game, which was totally non-existent for Georgia. It was very spotty for the games previously. You know Oklahoma, they had two, three big runs with Trey Wisner. They didn't have much success elsewhere. It was spotty against Vanderbilt the weekend after. Then you go into the bye week and, okay, all of a sudden Texas, you know, flips a switch. They play Florida, they put up 40 points. You go to Arkansas, you go to Kentucky, or you play Kentucky and all of a sudden the run game looks like it's the best it's ever been, not to mention Texas A&M where Trey Wiseman runs for 186 yards.
Speaker 3:so to me it's just finding that run game fix whatever the solution is, whatever they did in that off week after Vanderbilt, it's been the remedy for that run game and that's something that completely evaded the Longhorns in that first meeting. And then, secondly, again, I don't think this Georgia pass core you know the wide receivers, tight ends this isn't a special group, not by Georgia standards, and they lead the country in drops. They don't give Carson Beck a whole lot of help. It's something that I think Texas benefited a lot from in the first meeting. Obviously not on the scoreboard, something that I think Texas benefited a lot from in the first meeting. Obviously not on the scoreboard, but when you look at 174 yards on what is about 35 attempts from Carson Beck, you take that time and time again. So I think that's one of the big reasons where Texas can own the time of possession if they get up. I don't know if Georgia has the ponies in the stable right now to play a game where there's a high scoring affair.
Speaker 1:That's a good point. I did not think about all the drops that UGA, that receiving core, has experienced. And, of course, on the other side, isaiah Bond going back to his home state, I mean out of Beaufort, georgia. This is ideal for him. And then the national championships in Atlanta if. Texas makes it man and speaking of, can you give us some insight of? Maybe are you playing it by ear tonight or do you have a plan for the atl nightlife?
Speaker 3:oh man, uh, well, I'll be stopping by the little texas x's event out here in atlanta, of course trying to, you know, put on my business suit and tie and and make it a business trip. But uh, we'll see what goes on in Atlanta. First time out here other than you know, east Cobb, way out away for a baseball tournament back in the day.
Speaker 1:But I'm excited for it. We'll see, you know hopefully some good food. Oh, you're going to eat well Great people Atlanta. I've only been there twice for socially related, but yeah, you're going to have fun and it's going to be a great trip and I look forward to hearing what you think, because I have compared SEC title games to Big 12 championship games. This is the ultimate excited for you and CJ. Always a pleasure, my brother.
Speaker 3:No, I appreciate you. Having me on this was a blast, and it should be. It already is a good weekend for Texas, hopefully, you know, for Texas fans it's a bigger one right after this weekend.
Speaker 1:We hope so. We hope on Sunday with Stevie. We're talking about how Texas won an SEC championship. Just to throw this in here for a historical perspective Texas won the last Southwest Conference championship in 95. Then 96 won the first Big 12. So there's some parallels here, or am I just digging too deeply for that? I like it.
Speaker 3:I know where you're going with it and I like it.
Speaker 1:Hey, anytime we can speak to CJ Vogel on Texas football and talk about SEC championship games. You know what? It's always good to talk about it, you.