Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian sounds just fine with the 2024 expectations | Bohls

While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

The football season is still four months away, but still ...

1. Expect what?: Texas football is clearly on the rise and probably a top three team this fall, but could expectations for the 2024 season be too high? Not really, Steve Sarkisian said this week. “That’s the standard. That’s what we strive for,” the fourth-year Longhorns head coach said Tuesday in an interview for our “On Second Thought” podcast that will air Thursday morning. “And now that we’re kind of in a position where it’s a little bit more justifiable and it’s not kind of on a wing and a prayer, we’ve kind of put a solid foundation together in the program. I’d much rather be part of this conversation than nobody talking about us. That (would) mean we’re not doing much right.” After landing a cornerback, a pair of defensive linemen, an edge rusher and three excellent wide receivers, he can do no wrong. … Sarkisian is so high on his quarterbacks room that he talked about Quinn Ewers being “so comfortable that we’re going to the third, fourth and at times the fifth read.” … As for Arch Manning being ready to play at a high level if he’s needed, Sarkisian said, “I think so. I think Arch has come a long way. That was part of the reason I wanted to play him so much in the spring game. I feel very comfortable with Arch and where he’s at. He showed a ton of growth.” Who cares if he’s thrown only five passes in college and never taken a meaningful snap?

On coaches' high salaries: more power to 'em

2. And with bonuses, too?: So Kirby Smart has now risen to the position of the highest-paid head coach in college football. Given a boost with a 10-year extension worth $130 million, the Georgia coach has set the new bar at $13 mil a year. Did Smart send Sarkisian a thank you note? … I’m not one to begrudge any of these coaches top dollars they are raking in. But I find it so curious that after elevating Smart to No. 1 on the salary totem pole, why did Georgia also feel compelled to include potential bonuses totaling $1.55 million? Shouldn’t the exorbitant contract assume he’ll already have the kind of success to justify that contract without also offering incentives? Hardly coincidental that agent Jimmy Sexton represents both Sark and Smart. Sexton’s the real MVP of college football.

More: In need of secondary help, Texas adds San Jose State transfer Jay'Vion Cole to roster

Texas golf is in good position for an NCAA run

3. The home stretch: John Fields’ Texas men’s golf team hosts one of six NCAA regionals starting Monday and the 27th-year head coach said, “I think we have got a legitimate shot to win the golf tournament.” And why not? His Longhorns, uh, squeaked out a win in the Big 12 tournament by 18 STROKES. Yeah, they went 13-under par and 12-under par as a team the last two rounds and smoked the field. Now they enter the regional with three players who finished in the top 10 in the Big 12 field in Nathan Petronzio of Lake Travis, Keaton Vo of Anderson and grad Brian Stark. … That of course is nothing new for a program that has had No. 1-ranked players in the world recently in current top No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and former No. 1 Jordan Spieth. Asked if he has a golfer on his current roster who might aspire to such lofty heights, Fields said, “I’ve got a couple off really, really fine players that if everything was to go right and they were able to assume that value …” So who knows? Fields said Scheffler and Spieth are so good and have so much self-belief that “I call it delusional confidence, and you don’t know where it comes from. They have it, and I don’t know why, but they have it.” … On his team, Fields singled out South African sophomore Christiaan Maas, who's No. 22 in the world among amateur golfers and who has three top-10 and five top-20 individual finishes this year, and 6-foot-9 sophomore Tommy Morrison, the 66th ranked amateur who enrolled early as a freshman last spring and has 15 rounds at par or better and 11 in the 60s. “Christiaan is still getting his feet on the ground,” Fields said. “Tommy is an incredible golfer and maybe the new prototype for golf going forward.” If not, Rodney Terry could always use another big man in his frontcourt.

More: Unique NIL model gives Texas Longhorns athletes a great deal: an eye on the future | Bohls

Taking their share of the NIL pie

4. Female power: Patrick “Wheels” Smith, the president of the Texas One Fund, told me the trend in the explosion of name, image and likeness deals is bigger options for women college athletes. In fact, SponsorUnited revealed of the top 100 college athletes in NIL deals, and 52% are women. That’s up 14% this school year. They can thank stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who made $3.1 million off 11 deals in college and is on the brink of signing an eight-year, $28 million contract with Nike. She’ll be one of just six WNBA players with signature shoe partnerships. “I think a lot of the credit for that has to go to Caitlin Clark,” Smith said. “South Carolina, too. The analytics show that women’s basketball players are getting a ton of opportunities. The most interesting thing to me is brands are highly attuned to women athletes and all their Instagram followers. They’re more representative. Their Instagram sites are a lot cleaner and look better. Not a lot of stories on them. Brands find them more appealing. I’m seeing a ton of NIL deals coming for women athletes.”

Putting the GOAT on a roast

5. Roastable: I’ll be honest. I’m not the biggest fan of roasts. Too painful, too cruel, especially for people like Giselle Bundchen. I missed Netflix’s live event Sunday night called “The Roast of Tom Brady, AKA The Greatest Roast of All Time,” but saw enough clips to know this show drew a lot of laughs. Who knew Bill Belichick could smile? Everyone got in their licks. "Tom was eventually 199th in the NFL draft," roaster supreme Jeff Ross said. "He sat there for days, waiting and waiting, and then you were finally picked in the sixth round when Bill Belichick’s dog stepped on the keyboard by accident.” … Brady got in a few zingers of his own. He directed a couple of funnies at worthy adversary Peyton Manning. ”I know sometimes you live in Denver," Brady told him. "And sometimes you live in Louisiana. But you’ll always live in my shadow.” He’s not lying. He wasn't done. “When I heard there was a slow, white Bronco heading down the 405 to come here tonight, I thought we might actually see a real football legend,” Brady continued. Bada bing. Good to know Brady can still take a hit. But my favorite was Manning’s retort when he said, “Honestly, it is great to be here with a bunch of people sitting around talking smack about Tom Brady,” Manning said. “Or as we call that in the Manning family: Thanksgiving.”

More: Even with the pitching concerns, Texas baseball is in NCAA postseason contention | Golden

A good time for Texas athletics

6. Raking in trophies: With yet another Big 12 championship, this one by Mike White’s softball team, the count of conference titles for the Longhorns has grown to a whopping 13, a school record. That’s in 21 sports. With four more remaining with men’s and women’s track and field, baseball and rowing. I don’t know what the electric bill is at Texas, but if the administration keeps lighting the Tower orange, Chris Del Conte may have to take a pay cut. … Speaking of the athletic director, he loves the Learfield Director’s Cup like nothing else. Texas remains in second place behind perennial winner Stanford, but nine sports are still to be decided nationally. The Cardinal had a huge lead after the winter sports with an almost 200-point lead, thanks mostly to Stanford’s success in men’s and women’s gymnastics and fencing. On guard, Texas.

They don't make retirements like they used to

7. This and that from the NFL: J.J. Watt’s retirement sure didn’t last long. The former legend with the Houston Texans hinted — or did he out and out say it — that he could come back and play for the NFL’s most ascendant team this side of the Lions. “But only for one year,” Watt said. “I’m not training like this again.” DeMeco Ryans, call him. Now. … Heard new Seahawks coach Mike MacDonald dish out some praise — and purposeful digs — Byron Murphy II’s way. MacDonald said the former Longhorn, the first Texas player drafted at No. 16, “overall had a good start, but I’m not going to say he’s the next best defensive tackle of all time. But he shows a lot of bend and athleticism.” He then added, “He just needs to get in better shape so he can go through a whole practice.”

Whatever happened to ...

8. Scattershooting: While wondering whatever happened to former Texas All-American first baseman Brian Cisarik, one of the best pure hitters in school history.

Meanwhile, from the greatest seat in the world ...

9. On the couch: True confession. I never really liked Pop-Tarts. Never felt there was enough strawberry in them. Besides, I was more of a Kix and Cheerios guy. And that’s how I felt about “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tarts Story.” I’m an unapologetic, huge Jerry Seinfeld fan, but this sugary but empty caloric Netflix movie mercifully lasts only one hour, 36 minutes and feels more like one gag or corny joke after another. I would have rather seen the outtakes. But it was good to see Don Draper return. Gave it five ducks.

Waiting for the NBA shoe to drop

Crazy prediction: Jamal Murray will deservedly get suspended for his NBA antics and an endorsement deal with ThermaCare heat packs.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football and Longhorns athletics are enjoying a strong year