Longhorn Nation,
April showers bring May flowers, and WOW did Coach Sark and our Football program get their flowers for three-straight days of the NFL Draft last week. WHAT STARTS HERE CHANGES THE WORLD! From our first-round picks Byron Murphy and Xavier Worthy to our guy Jordan Whittington making it a record-setting 11 picks for us, the group of awesome guys setting out to achieve their NFL Draft dreams is a truly special one. With family draft gatherings, Roger Goodell's announcement, team phone calls and the heartwarming Longhorn success stories, it was a momentous and memorable three days that had me beaming from ear to ear. And what a tribute it was to Coach Sark and what he's built and continues to build in our Football program. The best thing of all is look out College Football World, here we come, we're just getting started! And speaking of the showers (and storms!), weather presented some challenges for our teams last week, but the pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas remained on full display as our Longhorns adjusted to any sudden change and put on their best and triumphant Texas Fight.
My heart is full of joy for all of these guys and their families! They all dreamt of playing in the NFL and those dreams became a reality this week!
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) April 27, 2024
To all 11 of you, I'm so proud of you, the commitment & hard work never wavered! Remember, The Standard is The Standard, go… pic.twitter.com/deG1EoeQ7O
Making history 🤘 pic.twitter.com/ZHP8IBStJo
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) April 29, 2024
It was LIGHT THE TOWER time again, as it was Men's Golf's turn to bring home a Big 12 Championship last Wednesday and make it a clean sweep of the conference golf titles. Utter domination from both teams with the women winning from start to finish, and the men taking the title by 18 STROKES!! That makes a nice bookend with Women's Golf's conference crown on the previous Saturday and adding in Men's Tennis on Sunday. All totaled, our Longhorns secured three Big 12 Titles in a five-day stretch and now have 11 on the year. We're far from done and taking dead aim on our all-time Big 12 record of 13 titles we set in 2005-06 and matched in 2020-21. We're definitely going out with a BANG my friends!
happy #LonghornFriday from our newest @Big12Conference trophy winners 🏆🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/PvaEdkcSkF
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) April 26, 2024
Today's @TexasMGolf title makes it 1️⃣1️⃣ Big 12 Championships🏆for our Longhorns this year. That already matches the 7th-most in a year in B12 history & moves closer to our all-time record of 13 ('05-06 & '20-21). A B12 school has won 11+ titles in a year 9x, we have 8 of those🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/4ifuPPv26C
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) April 24, 2024
We had other action, too, as many of our teams continue to TAKE DEAD AIM at their shots at Big 12 Championships. As I said, we had some challenging weather here that forced us to adjust the schedule for Softball last weekend, but that didn't deter Coach White and our NO. 1-RANKED Longhorns' Texas Fight. On the weekend we honored our four seniors, it was another clean sweep of a Big 12 foe, including a doubleheader of run-rule victories on Saturday. That makes it 13-straight wins dating back to our thrilling triumphs against OU in early April. Now it's off to our final series of the regular season against the Red Raiders in Lubbock — we're just one game back of the Sooners with a shot at the regular season title — before heading to the Big 12 Championships starting on May 8 in OKC.
all for these four 🫶🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/iuYJvavIL4
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) April 27, 2024
Baseball kept its eye on the prize through a deluge of inclement weather in Oklahoma that included postponing Saturday's game and pushing it to a Sunday doubleheader. After dropping Friday's series opener (9-4) and the day off in between, our Horns came back in magnificent fashion and the BATS WERE EN FUEGO! A pair of homers helped our guys rally to an 8-6 win in game one, snapping the league-leading No. 18 Sooners' nine-game winning streak in the process. Then in game two, the long balls were coming fast and furious as we knocked six of them out of the park — five of which were two-run blasts — to take a lightning delayed and shortened game, 12-10, in seven innings. We fired up the buses with the series secured and headed back to Austin with our sixth Big 12 series win in seven outings. Now we'll return to the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field this week to face Sam Houston later tonight (6:30 p.m. CT/LHN) before welcoming Oklahoma State, who is one game ahead of us in second place in the conference standings, for a weekend series. It's another big one as we're right in the thick of the Big 12 race, just two games out and heading into the stretch run. We know you'll welcome our squad home with a raucous environment at The Disch, can't wait to see y'all at the yard!
After what we witnessed at Saturday's Longhorn Invite, clearly our No. 2-ranked Rowing squad is primed and ready to take to the waters for its ninth-straight Big 12 Championship in a couple weeks (May 19 in Sarasota, Fla.) and then make a run at another National Championship (May 31-June 2 in Bethel, Ohio). We hosted a loaded field that included our rival and defending National Champ Stanford (you know about the flock of geese and what happened there, SMH!), No. 12 Virginia and No. 14 Ohio State here at Lake Walter E. Long, and boy did y'all show up and show out to cheer on our Horns on a beautiful Saturday morning in the ATX. First and foremost, thank you for your passionate support of all our programs and your pride in Texas Athletics, it was indeed on full display for Coach O'Neill and our team to enjoy! And to the delight of us all, our ladies put on a spectacular display of rowing in front of the boisterous crowd, tallying three wins in the First Eight, Second Eight AND Third Eight! Now it's time to collect some hardware, so it's back to work getting prepared to do that!
We loved having y'all out at the Longhorn Invite this morning 🤘#HookEm | #HereComesTexas pic.twitter.com/e0mdcirrpK
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) April 27, 2024
Also on the 40, Coach Flo and our Track & Field programs had a solid couple of days at that Longhorn Invitational last weekend. They'll soon be on their way to their Big 12 Championships, as well, from May 9-11 in Waco, so put that on your calendar to head right up the road and cheer them on!
For our Men's and Women's Tennis teams, it's on to the ROAD TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP this week, and that will start right here in Austin. The Big 12 Champion men enter NCAAs as the No. 2 overall seed, while the women are the No. 9 seed, and both squads are right in the thick of the hunt for a Natty! Come on out to the Texas Tennis Center and show Coach Berque and Coach Joffe's squads some love while cheering them on as they look to survive and advance through the early rounds of the NCAA Tourney! The men will start things off on Friday at 1 p.m. CT against Sacramento State, and then should they advance will take the court again on Saturday versus UCLA or LSU at 4 p.m. CT. The women will get started right before that on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT against Harvard, and then would face either Georgia Tech or Illinois on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
Speaking of the road to the National Championship, Coach Murphy and our No. 10 Women's Golf team will begin its NCAA postseason journey this coming Monday through Wednesday (May 6-8) at the NCAA Bermuda Run Regional in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Big 12 Champion Longhorns earned the No. 2 seed at that regional site, and will look for a top-five finish in order to advance to the NCAA Championship on May 17-22 at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif.
While I've got you, here's a huge shoutout and emphatic Hook 'Em for our student-athlete and Volleyball star extraordinaire Madisen Skinner, who was honored last week in New York City as one of six finalists for the AAU Sullivan Award (the nation's prestigious all sports amateur athlete of the year award). Madi helped lead us to back-to-back National Championships, was the Most Outstanding Performer of last year's Final Four and the National Player of Year.It's quite an honor for a sensational student-athlete and person, but the best part is she's got ONE MORE YEAR in the Burnt Orange and White! There's much more greatness on the horizon my friend!!
Our girl @MadiSkinnerr in NY for the AAU Sullivan Award 🤩🤘 pic.twitter.com/HJ2aQHDLHm
— Texas Volleyball (@TexasVolleyball) April 24, 2024
Historic NFL Draft
Well folks, on a scale from 1-10, this year's NFL Draft was an 11. Literally, 11. ELEVEN of our Longhorns were chosen in a record-breaking three days that were a signal for just how far our program has come under Coach Sark. There were more notables out of this draft than you can shake a stick at, and if you want to read 'em allthis is a great place to do it, but the bottom line is the 11 were the most-ever in a seven-round draft in our program's storied history. Let that sink in for a second! They were also the most of any team this year through six rounds, until Michigan had a run in the final round and slipped past us by the whisker of a Wolverine. And not only were our five picks in the first two rounds tied for the most of any program, we got there quicker than any other team by doing thatin the first 52 picks of the draft.And the balance, I mean come on…the wide receivers were represented(Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Jordan Whittington), the running backs were represented (Jonathon Brooks, Keilan Robinson), the tight ends were represented (Ja'Tavion Sanders), the offensive line was represented (Christian Jones), the defensive line was represented (Byron Murphy, T'Vondre Sweat), the linebackers were represented (Jaylan Ford), the secondary was represented (Ryan Watts), and on top of that, two of those guys in Worthy and Robinson areelite returners. And if you want kicking game, Ryan Sanborn signed a free agent contract right when the draft was over. By the way, congrats to both him and our other free agent signee Jett Bush who had contracts in the blink of an eye after the draft! Our Longhorns are in high demand these days I must say, and that's just as much because of their qualities as people as it is their ability on the field. And I didn't want to break my rhythm, but how great is it that not only have we had the first running back drafted each of the last two years, we've had two running backs drafted each of the last two years?!Talk about RBU! And three receivers picked in the same draft, that's a first in our rich and storied programs history! The entire three days was something to behold, and we couldn't be prouder of the guys, especially the critical role they played in the foundation that is built here and our program's culture going forward. They set out to be champions and they did it. They set out to be our first College Football Playoff team and they did it. But the way they've represented our program and our school will never be forgotten. They bought into Coach Sark's message and they made it happen. The best part is they set the standard, we're just getting started … the future is so, so bright!
from Saturdays to Sundays 🤘#HookEm | @TexasFootball pic.twitter.com/lDlLi53t87
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) April 29, 2024
Save the date for this one!
Another element that has an enormous impact on Texas' ability to remain a leader in collegiate athletics is support for Texas One Fund, an organization providing name, image and likeness opportunities for The University of Texas student-athletes. On Saturday, May 18, C3 Presents is hosting a Brooks & Dunn concert, opened by Ryan Bingham, and emceed by Shane Gillis on Campbell-Williams Field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadiumto benefit the Texas One Fund! This is the first live music event to be hosted at our iconic venue in over 30 years, and it will be a star-studded evening attended by Longhorn Legends, Texas VIPs, and current head coaches and student-athletes. If you are interested in planning a big night out and supporting Texas student-athletes at the same time, you can purchase single tickets or full tables online (please note there is a small transaction fee when reserving online) or email Sydney Loyed (sydney@jhlcompany.com) for more information or to purchase tickets without a fee.
The list of Academic All-Americans this year continues to grow!
I mentioned this last week, but it warrants a well-deserved update. As good as we've been across-the-board in our athletics success, I'm even more proud of the work being done in the classroom and the community by our tremendous student-athletes. Congrats are in order to Coby Carrozza and Noah Duperre from Men's Swimming and Diving, who both earned first-team Academic All-America recognition last week from the College Sports Communicators. That brings our total of Academic All-Americans for the 2023-24 season to a staggering 11, just one behind last year's school record of 12! And remember, we still have the spring sports to come.
Men's Golf claims impressive victory at Big 12 Championship
Well folks, talk about complete dominance! That was our No. 13 Men's Golf team at the Big 12 Championship last week at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas. All Coach Fields and our guys did was post an impressive 18-stroke victory over runner-up Oklahoma to capture the ninth Big 12 Conference team title for the Longhorns and first since 2017. Entering the final day with an 11-stroke cushion, Texas built on that advantage with a championship-level performance that counted scores from Christiaan Maas (4-under 68), Keaton Vo (4-under 68), Nathan Petronzio (3-under 69) and Brian Stark (1-under 71) during Wednesday's final round. Congrats to the trio of Stark, Vo and Petronzio – who were each named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team by virtue of their top-10 individual finishes. Now it's on to NCAA postseason play and the best thing is, we already know that we'll be starting things off in our backyard on May 13-15 at the UT Golf Club. Tune into Golf Channel on Wednesday (1-2 p.m. CT) for the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Selection Show, and we'll find out the teams and seeds for who will be competing in Austin. Longhorn Nation, admission to all three days of the NCAA Austin Regional is F-R-E-E, so we hope to see a ton of Burnt Orange out at the UT Golf Club!
YOUR BIG 12 CHAMPIONS 🏆🤘#HookEm | #TakeDeadAim pic.twitter.com/0JomhTQEBv
— Texas Men's Golf (@TexasMGolf) April 24, 2024
Baseball keeps knockin' the ball out of the yard!
What a week it was on the diamond for our Baseball team! Our Hammerin' Horns tied the program record with TWO six-home run games this week and picked up a big road series win over No. 18 Oklahoma. First, the Longhorns hit six dingers against UT Arlington en route to an 11-0 win last Tuesday. The six-homer game was the first since April 25, 1998 at Missouri. After dropping the series opener to the Sooners and having to play a doubleheader on Sunday, the Longhorns rose to the occasion by sweeping the doubleheader and hitting another slew of homers. In the finale, Texas led from start-to-finish and bashed six more homers for just the sixth time in program history. We've got four games at UFCU Disch-Falk Field this week, starting against Sam Houston later tonight (6:30 p.m. CT/LHN) before welcoming No. 14 Oklahoma State for games on Friday (6:30 p.m. CT/LHN), Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT/LHN) and Sunday (1 p.m. CT/LHN). See y'all at the ballpark!
Series dub. 🤘 pic.twitter.com/t0Jqae2ATt
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) April 29, 2024
No. 1 Softball set to make one final push for regular-season Big 12 crown
It was a great weekend over at Red & Charline McCombs Field! Not only did the program honor four senior student-athletes before their final home regular-season game, but the top-ranked team in the nation picked up a 10-3 win over Nicholls on Thursday, a 5-2 victory against Iowa State on Friday and capped the four-game-in-three-day span with back-to-back five-inning run-rule wins over the Cyclones, 8-0 and 9-1. We need to send a big-time Hook 'Em to Reese Atwood, who set the program's single-season RBI record over the weekend. What an incredible feat to drive in 70 runs in just 48 games! But now it's time for one last push towards a Big 12 regular-season championship. With a three-game series in Lubbock awaiting the Longhorns this weekend, Texas sits just one game back in the league standings. And get this, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State — the team above AND below us in the standings — are set to play each other this weekend. A sweep of the Red Raiders by Coach White's squad combined with at least one loss by the Sooners would send another Big 12 Championship back to the Forty Acres! Our Horns and Red Raiders will meet up on Friday (6 p.m. CT), Saturday (1 p.m. CT) and Sunday (12 p.m. CT), and all three games will be streamed on ESPN+, so if you can't be there in person to support our group be sure to tune in and cheer them on!
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) April 28, 2024we've got a new program record 🤘
congrats, @atwood_reese 🤩#HookEm pic.twitter.com/qTRPGQnPuo
Track and Field shines in final home meet of the outdoor season
A total of 13 Longhorns claimed victories at Mike A. Myers Stadium over the weekend as our No. 7/14 Track and Field team hosted the two-day Texas Invitational. The effort was led by Ackelia Smith's NCAA-leading long jump mark of 7.10m (23-3.50) and her leap of 13.44m (44-1.25) in the triple jump, the fifth-best mark in the country. Count-em-up 17 Longhorns also recorded personal bests in their respective events at the final home collegiate track meet of the season. Coach Flo's group heads up I-35 to Waco in two weeks (Thursday-Saturday, May 9-11) for the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, so we know our guys and ladies are gearing up for some title-winning performances.
first time, fast time 🤩🤘#HookEm | #FloKnows pic.twitter.com/6Jp7erotrx
— Texas T&F/XC (@TexasTFXC) April 28, 2024
Rowing takes down No. 1 Stanford at Longhorn Invite
How about our second-ranked Rowing squad!? The team battled tough conditions on Lake Walter E. Long in the Longhorn Invite and took down the defending national champs and current No. 1 Stanford's boats in the First Eight and Second Eight on Saturday morning! Our Horns won three events overall in a regatta that also included No. 12 Virginia and No. 14 Ohio State. Talk about making a statement! And a huge "thank you" to all the Longhorn faithful that came out to support. Like Coach O'Neill said, it felt like a national championship regatta! And these Longhorns are just getting started! Next up is the Big 12 Championship in Sarasota, Fla., on May 19. Keep the momentum going ladies!
It's all love 🧡🤘#HookEm | #HereComesTexas pic.twitter.com/Mpq9cRRlnk
— Texas Rowing (@TexasRowing) April 28, 2024
Hook 'Em Horns,
Chris Del Conte
P.S. — There's nothing like these NFL Draft-day scenes when dreams come true for our guys!
Frame it@XavierWorthy x @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/Y0B2HqbW3R
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) April 26, 2024
P.S. — Our guy Mr. Worthy already has a display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame!
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) April 29, 2024.@XavierWorthy's 4.21-second 40-yard dash cemented him as the fastest player in @NFL history.
The 28th overall pick by the @Chiefs in the 2024 draft now has artifacts on display in Canton from his historic NFL Combine performance.
Read more: https://t.co/kc34ZBPmel pic.twitter.com/Rv08DHX37H
P.S. — Congrats to our Fab Freshman Farah O'Keefe! She'll be heading to Ireland this summer as a member of USA's Palmer Cup Team!!
Farah O'Keefe has been selected for the Palmer Cup 🤘#HookEm | @Farahokeefe pic.twitter.com/DwTnLHlrnI
— Texas Women's Golf (@TexasWGolf) April 23, 2024
P.S. — I hear you, Coach Fields! Longhorn Nation, let's support our guys at the NCAA Austin Regional on May 13-15 at UTGC (it's FREE)!
— Texas Men's Golf (@TexasMGolf) April 26, 2024Coach Fields has a message to Longhorn Nation 🤘
⛳️ NCAA Austin Regional
📅 May 13-15
📍 @UTGolfClub
🎟️ FREE !!!#TakeDeadAim pic.twitter.com/RrMGRIbvDz
P.S. — SO COOL!
spotted in ATX @EASPORTSCollege 👀🤘#HookEm | #CFB25 pic.twitter.com/Qf8bagIxSf
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) April 23, 2024
P.S. — Gotta love the Championships shout-out from our guy, THE MOC!
leave the lights on… #big12champs #congrats #hookem@TexasWGolf @TexasMGolf @TexasMTN pic.twitter.com/oLhaGfhQAr
— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) April 26, 2024
P.S. — Best in the business, congrats Coach Choice!
This pic is iconic. Blessed to be apart of their journey. 🙏🏽 Then there was 1🤘🏽✝️ pic.twitter.com/4rpHeuyxBf
— Coach Choice (@coachchoice) April 27, 2024
HEADLINES
Audio: John Fields joins College Golf Talk podcast (NBC Sports)
No. 1/1 Softball's Stewart nabs Big 12, NFCA Player of the Week honors
No. 10 Women's Golf Hsu qualifies for U.S. Women's Open
Women's Basketball signs Kyla Oldacre
Former diver Allison Gibson wins gold at American Cup
Former Track and Field star Adeleke expected to compete in Paris Olympics (KXAN-TV)
No. 7/14 Track and Field closes out successful day two at Texas Invitational
Jordan Whittington drafted by Los Angeles Rams
Ryan Watts drafted by Pittsburgh Steelers
Jaylan Ford drafted by New Orleans Saints
Keilan Robinson drafted by Jacksonville Jaguars
Christian Jones drafted by Arizona Cardinals
Ja'Tavion Sanders drafted by Carolina Panthers
No. 7/14 Track and Field closes day one at Texas Invitational
Adonai Mitchell drafted by Indianapolis Colts
Jonathon Brooks drafted by Carolina Panthers
T'Vondre Sweat drafted by Tennessee Titans
Xavier Worthy selected in first round of NFL Draft by Kansas City Chiefs
Byron Murphy II selected in first round of NFL Draft by Seattle Seahawks
Men's Basketball signs Jordan Pope
No. 1/1 Softball's Henry, Kavan named to TUCCI/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Top 25
No. 2 Men's Tennis garners seven selections on 20244 Big 12 All-Tournament Team
Track and Field's Garrett earns first Big 12 weekly honor
Video: Longhorn Network Adonai Mitchell feature
Video: Rowing Longhorn Invite media availability (April 24)
Women's Golf's O'Keefe named to Palmer Cup team
The Texas Experience: Tommy Morrison
