ESPN Backs This Texas Longhorns Stud for a Breakout Season

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sam Dunn | Last updated Jul 2, 2025 4:22 PM ET

After his Texas Longhorns stampeded all the way to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff last season, it's only natural that Steve Sarkisian and Co. would face massive expectations entering 2025.

And while quarterback Arch Manning has been a household name effectively since birth given his family's status as SEC football's most famous dynasty, the experts at ESPN have set their eyes on a much sneakier offensive weapon to thrill sold-out crowds at the DKR this season.

As Dave Wilson wrote for the Worldwide Leader, Manning himself concurred that a certain impact transfer from the Bay Area is poised to turn heads early and often in Austin.

So, who is this mystery man?

Well, if you saw him on the street, there's a 0% chance you'd miss all 6-foot-4 of the dynamic, sure-handed Cal transfer tight end Jack Endries.

A less-than-heralded three-star recruit in the class of 2022 out of Danville, California, Endries was a prolific weapon for Justin Wilcox's Golden Bears last season as a sophomore, leading the team in both catches and receiving yards. But while the Berkeley boys did score a key win over age-old rivals Stanford in both programs' debut seasons in the ACC, Cal managed a paltry 6-7 record capped by a loss to UNLV in the LA Bowl.

His stock having sufficiently risen, Endries leaped into the transfer portal and made the auspicious switch from Bear to Bevo.

As Wilson wrote for ESPN:

"[T]he former Golden Bears tight end signed with Texas in April and slides into a talented Longhorns offense... Manning singled out Endries, a former walk-on, as someone who could emerge as a household name by season's end as he solidifies a position of need after Gunnar Helm... developed into a fourth-round pick of the Tennessee Titans and Amari Niblack transferred to Texas A&M."

Hey, Coach Sark, is it Week 1 yet?