'National championship expectations couldn't be higher': Why 2026 season is title-or-bust for Texas

Yahoo Sports draft guru Nate Tice is also drinking the burnt-orange Kool-Aid. In a story published Tuesday, he listed Manning (No. 1), Coleman (No. 5), Goosby (No. 8) and Simmons (No. 9) as top 25 prospects for the 2027 draft.

Coleman may be the most athletic player in the Texas crop. Manning posted a video of the WR easily dunking a basketball to his Instagram story Tuesday (h/t OnTexasFootball). So, he should win many jump balls this season. 

Wait, didn't Texas enter the season as the Associated Press No. 1 last season? Yes, the Longhorns did, and they failed to make the CFP, going 10-3. However, it was Manning's first season as the full-time starter, and Coleman was still playing for the Auburn Tigers.

But hasn't Texas also had talented squads that failed to reach the national title game? Yes again. The 2024 Longhorns featured three players who would become 2025 first-round picks: New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. (pick No. 9), Denver Broncos cornerback Jahdae Barron (pick No. 20) and Green Bay Packers WR Matthew Golden (pick No. 23). Despite that, they lost to the eventual champion Ohio State Buckeyes 28-14 in the CFP semifinal.

That said, this year feels different ... for real. Otherwise, Texas sixth-year head coach Steve Sarkisian wouldn't be suggesting this may be his best team.

"I would say probably for the first time I feel like we have the top-level talent across the board, position by position, on both sides of the ball," the coach told On3's Chris Low for a story published March 30. "But, yet, we also have the depth behind it across the board."

The 2026 Longhorns clearly resemble a maxed-out Ultimate Team in the video game "EA Sports College Football." With that in mind, it's national title-or-bust for Texas, which hasn't won a championship since the 2005 season. The expectation shouldn't be anything less.