Portal powerhouses and defensive grit ignite Texas sports. Expect thrilling transfers and a hoops squad finally playing with serious intensity.
If you’re wondering what the mood is around Texas athletics right now, Timm “IndyCarTim” Hamm summed it up perfectly on the latest episode of The Texas Longhorns Daily Blitz Podcast.
“Well,” Hamm said, pausing for effect, “Texas hoops is — how do we say this politely? They’re not ******* around.”
That line alone tells you where things stand.
The biggest jolt of energy on the football side comes from the transfer portal, where former Ole Miss edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen has officially entered the mix. Hamm didn’t mince words about the production.
“This is not a depth piece,” Hamm said. “This is a dude. Nine sacks, 45 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 51 pressures — that’s grown-man production.”
If Texas were to land Umanmielen, the implications are massive. Pairing him with Colin Simmons, who led the SEC with 12 sacks last season, would give the Longhorns one of the most terrifying pass-rush tandems in the country.
“I get chills just thinking about it,” Hamm admitted. “That’s the kind of thing that makes offensive coordinators start Googling stress-management techniques.”
The intrigue only deepens because Umanmielen is essentially homegrown, hailing from Manor just east of Austin. Hamm pointed to past examples of local stars returning home, but also cautioned that this recruitment could get expensive and competitive in a portal era that now resembles free agency.
That leads directly to the other hot name: Jordan Seaton, the top-ranked offensive tackle in the portal. While Texas has shown interest, Hamm questioned the roster math.
“If you already have 10 pairs of shoes, do you need an 11th?” he joked, before launching into a story about buying a CD player instead of a vacuum cleaner as a broke teenager.
The point landed: resources matter, and Texas already has multiple tackles on the roster after adding Melvin Ciani and Brandon Baker.
“If you’re paying premium money, you’re not paying it for a rotation guy,” Hamm said. “Fit, money, and lineup all have to make sense.”
While football headlines dominate, basketball has quietly flipped the script. Texas has knocked off No. 13 Alabama and No. 10 Vanderbilt in back-to-back games, and the latter wasn’t about hot shooting - it was about defense.
The locker-room moment that followed went viral, with head coach Sean Miller telling his team, “Show up like you expect to win. This is the University of Texas. We’re not effing around here.”
Hamm loved it.
“That’s a quote you put on the wall,” he said. “Miller’s coaching, not coddling, and the team is responding.”
With portal decisions looming and momentum building on the hardwood, one thing is clear: in Austin right now, expectations aren’t theoretical anymore. They’re being enforced.