Texas Longhorns Freshmen Land Huge All-American Honors

Texas baseball didn’t just get production from its freshmen this season. It got takeover performances.

Anthony Pack Jr. and Sam Cozart, two of the biggest young weapons on the Longhorns’ roster, were named Freshman All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association after delivering the kind of first-year seasons that usually come with a warning label for the rest of the SEC.

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Pack brought the juice at the plate. Cozart slammed the door on the mound. Together, they gave Texas a freshman duo that looked way too comfortable under the brightest lights.

Pack was one of the most dangerous bats in the Texas lineup from the jump. In 58 games, he hit a team-best .359, drove in 52 runs and added a team-high 20 stolen bases.

That speed mark was the best by a Longhorns freshman since Drew Stubbs swiped 28 bags in 2004.

That’s not just a nice rookie year. That’s instant-impact stuff.

And Pack didn’t pad the numbers against soft spots, either. Once SEC play arrived, he got better.

The California native hit .400 in conference games and posted a .511 on-base percentage, becoming the first SEC freshman to hit .400 in league play since Jake Mangum did it in 2016.

For a Texas team navigating one of the toughest baseball conferences in the country, Pack gave the Longhorns a table-setter, run producer and chaos creator all rolled into one.

While Pack was wrecking pitchers, Cozart was making life miserable for hitters.

The North Carolina native finished with a 1.65 ERA, 71 strikeouts and nine saves, tying Portland’s Alex Via for the most saves by a freshman in the nation.

Opposing hitters managed just a .132 batting average against him, which is the kind of number that makes late-game rallies feel hopeless.

Cozart gave Texas a power arm it could trust in the biggest spots. For a freshman, that’s rare. For a freshman in the SEC spotlight, it’s even more impressive.

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association selected 34 players for its Freshman All-America team, and Texas landed two of them. That says plenty about where the Longhorns are headed.

Pack looks like a future centerpiece in the lineup. Cozart already looks like a high-leverage weapon with the poise to handle pressure.

Both have plenty of room to grow, but their first seasons made one thing obvious ... Texas baseball has two young stars with major staying power.

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The Longhorns are chasing championships, not just individual awards. But when two freshmen stack numbers like these, the hardware starts showing up anyway.

And for Pack and Cozart, this feels less like a finish line and more like the opening shot.

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