The Texas Longhorns Pro Day Was a Sendoff to Remember
The Texas Longhorns 2025 Pro Day was both celebratory and final.
It sure was a gift to see the 2024 Longhorns gathered together one last time. What a legacy they and Steve Sarkisian have left at Texas. It struck me that it was the last time we’d see them all on the same field, on the same team, in the same uniform, all competing together.
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They laughed and threw out each other’s nicknames. They pushed each other for every rep on the bench press and encouraged one another onward for each tenth of a millisecond to be gained on the 40-yard dash.
Though draft locks like Quinn Ewers, Matthew Golden, and Kelvin Banks went through position drills, it was even more impactful watching current and departed Longhorns cheer on draft hopefuls like David Gbenda, Mo Blackwell, and Hayden Conner. Recent additions like Andrew Mukuba and Silas Bolden never felt like anything less than part of the team. Between the first-round guarantees and the ones on the edge of being drafted, this program was changed by all of them.
Every Longhorn who spoke to the media afterward, from Gunnar Helm, Barryn Sorrell to Vernon Broughton all said that Texas absolutely had a chance to break Georgia’s record of 15 players drafted. For that to be said so emphatically, for it even to be a possibility, is a testament to how these Longhorns squeezed every last drop of the towel during their time in Austin. Look no further than Jake Majors as a testament to that. But also look at Alfred Collins, who redefined their legacies on the 40 Acres by putting together dominant final seasons.
Most of these players were on a team who saw Tom Herman fired, or went 5-7 in Steve Sarkisian’s first season, or were recruited just after.
Now they were the stars of a Pro Day that saw a litany of NFL luminaries: Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, Saints coach Kellen Moore. Those are just a few of the names I witnessed, but every NFL team was represented in “The Bubble.”
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How unbelievable is it to remember zero Longhorns were drafted after Sarkisian’s first season? I didn’t attend the 2022 Pro Day following that season, but I can’t imagine the stark contrast to yesterday. It felt like a celebration or a banquet. One longtime writer who has covered the Longhorns for two decades commented: “They’re gonna start charging us for this thing.”
I remarked to Joe Cook at one point that it felt like every time we looked at Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron, he’d either changed clothes or added layers to his attire. Then the local media in attendance got an audience with the (hopefully) top defensive back taken in April’s draft. Barron delivered an eloquent sermon only he’s capable of giving.
And of course, Barron had a reason for his outfit change, because the Austin native is intentional with practically everything he does.
“I didn’t wear any of the Pro Day gear because it was gray and it was black,” Barron said. “I wanted to wear burnt orange here for one last time.”
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It sure was damn nice seeing Barron and his teammates wear these colors. In every game they put on the Texas uniform and yesterday. Forever.
