Texas dismisses LB Smith days before opener
Sarkisian cut a starter for conduct detrimental to the team, Cole Hutson is back on the interior line, and Trevor Goosby's knee is now a question with Texas State eight days out.
Sarkisian dismissed a starter, and he didn't try to make it sound better than it is
Ty'Anthony Smith put up 60 tackles, 5.5 for loss, two picks and two forced fumbles a year ago, and eight days before kickoff he's off the team. Sarkisian confirmed the dismissal himself: "He was dismissed. Conduct detrimental to the team. That's just what it is. I didn't like it. It's an unfortunate situation." Smith had missed Texas's first scrimmage with the flu, returned to practice, and was gone by Friday night, according to ESPN and the Daily Texan.
The timing matters because Smith wasn't just a name on the roster — he was in a real competition at linebacker with Pitt transfer Rasheem Biles and Florida State transfer Justin Cryer, and Sarkisian had already been singling out Cryer's camp, saying he's "squeezing every ounce of juice that he can out of this opportunity to be at Texas." That job is now Cryer's or Biles's to lose outright, with less than two weeks to sort it out before Texas State comes to DKR. It is the kind of camp story a fan actually wants — a scrimmage battle now decided by a locker-room decision instead of a snap count.
They closed 2025 by blowing out Michigan, and Sarkisian still isn't over how the season was judged
Texas finished last season by hanging 41 on Michigan on December 31, a fifth win in its final six games after a rough stretch that included a 35-10 loss at Georgia. It was a statement way to close the book on 2025, and it's the score every Longhorns fan will point to walking into this opener.
But the number that actually still bothers this staff is 9-3 — the record Texas finished the regular season with, and the one that kept it out of the Playoff field entirely. Sarkisian brought it up unprompted this summer: "The committee's got to show us what happens now, and what's the value that they're placing on strength of schedule. Are we ever going to let a 9-3 team in as an at-large? We'll find out." That grievance is the real subtext of this camp — not just replacing bodies, but building a résumé the committee can't wave off again.
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Offensive lineman Cole Hutson is officially back on the Longhorns' roster after settling his eligibility fight with the NCAA, his attorney confirming the agreement earlier this month. Hutson had exhausted his eligibility last fall, taken tryouts with the Browns and Cowboys without landing a deal, then won a fifth year through the same kind of injunction fight that's become a fixture of this offseason — his attorney's statement put it simply: "Cole is thrilled to be playing with his beloved Longhorn teammates." It's a genuine reinforcement up front, not a depth-chart afterthought, for a line that just lost certainty at another spot.
That's because starting guard Trevor Goosby had an MRI on his left knee and was diagnosed with a bone bruise, with no firm timetable yet for his return. Covers' aggregated injury table lists him Questionable for the Texas State opener with the same caveat every hedge on that list carries — it remains to be seen whether he suits up, not that he will or won't. Wide receiver D. McCutcheon is on that same list, Questionable with an illness reported earlier in camp, which means Sarkisian could be piecing together his week-one lineup on both sides of the ball with question marks still unresolved.
A 30.5-point number and a home crowd that hasn't seen a game since New Year's Eve
Texas opens the season at home against Texas State on September 5 at 2:30 PM at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, and the line opened at -30.5 for the Longhorns with the total set at 60.5 — a number that reads high-scoring even for a game this lopsided. Texas State finished last season 41-10 over Rice and has yet to play a game in 2026, so there's no fresh form to measure against, just a roster trying to survive a night in Austin.
It's a soft landing before the season gets real fast — Ohio State comes to the same building a week later — which makes this opener less about the scoreboard and more about who Texas trusts by kickoff: which linebacker won the job Smith left open, and whether Goosby's knee lets him take the first snap of the year.