Aaron Taylor explains why Texas could have ‘growing pains’ early in 2025 season
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Aaron Taylor feels that Texas will be a good team once more in 2025. The CBS Sports college football analyst, though, thinks there’s a caveat concerning the Longhorns.
“That defense, in my opinion, is going to have to lead the charge early so that they can have some growing pains, because Arch Manning, for all the expectations, we’ve seen him play in bits and spurts, but we haven’t seen him start,” Taylor said.
Texas opens the season at Ohio State on Aug. 30. Taylor noted that the Longhorns have been a strong team away from DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium over the past few years, having won an FBS-best 11 straight true road games. Their next three after the Buckeyes, though, are San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston State at home.
“Going to Ohio State, where they’re a road dog, bodes well for the team and being able to prepare. But they also don’t really have these big games to open,” Taylor said.
While Taylor doesn’t feel that the Longhorns are “built yet,” he added that “by midseason” the Longhorns could be considered “the SEC favorites.” That doesn’t necessarily mean he thinks they’ll get to the SEC Championship Game, though.
“I’ve got Georgia and Alabama and Atlanta when it’s all said and done,” he said. “But I think it’s going to be a wild and fun ride for Texas this year, just not early.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
