Bevo’s Daily Roundup: Speculation swells as Texas prepares to take on ranked Utah

Is there much to look forward to this bowl season for Texas Longhorns fans?

It’s a question worth asking ourselves as Texas football prepares to take on the No. 11 Utah Utes in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on New Year’s Eve. The Utes are coming off the cusp of the College Football Playoff. If not for their upset loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 Championship game over the weekend, history might have dealt the Longhorns a different hand.

However, this is where stand today – in preparation for the Longhorns’ biggest game of the year.

Will they end on a strong note? It’s hard to say, though it never hurts to speculate.

WHAT THE WISE MEN ARE SAYING ABOUT TEXAS FOOTBALL

Hookem.com: Golden: The Alamo Bowl is much bigger for Texas than visiting Utah

247Horns: Tom Herman faces ‘a tough proposition’ revamping Texas’ offense

NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE IN LONGHORN LAND

• According to a report in the Austin American-Statesman’s Hookem.com, Duncanville senior quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson, who’s finished 39-2 over his high school career, is stoked to let loose as a future Longhorn. “You got a dog coming,” Jackson reported said in his message to Texas fans. “There is nothing in my way that will stop me from what I want to be.” Per the report, Jackson will officially ink his commitment with Texas on Dec. 18.

• Four Texas volleyball players received honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Southwest region, which recognizes the 14 best players from Baylor, Oklahoma, Rice, Texas and Texas State. Senior Micaya White, sophomores Logan Eggleston and Jhenna Gabriel and freshman Skylar Fields were among those to receive the all-region accolade for the Horns, a plentiful harvest for the No. 2 team in the NCAA Tournament.

• After their original partnership ended in 2016, Texas athletics has signed a new 12-year deal worth $96 million with Collegiate Licensing Co., which notably managed the university’s athletics brand in the late 1990s and later helped the Longhorns become the college sports icon we recognize today, the Austin American-Statesman’s Hookem.com reports. The UT System Board of Regents approved the new contract earlier this week. It lasts through June 2032 and is worth roughly $8 million each year.

• Blast from the past: former Longhorns quarterback and national champion Vince Young was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Young, who was under center for the Horns during their 2005 championship run, will be inducted alongside fellow collegiate greats like Terry Holt, Darren McFadden, Joe Thomas, Raghib Ismail, Troy Polamalu, among others. Young will be the 23rd former Texas player to be inducted into the College Football of Fame. His former head coach Mack Brown was inducted it last year. In a statement, Young said of the honor: “This honor means the world to me and my family, and as I think about it, two powerful words say it all: life changing.”