Who is ready for a sequel? It’s summer, after all. Last year I wrote about who The People’s Champ would be for Longhorn fans, here’s part II for 2025. [Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!] What makes The People’s Champ? From last year: Thinking about Roschon Johnson got me […]
Who is ready for a sequel? It’s summer, after all.
Last year I wrote about who The People’s Champ would be for Longhorn fans,here’s part II for 2025.
[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!]
What makes The People’s Champ? From last year:
Thinking about Roschon Johnson got me thinking about players who are fan favorites, or The People’s Champ of a particular season. What differentiates The People’s Champ from the team’s best player, you ask? Well, the team’s MVP is typically recognized outside of our own fanbase, whereas The People’s Champ feels like family. You’d go to war for The People’s Champ, think about getting their jersey at minimum, but you’re also considering buying them a Christmas stocking, and after a few drinks, you could be talked into a tattoo. What’s more, you’d sucker punch someone who you heard speaking badly about them.
So I’d probably count out Arch Manning as being The People’s Champ. If the legions of children around Texas who are returning to school this week in Manning jerseys are reading this, they’re now pissed off at me.
That doesn’t mean Arch won’t be the best or the most popular—he’s certainly the most famous. Will he host SNL this year? Don’t count it out.
There’s an indie band quality to The People’s Champ where they’re reserved for your team more than the masses. How many of you have ever said a comment: I’d like that player if he was on MY team.
Well, there you go.
Here’s the TPC award criteria…
Criteria for The People’s Champ, which I constructed after some half-assed research:
Family: Already established, but The People’s Champ feels like the fan’s family, which is something increasingly rare in college sports. Do you need established history with a People’s Champ? I’d like to think so. History as in following their high school recruitment or watching their development from a young pup.
Discovery: My friends I grew up with and I have countless arguments about who discovered something that we love. Who discovered a particular band, movie, etc. The People’s Champ has to have an element of that to it. Sure, they can be a household name among UT fans, or even a name that later becomes an MVP or a legend (sometimes in that same season, like Bijan in 2020), but outsiders are less familiar with them in the season they win the award. There’s an element of discovery, of being early to the party and being proud of it. I remember telling a teacher once I went to a George Strait concert at the Frank Erwin Center and they responded with something like, “Oh, you like George Strait’s music? That’s nice, I saw George play a 25-person show under the Luling water tower back in 1976.”
Hope: The People’s Champ allows the fans to dream, either about that particular season or what’s to come in the future about the program at large, even if they’re leaving. A team’s established best player gives you belief: “I know we won’t lose this game because Vince Young is our quarterback.” But the hope that The People’s Champ infuses into the fanbase is different—it’s a hope that the current season could be special or even a feeling that future ones could be.
Moments: Maybe the biggest thing that the best player on a team and The People’s Champ share in common, but the moments are different. An MVP produces moments that don’t seem possible for us mortals. Think about Bijan Robinson’s run against OU in 2021 where he stiff-armed Billy Bowman into the Earth’s mantle and you knew you were watching one of the greats tote the rock. Whereas The People’s Champ’s moments have an element of grit, like Whittington’s forced fumble or Roschon Johnson’s hurdling of diving defenders.
Surprise: You don’t always see The People’s Champ coming, albeit for different reasons depending on the player. Certain players like Bijan or Xavier Worthy you might expect big things from, but not yet, not that season. Others, like Jordan Whittington, T’Vondre Sweat, or Devin Duvernay might have seemed as if their story was already written and they might be forgotten, but then they etched a different history into Longhorn lore.
Adversity (Addendum): Usually, The People’s Champ has fought through something—injuries, a near transfer, early lack of playing time, doing the little things only hardcore fans notice.
Here’s where I blew it last year.
I think I got too cute with my projections when the answer was right in front of me. So, I excluded Jahdae Barron from being able to win since he was too familiar of a name. I also didn’t see Jaydon Blue imagining the football as a literal bar of soap coming.
Was Jahdae Barron just too familiar to me and Texas fans who are too online? Probably so.
He did have familiarity among Longhorn faithful before, but in 2024 there was the meteoric rise into the Thorpe Award, the first round of the NFL Draft and a place in Texas fans’ forever hearts. That’s what made him The People’s Champ of 2024.
Past People’s Champions (we’re strategically starting this list in the era that I’ve entitled Post Charlie Strong, or PCS):
2017: Sam Ehlinger. Remember as a true freshman when he almost led an incredible comeback against a superior OU team and then taunted the Oklahoma fans after a loss? I do.
I wanted to put Michael Dickson here, but I think he was too good and probably the team MVP, which is a sad thing to say about a punter. The fact that Mensa Tom relied a punter to get him to a bowl victory might have been an early red herring. In recognition of all the sickos out there, I wanted to give Reggie Hemphill-Mapps the award, alas. Hope Reggie is doing well wherever he is.
2018: Lil’ Jordan Humphrey. A player with a name so good you wanted to change your own.
2019: Devin Duvernay.
2020: Bijan Robinson. A late-season ray of hope in an otherwise bleak year at Texas for more reasons than I care to remember.
2021: Xavier Worthy. Amidst a 5-7 season, a young Worthy served as proof of concept for what Steve Sarkisian was trying to build in Austin.
2022: Roschon Johnson.I wrote an ode to him two years ago.
2023: Jordan Whittington. Though he probably shares the award with T’Vondre Sweat and Jonathon Brooks, his forced fumble after an interception against TCU might have saved the season. At the time I wrote: “It was a winning play made up of football coach buzzwords like effort, grit, tenacity, and heart.”
2024: Jahdae Barron.Here’s my ode to the now Broncos cornerback from last season.
Who will it be in 2025?Let’s take a look at the candidates for this season.
I’m going to exclude nationally known names Manning, Anthony Hill and Colin Simmons. I’m doing so at my own peril, I know.
And as much as I like DJ Campbell and Trevor Goosby, it’s also tough seeing a lineman win it. Sorry to the big fellas.
The Dark Horses: A heavy dose of “I discovered him!”
WR Parker Livingstone. Ian Boyd tipped over a sacred cow last week when he asked if Manning to Livingstone was the next McCoy to Shipley. So I won’t go there again. But what if it is?
RB Christian Clark. Back from an Achilles tear, a return from injury always resonates with people. Clark might make people feel like they’re watching an independent film of the Bijan Robinson story.
S Jonah Williams. I have to hedge here and make sure I cover myself in case the two-sport athlete makes waves this year. However, a lingering hamstring issue has limited him in camp and he probably won’t pop on the gridiron this fall as much as he did on the diamond for Jim Schlossnagle.
The Cheat Codes: Too Good in a Superhuman type of way for This Award? (like Bijan became after 2020)
Could Ryan Wingo and Jelani McDonald make such superhuman plays for the Longhorns they are no longer eligible for this? I’m betting on it.
The Silas Bolden Hustle Award Candidates. WR Silas Bolden might not have been TPC last year, but he certainly made the Winning Play of the year with his hustle God fumble recovery against Oklahoma in the endzone of the Cotton Bowl. Who could do that in 2025? While also gaining enough playing time to capture the award?
WR Ryan Niblett. Sarkisian loves the jack-of-all-trades junior and has praised him endlessly in fall camp. I’d expect Niblett to do a lot of what players like Silas Bolden and Keilan Robinson have done in the past.
RB Quintrevion Wisner. Tre is one of the leaders on the team and a heat-seeking missile who put the team on his back against Texas A&M and Kentucky last season. With a more stable running back room this year, Wisner might be asked to do less, but I wouldn’t count out a Roschon Johnson-type impact on this team.
The Clubhouse Favorites
WR DeAndre Moore Jr. Moore popped last year then had an inconsistent end to the season. He thought about transferring and stayed in Austin.
The California native had a workmanlike offseason and is playing great in fall camp. Inside Texas expects him to have a big leap in production and in the minds of NFL scouts. Plus, Moore made his intentions very clear: “First and foremost, I want to win a natty. I think we’ve gotten to the doorstep two years in a row—two too many for my liking. So I want to win a national championship.”
RB CJ Baxter. Baxter is back after a heartbreaking injury on the first day of camp in 2024. He was a huge piece of the Longhorns’ 2023 team which won the Big 12 title and made it to the CFP semis against Washington.
Read Evan Vieth’s article on Baxter’s journey back to health.
Now, Baxter is back and healthy and playing with such strength Sarkisian is realizing the pitch count may need to be ramped up earlier than expected. And he’s dating Longhorn Softball star Mia Scott, who just won a national championship on a torn ACL.
The people love relationships, injury comebacks and narrative symmetry.
I wrote all this almost as a formality, didn’t I?
The former Westlake Chaparral turned walk-on turned Arch Manning recruiting savant turned All-American is the stuff of People’s Champ fantasies. There’s also the fact that Texas fans rushed to defend Taaffe after the treatment he received following The Peach Bowl.
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Additionally, a delegation of TPC committee members also awarded him 10,000 TPC points for his declaration when he announced his return: “the job’s not over, and the mission’s not finished. It’s time to finish that mission. Longhorn Nation, let’s run it back.”
Taaffe is the preemptive favorite to be The People’s Champ in 2025, because he already is. Go ahead and make him Austin’s mayor when he’s done with the NFL.
Category: General Sports
