- Ready to leave the corporate Rat Race for the American Dream?
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Andy can help!!!
Andy is a franchise consultant (as well as franchise owner) and helps people find franchises that fit their skill sets, financial requirements, time to commit and more….
His services are 100% free and he’s here to help if you have any questions about business ownership.
Learn more about Andy and franchise ownership through these resources:
Andy’s Story
Why a Franchise
Service Based vs Brick and Mortar
Semi Absentee Ownership
The Process and How It works
Andy Luedecke
www.MyPerfectFranchise.Net
p: 404-973-9901
e: [email protected]
Book time with me at: Andy’s Calendar
*****
Texas has had luck with Melissa, Texas offensive tackles that come to Texas looking like they might need a little time to develop (see Trevor Goosby) and it looks like Kyle Flood has gone back to that well. When Max Wright committed to Texas, it shouldn’t have been too big a surprise to anyone paying close attention based on the feedback he’d always given in interviews following various trips and visits to Austin for recruiting.
But what does it tell us about the plan for 2026 OL recruiting and how does Max Wright fit in? Is he similar to Goosby? Well, I figured it would be good to go back and see what I wrote about Goosby at the time of his commitment just to brush up and not the fact that Goosby has turned into a total stud cloud my judgement about how he was perceived coming in at Texas:
Originally committed to TCU, Goosby is not as complete at this time as Jaydon Chatman (the current top-rated Texas OL recruit of the 2023 cycle) but Goosby could have the most upside. He’s by far the most athletic of any of the four OL Texas picked up over the course of the last week during the avalanche that followed Arch Manning’s commitment.
Goosby’s has an angular, athletic build that stands in stark contrast to the other behemoths Texas was able to reel in over the last week. He has long arms and looks like he’d be just as home on a basketball court as he is on a football field … in fact, he sort of is, he’s an excellent basketball player.
Goosby will be a tackle and is certain to redshirt. He’s explosive, but currently plays with high pads and needs to hone in his punch both with more strength and better precision striking with his hands. He plays with a really good motor, but can be just a little bit unwieldy in his locomotion. It’s not a knock on his athleticism as much as it is saying that he just needs to play a little more football and get better technique. If you’re looking for a developmental-type of tackle prospect, Goosby is the absolute poster-child. And all of the sudden, Texas has a group of young OLs in the 2022 class that, by all appearances, come to Texas with a little bit more ready-made ability to play early. It will afford Goosby the time he needs to get his game together. He could be a really good one by as soon as his sophomore season.
So, the evaluation on Goosby was actually pretty spot on. I didn’t necessarily bake in the bodily transformation that really helped with his major ascension this last season when thrown into duty, but that was always going to factor in to some degree.
When I look at Wright, I don’t see a similarly athletic prospect first off. To me, if we’re talking 2023 class comparisons, he’s more Connor Stroh based on the HUDL highlights than Trevor Goosby. Wright’s superpower is his massive length and wingspan which are both truly spectacular. He moves well enough, but his feet can be a little clunky. The thing that I was most pleased NOT to see in Wright was the first thing I look for in super-tall offensive line prospects: does he get his body weight out over the balls of his feet and get overextended? That’s like OL cancer. The good news is, he seems to keep an athletic base and has good baseline balance. That’s a really good sign for a 6-7 prospect who could easily be prone to waist-bending in order to get to preferred strike angles in engagement with edge defenders.
Wright does a lot of things really well, but it’s hard to point out one thing in his actual game that pops off as truly outstanding. He’s strong enough, has surprisingly good balance, could use some refinement in his footwork but can climb to the second level and engage well in free space. You’d like to see him be a little nastier a little more often with his finishes that we see on some plays, but all the traits are there to be built on. I thought Goosby could be a contributor by Year 2 given his eye-popping natural athleticism coupled with great traits, whereas I see Wright as more of a slower bake that could take an extra year on top of that timeline. You can’t teach his length, though, and if he fills out in the ways we’ve come to expect from the current S&C staff, we’ll be looking at a substantial piece at right tackle.
I view Wright’s commitment as sort of a supporting character in the Horns 2026 OL recruiting strategy. It feels like they’ll take 3 tackles and with Felix Ojo sort of sticking out as the one who Flood could be most keen about, it could be a three-man group of Wright, Zaden Krempin and Ojo or a similar combo could make sense along with 2-3 interior guys. It makes you wonder if that means that John Turntine is still squarely in the picture or not, or if the staff could possibly view him as having more of a guard’s body. It might be hard to land Turntine and Ojo both with one big-enough fish tackle already on the old stringer. For the record, I still would have Turntine ranked ahead of these guys as of now even as a college tackle (admitting that Ojo’s size likely gives him more ultimate theoretical upside), but we all understand that Flood has his types and is to be trusted in his evaluations. He’s done zero to inspire any doubt in this realm.
So, welcome to the 40 Acres, Maximus Wright. In Kyle Flood we all trust.
*****
Catching up on Book Reviews!
(for the first time since football season started, so buckle up for a bunch!)
The Shepherds Series by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson
(Dark Intercept, Dark Angel, Dark Fall)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: When dark forces rise, are faith and firepower enough?
On the eve of his medical retirement, Navy SEAL Jedidiah Johnson receives a frantic call from his estranged childhood best friend David Yarnell. David’s daughter has been kidnapped off the streets of Nashville in broad daylight. The police have no suspects and no leads. The only clue: the body of a dead priest left behind at the scene. With the clock ticking, David is growing desperate, as is his wife, Rachel . . . Jed’s first love.
Despite his painful history with David and Rachel, Jed agrees to help. But he’s spent his career as a door-kicking Navy SEAL, not an investigator. His presence immediately draws unwanted attention, creates friction with the local police, and triggers a mysterious attempt on his life. Just when he thinks things can’t get worse, it starts to happen again―the voices in his head, the nightmares, the visions. Dark memories and strange abilities, things he believed he’d left behind when he fled Nashville for the Navy at eighteen, begin to resurface.
Jed realizes that to save the missing girl, he must take a leap of faith and embrace the gifts he’s denied for all these years. To foil this dark intercept, he’ll need more than just his years as a SEAL operator, because he has no choice now but to take up arms and join the battle in the unseen spiritual warfare raging all around him. And there is far more at stake than just a missing girl: the world is not the place he thought it was―and he is not alone.
Follow the military heroes of The Shepherds series as they bring the power of light into the dark mystery of Sara Beth’s abduction.
ALEX’S THOUGHTS: The dynamic duo of Andrews and Wilson simply don’t miss. Any time I have found myself not wanting to search for a new book to read, I just look for books by these guys knowing they will be bangers. As you’ll see, that will be a theme with this set of recommendations as I really don’t have time during football season to spend it looking for new and interesting books to read. When in doubt, look for books by these guys. Fortunately, this may be my favorite series the guys have done. It’s basically elite, kick-ass operators working alongside Jedidah Johnson, who is portrayed in the mold of John Dempsey, the Gray Man and James Reece. His group of operators are doing spy craft and counter-intel work, but are doing it in service of God against the dark forces in the universe praying on the souls of humanity and wreaking havoc. Unfortunately, I think I have finally read everything that Andrews and Wilson have written at this point, so it’s just a waiting game until their next novel comes out. THIS SERIES OF BOOKS IS ELITE AND GETS THE EVER-ELUSIVE 5 STARS!!!!!
Julian’s Numbers: A Ghost Story by Jeffrey Wilson
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Julian wants more than anything to be like every other kid—skateboard, hang out with friends, have sleepovers, and tease his little brother and sister. But Julian has a special gift, one which, to him, feels more of a curse.
In his dreams, he is visited by spirits who tell him things—sometimes very important things.
He has called these “tell-you” dreams since he was little, and he knows now to keep them secret, ever since one such dream came true when the little Mendes girl down the street was murdered in her basement.
But now, Julian will need the ghosts from his dreams more than ever. Voices have given him the winning lottery numbers and he and his family are setting out on a family sailing vacation on their new sailboat, Julian’s Numbers.
The dreams are warning him of an evil that will capture his mother and put his entire family—and maybe much more—at risk. He will need to listen to his ghosts if he is to have any chance of stopping the growing evil aboard their yacht and save his family from certain death…
ALEX’S THOUGHTS: Again, when in doubt, look for Andrews and Wilson, but in this case, the book is a standalone, solo-novel from Wilson and is a ghost story-type of thriller. I don’t know how these two write so many books and keep up the quality. The title refers to a very creepy and ghostly vision the main character sees with six numbers, those numbers are then used by his father to go ahead and win the powerball despite warnings to Julian from his otherworldly spirits that speak to him. His father, a maniacal fan of sailing, buys a yacht and you can guess what he names it. What happens on the boat’s maiden voyage with the family is pure madness. It’s a fun, creepy ghost story book if you’re into that kind of thing, and I would imagine fans of sailing and boats would like it even more as a lot of the book is Julian’s dad teaching him the basics of the boat’s operation. It’s worth reading and I give it 3.75 stars.
Sons of Valor Series by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson
(Sons of Valor, Violence of Action, War Machine)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Navy SEAL Keith “Chunk” Redman has been one of the military’s top doorkickers since the day he pinned on his trident: loyal, single-minded, lethal. Tasked to lead a new, covert team of Tier One SEALs—the most elite special operators in the world—Chunk can no longer simply rely on the status quo. To safeguard America, he needs help to stay a step ahead of its adversaries.
Brilliant at spotting patterns in the data that others miss, ex-CIA analyst Whitney Watts sees evidence of a troubling link between illicit Chinese arms sales and an attack on a US military convoy in Afghanistan. If she’s right, it would portend not only massive casualties, but a devastating threat to global stability.
Sons of war …
From the ashes of a never-ending war, a new generation of terrorists has arisen: sophisticated, tech-savvy, and hiding in plain sight among America’s allies. Battered by the Taliban and by the West, they call themselves al Qadr—Power and Destiny—and they’re determined to wrest back control of their homeland. Armed with a powerful combat drone, they can strike with deadly precision at US forces in the region—but their ambitions reach far, far beyond that.
ALEX’S THOUGHTS: This is Andrews and Wilson’s spinoff from the elite Tier One series and something that I had been holding out on reading because I love the Tier One novels so much and thought this was going to be a sort of cheap imitation. That was wrong. Chunk Redman is an absolute unit — a totally psychotic killer and a monster, but if you’re a native Texan, you’ll love his Texas sensibilities and style. Casting him alongside intel ace Whitney Watts (who is not really too used to the rough-around-the-edges life of living among elite special operators) makes for a really interesting push-and-pull relationship that brings out a lot of the humanity and humor in both as they carry out their borderline suicidal missions. As usual, it’s another banger from my guys Andrews and Wilson. Never fails. IT GETS 4.75 STARS!
A Woman Underground by Andrew Klavan
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Cameron Winter is troubled in heart and mind. He’s plagued by memories of his time as a government operative investigating a notorious Turkish sex trafficker. The fact that the mission was left unfinished still haunts him and threatens to tear him apart. In the midst of his painful soul-searching, Winter crosses paths with an ex-flame—his first love—and the chance encounter ignites a passion he thought was long lost. But just as soon as she wanders back into Winter’s life, the woman vanishes, leaving Winter scrambling to track her down.
His pursuit takes him deep into a world rent by partisan violence, where extremists clash and Winter sides with no one. As he faces his most dangerous case yet, victory might simply mean getting out alive.
ALEX’S THOUGHTS: This is another book in what I guess has become the Cameron Winter series — even though I have reviewed these books separately for this list in the past. I figured it was best to continue like that, because they all genuinely read as totally standalone novels. Cameron Winter is a really weird dude. He’s an ex-elite operative who is now an English professor, but he’s on the verge of insanity, needs psychotherapy multiple times a week, and has a “strange habit of mind” where he has a gift for solving crimes and mysteries. This one involves a former love interest of Winter’s (basically his ONLY love interest since he was about six years old) re-entering his life in the strangest of ways: she comes to his apartment and leaves a book which he finds to be a cult classic among neo-nazis where the female lead seems to be her. Of course, Winter gets to work figuring out what all this means and ass-kicking, mystery-solving and Klavan’s signature twists and turns ensue. Really good book, I give it 3.75 stars.
Rage: A Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International Novel by Jonathan Maberry
FROM THE PUBLISHER: A small island off the coast of Korea is torn apart by a bioweapon that drives everyone – men, women, and children – insane with murderous rage. The people behind the attack want Korea reunified or destroyed. No middle ground. No mercy. Soon Japan, China, and the United States are pushed to the brink of war, while terrorists threaten to release the rage bioweapon in a way of pure destructive slaughter. Joe Ledger leads his newly formed band of international troubleshooters in their first mission to stop the terror cell, fighting alongside agents from North and South Korea. With the lives of billions at stake, Ledger is willing to bring his own brand of terror to this frightening new war.
ALEX’S THOUGHTS: I just can’t do it with this book. The only way I have to put it is like this: it’s like you asked an AI program to make a novel in the mold of all the mystery and spy thrillers that are actually good. I quit reading it — which says something for a guy who can be as cheap as me — and IT DOES NOT MAKE THE LIST!
*****
– Alex’s Daily Short Reading List (updated 2-6-2024)
Books I’ve read or listened to on Audiobook since I’ve been sharing these reviews on OB (this list is not encompassing of all of my favorite books although it certainly includes a few of them – books I recommend reading/listening to start at 3.5 stars – I will review every book I read, but only list those that I awarded 3.5 stars and up here).
ALL Books Are Linked Below !!!!!!
Lonesome Dove (5 stars)
Joe Pickett Series (5 stars)
The Undoing Project (5 stars)
The Accidental Superpower (5 stars)
I Am Pilgrim (5 stars)
Empire of the Summer Moon (5 stars)
Gridiron Genius (5 Stars)
The Cartel (5 stars)
Disunited Nations (5 stars)
Lone Survivor (5 stars)
The Terminal List Series (5 stars)
The Gray Man Series (5 stars)
The Year of the Locust (5 stars)
The Shepherds Series (5 stars)
The Son (4.75 stars)
Seasons of Man Series (4.75 stars)
The Lincoln Highway (4.75 stars)
The 4-Hour Work Week (4.75 stars)
Astroball (4.75 stars)
Project Hail Mary (4.75 stars)
Tier One Series (4.75 stars)
Armored Series (4.75 stars)
Sons of Valor Series (4.75 stars)
Shantaram (4.5 stars)
Dueling With Kings (4.5 stars)
Wanderers (4.5 stars)
Damascus Station (4.5 stars)
American Assassin (4.5 stars)
Back of Beyond (4.25 stars)
Blue Heaven (4.25 stars)
The Border (4.25 stars)
Wrath of the Khans – Dan Carlin Podcast Series (4.25 stars)
The Time it Never Rained (4.25 stars)
Hard Country (4.25 stars)
This Tender Land (4 stars)
Supermarket (4 stars)
Ready Player Two (4 stars)
When Christmas Comes (4 stars)
Hollywood Park (4 stars)
Fields of Fire (4 stars)
Terminal Rage (4 stars)
Eruption (4 stars)
Orphan X (3.75 stars)
The Great Alone (3.75 stars)
Hunting El Chapo (3.75 stars)
The President is Missing (3.75 stars)
The First Conspiracy (3.75 stars)
REAMDE (3.75 stars)
American Wolf (3.75 stars)
The End is Always Near (3.75 stars)
Second Wind (3.75 stars)
The End of the World is Just the Beginning (3.75 stars)
A Strange Habit of Mind (3.75 stars)
The River (3.75 stars)
The House of Love and Death (3.75 stars)
The Sandbox (3.75 stars)
This Side of Night (3.75 stars)
Four Minutes (3.75 stars)
A Woman Underground (3.75 stars)
Julian’s Numbers (3.75 stars)
A Bright Shore (3.5 stars)
The Lost City of the Monkey God (3.5 stars)
The Summer That Melted Everything (3.5 stars)
The North Water (3.5 stars)
Deep Survival (3.5 stars)
The Boy From the Woods (3.5 stars)
The Frackers (3.5 stars)
Arliss Cutter Series (3.5 stars)
The Drifter (3.5 stars)
Worst Case Scenario (3.5 stars)
AS ALWAYS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ANY BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND, PREFERABLY THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON AUDIOBOOK. MANY OF THE BEST BOOKS ON THIS LIST HAVE COME VIA RECOMMENDATIONS ON ORANGEBLOODS.
