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N. Texas QB wows in first start since 9th grade

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N. Texas QB wows in first start since 9th grade


After years of waiting for his chance, Drew Mestemaker got one shot to be a starting quarterback and made the most of it.

The North Texas walk-on hadn’t started a game at quarterback since his freshman year of high school in Austin, Texas, where he later started at safety and was an all-district punter.

But with Mean Green starting quarterback Chandler Morris transferring to Virginia, Mestemaker made his first start in four years against Texas State in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Friday. And he had a day, racking up 448 total yards, going 26-of-41 passing for 393 passing yards and two TDs and adding nine carries for 55 yards, including a 70-yard TD run.

That run — the second longest by an American quarterback in a bowl game — cut Texas State’s lead to two points, 30-28, with 1:49 left, after which Mestemaker went to the sideline and started throwing up into a trash can.

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The freshman’s magic ended when he was intercepted with 12 seconds left, and Texas State held on for its second straight First Responder Bowl win.

Still, North Texas, which had the country’s No. 3 passing offense this season, came away with an incredible story and a potential star.

“That’s the first football game he started at quarterback since the ninth grade, which is just wild to me,” Mean Green coach Eric Morris said of Mestemaker, who backed up current Louisville freshman quarterback Deuce Adams at Vandegrift High in Austin. “To see him go out there and compete the way he did, I mean the kid, he has some traits.”

Morris, who played receiver at Texas Tech under Mike Leach and was later Kliff Kingsbury’s offensive coordinator in Lubbock when Patrick Mahomes played there, had high praise for Mestemaker.

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“I’ve been around some good ones, been blessed to be around a lot of NFL guys in my career, and he has some traits that are just as good or better than some of those guys playing on Sundays right now,” Morris said. “I think you saw the athleticism, the accuracy, the decision-making. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 15 years, Drew Mestemaker’s playing football still.”

Bobcats quarterback Jordan McCloud, who previously played for South Florida, Arizona and James Madison before transferring to Texas State ahead of this season, surpassed 10,000 career passing yards by throwing for 307 and a touchdown in Friday’s win, fending off an opponent who entered with 69 career passing yards in Mestemaker.

“Hats off to North Texas and Coach Morris,” Bobcats coach G.J. Kinne said. “Their backup quarterback came out and played lights out. The last couple of weeks have been the craziest I’ve been a part of in college football.”

North Texas was without top wide receiver DT Sheffield (66 catches, 822 yards, 11 TDs), who transferred to Rutgers, and the Mean Green came in as 13.5-point underdogs. Mestemaker, who had attempted five passes in four appearances as a backup this season, was tasked with picking up for Chandler Morris, who threw for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns this season but then left for the Cavaliers last month.

Mestemaker did that and then some:

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• His 393 passing yards were the second most in First Responder Bowl history, trailing only Case Keenum’s 532 in 2011.

• His 448 yards of total offense tied Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson for the most by any FBS player this bowl season.

• His 393 passing yards were the most in North Texas bowl history and the most ever for a true freshman in his UNT debut.

“The offense never wavered,” said receiver Damon Ward Jr., who has fought through 12 surgeries since 2019 at North Texas and ended his career Friday. “I’ll remember the resiliency and the brotherhood we have. … Drew took command of the offense. He learned all our schemes and took advantage of his opportunity.”

North Texas recently landed its own quarterback transfer in former Albany star Reese Poffenbarger, who threw for 3,603 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2023 and backed up Cam Ward at Miami this season.

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Kinne, however, was impressed by what he saw of Mestemaker as QB1.

“Look, that guy’s athletic, he’s big, obviously you saw the run at the end of the game. I mean I think it’s going to be tough to beat that kid out moving forward,” he said.

Eric Morris agreed, saying after the game that he’s intrigued to see what Mestemaker can do going forward for his team.

“Just watching it right there, he can definitely lead our football program,” he said.



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Austin, TX

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building

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Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building


Emo’s in Austin is on the move again. 

After more than a decade at 2015 E. Riverside Drive (following the original Red River-era venue closing in 2011), Emo’s current Riverside space will be taken over by AEG Presents when the lease ends later this year. The Los Angeles, CA-based company will assume operations in January 2027 and plans to reopen the building under a new name in early 2027 following upgrades, renovations and a full rebrand.

AEG are also opening a new 4,000-cap venue nearby next spring as part of the River Park mixed-use development in southeast Austin.

C3 Presents, who reopened Emo’s at the Riverside location, say this isn’t the end of Emo’s — they’re working on a new home and plan to move the venue back to downtown Austin, with more updates to come.

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AEG Presents Vice President Robin Phillips shared the following:

There’s like no weirdness or any bad blood or anything. It just, you know, new lease and they’ll [Emo’s] go do something great. They have been important to the Austin music scene, so I have a lot of respect for them.

But I don’t think the Austin music scene or legacy is limited to one name. I know people will remember the original Emo’s and this Emo’s as, you know, both great venues… And I don’t think Austin’s music scene is just a name, it’s the artists, in my opinion.

 

A C3 spokesperson added:

Emo’s has a long history in Austin and we’ve been working behind the scenes for some time on a new home for this venue. After we wrap up at this venue in December, we will focus our efforts on our new location.

 

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Emo’s gave the following statement to Austin local news KXAN:

We’re grateful for all of the fans and artists who’ve shaped Emo’s to what it is today: a community of like-minded people who love live music. We have a vision for our future and will be moving into a new building downtown that celebrates our punk rock roots with the new amenities that fans are looking for from a venue. We’ll continue to share updates on the next chapter for Emo’s on social media.





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Austin, TX

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows

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Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows


State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.

What we know:

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Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.

This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.

What they’re saying:

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“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

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Dig deeper:

H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.

TexasHealthPets and AnimalsFood and Drink



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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo

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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo


Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.

Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.

The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.

Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.

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“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.

ALSO| Waymo files voluntary software recall over flooded-lane risks on high-speed roads

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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.

“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.

The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.

Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.

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“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”

Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”

The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.

The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.

Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.

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