It's really just friends giving each other a hard time.
Still, it's a little added motivation.
A few former Longhorns, including Seth Johnston and Taylor Teagarden, have been hanging around Texas' baseball team lately, teasing some of the current players.
"A couple of guys have been in the weight room making fun of us and saying, 'Hey guys, you got that ring yet?'" Longhorn third baseman Travis Tucker said.
Pitcher Austin Wood added, "Every time I see Taylor he's asking me when we're getting to Omaha next."
The Longhorns, six-time national champions, haven't made it to the College World Series since they won it in 2005. A two-year drought isn't anything to panic about, but getting to Omaha, Neb., is the standard at Texas.
Joking around with the young guys is just a way for the alumni to remind them of that.
"I just tell [Teagarden] we're working hard every day to get there and try to continue the tradition," Wood said.
Texas aims to get back to the World Series this year with a young roster, including 22 newcomers and no seniors returning as starters. Several questions surround the 2008 squad, yet the Longhorns are anything but short on confidence.
"It looks like a great year every year," junior outfielder Kyle Russell said.
Coach Augie Garrido has a way of making things come together for him and said he believes the younger guys will be fine filling in different roles.
"Hopefully several of them will step forward and make the best out of their opportunities, and that's what it's going to take," Garrido said. "We didn't know who Huston Street was when he came on campus, but by the end of his freshman year we knew who he was."
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