We are the Joneses - The Official Texas Longhorns Athletics Thread
- Thread starter satam55
- Start date
he's offered two players he's familiar with already but they are from the '16 class. i think the rest of this recruiting season is going to be similar to Strong's recruiting month in 2014...he only has time to go after kids he's built a relationship with at VCU. plus I don't have to tell you how shady AAU basketball recruiting is in Texas. some kids have zero percent chance of coming here simply b/c we're a Nike school. Shaka is going to need some time to get entrenched in that culture.
http://247sports.com/Player/Javin-Montgomery-DeLaurier-71372
http://247sports.com/Player/Bruce-Brown-38700
@backinmyday @dtownreppin214 Can 1 of y'all post the OPs/articles from OB?:
https://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1753828
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211903654&mid=211903654&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211907038&mid=211907038&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211901935&mid=211901935&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211927957&mid=211927957&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1753828
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211903654&mid=211903654&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211907038&mid=211907038&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211901935&mid=211901935&sid=902&style=2
https://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=211927957&mid=211927957&sid=902&style=2
i don't have OB anymore.
Fans of the Texas program who still have hope for incumbent starting QB Tyrone Swoopes - yes, there are some - usually point to 2014 games like Oklahoma and Iowa State as instances when the Texas offense went "up-tempo." These eternal burnt-orange optimists claim Swoopes was a much better quarterback in this setting. But was he? That's the big question, and it's the one we'll answer in this column.
The quote below surely indicates that Swoopes, himself, believed (even back in 2014) that speeding up the tempo of play made things more "easy."
"The (up-tempo) helps - definitely - because the defense doesn't have time to get, I guess some of the calls they could get before when we huddle up, they don't have time to set things up, so they give us real simple looks, and it's easy to go out there and just play." - Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes after the 2014 Oklahoma loss
And it might make things more easy, but does it make the offense, as a whole, better? Did it make Tyrone Swoopes a better, more accurate quarterback? It's an important question coming into the 2015 season. The Texas staff has made significant changes to the Longhorns offense - with the "tempo" of the thing being the single biggest buzzword associated with the transition.
Stopwatch in hand, we welcome you back to …
. . .
The Deep Dig
The "trolls" of the Texas fan base were right.
When Charlie Strong was hired at Texas, he was a man with an open offensive coordinator position and also an open checkbook. When the announcement was made that Strong would bring with him to Austin his offensive coordinator from Louisville, Shawn Watson, the fan base went nuclear.
Collectively, the group screamed that the move didn't make sense and reeked of a "comfort hire." Watson was an offensive mind that had just produced a phenomenon in QB Teddy Bridgewater, but did so in a pro-style system that would not appeal to high-profile recruits in Texas who came up predominantly in spread offenses and, at the skill positions, were largely products of the Lone Star State's growing 7-on-7 football culture.
These athletes want the ball in space. But, Strong had a plan - and it was the wrong one. Strong cares most about defense and that is clear. He once believed that if the stepchild offense can play a grinding, ball-control brand of football, that would be all that was needed. Leave the rest up to his monsters of the defensive side. The scores may look like those of baseball games, but none of this would matter as long as they had "Ws" next to them in the record books.
One year later, well … Welcome to the Big 12. The fan base isn't usually right, but even it saw right from the start what it took Strong an entire season to realize.
. . .
The eternal burnt-orange optimist will point to the horrible play of the offensive line, the youth of the team, the massive wave of suspensions, the widespread player attrition that came with Strong to Texas and the lack of even a mediocre quarterback for 2014's very uninspiring results, but the fact of the matter is that Charlie Strong's first season at Texas was doomed from the start.
The offense was a dud. A rusty old lemon in a lot where the customers are interested in sporty rides with new-car smells.
It certainly does not make Strong a bad coach or anything less than an elite developer of defensive talent. At the Deep Dig, we believe he is, and will remain, a top-5 head coach in the nation. However, it does make him wrong in his initial plans for what Texas would eventually be offensively during his tenure as head coach:
"I would say probably 98 percent of this state is a spread offense," Strong said at his opening press conference of 2015 spring football, explaining the change to a spread system. "You see it during the recruiting process, because what happened in recruiting, everybody wants to know what type of offense are you going to run. The key players that you need to really recruit, those guys are the ones that are in the spread offenses. So that's what you're looking for. What we did is that we looked at it as 98 percent of the offenses in this state are from that background. So when we bring players into our program, let's not change them."
We at the Deep Dig dare the Orangebloods community to say this exact sentiment does not seem very, very familiar. The only difference now, one year later, is that it's the head coach of the football team making the statement and not posters on a message board. Posters on a message board who were called out by many an eternal burnt-orange optimist for being bad fans and trolls.
. . .
So, here we are - once again - with a fan base divided. This time, it's over the quarterback. With the change to the spread system, many Texas fans have communicated the notion that RS freshman QB Jerrod Heard would be a perfect fit. Heard - one of the most prolific spread-offense QBs in recent Texas high school football history - has a winning mindset, great wheels and an assumed level of comfort in the system.
Heard was considered the crown-jewel of the 2014 recruiting class and fans danced in the streets when he committed to the Longhorns. Some of these fans argue that Heard's "inability to grasp the offense" in 2014 stems from the difficult terminology and nature of Watson's 2014 system. Now that Texas is going to the spread; speeding things up - basically, right into Heard's wheelhouse - well, "watch out!"
The Swoopes versus Heard debate is tired and not what the column is about, but it does bring up an interesting idea. OB staffer Anwar Richardson came poking around the Deep Dig this week to see if we kept records for "time elapsed on play-clock between snaps" in one of the dusty shelves lining our dark basement. He said he'd like to know the data on how Tyrone Swoopes performed in situations where the offense was sped up … basically, he wanted to know if the new Texas offense, right under everyone's noses, might actually be sliding right into Tyrone Swoopes' wheelhouse, too.
. . .
Here we present our passing "tempo" data from six 2014 games in Kansas State, Iowa State, UCLA, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The charts used are our Deep Dig offensive line grade logs, and we've added five columns on the right for passing plays, indicating the series in the game, the play's down, the amount of time elapsed on the play-clock before the ball was snapped on passing downs, whether the pass was a completion or an incompletion and the net yardage result. Where times are not listed in the shaded boxes, it indicates the flow of the game being disrupted, allowing extra time to communicate a play from coach to quarterback to team. ST stands for official stoppages or starts and changes-of-possession. PEN indicates the play occurred coming off of a penalty. TO indicates the play occurred coming off a timeout.
. . .
Some other takeaways from the data:
- During truly "hurried up" passing plays where only 15-20 seconds elapsed on the play-clock, Swoopes had a 72.7 completion percentage and was sacked one time over 12 passes (8.3% sack-rate compared to a 7.1% sack-rate on the 2014 season). His completion percentage for 2014 on the season was 55.13% for comparison.
- During passing plays where the tempo was "just a bit" sped up with 20-30 seconds of play-clock time elapsed, Swoopes had a 52.27% completion percentage and was sacked four times over the snaps yielding the exact same 8.3% sack-rate accumulated in the hurry-up snaps.
- During passing plays which lagged getting the calls in and pushed the limits of the time clock with 30-40 seconds elapsing before the ball was snapped, Swoopes had a 63.08% completion percentage, had a 5.1% sack-rate and threw his only two interceptions of the sample, one a pick-six.
- During passing plays that occurred coming off of play stoppages such as penalties, timeouts, and changes of possession where extra time was allowed to get a play-call dialed in and communicated, Swoopes had a 60% completion percentage and a 5.1% sack-rate (with one being a sack-TD vs. Tech).
. . .
Speaking of sack-rates, we thought it would be interesting, since we have all the data in one place here, to see how dependent Swoopes was on good offensive line play in being effective as a passer over the six-game sample:
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores of the offensive line were significantly below-average, Swoopes had a 41.7% completion percentage and a 25% sack-rate.
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores were slightly below-average, Swoopes had a 53.4% completion percentage, a 10.66% sack-rate and one pick-six.
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores were average to slightly above-average, Swoopes had a 64.9% completion percentage, a .01% sack-rate and one interception.
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores significantly above-average, Swoopes had a 70% completion percentage and a zero-percent sack-rate.
- on plays where Tyrone Swoopes was pressured or hit as he was throwing the football, his completion percentage was 39.4%.
. . .
What it means
Where to start?
- If we look at the game-by-game data alone, it can be confusing. After all, Tyrone Swoopes had his best day as a passer for the entire 2014 season versus Oklahoma State according to the ESPN Adjusted Quarterback Rating (86.8), but this was the game where the most time (on-average) elapsed on the play-clock prior to passing snaps. Furthermore, Swoopes had an Adjusted QBR for the 2014 season of 55.3 and the only games in our sample here where he had a worse QBR than his season-average were Kansas State (46.1) and Texas Tech (51.1), the two games in the sample where, on-average, the time elapsed on the play-clock prior to passing downs were the two lowest. If looking at numbers on average for the entire game, it almost seems that a shorter time elapsed on the play-clock prior to passing snaps actually has a very clear and inverse relationship to his QB rating.
- But, when selecting 12 snaps (from just under 400 total examined) that allowed less than 20 seconds to elapse on the play-clock prior to the snap (an admittedly small sample), Swoopes was ice-cold, throwing completions at a 72.7% clip, much better than his 58.3% average on the season.
- Offensive line play clearly had a part in Swoopes' struggles and his achievements. There is a clear positive relationship between our cumulative protection scores at the Deep Dig and completion percentage.
- Swoopes, when taking his full allotment of time allowed by the play-clock to get the play in to the huddle and then get his players aligned, usually with instructions and a just a little tiny bit more time to process things … was much better than the Swoopes who was semi-hurried in running a pro-style offense.
CONCLUSION: With Tyrone Swoopes, you will have to pick one or the other between a pro-style offense and a spread offense. When things get slightly "sped up" in the normal operation of the more complicated pro-style scheme (something that will inevitably happen thanks to variance in game flow and script), Swoopes currently stinks. However, when given enough time (an extra 7-10 seconds) to process the upcoming play and get his bearings about him, he is capable of being a good Big 12 quarterback. In a small sample, when running a "hurry-up" offense, Swoopes has a completion percentage which is better than his best game of the entire 2014 season.
. . .
And in choosing one or the other, the Texas coaches have chosen the sped-up spread attack. Not because of Tyrone Swoopes - goodness, no. He'll be out of the picture in two years.
Remember the trolls we talked about at the beginning, the ones who said "the elite recruits don't want to play in Shawn Watson's boring system?" Well, the trolls were right. Texas desires to build a recruiting dynasty and moving to the spread is simply the latest step. It's a perfect time to remind you that at the Deep Dig, we live in constant anticipation of a future Texas monster. ]
The quote below surely indicates that Swoopes, himself, believed (even back in 2014) that speeding up the tempo of play made things more "easy."
"The (up-tempo) helps - definitely - because the defense doesn't have time to get, I guess some of the calls they could get before when we huddle up, they don't have time to set things up, so they give us real simple looks, and it's easy to go out there and just play." - Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes after the 2014 Oklahoma loss
And it might make things more easy, but does it make the offense, as a whole, better? Did it make Tyrone Swoopes a better, more accurate quarterback? It's an important question coming into the 2015 season. The Texas staff has made significant changes to the Longhorns offense - with the "tempo" of the thing being the single biggest buzzword associated with the transition.
Stopwatch in hand, we welcome you back to …
. . .
The Deep Dig
The "trolls" of the Texas fan base were right.
When Charlie Strong was hired at Texas, he was a man with an open offensive coordinator position and also an open checkbook. When the announcement was made that Strong would bring with him to Austin his offensive coordinator from Louisville, Shawn Watson, the fan base went nuclear.
Collectively, the group screamed that the move didn't make sense and reeked of a "comfort hire." Watson was an offensive mind that had just produced a phenomenon in QB Teddy Bridgewater, but did so in a pro-style system that would not appeal to high-profile recruits in Texas who came up predominantly in spread offenses and, at the skill positions, were largely products of the Lone Star State's growing 7-on-7 football culture.
These athletes want the ball in space. But, Strong had a plan - and it was the wrong one. Strong cares most about defense and that is clear. He once believed that if the stepchild offense can play a grinding, ball-control brand of football, that would be all that was needed. Leave the rest up to his monsters of the defensive side. The scores may look like those of baseball games, but none of this would matter as long as they had "Ws" next to them in the record books.
One year later, well … Welcome to the Big 12. The fan base isn't usually right, but even it saw right from the start what it took Strong an entire season to realize.
. . .
The eternal burnt-orange optimist will point to the horrible play of the offensive line, the youth of the team, the massive wave of suspensions, the widespread player attrition that came with Strong to Texas and the lack of even a mediocre quarterback for 2014's very uninspiring results, but the fact of the matter is that Charlie Strong's first season at Texas was doomed from the start.
The offense was a dud. A rusty old lemon in a lot where the customers are interested in sporty rides with new-car smells.
It certainly does not make Strong a bad coach or anything less than an elite developer of defensive talent. At the Deep Dig, we believe he is, and will remain, a top-5 head coach in the nation. However, it does make him wrong in his initial plans for what Texas would eventually be offensively during his tenure as head coach:
"I would say probably 98 percent of this state is a spread offense," Strong said at his opening press conference of 2015 spring football, explaining the change to a spread system. "You see it during the recruiting process, because what happened in recruiting, everybody wants to know what type of offense are you going to run. The key players that you need to really recruit, those guys are the ones that are in the spread offenses. So that's what you're looking for. What we did is that we looked at it as 98 percent of the offenses in this state are from that background. So when we bring players into our program, let's not change them."
We at the Deep Dig dare the Orangebloods community to say this exact sentiment does not seem very, very familiar. The only difference now, one year later, is that it's the head coach of the football team making the statement and not posters on a message board. Posters on a message board who were called out by many an eternal burnt-orange optimist for being bad fans and trolls.
. . .
So, here we are - once again - with a fan base divided. This time, it's over the quarterback. With the change to the spread system, many Texas fans have communicated the notion that RS freshman QB Jerrod Heard would be a perfect fit. Heard - one of the most prolific spread-offense QBs in recent Texas high school football history - has a winning mindset, great wheels and an assumed level of comfort in the system.
Heard was considered the crown-jewel of the 2014 recruiting class and fans danced in the streets when he committed to the Longhorns. Some of these fans argue that Heard's "inability to grasp the offense" in 2014 stems from the difficult terminology and nature of Watson's 2014 system. Now that Texas is going to the spread; speeding things up - basically, right into Heard's wheelhouse - well, "watch out!"
The Swoopes versus Heard debate is tired and not what the column is about, but it does bring up an interesting idea. OB staffer Anwar Richardson came poking around the Deep Dig this week to see if we kept records for "time elapsed on play-clock between snaps" in one of the dusty shelves lining our dark basement. He said he'd like to know the data on how Tyrone Swoopes performed in situations where the offense was sped up … basically, he wanted to know if the new Texas offense, right under everyone's noses, might actually be sliding right into Tyrone Swoopes' wheelhouse, too.
. . .
Here we present our passing "tempo" data from six 2014 games in Kansas State, Iowa State, UCLA, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The charts used are our Deep Dig offensive line grade logs, and we've added five columns on the right for passing plays, indicating the series in the game, the play's down, the amount of time elapsed on the play-clock before the ball was snapped on passing downs, whether the pass was a completion or an incompletion and the net yardage result. Where times are not listed in the shaded boxes, it indicates the flow of the game being disrupted, allowing extra time to communicate a play from coach to quarterback to team. ST stands for official stoppages or starts and changes-of-possession. PEN indicates the play occurred coming off of a penalty. TO indicates the play occurred coming off a timeout.
. . .
Some other takeaways from the data:
- During truly "hurried up" passing plays where only 15-20 seconds elapsed on the play-clock, Swoopes had a 72.7 completion percentage and was sacked one time over 12 passes (8.3% sack-rate compared to a 7.1% sack-rate on the 2014 season). His completion percentage for 2014 on the season was 55.13% for comparison.
- During passing plays where the tempo was "just a bit" sped up with 20-30 seconds of play-clock time elapsed, Swoopes had a 52.27% completion percentage and was sacked four times over the snaps yielding the exact same 8.3% sack-rate accumulated in the hurry-up snaps.
- During passing plays which lagged getting the calls in and pushed the limits of the time clock with 30-40 seconds elapsing before the ball was snapped, Swoopes had a 63.08% completion percentage, had a 5.1% sack-rate and threw his only two interceptions of the sample, one a pick-six.
- During passing plays that occurred coming off of play stoppages such as penalties, timeouts, and changes of possession where extra time was allowed to get a play-call dialed in and communicated, Swoopes had a 60% completion percentage and a 5.1% sack-rate (with one being a sack-TD vs. Tech).
. . .
Speaking of sack-rates, we thought it would be interesting, since we have all the data in one place here, to see how dependent Swoopes was on good offensive line play in being effective as a passer over the six-game sample:
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores of the offensive line were significantly below-average, Swoopes had a 41.7% completion percentage and a 25% sack-rate.
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores were slightly below-average, Swoopes had a 53.4% completion percentage, a 10.66% sack-rate and one pick-six.
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores were average to slightly above-average, Swoopes had a 64.9% completion percentage, a .01% sack-rate and one interception.
- on plays where the cumulative protection scores significantly above-average, Swoopes had a 70% completion percentage and a zero-percent sack-rate.
- on plays where Tyrone Swoopes was pressured or hit as he was throwing the football, his completion percentage was 39.4%.
. . .
What it means
Where to start?
- If we look at the game-by-game data alone, it can be confusing. After all, Tyrone Swoopes had his best day as a passer for the entire 2014 season versus Oklahoma State according to the ESPN Adjusted Quarterback Rating (86.8), but this was the game where the most time (on-average) elapsed on the play-clock prior to passing snaps. Furthermore, Swoopes had an Adjusted QBR for the 2014 season of 55.3 and the only games in our sample here where he had a worse QBR than his season-average were Kansas State (46.1) and Texas Tech (51.1), the two games in the sample where, on-average, the time elapsed on the play-clock prior to passing downs were the two lowest. If looking at numbers on average for the entire game, it almost seems that a shorter time elapsed on the play-clock prior to passing snaps actually has a very clear and inverse relationship to his QB rating.
- But, when selecting 12 snaps (from just under 400 total examined) that allowed less than 20 seconds to elapse on the play-clock prior to the snap (an admittedly small sample), Swoopes was ice-cold, throwing completions at a 72.7% clip, much better than his 58.3% average on the season.
- Offensive line play clearly had a part in Swoopes' struggles and his achievements. There is a clear positive relationship between our cumulative protection scores at the Deep Dig and completion percentage.
- Swoopes, when taking his full allotment of time allowed by the play-clock to get the play in to the huddle and then get his players aligned, usually with instructions and a just a little tiny bit more time to process things … was much better than the Swoopes who was semi-hurried in running a pro-style offense.
CONCLUSION: With Tyrone Swoopes, you will have to pick one or the other between a pro-style offense and a spread offense. When things get slightly "sped up" in the normal operation of the more complicated pro-style scheme (something that will inevitably happen thanks to variance in game flow and script), Swoopes currently stinks. However, when given enough time (an extra 7-10 seconds) to process the upcoming play and get his bearings about him, he is capable of being a good Big 12 quarterback. In a small sample, when running a "hurry-up" offense, Swoopes has a completion percentage which is better than his best game of the entire 2014 season.
. . .
And in choosing one or the other, the Texas coaches have chosen the sped-up spread attack. Not because of Tyrone Swoopes - goodness, no. He'll be out of the picture in two years.
Remember the trolls we talked about at the beginning, the ones who said "the elite recruits don't want to play in Shawn Watson's boring system?" Well, the trolls were right. Texas desires to build a recruiting dynasty and moving to the spread is simply the latest step. It's a perfect time to remind you that at the Deep Dig, we live in constant anticipation of a future Texas monster. ]
We were able to catch up with a few different sources Saturday afternoon about the first Texas football scrimmage of the spring that took place this morning. Here is a compilation of items the Orangebloods.com staff has heard:
- As confirmed by the Texas SID, backup nickel corner Jermaine Roberts was injured during the scrimmage. (The extent of the injury is unknown, but we were told he was helped off the field.)
- We've been told that starting RB Johnathan Gray and starting DT Hassan Ridgeway did not take part in the scrimmage, at least the large portions viewed by someone we spoke with that was in attendance. As far as we know, there's no reason to be concerned because there are many reasons why players might not take part in a scrimmage, especially two of the better players on the team, but we are following up.
- The reports on backup QB Jerrod Heard were very positive. We're told Heard threw at least one interception but apparently also had a really nice touchdown pass as well on a big bomb to backup WR Ty Templin. (As for the interception, a person in attendance at practice said backup DE/LB Malik Jefferson had "an awesome pass break up" and backup DE Bryce Cottrell intercepted it.)
- Apparently there was a big emphasis on the play-clock through the scrimmage. One source said, "The plays were getting off fast. They got a couple big play clocks out there." (The same sources who told us about Heard all basically said that first-team QB Swoopes also had a nice day and handled himself well in the faster offense.)
- Speaking of fumbles, a poster on Orangebloods emailed us that current first-team nickel corner John Bonney had a big fumble recovery return. (Sophomore RB D'onta Foreman apparently received some first-team reps in the scrimmage, but was reportedly the one who fumbled on the play. The fact that Foreman was getting reps with the first-team indicates he is currently likely ahead of freshman Duke Catalon in the pecking order.)
- We texted one source in attendance about who looked good today and he texted "I like (Kevin) Vaccaro." (Vaccaro is reportedly currently receiving second-team safety snaps.)
- We texted with one very good source about the LBs and as expected Tim Cole is manning the mike LB spot to start following the Dalton Santos injury. We asked who was running in with the backups and he texted "a lot of guys." (One name we've heard mentioned a few times now as getting some good reps is "48" who would presumably be LB Trey Gonzalez who is listed on the Texas website as a senior with practice squad experience or it could be Dominic Crucioni who is listed as a fullback. Either way, a lack of depth this spring at the LB position has seemingly been exposed by the injury to Santos. It is now official that the incoming freshman LBs will be in position to make early impacts.)
- We texted quickly with one source about the DBs: We asked if Bryson Echols was still starting at CB and the source texted "(Antuwan) Davis was playing some with starters (too)." (Davis is a player to watch. The injury to Sheroid Evans opened up a window for ongoing competition at the position.)
- We caught up very quickly with someone in the know about the offensive line and he basically said the rotations will continue. At the scrimmage, Connor Williams, who had played first-team LT through spring, was at the RT position, while with 2014 starter Marcus Hutchins was working at first-team LT, reportedly.
]
- As confirmed by the Texas SID, backup nickel corner Jermaine Roberts was injured during the scrimmage. (The extent of the injury is unknown, but we were told he was helped off the field.)
- We've been told that starting RB Johnathan Gray and starting DT Hassan Ridgeway did not take part in the scrimmage, at least the large portions viewed by someone we spoke with that was in attendance. As far as we know, there's no reason to be concerned because there are many reasons why players might not take part in a scrimmage, especially two of the better players on the team, but we are following up.
- The reports on backup QB Jerrod Heard were very positive. We're told Heard threw at least one interception but apparently also had a really nice touchdown pass as well on a big bomb to backup WR Ty Templin. (As for the interception, a person in attendance at practice said backup DE/LB Malik Jefferson had "an awesome pass break up" and backup DE Bryce Cottrell intercepted it.)
- Apparently there was a big emphasis on the play-clock through the scrimmage. One source said, "The plays were getting off fast. They got a couple big play clocks out there." (The same sources who told us about Heard all basically said that first-team QB Swoopes also had a nice day and handled himself well in the faster offense.)
- Speaking of fumbles, a poster on Orangebloods emailed us that current first-team nickel corner John Bonney had a big fumble recovery return. (Sophomore RB D'onta Foreman apparently received some first-team reps in the scrimmage, but was reportedly the one who fumbled on the play. The fact that Foreman was getting reps with the first-team indicates he is currently likely ahead of freshman Duke Catalon in the pecking order.)
- We texted one source in attendance about who looked good today and he texted "I like (Kevin) Vaccaro." (Vaccaro is reportedly currently receiving second-team safety snaps.)
- We texted with one very good source about the LBs and as expected Tim Cole is manning the mike LB spot to start following the Dalton Santos injury. We asked who was running in with the backups and he texted "a lot of guys." (One name we've heard mentioned a few times now as getting some good reps is "48" who would presumably be LB Trey Gonzalez who is listed on the Texas website as a senior with practice squad experience or it could be Dominic Crucioni who is listed as a fullback. Either way, a lack of depth this spring at the LB position has seemingly been exposed by the injury to Santos. It is now official that the incoming freshman LBs will be in position to make early impacts.)
- We texted quickly with one source about the DBs: We asked if Bryson Echols was still starting at CB and the source texted "(Antuwan) Davis was playing some with starters (too)." (Davis is a player to watch. The injury to Sheroid Evans opened up a window for ongoing competition at the position.)
- We caught up very quickly with someone in the know about the offensive line and he basically said the rotations will continue. At the scrimmage, Connor Williams, who had played first-team LT through spring, was at the RT position, while with 2014 starter Marcus Hutchins was working at first-team LT, reportedly.
]
I went to practice with a group of coaches yesterday and today and thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on the coaches, offense, and defense:
1) Coach Strong has a great staff that works hard, has a great scheme- especially on the defensive side- and gets after the boys (accountability). They treat Texas High School coaches with respect and that will pay off in recruiting. Additionally, the kids love their coaches...fun atmosphere.
2) We will be lucky to have Coach Bedford or Coach BJ for another year or two. Someone will give them a chance soon, in my opinion. Bedford didn't stop talking the entire practice. He talked trash to Heard after each INT. or every time he tried to run("This isn't high school no more)("Don't blow the whistle, his ass needs to learn), the kickers for wearing Tennessee orange shoes, and the officials. He is very knowledgeable, expects perfection every play, and creates excitement. Love this guy.
3) Jay Norvell was a steal. Personable with the families and gets after his players -and even one coach- every play. Additionally, he was the only coach that held his players after practice to get more work. Yelled constantly to "play until the whistle." Need more coaches like this on offense.
4) I feel hopeful for our O-Line. Coach Wick has some size to work with. More than anyone else, he was all over the new kid, Nicholson (I think). His work was evident when they ran counter, power, and QB draw; all looked good at some point today. I am unsure if the speed sweep will be good because our D is so good at setting an edge, but they were working. Some of this is because we are so predictable in the passing game. If we can get more two high safety looks, the sweep will be better I think.
5) It's clear we have no jump ball playmakers flanked out wide. During a redzone segment, Coach Strong ask one of our wide outs (Joe I believe) how 6'4 can lose to 5'10? If we plan on throwing up 1 on 1 routes to our wide outs, they have to win more than they lose or those safeties will get closer to the box and lock up our run game.
6) I know many of you don't want to hear this, but Swoopes is the guy...by a mile...maybe two. There's a reason Heard isn't being talked about. Heard threw 3 picks...bad picks. He looks rattled against 2nd string and back up players and his only touchdown came against practice squad guys. More than that though, he can't throw on time or make good reads up the field. Good defenses are going to give up the swing pass or the bubble screen and rally; that's all he threw though...except that INT up the seam. Swoopes on the other hand looked ok. He threw a nice ball for a touchdown during the red zone period that required a quick decision and some touch; smash route concept. He looked really good on the QB draws and overall seemed pretty poised in comparison to the last time we saw him.
7) The offense worked tempo and you could see the effects of that on the defense, at times. The key is getting the first, first down. Having the defense run sideline to sideline is exhausting and the defense hates it.
8) Malik Jefferson is legit, a freshman, but still legit. His athleticism is a huge advantage. On a roll out to the left, Jefferson came from his MB position, taking a perfect angle to the QB, and disrupted a pass that stood out to many of us because the ball was thrown in 3 steps and he was fast enough/ long enough to get there...pretty quick in other words. He needs to get used to the physicality and the speed of the game, but he will figure it out quickly...Coach BJ was on him a couple of times.
9) With all of the injuries, I'm still not concerned with our defense that much (to a point obviously). We are pretty solid up front. Ridgeway and Ford look solid and Davis looks a lot like Sergio Kindle from that 5 technique at the end spot...very athletic.
1) Coach Strong has a great staff that works hard, has a great scheme- especially on the defensive side- and gets after the boys (accountability). They treat Texas High School coaches with respect and that will pay off in recruiting. Additionally, the kids love their coaches...fun atmosphere.
2) We will be lucky to have Coach Bedford or Coach BJ for another year or two. Someone will give them a chance soon, in my opinion. Bedford didn't stop talking the entire practice. He talked trash to Heard after each INT. or every time he tried to run("This isn't high school no more)("Don't blow the whistle, his ass needs to learn), the kickers for wearing Tennessee orange shoes, and the officials. He is very knowledgeable, expects perfection every play, and creates excitement. Love this guy.
3) Jay Norvell was a steal. Personable with the families and gets after his players -and even one coach- every play. Additionally, he was the only coach that held his players after practice to get more work. Yelled constantly to "play until the whistle." Need more coaches like this on offense.
4) I feel hopeful for our O-Line. Coach Wick has some size to work with. More than anyone else, he was all over the new kid, Nicholson (I think). His work was evident when they ran counter, power, and QB draw; all looked good at some point today. I am unsure if the speed sweep will be good because our D is so good at setting an edge, but they were working. Some of this is because we are so predictable in the passing game. If we can get more two high safety looks, the sweep will be better I think.
5) It's clear we have no jump ball playmakers flanked out wide. During a redzone segment, Coach Strong ask one of our wide outs (Joe I believe) how 6'4 can lose to 5'10? If we plan on throwing up 1 on 1 routes to our wide outs, they have to win more than they lose or those safeties will get closer to the box and lock up our run game.
6) I know many of you don't want to hear this, but Swoopes is the guy...by a mile...maybe two. There's a reason Heard isn't being talked about. Heard threw 3 picks...bad picks. He looks rattled against 2nd string and back up players and his only touchdown came against practice squad guys. More than that though, he can't throw on time or make good reads up the field. Good defenses are going to give up the swing pass or the bubble screen and rally; that's all he threw though...except that INT up the seam. Swoopes on the other hand looked ok. He threw a nice ball for a touchdown during the red zone period that required a quick decision and some touch; smash route concept. He looked really good on the QB draws and overall seemed pretty poised in comparison to the last time we saw him.
7) The offense worked tempo and you could see the effects of that on the defense, at times. The key is getting the first, first down. Having the defense run sideline to sideline is exhausting and the defense hates it.
8) Malik Jefferson is legit, a freshman, but still legit. His athleticism is a huge advantage. On a roll out to the left, Jefferson came from his MB position, taking a perfect angle to the QB, and disrupted a pass that stood out to many of us because the ball was thrown in 3 steps and he was fast enough/ long enough to get there...pretty quick in other words. He needs to get used to the physicality and the speed of the game, but he will figure it out quickly...Coach BJ was on him a couple of times.
9) With all of the injuries, I'm still not concerned with our defense that much (to a point obviously). We are pretty solid up front. Ridgeway and Ford look solid and Davis looks a lot like Sergio Kindle from that 5 technique at the end spot...very athletic.
First Team Offense:
QB - Swoopes
RB - Gray
TE - Whiteley (Beck wasn't out there today)
WR - Marcus Johnson, Dorian Leonard, Jacorey Warrick
OL (L to R) - Hutchins, Flowers/Hodges, Doyle, Perkins, Williams
***
Second Team Offense:
QB - Heard
RB - Gray
WR - Lorenzo Joe, Daje Johnson, Armanti Foreman - Ty Templin worked in there as well. He seemed to be working ahead of Jake Oliver
TE/FB - Alex De La Torre
OL (L to R) - Nickelson, Alex Anderson, Raulerson, Elijah Rodriguez, Camrhon Hughes
***
SCATTER-SHOOTING
QB - Swoopes
RB - Gray
TE - Whiteley (Beck wasn't out there today)
WR - Marcus Johnson, Dorian Leonard, Jacorey Warrick
OL (L to R) - Hutchins, Flowers/Hodges, Doyle, Perkins, Williams
***
Second Team Offense:
QB - Heard
RB - Gray
WR - Lorenzo Joe, Daje Johnson, Armanti Foreman - Ty Templin worked in there as well. He seemed to be working ahead of Jake Oliver
TE/FB - Alex De La Torre
OL (L to R) - Nickelson, Alex Anderson, Raulerson, Elijah Rodriguez, Camrhon Hughes
***
SCATTER-SHOOTING
- Duke Catalon limping
- Dorian Leonard and Lorenzo Joe the most vocal/playful of the WRs
- Armanti seemed to be drifting to middle of the line
- Tyrone Swoopes was consistently great with throws to the skinny post and wheel route
- Jacorey was clear-and-away the No. 1 slot receiver - ahead of Daje
- Armanti Foreman after one missed catch: "I'm so rusty bro."
- Blake Whiteley lined up a lot on the line but moved in motion a bunch as a lead blocker. Didn't do much in the way of catching the ball, but he also wasn't targeted all that much. Strong likes him split wide. I didn't see much speed from him. But he did display great hands the few times I did see him get thrown to. One occasion had him falling to the ground to make a shoe-string catch.
- The only two INTs I saw today were from Swoopes. One came on an overthrow to Marcus Johnson, which Bryson Echols picked off. The other came on a bootleg (again, really slow getting his head around). He would have gotten rushed by Naashon Hughes had the Fox been able to hit a QB. But Swoopes threw it on the run, deep to the end zone where Dylan Haines came down with it.
- Saw Sedrick Flowers take extra time to work with Alex Anderson in between drills. Good team leadership displayed there.
- Not seeing very much at all in terms of TEs being spread out on line of scrimmage. Think that will change when Clarington gets to Austin though
- This was by far the best I have seen Jerrod Heard. His speed could be a big difference maker in the read option. He busted open a few bigs runs from it today. His throws seemed to have a lot more zip on them as well (a lack thereof was an issue last season). He spun one post route to Daje Johnson that was as good as any throw I'd seen a Longhorns QB make in a year and a half.
- Dorian Leonard did come down with cramps at one point. But he was OK.
- Marcus Hutchins got a little dinged up but was able to tough it out.
- Jay Norvell is as active a coach during practice as you'll see. Loves acting like a DB, and is always encouraging. You can tell the players like playing for him. Weird seeing him in burnt orange though.
- When Texas went 4-wide it had Duke and Jacorey in there together. When UT went three-wide, Jacorey was in there.
- Say what you want about walk-ons, but Ty Templin can flat play. He worked with the 2s all day and showcased some of the best hands on the team today.
- Swoopes is definitely more vocal than he was last season. He's taken ownership of the offense. We've talked about this before since the spring started but worth repeating: He's definitely slimmed down even though he weighs 255 or so.
- Connor Williams looks like a star in the making. Worked at 1st team RT and looked like a seasoned vet. He doesn't say anything but dominates. He works both levels really well. One time he had Peter Jinkens back on his heels and pushed him well into the secondary.
Spade
Superstar
Damnit Armanti, wake the hell up.
glad to hear good things about connor williams. i'm more concerned about the o line than the qb position tbh.
i said a few pages ago, connor williams will be a 1st round pick when he's done here.
:spit: at jake oliver being passed up by a walk-on. these cacs love making threads about him and that scrub garrett gray. i just laugh everytime I see a thread requesting an update on their progress yet they never ask about Leonard, Foreman, or Joe...far superior players. both Oliver and Gray need to be on the chopping block after the Spring, free up some schollies so we can go heavy on the dline in '16.
:spit: at jake oliver being passed up by a walk-on. these cacs love making threads about him and that scrub garrett gray. i just laugh everytime I see a thread requesting an update on their progress yet they never ask about Leonard, Foreman, or Joe...far superior players. both Oliver and Gray need to be on the chopping block after the Spring, free up some schollies so we can go heavy on the dline in '16.
Regardless of race, Oliver was great in high school and I was hoping that would translate at least at tight end or something. He used to catch everything and block the hell out of people. Was hoping he would add 30 lbs and do that. Guess we have to wait on Devo though I hear Whitely is makin that move.