Coupla spring game takeaways
I'm going to bullet these out and then we can chat about what our different eyes saw.
-Bonney is the real deal at nickel. I saw him blitz well, set the edge with authority, make plays in the backfield, and also show the quickness to carry a receiver down the seam. It's apparently silly to worry overmuch about Strong's defenses because the young guys really flashed today.
-Haines looked good as well. He made some physical tackles in space. Texas has some good players to utilize in the middle of the field and make long drives difficult. The hope will now become that they are paired with Malik and Freeman in the fall because those two linebackers are WAY above average athletes for the position.
-Both DLs were very good. The 2nd team DL was being supported by a LB corps of Malik-Freeman-Vaccaro, which is a very physical and athletic unit, but then four walk-ons in the secondary. Nonetheless, they often shut down the offense.
Hard to say too much here without looking at tape but Cottrell and Boyette really flashed and looked unmanageable at times on the 2nd team DL. Ridgeway and Hughes had noticeable impacts on the 1st team group.
-OL improvements were not obvious. Tackle has to be a concern but there's a lot of time for these guys to get it together since there's a lot of new blood out there.
Flowers seems to have a starting job locked down but he was just plain beat up by Boyette at times.
-The design of the Texas defense is to take away the outside run on the option and then fly to the ball when it goes inside. The Texas OL was unable to get much going against that save for a rare power-read featuring Swoopes or when Gray was in the game.
Gray's ability to make people miss is going to be essential if the OL can't open big creases in the middle. He looked phenomenal.
Otherwise, you hope the actual season sees a lot more QB Power/Counter calls to punish the interior lanes with Swoopes and Heard.
-Neither passing performance was amazing when you consider that the team's two best corners in the spring were both out and that the "depth" at the unit included numerous walk-ons. However, neither was awful either.
Heard took a ton of sacks and will be curious to see if it was him trying to do too much and failing to see the field or just a porous OL in front of him. My guess is a little of both. He's a young guy trying to make an impression, nothing worrying here just an indicator of where growth is needed.
-Both QBs looked really quick. Tell me Swoopes didn't look dangerous on his TD run on the first drive. And Heard....he's everything we hoped he would be in this regard.
If Swoopes wins the 1st string job, which seems likely based on his superior grasp of the passing game and Charlie's preference to have a veteran there, they should develop a
4th phase that features Heard.
-Daje was disappointing, mostly because he didn't get a ton of touches and he had the fumble and muffed punt but...
-Malik's tackle/strip on Daje was an amazing thing. The number of inside linebackers who can diagnose that play and then have the speed to run down a player like Daje from behind and pop them like that? There aren't many.
Freeman's ensuing scoop and score was pretty amazing as well. Those two need to grind in the film room this summer and win jobs from Cole and Jinkens (who seemed okay) because they set a different ceiling for this defense.
-Overall the offense was worse than I expected and the defense was better. These coaches really know how to coach defense, that much is obvious. Offense always takes longer, but it will be concerning if they can't take a serious leap forward next season.
-Dorian Leonard was a disappointment in this game. Lorenzo Joe looked like the real heir apparent to John Harris.
