Welcome to Big 12 football season. There are very few better ways to start of a conference season than opening on the road in Austin and coming out with a win, so here's to a good start to conference play as the Cowboys chase down their dream of a Big 12 championship!
Over the next few days, I will attempt to lay out some observations about Texas football, the Cowboys, the match ups, and some general strategic discussion. For this week, I will try to separate the discussions into different threads so that worthwhile tangent conversations do not get lost in a tsunami of topics. For this first thread, I am going to bring attention to some very basic observations about this year's Longhorn football team. I will save a more detailed look for follow up discussion.
First, for anyone that was not a fan of Texas football, the 4th quarter of the game with California was quite satisfying, although it may have raised anxiety a bit when considering the future. The juxtaposition of the valiant comeback in a truly rowdy stadium with the deafening silence following the missed extra point was classic sports theater. Anyone who has ever competed could feel some empathy for Nick Rose after he shanked the extra point wide right, but they also understand that the final outcome was not all his doing and that he will have future opportunities to make new history so long as that one snap doesn't beat him again.
The Texas program has been on the decline for several years. The reasons for the demise are many, and they begin at the top with leadership issues and extended to recruiting mistakes and lack of player commitment and discipline. Charlie Strong and his staff inherited a mess, and there is no question that they still have a lot of work to do. The positive vibe in the stadium last Saturday during the fourth quarter was a much needed shot in the arm for that team, staff, and program. Yes, it is the kind of thing that can make a significant difference in turning around the fortunes of a team, but there is still a lot of work to be done on the field and in recruiting.
There is no question that the switch from Tyrone Swoops to Jerrod Heard was necessary along with the accompanying changes in offensive structure, play calling, and coaching, and one does not even need to consider what their individual performances speak to that end. Texas has been getting killed in recruiting on the offensive side of the ball in the state of Texas, losing players to teams that run a spread attack (both spread option and spread passing varieties). Truth be told, had Texas A&M hired John Chavis a bit earlier, last year's recruiting haul might have been decimated on both sides of the ball with Holton Hill, Malik Jeffereson, Kris Boyd, and Ryan Newsome among others likely to have signed with the Aggies. If the old system was making recruiting difficult and the team was not going to perform on the field, things simply had to change. The coaches jobs and the future of the program were at stake. Texas simply had no appeal when considered alongside offenses at Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU, and the Longhorns certainly were not having the same level of on-field success.
The return of the energy to the stadium on Saturday represented the return of hope to Longhorn football. It truly could have been a glimpse, but it's far from an indication that all will be fixed this year.
Here are a few observations about their team that has stood out:
1) Jerrod Heard's insertion into the lineup totally changes their look offensively due to his explosive running ability paired with an arm that can throw a quality deep ball. He has the ability to inspire his teammates (particularly the younger ones) to believe that they can achieve and win (the "it" factor). The team played with much more energy with him as the leader of the squad, and it was evident from the beginning of the season. Things were simplified on offense and players were able to play hard with less thinking.
2) The Longhorns have quite a few talented players, but they are all young. Malik Jefferson is a stud and the key player on their defense, a guy who is on the field in every type of situation and trusted to make plays. Kris Boyd and Holton Hill are a pair of tall, physical corners that don't back down in man coverage and will grow into quality Big 12 starters as they are still adjusting to this level of play. Connor Williams has a very high ceiling at LT, but has been pressed into action a bit early. He is clearly their most talented lineman right now. The other true freshman, Patrick Vahe, will likely emerge as one of the Big 12's best guards in the next couple of years. John Burt has extremely good speed and has shown the ability to both separate from defenders and to adjust in making plays on the football. He is a difference maker on offense that should become more lethal with the QB change. The Foreman twins (sophomores) have brought some explosiveness to the skill positions. Beyond these guys, youth abounds at linebacker and in the secondary.
3) On the flip side, Texas has not been getting great play and leadership from its veteran upper classmen. Between the coaching changes, recruiting mistakes and player dismissals, the junior and senior classes have lost a lot of their bite. Offensively, SR Jonthan Gray is a quality player and Daje Johnson is a potential game changer as a punt returner and utility slot receiver, but classmates Taylor Doyle, Sedrick Flowers, Marcus Hutchins, and Alex DeLaTorre are just guys filling spots. The Longhorns really need to get Marcus Johnson healthy and have him live up to some of his potential to bolster a pretty thin group of receivers. Defensively, Desmond Jackson, Peter Jinkens, and Duke Thomas are the only seniors on the depth chart.
4) On defense, the Longhorns have had to go to more multiple fronts and looks to be effective, trying to create confusion for the offense. They morph in and out of different groupings, utilizing a 3-3-5; 4-3; 4-2-5; 3-2-6; and 4-1-6 personnel groups. With young players, this complexity is often leaving them with alignment issues, gap control problems, and poor zone drops. When the Longhorn defense was playing its best last year, they went with far fewer risk taking pressures as they had All Conference talent at each level of the defense and could beat opponents man for man (DT Malcolm Brown, DE Cedric Hughes, LB Jordan Hicks, CB Quandre Diggs, S Mykkele Thompson). Due to youth, their defenders have had trouble disengaging from blockers quick enough to make plays at the second level, particularly with their speed packages when linemen are able to get out and block safeties and corners lining up as linebackers.
5) On offense, Texas has simplified things for Jerrod Heard. He has not proven to be a player that can make difficult reads and work through progressions in practice, so he has been reduced to a 1-2 read player with one downfield route, one hot route, and a run option. The vertical speed of Burt and the open field ability of Daje Johnson gives him a couple of weapons to make that package work. His lack of height and ability to read defenses make him a poor pocket passing option, so the Longhorns have basically shelved much of that portion of the playbook. Most of his runs were not called QB run plays as the staff understands that he is not built to take the pounding of 20 carries per game between the tackles like a Collin Klein/Tim Tebow/Cam Newton type of player. Jonathan Gray is a back best suited to run out of a pro-set formation. He is a very good back, but he lacks the suddenness and speed to be an upper echelon back in the spread offense where he starts standing still next to the quarterback for the backfield mesh.
6) As much grief as fans on this board have given OSU's offensive line, the Texas line has had way more problems. Their line has had multiple busts with protection breakdowns against line stunts (simple twists) as well as physical mismatches inside where defensive tackles have gotten enough penetration to disrupt the run game. To top it off, their OL leads the team in penalties. The defensive ends for OSU are going to be very difficult for Texas. The Cowboy DEs will have to be careful to not get too far upfield and create easy seams for the QB to leak out and get outside, but they should be able to get pressure.
7) The Longhorns have really good size on the defensive line and actually get pretty good penetration, but their ends have trouble turning the corner once upfield to get quality pressure on the quarterback, and their defensive tackles do not disengage from blocks quickly enough to make plays at or behind the line of scrimmage very often even though they are regularly in position.
There you have my first wave of observations. Anything you want to discuss?
Over the next few days, I will attempt to lay out some observations about Texas football, the Cowboys, the match ups, and some general strategic discussion. For this week, I will try to separate the discussions into different threads so that worthwhile tangent conversations do not get lost in a tsunami of topics. For this first thread, I am going to bring attention to some very basic observations about this year's Longhorn football team. I will save a more detailed look for follow up discussion.
First, for anyone that was not a fan of Texas football, the 4th quarter of the game with California was quite satisfying, although it may have raised anxiety a bit when considering the future. The juxtaposition of the valiant comeback in a truly rowdy stadium with the deafening silence following the missed extra point was classic sports theater. Anyone who has ever competed could feel some empathy for Nick Rose after he shanked the extra point wide right, but they also understand that the final outcome was not all his doing and that he will have future opportunities to make new history so long as that one snap doesn't beat him again.
The Texas program has been on the decline for several years. The reasons for the demise are many, and they begin at the top with leadership issues and extended to recruiting mistakes and lack of player commitment and discipline. Charlie Strong and his staff inherited a mess, and there is no question that they still have a lot of work to do. The positive vibe in the stadium last Saturday during the fourth quarter was a much needed shot in the arm for that team, staff, and program. Yes, it is the kind of thing that can make a significant difference in turning around the fortunes of a team, but there is still a lot of work to be done on the field and in recruiting.
There is no question that the switch from Tyrone Swoops to Jerrod Heard was necessary along with the accompanying changes in offensive structure, play calling, and coaching, and one does not even need to consider what their individual performances speak to that end. Texas has been getting killed in recruiting on the offensive side of the ball in the state of Texas, losing players to teams that run a spread attack (both spread option and spread passing varieties). Truth be told, had Texas A&M hired John Chavis a bit earlier, last year's recruiting haul might have been decimated on both sides of the ball with Holton Hill, Malik Jeffereson, Kris Boyd, and Ryan Newsome among others likely to have signed with the Aggies. If the old system was making recruiting difficult and the team was not going to perform on the field, things simply had to change. The coaches jobs and the future of the program were at stake. Texas simply had no appeal when considered alongside offenses at Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU, and the Longhorns certainly were not having the same level of on-field success.
The return of the energy to the stadium on Saturday represented the return of hope to Longhorn football. It truly could have been a glimpse, but it's far from an indication that all will be fixed this year.
Here are a few observations about their team that has stood out:
1) Jerrod Heard's insertion into the lineup totally changes their look offensively due to his explosive running ability paired with an arm that can throw a quality deep ball. He has the ability to inspire his teammates (particularly the younger ones) to believe that they can achieve and win (the "it" factor). The team played with much more energy with him as the leader of the squad, and it was evident from the beginning of the season. Things were simplified on offense and players were able to play hard with less thinking.
2) The Longhorns have quite a few talented players, but they are all young. Malik Jefferson is a stud and the key player on their defense, a guy who is on the field in every type of situation and trusted to make plays. Kris Boyd and Holton Hill are a pair of tall, physical corners that don't back down in man coverage and will grow into quality Big 12 starters as they are still adjusting to this level of play. Connor Williams has a very high ceiling at LT, but has been pressed into action a bit early. He is clearly their most talented lineman right now. The other true freshman, Patrick Vahe, will likely emerge as one of the Big 12's best guards in the next couple of years. John Burt has extremely good speed and has shown the ability to both separate from defenders and to adjust in making plays on the football. He is a difference maker on offense that should become more lethal with the QB change. The Foreman twins (sophomores) have brought some explosiveness to the skill positions. Beyond these guys, youth abounds at linebacker and in the secondary.
3) On the flip side, Texas has not been getting great play and leadership from its veteran upper classmen. Between the coaching changes, recruiting mistakes and player dismissals, the junior and senior classes have lost a lot of their bite. Offensively, SR Jonthan Gray is a quality player and Daje Johnson is a potential game changer as a punt returner and utility slot receiver, but classmates Taylor Doyle, Sedrick Flowers, Marcus Hutchins, and Alex DeLaTorre are just guys filling spots. The Longhorns really need to get Marcus Johnson healthy and have him live up to some of his potential to bolster a pretty thin group of receivers. Defensively, Desmond Jackson, Peter Jinkens, and Duke Thomas are the only seniors on the depth chart.
4) On defense, the Longhorns have had to go to more multiple fronts and looks to be effective, trying to create confusion for the offense. They morph in and out of different groupings, utilizing a 3-3-5; 4-3; 4-2-5; 3-2-6; and 4-1-6 personnel groups. With young players, this complexity is often leaving them with alignment issues, gap control problems, and poor zone drops. When the Longhorn defense was playing its best last year, they went with far fewer risk taking pressures as they had All Conference talent at each level of the defense and could beat opponents man for man (DT Malcolm Brown, DE Cedric Hughes, LB Jordan Hicks, CB Quandre Diggs, S Mykkele Thompson). Due to youth, their defenders have had trouble disengaging from blockers quick enough to make plays at the second level, particularly with their speed packages when linemen are able to get out and block safeties and corners lining up as linebackers.
5) On offense, Texas has simplified things for Jerrod Heard. He has not proven to be a player that can make difficult reads and work through progressions in practice, so he has been reduced to a 1-2 read player with one downfield route, one hot route, and a run option. The vertical speed of Burt and the open field ability of Daje Johnson gives him a couple of weapons to make that package work. His lack of height and ability to read defenses make him a poor pocket passing option, so the Longhorns have basically shelved much of that portion of the playbook. Most of his runs were not called QB run plays as the staff understands that he is not built to take the pounding of 20 carries per game between the tackles like a Collin Klein/Tim Tebow/Cam Newton type of player. Jonathan Gray is a back best suited to run out of a pro-set formation. He is a very good back, but he lacks the suddenness and speed to be an upper echelon back in the spread offense where he starts standing still next to the quarterback for the backfield mesh.
6) As much grief as fans on this board have given OSU's offensive line, the Texas line has had way more problems. Their line has had multiple busts with protection breakdowns against line stunts (simple twists) as well as physical mismatches inside where defensive tackles have gotten enough penetration to disrupt the run game. To top it off, their OL leads the team in penalties. The defensive ends for OSU are going to be very difficult for Texas. The Cowboy DEs will have to be careful to not get too far upfield and create easy seams for the QB to leak out and get outside, but they should be able to get pressure.
7) The Longhorns have really good size on the defensive line and actually get pretty good penetration, but their ends have trouble turning the corner once upfield to get quality pressure on the quarterback, and their defensive tackles do not disengage from blocks quickly enough to make plays at or behind the line of scrimmage very often even though they are regularly in position.
There you have my first wave of observations. Anything you want to discuss?
