Bodacious Bevo

Just want to say this thread title is the absolute banger we all knew it would be

No he's been good. But not sucking doesn't get you into the first round.

Cosmi better start picking it up if he wants to be a first rounder. That was a projection based on how well he projects to LT and assumed improvement this year, but he's playing more like a third rounder.

Don’t forget “I ain’t goin to no damn TCU”

Bit late to the conversation on defense but I wanted to talk about our upside and ceiling on that side of the ball I charted all of Tech's traditional run plays (i.e. handoffs) from the weekend (there's probably a couple errors but w/e). Their average yards before contact (YBC) was .55 with half of my charted plays involving contact at or behind the LOS. That's really really good. I can't find a college football YBC stat, but the lowest YBC of any NFL RB last season was 1.2. So .55 is likely an elite number. I think it speaks to the ability of our front 6 to get penetration while maintaining gap integrity. Seriously, all of our DL take turns getting in to the backfield and Overshown/Mitchell, for all their flaws, have been good about meeting RBs in the right gaps. We lost containment on the edge a couple times, but there is enough athleticism and physicality in the secondary to minimize the damage that would cause. All in all, Tech ball carriers only got to the secondary untouched twice on Saturday (once on a jet sweep, once when because Overshown was being held very clearly but there was no call). Of course, YBC sounds good but doesn't matter if you can't get the guy to the ground. That's why their team had 4.8 YPC, an extra 4.3 yards after contact (YAC). 2 extra yards would be fine, maybe even 3, but 4+ is god awful. Derrick Henry led the NFL at 3.2 YAC last year. Everybody knows that tackling was absolutely horrendous so I'll just add that there's no real reason for any of us to expect significant improvement. We'll be better than we were against Tech, but I'm just going to expect double digit missed tackles per game. (That's one per drive! Pretty dismal) So when I look at this Texas defense, the hope has to be that they shore up tackling just enough to be an elite run defense (Overshown could accomplish this by himself) and make teams one dimensional. Of course, Big 12 teams will happily throw all over you. And that's gonna happen. We have athletes at LB and DB but they're not as well developed as the skill players they'll be lining up against. So I expect teams to light us up in the air, but I also think we can steal a couple possessions per game with negative plays and turnovers. I think if we can end up with a ppg average (conference only) around 27-30 (that's the same level as OSU, WVU, and TCU last year and slightly better than our own) that our offense should be good enough to win 9+. Hell, OU won the conference giving up 37.6 in 2018, although our offense won't be that consistent. So to finish up: is our defense going to be good? No. Can it be good enough to win the big 12? Yes. Marginal improvements in tackling will make us an elite run D. Shore up LB drops in pass coverage and the pass rush and we're on track for a CCG berth.

There's a bit of cruel irony in the fact that big WRs have been a staple of our offense under Herman and we've recruited no one that can cover a WR over 6'2"

Watching the Sanders highlights roll in

Ok so I've been catching up on the thread so the draft talk might be outdated and this turned out longer than I expected, so I've spoiler'ed it into sections How Sam projects to the NFL NFL drafting trends and where Sam fits Right now Sam seems to be wholly focused on winning this year. I think he cares deeply about his legacy at Texas and knows it is all on the line this year. Of course I hope he balls out and wins the conference, natty, and Heisman, but no matter what happens, at the very least I think he deserves credit for the way this team stayed together over the offseason. Between COVID, social justice, and a new staff, there were a lot of reasons for us to come in to the season unprepared. Instead we were one of the best performing teams in week 1 and (almost) everyone is dialed in, on and off the field. That's a reflection of our culture under Herman and Sam.

Lol Valai is one game into his coaching career. Let's pump the breaks a bit

I don't know if I'm in the minority on this but I like Dunlap's OL writeups. At the very least he is one of the few Texas writers that has an actual grading metric that can be tracked and reviewed over the course of the season. The other thing I want to point out about OL play this week--Shack was a 4 year starter at the leading position on the OL. Say what you want about his play, but the C is in charge of a lot pre-snap. It'll take some time for the line to adjust to someone new at that spot. I think some of the issues with missing assignments will improve over time as the new starters get experience and everyone settles in with Kerstetter at C. That said I still think this line has a pretty hard ceiling of above average.

I'm expecting the 2021 class to be a disappointment (like #7), but I am so thankful that we have such a solid core already. Bowman, Sanders, Milroe, Conner, and maybe Quay are all studs. Having to start a class now with only 1 or 2 commits like the last couple years would have been so rough.

Don't you realize 3* AZ backs are like 5* TX backs But also 5* AZ backs are like 3* TX backs /bijan

Maybe Rakestraw was the one in JQJ's video all along

So I've seen this thing about Milroe not caring about being in a 2 QB class, but wasn't the reason that we got him because Alabama took another QB right before he was about to commit?

Thanks Lots of new faces in the narrated version that I need to learn in order to properly stalk the team this offseason

Who is this that's featured? Thought it was Kirko for a second.

He’s the fucking lizard king

Can someone banish ctj and harvdog to their own thread like they did that one time with ztejas and earl? Shit's getting old

The IT guys are really high on Terrence Cooks. He's a guy I'll be interested to watch Has anyone even confirmed that Turner made it in? I don't think I've seen anything about him

Adding Dixon, Collins, and Dunson gives us 274.09, good for #7 in the composite with 20 commits. Every other team in the top 10 has at least 23, except UGA and LSU. #6 is A&M with 280.09 with 23. We're probably not passing them. Adding Williams, Rakestraw, and Princely puts us at 278.54. So not happening.

It should be pretty clear to everyone that TE is a pivotal role in our offense under Herman. I'll pass on hiring someone that has no experience playing or coaching the position, much less someone that has never coached any position.

I’ve only been following recruiting a couple years but we’ve been playing the visit game as long as I have, at least to some extent

JaMarr Chase and Terrace Marshall Jr. are guaranteed to come back. I'm not sure about Moss, Edwards-Helaire, or Jefferson, but the skill talent at LSU will still be elite next year. That's probably the least important of the three you mentioned though