Askew

Yeah I am pretty much operating under the assumption that Whit has gotten the correct medical help, and S&C is putting him in the right place to avoid further injury and compete next year (both body composition and conditioning). With that assumption, my main point is just that Whit needs live reps to get his athleticism and confidence back. Judging by how he looked last year, his body has either not gotten its full athleticism back, or he's in self-protection mode and is holding himself back to avoid further injury. So to overcome these things, he just needs to be out there playing full speed. If he needs bubble wrap just to survive an offseason where he's not dealing with any type of nagging injury, then he might be too snake bit to be a football player.

I can agree with Bijan (although sounds like his vision is getting better and better). But it's pretty clear now that Whit has been on a longer timeline in regaining his HS athleticism after the multiple hernia surgeries and the meniscus tear last year. Pretty stiff last year. He needs every live rep he can get at this point just to keep recovering his fast-twitch muscle and his instinctual athleticism when people are flying around. Offseason conditioning cant really replicate that.

Yes, please.

DMO proved that he doesn't need any extra weight to be effective and durable in the BIG 12. He already gained the ~10 extra pounds he needed to play LB. He was listed at 210 in 2019. They aren't going to size him up just so that he can be a larger body. They want his explosion from last year, with better play recognition. No need to change his body composition for that. So yeah, maybe DMO puts on the arbitrary three pounds to get to the 220's, but the point remains that TO is currently really undersized to pair with DMO. We also have seen what it looks like when guys put on too much weight in the offseason (Adimora, Keaontay). So anything more than 10 pounds on TO's frame would likely not be healthy. I could live with DMO at 217 and TO at 214. But they'd have to prove it works on the field. Juwan did a lot of the dirty work last year.

TO is at 204. He's not going to play in the 220's. DMO is at 217, he's not going to play in the 220's. So the plan was you take the undersized guy and play him with a Gbenda or Ford who will play in the 220's. That is still traditionally undersized, but it made sense when you have the larger 4-down front with two big DTs. I don't know how that works if TO plays at less than 210. Adimora was playing Nickel at 214.

I still have doubts whether TO has the tackling instincts to play in the box, but that will get resolved soon enough. Assuming TO is capable, real question is can TO and DMO play at the same time, or are they too similar and need a Mike to help fill gaps and stop the run? I was excited to pair DMO with Ford or Gbenda. But I guess you could put TO and DMO out there against spread teams and then see how they hold up against the run.

The guys want it

I love that this came out right after Juwan hopped in the portal.

The ironic part about this is that with the bowl games and the end of '20, when the season was already decided, Herman essentially adopted something closer to the Sark model: friendlier attitude, positive environment, less pressure, less need to squeeze all of the practices in, more rest. The results were pretty astounding with how well the team played and the positive energy they exuded. Could this have happened without the navy-seal approach first to toughen them up and have the ability to let off? Probably not. Charlie showed that. But still goes to show the energy/emotions that the coach carries through the season filters down to the players and how they perform.

Fun podcast guys, thanks. Speaking of shots: I thought it was interesting when the piss-chart conversation got going and someone mentioned "championship piss without the championships." Shark's negative response to that definitely shows the disconnect between fans and players, and how players might take criticism of the coach's regime differently than fans think they will--even if the player just got done bagging on the coach. These are still proud guys that love their team and the program. On that note, you guys may want to temper the whole message-board-Herman-hate-and-inside-jokes bit when you get a real player on to talk about Herman. Caused some dead air when Shark didn't have knowledge/want to play along. And leading off with the burnt toast stuff was fun but it kind of limited/circumscribed what could have been an illuminating conversation. There was some really interesting nuance to the Herman stuff that Shark brushed up against but didnt get a chance to flesh out: Herman was an asshole but also the smartest football guy in every room; Herman was intellectual but also socially awkward; Herman was aloof with his players but introduced Shark to his real estate agent and talked investments with him. So i'd say just let the player talk and open up a bit about his take, and then mix in the hard-hitting questions about burnt toast, piss charts, and sociopathy for some extra emphasis. May get a better framing of the whole conversation, and a different take from the player with inside knowledge than the one we all have on the outside looking in. But great to hear from a player like this and really appreciate you guys doing the podcast. Great work.

Given the state of affairs, contributions from Washington and Woodard would really solidify this room. Although hopefully you go into fall with Whit, Smith, Moore, Omeire, Dixon all ready to go. Would be great to have Wash and Wood rounding out the top 7 rather than an Alexis, Harrison, Money or Lee. I assume Lewis is dead weight. Damn so Collins comes back and Ojomo is third on the depth chart at 3-tech? Tough pill for a starter last year.

There are a few questions I really want answered: 1) How does Sark treat the lowest guys on the depth chart? Actively process them out or let them stay if they want to stay? I think Harrison, Cain, Lee, Alexis are all safe regardless, since they are young guys with potential. But Lewis and Money have to be on the chopping block, with Woodard and Washington right behind if they continue to get passed up by Omeire, Dixon, etc. 2) If Sark actively processes, does he do that in the Spring? It kind of makes sense for '21 recruiting to free up the WR chart, but doesn't really makes sense for the season. Might as well try to keep everyone around and then work it out next Winter. 3) How many of them go to the NFL next year? Unlikely, but there is a world where Moore, Smith, Whittington absolutely light it up in Sark's offense and all go to the NFL after '21. 4) How much is Sark willing to balloon the position? If only Schooler and Estell leave, would Sark still recruit 5 elite receivers?

Given this, I don't understand how Estell stays at WR. 4 years at S, where we have immediate need for depth, and then he switches to WR, where we have too many players. Can't imagine Estell is beating out any of: Dixon, Washington, Woodard. So he's automatically 8th at best on the WR depth chart. Move both Schooler and Estell back to S and we have pretty ideal numbers at both positions. Estell goes back to his normal position. Schooler gets more work at tackling for his main position--gunner on S/T. Seems like a no-brainer.

Agreed. I think Sark is going to pretty quickly realize that Whit could add the most value manufacturing depth all over the field. Instead of starting Whit and having Smith be stuck as only the backup H. Have Whit be the backup H, the 4th WR in 10 personnel, and the 2nd RB in 21 personnel. I'd personally have Whit be the backup RB in some normal situations as well. Just use him like Kamara. Sark is going to be really multiple and Whit is a perfect weapon for that. Would make the offense dynamic. Could still get starter-level minutes.

Roschon being looked at as "1a" by the last staff is what got Bijan 1 total carry in the 2nd quarter of the Alamo bowl where the offense completely bogged down. In the last four games of the season, the difference in scoring rate between when Bijan was in and Roschon was in is astounding. The last two games Bijan scored a TD on every fourth touch. Under Sark, there is no world where Bijan is healthy and Roschon takes carries away from him. Roschon is going to be clear RB2--he'll sub in every third series to give Bijan a rest. In '20 Bama, Najee Harris had 250 carries, Robinson (next highest back) had 90 carries. In the SEC championship with 40 total rushing attempts, Najee had 31 carries, Robinson had 4. It's going to be AGNB with Bijan.

Incredible. As a non-fat person who generally eats way more than most people I know, my grounds rules would be: 1) Eating half of the 3-foot remainder that sat for hours is totally fair game. At that point the party is getting close to leftovers/finish-the-food mode. 2) Dick move to "wait" 10 minutes and then just quietly snarf the last remaining half. Everyone knows that you make a call-out in that situation and ask if anyone wants some before Joey-Chestnutting the final few feet of that sandwich. And I put wait in quotes because jabba here definitely didn't wait all 10 and was probably feverishly counting down the seconds before he could sneak-waddle back into the kitchen and get his hotdog fingers onto that sandwich. All of that said, given how easy he makes it sound to put down 3 feet of sandwich within a matter of minutes, all of these party people should have known this was liable to happen and should have gotten their sandwich helpings proactively.

Prophetic green selection square on Bimage.

Probably needed to top up the word count.

Not sure why IT would put an entire paragraph in Boyd's article about Ben Davis committing over the weekend.

I think the path of least resistance to the NFL is some sort of H-back role. I'd say his current profile is: effective at short yardage, above-average pass catching, good blocker, good feet, above-average quickness, excellent leadership. He was listed at 192lbs as a recruit. He's already at 227 after two years in the program. Granted, he wasn't exactly shredded last year. I could see Ro using all three years of eligibility remaining to keep growing and developing that skillset--especially catching and blocking. '23 season 5th year senior RoJo could be a 6-1 240 H-back for a backfield of Blue, Owens, Brooks. NFL might take a good look.

Doesn't make for very pithy commentary. Also, not sure if there is some sort of homophonic comedy of errors going on here or not.

Sweet jesus if there is full capacity and SEZ construction completed, the Louisiana game is going to be absurd with all the Covid re-opening hype. They may have to do away with the first-come-first-serve student section for that game--stampede likely.

"Know your enemy" -Sun Tzu How am I supposed to make fun of these people if I don't listen to the dumb stuff they say?

The rant was embarrassing. He was also unintentionally revealing about his "process" for CBs as he was grousing and grumbling. He essentially said he was feeling frisky all of a sudden and randomly felt like putting in some forecasts, so he just guessed Texas based on some circumstantial evidence like, e.g., 'Llewellyn's dad went to Texas and he wanted to visit during a snowstorm.' Confidence 6! These people.