46andtoo

If he comes back to play college, he’ll be transferring imo. He’s struggling at things that are important to Sarks system.

At his best, he’s one of those most accurate short to intermediate passers you’ll find. He uses multiple arm angles and has a quick release. He is terrible at throwing deep, and is now just trying to create 50/50 balls when guys have 5-7 yards of separation. His ability to stand in a pocket and make multiple reads looked highly suspect. Texas can have a good offense with him at QB, but the oline must figure it’s shit out. They must be able to move people in the run game. They actually seemed to do that yesterday better than trying to reach people.

First off I'll be the first to admit that prediction is an inexact and oftentimes fruitless art. If it has any utility outside of placing wagers, it is in the setting of expectations. In terms of the players lost versus their replacements and believing practice reports, my experience is practice reports are grain of salt types of things. High ceilings are real and can be good guide, but it's difficult to predict when a player is ready to maximize. There have many players drafted as upperclassman that played as freshman and sophomores while being real liabilities on the field. IMO.. Brooks never looked amazing, which I'd call an elite college FB player. I would say he flashed upper tier ability at times and looked stickier in coverage than Jamison. It does appear that Texas has 4 corners who can give starter level reps, which should be a boost to the secondary. Catalon also offers the potential for a big upgrade at safety, pending health and whatnot. The Edge position's most concerning element is the weakside. Ovie was horrific at pass rush, but turned into a reasonable edge setter. That's the biggest concern with Burke or whoever plays that position. Replacing DMO with Gbenda is also a potentially big drop off, even with DMO not playing great tactically at times. Agreed on WR and TE, nothing really to fret about there. Assuming the oline becomes good with one more year of development is a big stretch imo. Connor and Majors were two of the worse run blockers in the conference last year. Is it possible they improve, sure. Should we expect it, imo not sure. Even if they improve, how much? Is Campbell at RG the upgrade we expect as a true sophomore? The unit overall was pretty good at pass blocking, which is Majors strength at center. The tackles make this a bit easier to manage. Biggest area of concern is run blocking, which many have hit on here. Good bet Ewer's improves, especially given the targets he has and an elite left tackle. Does he become a good college QB or elite? Based on what I saw last season, I believe good is more likely. IMO... the rosy outlook of we've improved every area is a little too rosy. This team should have a really good passing offense, but will the running game be good enough for the offense to function against good defenses? The passing defense might improve, but can Texas actually sack the qb and produce turnovers? Can they get off the field on 3rd and 4th down? Will the run defense hold up, with the weakside edge being potentially weaker? The point is this team has unknowns, so do all the other teams in the conference. They don't have enough knowns for me to feel as confident as most of the fanbase appears to feel.

This team has some good knowns, but more than a few unknowns. Assuming the unknowns work out well is why I’ve overestimated the performance for over a decade.

Very good point, having your best two run blockers next to each other is often enough. That’s why I think Campbell will win the job. Also Sanders should be a red zone weapon.

Remember CTJ posting a couple of months ago to forget about Simmons. He was infatuated with LSU. Then Texas disrupted things with an amazing push. LSU just spent the weekend matching that push. I’m leaning to CTJ’s original thoughts on this one. As long as LSU convinced him that they can match it all. Just like when CTJ laid out why Gipson to Clemson made the most sense.

Appreciate that thorough response.

I'll prefix my question with the acknowledgement that you've proven your sourcing and it seems readily apparent that you are the holder of opinions that merit consideration. Now let me remove myself from the inner sanctuary of your anus and ask about the nature of Sark's incompetence. Knowing of your connection to the Bama folks, I'd imagine your opinion has been shaped by those discussions and Texas considerable underperformance last year. Sark's track record as a head coach suggests he's missing some key ingredients. I do think he had reasonable success at Washington, which is the meat of his head man experience. I'm looking for some clarity on the nature of his failings, beyond his addiction demons. Listening to him talk, he doesn't come across as dumb, naive, or arrogant which are the typical hallmarks of incompetence. His coaching hires within the context of Strong and Herman's hiring practices suggest football intelligence. His offensive system/play calling is in the upper tier of the college fb world. So my question divorced of my editorializing is can you offer some insight into the nature of Sark's incompetence as a Head coach? Do you view him as incompetent even as an OC?

I haven't watched him beyond just highlights, but Vasek seemed like a dude that moves forward really fast. I didn't see much evidence of bend or lateral agility. I thought Burke's lateral agility and bend is better than Vasek, and I pretty much always value that more.