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I think Flood is way happier with the current talent on campus than the fans are. The lack of feelers out on grad transfers for the OL should tell you right away they think the unit will be solid.

Best thing about having a proactive staff regarding transfers is that they will straight up signal where they think their holes are by who they target transfer-wise

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23 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Trending better on O-line. Two recent 2nd Rd draft picks in CW and Cosmi.  Hopefully this O-line part of the TEXAS roster becomes a big strength going forward...

Yup! This has been such a dark shit stain on this program and everyone uses it to negative recruit us.  I hope we can put 2 guys in the league next year.  I think we finally found an O-line coach that can get us on the right track.  

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IT:  O-line Practice Notes   (Sunday)

-The offensive line depth chart looked nearly identical to theone seen in the first practice, with one small modification. Walk-on Chad Wolf, who was previously fourth string at left tackle, was repping at right tackle today. It may have something to do with Isaiah Hookfin's absence (currently in a walking boot). That makes right tackle look like this: Derek Kerstetter -- Michael Balis (w-o) -- Chad Wolf (w-o). 

-Christian Jones, Andrej Karic, and Jaylen Garth were at left tackle during the viewing period.

-Kyle Flood doesn't mess around. The offensive line was situated just in front of the seats occupied by media in the north end zone, and he was constantly talking, whether it was praise or scrutiny. No matter what he was offering, he did everything he could in order to prevent a stoppage in the drill. The pace was quick and when a player interrupted it, he let him know his disappointment.

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Inside Texas -- Bobby Burton

Wednesday: Tinkering with the Texas offensive line

OL coach Kyle Flood has one of the more difficult jobs on the team.

His OL room is not devoid of talent, even though it may not have a future All-American either. Rather, Flood must pick his top five from a group of six or seven that aren’t all that far apart in production.

Coming from Alabama, Flood’s predilection was to see if he could get the Longhorns bigger up front. That’s why Junior Angilau still gets a look at center despite Jake Majors being the more natural player at the position.


Yet I’m told Flood has started to come around on how all of the pieces fit, the who and the where. That didn’t come into focus until Derek Kerstetter returned for his final season after recovering from injury this spring.

Locking in Kerstetter at right tackle - not at center where Herb Hand tried to force the issue a year ago - has given Flood some certainty when he starts tinkering with his lineup.

Now it’s pretty straight-forward. The battle at left tackle is between Christian Jones and Andrej Karic. Jones is currently winning that.

On the interior, Denzel Okafor is a typical Flood offensive guard. Perhaps Flood would like a player a bit quicker, but Okafor will suffice.

That really leaves the only true tinkering down to what Flood decides to do at center. Go with Jake Majors or insert Junior Angilau?

Majors played exceedingly well in action late in his true freshman year when taking over for the injured Kerstetter. Angilau is a returning multi-year starter at guard who is auditioning for the center spot as well.

Angilau can likely be more of an asset in power run situations than Majors at center. But is an Angilau-Tope Imade combo at center-guard better than the Majors-Angilau combination overall?

Based on what I’ve heard, early returns are kind of what we’d expect, although the lack of full team settings and contact scrimmages have yet to solidify the decision.

As of now, it’s Majors at center with Angilau and Okafor working at guard, and Jones and Kerstetter at tackle.

But it’s important to remember this is not set in stone. Flood still wants to tinker in scrimmage situations.

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Stay healthy 🤞and this O-line hopefully will be a lot better this year.

Thx for this Jeff Howe update @CastHorn 

— Taking a peek at the offensive line, the No. 1 group has remained the same with Christian Jones at left tackle, Denzel Okafor at left guard, Jake Majors at center, Junior Angilau at right guard and Derek Kerstetter at right tackle. Andrej Karic continues to be the No. 1 tackle with Tope Imade and Hayden Connermixing in at the guard spots behind Angilau and Okafor, respectively.

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18 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

 

This is the part I’m most excited about. We’re going to see so many different run concepts. They did everything at Bama and when you have that much variance in your run game, it makes it extremely hard for defenders to know what to do. This is something Shanahan excels at in SF. You have to be able to run man/gap schemes and zone schemes effectively. If you can’t, it makes it way too easy for the defense to align to beat what you run and tee off on those concepts. 
 

Herman was so bad at this that not only did we primarily only run zone, but we really only ran inside zone. We hardly ever ran OZ until the end of the season once Majors and Karic came in, and teams like OU and ISU ate our run game alive. 
 

Even if none of our OL improved individually, I think we’d see a real jump in play just based on scheme versatility and the defense not knowing exactly what’s coming. On top of that, we’ve seen tangible improvements in technique in the spring game and through summer camp. I’m cautiously optimistic our run game will be a big step forward. Pass pro will likely take some time, but if we can impose our will in the run game, then pass pro will become much easier. 
 

I think we may finally have a real OL coach for the first time in what feels like forever. 

Edited by Burt Macklin
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This is the part I’m most excited about. We’re going to see so many different run concepts. They did everything at Bama and when you have that much variance in your run game, it makes it extremely hard for defenders to know what to do. This is something Shanahan excels at in SF. You have to be able to run man/gap schemes and zone schemes effectively. If you can’t, it makes it way too easy for the defense to align to beat what you run and tee off on those concepts. 
 
Herman was so bad at this that not only did we primarily only run zone, but we really only ran inside zone. We hardly ever ran OZ until the end of the season once Majors and Karic came in, and teams like OU and ISU ate our run game alive. 
 
Even if none of our OL improved individually, I think we’d see a real jump in play just based on scheme versatility and the defense not knowing exactly what’s coming. On top of that, we’ve seen tangible improvements in technique in the spring game and through summer camp. I’m cautiously optimistic our run game will be a big step forward. Pass pro will likely take some time, but if we can impose our will in the run game, then pass pro will become much easier. 
 
I think we may finally have a real OL coach for the first time in what feels like forever. 

This can’t be repeated enough. You can have a bread and butter or a go to run scheme, but you’ve got to be able to mix it up to be effective. Oklahoma punishes you with the counter but they run everything you keep you honest. The 49ers are a great pro example - they love the wide zone but utilize a variety of concepts. You can’t sustain an effective run game just spamming inside zone unless you have Zeke and several NFL OL. Herman somehow never figured that out. The Texas OL stands to be helped immensely from the extra half step gained from the defense not knowing what you’re doing.
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On 8/19/2021 at 10:14 AM, Burt Macklin said:

This is the part I’m most excited about. We’re going to see so many different run concepts. They did everything at Bama and when you have that much variance in your run game, it makes it extremely hard for defenders to know what to do. This is something Shanahan excels at in SF. You have to be able to run man/gap schemes and zone schemes effectively. If you can’t, it makes it way too easy for the defense to align to beat what you run and tee off on those concepts. 
 

Herman was so bad at this that not only did we primarily only run zone, but we really only ran inside zone. We hardly ever ran OZ until the end of the season once Majors and Karic came in, and teams like OU and ISU ate our run game alive. 
 

Even if none of our OL improved individually, I think we’d see a real jump in play just based on scheme versatility and the defense not knowing exactly what’s coming. On top of that, we’ve seen tangible improvements in technique in the spring game and through summer camp. I’m cautiously optimistic our run game will be a big step forward. Pass pro will likely take some time, but if we can impose our will in the run game, then pass pro will become much easier. 
 

I think we may finally have a real OL coach for the first time in what feels like forever. 

As a Follow up, Babers said PFF had Bama at 53/47 zone vs gap runs, while Texas was 71/29 last year. 

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Thx for this @satyanash

Scipio Tex      O-line vs Louisiana

Work is needed here, but there's material. Be patient and let's see if Flood is the real deal.

The Cajuns have some real dudes on their DL and at OLB so I tried to keep that in mind as I evaluated some shoddier moments of play. Denzel Okafor struggled badly in pass protection, giving up a sack, another bad pressure and hit on Card on a matador swim move, and earned two holding calls, one of them declined. That's just not going to get it done. I can praise Denzel for doing an outstanding job leaking to the second level on some zone runs where he carried Cajun defenders 5-10 yards downfield. Derek Kerstetter got his sea legs over the course of the game after some early struggles, but also earned a holding penalty. Jake Majors was OK and he'll be fine as he works on his cut off angles. All of his snaps were good, which is a typical opening game struggle. Angilau was a good physical presence on inside zone, but the late knee injury is concerning for him and this football team, not only for what it means at guard but also at backup center. Christian Jones is a good run blocker and I see upside as a pass protector once he nails down some technical aspects.

General criticism: this group is trying to block with their arms instead of their feet. Their work will get easier when they get their feet where they need to be instead of trying to arrest penetration with a limb. I would work to get Andrej Karic into this lineup.

 

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