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2019 Texas Longhorns fall practice thread


Machinator

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9 hours ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

I was just going to ask whether we think he goes the Coburn route or if he plays a full season. I’d love to be able to RS him - but if he’s as much a monster as everyone says we might as well throw him out there and let him fuck shit up. 

One great aspect of the 4 game Rs rule is you can throw him out there for some experience. If you find out he’s really just a depth guy this year then great, don’t burn his shirt. But if he’s making impactful plays, let it ride. 

He’a certainly being talked up to play sooner and more than a guy like Keondre who didn’t see the field until West Virginia. 

Edited by GRHorn
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12 hours ago, Foosters said:

I've always wondered about that. No weapons at all? No hunting rifles, shotguns, etc.?

Can't even legally possess one?

It has to mean on UT property, or maybe while classes are on session.  I'm sure many of the players are hunters.  Hell there's a LHN commercial with Colt and Jordan skeet shooting.  

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2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I think Randy has an affinity for the Horns. LJ made like 2 appearances on his year-end you got Mossed tape last season. 

He would have looked good in burnt orange. 

Moss doesn’t pick out those clips. lol. An ESPN staffer hands him a piece of paper to read as he steps on stage. That’s the extent of his involvement with those clips.

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1 minute ago, Burt Macklin said:

Moss doesn’t pick out those clips. lol. An ESPN staffer hands him a piece of paper to read as he steps on stage. That’s the extent of his involvement with those clips.

I'm sure he has some input on the year end list. What would the point be if he didn't.  He's a pretty decent analyst. 

Obviously he isn't scouring the interwebs for fall practice clips but I'm sure he has at least a modicum of input on what makes it and what doesn't. 

 

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9 hours ago, Bodacious Bevo said:

Anwar said tonight that if Ingram isn't good to go by the opener then Jake Smith will learn some plays at RB.

That’s amazing he knew that considering that’s what Tom Hernan said. Where can I send my money? 

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IT team notes

QB: 

There's not much else to say about Ehlinger at this point. He's more accurate, still making decisions, and therefore taking care of the ball. People struggle to recall any turnovers in team work. I asked for a lagging part of his game, surely there's something, "boundary hash to the field throws aren't quite as accurate but he's better there than last year."

Thompson is improving pretty rapidly and confidence is building in him. What has he improved the most? Decision making and accuracy. Those two improvements have him sitting in the pocket longer and making good throws. With Sam's play style this is a development that will likely pay dividends at some point.

Johnson is where Thompson was last year.

RB:

Ingram will be fine for the opener. He and Whittington are participating in the less strenuous portions of practice. Obviously they aren't getting reps in contact work. They're working Whittington back into action slowly. I'm not sure if he'll get any snaps in the scrimmage. I suspect not.

Accordingly, Daniel Young has seen his carries increase with the injuries to his stablemates. I asked how he looks and heard back, "like he always does, he's steady." I mentioned with an improved line, especially behind Cosmi and Braun he should be all right. "Yeah, he'll definitely help push the pile."

Devin Duvernay is the emergency running back. I don't expect any of the walk-ons to see game time.

OL:

It was written elsewhere that Parker Braun hasn't ruled out red-shirting but if he's one of the best five he's going to play. He's quickly becoming one of the best two so do the math. Braun hasn't even "officially" become a starter but it's pretty obvious he is based on snap allocation. Hand is very happy with where Braun is.

Zach Shackelford ankle injury No. 11 won't keep him out long. Sprained ankles will always be a concern with Shack but this is a mild one.

Kerstetter has looked good at center. He's not where Shack is but that's attributable to experience. In Kerstetter's place is Junior Angilau and again there's little drop off. That too is attributable to experience.

With this shuffle there isn't much drop off in overall quality of line play.

Of note, Okafor got pulled for some bad snaps and it was Urquidez who went in at right tackle rather than Christian Jones. I'm not reading much into that yet.

TE:

The goal-line portion of Thursday's practice featured a lot of 12 personnel. That put both Brewer and Leitao out on the field and they did fine. "There are so many bodies in a confined space they just need to get on their guy and fight and they're doing that."

This group is still better at receiving. We'll discuss them more in the Scoop but make sure to read Ian's piece on tight ends. There is a lot of embedded practice info in it.

WR:

My first question at the position centered around Moore being suspended and Eagles having minor elbow surgery. Any concerns? "The last position I'd worry about is wide receiver. All those guys can get open and if they can't Sam will throw them open. You still have Collin, Burt, Epps, Duvernay, Jake Smith."

The source went on to say John Burt has been a revelation this camp and if he keeps it up they won't be able to keep him off the field. He's worked all over but is obviously a prime candidate for Z given current roster needs. 

On Burt: He's added weight and is running the full route tree. He's showing no sign of drops that have plagued him at times.

On Johnson: He's putting it all together. Previously he just used his length to make catches, but now he's using his strength. He's also running better routes and is more assertive and explosive after the catch.

On Marcus Washington: He's been turning some heads of late. Good hands and making some acrobatic catches -- toe-tapping the sideline, going up over guys, etc. Smooth route runner.

DL: 

T. Sweat will definitely play this season and got his red stripe removed on Thursday. He's a big body, strong, and hard to move. He's a nose, 1-tech, or 3-tech depending on the front. Everything I've heard regarding him suggests a high floor. I'll be on the lookout for more discussion around his upside. I think he'll be in the Poona mold of disruptor but not stat-filler. That works for intelligent football fans.

It's same old same old across the board. Roach is Roach, Coburn is good but might be a year away from being really good, TQ is looking like an All Conference player.

On Thursday they did change the front some to work on goal line/base defense. That brought Ojomo in and bounced Roach to B-backer and Ossai to F-backer.

Ojomo is having a good camp and also works at nose tackle. The high school evaluation of him being a guy who moves about the line is coming to light.

LB:

They worked on "base" a lot. Base is what they build off of but it isn't their base for practical purposes.

Dele is playing "pretty well." It was said with an encouraging tone. He's pretty safely in the lead at Mac at this point. McCulloch won't come off the field and is the leader. Ossai is playing well and there's a lot of confidence, bordering on certainty, that he'll play at a high level this season.

The big question remaining is who is the Rover when they go to Dime. That has yet to be decided. Do they keep McCulloch at Rover and Dele at Mac or do they bump McCulloch to Mac and move Ossai to Rover? We'll likely get some clarity on that this weekend.

DB:

Caden Sterns should be good for the opener.

BJ Foster and Brandon Jones were on light duty this week but just to give them a rest. I read that as they can't afford to lose any more safeties and they're deep enough at the position to give the offense good looks.

Montrell Estell was at nickel on Thursday. That sounds like cross-training. "At one point or another I think just about every DB has repped at every position."

I asked if the Brandon Jones to nickel experiment was a real thing. "I doubt it materializes into anything but Jones was good there." I think Sterns being out the rest of camp sunk that dream.

Tyler Owens won't red-shirt. They're looking at him in the cowboy package that features 8 defensive backs.

CB: 

The corners are still struggling with ball skills but some of that is attributable to the receivers. An example, "Are Green's skills lacking? It's tough to say because he's going up against Collin. He's right there every time, though."

Good news is Kobe Boyce (who is also struggling to play the ball in the air) has been playing up to the aggressive program standard at the position. He won't see the field otherwise. He's currently with the 1s.

"It's clear the corners missed the safeties this week." The experienced safeties are a steadying voice in the back end.

D'shawn Jamison will hit and punch above his weight but he needs to do a better job of wrapping up. Something of a concern of mine is we know from his time on offense he tends to go for the highlight play. Not everything is a Heisman moment, DJ. Tons of upside, they just need to get him making the fundamental play.

"Cook has been inconsistent but he's probably still the best one overall." I'd dispute that from talking to others. The inconsistency seems to be from one practice to the next, not one play to the next. I bet he'll be perfectly fine.

They're already game-planning for Louisiana Tech. I think we'll see a lot of dime that game.

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5 minutes ago, Machinator said:

They're already game-planning for Louisiana Tech. I think we'll see a lot of dime that game.

Shouldn't we see a lot of dime in every game? I figure how much quarter or "Cowboy" (I was wondering what the nomenclature for the 8 DB set is - personally I'm partial to "50 cent piece") we see is a more interesting question. 

I mean our base defense is basically a nickel, correct?

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12 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Shouldn't we see a lot of dime in every game? I figure how much quarter or "Cowboy" (I was wondering what the nomenclature for the 8 DB set is - personally I'm partial to "50 cent piece") we see is a more interesting question. 

I mean our base defense is basically a nickel, correct?

There are still 50-cent pieces? I thought the aggys married all of them.

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25 minutes ago, Machinator said:

IT team notes

 

  Hide contents

Ingram will be fine for the opener. He and Whittington are participating in the less strenuous portions of practice. Obviously they aren't getting reps in contact work. They're working Whittington back into action slowly. I'm not sure if he'll get any snaps in the scrimmage. I suspect not.

 

Did I miss where Whittington got banged up? 

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On 8/14/2019 at 11:50 AM, Lhorn said:

I knew there was a video, but I googled "Cade Brewer Sportscenter Texas" and didn't see it.  My question was poorly worded.  Should have said "can any of you kind gents post a link for a dumbass" instead of "does it exist."

normal people knew what you meant, posters permanently stuck in asshole mode knew too, they just acted like they didn't

Edited by pacman
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Good to know John Burt is a revelation for the third straight camp! Agree with the WR assesment in general though. Embarrassment of riches at the position, if it's not Johnson or Duvernay a couple injuries aren't a concern.

CB is worrying - knowing how young the group is and how the guys vying for time looked last year, it doesn't inspire confidence that even the sunshine pumping $9.95ers are noting their inconsistency. I do actually buy that part of that is just the talent they're lining up against though. The silver lining is that repping against their own WR group preps them for everyone on the schedule. Will definitely be interesting to watch them.

Also good to hear Sam is taking carer of the ball. I know a run of ball security like games two through 11 last year is basically impossible to repeat, but in general if this offense isn't turning the ball over a bunch it should be able to put up a plenty of points and keep the pressure off the defense.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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4 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

I know a run of ball security like games two through 11 last year is basically impossible to repeat, but in general if this offense isn't turning the ball over a bunch it should be able to put up a plenty of points and keep the pressure off the defense.

I'm fine with a few more INTs if it means a lot more 50 yd TD bombs. Sam should air it out to these guys any chance he gets. 

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10 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Good to know John Burt is a revelation for the third straight camp! Agree with the WR assesment in general though. Embarrassment of riches at the position, if it's not Johnson or Duvernay a couple injuries aren't a concern.

CB is worrying - knowing how young the group is and how the guys vying for time looked last year, it doesn't inspire confidence that even the sunshine pumping $9.95ers are noting their inconsistency. I do actually buy that part of that is just the talent they're lining up against though. The silver lining is that repping against their own WR group preps them for everyone on the schedule. Will definitely be interesting to watch them.

Also good to hear Sam is taking carer of the ball. I know a run of ball security like games two through 11 last year is basically impossible to repeat, but in general if this offense isn't turning the ball over a bunch it should be able to put up a plenty of points and keep the pressure off the defense.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

I expect a little heartburn from the CBs on occasion. Likewise with the LBs. One thing I wonder about is how much the CBs practice against different receivers. For instance, we keep hearing about Green vs CJ, and that supposedly makes him good enough to play against anyone. I don't agree. Not every receiver is 6-6 and kind of slow. Rotating WRs vs CBs would be better IMO. And Green going against shorter, fast WRs would also probably answer the question on ball skills. I take the IT report with a grain of salt though, because it's just their take on what they are "told".  Oh, and while I'm at it, curse Charlie Strong for not retaining Duane Akina. Not that it would have mattered in the long run, but the sheer stupidity of it merits attention.

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8 minutes ago, sith_horn said:

Oh, and while I'm at it, curse Charlie Strong for not retaining Duane Akina. Not that it would have mattered in the long run, but the sheer stupidity of it merits attention.

Aw, we could probably get him back any time we wanted him. Isn't he still at that little community college in Palo Alto, where the temperature tomorrow is going to be 78--while we're at 102?

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40 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

CB is worrying - knowing how young the group is and how the guys vying for time looked last year, it doesn't inspire confidence that even the sunshine pumping $9.95ers are noting their inconsistency. I do actually buy that part of that is just the talent they're lining up against though. The silver lining is that repping against their own WR group preps them for everyone on the schedule. Will definitely be interesting to watch them.

 

I agree with this but is is interesting to note that not one of our "all world" WR's was selected to the All Big 12 preseason team

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18 minutes ago, oldhorn2 said:

 

I agree with this but is is interesting to note that not one of our "all world" WR's was selected to the All Big 12 preseason team

That’s because there could be 4 or 5 first round WRs in the 2020 NFL draft playing in the Big 12 this year. You can have a really fucking loaded WR room and none of them be better than Lamb, Reager, or Wallace this season.

 

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1 hour ago, oldhorn2 said:

 

I agree with this but is is interesting to note that not one of our "all world" WR's was selected to the All Big 12 preseason team

A preseason All Big 12 Team is one of the dumbest concepts in the history of the dumbness of sports writing. Let's not even wait until they've played a game to judge their performance and relative value!

I don't know if our receivers will play well enough to be all conference, but I don't let the preseason predictions of the dumbest people in the world paid to write sway my end-of-season judgment.

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19 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

On the younger guys in practice:

-The IT report mentioned Coburn not quite being there yet, or some such bullshit. I was told he's a potential DLOTY this season with what he's doing in practice. I'm confident in who told me that and I think IT is full of shit with half what they put in that write-up.

-They think Ojomo has the physical skills, but he's not always there mentally, and they think it is a youth thing. 

-There isn't a 2019 signee that they're not excited about, although Caleb Johnson is coming along slower than hoped in knocking the dust off after his shoulder problems from his JUCO time. 

-Jake Smith is going to play plenty, but they think they're truly stacked at WR across the board. Guys are going to be fighting for time. Kennedy Lewis is very, very likely to redshirt as this level of play is pretty far above what he's used to seeing. Woodard is going to have a hard time ever seeing the field.

-Braun's coming along on passblocking, but he's not going to be a plus guy there any time soon. He's truly elite in the running game though.

-They love the FR TEs. Wiley's got a chance to play. He could be a LT by his senior year. They like him.

-Sweat is whipping ass. If you're lining up at NT and you're name isn't Coburn, Ojomo, Sweat, or Wilbon, you'll be transferring before school starts. 

-Owens is freakier than Adimora, but Adimora is the better football player today. They like both of those guys a lot.

-No one knows why in the fuck Boyce is playing with the 1's other than they don't want him transferring before school starts. Watson is better than they hoped. 

In times past, I wouldn't lend much credence to a lot of the excitement from preseason practices, but this staff is proving that it can evaluate well. Texas is young but talented. Anything less than the Big 12 title this year will be a letdown to the team and those around it.


Take me now. 

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