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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49373

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Texas 'minimizing the unknown' by recruiting FCS standouts like Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey from transfer portal

By JEFF HOWE     15 hours ago

Texas turned over numerous stones in the NCAA transfer portal throughout the offseason while on the hunt for quality depth at linebacker with Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, an All-American for FCS powerhouse James Madison, ultimately joining the Longhorns. A starter in 22 of the 50 games in which he took the field over four seasons with the Dukes, the 5-foot-10-inch, 219-pound Tucker-Dorsey came with few concerns for Sarkisian and Co. regarding his ability to get the job done while transitioning to Power Five football in the Big 12.

Speaking with the reporters at the Texas High School Coaches Association’s annual convention in San Antonio recently, head coach Steve Sarkisian said it's easier to evaluate FCS prospects like Tucker-Dorsey because of the amount of film they’ve got compared to other potential targets in the transfer portal.

“You're minimizing the unknown because, generally, the FCS players that come up have the actual tape that you can evaluate the tape and watch them play,” Sarkisian said. “One of the issues with some of the transfers from other Power Fives, for that matter, is they go to a school for one year or two years, then they want to transfer. Well, they've got no game film. Now you're trying to figure out, did they develop? Did they not? What happened? That's where it's tough to get the information, but a lot of the FCS players — the All-American types, the guys who've started 20, 30, 40 games — you can watch the tape and figure out if they're capable or not.”

Tucker-Dorsey proved to be a more than capable player for James Madison, finishing his FCS career with 204 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, four interceptions and nine pass breakups. That production made Tucker-Dorsey a no-brainer addition for a Texas defense needing quality linebacker bodies to be afforded the luxury of moving DeMarvion Overshown around the field as a chess piece capable of creating matchup issues in 2022 with Luke Brockermeyer's knee injury ahead of a season-ending win over Kansas State leaving Jaylan Ford and David Gbenda as the only depth to speak of behind Overshown in the spring.

“It's hard to forecast what somebody will look like when they haven't produced and haven't played and, obviously, Diamonte has been a very productive player at that level,” Sarkisian said of Tucker-Dorsey, who recorded 116 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, one recovery, four interceptions, four pass breakups and six quarterback hurries in 2021. “Then you start looking at instincts and he's got really natural football instincts. He knows how to take on blocks, he knows how to avoid blocks, he plays really well in zone coverage, he's a very effective blitzer, he's slippery when blockers get on him and so you just start looking at those things.”

Outside of what he's expected to bring to the field, the Longhorns dig what Tucker-Dorsey has provided in the locker room from a character standpoint. Sarkisian described the Norfolk (Va.) Lake Taylor product as “a football junkie” who loves the game, something defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and linebackers coach Jeff Choate hope elevates a defense that struggled with inconsistent linebacker play (among other deficiencies) en route to allowing the third-most points per game (31.1) and the third-most yards per play (6.03) in school history.

“He's got a chip on his shoulder,” Sarkisian said. “He's got something to prove, which is what you want when a guy is stepping up a level.”

Texas dabbled in recruiting FCS prospects under Tom Herman and landed McNeese State transfer cornerback Darion Dunn, who played in 12 games and made one start in 2021. With Sarkisian bullish on pursuing FCS standouts in the transfer portal, the path Tucker-Dorsey’s lone season in burnt orange takes could change the staff’s outlook on culling lower-division talent in the roster-building process one way or the other.

Regardless, Sarkisian has seen enough with the team’s first preseason practice on the horizon to rubber stamp the decision to target Tucker-Dorsey to fill one of the most significant holes on the roster heading into the head coach's second season on the job.

“We're excited to have him,” Sarkisian said. “He's got the right mentality, I think, for our team and for our locker room.” 

 

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49373

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Thx for this @Hookem2147 

FCB

LINEBACKERS

We’ve spent a lot of time the last few weeks talking about the emergence of weakside linebackers David Gbenda and James Madison transfer Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, allowing DeMarvion Overshown to move to strongside linebacker in UT’s base defense and rush the passer/shoot gaps.

When the defense is in nickel, Overshown is still the team’s weakside linebacker.

Everyone on the team, it seems, is anticipating a big year from junior middle linebacker Jaylan Ford.

“Jaylan Ford has had a really good offseason mentally and physically,” Kwiatkowski said.

I had one team source say Ford is now among the handful of players the team can least afford to play without - “along with whoever wins the QB job, Byron Murphy, Anthony Cook and anyone who can upgrade Texas at offensive tackle.”

Sarkisian said with the move of Jett Bush and Devin Richardson to middle linebacker, backing up Ford, as well as the emergence of Tucker-Dorsey, "I feel a lot better (about linebacker) than I did three months ago."

SECONDARY

The secondary is without a doubt the biggest concern on the defense and is a very close second to the offensive line as the biggest concern on the team heading into the 2022 season.

While coaches feel good about Anthony Cook’s move from nickel to boundary safety as well as Jerrin Thompson’s improvement at field safety, the coaches really won’t know how these two can handle adjustments and adversity in-game until they experience it.

Kitan Crawford isn’t processing information quickly enough at field safety and needs to come on.

The depth behind those three at safety is even less experienced. Coaches are excited about the upside of freshman Bryan Allen Jr., but he’s not ready yet. As I reported in the Morning Brew this week, coaches looked but didn’t have success in finding an experienced safety in the portal.

At cornerback, the first-team field corner on Day 1 of fall camp was fifth-year senior D’Shawn Jamison, and the first-team boundary corner was Ryan Watts.

Freshman Jaylon Guilbeau, who might’ve had the best summer of any corner on the team, was absent from practice Wednesday “with a personal issue, but will be in practice tomorrow,” Sarkisian said.

Jamier Johnson was backing up Jamison in Guilbeau’s absence. Coaches like Johnson and hope he and Guilbeau can keep coming on.

Terrance Brooks is backing up Watts at boundary corner.

Jahdae Barron continues to work as the first-team nickel while being backed up by Austin Westlake walk-on Michael Taaffe, a two-time state championship game defensive MVP.

“Taaffe is going to play this season,” one team source said. “Great instincts. Plays fast, because he knows where he’s going. Always around the ball.”

While Sarkisian has said he wants to play tighter coverage with more man-to-man on the outside, it remains to be seen if UT’s corners can be effective in man coverage. Kwiatkowski didn’t think they could hold up last season (and that was WITH NFL combine invitee Josh Thompson at boundary corner), so Kwiatkowski relied almost exclusively on zone coverage.

We’ll just have to watch and see. But Guilbeau appears to be the corner coming on the strongest as camp begins.

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The Deuce

The Deuce 1094

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25 minutes ago, pacman said:

Things are quiet on Allen, though I could have missed reports. Anybody hearing about his performance and projection for the season?

“I’m told……

1) Great work ethic

2) Has shown flashes

3) When the light comes on, he won’t be kept out of the rotation

4) Appreciate your $9.95”

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49373

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24 minutes ago, pacman said:

Things are quiet on Allen, though I could have missed reports. Anybody hearing about his performance and projection for the season?

Not sure how much faith to put in FCB (Aug4)

"The depth behind those three at safety is even less experienced. Coaches are excited about the upside of freshman Bryan Allen Jr., but he’s not ready yet. "

--------------------------------------------

I've heard/read other discussions saying BJ is improving.  BJ needs experience -- hoping he keeps working since he's one of the more talented safeties on the roster.

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pacman

pacman 7371

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Guilbeau and Overshown really played well. They were targeted 3 times only allowing for one 4 yard catch. They also combined for 3 pressures. Moving Overshown around really suited him.

Ford missed 3 tackles. (DBs and Lbs missed 9 in total) He was in the position to make a play but didn't. That's on him.

Jamison gave up 3 catches on 4 targets. The INT for a TD saved his NFL passer rating against, which ended up at 61.5.

The LBs not named overshown got worked in the passing game. QB was perfect against them and the safeties.

Jamier had tight coverage but needs to get his eye on the ball to deny the catch.

Ibraheem only played 5 but was credited with a PBU.

Coffey had 5 tackles and didn't miss a single one.

Watts wasn't tested much. 1 tackle and an incomplete on his one target.

Jerrin seemed to have a solid, well-balanced game.

Richardson showed strong against the run.

Edited by pacman
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Codaxx

Codaxx 5883

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2 minutes ago, pacman said:

Guilbeau and Overshown really played well. They were targeted 3 times only allowing for one 4 yard catch. They also combined for 3 pressures. Moving Overshown around really suited him.

Ford missed 3 tackles. (DBs and Lbs missed 9 in total) He was in the position to make a play but didn't. That's on him.

Jamison gave up 3 catches on 4 targets. The INT for a TD saved his NFL passer rating against, which ended up at 61.5.

The LBs not named overshown got worked in the passing game. QB was perfect against them and the safeties.

Jamier had tight coverage but needs to get his eye on the ball to deny the catch.

Ibraheem only played 5 but was credited with a PBU.

Coffey had 5 tackles and didn't miss a single one.

Watts wasn't tested much. 1 tackle and an incomplete on his one target.

Jerrin seemed to have a solid, well-balanced game.

I thought Jamier had nice coverage and was basically out-muscled for the ball (could have been offensive PI). 

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Had Enough

Had Enough 2088

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Overshown came out on fire last year to an extent. He was more efficient this game probably but a worse team. This current role will be more helpful to free him up. Plus having the spring had to have helped.

Pac-Man,

You failed to point out that Coburn and Ojomo exceeded their combined sack total from last year. With Coburns 4th quarter bs KState, that is two nice efforts in a row for him. Maybe attend.

As best I could tell Ford made no tackles and misses included a miss when unblocked off the edge. The pass completed on him was somewhat flukey though. A lot of that wasn’t terribly noticeable due to guys flying around.

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Tex Long

Tex Long 4449

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26 minutes ago, SarkAfterDark said:

Gilbeau seems like a player at Star. I'm wondering if they promised Watts he could stay at corner. I think our best secondary unit includes Barron and Gilbeau being on the field at the same time. Move Watts or Jamison to safety. 

Email Not-coach Patterson immediately, make sure he's aware.

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