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Reese Bennett

By Reese Bennett
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texaslong

texaslong 678

Posted
Posted
47 minutes ago, TexTexTex said:

Paul Myerberg of USA Today has the big 12 ranked 

1. Oklahoma

2. TCU

3. WV

4. KState

5. OkSt

6. Iowa St

7. Texas

8. Tech

9. Baylor

10. Kansas

What the hell did we do to that guy?

In all fairness a lot of these National media guys who are paid to write on the Big 12 seem like they barely watch the league. 

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chupacabradelrio
chupacabradelrio

is this real?  they have our punter they have drafted this year and no other Horn on the team.  If you check their roster there are a lot of ****** on that team. Hope we don't start taking a lot of cr

Hornius Emeritus
Hornius Emeritus

Here's a photo that has never been seen by anyone.  One of my readers was going through some slides taken by his father when he came across this photo of DKR on October 4, 1952, when # 5 Texas played

Elmer_Fudd
Elmer_Fudd

Brainiacs have confirmed Angilau will arrive for summer workouts and he's delayed his mission trip.

kopp0e

kopp0e 1135

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, TexTexTex said:

Paul Myerberg of USA Today has the big 12 ranked 

1. Oklahoma

2. TCU

3. WV

4. KState

5. OkSt

6. Iowa St

7. Texas

8. Tech

9. Baylor

10. Kansas

What the hell did we do to that guy?

Maybe he is an undercover operative from another universe that lacks the ability to have common sense in his rankings...

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Jack Wilson

Jack Wilson 313

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, kopp0e said:

Maybe he is an undercover operative from another universe that lacks the ability to have common sense in his rankings...

You may not know it but this man's a spy.
He's a undercover agent for the FBI
He's been sent down here to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan!

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Goodman

Goodman 3273

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hager comes in at #27. https://theathletic.com/424574/2018/07/11/bruce-feldmans-2018-college-football-freaks-list/

Below is the type of work an elite S&C Coach like Yancy will produce. Y'all who start questioning how skinny a player is in HS, please read.

27. James Smith-Williams, N.C. State, DE

The Wolfpack D-line has produced freakish D-line dudes over the years. Smith-Williams’ physical transformation since he arrived on campus has been remarkable. The 6-3, 270-pound redshirt junior showed up weighing 196 pounds and has packed on a lot of muscle and power. He benches 415 and squats 620, but the most impressive stuff is his explosiveness: He vertical jumps 38.5 inches, has broad-jumped 10-3.5 and ran an electronically timed 4.62 40 this offseason.

JamesSmith-Williams-1024x626.jpeg
Edited by Goodman
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Sejjr

Sejjr 3246

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, BigHorn'13 said:

In that case my expectations are really low for him as running backs and knee injuries are tricky. Hope he balls out obviously tho. 

It is not as serious as it used to be. Todd Gurley seems to be doing OK, for example.

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BornOrange

BornOrange 1441

Posted
Posted
On 7/10/2018 at 12:00 PM, pacman said:

all players mentioned are on the defensive side of the ball...

anybody working on our staff other than Orlando

The summer stuff is just about all workout stuff, so the best athletes are going to stand out.

Not much to do with Orlando vs the offensive staff.

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Mileslong

Mileslong 4727

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Posted
We need to take more guys like Roach and Williams every year.  They come in with no set position and are pretty raw but they've got the athleticism and high motor.  As far as Overshown, I have no clue where his body will take him... dude might end up a LB.


I think we should take more guys like Vince Young, Ricky Williams and Earl Campbell
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satyanash

satyanash 14481

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(Jeff Howe) 3 Things I Know, 3 Things I Think: Challenge of deciding QB race

Tom Herman is 52 days away from officially kicking off his second season at Texas. With that in mind, there are “3 Things I Know, 3 Things I Think” about what’s happening on the Forty Acres right now.

I KNOW...

1. The unknown that exists when evaluating the quarterbacks

It’s possible Herman won’t be completely comfortable with the decision of whether Shane Buechele or Sam Ehlinger will be the team’s starting quarterback until the Longhorns are well into the Sept. 1 season opener against Maryland at FedEx Field. Based on what Herman told a small group of reporters prior to speaking at a Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon nearly two months ago, the ongoing competition that will extend into fall practice is made more complicated with the understanding that no matter how much either might have improved, there’s one aspect of the evaluation process that even Herman won’t get a feel for until the bullets are live. “The difficult thing when evaluating quarterbacks in practice is they’re non-contact and so much of that position is — you’re going to take hits,” Herman said. “How do you come back from that hit? How do you stand in the pocket knowing that you’re going to get hit? How do you avoid hits?”

Avoiding hits and minimizing damage when contact is initiated are areas where both quarterbacks need to improve from last season. Ehlinger, who suffered a concussion in the seventh game of the season against Oklahoma State that got his true freshman season off track for a few weeks, needs to be a smarter runner in the open field. A balance between playing with the physical edge that’s part of who he is a player and taking care of his body is something Ehlinger is going to have to find in order to have a chance of making it through a season from start to finish without missing significant action.

Buechele’s biggest issue last season was avoiding hits when he was in the pocket or otherwise was in possession of the football. Behind an offensive line that was forced to shuffle personnel throughout the season due to injuries and performance issues, Buechele was sacked 23 times in 2017 (not counting hits, knockdowns and other pressures), making a 2016 season where he looked at times to be an answer behind center in the veer-and-shoot offense seem like distant memory. Knowing how critical it is to find out how much his veteran quarterbacks have improved when facing a live rush, Herman nearly pulled the trigger on making his quarterbacks live and free to take hits in spring practice before ultimately deciding against doing so.

“I struggled — I thought long and hard this spring about one scrimmage taking the black jerseys off of our guys. I just couldn’t do it,” Herman said. “I couldn’t live with myself if a guy got dinged up in practice. So, the good thing is at least the two veterans have some game film that we know now. Do we know how they’ve improved in certain areas in regards to the physicality of the game? No, we don’t.”

That’s exactly why the Longhorns need to make sure both are as prepared as possible to lead the offense. The brief injury history of both players suggests that even if Ehlinger wins the job (which is expected at the point, based on the behind-the-scenes chatter throughout the summer coming out of spring practice), Herman and Co. will need to count on Buechele to go win a game at some point during the season.

The bottom line is while Herman and everyone else with a dog in the fight hopes one of the two pulls away and establishes themselves as the clear-cut No. 1 man for the job, the overall health of the position will only be as strong as the No. 2 quarterback allows it to be. Until the first snap against Maryland sees the quarterback with the ball in his hands having to react to 11 defenders doing their best to make him as miserable and uncomfortable as possible, even Herman can’t be completely sure what he’s got with either of his veterans compared to last season.

2. Defensive back recruits continue to like what they’re hearing

When the defensive staff was putting together a six-member defensive back class in 2018, one thing was apparently absent from the recruiting pitch. According to the three members of the class who played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio back in January — cornerbacks Anthony Cook and Jalen Green and safety Caden Sterns — Jason Washington and Craig Naivar didn’t talk about reinventing Texas as Defensive Back University, even if the Longhorns historically have a rightful claim to being DBU as much as any program in the country. “They might have said it once or twice,” Cook said. “They really didn’t sell that to me.”

What the Longhorns did sell, all three admitted, was the package Todd Orlando was going to unleash on the Big 12 where the Longhorns could deploy a large number of defensive backs on the field at once. As the 2017 season unfolded and the Longhorns became one of the best defenses in the conference and one of the most improved defenses in the country by using dime personnel in the Lightning package as a base defense, the newcomers became further sold on Orlando’s vision. “It’s different because he’s playing up to six [defensive backs] at a time,” Sterns said. “It’s just cool — get in and compete and you’ll get playing time.”

Orlando was able to get by with dime personnel once he was able to make all of the pieces fit. Having bigger defenders like Antwuan Davis (6-1, 200) and Jason Hall (6-3, 230) on the slot as the nickelback and Joker, respectively, gave the Longhorns bodies closer to the line of scrimmage who could handle defending the run. As a result, Orlando was able to send different looks at quarterbacks and get creative with his blitzes, something that had the newcomers fired up before setting foot on campus. “It just confuses the offense a little bit,” Sterns said. “Not knowing what to do, not knowing what to expect in certain cases. I like how he’s so creative with different blitzes,” Cook said. “He’s letting corners blitz [from the] boundary and different stuff like that. I feel like that’s a benefit to me because we’re out there covering and it gives us a chance to make more plays.”

Jump ahead to the 2019 cycle and the Longhorns are still able to add quality defensive backs to the mix because of the opportunity for having a role on defense exists. Texas has landed three quality pieces in the secondary — four-star cornerback Kenyatta Watson II (No. 174 overall in the 247Sports Composite rankings), four-star safety Chris Adimora (No. 200 in the Composite) and Alvin cornerback Marques Caldwell — with big fish like Mansfield Legacy’s Jalen Catalon and Cedar Hill Trinity Christian’s Lewis Cine still on the board as possibilities.

While loading up in the secondary raise a few eyebrows, Orlando and the defensive staff are simply adding the pieces necessary to make the package work in the current Big 12 while not hamstringing themselves should the league suddenly experience a paradigm shift offensively.

The safeties and hybrid players in the 2018 class all have the size needed to hold up against the run to the extent that they’re as big or bigger than some current Big 12 linebackers. Sterns (195 pounds), B.J. Foster (205 pounds) and Demarvion Overshown (reportedly closing in 220 pounds) are three of the most dynamic, physical playmaking safeties to ascend on the Forty Acres in a long time.

Then there’s the potential for a pair of lockdown cornerbacks in Cook and Green, the piece Orlando might need above anything else to make his defense really click. The ability to thrive in one-on-one coverage down the field, something that can happen a lot if Orlando decides he wants to really get after an opposing quarterback with various blitzes, is what sold Green on Texas over the other elite programs that were recruiting him. “He’s told me he’s going to let me do me,” Green said.

Recruiting against Texas for top-tier defensive back prospects has been easier for opposing schools with the Longhorns hitting the jackpot last cycle. Nevertheless, the constant need for quality bodies on the back end as allowed the staff to keep the talent pipeline flowing in 2019 recruiting and they’re far from done loading up in the current cycle.

3. A championship-caliber runner is a huge need until one is found

The offensive line being a week-to-week proposition last season didn’t give for a proper look of what Texas really had at running back. That said, outside of a few flashes by Toneil Carter and Daniel Young doing the best he could to make something out of nothing, the Longhorns saw the running back production in the program fall off of a cliff following the early departure of D’Onta Foreman to the NFL.

A lot gets made out of Texas being a better program from an offensive standpoint when elite quarterback play can be relied upon. The same can be said for running backs: Ricky Williams helped get Mack Brown’s tenure started off on the right foot, Cedric Benson toted the rock during a four-year run where the Longhorns won 43 games, Jamaal Charles helped win a national championship in 2005 and Chris Ogbonnaya and Fozzy Whittaker gave Colt McCoy two future NFL running backs to use as weapons in the offensive arsenal during the program’s 25-2 run in 2008 and 2009.

The fact of the matter is Texas doesn’t appear to have any backs of that ilk on the current roster. Perhaps Keaontay Ingram will prove himself as that kind of talent, but the lack of a sure-fire game changer in the backfield means continuing to recruit of the likes IMG Academy runners Trey Sanders and Noah Cain is a must until the Longhorns land their guy.

In the same vein as discussing what elite-level running backs have meant to Texas over the years, they’ve also helped Herman and Tim Beck run their most successful offenses. Beck had offenses at Nebraska featuring two current NFL backs in Ameer Abdullah and Rex Burkhead before he spent a season at Ohio State with Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott also helped the Buckeyes win the inaugural College Football Playoff in Herman’s final year as the program’s offensive coordinator, which followed a two-year run where Herman called plays with Carlos Hyde in the backfield.

That’s the kind of presence the Longhorns need. It certainly wasn’t there last season and there’s no guarantee that 2018 will be the year where the next great runner in burnt orange arrives on campus, meaning the staff has to continue to add the best possible player to the mix in every cycle until that young man makes it to the Forty Acres.

I THINK...

1. Humphrey could be Herman’s most versatile weapon in more than a decade

How big of a role could Lil'Jordan Humphrey have in Herman’s pro-spread offense? While he’s a different player than James Casey, it’s hard to look at how Herman used the former Rice and NFL tight end in the two years he had him and not think about all of the different things Herman could do with the 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound Humphrey.

With Herman calling the plays for the Owls in 2008, Casey (6-3, 246 at the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine) caught 111 passes, carried the ball 57 times and had 1,570 yards from scrimmage as a tight end. That’s a far cry from the 43 touches for 472 yards from scrimmage Humphrey posted in 12 games last season, but Casey’s production shows that when Herman has a versatile weapon on his hands he knows how to get the ball in their hands.

The biggest positive takeaway from spring practice on offense might have been the staff coming out of it with a better feel and understanding of how to utilize Humphrey’s dynamic set of skills. It’s unlikely Humphrey will match Casey’s 168 touches as a runner and receiver (Casey was also 2-for-5 passing in 2008; Humphrey was 1-for-3 last season), but between being spending time in the slot, out wide, in the backfield and as a Wildcat quarterback, Humphrey should get his hands on the ball enough to be the kind of impact player who can help the offense be more explosive and efficient than it was in 2017.

2. Roach’s value will be felt right out of the gate

Getting Malcolm Roach work at multiple linebacker spots in the spring was, in hindsight, a brilliant move by Orlando. Along with working at the B-backer position, Roach got time at the Rover when Gary Johnson went down with a groin injury. With Anthony Wheeler facing a suspension for the first half of the Maryland game due to a targeting ejection levied against him late in the team’s win over Missouri in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, Roach could very likely wind up getting the call to be the starting Mac linebacker.

This is exactly why Orlando values cross-training players at multiple positions in order to manufacture depth as opposed to just relying on the No. 2 player on the depth chart at a particular spot. Starting the season opener and the first game of his career would be a tall order for Ayodele Adeoye, but Orlando is instead more likely to rely on the veteran Roach to fill the void on the field while Wheeler is forced to wait until the start of the third quarter to begin his senior campaign.

Roach impressed the staff in the spring with his athleticism at over 260 pounds and ability to play multiple linebacker positions. The value he brings to a group looking to replace Malik Jefferson might not be able to be quantified if his level of play remains high and the flexibility Roach can give Orlando to show different looks with his down linemen and linebackers could make him an indispensable part of the defense by the time the 2018 season is in the books.

3. Wilbon will be a bigger factor than what it seems right now

Chris Nelson and Ta’Quon Graham are the two names that get brought up the most when any discussion takes place regarding how the Longhorns will make up for the loss of Poona Ford. It makes sense considering Nelson is a fifth-year senior who the staff has long viewed as the likely replacement in the middle of the line for Ford while Graham and his 290-pound could wind up being one of the biggest chess pieces Orlando will wind up having on his board.

Gerald Wilbon rarely gets mentioned when it comes to how the Longhorns will manage interior defensive line depth. Even though Nelson has skins on the wall and the excitement surrounding Graham and Keondre Coburn is palpable, Wilbon is likely going to have big say in how the Longhorns go about stopping teams at the point of attack.

If the spring is any indication, the 310-pound Wilbon will be featured in goal line and short-yardage situations. Regarded as one of the hardest workers in the program since his arrival, Wilbon is someone the burnt orange faithful should be able to get behind and hope to see his role expand considering what he’s overcome in his life to get to this point along with the fact that he and D'Andre Christmas are the only two members of a once highly-touted 2016 defensive line recruiting class remaining in the program.

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TreatyOak

TreatyOak 16313

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, satyanash said:

(Jeff Howe) 3 Things I Know, 3 Things I Think: Challenge of deciding QB race

 

  Hide contents

Tom Herman is 52 days away from officially kicking off his second season at Texas. With that in mind, there are “3 Things I Know, 3 Things I Think” about what’s happening on the Forty Acres right now.

I KNOW...

1. The unknown that exists when evaluating the quarterbacks

It’s possible Herman won’t be completely comfortable with the decision of whether Shane Buechele or Sam Ehlinger will be the team’s starting quarterback until the Longhorns are well into the Sept. 1 season opener against Maryland at FedEx Field. Based on what Herman told a small group of reporters prior to speaking at a Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon nearly two months ago, the ongoing competition that will extend into fall practice is made more complicated with the understanding that no matter how much either might have improved, there’s one aspect of the evaluation process that even Herman won’t get a feel for until the bullets are live. “The difficult thing when evaluating quarterbacks in practice is they’re non-contact and so much of that position is — you’re going to take hits,” Herman said. “How do you come back from that hit? How do you stand in the pocket knowing that you’re going to get hit? How do you avoid hits?”

Avoiding hits and minimizing damage when contact is initiated are areas where both quarterbacks need to improve from last season. Ehlinger, who suffered a concussion in the seventh game of the season against Oklahoma State that got his true freshman season off track for a few weeks, needs to be a smarter runner in the open field. A balance between playing with the physical edge that’s part of who he is a player and taking care of his body is something Ehlinger is going to have to find in order to have a chance of making it through a season from start to finish without missing significant action.

Buechele’s biggest issue last season was avoiding hits when he was in the pocket or otherwise was in possession of the football. Behind an offensive line that was forced to shuffle personnel throughout the season due to injuries and performance issues, Buechele was sacked 23 times in 2017 (not counting hits, knockdowns and other pressures), making a 2016 season where he looked at times to be an answer behind center in the veer-and-shoot offense seem like distant memory. Knowing how critical it is to find out how much his veteran quarterbacks have improved when facing a live rush, Herman nearly pulled the trigger on making his quarterbacks live and free to take hits in spring practice before ultimately deciding against doing so.

“I struggled — I thought long and hard this spring about one scrimmage taking the black jerseys off of our guys. I just couldn’t do it,” Herman said. “I couldn’t live with myself if a guy got dinged up in practice. So, the good thing is at least the two veterans have some game film that we know now. Do we know how they’ve improved in certain areas in regards to the physicality of the game? No, we don’t.”

That’s exactly why the Longhorns need to make sure both are as prepared as possible to lead the offense. The brief injury history of both players suggests that even if Ehlinger wins the job (which is expected at the point, based on the behind-the-scenes chatter throughout the summer coming out of spring practice), Herman and Co. will need to count on Buechele to go win a game at some point during the season.

The bottom line is while Herman and everyone else with a dog in the fight hopes one of the two pulls away and establishes themselves as the clear-cut No. 1 man for the job, the overall health of the position will only be as strong as the No. 2 quarterback allows it to be. Until the first snap against Maryland sees the quarterback with the ball in his hands having to react to 11 defenders doing their best to make him as miserable and uncomfortable as possible, even Herman can’t be completely sure what he’s got with either of his veterans compared to last season.

2. Defensive back recruits continue to like what they’re hearing

When the defensive staff was putting together a six-member defensive back class in 2018, one thing was apparently absent from the recruiting pitch. According to the three members of the class who played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio back in January — cornerbacks Anthony Cook and Jalen Green and safety Caden Sterns — Jason Washington and Craig Naivar didn’t talk about reinventing Texas as Defensive Back University, even if the Longhorns historically have a rightful claim to being DBU as much as any program in the country. “They might have said it once or twice,” Cook said. “They really didn’t sell that to me.”

What the Longhorns did sell, all three admitted, was the package Todd Orlando was going to unleash on the Big 12 where the Longhorns could deploy a large number of defensive backs on the field at once. As the 2017 season unfolded and the Longhorns became one of the best defenses in the conference and one of the most improved defenses in the country by using dime personnel in the Lightning package as a base defense, the newcomers became further sold on Orlando’s vision. “It’s different because he’s playing up to six [defensive backs] at a time,” Sterns said. “It’s just cool — get in and compete and you’ll get playing time.”

Orlando was able to get by with dime personnel once he was able to make all of the pieces fit. Having bigger defenders like Antwuan Davis (6-1, 200) and Jason Hall (6-3, 230) on the slot as the nickelback and Joker, respectively, gave the Longhorns bodies closer to the line of scrimmage who could handle defending the run. As a result, Orlando was able to send different looks at quarterbacks and get creative with his blitzes, something that had the newcomers fired up before setting foot on campus. “It just confuses the offense a little bit,” Sterns said. “Not knowing what to do, not knowing what to expect in certain cases. I like how he’s so creative with different blitzes,” Cook said. “He’s letting corners blitz [from the] boundary and different stuff like that. I feel like that’s a benefit to me because we’re out there covering and it gives us a chance to make more plays.”

Jump ahead to the 2019 cycle and the Longhorns are still able to add quality defensive backs to the mix because of the opportunity for having a role on defense exists. Texas has landed three quality pieces in the secondary — four-star cornerback Kenyatta Watson II (No. 174 overall in the 247Sports Composite rankings), four-star safety Chris Adimora (No. 200 in the Composite) and Alvin cornerback Marques Caldwell — with big fish like Mansfield Legacy’s Jalen Catalon and Cedar Hill Trinity Christian’s Lewis Cine still on the board as possibilities.

While loading up in the secondary raise a few eyebrows, Orlando and the defensive staff are simply adding the pieces necessary to make the package work in the current Big 12 while not hamstringing themselves should the league suddenly experience a paradigm shift offensively.

The safeties and hybrid players in the 2018 class all have the size needed to hold up against the run to the extent that they’re as big or bigger than some current Big 12 linebackers. Sterns (195 pounds), B.J. Foster (205 pounds) and Demarvion Overshown (reportedly closing in 220 pounds) are three of the most dynamic, physical playmaking safeties to ascend on the Forty Acres in a long time.

Then there’s the potential for a pair of lockdown cornerbacks in Cook and Green, the piece Orlando might need above anything else to make his defense really click. The ability to thrive in one-on-one coverage down the field, something that can happen a lot if Orlando decides he wants to really get after an opposing quarterback with various blitzes, is what sold Green on Texas over the other elite programs that were recruiting him. “He’s told me he’s going to let me do me,” Green said.

Recruiting against Texas for top-tier defensive back prospects has been easier for opposing schools with the Longhorns hitting the jackpot last cycle. Nevertheless, the constant need for quality bodies on the back end as allowed the staff to keep the talent pipeline flowing in 2019 recruiting and they’re far from done loading up in the current cycle.

3. A championship-caliber runner is a huge need until one is found

The offensive line being a week-to-week proposition last season didn’t give for a proper look of what Texas really had at running back. That said, outside of a few flashes by Toneil Carter and Daniel Young doing the best he could to make something out of nothing, the Longhorns saw the running back production in the program fall off of a cliff following the early departure of D’Onta Foreman to the NFL.

A lot gets made out of Texas being a better program from an offensive standpoint when elite quarterback play can be relied upon. The same can be said for running backs: Ricky Williams helped get Mack Brown’s tenure started off on the right foot, Cedric Benson toted the rock during a four-year run where the Longhorns won 43 games, Jamaal Charles helped win a national championship in 2005 and Chris Ogbonnaya and Fozzy Whittaker gave Colt McCoy two future NFL running backs to use as weapons in the offensive arsenal during the program’s 25-2 run in 2008 and 2009.

The fact of the matter is Texas doesn’t appear to have any backs of that ilk on the current roster. Perhaps Keaontay Ingram will prove himself as that kind of talent, but the lack of a sure-fire game changer in the backfield means continuing to recruit of the likes IMG Academy runners Trey Sanders and Noah Cain is a must until the Longhorns land their guy.

In the same vein as discussing what elite-level running backs have meant to Texas over the years, they’ve also helped Herman and Tim Beck run their most successful offenses. Beck had offenses at Nebraska featuring two current NFL backs in Ameer Abdullah and Rex Burkhead before he spent a season at Ohio State with Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott also helped the Buckeyes win the inaugural College Football Playoff in Herman’s final year as the program’s offensive coordinator, which followed a two-year run where Herman called plays with Carlos Hyde in the backfield.

That’s the kind of presence the Longhorns need. It certainly wasn’t there last season and there’s no guarantee that 2018 will be the year where the next great runner in burnt orange arrives on campus, meaning the staff has to continue to add the best possible player to the mix in every cycle until that young man makes it to the Forty Acres.

I THINK...

1. Humphrey could be Herman’s most versatile weapon in more than a decade

How big of a role could Lil'Jordan Humphrey have in Herman’s pro-spread offense? While he’s a different player than James Casey, it’s hard to look at how Herman used the former Rice and NFL tight end in the two years he had him and not think about all of the different things Herman could do with the 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound Humphrey.

With Herman calling the plays for the Owls in 2008, Casey (6-3, 246 at the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine) caught 111 passes, carried the ball 57 times and had 1,570 yards from scrimmage as a tight end. That’s a far cry from the 43 touches for 472 yards from scrimmage Humphrey posted in 12 games last season, but Casey’s production shows that when Herman has a versatile weapon on his hands he knows how to get the ball in their hands.

The biggest positive takeaway from spring practice on offense might have been the staff coming out of it with a better feel and understanding of how to utilize Humphrey’s dynamic set of skills. It’s unlikely Humphrey will match Casey’s 168 touches as a runner and receiver (Casey was also 2-for-5 passing in 2008; Humphrey was 1-for-3 last season), but between being spending time in the slot, out wide, in the backfield and as a Wildcat quarterback, Humphrey should get his hands on the ball enough to be the kind of impact player who can help the offense be more explosive and efficient than it was in 2017.

2. Roach’s value will be felt right out of the gate

Getting Malcolm Roach work at multiple linebacker spots in the spring was, in hindsight, a brilliant move by Orlando. Along with working at the B-backer position, Roach got time at the Rover when Gary Johnson went down with a groin injury. With Anthony Wheeler facing a suspension for the first half of the Maryland game due to a targeting ejection levied against him late in the team’s win over Missouri in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, Roach could very likely wind up getting the call to be the starting Mac linebacker.

This is exactly why Orlando values cross-training players at multiple positions in order to manufacture depth as opposed to just relying on the No. 2 player on the depth chart at a particular spot. Starting the season opener and the first game of his career would be a tall order for Ayodele Adeoye, but Orlando is instead more likely to rely on the veteran Roach to fill the void on the field while Wheeler is forced to wait until the start of the third quarter to begin his senior campaign.

Roach impressed the staff in the spring with his athleticism at over 260 pounds and ability to play multiple linebacker positions. The value he brings to a group looking to replace Malik Jefferson might not be able to be quantified if his level of play remains high and the flexibility Roach can give Orlando to show different looks with his down linemen and linebackers could make him an indispensable part of the defense by the time the 2018 season is in the books.

3. Wilbon will be a bigger factor than what it seems right now

Chris Nelson and Ta’Quon Graham are the two names that get brought up the most when any discussion takes place regarding how the Longhorns will make up for the loss of Poona Ford. It makes sense considering Nelson is a fifth-year senior who the staff has long viewed as the likely replacement in the middle of the line for Ford while Graham and his 290-pound could wind up being one of the biggest chess pieces Orlando will wind up having on his board.

Gerald Wilbon rarely gets mentioned when it comes to how the Longhorns will manage interior defensive line depth. Even though Nelson has skins on the wall and the excitement surrounding Graham and Keondre Coburn is palpable, Wilbon is likely going to have big say in how the Longhorns go about stopping teams at the point of attack.

If the spring is any indication, the 310-pound Wilbon will be featured in goal line and short-yardage situations. Regarded as one of the hardest workers in the program since his arrival, Wilbon is someone the burnt orange faithful should be able to get behind and hope to see his role expand considering what he’s overcome in his life to get to this point along with the fact that he and D'Andre Christmas are the only two members of a once highly-touted 2016 defensive line recruiting class remaining in the program.

 

Fuck Chip Brown and peace be upon you. 

It never ceases to amaze me how valueless 90% of these "inside" articles are. Thank God we now know that live games are physically harder than non-contact practice. 

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8671

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Goodman said:

Hager comes in at #27. https://theathletic.com/424574/2018/07/11/bruce-feldmans-2018-college-football-freaks-list/

Below is the type of work an elite S&C Coach like Yancy will produce. Y'all who start questioning how skinny a player is in HS, please read.

27. James Smith-Williams, N.C. State, DE

The Wolfpack D-line has produced freakish D-line dudes over the years. Smith-Williams’ physical transformation since he arrived on campus has been remarkable. The 6-3, 270-pound redshirt junior showed up weighing 196 pounds and has packed on a lot of muscle and power. He benches 415 and squats 620, but the most impressive stuff is his explosiveness: He vertical jumps 38.5 inches, has broad-jumped 10-3.5 and ran an electronically timed 4.62 40 this offseason.

JamesSmith-Williams-1024x626.jpeg


SKINNY CALVES...

Don't want.

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Fondren & Main

Fondren & Main 6710

Posted
Posted
23 hours ago, Goodman said:

Hager comes in at #27. https://theathletic.com/424574/2018/07/11/bruce-feldmans-2018-college-football-freaks-list/

Below is the type of work an elite S&C Coach like Yancy will produce. Y'all who start questioning how skinny a player is in HS, please read.

27. James Smith-Williams, N.C. State, DE

The Wolfpack D-line has produced freakish D-line dudes over the years. Smith-Williams’ physical transformation since he arrived on campus has been remarkable. The 6-3, 270-pound redshirt junior showed up weighing 196 pounds and has packed on a lot of muscle and power. He benches 415 and squats 620, but the most impressive stuff is his explosiveness: He vertical jumps 38.5 inches, has broad-jumped 10-3.5 and ran an electronically timed 4.62 40 this offseason.

JamesSmith-Williams-1024x626.jpeg

Steroids help too.

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jinx

jinx 2635

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Viper said:

interesting that Chilton isn't listed as an author this year.

Reading the comments, it appears that he is too heavily invested in his "you pick the play" football league to participate this year.

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Slacks

Slacks 6819

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, texifornia said:

The Barking Carnival preview book is out - I always find it really enjoyable: https://www.barkingcarnival.com/2018/7/11/17563202/2018-texas-longhorn-football-preview-the-6th-annual-thinking-texas-football-big-12-predictions

So, a butterfly flaps it's wings....  I've bought this for several years in a row... and we've sucked.  Not this time, butterfly...  f your typhoon.

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TriStone

TriStone 1724

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Snacks said:

So, a butterfly flaps it's wings....  I've bought this for several years in a row... and we've sucked.  Not this time, butterfly...  f your typhoon.

On the other hand, I've never bought one at all.  I will bolster your juju by purchasing this year's edition.

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BERT

BERT 4358

Posted
Posted
Just now, Fondren & Main said:

Brother, I’ve got some Ocean Front Property in Arizona to sell you if you think that he wasn’t chemically enhanced lol.

No thanks, i don't really care for the ocean. I was just wondering if that was your first thought though. 

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Eggo

Eggo 3977

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Machinator said:

They return a lot of their offensive production and have successfully used the transfer market to buoy the talent level of their starting defense. Depth is questionable though, which is why their floor is relatively low.

Grier is pretty widely projected to be one of the best QBs with one of the best WR corp in the nation. Projections are often wrong, but projections are what create the preseason polls. 

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