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2021 Texas Offseason: Sark Attacks Austin

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THUJONE
THUJONE

Just leaving this here for posterity.

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SOON Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

closetojumping
closetojumping

There are longstanding rumors that Chip Brown is your typical old school sports reporter. By that, I mean he's allegedly a degenerate gambler and alcoholic. There's a longstanding rumor that Chip

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Thermos H. Christ

Thermos H. Christ 478

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15 hours ago, Machinator said:

It's perfectly reasonable to be skeptical of Sark as a head coach, but his bona fides as an offensive mind and QB developer are pretty unassailable at this point.

What makes me ill at ease is that Sark's bona fides are as a guy who coaches players. I've come to believe that, especially at a place like Texas, a head coach has to excel at the CEO stuff - having the overall vision for the direction of the organization, attracting and retaining the best staff, mentoring and managing his people and getting them what they need to succeed, handling the politics of it all. However good he is as an X's and O's coach, it's a big question mark as to whether he can do that successfully. And I worry that an X's and O's coach is at a disadvantage here if that means they're trying to micromanage things down at the player level.

Working with Saban should be a master class in keeping an organization humming, and hopefully Sark learned a lot there, but a lot of Saban assistants have gone on to less-than-illustrious careers. I also wouldn't be surprised if a guy as pathologically competitive as Saban sees all his assistants as potential future competition and doesn't go out of his way to teach them how to do his job.

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ousux

ousux 5,601

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Is Joshua Moore’s 30 catches that much better than Washington? He disappeared in long stretches. Moore has much to prove. As does our #2, Troy Omeire coming off ACL surgery set to play college football for the first time ever.

And Kai Money was getting significant time in the Spring game. Not just with the scrubs. He looked like our best slot receiver. Or maybe thats Jordan Whittington, who looks Ok.

And our oline may have 3 new starters, as we shuffle around people. We return exactly zero All-Big 12 linemen, unless you count honorable mention Kerstetter who may reclaim a spot after a catastrophic leg injury.

And we bring in a QB with 50 snaps under his belt and another one with a dozen or so. All in a new, more complicated system.

What are we really debating here? My point is that Sark has had the success we desire when he’s had clearly superior players. I’m also claiming our talent is mostly unproven and not close to what Sark had last year in Bama. Is that even indisputable?
If Kai Money can run better routes and catch the ball more often and gain more yards than a 4* reciever who develops stone hands once he reaches the 40 I'm ok with it...production is production no matter what name is on the jersey. Everyone forget Hunter Renfrow at Clemson? He didnt play because they lacked highly rated recievers on the roster..

Having said that, I'd be very surprised if he sees any significant playing time once the games matter.
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Newy25

Newy25 7,703

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5 hours ago, Eskimohorn said:

 


I’m honored. CTJ believes Greg Davis got a bad rap for getting shut out by OU and that Sam Ehlinger was a retard, laughing with buddies when Sam got concussed against Okie Lite. His takes are usually in lock step with aggy about Texas players and coaches.

And now he believes that Tom Herman stockpiled talent so dominant that if Sark doesn’t immediately have success at Texas he should be fired.

CTJ uses terms like “I digress” and “rue the day”. Who talks like that?

He is the common denominator in a bunch of pointless feuds because he’s a common asshole.

 


I just watched you soil yourself and wipe your feces all over this board with your idiotic takes on Texas football. You should not feel honored at all. 

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Eskimohorn

Eskimohorn 5,642

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I just watched you soil yourself and wipe your feces all over this board with your idiotic takes on Texas football. You should not feel honored at all. 

You a CTJ sock or just a cum-guzzling sycophant?

But do you mean my hot takes that our talent level on offense is nowhere close to Alabama’s was?

Or that Sark should have more than a single season before passing judgement?

That there are unknowns and holes on this team?

That Sark getting fired after less than 2 years in the NFL is a cause for concern?

Real fucking controversial opinions, here. That I dont know how next year will play out, but slightly less optimistic than some. Thats sarcasm. Also, I was not literally honored that an asshole like CTJ insulted me in case you’re lost.
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Newy25

Newy25 7,703

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Just now, Eskimohorn said:


You a CTJ sock or just a cum-guzzling sycophant?

But do you mean my hot takes that our talent level on offense is nowhere close to Alabama’s was?

Or that Sark should have more than a single season before passing judgement?

That there are unknowns and holes on this team?

That Sark getting fired after less than 2 years in the NFL is a cause for concern?

Real fucking controversial opinions, here. That I dont know how next year will play out, but slightly less optimistic than some. Thats sarcasm. Also, I was not literally honored that an asshole like CTJ insulted me in case you’re lost.


It must be tough to bring your takes to the free market place of ideas only to watch them get completely dismantled. Your lashing out is not surprising in the least. 

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Bill Lumbergh

Bill Lumbergh 7,171

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This has kind of been covered up thread, but what a bizarre turn of events for Smith.

At least from what I've read/followed, seems like he was injured a lot here and also was one of the receivers who got the most fed up with Herman and Meh and their treatment of wrs.

So, you're going to be healthy going into the season, the coaches you hated are gone, and you've been gifted a coach who just helped a wr win the Heisman. That feels like the opportune moment to portal?

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Newy25

Newy25 7,703

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He’s threatened to transfer on at least one other occasion. He’s had two significant injuries already and he’s battling two other players for reps in the slot. On top of that, he has serious development work to do in route running and catching. I’m sure the fact that Davis and Worthy are really showing up already as freshman is not helping.  Whittington, Worthy and Dixon are probably ahead of him at this moment (obviously that could have been subject to change in fall camp). It was unlikely that he was seen as so good by the staff that they moved him outside to get him on the field. The broken foot on the first day of spring camp was just so unfortunate for him. 

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BurntOrange&White

BurntOrange&White 39,934

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1 hour ago, CastHorn said:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi

How does ESPN determine this metric? They have 7 Big12 teams in the top 25. I could see TCU being a really good squad, they’re loaded, they just need consistent QB play. I’m not sold on Oklahoma State. Baylor has a some nice pieces but no QB. I don’t know what they see in Tech.

The same way they justify QBR, make up metrics and formulas to justify their beliefs.

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Machinator

Machinator 32,099

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1 hour ago, CastHorn said:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi

How does ESPN determine this metric? They have 7 Big12 teams in the top 25. I could see TCU being a really good squad, they’re loaded, they just need consistent QB play. I’m not sold on Oklahoma State. Baylor has a some nice pieces but no QB. I don’t know what they see in Tech.

https://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/122612/an-inside-look-at-college-fpi

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UncleSonny

UncleSonny 6,573

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https://theathletic.com/2664654/2021/06/23/texas-embraces-steve-sarkisians-all-gas-no-brakes-m-o-in-the-horns-latest-go-at-restoring-the-programs-glory/

Spoiler

During his first public off-campus appearance since taking the Texas job, new coach Steve Sarkisian explained why he made the move.

He shared a story of calling his parents on Jan. 2 to deliver the news to them before it was splashed everywhere. In that moment, his father, Seb, recounted a 22-year-old conversation in which he asked Steve, who was then just beginning his football coaching journey, what he considered the best job in America. Yep, he’d said Texas.

Sarkisian, during his May speech to roughly 250 Houston-area fans and alumni, rattled off other tried-and-true talking points that often accompany the Longhorns’ job description: A rich history with great teams and players. Iconic uniforms. A passionate fan and alumni base. A standard of excellence.

That standard, though, hasn’t been met in more than a decade. It’s why Sarkisian is the Longhorns’ third head coach since Mack Brown’s tenure ended in 2013, with Texas having last played for a national championship in 2009.

“When you take a job like Texas, I think you have to recognize the level of expectations and the standard for which we’re expected to operate,” Sarkisian told The Athletic recently. “That’s why I took the job.”

The former Alabama offensive coordinator steps into a job with significant pressure. Charlie Strong got three seasons before he was fired. Tom Herman got four. After going an impressive 101-16 from 2001 to 2009, the Longhorns are just 78-60 since. Five current Big 12 teams have better winning percentages in that same span.

And though Herman was fired, the job shouldn’t be viewed as a rebuild. The Longhorns went 32-18 the last four years, 7-3 last season (with all three losses by eight or fewer points) and have three top-10 recruiting classes in the last four years. Sarkisian’s charge is to elevate them back to championship contention.

The perpetual question is, “Will Sark get it done?” It’s impossible to know, but Texas leadership is betting six years and $34.2 million that he will.

 

His most recent stop, directing the nation’s second-ranked offense each of the last two seasons in Tuscaloosa, provides optimism. The multifaceted, run-pass option-heavy offense that Sarkisian paired with Alabama’s elite athletes produced three of the top five Heisman Trophy vote-getters in 2020, including the winner (DeVonta Smith), and helped the Crimson Tide to a national championship. The hope is that Sarkisian can bring his offensive magic to Austin.

His past, which includes taking an 0-12 Washington program to 34-29 over five seasons and a USC stint that was cut short in his second season by his alcohol abuse, leaves room for skepticism. He was a coach on the rise before it all came crashing down in 2015, but he hadn’t yet won at the highest level, something he’s being asked to do at Texas.

His time at Alabama and in Atlanta, with the NFL’s Falcons, revived his career. Personally, the 47-year-old Sarkisian said upon his hiring at Texas that he’s doing “great” in his recovery from alcohol addiction.

“When you battle what I battle, you have to work on it every day,” he said in January. “This isn’t just a one-time thing and you take the happy pill and everything’s good all of a sudden, and you never have to work on it. I work on it every day … whether it’s through meetings through a sponsor, whatever that may be. That’s important to me to be the best football coach at University of Texas that I can be.”

The last six months have been standard new-coach fare: Sarkisian hired his staff and took the team through spring football. He also dipped into the transfer portal to shore up roster deficiencies and grew the Longhorns’ 2022 recruiting class to 11 commitments, all of it illustrated with his preferred motto, which the UT Board of Regents filed to trademark in April: “All Gas No Brakes.”

Texas fans hope their path back to national glory is traveled as such.

Roster analysis

Quarterback: With four-year starter Sam Ehlinger gone, the starting job is up for grabs between junior Casey Thompson and redshirt freshman Hudson Card.

Fans who tuned in to the Longhorns’ Alamo Bowl rout of Colorado in December got a glimpse of Thompson’s potential. The 6-foot-1, 194-pound Oklahoma City product was brilliant, completing eight of 10 passes for 170 yards and four touchdowns in less than a half.

Thompson, a 2018 signee, backed up Ehlinger in 2019 and 2020, appearing in seven games. Having had three seasons of practicing and developing, Thompson is confident he’s ready to step in as QB1.

Card, a top-100 recruit and top-five dual-threat prospect in the 2020 class, played briefly in two games last year. Those in and around the program say Card, based on his talent, has the higher long-term ceiling. The question is whether he’s ready to take the lead now.

Throughout the offseason, Sarkisian worked hard not to tip his hand. He repeatedly said that both players are talented and have shined at times and struggled in others. When addressing alumni in Houston in late May, Sarkisian said Card and Thompson are “both very talented guys at different stages in their career.”

“Both put in the work, both study, both prepare, both good leaders, both great workers,” Sarkisian said. “When we go out running, conditioning as a team, they’re in front and they refuse to lose.”

casey-sotp.jpg
 
Casey Thompson played in three games last season, most notably throwing for four TDs on eight completions in the Alamo Bowl win against Colorado. (Ricardo B. Brazziell / USA Today)

Sarkisian said 15 spring practices were insufficient to declare a starter. Once they’ve had the summer to further ingratiate themselves with teammates and master the offense and August training camp begins, it’s time to compete.

What he’s looking for: “Who can move the football team down the field? Who can manage the game? Who can be the leader? Who do guys rally behind?” Yes, Sarkisian said, X’s and O’s and arm strength are important, but those other questions loom larger.

“When the gut feels right, I’ll make the call,” Sarkisian said.

Running back: The Longhorns have one of the country’s potential breakout stars returning in sophomore Bijan Robinson.

A five-star prospect in the 2020 class, Robinson didn’t get the ball nearly enough as a freshman. When he did touch it, he showed why he was such a coveted prospect.

Robinson rushed for more than 100 yards in three of the Longhorns’ last four games despite logging a dozen carries or fewer in each of the three games. In the final two games against Kansas State and Colorado, Robinson compiled 355 combined rushing yards on just 19 carries.

If Sarkisian uses Robinson the way he did Najee Harris at Alabama, it’s easy to picture Robinson reaching Heisman Trophy contender status, like Harris did, either this year or next.

Behind Robinson is junior Roschon Johnson, a former quarterback turned reliable running back since making the position change in 2019. Johnson has been a productive, versatile and physical backfield option.

“They’re really complete players,” Sarkisian said of Robinson and Johnson. “I think what Bijan gives you is that home-run-hitter ability. Obviously, Roschon is a very consistent player and can run it, can pass protect, can catch (and has a) very high football IQ.”

To add depth, the Longhorns added Alabama transfer Keilan Robinson. A four-star recruit from the 2019 class, Robinson averaged 6.5 yards per rush on 39 carries across eight games as a freshman but opted out of the 2020 season. He transferred earlier this month.

Sarkisian said Keilan Robinson provides “a changeup” to Johnson and Bijan Robinson.

“He’s a very versatile guy,” Sarkisian said. “He can run it, but he is also very equipped on some of the loose plays, whether they’re screens, bubbles, jet sweeps, things like that, which are helpful for us.”

The Longhorns welcome another newcomer, four-star freshman Jonathon Brooks, into the backfield. Seniors Gabriel Watson, a former grad transfer from Sioux Falls who played in three games last season, and Daniel Young, who opted out in 2020, also return. “They’ve been working hard, but we’ll see what we can get out of them,” Sarkisian said.

Receiver/tight end: Just two of the Longhorns’ five top receivers from 2020 are back: leading receiver Joshua Moore and third-year sophomore Jordan Whittington.

Moore, who caught a team-high nine touchdowns last season, is a big-play threat. Whittington, a former five-star recruit, had his first two seasons on campus marred by injuries but said this spring that he felt “amazing.” Whittington also drew consistent praise from Sarkisian and teammates for his leadership and performance.

Beyond that duo, the receivers are mostly young and unproven. Troy Omeire could become a factor once fully healthy; he missed all of last season with a torn ACL suffered in training camp but was able to participate with a non-contact jersey during spring football. Redshirt freshman Kelvontay Dixon and junior Marcus Washington could figure into the rotation.

The Longhorns also add much-needed speed to the group with freshman Xavier Worthy. The No. 8 receiver in the 2021 class, Worthy initially signed with Michigan but requested a release from his letter of intent in April and committed to Texas soon thereafter. Worthy ran a 10.5-second 100-meter dash as a sophomore and “may be faster now,” Sarkisian said.

“This offense operates well when guys have either straight-line speed or elusiveness in the open field,” Sarkisian said. “And he definitely provides that.”

On Tuesday, Jake Smith, the team’s third-leading receiver last season, entered the transfer portal. Smith broke his foot during the first day of spring practice in March and had returned to full workouts with the team this month.

Tight end is the deepest position on the roster. Super senior Cade Brewer returns after starting all of last season. He provides experience, can pass protect, run block, run routes, play multiple spots and do it all well.

Junior Jared Wiley provides the team with a superb combination of size (6-7, 255), speed, blocking ability and receiving talent. Third-year sophomore Brayden Liebrock, who played in four games last year, is also back. Three freshmen enter the fray: Juan Davis and Gunnar Helm, who participated in spring ball, plus Ja’Tavion Sanders, a five-star prospect who was the No. 12 prospect nationally and top-ranked athlete in the 2021 class.

After quarterback, tight end is the most important position in Sarkisian’s offense. Having this level of depth and talent will be helpful in his debut season.

“What they help us with is the multiplicity of personnel groupings,” Sarkisian said. “We can adjust and change personnel groupings within games and going into games from a game-plan standpoint, which is helpful for our system.”

Offensive line: Texas lost only one starter from its 2020 offensive line: left tackle Sam Cosmi.

Returning four starters should help the Longhorns improve on a decent showing last year. Texas was one of the better run-blocking units in the Big 12, finishing third in average yards per rush before first contact (2.15, according to TruMedia). The Longhorns were fourth in the conference in pressure rate, allowing quarterbacks to be hit, under duress or sacked on 28 percent of dropbacks (that was 24th best among Power 5 teams).

Derek Kerstetter, who missed spring while recovering from a dislocated ankle suffered late last season, is back practicing. “He’s doing great,” Sarkisian said. “His leadership will be big for us, not just on the offensive line, but I think from an offensive perspective in general.”

Kerstetter has started at tackle, guard and center in his 46-game Texas career but spent last season at center. Sarkisian said, ideally, Kerstetter would occupy one of the two tackle spots.

The other tackle is likely Christian Jones, who started nine games at right tackle and one at left tackle last season. “He’s a talented guy,” Sarkisian said. “He’s starting to come into his own.” Andrej Karic, who started at left tackle in the Alamo Bowl, is also an option.

Junior Angilau and Denzel Okafor are expected to again start at guard. At center, Jake Majors, who started the last two games there in 2020, is the favorite. The redshirt freshman performed well in spring and started the spring game in the middle. Junior Rafiti Ghirmai is also a candidate at center.

Solidifying starters and reliable reserves is a top task for the Longhorns come August.

“We’re going to take our time a little bit here at the start of training camp of just trying to find the best five for us and then the next, two, three, four that can roll in there,” Sarkisian said.

Longhorns returning production
CATEGORY % RETURNING TOP RETURNER
Pass Yds
8
Thompson, 225
Rush Yds
65
B. Robinson, 703
Rec Yds
69
Moore, 472
OL starts
84
Two with 10
Tackles
61
Overshown, 60
TFLs
51
Overshown, 8
Sacks
59
Two with 2
Ints
70
Overshown, 2

Defensive line: This is the defensive group Sarkisian said he feels best about. The Longhorns have significant depth with two returning starters (Keondre Coburn, Moro Ojomo) and five more returning from last year’s two-deep.

Coburn, a two-year starter, won Sarkisian over with his attitude and consistent play this spring. Ojomo is moving to the interior after playing defensive end, and it produced impressive practice results, including three sacks in the spring game.

Veteran T’Vondre Sweat, who hasn’t missed a game in his first two seasons, is back after missing spring with a shoulder injury. Sophomore Alfred Collins and redshirt freshman Vernon Broughton are expanding their roles, too.

“I love the depth and the playmaking on the interior line,” Sarkisian said.

On the edges, the Longhorns will try to replace the 16 tackles for loss Joseph Ossai gave them. LSU transfer Ray Thornton will play a significant role in doing so. Sarkisian liked super senior Jacoby Jones’ spring. Redshirt freshman Prince Dorbah, junior Jett Bush and Alabama linebacker transfer Ben Davis could also figure into the plans.

Texas also welcomes four incoming freshmen and Notre Dame transfer Ovie Oghoufo.

“It’s a deep group,” Sarkisian said. “When you’ve got two waves in there, that’s when you’re really rolling. … This group can be disruptive, they can stop the run, they can create pressure on the quarterback, which makes everybody else’s job easier across the board.”

Linebackers: Coming out of spring, this was the biggest area of concern. Depth was thin with Juwan Mitchell and Ayodele Adeoye hitting the transfer portal and DeMarvion Overshown injured, but things are looking up.

Overshown has resumed working out after missing spring with a shoulder injury. Sarkisian said Overshown looks and feels good, but he will get a better feel for how far along he is when training camp arrives.

“His playmaking ability, we need it,” Sarkisian said. “This defense is predicated on the speed and athleticism of the ’backers, and he’s got a good group of guys in front of him and that should allow him to play the way we want him to play.”

Although Mitchell transferred to Tennessee, Adeoye withdrew his name from the portal this month and is back with the team. After starting 10 games as a redshirt freshman in 2019, injuries limited Adeoye to two games last season and he didn’t take part in spring after entering the portal in January. Still, Sarkisian said Adeoye could be a factor.

“He’s got game experience, and there’s nothing like game experience,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a physical guy. Learning the new scheme is going to be key for him.”

David Gbenda and Jaylan Ford both got loads of reps in spring and should increase their roles after primarily playing on special teams last year.

Texas also welcomes New Mexico State transfer Devin Richardson. He had an impressive freshman season, compiling 69 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and three forced fumbles in 2019 but played only a game in the Aggies’ two-game pandemic-shortened spring season. Once he learns the defense, Sarkisian will assess where he fits.

The difference in outlook at the position today from what it was three months ago is significant.

“We kind of filled the voids of where we felt like we were light,” Sarkisian said. “We feel a lot better about the depth that we have.”

Defensive backs: Texas returns both starting cornerbacks, D’Shawn Jamison and Josh Thompson. Sarkisian said the two seniors were steady, consistent playmakers in spring.

dshawn-sotp.jpg
 
D’Shawn Jamison has played in 36 career games with 19 starts. He had 31 tackles and six pass breakups in 2020. (Ricardo B. Brazziell / American-Statesman for USA Today)

McNeese State transfer Darion Dunn, whom teammates commended for his spring performance, will be a solid rotational player. Sarkisian said sophomores Kitan Crawford and Jahdae Barron and freshman Jamier Johnson flashed during spring and are intriguing players, too.

At safety, B.J. Foster provides the veteran presence of having played in 31 games. Former receiver Brenden Schooler moved to safety, a position he played as a freshman at Oregon in 2016. “I really love the way he comes down and hits,” Jamison said. “He showed that he can cover.”

Sarkisian called sophomore Jerrin Thompson, who started the last two games of 2020, one of the leaders of the group. Freshman JD Coffey III also had his moments this spring.

At nickelback, Chris Adimora and Anthony Cook are competing. Both played all 10 games last season, but Adimora was the starter. “It’s a heck of a battle between two really good players,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian would like to find one more reliable cornerback to help the Longhorns play more man-to-man coverages. He would also like his safeties to play at the level of consistency Jamison and Josh Thompson provide, but overall he said he feels good about the secondary.

Special teams: Senior kicker Cameron Dicker could take on a heavy workload this fall. The primary kicker and kickoff specialist the last three years, he could add punting to his duties.

Dicker finished last season as the punter after an injury cut Ryan Bujcevski’s season short. Dicker continued punting this spring, and Sarkisian said Dicker may take on all three specialist roles this season.

“Dicker is a special talent,” Sarkisian said. “(I like) his field goal ability, his kickoff ability and then clearly, this spring, his punting ability.

“We’re going to let them battle. There’s nothing set in stone … but inevitably we have to do what’s best for the team.”

Texas also has an incoming freshman punter, Australian product Isaac Pearson. Sarkisian’s preference would be for someone to beat Dicker out for either punter or kickoffs so that he’s not handling all three duties, but “they’ve got to earn it,” he said.

In the return game, Jamison is tabbed to handle both kickoff and punt returns, which he has done the last three seasons. But the Longhorns would like to mix in some others. Keilan Robinson had return experience at Alabama and is a possibility. “We have some other guys that have the ability to do it, but they’ve just got to get the reps,” Sarkisian said.

What others are saying about Texas

Texas’ lack of significant success is not for a lack of talent, at least according to an opposing Big 12 coach.

“To me, there’s not a talent issue there,” the coach said. “I think they’re extremely talented.”

The coach said he believes Thompson and Card can both be “premier players” in the Big 12. Bijan Robinson is “a stud.” Texas’ linebackers and defensive backs “can really run.” And the coach believes that there is sufficient talent on the line of scrimmage.

Alamo-sotp-scaled.jpg
 
Running back Bijan Robinson (left) and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown were named the most valuable offensive and defensive players during the Alamo Bowl in December. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)

“If you look at what they have up front on both sides, that gives them a chance,” the coach said.

The coach cited last year’s three close losses (Texas lost to TCU by two, to Iowa State by three and to Oklahoma by eight in four overtimes) as evidence that the Longhorns “are not that far away.”

“Oklahoma has the best returning talent in the Big 12,” the coach said, “but Texas is close.”

A different Big 12 coach is intrigued with how Sarkisian will import his Alabama offense without the Alabama-level talent. The league is no longer as homogenous as it once was, when everyone except Kansas State ran four-receiver sets. Now all of the league’s teams dabble in 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end) and half of the league’s teams averaged at least 10 snaps per game with at least two tight ends in 2020, according to TruMedia. What Sarkisian did in Tuscaloosa, “looks like a lot of people in our league,” the coach said.

The biggest charge for Sarkisian, the coach said, is winning the games against teams like TCU, which has consistently beat the Longhorns since joining the Big 12, or Iowa State, which kept Texas from the Big 12 title game last year.

“Can you get the culture right fast enough where they’re going to be able to win all the games they need to win to play Oklahoma again at the end?” he said.

How the Longhorns recruited from 2018 to 2021

texas-1024x659.png

Despite having only one double-digit win in the four-season Herman era, the Longhorns recruited at a high level.

Only five teams have a better four-year average recruiting ranking than Texas (Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and LSU), and that’s including a 2021 transition class that ranked 16th (the previous three classes ranked third, third and eighth nationally).

Texas is one of the eight teams nationally that rank highest in 247Sports’ latest “Blue Chip Ratio,” which calculates the percentage of four- and five-star recruits on rosters as a means of determining which teams have a legitimate shot at winning a national championship.

So if the recruiting rankings have been that good, why have the Longhorns compiled only a 32-18 record in the last four years (which eventually led to Herman’s dismissal)?

The answer is development, or lack thereof. Those five teams that rank ahead of the Longhorns in average four-year recruiting rankings all produced at least a dozen combined NFL Draft picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts: LSU had 21, Ohio State 20, Alabama 19, Georgia 16 and Clemson 12.

The Longhorns had only nine draft picks in the last two drafts. Five of those picks went in the top three rounds, compared to eight for Clemson, nine for Georgia, 12 for LSU, 13 for Ohio State and 17 for Alabama. As The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman put it, if the rest of the program developed anywhere close to the way Cosmi, the offensive tackle, did — going from three-star recruit to second-round draft pick — Herman would still be employed.

The critical task for Sarkisian and his staff will be to take the ample talent on hand and maximize it.

Transfers to know

The Longhorns took a half-dozen transfers in this cycle and all of them are likely to contribute in varying capacities.

Thornton, Davis and Oghoufo help bolster linebacker depth, but Thornton will likely make the biggest impact of the three. His experience (41 games played at LSU) is an asset, and he gave the offense headaches during spring practice.

Dunn did well enough in spring to show that he deserves regular playing time at corner. At McNeese, he was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection, recorded seven interceptions and 20 pass breakups in his 29-game career.

Keilan Robinson won’t come in and take 15 carries a game with Johnson and Bijan Robinson ahead of him, but his role as the third back will be important, as is his ability to contribute in other ways.

Impact of coaching changes

Sarkisian overhauled most of the staff, retaining only two full-time assistants: running backs coach Stan Drayton and wide receivers coach Andre Coleman.

Sarkisian brought two fellow former Alabama assistants with him to Austin: special-teams coordinator and tight ends coach Jeff Banks and offensive line coach Kyle Flood.

Banks brings extensive recruiting experience in Texas, dating to his time at Texas A&M with Kevin Sumlin. And although Flood also holds the offensive coordinator title, Sarkisian will be the play caller.

“I’ve always done that throughout my career when I was a head coach,” Sarkisian said. “What I like about it is I can really control the game. I can speed it up, I can slow it down if our defense is tired, I can go for it, I can call timeout, I can start counting possessions.”

Flood and Sarkisian have worked together for the last four years. Before their two years together at Alabama, both were with the Atlanta Falcons for two years.

Sarkisian also brought a former Alabama analyst, AJ Milwee, to coach the quarterbacks.

Defensively, Sarkisian tabbed Pete Kwiatkowski to run the defense. The former Washington defensive coordinator runs multiple defensive fronts, alternating mostly between three- and four-man fronts, but in the spring game, Kwiatkowski also sprinkled in formations with two down linemen.

Sarkisian said he likes how good Kwiatkowski’s defenses are in the red zone (they ranked in the top two in the Pac-12 in four of his seven seasons with the Huskies).

Kwiatkowski brought on former Montana State head coach Jeff Choate as co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Choate worked with Kwiatkowski at Washington and Boise State. Former Texas, Alabama and NFL assistant Bo Davis oversees the defensive line, and former Longhorns safety Blake Gideon coaches the position he played on the Forty Acres.

Former Notre Dame, Nebraska and Texas A&M assistant Terry Joseph takes the defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach title.

Schedule analysis
DATE TEAM SITE
Sept. 4
Home
Sept. 11
Away
Sept. 18
Home
Sept. 25
Home
Oct. 2
team-logo-187-50x50.pngTCU
Away
Oct. 9
Dallas
Oct. 16
Home
Oct. 30
Away
Nov. 6
Away
Nov. 13
Home
Nov. 20
Away
Nov. 26
Home

Texas’ early-season schedule is challenging. Sarkisian’s debut comes against one of the top Group of 5 teams of the last two seasons, Louisiana. The Ragin’ Cajuns are a combined 21-4 in that span and are the nation’s 2021 leader in returning production, according to ESPN. This is a team that beat eventual Fiesta Bowl winner Iowa State by double digits last year, so the Longhorns’ season opener will be one to watch. It will also mark the unveiling of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium’s $175 million south end zone renovation, which is scheduled for completion before the Ragin’ Cajuns’ visit.

After that, Texas gets a road SEC game at old Southwest Conference rival Arkansas. The Razorbacks (3-7) were mediocre last season but were improved and more competitive in Sam Pittman’s first season than they were under his predecessor, Chad Morris. Hogs fans will be fired up, and if the Hogs are better than they were in 2020, this, too, could be dicey.

The Longhorns are unlikely to lose to Rice, but the Owls are also improving, as evidenced by their shutout of a ranked Marshall last season.

Beating Texas Tech — which had Texas on the ropes last year — to open Big 12 play is a must for Sarkisian, because the next three weeks are tough. The Longhorns travel to TCU, which has won six of the last seven meetings between the teams, then get Oklahoma in the Red River rivalry (the Sooners have won five of the last six meetings with Texas) before returning home to host Oklahoma State.

Texas’ toughest road game is in Ames, against a loaded Iowa State team to kick off November before the slate lightens up down the stretch.

Final assessment

Sarkisian is inheriting a good roster and a team that, although it didn’t meet preseason expectations in 2020, wasn’t bad. Improvement is and should be expected this year. At minimum, the Longhorns should be able to increase their win total from the seven they tallied last year. They aren’t better than Oklahoma or Iowa State at this moment, so it’s unrealistic to expect the Longhorns to win the Big 12 in Sarkisian’s debut season. But they should at least be in contention for a spot in the title game in the season’s final weeks, nipping at the heels of the Sooners and Cyclones. If the Longhorns somehow get back to AT&T Stadium this season, that would be a huge first step for the program under Sarkisian.

Texas’ national championship odds from BetMGM: +5,000

For the "Kai Money is one of our best players, we can expect to win more than 7 games" crowd:

Quote

Texas’ lack of significant success is not for a lack of talent, at least according to an opposing Big 12 coach.

“To me, there’s not a talent issue there,” the coach said. “I think they’re extremely talented.”

“If you look at what they have up front on both sides, that gives them a chance,”

“Oklahoma has the best returning talent in the Big 12,” the coach said, “but Texas is close.”

 

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gmr548

gmr548 16,590

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Posted
https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi
How does ESPN determine this metric? They have 7 Big12 teams in the top 25. I could see TCU being a really good squad, they’re loaded, they just need consistent QB play. I’m not sold on Oklahoma State. Baylor has a some nice pieces but no QB. I don’t know what they see in Tech.

Iowa State having a better chance at winning the NC than Ohio State, or a 40 percent chance of making the playoff, is laughable. That’s a good team but let’s not pretend everything didn’t go right for them in 2020.
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Chuckie Finster

Chuckie Finster 22,702

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Posted

Apologies if this has already been discussed in this thread, but can anyone explain what is going on with our Vegas win prediction of 7.5/8? If the Kansas game wasn’t cancelled last season, we’d have had 7 in the shortened season (and losses of 2pts, 3pts and in 4OT)… and now we are adding 2 more games yet the predictions are about the same?

I get not buying us as national title contenders. But are people really putting that much value in losing Ehlinger?

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14,755

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Posted
1 hour ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Apologies if this has already been discussed in this thread, but can anyone explain what is going on with our Vegas win prediction of 7.5/8? If the Kansas game wasn’t cancelled last season, we’d have had 7 in the shortened season (and losses of 2pts, 3pts and in 4OT)… and now we are adding 2 more games yet the predictions are about the same?

I get not buying us as national title contenders. But are people really putting that much value in losing Ehlinger?

They remember the Ehlinger comebacks but forget his shitty play for long stretches that made the offense inconsistent. QB will decide between 7 and 10 wins, though, I think it will be less of a determination because of the potential of the OL and the RBs to put up close to 200 yards per game, if they can move that number closer to 250+, then QB play will be largely negated. Sarkisian had good QB and WR play his 2 years at Bama, and Harris still had 2600+ and 39 TDs just from rushing. From scrimmage it was 3400 and 50 TDs.

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Eggo

Eggo 3,978

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Posted
2 hours ago, CastHorn said:

I hope Sark is in the lab devising some nut busting RPO concepts because this WR group doesn’t look like the the kind that will be creating a bunch of separation. 

Because you've seen a healthy TO, Whittington, Moore, Dixon, and Worthy rotated in the same game? Relax. Our WR corps is really fucking good with the right scheme and a smart QB. 

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Bobby_Batronic

Bobby_Batronic 1,994

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Posted
On 6/21/2021 at 9:50 PM, Machinator said:

Saban has had five stars on offense forever. The Bama offenses were not nearly as explosive before Kiffin/Sark.

Some of that is due to Saban coming to terms with the fact that his preferred method of Jurassic football wasn’t going to cut it against quality spread attacks stocked with peer level talent in the playoffs and beyond. And also that the SEC has advanced it’s average offensive competency and schemes to something past turn of the millennia Big XII levels. 

He’d much rather punt a lot and beat opponents up with his defense.  

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Burt Macklin

Burt Macklin 19,038

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Posted
5 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Apologies if this has already been discussed in this thread, but can anyone explain what is going on with our Vegas win prediction of 7.5/8? If the Kansas game wasn’t cancelled last season, we’d have had 7 in the shortened season (and losses of 2pts, 3pts and in 4OT)… and now we are adding 2 more games yet the predictions are about the same?

I get not buying us as national title contenders. But are people really putting that much value in losing Ehlinger?

I am surprised our O/U isn’t closer to 8.5 or 9. One of the 8 lines I saw had negative odds on the under, so that seems less than ideal for us if you think Vegas knows what they’re doing. 

I think it has less to do with us as a team and more with our schedule. Most of the Big 12 teams return a ton of production. ISU returns close to everyone, OU returns a ton, so does KSU and they get Skylar Thompson back healthy who was looking very good before his injury. There’s no doubt the Big 12 we face this year will be much better than last year, but it does still seem like they’re underrating us at 7.5/8. 

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Bevo14

Bevo14 8,355

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Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I am surprised our O/U isn’t closer to 8.5 or 9. One of the 8 lines I saw had negative odds on the under, so that seems less than ideal for us if you think Vegas knows what they’re doing. 

I think it has less to do with us as a team and more with our schedule. Most of the Big 12 teams return a ton of production. ISU returns close to everyone, OU returns a ton, so does KSU and they get Skylar Thompson back healthy who was looking very good before his injury. There’s no doubt the Big 12 we face this year will be much better than last year, but it does still seem like they’re underrating us at 7.5/8. 

I think it has more to do with the team. From the outsider's perspective, our QB, WR, and OL are unknowns and we're breaking in a new staff. 

Personally I think we're going to kick ass and play for the Big 12 championship,  but I can see why some people would be skeptical. 

Edited by Bevo14
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Getafix

Getafix 28,685

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Posted
On 6/22/2021 at 1:34 PM, Chuckie Finster said:

Not surprising given all that we know, but to commit to play for Tim Beck and then fall ass backwards into being a WR for Steve Sarkisian's offense... and THEN choose to transfer is one hell of a decision tree.

 

 

Cutting The Branch On Which You Sit Stock Illustration - Download Image Now - iStock

 

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CastHorn

CastHorn 815

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Posted
12 hours ago, Eggo said:

Because you've seen a healthy TO, Whittington, Moore, Dixon, and Worthy rotated in the same game? Relax. Our WR corps is really fucking good with the right scheme and a smart QB. 

That’s a lot of wishful thinking. TO is coming off a major injury. The spring game is the most consecutive snaps I’ve ever seen Whitt take. Moore’s another guy who hasn’t played a complete season. Dixon looks explosive but he’s just not very proven, neither is Worthy. There’s literally like three guys on the offensive side of the ball you can point to as sure fire dependable contributors. Two in the RB room & the other is coming off a significant ankle injury.  I think there’s alot of pressure on Andre Coleman, if that group doesn’t show up, he’s likely gone. 

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BurntOrange&White

BurntOrange&White 39,934

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By: Ian Boyd

After a recruiting visit in Austin, 2023 defensive back Jamel Johnson revealed an interesting nugget of information he’d received from defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

“He said I fit good into his defense. Sometime they run seven-man DB, so you’re going to play here if you like that.”

A seven-defensive back personnel set is quite the package and certainly one solution for making the most of a deep group of defensive backs. It’s also a good recruiting pitch to be able to explain to young defensive backs why they could have confidence in playing early. Rather than a general, “everyone has a chance to compete here!” or the true but perhaps not particularly exciting, “come play early on special teams!” you can point to real playing time for freshmen on important downs.

You don’t just use those packages for recruiting though, they have real value in attacking offenses. The Longhorns changed their season in 2017 with the “lightning package,” a 3-2-6 lineup they could play on 1st and 10 as easily as on 3rd and 9. Texas’ “.38 special” package in early 2019 was another gamechanger before it was tragically undone by a rash of injuries in the secondary.

Defenses can erase opportunities for spread offenses to easily find matchups and space to throw the ball into by flooding the field with defensive backs. Then there’s a flip side to this coin as well. A defense can also apply pressure up front with packages stocking the field with bigger, explosive guys at defensive line or linebacker. Will Muschamp introduced Texas to the world of modern defense in 2008 by moving running back Henry Melton and linebacker Sergio Kindle to the defensive line while spinning down big defensive end Lamarr Houston into a tackle, then playing with five defensive backs behind them. To spread out the Longhorns, offenses had to be able to handle Houston, Brian Orakpo, Kindle, et al. with just five or six blockers and still be able to find space and matchups with three corners and Earl Thomas on the field.

Today we’re going to look at a few packages Kwiatkowski may have in mind for dictating terms to Big 12 offenses.

Return of the .38 special?

The .38 special package was a short-lived experiment in 2019 designed to maximize Texas’ overabundance of good safeties. The set-up was unreal, it was a collection of speed and athletic talent unlike any you’ve ever seen take the field for a defense.
 
Original .38 special.jpg


The three-down “3” in the 3-8 (.38 special) included outside linebackers Jeff McCulloch and Joseph Ossai as stand-up defensive ends and Malcolm Roach in the nose as the zero-technique. Then Texas had eight off-ball defenders who were all defensive backs (although technically DeMarvion Overshown was playing his current position of middle linebacker) with three cornerbacks and five safeties.

This unit picked off Joe Burrow when he was backed up on his own goal line early in the game against LSU but was compromised by injuries even before the end of the game. Texas was unable to play the .38 on the fateful “3rd and 17” moment where the game was lost. They were also done in throughout the game by the lack of skill out at cornerback. Todd Orlando’s exotic pressures drawn up with all the big, explosive defensive backs hanging around the box couldn’t make up for an inability to cover the Tigers 1-on-1 down the field.

If you glance at the 2021 Texas defensive roster, you’ll notice they again have a large number of solid defensive backs and many of them are holdovers from the days of Orlando’s “lightning” and “.38 special” packages. If we were to take Kwiatkowksi’s words to Johnson as indicative of what’s in the playbook for Texas in 2021, it’s not hard to imagine a seven-DB package from the current roster make-up.

It could look something like this:
 
Revived .38 special.jpg


Texas could flank Ojomo (or the best interior rusher) with outside linebackers like Ray Thornton and the next best of Jacoby Jones, Ben Davis, or Ovie Oghoufo. Behind them you have DeMarvion Overshown, Brenden Schooler, and B.J. Foster around the box. All of those guys can play in the box and blitz and everyone but Ojomo could potentially drop into coverage. Back in coverage Texas could play three cornerbacks and then a pair of safeties.

This would very much be a passing downs package, you wouldn’t ask this crew to hold up on 1st and 10 against anyone in the Big 12, but a dominant third down package is immensely valuable.

If there was a contest where Kwiatkowski wanted an every down, base package with multiple defensive backs, like Orlando’s 3-2-6, he could try something with slightly bigger personnel as he did at Washington against Mike Leach. His base dime look for the Apple Cup would play the Jack with two defensive linemen in a 2-3-6 package.

Something along the lines of this...
 
PK Texas 2-3-6.jpg


...basically a 2-2-7. You get Foster as the “Joker” safety where he excelled as a freshman, replacing the X-backer in the 2-4-5. In this set Texas has some more size on the line to hold up if an opponent runs the football, but they have more flexibility and fewer holes in coverage than in the base 2-4-5. Or they could sub out the nickel and move Schooler back to safety to make a 2-3-6 if keeping David Gbenda or another true linebacker on the field makes the unit stronger overall.

There’s several different configurations Kwiatkowski could concoct against offenses trying to substitute for extra receivers on 3rd down or otherwise trying to win by spreading Texas out and throwing it 50 times. If you don’t disincentive him from sticking with the same 11 players every snap he’s not going to do so.

You couldn’t play these games against Tom Herman’s Longhorns because they stayed in 11 personnel and could run power run sets or empty spread sets without substituting. Many Big 12 teams don’t have flexible, hybrid personnel to allow them to mimic this approach. They will substitute in receivers or blockers and make plain their intentions, usually on downs where the situation (3rd and 8, or 3rd and 1) already makes their intentions obvious. If you have a multi-defensive back package you can deny those offenses a chance to find any easy matchups.

Texas once again has depth in the secondary to build something like the .38 special, which if it hadn’t fallen apart due to injuries might have made for a wildly different season in 2019. A base dime defense is less likely due to Kwiatkowski’s emphasis on match coverage and having a guy like Overshown at linebacker, both of which already make the 2-4-5 pretty flexible. So the Longhorns don’t really need anything like Orlando’s 3-2-6, but something like the .38 special could be immensely valuable.

Getting big in the red zone

Texas doesn’t just have a plethora of solid defensive backs to rotate or sub into the game. They also have several big, athletic options along the defensive line. In fact, they are facing a potential dilemma come fall if sophomore Alfred Collins flips a switch and consistently reveals the NFL 3-technique he’s shown flashes of becoming. Moro Ojomo is already putting together a “draft me!” skill set at the same position and Keondre Coburn and T’Vondre Sweat give the Longhorns two more huge assets at nose tackle.

Kwiatkowski has a few good blitzing athletes at linebacker who can bring some size and explosiveness off the perimeter along with bigger box safeties in Schooler and Foster. Plus he has
the scheme to help put it all together. Here’s a set he would utilize in the red zone or against teams playing with bigger personnel at Washington, drawn up with Texas defenders:
 
DMO 46 nickel.jpg

Shark = Jamison, Black Panther = Ojomo

There’s a million ways to draw this one up as well. It’s a 46 front, which Kwiatkowski showed from his nickel package in the spring game. In the spring game he’d slide the jack inside to a 4i or 3-technique and drop one of the linebackers down on the edge like a second X-backer opposite the normal X-backer. The design of the 46 is basically to have a defensive lineman over all five offensive linemen, making it difficult to double team anyone and applying pressure across the entire front.

With the abundance of defensive tackle talent, Texas could sub out the Jack (or bump him outside where I have drawn DMO) to get whichever of Collins or Ojomo is on the bench onto the field. The priority is to get five guys on the line of scrimmage who are major problems for the offensive line. Texas could play with the Jack and X-backer outside of the three defensive linemen with Overshown and another linebacker at their normal inside positions. Or they could bring Overshown on the edge rather than a Jack or X and use a third linebacker or one of the safeties as an inside linebacker. All of those variables can change in accordance with the relative strengths of the roster in a given year. The constants are creating a 5-2 front before the snap.

The foundational contest of offense versus defense between the tackles is a three-on-three battle between the guards and center for the offense and the nose tackle, 3-technique, and inside linebacker on defense. Either side can bring in more players but doing so incurs a bill which will inevitably come due. To win on offense you need to be able to control the point against the two defensive tackles and release someone up to hit the inside linebacker before he’s diagnosed the play and comes flying through the running back’s best window.

A good nose tackle complicates the situation by commanding a double team which frees up the inside linebacker. A great linebacker serves you by arriving too quickly and precisely for the line to have time to make any headway on the tackles, and a great tackle serves you by whipping the guard and forcing the offense to bring a tackle into the fray to avoid a negative play. Now it’s 4-on-3 for the offense but you’re playing short-manned somewhere else.

The 46 front brings in an extra tackle and creates two problems. It becomes extremely hard to double-team the nose and you are really in a numbers crunch on offense if one of your guards can’t reliably hold up 1-on-1 against one of the defensive tackles. It’s not enough to be good at center or guard, you need to be pretty good at all three spots or you can get into trouble in a hurry.

So if both Alfred Collins and Moro Ojomo should end up putting together draftable play at defensive tackle, this set becomes a total nightmare for offenses. You wouldn’t use it between the 20s because you’re giving up some speed and flexibility in coverage to bring another defensive tackle into the interior. In the red zone where the offense runs out of space and needs to overpower you either in coverage or at the line of scrimmage, it becomes a fantastic way to make the line of scrimmage a hellscape for Big 12 offenses.

Trying to overpower this front is not going to be easy. Here’s a double-tackle version of 46 defense against “the touchdown play” Texas used for four years under Tom Herman to pile up scores in the red zone.
 
Touchdown play vs 46 front on goal line.jpg


The offense can only double-team one of the three defensive tackles and the tight end better be able to block DeMarvion Overshown (or whomever is lined up at outside linebacker) 1-on-1. In this example the offense double-teams Coburn and the left tackle and right guard have to win 1-on-1 against Collins and Ojomo. Even if this doesn’t result in Longhorn defenders shooting into the backfield, the odds of clearing out a lane for the running back which can’t quickly be filled by free flowing off-ball defenders is very low.

Even in a quarterback run scheme where the offense can get a numbers advantage, the angles don’t make it easy to keep Coburn or a 3-technique from winning a 1-on-1 and wrecking the play before it starts.

Outside the defense is relying on man coverage, but this is already typically the case in the red zone. In this set at least you get more bang for your buck inside. If the offense is a greater threat to beat man coverage than to power it in with the run game you can drop the outside backers into passing lanes now and again or just not use this package unless they commit to playing extra blockers. Against spread teams with a power run game you can deny them access with a set like this and/or apply a lot of pressure in the pass rush if they want to try and throw it in.

Packaging the Big 12 into a box

Two problems Big 12 teams aren’t well equipped to solve, 1) when they can’t hunt a slower defender in space and 2) when they can’t protect a slower offensive lineman from facing a top athlete 1-on-1.

The dime (and smaller) sub-packages can present the first problem to opponents, the 46 fronts with extra defensive linemen and/or linebackers on the field is useful for bringing the second challenge.

Most Big 12 teams aren’t loaded with high quality talent at every position. If you’ve watched Oklahoma in the Lincoln Riley era you’ll have seen them dominate games in three fashions. First of all, with a perennially fantastic offensive line featuring future pros at three or more positions. Teams don’t really attack them up front, they are just hoping to survive.

Secondly, with elite wide receivers Riley will move around and match up on overwhelmed defensive backs, or attacking run/pass conflicts, or working against defensive coverage rules to run free into the secondary.

Finally, their recent success has owed a lot to putting a pair of linebackers and three defensive linemen on the field together who can run some 46-style fronts of their own and obliterate blocking schemes by always having a 1-on-1 matchup in which their athlete is positioned to blow by some poor sap.

One of Kansas State’s great tricks under Bill Snyder, other than the quarterback run game, was having a million schemes under their belts to enable them to always get help against an opponent’s best players while creating space and matchups for their own top athletes.

Big 12 offenses in general have the Kansas State approach and use spread formations and run/pass conflict to set up their best players to look great while minimizing the exposure of the more limited athletes on the team. Save for against the teams which use tempo to protect themselves, which are less common now Texas Tech has fired David Yost, eliminating or exacerbating matchups is potential kryptonite for Big 12 offenses.

Texas is a bit short on really savvy, inside linebackers who can split the difference between serving as frontline warriors against the run and also being present in the passing game. This needn’t necessarily matter though because they can overwhelm Big 12 offenses before they get started by packing top defensive linemen into the box or erasing any matchups on the back end with extra defensive backs as the situation requires. Kwiatkowski has shown a knack for both of these tricks and it’s a good bet he’ll be putting together some packages in the fall to achieve this result.
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Octavian

Octavian 1,025

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Posted
12 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

 

By: Ian Boyd

After a recruiting visit in Austin, 2023 defensive back Jamel Johnson revealed an interesting nugget of information he’d received from defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

“He said I fit good into his defense. Sometime they run seven-man DB, so you’re going to play here if you like that.”

A seven-defensive back personnel set is quite the package and certainly one solution for making the most of a deep group of defensive backs. It’s also a good recruiting pitch to be able to explain to young defensive backs why they could have confidence in playing early. Rather than a general, “everyone has a chance to compete here!” or the true but perhaps not particularly exciting, “come play early on special teams!” you can point to real playing time for freshmen on important downs.

You don’t just use those packages for recruiting though, they have real value in attacking offenses. The Longhorns changed their season in 2017 with the “lightning package,” a 3-2-6 lineup they could play on 1st and 10 as easily as on 3rd and 9. Texas’ “.38 special” package in early 2019 was another gamechanger before it was tragically undone by a rash of injuries in the secondary.

Defenses can erase opportunities for spread offenses to easily find matchups and space to throw the ball into by flooding the field with defensive backs. Then there’s a flip side to this coin as well. A defense can also apply pressure up front with packages stocking the field with bigger, explosive guys at defensive line or linebacker. Will Muschamp introduced Texas to the world of modern defense in 2008 by moving running back Henry Melton and linebacker Sergio Kindle to the defensive line while spinning down big defensive end Lamarr Houston into a tackle, then playing with five defensive backs behind them. To spread out the Longhorns, offenses had to be able to handle Houston, Brian Orakpo, Kindle, et al. with just five or six blockers and still be able to find space and matchups with three corners and Earl Thomas on the field.

Today we’re going to look at a few packages Kwiatkowski may have in mind for dictating terms to Big 12 offenses.

Return of the .38 special?

The .38 special package was a short-lived experiment in 2019 designed to maximize Texas’ overabundance of good safeties. The set-up was unreal, it was a collection of speed and athletic talent unlike any you’ve ever seen take the field for a defense.
 
Original .38 special.jpg


The three-down “3” in the 3-8 (.38 special) included outside linebackers Jeff McCulloch and Joseph Ossai as stand-up defensive ends and Malcolm Roach in the nose as the zero-technique. Then Texas had eight off-ball defenders who were all defensive backs (although technically DeMarvion Overshown was playing his current position of middle linebacker) with three cornerbacks and five safeties.

This unit picked off Joe Burrow when he was backed up on his own goal line early in the game against LSU but was compromised by injuries even before the end of the game. Texas was unable to play the .38 on the fateful “3rd and 17” moment where the game was lost. They were also done in throughout the game by the lack of skill out at cornerback. Todd Orlando’s exotic pressures drawn up with all the big, explosive defensive backs hanging around the box couldn’t make up for an inability to cover the Tigers 1-on-1 down the field.

If you glance at the 2021 Texas defensive roster, you’ll notice they again have a large number of solid defensive backs and many of them are holdovers from the days of Orlando’s “lightning” and “.38 special” packages. If we were to take Kwiatkowksi’s words to Johnson as indicative of what’s in the playbook for Texas in 2021, it’s not hard to imagine a seven-DB package from the current roster make-up.

It could look something like this:
 
Revived .38 special.jpg


Texas could flank Ojomo (or the best interior rusher) with outside linebackers like Ray Thornton and the next best of Jacoby Jones, Ben Davis, or Ovie Oghoufo. Behind them you have DeMarvion Overshown, Brenden Schooler, and B.J. Foster around the box. All of those guys can play in the box and blitz and everyone but Ojomo could potentially drop into coverage. Back in coverage Texas could play three cornerbacks and then a pair of safeties.

This would very much be a passing downs package, you wouldn’t ask this crew to hold up on 1st and 10 against anyone in the Big 12, but a dominant third down package is immensely valuable.

If there was a contest where Kwiatkowski wanted an every down, base package with multiple defensive backs, like Orlando’s 3-2-6, he could try something with slightly bigger personnel as he did at Washington against Mike Leach. His base dime look for the Apple Cup would play the Jack with two defensive linemen in a 2-3-6 package.

Something along the lines of this...
 
PK Texas 2-3-6.jpg


...basically a 2-2-7. You get Foster as the “Joker” safety where he excelled as a freshman, replacing the X-backer in the 2-4-5. In this set Texas has some more size on the line to hold up if an opponent runs the football, but they have more flexibility and fewer holes in coverage than in the base 2-4-5. Or they could sub out the nickel and move Schooler back to safety to make a 2-3-6 if keeping David Gbenda or another true linebacker on the field makes the unit stronger overall.

There’s several different configurations Kwiatkowski could concoct against offenses trying to substitute for extra receivers on 3rd down or otherwise trying to win by spreading Texas out and throwing it 50 times. If you don’t disincentive him from sticking with the same 11 players every snap he’s not going to do so.

You couldn’t play these games against Tom Herman’s Longhorns because they stayed in 11 personnel and could run power run sets or empty spread sets without substituting. Many Big 12 teams don’t have flexible, hybrid personnel to allow them to mimic this approach. They will substitute in receivers or blockers and make plain their intentions, usually on downs where the situation (3rd and 8, or 3rd and 1) already makes their intentions obvious. If you have a multi-defensive back package you can deny those offenses a chance to find any easy matchups.

Texas once again has depth in the secondary to build something like the .38 special, which if it hadn’t fallen apart due to injuries might have made for a wildly different season in 2019. A base dime defense is less likely due to Kwiatkowski’s emphasis on match coverage and having a guy like Overshown at linebacker, both of which already make the 2-4-5 pretty flexible. So the Longhorns don’t really need anything like Orlando’s 3-2-6, but something like the .38 special could be immensely valuable.

Getting big in the red zone

Texas doesn’t just have a plethora of solid defensive backs to rotate or sub into the game. They also have several big, athletic options along the defensive line. In fact, they are facing a potential dilemma come fall if sophomore Alfred Collins flips a switch and consistently reveals the NFL 3-technique he’s shown flashes of becoming. Moro Ojomo is already putting together a “draft me!” skill set at the same position and Keondre Coburn and T’Vondre Sweat give the Longhorns two more huge assets at nose tackle.

Kwiatkowski has a few good blitzing athletes at linebacker who can bring some size and explosiveness off the perimeter along with bigger box safeties in Schooler and Foster. Plus he has
the scheme to help put it all together. Here’s a set he would utilize in the red zone or against teams playing with bigger personnel at Washington, drawn up with Texas defenders:
 
DMO 46 nickel.jpg

Shark = Jamison, Black Panther = Ojomo

There’s a million ways to draw this one up as well. It’s a 46 front, which Kwiatkowski showed from his nickel package in the spring game. In the spring game he’d slide the jack inside to a 4i or 3-technique and drop one of the linebackers down on the edge like a second X-backer opposite the normal X-backer. The design of the 46 is basically to have a defensive lineman over all five offensive linemen, making it difficult to double team anyone and applying pressure across the entire front.

With the abundance of defensive tackle talent, Texas could sub out the Jack (or bump him outside where I have drawn DMO) to get whichever of Collins or Ojomo is on the bench onto the field. The priority is to get five guys on the line of scrimmage who are major problems for the offensive line. Texas could play with the Jack and X-backer outside of the three defensive linemen with Overshown and another linebacker at their normal inside positions. Or they could bring Overshown on the edge rather than a Jack or X and use a third linebacker or one of the safeties as an inside linebacker. All of those variables can change in accordance with the relative strengths of the roster in a given year. The constants are creating a 5-2 front before the snap.

The foundational contest of offense versus defense between the tackles is a three-on-three battle between the guards and center for the offense and the nose tackle, 3-technique, and inside linebacker on defense. Either side can bring in more players but doing so incurs a bill which will inevitably come due. To win on offense you need to be able to control the point against the two defensive tackles and release someone up to hit the inside linebacker before he’s diagnosed the play and comes flying through the running back’s best window.

A good nose tackle complicates the situation by commanding a double team which frees up the inside linebacker. A great linebacker serves you by arriving too quickly and precisely for the line to have time to make any headway on the tackles, and a great tackle serves you by whipping the guard and forcing the offense to bring a tackle into the fray to avoid a negative play. Now it’s 4-on-3 for the offense but you’re playing short-manned somewhere else.

The 46 front brings in an extra tackle and creates two problems. It becomes extremely hard to double-team the nose and you are really in a numbers crunch on offense if one of your guards can’t reliably hold up 1-on-1 against one of the defensive tackles. It’s not enough to be good at center or guard, you need to be pretty good at all three spots or you can get into trouble in a hurry.

So if both Alfred Collins and Moro Ojomo should end up putting together draftable play at defensive tackle, this set becomes a total nightmare for offenses. You wouldn’t use it between the 20s because you’re giving up some speed and flexibility in coverage to bring another defensive tackle into the interior. In the red zone where the offense runs out of space and needs to overpower you either in coverage or at the line of scrimmage, it becomes a fantastic way to make the line of scrimmage a hellscape for Big 12 offenses.

Trying to overpower this front is not going to be easy. Here’s a double-tackle version of 46 defense against “the touchdown play” Texas used for four years under Tom Herman to pile up scores in the red zone.
 
Touchdown play vs 46 front on goal line.jpg


The offense can only double-team one of the three defensive tackles and the tight end better be able to block DeMarvion Overshown (or whomever is lined up at outside linebacker) 1-on-1. In this example the offense double-teams Coburn and the left tackle and right guard have to win 1-on-1 against Collins and Ojomo. Even if this doesn’t result in Longhorn defenders shooting into the backfield, the odds of clearing out a lane for the running back which can’t quickly be filled by free flowing off-ball defenders is very low.

Even in a quarterback run scheme where the offense can get a numbers advantage, the angles don’t make it easy to keep Coburn or a 3-technique from winning a 1-on-1 and wrecking the play before it starts.

Outside the defense is relying on man coverage, but this is already typically the case in the red zone. In this set at least you get more bang for your buck inside. If the offense is a greater threat to beat man coverage than to power it in with the run game you can drop the outside backers into passing lanes now and again or just not use this package unless they commit to playing extra blockers. Against spread teams with a power run game you can deny them access with a set like this and/or apply a lot of pressure in the pass rush if they want to try and throw it in.

Packaging the Big 12 into a box

Two problems Big 12 teams aren’t well equipped to solve, 1) when they can’t hunt a slower defender in space and 2) when they can’t protect a slower offensive lineman from facing a top athlete 1-on-1.

The dime (and smaller) sub-packages can present the first problem to opponents, the 46 fronts with extra defensive linemen and/or linebackers on the field is useful for bringing the second challenge.

Most Big 12 teams aren’t loaded with high quality talent at every position. If you’ve watched Oklahoma in the Lincoln Riley era you’ll have seen them dominate games in three fashions. First of all, with a perennially fantastic offensive line featuring future pros at three or more positions. Teams don’t really attack them up front, they are just hoping to survive.

Secondly, with elite wide receivers Riley will move around and match up on overwhelmed defensive backs, or attacking run/pass conflicts, or working against defensive coverage rules to run free into the secondary.

Finally, their recent success has owed a lot to putting a pair of linebackers and three defensive linemen on the field together who can run some 46-style fronts of their own and obliterate blocking schemes by always having a 1-on-1 matchup in which their athlete is positioned to blow by some poor sap.

One of Kansas State’s great tricks under Bill Snyder, other than the quarterback run game, was having a million schemes under their belts to enable them to always get help against an opponent’s best players while creating space and matchups for their own top athletes.

Big 12 offenses in general have the Kansas State approach and use spread formations and run/pass conflict to set up their best players to look great while minimizing the exposure of the more limited athletes on the team. Save for against the teams which use tempo to protect themselves, which are less common now Texas Tech has fired David Yost, eliminating or exacerbating matchups is potential kryptonite for Big 12 offenses.

Texas is a bit short on really savvy, inside linebackers who can split the difference between serving as frontline warriors against the run and also being present in the passing game. This needn’t necessarily matter though because they can overwhelm Big 12 offenses before they get started by packing top defensive linemen into the box or erasing any matchups on the back end with extra defensive backs as the situation requires. Kwiatkowski has shown a knack for both of these tricks and it’s a good bet he’ll be putting together some packages in the fall to achieve this result.

Alright I made a mistake

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Machinator

Machinator 32,099

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Some team notes from Darius Terrell

Spoiler

The guys have been crushing it all week on the recruiting side of things so I decided to see what I could get from the other side. 

Lucky for you all, I caught up with a source close to the program on a good day and they were in the mood to talk a little bit about what they had seen/heard so far through the first few weeks of Summer Workouts.

***While the gruff, deep voices are somewhat similar, the contrast in philosophy and approach to Strength and Conditioning between Yancy McKnight and new lead man Torre Becton couldn’t be more pronounced. Whereas under McKnight, the approach was basically “the heavier the better,” under Becton, there is an increased emphasis on mobility and functional athleticism. Players often felt worn down during the week under the previous regime, while they feel more of a sense of flexibility and explosiveness under the new lead. You may notice this fall that guys like Jordan Whittington and Anthony Cook look slightly different in their uniforms from past seasons.

***The coaches have obviously been around and present during workouts, but make no mistake about it, the Summer belongs to the S&C staff. The main focus for the coaching staff right now has obviously been on handling the hundreds of visitors that have made their way to campus over the past three weeks. Things will begin to shift a little bit in mid-to-late July.

***The off-field QB competition hasn’t slowed down in the least bit between Hudson Card and Casey Thompson. So far, Thompson has been at the vocal forefront.

***EVERYONE is juiced up about the potential of the Texas Backfield right now with Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, and Keilan Robinson. Johnson in particular was singled out for looking really good. Freshman Jonathon Brooks “sure looks the part.”

***The Jake Smith news coming out of the wide receiver room apparently wasn’t very surprising or huge news to the team. By all accounts Smith has gone about everything in a very mature fashion and the door was left open for him to possibly return, although this particular source didn’t have anything to offer on what the odds of that actually happening are.

***Xavier Worthy is “160lbs with rocks in his pockets.” DeSean Jackson, anyone? Let us dream.

***5-Star True Freshman Ja’Tavion Sanders needed a few days to catch his wind, but has quickly adjusted to the pace of a college workout program after an interesting first few days. The Tight End room is stacked.

***After just a semester on campus Ray Thornton is pretty much universally recognized as one of the leaders of the defense. The battle between Thornton and Ovie Oghoufo this fall is going to be one of the main storylines to watch during camp.

***Would anyone have guessed that the strongest freshman is Byron Murphy? Me too.

***Josh Thompson and D’Shawn Jamison have both looked like big-timers so far, this summer. Maybe it’s the presence of Darion Dunn? I’ve heard that competition brings out the best in folks. Texas has a good problem at cornerback right now.

 

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