2021 Fall Camp Thread - Bend Over & I’ll Continue Showing You

[CptnJiggleBits 915]

All gas. No bit. No bridle. No reins. No blanket. No saddle. Done lepton SouthAustin's mom bareback. No brakes.

[ousux 5597]

Story above is a steaming pile of horseshit, but that won't stop a few surly denizens from believing it and hating on Milwee now when they didnt really have an opinion of him before.

Not saying Milwee is above our ire, but at least wait for something legit ffs.

[Herpa Derpa 6125]

4 hours ago, ousux said:

Story above is a steaming pile of horseshit, but that won't stop a few surly denizens from believing it and hating on Milwee now when they didnt really have an opinion of him before.

Not saying Milwee is above our ire, but at least wait for something legit ffs.

Wait for something legit? Do you even internet, brah?

[texifornia 56943]

8 hours ago, Sock Monkey said:

Milwee is going to have a blast during his short stay in the Big 12 if that really is his assessment of our talent.

The story is probably a big pile of poop, but Bama's second team probably does have more talent than our starters in terms of pure potential. It'd be a semi-interesting thing to look into. Not interesting enough for me to look into, mind you. 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

34 minutes ago, texifornia said:

The story is probably a big pile of poop, but Bama's second team probably does have more talent than our starters in terms of pure potential. It'd be a semi-interesting thing to look into. Not interesting enough for me to look into, mind you. 

https://bamahammer.com/2021/08/22/alabama-football-projected-depth-chart/

 

 

Offensive Line

First Unit: (L to R); Evan Neal, Javion Cohen, Chris Owens, Emil Ekiyor Jr. and Kendall Randolph

Second Unit: (L to R); Pierce Quick, Amari Kight, Darrian Dalcourt, Tommy Brown and J.C. Latham

 

 

Interesting absence of a name.

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by BurntOrange&White

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

So we didn’t get a practice report at all from yesterday?  We’ve got a preliminary 2 deed allegedly and our 9.95 kremlinologists aren’t reading the tea leaves on who stood where to definitively tell us whose starting at QB? 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

1 minute ago, Wulaw Horn said:

So we didn’t get a practice report at all from yesterday?  We’ve got a preliminary 2 deed allegedly and our 9.95 kremlinologists aren’t reading the tea leaves on who stood where to definitively tell us whose starting at QB? 

I'm sure whoever the starting quarterback to be named is they won't be able to help us in 2025!

[NoName 16351]

20 hours ago, TheBryMan81 said:

I got you fam

  Reveal hidden contents

The beast that the Alabama offense has evolved into in the last decade has the most unique origin story of any system in football. It’s not the brainchild of a coach or two who sketched out their visions on an endless array of grease boards or bar napkins.

 

No, tracing the path that the Tide has taken to get to this place — mid-Aughts top 20 offenses to the most explosive attack in college football — is as vexing as how it’s become for opposing defenses to try and handle.

 

In fact, there have been so many different architects and caretakers, and so many assistants and staffers who have come and gone — and many of them have come … and gone … and come back again — that it has led to a lot of debate about the process behind The Process in Tuscaloosa.

 

An origin myth’s beginnings … with The New England Patriots

Depending on which former Alabama coaching staffers you ask, Bill O’Brien, Nick Saban’s newest offensive coordinator, had his fingerprints on the Crimson Tide offense long before he accepted a job with the team this year.

 

“The Patriots, at that point, were getting into the one-word plays, and that’s when Alabama started implementing them,” said one former Tide assistant. “We had a menu of those. That came from Bill O’Brien. I think it was before 2011.”

 

Jim McElwain, Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2008-11, couldn’t pinpoint a specific meeting with O’Brien: “We used fastballs while I was there, but I can’t say for certain that it came from the Patriots or Coach O’Brien.”

 

Another former staffer remembers O’Brien coming to Tuscaloosa a few times. Once, in 2012, after O’Brien became the head coach at Penn State, he wanted to learn how Saban’s teams practice and how the Alabama coach navigated the differences between college and the NFL game. O’Brien brought a few Penn State assistants with him on the visit in the spirit of professional development.

 

“I remember him meeting with the offense and talking red zone and some tempo stuff they did (with the) Patriots, ‘fastball’ stuff and coverage indicator stuff,” the staffer said of O’Brien’s input on using one-word or fastball play calls — all to simplify things so the offensive can be faster. “I remember thinking what a great teacher he was and how he made things so easy to grasp and made sense. They (Alabama) already had some of it in 2009, but I think he definitely got some expansion and ways to use it, getting on the ball and stressing defense. It always helped getting installed if it came from Patriots.”

 

A fourth former staffer didn’t think it came from O’Brien, and said whatever concepts they got from the Patriots offense back then came from Josh McDaniels, and it was made to fit more to the old Bama pro-style system. The one-word fastball concepts were something the Tide staff had home-cooked right before the 2014 season out of necessity, the staffer said.

 

The 2014 season was Lane Kiffin’s first at Alabama. Kiffin had just been fired by USC. “He really had the same pro-style system we had,” said that former staffer. “Really wordy. Philosophically, it was very similar. A lot on the quarterback to get the offense in and out of the right runs, checking to passes, flipping the protections if need be.”

 

The problem? Both of the Alabama quarterbacks competing for the starting job struggled with the system.

 

Blake Sims had bounced from safety, slot receiver, running back and then finally to quarterback. Jacob Coker had just transferred in from Florida State, where he’d played for Saban protégé Jimbo Fisher. After the second preseason scrimmage, Sims beat Coker for the job.

 

Sims had been a standout high school quarterback in Georgia but he wasn’t recruited by the Tide to play it. Alabama coaches thought he had great instincts and feel for the game and loved that he was a terrific recruiter and total team guy. He’d proven to be a great ambassador for the program. He was selfless.

 

His position had switched back and forth roughly four or five times, where he was good enough at both receiver and at safety but didn’t shine at either. He also was asked to jump in at scout team quarterback whenever Bama had to get ready for a mobile quarterback. Inside the program there was a lot of skepticism how Sims would run the offense.

 

According to multiple sources, a key figure in helping get the new quarterback ready — and in re-making the Tide’s offense — is a man who has never coached a down at Alabama or anywhere else.

 

 

Bill O’Brien has only just joined the Alabama staff, but his fingertips have been on the program for a decade. (Kent Gidley)

The psychiatry professor and The Process philosophy

Lionel “Lonny” Rosen, a professor in the psychiatry department at Michigan State, had known Saban for two decades and had become an invaluable resource. Rosen is the godfather of Saban’s “Process” philosophy upon which the Alabama program was built.

 

“Lonny came in every year and would do his evaluations and gave his recommendation on how to reach kids and coach them,” said a former Alabama assistant. “One thing that he said about Blake was that he would get really nervous.”

 

In one of Rosen’s sessions with the offensive staff, Rosen asked Kiffin to recite one of their plays. Kiffin rattled off some sentence-long thing that left the psychiatry professor wincing: “Huh? That’s a play? You all are a bunch of freaking imbeciles. I have anxiety just listening to that!”

 

“I don’t remember that,” said Kiffin with a chuckle. “I think you’re getting some interesting tales coming out of there. I don’t think the Michigan State psychiatrist had anything to do with us going to smaller terminology.”

 

About two weeks before the 2014 season opener against West Virginia, Kiffin and the staff brainstormed ways to help Sims operate the offense that suited his athleticism without getting bogged down trying to recite a whole bunch of words.

 

“We researched Auburn’s offense, A&M’s offense, Syracuse’s offense when Nathaniel Hackett was the offensive coordinator; we researched the Eagles with Chip Kelly; there were a lot of concepts that they ran at Oregon that we installed,” said a former Alabama staffer. “We slowly started implementing that this one word meant the formation, the personnel, the play, everything.”

 

For example: A running play that was called Silver Flank Right North Stormy Smoke became just North Stormy. “Then everybody knew that’s the formation; the RPO to the field; that’s how we’re getting lined up, the whole bit. We then evolved that to us having the box count RPOs and different things like that. That’s how it all started,” the staffer said.

 

One of the fastball plays Alabama acquired from Kelly was installed right before the 2016 national title game against Clemson. Alabama even called it the same thing Kelly did— Geronimo — and it hit for a Derrick Henry 50-yard touchdown run on the game’s first score.

 

Kiffin said he always had relied on using wristbands in communicating the play-calling process. “We always had that wherever we were, and that’s how you could get the long terminology in without having to signal everything in. We started in that direction, but then tried the other thing and said, ‘OK, let’s get rid of wristbands and go as short as we can to be able to play really fast.’

 

“We did take the boards, which Washington had copied from Oregon … that system that used the boards, which were the formations, so you didn’t have to signal them in. Then, we just signaled the plays, so that shortened down the signaling.”

 

One of the Tide coaches said that remaking the offense on the fly “was all hands on deck.”

 

“Everybody had a heavy hand in there,” he said. “The list of fastballs we ended up with was mind-boggling. We tried to use word association for everything we did. We used boards to signal tempo or signal a formation to the boundary. Those guys were, like, doing aerobics on the sideline trying to get the right board up at the right time. It was pretty intense. It just became so extensive. Players had to memorize what was to the field and what was to the boundary.”

 

Sims proceeded to break the Alabama single-season passing record and led the Crimson Tide to the SEC title. They were the top seed in the College Football Playoff and were upset by No. 4 Ohio State 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl. They also averaged almost 10 plays more than they had in each of the previous two seasons.

 

“That guy performed miracles,” a former Tide coach said of Rosen. “Just tapping into the brain and helping guys understand to learn. Blake was nonfunctional in what we were doing before the adjustments were made. You’re looking at a 9-3, 8-4 season before the adjustment, for real. Blake got it going in a big-time way.

 

“Fit the scheme to the athlete, not the other way around. That was the biggest lesson learned there. Get out of your ways and get into whatever works for the player.”

 

A Process begun by Nick Saban’s frustrations

What transpired at that inflection point in Alabama’s football history wasn’t just related to a shift in the personnel available to the Tide that year but also a response of Saban’s growing frustration with what his defenses — and his program — were now up against.

 

In 2013, Alabama lost the Iron Bowl to Gus Malzahn’s hurry-up, which converted on 8 of 15 third downs in the Kick-Six game, and also had its hands full with Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M (the program put 628 yards on them). The year prior, the Aggies attack that Kliff Kingsbury piloted beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Hugh Freeze and his up-tempo, RPO-loaded system then beat Saban’s team in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015, when the Rebels beat them 43-37 despite only having the ball for less than 25 minutes.

 

“We made a tremendous change when Lane came in. Lane had always been the same, kind of philosophy-wise, as we were in terms of pro-style football,” Saban said. “And because of what Ole Miss — and it’s ironic that he’s at Ole Miss now — had done and beaten us several times running the spreads, running the RPOs, running the screens and things that are difficult to defend, and we weren’t utilizing some of those things, which I thought put us at a disadvantage.

 

“Lane really hadn’t done much of that stuff, either. So when he came in, I said, ‘Look, we want to change this. You need to research this. You’re smart. We can do this.’ He actually did implement that and was the first one to sort of change how we did things on offense. It enhanced our opportunity to score more points.”

 

It has been quite a 180 for Saban and Alabama.

 

In October 2012, a few days after West Virginia and Baylor staged a wild 70-63 shootout of more than 1,500 yards of offense, Saban went on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference, grousing about how the hurry-up, no-huddle was taking over football. He launched into what became an epic rant.

 

“I think that the way people are going no-huddle right now, that at some point in time, we should look at how fast we allow the game to go in terms of player safety,” he began. “The team gets in the same formation group, you can’t substitute defensive players, you go on a 14-, 16-, 18-play drive and they’re snapping the ball as fast as you can go and you look out there and all your players are walking around and can’t even get lined up. That’s when guys have a much greater chance of getting hurt when they’re not ready to play.

 

“I think that’s something that can be looked at. It’s obviously created a tremendous advantage for the offense when teams are scoring 70 points and we’re averaging 49.5 points a game. With people that do those kinds of things. More and more people are going to do it. I just think there’s got to be some sense of fairness in terms of asking, is this what we want football to be?”

 

That 70-point reference was a nod to peak Big 12 football, but the rant also came in the wake of Freeze’s uptempo scheme at Ole Miss ripping off touchdown drives of 13 and 16 plays on Saban’s defense in what eventually turned into a Crimson Tide blowout.

 

“We’d been huddling, lining up in two-tights; we were a python and absolutely strangling people with our defense,” said a former Alabama offensive position coach. “That’s what we were. Credit to Saban. We changed. Lonny exclamation-pointed it, but I think it was headed in that direction.”

 

Looking outside the SEC to dominate within it

If it gave Saban’s defense headaches, he wanted his staff to dig into it. Two months after Alabama allowed 42 points in the semifinal loss to Ohio State, the offensive staff was on a flight to Houston to visit new Cougars coach Tom Herman, who had been the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator. Herman then visited Saban later that month in Alabama.

 

“Nick became enamored with that 11-personnel after getting beat by them in ’14,” said one of the Crimson Tide offensive position coaches. “Freeze had entered into the equation. And Nick wasn’t seeing those things in practice and he wanted to see more of that type of stuff in practice so he could defend it.

 

“It was nothing earth-shattering. We had the film. It’s more of the nuts and bolts of how to operate like that.”

 

After the 2016 season, Kiffin left Tuscaloosa to become the head coach at FAU. One of the candidates that Saban interviewed for the vacancy was Dan Werner, the former Ole Miss offensive coordinator who had worked with Freeze and had an expertise with RPOs. Saban ultimately hired his old protégé, Brian Daboll, away from the New England Patriots to run the offense, and brought on Werner in an analyst role.

 

“It’s one thing to say run this play and then here’s the rules on it, but there’re always the little things that may happen if, say, there’s a different technique by a DB,” Werner told The Athletic a few years ago. “That’s what I was there for, since I was doing it the last five years. I could give a little hint for them about what to tell the receiver or to tell the QB.”

 

In Kiffin’s three seasons at Alabama, he added more nakeds and play-action. “I think he brought quite a bit,” one of the former offensive position coaches said. “The big thing was Lane had experience. He was careless enough that he wasn’t concerned about rubbing Nick the wrong way. He pushed the boundaries more than other people had in the past. He did a good job of utilizing personnel. If he has a good player, he’s gonna feed that player the ball. He did a really good job with the naked play-pass complements.

 

“Lane’s not a quarterback guy. He’s a receiver guy. His strengths weren’t the drop-back game. The quick game, the five-out game, that is where the quarterback struggled in my opinion. Daboll did a good job of introducing some real progression passing game. The quarterback was getting coached at a very high level.”

 

When Daboll came to Tuscaloosa from New England, he started incorporating some of the terminology the Patriots used in their no-huddle offense and made it more no-huddle friendly by shortening up the verbiage even more with code words. Daboll also leaned on co-offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who also has an extensive background in RPOs. “So all of a sudden, there was terminology that came in that was very Patriotsesque in terms of the passing game and in the run game,” said a former Tide offensive assistant.

 

Daboll spent one season in Tuscaloosa, helping Alabama win the national title before returning to the NFL. Locksley was promoted to the offensive coordinator job in 2018 as the Tide improved from No. 15 in scoring to No. 3. Locksley landed the Maryland job after the season. Saban brought back Sarkisian, an Alabama quality control assistant in 2016 and then one-time Tide play caller for the national title game that season, to call the offense.

 

“I think Lane really forced or spurred Coach Saban to adapt,” said a former Alabama analyst. “Coaching reads wasn’t his thing, but then Daboll came in and really tightened up that passing game by spacing the field and creating high-lows. He leaves and Locksley really meshed that Patriots passing game with the RPO game that he and (Josh) Gattis had. Then, Sark came back, and coaching reads was something he was really good at, and he was able to dial the quarterback in.”

 

 

Steve Sarkisian “was throwing freakin’ haymakers” during his time with the Crimson Tide. (Mickey Welsh / The Montgomery Advertiser via USA Today)

 

Steve Sarkisian’s finishing touches

“The verbiage was all over the place,” Sarkisian said. “It was kinda all over because there is a baseline that is Coach Saban, his vernacular and what he wants to hear, but year after year, you bring in a new coordinator and they’re gonna put their own twist on it and put different tags on things.

 

“With Locks and Daboll, there were 100 one-word plays. With Lane, there might’ve been five a game. So it was, who are we gonna be? We kinda had both. We were a no-huddle team the last two years but we didn’t necessarily go super fast. Our deal was we wanted to run the best plays available every chance we could. The reality of it, we implemented more shifts and motions than probably had been in that offense in the previous 5-6 years and kinda went back to that — although we didn’t huddle.

 

Under Sarkisian, Alabama was less reliant on RPOs and did more play-action. There were less drop-back passes, save for third downs; more 12-personnel; and much more aggression in a willingness to go downfield.

 

“He was always interested in completions but he wasn’t hunting 5- and 7-yard completions to keep the chains moving,” said one of the former Alabama assistants. “He was throwing freakin’ haymakers. Some people inherit a fast car and they drive it 85 miles an hour or a little bit over the speed limit. Sark inherited a fast car and he drove it 135 miles an hour, and it was fun to watch.

 

“He could’ve lined up and been real conservative and still probably beat people, but I don’t know about Florida. If you’re not as aggressive as Sark was, and you don’t really test the boundaries with all the good tools that you have — he pushed it to the limit, and to me, I think we needed it when it came down on the Florida game. Those guys could score with us.”

 

Sarkisian, who has made “All Gas No Breaks” the mantra for his program at Texas, said his approach at Alabama was about playing to the team’s strengths more than trying to blow up scoreboards.

 

“At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to win, not put numbers up, and I felt like we had a chance to be uniquely special,” he said. “We were different those two years when I was the OC. My first year, we were four-wide receiver sets, a lot of RPOs, a little more play-action pass — Tua (Tagovailoa) with the quick trigger, create running lanes with space.

 

“The next year with Mac (Jones), it became more two tight end sets, downhill running game, play-action pass, moving (Jaylen) Waddle and Smitty around just to create those matchups … it became more matchup-based. The end result: We wanted to be very aggressive and the players knew it but the aggressive nature came because that’s what we felt like we were best at. It was pretty clear from Coach Saban down that us being aggressive was what was best for the team.”

 

In Sarkisian’s first season calling the offense, Alabama averaged a then-school-record 47.2 points per game. Last season, the Tide set the current record for points per game, averaging 49 points per game, and also led the country in third down percentage. Sarkisian who was fired from his last head coaching stint at USC, parlayed his success with Bama into landing the head coaching job at Texas.

 

Bill O’Brien comes full circle to Tuscaloosa

His replacement is O’Brien, who returns to college football for the first time in seven years. The hire may have seemed like an odd fit given the way his tenure with the Houston Texans, ended but then again, Kiffin and Sarkisian seemed like odd fits too, and it wasn’t like Locksley’s stock was exactly soaring either when he arrived in Tuscaloosa. O’Brien has never worked with Saban before, but he did spend five seasons coaching with one of his best friends, Bill Belichick, in New England.

 

O’Brien is now Alabama’s fifth offensive coordinator in eight seasons. Alabama has run through a dozen coaches for wide receivers, the offensive line and running backs. O’Brien will have to break in a new quarterback in freshman Bryce Young, as Mac Jones is one of five departed starters on offense who left as a first-round NFL draft pick. In all, only three offensive starters return, but two are All-SEC linemen: Evan Neal and Emil Ekiyor Jr.

 

“Alabama, quite obviously, has proven to be a very special place to play and coach,” O’Brien said. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity that Coach Saban has given me. To work and learn from someone like Coach Saban — I’m going into my 29th year of coaching — that’s not something that can be replicated. I’ve only been here for seven months, and I have already learned a ton.”

 

O’Brien said Saban has told him “a little bit” about how the Alabama offense has evolved over time and how each coordinator has put his own touch on it.

 

“Every year’s different,” O’Brien said. “I think in the end, it comes down to who your players are, what can they do best, who your quarterback is, what can he do best, and what’s best for the team. No year is like any other year, so this year will be very different than any other year, and that’s just the way it is in football. That’s the way it’s always been in my career. And these guys are working hard every single day to try to improve.”

 

One of the former Alabama assistants who left Tuscaloosa and is now running his own program pivoted from the discussion of scheme to make sure one point was hammered home above all: Regardless of how much talent O’Brien, or any other offensive coach has inherited, and no matter what plays they run or verbiage they use, there is one key factor when it comes to making the system work better than any other in football.

 

“The king of all this is Nick Saban,” he said. “You’re put through that grinder because you’re competing against Nick and his defense every day, and he has a lot of ideas to contribute. The verbiage never gets too far away from him where he can’t sustain it. He’s not letting you come in and run your offense. You gotta operate within the installation plan. There is a progression to it all. He controls it.

 

“You’re talking about alphas now, and you have lots of ’em in one room. It’s impressive. His ability to hire the right people, to manage their egos and to continue to recruit and develop offensive talent. The consistency and the routine and structure and to keep the thing rolling, to allow minor tweaks and adjustments on the other side of the ball and keep the thing rolling, it’s really miraculous. It’s the Alabama way. Revolving door of assistants from a number of different play callers and line coaches … it truly is amazing.”

 

(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

 

this is basically all i have ever wanted

Quote

“He was always interested in completions but he wasn’t hunting 5- and 7-yard completions to keep the chains moving,” said one of the former Alabama assistants. “He was throwing freakin’ haymakers. Some people inherit a fast car and they drive it 85 miles an hour or a little bit over the speed limit. Sark inherited a fast car and he drove it 135 miles an hour, and it was fun to watch.

 

[alphahorn 1637]

12 hours ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

You see, I have a buddy who's buddies with someone

 

 

With all the 5 starts Bama brings in every year, their second team is easily a top 10 team on talent.  Anyone who listens to Sark's press conferences knows there are two positions on the team that he feels are championship level: running back and defensive front.  That's the difference between the top 1 or 2 teams and all others below them, deficiencies somewhere on the roster. The more the deficiencies the lower they are ranked.  Now there are exceptions where there is elite coaching as there was with the Rhule Baylor teams.  I believe this staff is elite and will likely coach and scheme them up beyond their talent level.  How far up is the question and how far into the season will it take to get them rolling? 

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

21 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I'm sure whoever the starting quarterback to be named is they won't be able to help us in 2025!

Laugh all you want- if they name Casey and Card Transfers out our On campus QB options look bleak, absent the portal, by 2023. 
I never said we were Fucked forever, I said we will have to prove competence and hit the transfer portal. 
Beard just came in and turned a historically awful UT team (what 21-22 looked like without a change and the portal) into a top 5 team going into the season. Lincoln Riley used the portal to sang 2 (3?) QB’s in a row to avoid Charlie era disasters. It’s possible and a blue print but it requires good coaching staffs. 
nowhere did I say anything that should have been all that controversial, namely that we have a dearth of lower class difference makers but go ahead and prove my point in an absurd way. If we miss out on the pick of the liter in 23 at QB that will mark 3 years in a row and the room will be begging for help in the portal. 

[Pig Bellmont 8715]

38 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

So we didn’t get a practice report at all from yesterday?  We’ve got a preliminary 2 deed allegedly and our 9.95 kremlinologists aren’t reading the tea leaves on who stood where to definitively tell us whose starting at QB? 

It’s easier to push content when you can’t be proven wrong

[BrazilHorn 6591]

6 minutes ago, alphahorn said:

With all the 5 starts Bama brings in every year, their second team is easily a top 10 team on talent.  Anyone who listens to Sark's press conferences knows there are two positions on the team that he feels are championship level: running back and defensive front.  That's the difference between the top 1 or 2 teams and all others below them, deficiencies somewhere on the roster. The more the deficiencies the lower they are ranked.  Now there are exceptions where there is elite coaching as there was with the Rhule Baylor teams.  I believe this staff is elite and will likely coach and scheme them up beyond their talent level.  How far up is the question and how far into the season will it take to get them rolling? 

This "100 people are in charge" trope is just so fucking tiresome. Every school has boosters that the school needs for funding etc and a Chancellor, AD etc

It all boils down to winning. Saban is fully in charge as he has won so much. If Sark wins at level Saban does the dude will have everyone the fuck out of his way and money will rain down from the fucking heavens for whatever he wants for the team/program.

Right now there are "3 people in charge" above Sark that organized move to SEC (which helps Sark in long run), got South endzone built and new offices (again helps Sark in long run) and set up a cool branding opportunity for the players via NIL (As slow a start as that has been)

What Bama does have that Texas doesn't is the fact that Bama is not viewed as the savior for all of the other shitty colleges in Alabama. Texas apparently is expected to feed and care for Baylor, Tech, TCU etc. Bama isn't treated with disdain by its conference lead, officials and fellow members. Texas has been. That would be the annoyance more than some boosters that want to put on coaching shorts every now and then (although having to let MM speak to the team each fall camp in his rambling, incoherent manner would get old as fuck too). Having your conference actively work against you in coaches polls for playoff seatings/bowl games etc is not something Saban ever has to deal with.

I am not saying Bama's 2nd string wouldn't beat Texas' 1st as they have clearly out recruited Texas for the past decade, but it's not because Saban doesn't have to answer to anyone.

 

[Elmer_Fudd 22215]

Poster on 247 said Dixon was back at practice yesterday.

[LTtxfan 49184]

Siap

 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

Gerry's Top 5 draft prospects on the team:

 

The Texas Longhorns football season is now just 11 days away. 

The new look Longhorns will take the field for the first time under Steve Sarkisian with a number of future NFL Draft picks. 

When looking at NFL Draft prospects on a roster, it’s not always the most experienced or the most productive. It takes a deep dive into determining the talent possessed by a prospect and the ceiling he can reach.

That is certainly the case when looking at the top NFL prospects in the Longhorns program. 

Alfred Collins, DL, Sophomore, Bastrop (Texas) Cedar Park

On a list of Longhorns with the highest NFL Draft potential, Collins is an easy choice at No. 1. The former five-star prospect literally has everything physically that the NFL covets at the position. Height, a very well-proportioned frame, elite quickness, an 80-inch wingspan, big and strong hands, lateral agility and flexibility. Collins flashed that first-round pick potential as a freshman tallying 23 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks and an interception. His performance against Colorado placed him firmly on NFL radars. With that said, Collins likely will not be the most productive defensive lineman on the team this season. That is, unless he takes over in games more than he does in practice. That next step for Collins means looking like a future first-round in practice, as well as the games. With the Longhorns’ depth at defensive tackle, Collins will be fresh for nearly every snap he plays.

Bijan Robinson, RB, Sophomore, Tuscon (Ariz.) Salpointe Catholic

Ranking a running back this high could be risky. Only four running backs have been selected in the first round of the last three NFL Drafts. Well, that’s how good I believe Bijan Robinson will be. It will not come in the form of a blazing 40-yard-dash at a testing day. It will come in the form of high-end vision, initial quickness, reactive quickness, contact balance, second and third effort run maximizing, hands out of the backfield and one other very important characteristic. Similar to Najee Harris, Robinson will be uber impressive to NFL personnel when the time comes to invest millions into a player. Robinson rushed for 718 yards (8.2 per carry) and added 196 receiving yards with six TDs as a freshman. The last running back out of the program to be drafted in the first round was Cedric Benson in 2005. 

DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Senior, Arp (Texas) 

Overshown made the move from safety to linebacker last season and instantly became an NFL prospect. The football pad speed, quick reactions, closing speed, physicality, length and upside physical development possibilities make for an interesting prospect. Ranking the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder this high could be a stretch for some. The ability to make a second year jump playing linebacker could also catapult the East Texas native into the second, or possibly late first round. Overshown posted 60 tackles, eight tackles for loss, seven pass break ups, two interceptions and one sack in 2020. Should the production make a big leap, the accolades will follow. 

Christian Jones, LT, Junior, Cypress (Texas) Cypress Woods

Jones flashed his potential as a first-year starter last season at right tackle. This season, he can burst onto the NFL radar with a successful transition and season at left tackle. Jones possesses all of the physical specs the NFL covets. He has height, a proportioned frame, an 80-inch wingspan, quick feet, ankle flexion, knee bend, body quickness to hold up against EDGE athleticism and improved physicality. A successful 2021 campaign playing under respected coaches Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Flood will only help Jones chances with the NFL. 

Xavier Worthy, WR, Freshman, Fresno (Calif.) Central East

Is it premature to place a player on the list that hasn’t played a college game? For some, sure. For me, not at all. Simply put, Worthy has too much speed, quickness and high-end ability to not be on the list. It has been a long time since the Texas program has had a receiver with Worthy’s talent and skill set come through. He needs to add strength and some weight, but this will be a wiry strong 175-180-pound receiver long term. He will run 4.40 or better, too. Throughout August camp, Worthy has answered the questions of willingness to play in the middle of the field and take a hit. If that follows through on the field, the On3 five-star in the class of 2021 will be mentioned quickly in future mock drafts. 

Also considered CB Kitan Crawford, DT T’Vondre Sweat, DT Mojo Ojomo, CB D’Shawn Jamison, CB Josh Thompson. 

[lemonandaturd 4285]

14 hours ago, Droopy said:

Fan Fiction is best Fiction. 
 

 Mike Shula, Mike DuBose, and Dennis Franchione  

You forgot about Mike Price and his scrip club follies.  He did make it through one spring practice.  

[IDIOTsavant 8483]

16 minutes ago, lemonandaturd said:

You forgot about Mike Price and his scrip club follies.  He did make it through one spring practice.  

You'll have to forgive him. He was rollin', baby.

Edited August 24, 2021 by IDIOTsavant

[Vertigo 20282]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

Siap

 

Why does every coach in America do the whole earn your helmet decal thing in fall camp?

[Droopy 2626]

17 minutes ago, lemonandaturd said:

You forgot about Mike Price and his scrip club follies.  He did make it through one spring practice.  

 

2 minutes ago, IDIOTsavant said:

You'll have to forgive him. He was rollin', baby.

I originally had him in there but his record was 0-0.

But, looking back, that's another example of how far they had fallen as well. They hired a guy from Washington (fucking) State to coach their team. They were grasping at any straw that would hove into their field of vision. They were in the Atlantic Ocean scrambling for a piece of wood and located a life raft with two oars and a small outboard after so many sinking doors.

[texifornia 56943]

4 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Why does every coach in America do the whole earn your helmet decal thing in fall camp?

Because it works? That said no one in that video has decals. Might just be easier for the equipment team.

Edited August 24, 2021 by texifornia

[Droopy 2626]

1 minute ago, Vertigo said:

Why does every coach in America do the whole earn your helmet decal thing in fall camp?

Stickers are expensive, yo! Have you seen the price of Steak, Gas, Stickers? 

[Tex Pete 20348]

7 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Why does every coach in America do the whole earn your helmet decal thing in fall camp?

Because most coaches aren't very smart and they just ape what they've seen others doing.

[6th Street 6392]

Hopefully we can land one of those Ohio State backup QBs via the portal.

[LTtxfan 49184]

While waiting for practice reports from this morning...

This is funny... 😂😂😂

 

[jeevsie 3734]

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

16 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Hopefully we can land one of those Ohio State backup QBs via the portal.

Oklahoma played 3 transfers in a row and 2 of them won the Heisman. Ohio State just had a transfer lead them to the national title game and then get picked in the 1st round.  If we have competent to great coaching I think it's a virtual certainty that at some point in time we end up with our starting QB coming from the portal, and that doesn't have to be a bad thing- it's just the new reality in college football.  Does this make recruiting less important?  Maybe.  Especially if you have a coaching staff known for acumen and putting guys in the NFL. OU seems like they are ok with taking 1/3 of their class every year through the portal.  It's not a bad thing, per se, if your coaching staff is good. 

[Lou_Sassle 2875]

1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

 

Also considered CB Kitan Crawford, DT T’Vondre Sweat, DT Mojo Ojomo, CB D’Shawn Jamison, CB Josh Thompson. 

 

[closetohumping 17440]

10 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Oklahoma played 3 transfers in a row and 2 of them won the Heisman. Ohio State just had a transfer lead them to the national title game and then get picked in the 1st round.  If we have competent to great coaching I think it's a virtual certainty that at some point in time we end up with our starting QB coming from the portal, and that doesn't have to be a bad thing- it's just the new reality in college football.  Does this make recruiting less important?  Maybe.  Especially if you have a coaching staff known for acumen and putting guys in the NFL. OU seems like they are ok with taking 1/3 of their class every year through the portal.  It's not a bad thing, per se, if your coaching staff is good. 

Yep, I'd be all about that transfer portal.  

[ousux 5597]

Stickers are expensive, yo! Have you seen the price of Steak, Gas, Stickers? 

Wood man, wood. I can't even afford to pop a chubby these days

[ClubWhatever 12137]

Can Oliver Luck quintuple the population of Kansas or make TCU exist outside a saturated sports market?

[BERT 4358]

22 minutes ago, ousux said:

1 hour ago, Droopy said:

Stickers are expensive, yo! Have you seen the price of Steak, Gas, Stickers? 

Wood man, wood. I can't even afford to pop a chubby these days

That's rough

[TotallyLegit 3053]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

While waiting for practice reports from this morning...

This is funny... 😂😂😂

 

You are officially consulted...not to exist!

[Mo Horn 8833]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

While waiting for practice reports from this morning...

This is funny... 😂😂😂

 

I know what-iffing is useless, but I do wonder what the last several years would have been like, and where we'd be know, had we hired him instead of the whacko we did hire. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. 

[Hiphopopotamos 20869]

 

[Big Woodrows 4200]

IT - Five biggest Texas camp surprises add immediate impact, depth

Spoiler

The 2021 Texas depth chart had few questions entering August camp. The roster is deeper and more experienced than it is talented, but there’s still plenty of talent tempering upward mobility from newcomers, whether they freshmen or transfers.

Still, you always want to hear about surprises, even if they won’t be expected to start. Depth is very important, especially if you hope to play in the conference championship game at the end of the year.

We’ll go in order of expected immediate impact on the season.

Sr. DB Anthony Cook, #11, 6-foot-1, 191

Cook was a highly rated cornerback in the 2018 class out of Houston Lamar high school who chose Texas over LSU. Some outlets even considered him a five-star for a time. As a recruit, he demonstrated great short area quickness but not long speed. That lack of speed is what derailed him at cornerback, especially as one position coaching change gave way to another.

In any coaching change, there are winners and losers based on new scheme preferences. Cook, who was always physical but now a muscled up 190 pounds, was a big winner as the new defense called for more coverage specific nickel personnel. While he may not have the pure athleticism required for cornerback, he certainly has it for nickel. It took only a few practices for Cook to get playing time with the first team and he hasn’t looked back.

Jr. LB Luke Brockermeyer, #47, 6-foot-3, 225

Some players need the right fit and some just need a chance. Brockermeyer may have received a scholarship under the previous coaching staff but he didn’t receive much of an opportunity. He received that opportunity this past spring and played so well he entered August camp with a genuine chance of starting, if not the favorite.

He’s had a strong August playing alongside De’Marvion Overshown and behind a stout defensive line. Brockermeyer is a better athlete than given credit for; he gets good drops in coverage but also plays downhill quick and decisively.

The first game against run-heavy Louisiana-Lafayette will be a great opportunity for him to show the wold ability comes with the last name and not the other way around.

Sr. EDGE Ben Davis, #6, 6-foot-4, 236 & Jr. EDGE Ovie Oghoufo #18, 6-foot-3, 237

As we near the beginning of the season, you can’t talk about one without the other because they’ll both play quite a bit, maybe even at the same time.

Both transfers arrived in June from prestigious programs; Davis from Alabama and Oghoufo (pronounced uh-GO-fu) from Notre Dame. Both benefit from the scheme change deployed by new defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. While they play different outside linebacker positions, they compete for snaps at Sam linebacker when in base defense, which is something we’ll see quite a bit this year. The amount of base defense may be the real surprise.

Both possess a tenacious and physical play style, and Davis has already emerged as a team leader. Both can drop into coverage and be disruptive in the back field.

Texas went from having big questions at EDGE to having quality depth in a matter of months.

Fr. OL Hayden Conner, #76, 6-foot-5, 332

If you watched Alabama the last couple of years you know new Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood prioritizes size. Conner has had that since the 8th grade which has given him a lot of time to get comfortable in his own body.

Offensive line is a very difficult position to play which is why you don’t see many true freshman play well, if at all. Conner won’t be forced into the action this season, but he can already be relied upon to play if need be. While his future appears to be at guard, there’s enough flexibility and foot quickness to work with that the staff isn’t ruling out tackle in the coming years.

The current Texas offensive line depth chart is the best it has been in years, but with o-line more so than other positions, you have to look a couple years ahead. Conner has the look of becoming a fixture as he gains more experience. Some of that experience will likely come this season, even if in the 4th quarter.

He’ll push to start in his second year as Denzel Okafor departs.

Fr. RB Jonathon Brooks, #24, 6-foot, 199

Brooks was underrated coming out of Hallettsville, TX, where he had a near storybook senior year, falling just short in the state championship game. Like current Texas wide receiver Jordan Whittington from the same area a couple of years before, Brooks was the best athlete on every field he stepped on.

Though he had obvious athletic traits that would transfer to the college game — great feet, agility, and initial quickness — there were some questions of how quickly he’d adapt to the step up in competition. Athletically, it didn’t take him long to assimilate as he made impressive plays in the team 7 on 7 setting in June and July.

When the pads came on this August, he again answered the call and showed the look of a future productive college player.

Last year, Texas only had two running backs it could count on for carries, but with the addition of Alabama transfer Keilan Robinson and Brooks, Texas has a much deeper bench.

Brooks may redshirt this year but the depth he brings may allow the staff to tinker more with two-back personnel, or with playing the highly versatile Robinson more at slot receiver.

Honorable Mentions:

So. CB Jahdae Barron, #23, 5-foot-11, 186

Fr. TE Gunnar Helm, #85, 6-foot-5, 238

Fr. TE Juan Davis, #81, 6-foot-4, 226

 

[MIkeHoncho 1911]

4 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

 

fake news if SECSECSEC not all tied at #1.  

[LTtxfan 49184]

#55 blOU strength of schedule.  CORN being horrible really hurting what should be a good game

Oklahoma Sooners Schedule 2021

Regular Season
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	TV	TICKETS
Sat, 9/4	@TULN	11:00 AM
Sat, 9/11	vsWCU	6:00 PM
Sat, 9/18	vsNEB	11:00 AM	FOX

[LarryMoeSurly 411]

Hey guys, support the Surly NIL program and get some cool Burnt Ends flair.  We’re only about half way to our goal, so it’s time to not be a tight wad and step up!

 

https://www.burntendsnil.com/

Edited August 24, 2021 by LarryMoeSurly

[Droopy 2626]

I’m betting no matter what happens in the GA vs Clemson game, Clemson is going to the Playoff and will probably win the whole thing. They are stacked. 

[ryskey 447]

Avg SOS rankings by conference.

Big10: 20

SEC: 30

Big12: 33

Pac: 35

ACC: 50

P5 average of all 64 teams: 33.  So the Big12 is exactly average.

Major credit to Big10's OOC scheduling.  10 of their teams play a ranked OOC opponent- and of those that don't, 2 others play big names that are usually ranked.  Half of them have 2 of 3 OOC opponents from P5 conferences. 

 

Surprising ACC is so bad.  Their OOC scheduling is weak, which exacerbates the weak in-conference schedule.  

[LTtxfan 49184]

Today...

Brenden Schooler and Denzel Okafor Media Availability [Aug. 24, 2021]

[Ricky Butler 2714]

Would we have gotten Keilan Robinson if we signed LJ Johnson?

[EZ$ 2104]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

#55 blOU strength of schedule.  CORN being horrible really hurting what should be a good game

Oklahoma Sooners Schedule 2021

Regular Season
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	TV	TICKETS
Sat, 9/4	@TULN	11:00 AM
Sat, 9/11	vsWCU	6:00 PM
Sat, 9/18	vsNEB	11:00 AM	FOX

SEC ready

[texifornia 56943]

8 minutes ago, Ricky Butler said:

Would we have gotten Keilan Robinson if we signed LJ Johnson?

Probably. They are VERY different running backs.

[Ricky Butler 2714]

10 minutes ago, texifornia said:

Probably. They are VERY different running backs.

Yeah, but they both have FEELINGS.

[DeweyCox 366]

2 hours ago, Big Woodrows said:

IT - Five biggest Texas camp surprises add immediate impact, depth

  Hide contents

Jr. LB Luke Brockermeyer, #47, 6-foot-3, 225

The first game against run-heavy Louisiana-Lafayette will be a great opportunity for him to show the wold ability comes with the last name and not the other way around.

 

I’m having trouble understanding this statement. Any help? TIA…

[ousux 5597]

I’m having trouble understanding this statement. Any help? TIA…

Even if you overlook the missing r, it makes no sense. Literacy isnt a requirement to be a $9.95'er

[Bevo14 8310]

11 minutes ago, DeweyCox said:

I’m having trouble understanding this statement. Any help? TIA…

Allow me to attempt a translation: they're saying that he's going to show that he's more than just a legacy player and can actually play ball.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Bevo14

[Fud 9552]

 

[Wulaw Horn 19069]

So- still no word on who is getting the reps at QB after 2 practices this week? Someone make something up- I need the speculation!