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Texas Recruiting Notes 2025: Duck Around and Find Out


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10 hours ago, victory88 said:

Great post but I don’t exactly agree with the thoughts about Flood.  He may not have recruited Hayden Connor and Jake Major, but he got them to play at a high enough level that there is a chance 1 if not 2 of those will get drafted.  Dude turned Christian Jones into a draft pick and what he did with Cam Williams was amazing.  Cam came in around 375 -389 pounds.  They reshaped his body and there were moment this year Cam was down right dominant for a 1st year starter.  There were also times he was a liability but the dude is about to be a 1st 2nd round pick after 1 year of playing.  We’ve had a very good run game for Sark entire tenure here and this year was full of high highs and low lows.  I’ll chalk that up to us  having a RB that can’t run inside a QB that isn’t a run threat what so ever.  This is the best OL play I’ve seen at Texas since 2005.  What he’s done with Goosby is also amazing.  Dude will very likely be a 1 year starter and the NFL is going to knock on his door if he has a year anything close to Cam due to his size and athleticism.  After securing the 2022 class, which is likely going to go down as the best OL haul in Texas history, he still managed to get Cruz and Baker, high end prospects, along with developing guys like Goosby, Kibble, Chatman.  Hell even Agbo has had good moments.  I think he’s probably going to pull a great fucking class this year and I bet our run game looks a lot better next year with Arch and more capable RBs.  If there is anything I want to critique him for this year, it’s all the damn penalties.  That shit needs to stop.

This is more 2026 than 2025, but the thought is that Turntine is going to scare off any other highly ranked OT prospects from also signing with Texas. Ojo is one of several answers given when this has come up. 

We need tackles. So Flood needs to have magic and find someone lower ranked that he really likes and can transform into a high quality starter eventually. 

I’m kind of ambivalent about Flood. I see the growth with some of the guys that you cited and I feel really positive. Then I think about Conner and Majors attempting to run block or Campbell looking like he has less than 2 synapses firing and I get concerned. 

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5 hours ago, closetojumping said:

This is more 2026 than 2025, but the thought is that Turntine is going to scare off any other highly ranked OT prospects from also signing with Texas. Ojo is one of several answers given when this has come up. 

We need tackles. So Flood needs to have magic and find someone lower ranked that he really likes and can transform into a high quality starter eventually. 

I’m kind of ambivalent about Flood. I see the growth with some of the guys that you cited and I feel really positive. Then I think about Conner and Majors attempting to run block or Campbell looking like he has less than 2 synapses firing and I get concerned. 

Guys who’ve played OL whom I trust have expressed concerns over the product on the field, especially in the running game.
 

Obviously what we are currently trotting out there far exceeds what we put on the field going back to the early 2000s, but looking at other schools’ ability to displace opposing DL, we still leave a bit to be desired.
 

I’m not qualified to pinpoint the exact issue. Maybe it’s personnel, and maybe it’s coaching. Hard to believe it’s personnel, given the number of guys on the roster.
 

That said, Flood is a hell of a recruiter, and his players love him, so I’m not trying to run him off. I do think it might be helpful to bring on more analysts and coaches who can identify the issues and address them, though. 

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18 hours ago, Chili dog said:

Guys who’ve played OL whom I trust have expressed concerns over the product on the field, especially in the running game.
 

Obviously what we are currently trotting out there far exceeds what we put on the field going back to the early 2000s, but looking at other schools’ ability to displace opposing DL, we still leave a bit to be desired.
 

I’m not qualified to pinpoint the exact issue. Maybe it’s personnel, and maybe it’s coaching. Hard to believe it’s personnel, given the number of guys on the roster.
 

That said, Flood is a hell of a recruiter, and his players love him, so I’m not trying to run him off. I do think it might be helpful to bring on more analysts and coaches who can identify the issues and address them, though. 

Whose OL has no concerns and how much does their coach make?

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On 1/17/2025 at 1:39 PM, Teryor said:

Believe it was nearly the same last year. I do wonder how much of it is the state of college football where guys who know they're going D1 get ready to give themselves the biggest edge vs Texas identifying guys who want to enroll early. 

Or dudes know they can't get NIL until they graduate high school, at least in Texas.  

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On 1/18/2025 at 8:05 AM, closetojumping said:

This is more 2026 than 2025, but the thought is that Turntine is going to scare off any other highly ranked OT prospects from also signing with Texas. Ojo is one of several answers given when this has come up. 

We need tackles. So Flood needs to have magic and find someone lower ranked that he really likes and can transform into a high quality starter eventually. 

I’m kind of ambivalent about Flood. I see the growth with some of the guys that you cited and I feel really positive. Then I think about Conner and Majors attempting to run block or Campbell looking like he has less than 2 synapses firing and I get concerned. 

 

On 1/18/2025 at 2:06 PM, Chili dog said:

Guys who’ve played OL whom I trust have expressed concerns over the product on the field, especially in the running game.
 

Obviously what we are currently trotting out there far exceeds what we put on the field going back to the early 2000s, but looking at other schools’ ability to displace opposing DL, we still leave a bit to be desired.
 

I’m not qualified to pinpoint the exact issue. Maybe it’s personnel, and maybe it’s coaching. Hard to believe it’s personnel, given the number of guys on the roster.
 

That said, Flood is a hell of a recruiter, and his players love him, so I’m not trying to run him off. I do think it might be helpful to bring on more analysts and coaches who can identify the issues and address them, though. 

I have small concerns about Flood. That OL in 2024 should have been much stronger in the run game. 

With that said, Campbell, Major, and Conner were all a little undersized.  As I’ve posted elsewhere, I think there is a bit of a missing attitude on the whole offensive staff, including Sark, about imposing your attitude on the defense with the run game. 

They try to finesse the run game too much with misdirection and off-tackle, when they should also learn to execute basic off-guard quick hit plays better. 

Are there any Feb 5 surprises out there? 

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2 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

 

I have small concerns about Flood. That OL in 2024 should have been much stronger in the run game. 

With that said, Campbell, Major, and Conner were all a little undersized.  As I’ve posted elsewhere, I think there is a bit of a missing attitude on the whole offensive staff, including Sark, about imposing your attitude on the defense with the run game. 

They try to finesse the run game too much with misdirection and off-tackle, when they should also learn to execute basic off-guard quick hit plays better. 

Are there any Feb 5 surprises out there? 

It may be a scheme issue, too. Being a predominantly zone running team may be problematic on the goal line when we are trying to switch to a man scheme? I never played in the trenches, so I’m completely guessing. 

 

13 hours ago, Doc Daneeka said:

Whose OL has no concerns and how much does their coach make?

I have two toddlers, so I don’t get to binge college football like I used to, but Notre dame has looked good on the ground in the games I’ve watched. Ohio State was able to get short yardage on us when they had to have it. Thats all i’ve got, and I can’t remember how Notre dame looked in pass pro. They can’t pass for shit, statistically. 

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44 minutes ago, Chili dog said:

It may be a scheme issue, too. Being a predominantly zone running team may be problematic on the goal line when we are trying to switch to a man scheme? I never played in the trenches, so I’m completely guessing. 

 

I have two toddlers, so I don’t get to binge college football like I used to, but Notre dame has looked good on the ground in the games I’ve watched. Ohio State was able to get short yardage on us when they had to have it. Thats all i’ve got, and I can’t remember how Notre dame looked in pass pro. They can’t pass for shit, statistically. 

How did Ohio State look against a Michigan team that the Texas OL went in on without lube?

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1 hour ago, Doc Daneeka said:

How did Ohio State look against a Michigan team that the Texas OL went in on without lube?

How did they look after that? Or before that? I’m not sure I understand where you’re going with your questioning.
 

It’s pretty well established that Ohio State changed their scheme after Michigan and it worked well. Also, Ohio state didn’t run particularly well against us other than in short yardage when they had to have a touchdown or a first down. You saw that, right? it was frustrating to watch them get necessary short yardage when everyone knew what was coming. I’m not saying we dump flood and moneywhip anyone. Just observing that there are teams who can do what we currently cannot and wondering why that is.
 

So instead of going all Socratic on me, just get to your point. Maybe it was just play calling and it has nothing to do with position coaching. I really don’t know and don’t pretend to know, but we seemed to have multiple occasions this year when we couldn’t get the ground game rolling and it hurt us. 

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1 minute ago, Chili dog said:

How did they look after that? Or before that? I’m not sure I understand where you’re going with your questioning.
 

It’s pretty well established that Ohio State changed their scheme after Michigan and it worked well. Also, Ohio state didn’t run particularly well against us other than in short yardage when they had to have a touchdown or a first down. You saw that, right? it was frustrating to watch them get necessary short yardage when everyone knew what was coming. I’m not saying we dump flood and moneywhip anyone. Just observing that there are teams who can do what we currently cannot and wondering why that is.
 

So instead of going all Socratic on me, just get to your point. Maybe it was just play calling and it has nothing to do with position coaching. I really don’t know and don’t pretend to know, but we seemed to have multiple occasions this year when we couldn’t get the ground game rolling and it hurt us. 

I asked who has no OL concerns and you pick one aspect of Ohio State’s OL performance in one game. 

So, skipping the Socratic, it was kind of a stupid answer 

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1 hour ago, CoachEmUp64 said:

I’ll chime in on the run game a little. To me there was no identity.
 

We run zone schemes and focus on outside zone, sweep, etc to get playmakers in space. Yet it seemed like our favorite runs were gap schemes. Counter, power, dart, etc. In theory running both schemes is very effective, but not so much a 50/50 split. At least to my eye.

As a former DC, the dirtiest run play in spread offenses is power read with a QB who can house it. Next year with Arch I hope this is our #1 run play. 
 

back to lurking 

Thanks for chiming in. Post more. 

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1 minute ago, Doc Daneeka said:

I asked who has no OL concerns and you pick one aspect of Ohio State’s OL performance in one game. 

So, skipping the Socratic, it was kind of a stupid answer 

And my point has never been that there was a perfect OL out there. In fact. I was pretty clear that I was just wondering how to fix the problems we have and that I lack the knowledge or expertise to theorize an answer. I just know what we don’t do well, and I know there are teams who don’t seem to struggle at those things.

 

So now that I know what you’re getting at, I’ll ask you to skip both the Socratic and the cocksucking. 

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1 minute ago, Chili dog said:

And my point has never been that there was a perfect OL out there. In fact. I was pretty clear that I was just wondering how to fix the problems we have and that I lack the knowledge or expertise to theorize an answer. I just know what we don’t do well, and I know there are teams who don’t seem to struggle at those things.

 

So now that I know what you’re getting at, I’ll ask you to skip both the Socratic and the cocksucking. 

Ask whatever you want. 

It sounds like you struggle with the issue of seeing every wart Texas has while seeing mostly highlights of everyone else. That isn’t to say that Texas doesn’t need to improve, but “needs to improve” isn’t a plan. If there are guys out there who can produce better OL play within Sarkisian’s system, someone should make a list of potential replacements for Flood and move forward. 

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22 minutes ago, Doc Daneeka said:

Ask whatever you want. 

It sounds like you struggle with the issue of seeing every wart Texas has while seeing mostly highlights of everyone else. That isn’t to say that Texas doesn’t need to improve, but “needs to improve” isn’t a plan. If there are guys out there who can produce better OL play within Sarkisian’s system, someone should make a list of potential replacements for Flood and move forward. 

I don’t see how healthy self-awareness is an issue. Tom Herman lacked it. Charlie lacked it. Mack lacked it. Sark seems to have it. I’m not handwringing. I’d list like to improve on areas of weakness. Seems like a reasonable position. 
 

I think the issues can be addressed without replacing coaches, but again, I'm not an expert. Seems like Flood has enough positive attributes that suggesting we replace him without having a sure fire improvement is foolish. I don’t know of a sure fire better OL coach. I know some who seem to get better results in some areas, but not necessarily overall. 
 

So maybe we’re actually on the same page. I’m really not sure. This has been one of the stranger interactions I’ve had with anyone on this board.

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2 hours ago, CoachEmUp64 said:

I’ll chime in on the run game a little. To me there was no identity.
 

We run zone schemes and focus on outside zone, sweep, etc to get playmakers in space. Yet it seemed like our favorite runs were gap schemes. Counter, power, dart, etc. In theory running both schemes is very effective, but not so much a 50/50 split. At least to my eye.

As a former DC, the dirtiest run play in spread offenses is power read with a QB who can house it. Next year with Arch I hope this is our #1 run play. 
 

back to lurking 

I have an idea that Sark will mainly bring out QB run package in the red zone during big games next season. I think the Mannings would be up Sark’s ass quick if he starts running Arch 10+ times a game.

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1 minute ago, Vertigo said:

I have an idea that Sark will mainly bring out QB run package in the red zone during big games next season. I think the Mannings would be up Sark’s ass quick if he starts running Arch 10+ times a game.

Just having a QB run threat in an RPO/zone read situation on the goal line allows us to spread the defense out a little and keep them honest. I don’t really want to have many designed run plays for Arch, either, for the reasons you seem to suggest. But being able to run QB draw on rare occasions will be a nice option to have. 

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1 hour ago, NoName said:

Just as a reminder this was the OL room 5 years ago. How many of the guys are on the two deep this year? Shackleford and Cosmi?

IMG_9905.thumb.jpeg.1f4c01752f6c764f7b52b04daca15586.jpeg

 

Karic (from SLC, Quinn’s Teammate) turned in to a multi-year starter at Tennessee. 

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1 hour ago, CHEF RIBS W/ THE HAMM YALL said:

Seriously, and Dicker was not put in a position to succeed on the OL. Glad he made it out and to the NFL. 
 

Also glad we’re past the point of 75%+ of this board spelling “Hoofkin.”

My God we sucked on the OL

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24 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Karic (from SLC, Quinn’s Teammate) turned in to a multi-year starter at Tennessee. 

 

1 minute ago, SimkinsMan said:

Jake Majors.

They were both in high school five years ago and were recruits!

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