2022 Summer Season: Flavor-Aid (Strength: Prison Wine)

[Hookem2147 21217]

21 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I don’t see much that’s changed with the defense. 

Seems like we are expecting new starters at both safety spots, one corner spot, nickel and at least one linebacker spot (maybe two if they move Overshown to edge). So 5 or 6 new starters. We'll see. I wouldn't have expected them to showcase any scheme changes in the spring game for the world to see, so will probably have to wait til the ball is kicked off to recognize those.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Hookem2147

[Hookem2147 21217]

29 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

It’s both. I believe the offense was in the 90s in 3 and outs and the defense was in the same vicinity. Offense didn’t help, but the defense couldn’t get themselves off the field. Also keep in mind the offense ranked near the bottom of FBS in drives starting with poor field position. I believe it was like 120th. Defense was 85th in available yards. They averaged giving up 50% of the available yards. Means if the opposing offense started at their 20, on averaged they went to the TExas 40. That meant a lot of shitty field position for an offense that sucked when backed up. Neither unit helped the other out. The sun of the parts was worse in this situation. That isn’t even mentioning turnovers. OSU game flipped on a health Casey throwing a terrible pick 6 and was probably a 10 pt change in the score 

Interesting stats. Things definitely tended to snowball and when it rained, it poured. There was a lot of shitty leadership on the team last year so when adversity struck, things cratered. I do put part of that on the coaches because it should have been sniffed out before it started to snowball. Instead we had guys like Casey Thumbson and Joshua Moore making excuses on the sidelines, during practice, after games, on twitter, etc. 

Lots of intangibles in the game of football and we were pretty bad in basically all of them. Oh, and we just had some shit luck. Stuff that was out of control that just never seemed to go our way. We are due for some positive regression in that regard.

[oldhorn2 431]

I aint giving PK a pass, but last year he came in on short notice and not only didnt know his players, he didnt know his coaches either. If he was a newby or untested I would be damned worried, but he came here with a great resume. I hope to hell he has it figured out now. I hope to hell Coburn and Sweat got their fat asses into condition and can play most of a game this year.

 

Frankly, what worries me the most is having to pin all our hopes on a 19 year old that has all the talent, but none of the seasoning. It almost isnt fair, but that is where we are. Manning will have it way easier in comparison when he gets his shot. If our defense and running game can take a bit of pressure off of him, we might be pretty good. If they cannot.....well.....we suck until we dont...

[Hookem2147 21217]

8 minutes ago, oldhorn2 said:

Frankly, what worries me the most is having to pin all our hopes on a 19 year old that has all the talent, but none of the seasoning. It almost isnt fair, but that is where we are. Manning will have it way easier in comparison when he gets his shot. If our defense and running game can take a bit of pressure off of him, we might be pretty good. If they cannot.....well.....we suck until we dont...

It's almost night and day the surrounding talent the QB's will have this year compared to last year. The weapons, the running game, the TE options. It's certainly almost never ideal to start freshman QB's if you don't have to, but if there is ever a year for us to do it this is it.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Hookem2147

[Hookem2147 21217]

Gary Patterson has the best job in the country this year. If the defense shows any ounce of improvement he will get the credit and become a message board hero, and if they continue to suck or get worse he certainly won't get any of the blame. 

[Royale with cheese 1466]

5 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Gary Patterson has the best job in the country this year. If the defense shows any ounce of improvement he will get the credit and become a message board hero, and if they continue to suck or get worse he certainly won't get any of the blame. 

Manny Diaz, something, something, Gregg Robinson.

PK, something, something . . .

[Codaxx 5738]

8 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

It's almost night and day the surrounding talent the QB's will have this year compared to last year. The weapons, the running game, the TE options. It's certainly almost never ideal to start freshman QB's if you don't have to, but if there is ever a year for us to do it this is it.

Offense has talent and outside of QB it is seasoned. That is a big a deal. Majors has 2 years under his belt, so he shouldn’t need help making line calls. RBs have at least 2 years. Offense has talent and seasoning. Waiting for the defense to show anything more than potential 

[LTtxfan 49184]

12 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Gary Patterson has the best job in the country this year. If the defense shows any ounce of improvement he will get the credit and become a message board hero, and if they continue to suck or get worse he certainly won't get any of the blame. 

 

[Nope 3114]

25 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Gary Patterson has the best job in the country this year. If the defense shows any ounce of improvement he will get the credit and become a message board hero, and if they continue to suck or get worse he certainly won't get any of the blame. 

Not only will he not receive blame, but the fanbase will be clamoring for him to be promoted 

[Had Enough 2081]

Because of my own self-loathing issues I've also been re-watching, and it occurred to me that the KSU offensive game plan seemed 100% designed to protect our defense (for those not so inclined the KSU game featured a dozen or more Wildcat plays w/ RoJo taking the snap and CT split out wide, lots of game-shortening). 
I mention that in the context of both the ISU collapse (and others) as well as the PK-Sark dialogue we all wish we could eavesdrop on. It seems all of the kool-aide I've found remotely appetizing is all on the Offensive side of the ball, so hopefully we can use improvements there to protect our Defense, because other than "How in the blue fuck could we be worse" I'm not sure how we improve dramatically there.
 
 
 

Seems Sark has mentioned the offense helping the defense so I do think he’s aware. So that may well be the reason for the KSU offense but also remember both our QBs were hurt at the end of the WVU game and of course Bijan was out too and even Brooks. You can add in the crappiness of the KSU passing game attack and there’s your game plan.

Only my opinion but I do sense program building was more important in year 1 than hitting a certain win total.

I’m am pretty positive when it comes to improvement on the defense. That doesn’t mean the scheme won’t annoy the hell out of me at times.

[WinningIsHard 4030]

3 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Probably didn't help that they received zero help offensively in the second half of most of the game they collapsed (Oklahoma State, Baylor, Iowa State).

PK had a great gameplan against Oklahoma State. Debuted the 3-down look with Collins at Jack, held Jaylen Warren to 55 yards in the first half. Then we got Casey Thumbson'd before halftime and during the second half and left the defense out to dry. 

would you say the defense was munson’d in those games? 

Edited July 26, 2022 by WinningIsHard
English is hard

[Codaxx 5738]

31 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

Seems Sark has mentioned the offense helping the defense so I do think he’s aware. So that may well be the reason for the KSU offense but also remember both our QBs were hurt at the end of the WVU game and of course Bijan was out too and even Brooks. You can add in the crappiness of the KSU passing game attack and there’s your game plan.

Only my opinion but I do sense program building was more important in year 1 than hitting a certain win total.

I’m am pretty positive when it comes to improvement on the defense. That doesn’t mean the scheme won’t annoy the hell out of me at times.

Just my opinion, but I think KSU game plan evolved due to the defense. One of the few games where the offense could be patient in the run game, because the defense was making stops 

[Post Oak 20213]

On 7/25/2022 at 4:21 PM, LTtxfan said:

Yeah I see a familiar name...

 

[Had Enough 2081]

Just my opinion, but I think KSU game plan evolved due to the defense. One of the few games where the offense could be patient in the run game, because the defense was making stops 

It certainly may have. And probably should have evolved as the game wore on.

But I’d disagree a bit on the patience of the run game. We had leads into the 4th versus everyone but Arkansas, ISU, WVU and KU.

Going into the 4th, we’d given up more points to KSU than we had BU, OSU, ULaLa and Rice. TCU was only 3 more, keeping in mind their first possession was 7 points after a 10 yard drive. And OSU had 7 on a pick. There were quite a few stops there. Then Tech was a blowout so not a big deal. And of course we led into the 4th versus OU.

Now, momentum and feel of the game into the 4th was a bit different in that KSU game. I’ve seen it argued here that we should have used some wildcat when the offense was slumping those game. But Vaughn to the wildcat was dumb on their part.

[Codaxx 5738]

9 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

It certainly may have. And probably should have evolved as the game wore on.

But I’d disagree a bit on the patience of the run game. We had leads into the 4th versus everyone but Arkansas, ISU, WVU and KU.

Going into the 4th, we’d given up more points to KSU than we had BU, OSU, ULaLa and Rice. TCU was only 3 more, keeping in mind their first possession was 7 points after a 10 yard drive. And OSU had 7 on a pick. There were quite a few stops there. Then Tech was a blowout so not a big deal. And of course we led into the 4th versus OU.

Now, momentum and feel of the game into the 4th was a bit different in that KSU game. I’ve seen it argued here that we should have used some wildcat when the offense was slumping those game. But Vaughn to the wildcat was dumb on their part.

Baylor collapse had nothing to do with the offense. The offense went:

14 plays 75 Td

4 plays punt

8 plays 28 

10 and plays FG

4 plays end of game.. nobody can say that the offense left the defense high and dry there.  Not a single 3 and out. Defense giving up 3 TDs on Baylor’s opening 3 drives ended that. When you give up 14 play and a 10 play drives totaling 155 yards on the opening 2 drives that is on the defense. (3 plays for 53 and TD on the 3rd possession to bring it 31)
 

KSU with no QB was different. They ran 10 plays and punted 3 times in the 3Q, so the feel of that game was much then the games you are mentioning. Sark was scared shitless to pass in the 2nd half vs TCU, not sure why you included them. Perhaps I am wrong, but I don’t remember a game where Texas abandoned the running game. Maybe OSU, but I am not sure. Like I said earlier KSU was one of the few games where you actually enjoyed watching the defense in the second and didn’t have that feeling of impending doom in the pit of your stomach. 

[Nivek 16928]

So masochism it is….

[ATXhorn17 1617]

I'm a masochist, so I re-watched every snap Hudson Card took last season... My big takeaway: Quinn better be prepared for bullshit dirty hits like 7:10 (Arkansas), 19:19 (WVU), and 22:40 (WVU). And I won't be convinced that Sark has changed the culture at Texas until I see our OL beat the shit out of the next defender who comes in late...

[babysdaddy 2721]

Watching muschamp and thinking about our oline fuckin mauling some punk that hits our qb is mailing me moist. Football is close

[Had Enough 2081]

Baylor collapse had nothing to do with the offense. The offense went:
14 plays 75 Td
4 plays punt
8 plays 28 
10 and plays FG
4 plays end of game.. nobody can say that the offense left the defense high and dry there.  Not a single 3 and out. Defense giving up 3 TDs on Baylor’s opening 3 drives ended that. When you give up 14 play and a 10 play drives totaling 155 yards on the opening 2 drives that is on the defense. (3 plays for 53 and TD on the 3rd possession to bring it 31)
 
KSU with no QB was different. They ran 10 plays and punted 3 times in the 3Q, so the feel of that game was much then the games you are mentioning. Sark was scared shitless to pass in the 2nd half vs TCU, not sure why you included them. Perhaps I am wrong, but I don’t remember a game where Texas abandoned the running game. Maybe OSU, but I am not sure. Like I said earlier KSU was one of the few games where you actually enjoyed watching the defense in the second and didn’t have that feeling of impending doom in the pit of your stomach. 

You said initially that KSU was the one game we could have patience in the run game. I disagreed on that.


In this post you said you don’t remember a game in which we abandoned the run. I agree with you on this and that was my point. We could have and generally did have the patience in the run game. That was the reason for the info I threw out. We had plenty of opportunities to play our offensive game well into the 4th quarter.

And as I said, the KState game had a different momentum and feel late so I get where you’re coming from. But that’s because their QB was awful, and they were dumb enough to repeatedly use Vaughn in the wildcat effectively taking away any pass or power running game. And Coburn decided to cause problems.

In the BU game, the offense takes quite a bit of the blame. 10 points in 5 possessions in the 2nd half is not good football, but it was really the pissing away of at least 10 and maybe 14 points in the first half that was the bigger issue. If we were up 35-10, then Baylor may change their game plan. Each side of the ball found a way to lose.

[Had Enough 2081]

So masochism it is….

Can football talk really be that bad?

[Sawbonz 27551]

8 hours ago, Had Enough said:

I’d be awfully curious to hear staff discussions on the issues. There are certainly some issues with the scheme that result in fan frustration. Particularly being the corners playing off and allowing those 3rd completions just past the sticks.

I’ve rewatched damn near the whole season again this summer with particular interest on the defense. As you can expect with any team, there are guys overly criticized and some overly hyped. And some bs talking points that you’ll find here.

I think we all want more big plays. Well, PK damn sure put some guys in position to make negative plays. Almost always DBs and nearly every time they came up empty handed. Just off the top of my head, there were 3 in the OU game. That doesn’t include the 70 yard Williams TD run. They often were not good in contain.

I will say that outside of WVU and KU our 3rd down defense was solid. It was awful in those two games. And really outside of those games, the defense had moments in every other game. The OU game is probably the luckiest game I’ve ever seen a team have. Penalties not called at the point of attack. Low percentage completions on 3rd and long. Split second near turnovers including one that was not reviewed in a professional manner. The offense could have changed game plans for both the OSU and BU offenses but failed to do so. The defense ran out of juice in the 2nd half versus ISU.

We should expect better production in year 2 especially given previous turnover in defensive scheme and coaching.

[Rickylovesweed 14297]

5 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Seems like we are expecting new starters at both safety spots, one corner spot, nickel and at least one linebacker spot (maybe two if they move Overshown to edge). So 5 or 6 new starters. We'll see. I wouldn't have expected them to showcase any scheme changes in the spring game for the world to see, so will probably have to wait til the ball is kicked off to recognize those.

5 or 6 new starters and the DL is going to look a lot different based on reps if the 9.95er reports are correct. 

Maybe he's talking about scheme but not sure where's he's coming from with "I don't see much changed with the defense." The defense is going to look a lot different personnel wise. 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

Stop the run, get to the passer. The backend will work itself out if you do those two things 

[Nivek 16928]

Can football talk really be that bad?

Sometimes it is better to have a faded memory rather than to relive it. No way could i rewatch last season. (Without pay)

[Post Oak 20213]

10 hours ago, ATXhorn17 said:

I'm a masochist, so I re-watched every snap Hudson Card took last season... My big takeaway: Quinn better be prepared for bullshit dirty hits like 7:10 (Arkansas), 19:19 (WVU), and 22:40 (WVU). And I won't be convinced that Sark has changed the culture at Texas until I see our OL beat the shit out of the next defender who comes in late...

Agree.  This is a great indicator of culture.  Poor Colt and Sam

[ClubWhatever 12139]

14 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

I don’t see much that’s changed with the defense. 

Did I miss a game?

[LTtxfan 49184]

38 DAYS 🤘 

 

[Nivek 16928]

12 hours ago, ATXhorn17 said:

I'm a masochist, so I re-watched every snap Hudson Card took last season... My big takeaway: Quinn better be prepared for bullshit dirty hits like 7:10 (Arkansas), 19:19 (WVU), and 22:40 (WVU). And I won't be convinced that Sark has changed the culture at Texas until I see our OL beat the shit out of the next defender who comes in late...

There is a precedent within conference officiating which allows for multiple steps or seconds after the whistle to hit the Texas QB, target him (Sam was textbook targeted multiple times without flags).   All you have to do is to pretend you didn't hear the whistle.  

The issue is that our team didn't respond, our coach didn't respond or stop play and get this shit straightened out right then and there.  They tried to handle it through proper channels while the conference laughed and celebrated and then sent those same officials out there again to call more bullshit here and there. 

If I could indulge my enraged fantasy a bit, one could play the fake injury game to grind the game to a halt until the officials agree to conduct themselves accordingly.  

Edited July 27, 2022 by Nivek

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

BobbyBurton

That’s the countdown until the Longhorns officially enter football season mode.

That means practices. It means vetting the young players. It means seeing which older ones are getting better (or not).

It also will tell us who the starting QB is likely to be.

All the things we’ve been discussing and contemplating here on Inside Texas are going to start to be answered in one week.

**

Some have asked me to compare this coming year to a previous one. I’ve wracked my brain, but I can’t recall a year like this one.

Never, except for maybe 2005, have I been as anxious to see a Texas offense as this season.

Save 2005, I think the combination of talent and play-calling is possibly unmatched in modern Texas football history. But will they produce on the field?

That’s not to say this offense should be as explosive as VY’s final year in Austin or as precision-like at it was in Colt’s junior campaign. But so many of the pieces are there, it’s almost unbelievable. Every single skill position has a five-star talent on the roster.

Has Texas EVER had a better collection of skill talent on offense? I think that’s a legitimate question.

I know the Horns have never had this level and depth of wide receiver talent. Texas was really only one deep with Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby by comparison. But with Worthy, Neyor, Whittington and even someone like Hall off the bench, Texas is extraordinarily deep and talented. For example, Hall literally would be the highest rated receiver recruit at every other Big 12 school.

To add to all of that, I’m fairly confident Steve Sarkisian is as good at scheming and play-calling on offense as any previous Texas coach, if not better.

While I don’t know where this season is headed, I know the offense has it in them to create some “wow” moments. How many of those they create and the timing of them will likely tell us the tale of the 2022 season.

And I can’t wait to see what’s in store. It really all starts next week.

[LTtxfan 49184]

 

[Bigbend1812 12915]

[UTGrad98 2272]

15 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

BobbyBurton

Save 2005, I think the combination of talent and play-calling is possibly unmatched in modern Texas football history. But will they produce on the field?

That’s not to say this offense should be as explosive as VY’s final year in Austin or as precision-like at it was in Colt’s junior campaign. But so many of the pieces are there, it’s almost unbelievable. Every single skill position has a five-star talent on the roster.

Has Texas EVER had a better collection of skill talent on offense? I think that’s a legitimate question

Oh for fucks sake. This, with 2 unproven commodities at Qb and no clear cut starter at the most important position in football. 

[lazygringo 369]

13 hours ago, ATXhorn17 said:

I'm a masochist, so I re-watched every snap Hudson Card took last season... My big takeaway: Quinn better be prepared for bullshit dirty hits like 7:10 (Arkansas), 19:19 (WVU), and 22:40 (WVU). And I won't be convinced that Sark has changed the culture at Texas until I see our OL beat the shit out of the next defender who comes in late...

Holy shit, this was frustrating to watch.

[LTtxfan 49184]

On 7/18/2022 at 12:31 PM, LTtxfan said:

*We’re closing in on football. IT has learned the first day of fall camp will be August 4th. Before then, the team will get a short break from the end of July before reporting back on August 3rd

 

On 7/18/2022 at 12:53 PM, RaysBoomBoomRoom said:

Hudson Standish at 247 said fall camp starts on August 2nd

 

On 7/18/2022 at 1:04 PM, LTtxfan said:

Looks like a 247 vs IT source off...

 

 

[CashMcCoy 3199]

13 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

 

 

 

 

Think IT noted their original report was off. They are now claiming players report on the 2nd and first day of camp is the 3rd.

[Sir Ulrich 5187]

13 hours ago, ATXhorn17 said:

I'm a masochist, so I re-watched every snap Hudson Card took last season... My big takeaway: Quinn better be prepared for bullshit dirty hits like 7:10 (Arkansas), 19:19 (WVU), and 22:40 (WVU). And I won't be convinced that Sark has changed the culture at Texas until I see our OL beat the shit out of the next defender who comes in late...

Watched this and Casey's as well to compare. I am still of the opinion that if Card would have continued to start he would have developed nicely by the end of the year. The only difference was maybe we don't go up by 20 on OU but had he started the whole season we could not have lost any more games than we did. 

That being said this is obviously Quinn's job to lose and he will make a lot of the plays those two couldn't that would have blown open and won those games these two lost. Replacing Washington and Dixon with Neyor and Hall alone would have gotten us to 7 or 8 wins last year. Add in some uber talent OL freshmen and this team will be hard to stop by conference play. 

[LTtxfan 49184]

The Brew: The five positions that most need to break out for Texas in 2022

By  FUCK CHIP BROWN      20 hours ago

Quote

Here's my look at the five positions that MOST NEED to break out for Texas in 2022 in a countdown from 5 to 1:

5. Safety

Safety was one of the biggest disappointments on a dismal defense last season - missing play after play in the Oklahoma game alone as well as a dropped interception against Kansas that would’ve sealed a Texas victory in that overtime game.

Texas is now relying on a bunch of players who’ve moved from other positions - boundary safeties Anthony Cook (from nickel) and Mo Blackwell (from linebacker), field safety Kitan Crawford (from cornerback) as well as returning field safety Jerrin Thompson, who started five games last season.

Steve Sarkisian has said he moved Cook and Crawford to safety as well as Jahdae Barron from corner to nickel to create better pass coverage without sacrificing the physicality and tackling required.

That all sounds great until we see how this group plays together and - more importantly - adjusts together in times of adversity (something last year’s secondary struggled with).

MY TAKE: Coaches are counting on Cook to be the wiley veteran and play-making leader of the secondary. Cook got his hands on a lot of footballs in the spring and had an interception of Quinn Ewers in the spring game. The battle between Jerrin Thompson and Kitan Crawford at field safety will be one of the best in fall camp.

4. Linebacker

There was nothing special about Texas’ linebacking corps last year with maybe the exception of DeMarvion Overshown’s first quarter against Oklahoma, when he had a sack and a punt block on back-to-back plays on OU’s opening possession, helping set the tone as UT took a 28-7 lead after the first 15 minutes.

There was certainly nothing special about Texas’ ability to stop the run, giving up 201.6 yards rushing per game and 5.2 yards per carry last season.

Coaches are hoping the play-making at linebacker will improve exponentially in 2022 with the surging confidence of junior middle linebacker Jaylan Ford (6-2, 238) as well as the combination of David Gbenda (6-0, 235) and James Madison grad transfer Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey (5-10, 219) at weakside linebacker, freeing up Overshown (6-4, 224) to rush the passer from the strongside linebacker position when Texas is in a base 4-3.

Overshown will still play weakside linebacker, where he started all of last season, when UT is in nickel. But expect Texas to be in more 4-3 looks this season because of the versatility it gives Texas in stopping the run and rushing the passer.

Jett Bush and Devin Richardson will be backing up Ford at middle linebacker while last year’s starter, Luke Brockermeyer, continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered last November (he won’t be cleared until after fall camp).

Freshman Derrick Brown will back up Overshown at strongside while he adds weight to his 6-foot-4, 206-pound frame.

MY TAKE: Jaylan Ford was the team’s third-leading tackler last season despite making only two starts. Coaches wanted him to play with more confidence in the spring, and he did. Not since Gary Johnson posted a team-leading 90 tackles, 16.5 TFLs, 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in 2018 has Texas had a true difference-maker at linebacker.

Ford can change that. Whether Overshown is at weakside or at strongside, he’s too athletic not to be making plays. Ford and Overshown should be the top two tacklers on the team in 2022, and it shouldn’t be close.

3. Edge rush

Last year, the Texas defense didn’t have a player opposing offenses had to account for on every play as the Longhorns allowed opponents to complete 67.6 percent of their passes.

That has to change this season, whether it’s  sophomore Barryn Sorrell filling that role, senior Ovie Oghoufo,  junior Alfred Collins (6-5, 288), redshirt freshman D.J. Harris (who is up to 234 from 226 last sesaon) or even true freshmen J’Mond Tapp (6-3, 247) or Justice Finkley (6-2, 245 … you gotta love the D-linemen who wear No. 1).

DeMarvion Overshown rushing the passer from the strongside linebacker position should also help get some heat on opposing quarterbacks.

MY TAKE: Really, anything would be better than last season, and Texas has too much talent for there not to be considerable improvement. The coaching has to be better and more aligned in Year 2 in putting guys in position to make plays.

2. Offensive Tackle

Whether it’s sophomore Andrej Karic, true freshmen Kelvin Banks or Devon Campbell or someone else, left tackle has to improve dramatically from last year.

Christian Jones started every game at left tackle in 2021 and just didn’t seem to improve - struggling mightily in pass protection while leading the offensive line in penalties (8), sacks given up (4), hurries allowed (16) and pressures allowed (23), according to Pro Football Focus.

Derek Kerstetter must be replaced at right tackle, where Jones is now trying to win the job while facing competition from Jaylen Garth and a few true freshmen, including mammoth Cameron Williams (6-7, 274).

MY TAKE: The development of the offensive tackles in 2022 will make or break the entire O-line, which has some guys on the inside with experience in senior guard Junior Angilau, center Jake Majors and sophomore guard Hayden Conner.

Coaches have been incredibly impressed with the work ethic of Banks and Campbell and love the upside of Cole Hutson, who played well at guard in the spring, as well as Williams’ ability to move at his size.

Texas needs a couple of those freshmen offensive linemen to be special and show they can handle the learning curve of playing on the line as a first-year player.

1. Quarterback

Texas got solid quarterback play from Casey Thompson last year, but Steve Sarkisian had his eye on Ohio State transfer Quinn Ewers throughout last season and landed the highest-ranked recruit in the 2021 cycle in the transfer portal.

Ewers is what Sarkisian wants at quarterback - a pro-style passer who will hang in the pocket and go through his reads to find the open receiver.

How quickly Ewers can get comfortable with Sarkisian’s voluminous offense (while protecting the ball) - seems to be the biggest question in Ewers’ competition with Hudson Card, who knows the offense but needs to show he’s developed some pocket presence from a year ago.

Neither Card nor Ewers is a naturally vocal leader, which isn't necessarily a problem as long as they carry themselves with unquestioned confidence and can connect with teammates.

By all accounts, Card and Ewers are connecting with teammates, especially Ewers, who has shown no signs of being a prima donna - in fact, quite the opposite. Teammates say Ewers off the field is a cool cat who is fun to be around and on the field is a cool cat who can make all the throws, including those awkward arm-angle throws. 

MY TAKE: I wrote about this in the Insider last week - that a new rule allowing the coaches to actually conduct on-field coaching with players for two hours per week during the summer has come at a perfect time for Sarkisian to work with his quarterbacks, but especially Ewers.

That new summer workout rule really benefits the hands-on work coaches can do with transfers and true freshmen in getting them up to speed schematically.

Ewers is a gunslinger and needs to show he can run the offense without turning the ball over. If he can show that consistently in fall camp, the job is his.

Honorable Mention - Kicker

It can't be stated enough how big Cameron Dicker came through - not only as a kicker in his four seasons at Texas, including three game-winners - but also as the first-team All-Big 12 punter in 2021 with a 46.7-yard average.

In talking to team sources, there's a sense redshirt freshman punter Isaac Pearson, UT's latest import from Pro Kick Australia, will be fine in taking over the punting duties from Dicker.

The bigger question is if true freshman Will Stone will be able to handle kicking field goals and kickoffs? Dicker helped recruit Stone from Austin Regents High School and gave Stone his endorsement as the next in line of what's been an excellent run of kickers in burnt orange.

MY TAKE: Texas will actually have a new snapper (Zach Edwards is taking over from Justin Mader), holder (Pearson will likely take over for departed Ryan Bujcevski) and kicker. Those are thankless jobs that usually go untalked about - unless there's a problem. Jeff Banks is maybe the best special teams coordinator in the country and usually has everything buttoned up. Texas fans are counting on that in 2022 after being spoiled the last four years.

 

[Domedriver 655]

Obligated to say,

Fuck Chip Brown!

🤘🤘🤘

[Vito Andolini 9126]

Quote

Texas got solid quarterback play from Casey Thompson last year

Damn, he really does have a blind spot when it comes to Thompson, doesn’t he?

[SHOOTER12 8806]

19 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Probably didn't help that they received zero help offensively in the second half of most of the game they collapsed (Oklahoma State, Baylor, Iowa State).

PK had a great gameplan against Oklahoma State. Debuted the 3-down look with Collins at Jack, held Jaylen Warren to 55 yards in the first half. Then we got Casey Thumbson'd before halftime and during the second half and left the defense out to dry. 

Like the old saying goes, one hand washes the other. 

[thunderlounge 7825]

They must be fuckin. 

[Vito Andolini 9126]

44 minutes ago, Sir Ulrich said:

Watched this and Casey's as well to compare. I am still of the opinion that if Card would have continued to start he would have developed nicely by the end of the year. The only difference was maybe we don't go up by 20 on OU but had he started the whole season we could not have lost any more games than we did. 

That being said this is obviously Quinn's job to lose and he will make a lot of the plays those two couldn't that would have blown open and won those games these two lost. Replacing Washington and Dixon with Neyor and Hall alone would have gotten us to 7 or 8 wins last year. Add in some uber talent OL freshmen and this team will be hard to stop by conference play. 

You can’t type this at IT, then come here and post it again, you two-timin’ sonofabiscuit!

[Sir Ulrich 5187]

1 minute ago, Vito Andolini said:

You can’t type this at IT, then come here and post it again, you two-timin’ sonofabiscuit!

Hey now I only wrote the shorthand over there. Saved the full thought for the Surly crew. 

[Shaggyhorn 641]

This probably got posted and I missed it, but ESPN is full up on the burnt orange kool-aid. FPI says we are favorites in every game except the ‘bama one.

https://www.on3.com/college/texas-longhorns/news/texas-football-espn-releases-game-by-game-predictions-for-every-longhorns-game-in-2022/

[Sir Ulrich 5187]

15 minutes ago, Shaggyhorn said:

This probably got posted and I missed it, but ESPN is full up on the burnt orange kool-aid. FPI says we are favorites in every game except the ‘bama one.

https://www.on3.com/college/texas-longhorns/news/texas-football-espn-releases-game-by-game-predictions-for-every-longhorns-game-in-2022/

Their W-L projections have us at 9.3-3.3 which would still be great. Unsurprisingly they have a&m at 7.4-4.6. 

[Shaggyhorn 641]

Their W-L projections have us at 9.3-3.3 which would still be great. Unsurprisingly they have a&m at 7.4-4.6. 

I’m good with 9-3. Our hardest conference games are OU and at OSU per FPI. Surprisingly, our win chance at home against Baylor is 73%. It’s the last game of the season so lots will change between now and then, like the answering of questions about our defense, OL, and QB.

[EZ$ 2104]

2 hours ago, lazygringo said:

Holy shit, this was frustrating to watch.

Yup, non stop pressure and then when he had time and receivers open deep, he didn’t get the ball close to them (although did have some Whittington drops). 

[lazygringo 369]

I don't get why people are acting like the kicking job is going to Will Stone when Bert Auburn is a 5-star recruit with a year of experience in the program.

[Shaggyhorn 641]

I don't get why people are acting like the kicking job is going to Will Stone when Bert Auburn is a 5-star recruit with a year of experience in the program.

If we go from Dicker the Kicker to Sideshow Bob as solid kickers, I will be extremely happy. The stories just write themselves.

[Tex-19 2872]

3 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

The Brew: The five positions that most need to break out for Texas in 2022

By  FUCK CHIP BROWN      20 hours ago

 

Goodness gracious, I forgot how bad Jones was last year. These Freshmen better be ready to play asap.