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Athletic piece on Sam Ehlinger


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1 hour ago, BurntEyes said:

This is your question... really. 

Dude says he was close to Simms in college and pics of hotties to prove it wasn't the first thing to come to your mind. 

This is not my fathers Surly.

You obviously are not aware of the fact that Kyle Shanahan has Chris Simms's initials tattooed on his leg.

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16 hours ago, PilotsError said:

You can't outrun a bad diet.  

My thoughts, exactly; or, why not have a big boy physical, including a heart cath, _before_ competing in triathlons in frigid water?  Hate it for the kid, but as the guy next to me on the loading dock said in 1971, "Man, tomorrow ain't promised to NOBODY."

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Could have been genetic and not necessarily due to his diet. If he never had any symptoms and was working out so much he might have felt he never had a reason to get his heart checked out that in depth by a cardiologist and electrophysiologist.

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14 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

The way he was handled by our base, mostly other students or those aged close to student age, was deplorable. The dude is one of the best QBs to have ever played at Texas. That said, let's be honest here, Ehlinger isn't facing any of the biases that Simms had to own. 

I was at that Big12 Championship.  So Simms can eat a dick.  So can Mack.  I felt the euphoria when it was announced over the PA that Texas had a chance to play for the MNC (Was it Tenn or FL?). 

Simms was the Aggy-killer.  I'll give him that.  I also understand why he was thrust into the rotation.  That early Cotton Bowl, watching Opie get his legs ripped off, Redding finally getting playing time, and AR giving Texas yet another bowl enema.  He was our only option over the off-season while Applewhite rehabbed his knee.  Simms had spent the majority of his time practicing with the 1st team offense.  He had a great arm, highly recruited, etc.

*Ironically, later, my kid played flag football with the son of the DT in that game (for AR) who was one of the guys doing the leg ripping.  Really nice, humble guy.  Defensive MVP of the game, I think?

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22 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

I was at that Big12 Championship.  So Simms can eat a dick.  So can Mack.  I felt the euphoria when it was announced over the PA that Texas had a chance to play for the MNC (Was it Tenn or FL?). 

Simms was the Aggy-killer.  I'll give him that.  I also understand why he was thrust into the rotation.  That early Cotton Bowl, watching Opie get his legs ripped off, Redding finally getting playing time, and AR giving Texas yet another bowl enema.  He was our only option over the off-season while Applewhite rehabbed his knee.  Simms had spent the majority of his time practicing with the 1st team offense.  He had a great arm, highly recruited, etc.

*Ironically, later, my kid played flag football with the son of the DT in that game (for AR) who was one of the guys doing the leg ripping.  Really nice, humble guy.  Defensive MVP of the game, I think?

I was at the Big 12 title game meltdown too. I’d still take Chris Simms over every qb to take a snap at Texas from 2010-2018. Frankly, there’s nothing even resembling his talent during that span. 

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3 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

I'd take Chris Evert Lloyd over every qr to take a snap at Texas from 2010-2018....

Hell, Chris Farley while we're aiming that high.

But not one to give up on Sam too easily, I shall reminisce on something good he did. 

 

Edited by dcbc
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2 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Hell, Chris Farley while we're aiming that high.

Wait, what kind of Chris Farley are we talking about here? Reanimated, decaying corpse of Chris Farley? Or Chippendale era Chris Farley? Chippendale Chris Farley, sure. Reanimated, decaying corpse of Chris Farley would not outplay reanimated, concussed walking zombie David Ash. The rest, sure, I mean we got a vague glimpse of what this would look like with The Herpa Derp, and I think you’re onto something. 

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Sam has a tremendous backstory and if he could match that backstory with on the field play would quickly become one of the most beloved Longhorn QBs of all time.

Due to his backstory people are inherently rooting for him and wanting him to do well. Just need him to quit making so many boneheaded mistakes that cost UT games.

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21 hours ago, Walser said:

To put the on-field performance in perspective:

Colt had a very promising redshirt freshmen year in 2006. But he also had a good OL, J Finley, J Charles and a stable coaching environment. Pretty good recipe for success. He regressed his sophomore year  with 18 INTs then balled out.

Sam last year was a true freshmen playing through a lingering injury from high school, a new set of coaches, and an atrocious OL, RB and TE corp.

I don't know if he puts it together, and he's done nothing yet to merit a comparison to Colt. Now it's up to you, Charlie, but you might consider cuttin' the kid a little slack.

Yes, and Colt's 18 INTs his sophomore season are the school record.  And he had the redshirt year, so he didn't really become Colt McCoy until his 4th year in the program.  Then he was a Heisman finalist twice.

Let's not punt on Sam just yet.  

 

Edited by TexArcher
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And yes, I did say the same thing about David Ash and Garrett Gilbert at around this point.  So I should probably shut the fuck up.

But Sam's ability to make something out of nothing with his feet gives me hope.  And the mistakes are mistakes of confidence.  The kid's not afraid to fail.  And that needs to be coached out of him to a degree, but I'll take a fearless kid over a timid game manager.  He's got a lot of upside.

Edited by TexArcher
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7 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

And yes, I did say the same thing about David Ash and Garrett Gilbert at around this point.  So I should probably shut the fuck up.

You really shouldn’t lump those 2 together. Ash’s sophomore numbers were really good (better than Simms as a Jr, actually, since he was brought up above). I’d contend even now that you were right about him, but he has the bad luck of being in the middle of the rest of the post-2009 mess. If not for the injuries, you’re definitely right.

Gilbert is another thing altogether.

Edited by formermav43
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3 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

And yes, I did say the same thing about David Ash and Garrett Gilbert.  So I should probably shut the fuck up.

But Sam's ability to make something out of nothing with his feet gives me hope.  And the mistakes that makes are mistakes of confidence.  The kid's not afraid to fail.  And that needs to be coached out of him to a degree, but I'll take a fearless kid over a timid game manager.  He's got a lot of upside.

Ash could have been a really good QB but he was made of glass.  I'm convinced Charlie's tenure at Texas takes on a completely different trajectory with a healthy Ash.  The defense that year was salty and they were not without significant talent on offense.

GG has been rehashed to death, but he was just a bust.  Which is why you always take numbers at the QB position.  Always.  Injuries.  Transfers.  Lack of development.

Sam is mobile.  But he's reckless.  He's that talented RB that can't protect the ball.  I also think he's not hard to scheme against for opposing DC's.  He's not going to stretch the field.  He's also probably not going to attack the middle of the field.  Get in his face.  Force him from the pocket, and there' a 50/50 chance he makes a bad decision.  Stop the run and collapse the pocket and he's not going to hurt you.He's physical, but he's not particularly fast nor all that accurate throwing on the run.  

Easier said than done, but if we could just establish the run, pick up the blitz, hit our screen passes, and mix in the PA, this is an entirely different team.  If Sam could also start executing on bootleg's.  Designed plays outside the pocket.  Team's know he can run.  So mix this in.  Force them to account for this instead of forcing him to be the pocket-passer that he is not.  

Next up:  my financial advice on stock picks and how to buy low and sell high.....

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22 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

You really shouldn’t lump those 2 together. Ash’s sophomore numbers were really good (better than Simms as a Jr, actually, since he was brought up above). I’d contend even now that you were right about him, but he has the bad luck of being in the middle of the rest of the post-2009 mess. If not for the injuries, you’re definitely right.

Gilbert is another thing altogether.

Agreed on Ash and the injuries.  But I have the same concern with Sam.  I guess what I'm saying is he could still bust out like GG or get himself damn near killed like Ash.  So you never know.  But if he can just quit trying to make hero throws...  It feels like he wants it too much, and if maturity fixes that, he can be very good.

Edited by TexArcher
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1 hour ago, TexArcher said:

Yes, and Colt's 18 INTs his sophomore season are the school record.  And he had the redshirt year, so he didn't really become Colt McCoy until his 4th year in the program.  Then he was a Heisman finalist twice.

Let's not punt on Sam just yet.  

 

Most of the time, big paws on a pup means he's eventually going to be a big dog. You gloss over the exploits of McCoy's freshman year, and it's not clear to me why. If Ehlinger produced last year on any level approaching McCoy's freshman year, he'd have a chorus of screamers begging for "benefit of the doubt!". He didn't, and he doesn't accordingly.

1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Ash could have been a really good QB but he was made of glass.  I'm convinced Charlie's tenure at Texas takes on a completely different trajectory with a healthy Ash.  The defense that year was salty and they were not without significant talent on offense.

GG has been rehashed to death, but he was just a bust.  Which is why you always take numbers at the QB position.  Always.  Injuries.  Transfers.  Lack of development.

Sam is mobile.  But he's reckless.  He's that talented RB that can't protect the ball.  I also think he's not hard to scheme against for opposing DC's.  He's not going to stretch the field.  He's also probably not going to attack the middle of the field.  Get in his face.  Force him from the pocket, and there' a 50/50 chance he makes a bad decision.  Stop the run and collapse the pocket and he's not going to hurt you.He's physical, but he's not particularly fast nor all that accurate throwing on the run.  

Easier said than done, but if we could just establish the run, pick up the blitz, hit our screen passes, and mix in the PA, this is an entirely different team.  If Sam could also start executing on bootleg's.  Designed plays outside the pocket.  Team's know he can run.  So mix this in.  Force them to account for this instead of forcing him to be the pocket-passer that he is not.  

Next up:  my financial advice on stock picks and how to buy low and sell high.....

You touch on the issue with Ehlinger. The first problem with Ehlinger is that he's completely average as a QB on the skills end. He's not a great runner, but he's got some mobility. He's got an okay arm, but he's not a great passer at any level. Without much pressure, he's got okay accuracy, but he's deeply inaccurate under pressure. He's got some leadership qualities, but he's not going to rally the team around him with some newfound dynamism. He's a JAG, irrespective of the Westlake honks pleading his case otherwise.

When you roll a JAG out there and then give him the football IQ of a dead squid, you've got a recipe for perpetual backbreaking fuck-ups that kill coaching regimes if left unto themselves. Adding on to all of that the layer of bottom-feeding offensive coaching talent at virtually every coaching position on the staff and it pretty much neutralizes all hope of the 9+ wins so many of us pine for and more than a few of us wrongheadedly predicted before the season. 

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29 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Most of the time, big paws on a pup means he's eventually going to be a big dog. You gloss over the exploits of McCoy's freshman year, and it's not clear to me why. If Ehlinger produced last year on any level approaching McCoy's freshman year, he'd have a chorus of screamers begging for "benefit of the doubt!". He didn't, and he doesn't accordingly.

The offense, especially offensive line, was loaded Colt's freshman season.  Not a fair comparison considering our brilliant offensive coaching staff asked true freshman Ehlinger to be the primary ball carrier/playmaker behind a complete shitshow OL with average to below average RB and WR play.

Edited by elguapo
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11 minutes ago, elguapo said:

The offense, especially offensive line, was loaded Colt's freshman season.  Not a fair comparison considering our brilliant offensive coaching staff asked true freshman Ehlinger to be the primary ball carrier/playmaker behind a complete shitshow OL with average to below average RB and WR play.

"Fair" is for pig auctions and pie-eating contests, so I don't particularly care much about that in this discussion, and really, it's a non sequitur. McCoy had a big freshman year and had supporters even through the miserable sophomore campaign. Ehlinger had a shit freshman year and there's little evidence on the field at any point to merit support or a "maybe he become a wizard as a junior or senior" argument that @TexArcher presented to us. That offensive talent or staffs were not comparable is irrelevant to TexArcher alluding to the need for patience with Ehlinger because McCoy was bad as a sophomore. That ignores McCoy's freshman season, which I called into account. 

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33 minutes ago, elguapo said:

The offense, especially offensive line, was loaded Colt's freshman season.  Not a fair comparison considering our brilliant offensive coaching staff asked true freshman Ehlinger to be the primary ball carrier/playmaker behind a complete shitshow OL with average to below average RB and WR play.

That's fair for last year but why does he still look like a JAG now? The offensive line is improved - especially in pass protection. We have 3 good running backs, tight end depth and a few decently talented receivers. 

You cannot lay the blame on supporting cast this year. 

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2 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Yes, and Colt's 18 INTs his sophomore season are the school record.  And he had the redshirt year, so he didn't really become Colt McCoy until his 4th year in the program.  Then he was a Heisman finalist twice.

 

I  didnt remember Colt's INT's really killing us ( other than the Okie Lite game that we still won)

s0 looked up  the 3 losses from Colt's sophmore season.

wanna guess how many combined interceptions he had in those 3 loses against Oklahoma, K-state, &  aTm?    Or better question, how many turnovers?

 

   3.   Three total,  literally 1 int per game

and The INT's had a minimal impact on those loses,  Kstate score a TD off theirs, but Oklahoma's INT resulted in a punt, and aTm reciprocated the INT right back to us.  The only INT in either team's scoring position was the aTM one, and they gave the ball right back to us

so in the 3 turnovers only impacted the score by 7 points... in the Kstate game-  the game we got fucking smoked by 20.  So in reality that had almost no impact at all.

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Newy25 said:

That's fair for last year but why does he still look like a JAG now? The offensive line is improved - especially in pass protection. We have 3 good running backs, tight end depth and a few decently talented receivers. 

You cannot lay the blame on supporting cast this year. 

I don't think he looks like a JAG.  He looks like a QB with the necessary physical tools that has mental breakdowns in pressure situations, which shouldn't be completely unexpected from a QB 2 games into his true Soph season.

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14 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

I  didnt remember Colt's INT's really killing us ( other than the Okie Lite game that we still won)

s0 looked up  the 3 losses from Colt's sophmore season.

wanna guess how many combined interceptions he had in those 3 loses against Oklahoma, K-state, &  aTm?    Or better question, how many turnovers?

 

 

  Hide contents

   3.   Three total,  literally 1 int per game

and The INT's had a minimal impact on those loses,  Kstate score a TD off theirs, but Oklahoma's INT resulted in a punt, and aTm reciprocated the INT right back to us.  The only INT in either team's scoring position was the aTM one, and they gave the ball right back to us

so in the 3 turnovers only impacted the score by 7 points... in the Kstate game-  the game we got fucking smoked by 20.  So in reality that had almost no impact at all.

 

 

 

 

Didn't he have 4 against Kstate? 

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51 minutes ago, elguapo said:

I don't think he looks like a JAG.  He looks like a QB with the necessary physical tools that has mental breakdowns in pressure situations, which shouldn't be completely unexpected from a QB 2 games into his true Soph season.

I in no way expect a QB for the University of Texas to consistently and totally breakdown every time the game is on the line. 

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1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

You touch on the issue with Ehlinger. The first problem with Ehlinger is that he's completely average as a QB on the skills end. He's not a great runner, but he's got some mobility. He's got an okay arm, but he's not a great passer at any level. Without much pressure, he's got okay accuracy, but he's deeply inaccurate under pressure. He's got some leadership qualities, but he's not going to rally the team around him with some newfound dynamism. He's a JAG, irrespective of the Westlake honks pleading his case otherwise.

When you roll a JAG out there and then give him the football IQ of a dead squid, you've got a recipe for perpetual backbreaking fuck-ups that kill coaching regimes if left unto themselves. Adding on to all of that the layer of bottom-feeding offensive coaching talent at virtually every coaching position on the staff and it pretty much neutralizes all hope of the 9+ wins so many of us pine for and more than a few of us wrongheadedly predicted before the season. 

So:  "potato"

Seriously, what the hell did Shane do to be buried on the sidelines?  Or not do.  I get not wanting to have a QB controversy.  Stating a starter to give continuity.  But come on.  He's not "the guy".  Is Shane equally as inaccurate, with less mobility?  Injury-prone?  Is Austin really this much of a QB graveyard....

 

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23 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

He reminds me of Stephen McGee.

I would murder each of you to get SM on campus.  Guy was a runner.  And had a pretty big arm as well.  Enough to get a few backup NFL seasons under his belt.  Something I promise you neither Shane nor potato will ever experience.  

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2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Most of the time, big paws on a pup means he's eventually going to be a big dog. You gloss over the exploits of McCoy's freshman year, and it's not clear to me why. If Ehlinger produced last year on any level approaching McCoy's freshman year, he'd have a chorus of screamers begging for "benefit of the doubt!". He didn't, and he doesn't accordingly.

And you're glossing over the fact that Texas in Colt's freshman year was about seven levels better than Texas in Sam's freshman year.  

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1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

That offensive talent or staffs were not comparable is irrelevant to TexArcher alluding to the need for patience with Ehlinger because McCoy was bad as a sophomore. That ignores McCoy's freshman season, which I called into account. 

Of course the staffs and the talent around a young quarterback matter.

And again, Sam did not benefit from having a redshirt year.

Look, I'm not saying Sam is going to be Colt.  I'd be happy if he becomes 75% of Colt.

What I am saying is maybe don't bury a kid who was thrown out there at 18 and 19 behind a dogshit offensive line.  Players progress.  That's it.

Edited by TexArcher
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9 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

And you're glossing over the fact that Texas in Colt's freshman year was about seven levels better than Texas in Sam's freshman year.  

My problem with the "talent around him" argument between colt and Sam is that it has nothing to do with our current situation. 

Colt absolutely had better talent around him at every position and that certainly helped, but it's not like next year sam is magically going to have similar talent.  We need someone who can make it work with the talent we have, and so far Sam hasn't shown that.  Hopefully the switch flips for him, but if I'm betting, one of the freshman this year are running the show by next. 

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1 hour ago, TexArcher said:

Of course the staffs and the talent around a young quarterback matter.

And again, Sam did not benefit from having a redshirt year.

Look, I'm not saying Sam is going to be Colt.  I'd be happy if he becomes 75% of Colt.

What I am saying is maybe don't bury a kid who was thrown out there at 18 and 19 behind a dogshit offensive line.  Players progress.  That's it.

Your original point was that we should wait to see what Ehlinger does until his JR/SR campaigns because that's when we saw something from McCoy after his disastrous sophomore campaign. I responded that the point you were making was built on a false premise. McCoy didn't magically show something in his JR/SR year. He showed up his FR year and therefore justified some faith into the future, irrespective of talent around him. Ehlinger has shown nothing except some premise around a drive against USC where I guess I'm supposed to ignore the rest of that game including the shit at the end.

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21 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Your original point was that we should wait to see what Ehlinger does until his JR/SR campaigns because that's when we saw something from McCoy after his disastrous sophomore campaign. I responded that the point you were making was built on a false premise. McCoy didn't magically show something in his JR/SR year. He showed up his FR year and therefore justified some faith into the future, irrespective of talent around him. Ehlinger has shown nothing except some premise around a drive against USC where I guess I'm supposed to ignore the rest of that game including the shit at the end.

My only point was that players progress, sometimes in spectacular fashion.

If you want to say, "well, there was more reason to expect progression from Colt because he had a better freshman year, his shitty sophomore year notwithstanding", then okay, fair point.  The counterpoint is that Colt also had a much better team around him, better staff around him, and the benefit of a redshirt year.  That was all true in his good freshman year and his not-so-good sophomore year.  So Colt should have been ahead of Sam at both points.  

Look, I don't know if Sam's the guy.  He shows flashes at times and I like his fearlessness and his character.  He should definitely improve.  The question is by how much, and only time will tell.

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7 hours ago, TexArcher said:

And yes, I did say the same thing about David Ash and Garrett Gilbert at around this point.  So I should probably shut the fuck up.

But Sam's ability to make something out of nothing with his feet gives me hope.  And the mistakes are mistakes of confidence.  The kid's not afraid to fail.  And that needs to be coached out of him to a degree, but I'll take a fearless kid over a timid game manager.  He's got a lot of upside.

Sam seems like a great kid, but would prefer him being a great QB. Hell, he can be kind of a douche if he wants,  as long as he gets the job done. Its worked for the University of Oklahoma the last couple of years.

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On 9/13/2018 at 5:31 PM, Foosters said:

Sam was standing in the kitchen, the home phone still in hand, and he instantly knew. He threw the phone as far and as hard as he could. It hit a stone wall 20 yards away in the living room and shattered. 

He was probably aiming for the dining room.

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