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GT OL Parker Braun

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6 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Remember last year when we were mauling the OU DL and they were wanting out?  It's going to be worse this year.

Their starters are pretty good, but there's a big dropoff after them. Texas can send waves into the game and replace injured starters, OU can't. 

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IDIOTsavant

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AUSTIN, Texas — Anonymity and offensive linemen, typically, go hand-in-hand. Nonetheless, Texas left guard Parker Braun warrants additional characterization.

Just ask Longhorns nose tackle Keondre Coburn.

“Parker’s weird,” Coburn says, striking a tone equally polite as it is straightforward.

All season, Braun sported a thick, Paul Bunyanesque-beard and long, brown hair to match. But recently, he showed up to practice shaven, hair trimmed. The only explanation Coburn received: “I changed.”

“He’s just weird-funny,” Coburn explains.

Braun, the 6-foot-3, 300-pounder who joined UT as a graduate transfer from Georgia Tech this offseason, has made an impression on his teammates.

“A guy like Parker, he came in and, instantly, everyone loved him,” junior right tackle Derek Kerstetter says. “Everyone loves his personality and his work ethic.”

“Just somebody you wouldn’t expect to play football,” adds senior center Zach Shackelford. “Then he steps on the field and he’s like a different animal, so it’s kind of cool to see that enacted.”

Doug Nichols has coached high school football for more than 30 years. He coached Braun for three at Osceola High in Kissimmee, Fla. He says Braun’s play produced “one of the most impressive offensive line films I’ve ever seen.” He also maintains that Braun’s persona is distinct from any player he’s ever coached.

Speaking with Braun for just 20 minutes, Nichols swears, would be “some of the best 20 minutes of your life.” Perhaps that’s because Braun boasts a wide range of interests. His YouTube channel is a good representation of that, featuring videos of class presentations, imitation interviews with Romantic era poets, an attempt at an acoustic guitar cover and vlog messages of self-encouragement.

However, like most first-year players, Braun hasn’t been made available to media since arriving at the Forty Acres. That leaves those who know him to offer the best portrayal of who he is, what he’s like and how he became a Longhorn.

“You might want to sit with a drink before this whole thing gets over with,” Nichols says. “Not only is he a phenomenal athlete, but his whole story is pretty phenomenal.”

Braun was born on Dec. 13, 1996 to Karen and Mike Braun in Athens, Tenn. The couple met while both were competing in Division I athletics at Army. Mike played for the Black Knights football team from 1985-1989, a one-year starter at offensive tackle. He currently coaches Suwannee (Fla.) High School. Karen captained the Black Knights’ 1988-1989 women’s basketball team, boasts Army’s third-best single-season field-goal percentage (.537) and ranks fourth all-time in career rebounds (863).

They have three boys: Trey, Parker and Joshua, born roughly four years apart. Trey, 26, started three seasons at left guard for Georgia Tech. Parker, 22, followed, establishing himself as one of the nation’s top guards prior to joining the Longhorns. Joshua, 18, ranks as one of the top high school offensive line prospects in the nation and has committed to Georgia.

Karen: Parker’s brothers walked at 10 months. They would get up, stumble, fall and get up and try. At 11 months, Parker just stepped and walked across the room. He was a little bit later, but it was flawless from the time he was a little baby.

Mike: Parker’s always been a different kid with his own mind and always did things the way he wanted.

Trey: He’s always been focused, attentive.

Karen: Parker is very creative and deliberate. His demeanor was more quiet and observant.

One activity Parker especially enjoyed that’s a bit different: running … without a shirt on.

Mike: I always joke that it started when he was 11 or 12. He was running around outside with his shirt off. My wife’s like, ‘I don’t want you outside with your shirt off. It’s not respectful.’ He said, ‘Well, it’s hot.’ We lived in Tallahassee at the time, and she says, ‘Well, if you’re running, you can have your shirt off, but I don’t want you playing around with your shirt off.’ Like playing tag. So he went, he started running. Anytime he was outside, he would take his shirt off and run.

Karen: I just tried to raise proper boys. I don’t remember necessarily that incident. But, I mean, it sounds about right.

Mike: That kind of describes Parker as best I can. He finds the loophole to what he wants, then does it.

Karen: When we lived in Tallahassee — we lived in an apartment for a long time there — he ran from our apartment to the capitol, which was, like, seven miles.

Nichols: When Parker attended Osceola, his parents lived maybe eight miles away. Parker would run home every day after school. He had these long locks. You’d see this kid going down Neptune Road, one of the roads that goes down the way to the house. You’d see Parker Braun running home on Neptune Road, no shirt on, hair flying in the air.

Karen: You don’t really know why a lot with Parker. The more you want to draw out of him, the more he doesn’t want you to know.

parker-mug.jpg
 
(Courtesy of the Braun family)

Parker measured around 5-10 and 180 pounds as a high school freshman. He had only briefly played tackle football in middle school before enrolling at Osceola High, where Mike had joined Nichols’ staff as a varsity offensive line coach. Parker played quarterback and defensive end. Nichols envisioned Parker as a signal-caller running the triple-option offense. However, the pressure and responsibility of quarterback seemed to frustrate Parker, especially when plays broke down. Football wasn’t fun for him that way. The sport didn’t resonate with him as it did with Trey, who was playing for Georgia Tech then. After Parker’s freshman season, he quit altogether.

Karen: I don’t even know if it was a three-month period. But in our family, that felt like a three-year kind of thing because Parker had the courage to say to his father, a former football player, “Dad, I just don’t think this is for me. I really don’t wanna play.”

Mike: I said, “Well, what do you want to do?”

He goes, “I still want to lift with the team, but I want to do something else.”

Karen: Parker thinks deeply about small decisions in his life. For him, I guess he wasn’t getting fulfillment from it and was wondering why does everybody make such a big deal about football? It’s just a game.

Nichols: Mike kind of put his hands up in the air and was like, “I don’t know. Parker’s Parker.”

Karen: It was, for our family, a period of growth, because we’ve always wanted to accept our kids for whoever they are, and to help them achieve whatever goals they want to.

Mike: Very difficult for me to let it be. But I got some counsel from my dad, my wife and they said, “Just give him his space, let him see what he wants to do.” So I bit my tongue and said, “You don’t have to play ball. But in our family, you do have to either play a sport or you have to work. We don’t come home after school and just don’t do anything.”

He said, “I want to play the violin.” So we got him a violin, and I used to come home after school and I would take him to violin practice.

In the meantime, Parker continued lifting with Osceola’s football team, growing and running. He also worked at a Nike clearance outlet.

Mike: Parker’s like, “So, I have to work?” I said, “Well, yeah, you’ll probably have to work, go to college.” He goes, “I don’t like this job at Nike.” I said, “Well, the Nike shoe store is probably the easiest job on the planet.”

parker-transformation.jpg
 
After working at a Nike store, Braun decided to return to football and transform his body. It led to beginning his college career at Georgia Tech. (Courtesy of the Braun family)

Mike: We wait about a couple of weeks. He came back to me, says, “What if I played ball? What would that look like?”

I said, “Well, you could come and play with me. You’d be an offensive tackle.” He goes, “But I don’t want to start.”

He came out that spring. I said, “You have to talk to Doug. If Doug will let you come out because you missed some of the stuff, that’s up to him.”

Nichols: After spring ball’s over with, Parker’s like, “Eh, Coach, I think I wanna play football again.” I go, “What are you talking about?”

He says, “I really wanna play football again. But I wanna be an offensive lineman.”

I said, “What?”

People don’t walk around and their dream is, “Hey, I want to be an offensive lineman.” Usually, that’s the last place you fall to.

He goes, “How big do you think I need to be?”

I say, “You’re gonna be in 10th grade next year. You’re 5-10, 5-11, and 185 pounds because you’re running eight miles a day. Let’s see if we can get you to 6-2, 215. If we can do that over the summer into August, then we’ll be good.”

Somehow, when Osceola began practicing in August, Parker stood at 6-foot-1 and 217 pounds.

Nichols: I’m like, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

So Parker worked under Mike’s guidance. He wasn’t forced to play. Although, despite his quiet demeanor, Parker found he could channel the nastiness necessary to play offensive line. He worked with the second-team unit and often took in practices standing next to Mike, asking questions. However, things changed when Osceola’s starting left tackle missed a week prior to a preseason contest to go home to Puerto Rico. He didn’t return. Parker was thrust into his spot. He was half of a backup duo pressed into starting action heading into the Cowboys’ season opener.

Mike: The two backups had an incredible game. We met the next day in the coaches meetings. They were like, “You know, that’s our two best two offensive linemen.”

Nichols: Just his effort and his motor. That’s shit you can’t teach.

Mike: I came back and said to Parker, “I’ve got some bad news. You have to start for me.”

Osceola reached the state semifinals with Parker as its starting left tackle. Perhaps just as impressive as the Cowboys’ progression throughout the season was Parker’s weight gain. Nichols estimates that by Week 3, Parker weighed 225 pounds. By Week 6, he weighed nearly 240.

Nichols: It’s crazy. It was insane. It’s not, “Hey, that kid’s on steroids.” It was one of those situations where this kid could pack it on and has a crazy metabolism. I don’t know if he has some kind of secret code to his metabolism to slow it down.

Mike: He’s always been able to lift and put on weight. When he has a goal, he’s very single-minded.

Nichols: He finished his sophomore year, all of a sudden you have people taking notice. We go into his junior year, next thing I know it, hell, the kid is 6-4, 265. This kid was 185, and I was trying to make a frickin’ quarterback out of him! Two years later, he’s 6-4, 265.

Parker impressed as a junior, becoming one of the top offensive line prospects in the nation. Osceola reached the state semifinals, where it lost to powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas. Parker matched up against current San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Nick Bosa, a bout commemorated to this day at Osceola.

Nichols: I have these wooden plaques and photos of all the kids who’ve made all-state. Parker Braun’s blocking Nick Bosa in the state championship game. That’s the picture in our locker room.

(What) makes the story even more (amazing): Come to find out, somewhere along the line, he broke a bone in his hand.

During the first game of Parker’s junior season, he had fractured his scaphoid, a small bone in the wrist.

Karen: I had no idea it was as bad as it was.

Mike: What people don’t understand is that his junior season film got him all the offers, and he played that whole year with a broken scaphoid.

Karen: I hate that, because of course you should take your kid to the doctor when they’re injured!

After the season, Mike and Karen took Parker to see Dr. Patrick F. Emerson of Jewett Orthopaedic, whose procedure rescued Parker’s wrist. It’s not as flexible as it used to be, but the result was still a relief.

Mike: That’s usually the kiss of death for that wrist.

He ran when he broke his wrist and he got down to about 240. The doc said, ‘Be as thin as you can. Once your wrist heals, then start lifting again.’

Although Parker’s athleticism and effort stood out on tape, his physique in the midst of his rehab turned off some college recruiters.

Nichols: I remember Florida coming in, looking at him and the guy said, “How can I go back to my head coach and tell him I’m recruiting an offensive lineman to play in the SEC that weighs 225 pounds?” I say, “Guys, I”m telling you he broke his hand — and he must be running again — but I’ve seen him go from 185 to 245 in a year.” I said, “If you’re gonna recruit this kid and he’s 245 right now and he needs to be at 280, he’ll get there. And he’ll get there legally.”

That, however, was the end of Nichols’ direct involvement in Parker’s tale. The Brauns moved to Hallsville, Texas, so Karen could be closer to her family. Mike coached offensive line at Hallsville High, where Parker transferred for his senior year. An introduction to a spread offensive scheme made Parker’s transition challenging.

Nichols: I remember Mike saying (after the move to Hallsville), “Well, we got beat Week 1, something like 38-35 in overtime. We threw it 42 times and Parker was ready to rip somebody’s head off,” because he was so used to the run aspect of the game.

Parker’s talents best fit a run-first scheme where he’s in control of his defenders and dictates where they move. Pass protection requires lateral, reactionary movement. Trey had played in Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense at Georgia Tech, so when Yellow Jackets offensive line coach Paul Sewald met with Parker, the fit made sense.

Trey: The Tech decision really came from him understanding what style of football he wanted to play. He had been in a downhill-oriented run offense for a lot of his high school career. He wasn’t sure he wanted to play in a pro-style or run-‘n-gun or something with more pass protection.

Karen: If Trey had not been at Georgia Tech, I don’t think that Parker would have gone to Georgia Tech. But I don’t think he went because Trey had gone there; he knew the style of offense because his brother had been there.

Parker blossomed at Georgia Tech. He started eight games as a true freshman at left guard and earned recognition as an ESPN true freshman All-American. He notched back-to-back first-team All-ACC honors his sophomore and junior seasons. He also completed a degree in literature, media and communications in three years.

Mike: Go watch his Georgia Tech stuff. His athleticism comes off much better there because there’s more downfield running. Parker is crazy athletic.

Karen: We always put academics before athletics, so it was a great fit for Trey, and then Parker. Parker found so much success so early. I think Mike talked about brushing up against the ceiling athletically at Georgia Tech. I think that’s why he was able to start as a freshman and graduate in three years.

Parker still had a season of eligibility remaining after graduating from Georgia Tech. He considered leaving to go study somewhere else. When Johnson retired after 11 seasons, it created an out.

Mike: It’s almost like the transition freed you up to transition. There’s not going to be anybody that you’re offending.

Parker entered his name into the transfer portal. Schools all over the country were interested. Three teams stood out.

Karen: He could have, I guess, gone anywhere. I know he was looking at, or at least entertaining, Florida and Ohio State, and then Texas.

Parker could have potentially started at center for Florida. He could have redshirted at Ohio State for a season and played after a year of acclimation. But there was something different about the Longhorns. When the Brauns lived in Hallsville, one of two colleges Parker visited was Houston, then led by current UT coach Tom Herman. Parker also visited Texas, still under Charlie Strong. Mike said the Longhorns didn’t seem to want Parker due to his size. Parker liked what Herman had going at Houston, though. 

Mike: I told him with both those schools, those coaches probably weren’t going to be there much longer. Herman was going one way and Coach Strong was going a different way. The odds that they’re even there when he’d get there would be small.

Mike was correct. Herman took over the Longhorns. When Parker decided to transfer, UT offensive line coach Herb Hand was among the first to call. After meeting with Hand and Herman, Parker was convinced. He grew especially fond of strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight. In March, he committed.

Still, questions remained about how quickly Parker could adapt to Herman’s pro-spread offense. He couldn’t join the Longhorns for spring practices because he had to finish his degree at Georgia Tech. So the possibility of redshirting a season came up.

Mike: How do we make sure the transition works as smoothly as possible? What happens if you get there and there’s not as much of an opportunity or you’re just not picking it up like you hoped? It was really about being successful and their willingness to embrace it. Everybody was willing to. Some people were in different situations, but with Texas it was the possibility that there would be an opportunity right away, but also a chance that we could take a step back.

parker-weight-room.jpg
 
Braun worked out in Florida between graduating from Georgia Tech and transferring to Texas. (Courtesy of the Braun family)

It wouldn’t matter. By Week 1, Parker solidified himself as UT’s No. 1 left guard. He’s started every game this year.

Kerstetter: We could all kind of see he was going to mold very well into what we’re building here, and that he was going to fit into our scheme very well. He loves to hit people. He loves to be physical.

Herman: He’s a great fit culturally. He was raised right, and he’s a tough, hard-nosed dude. He still has his moments where you can tell this type of offense is still something new for him. But he’s assimilated into that room. The O-line room in most places that’s worth a you-know-what is gonna be a tough room to gain acceptance to, and he did that very early into his tenure.

Shackelford: Watching him play and pull, it’s fun, because he’s a really good player. He’s super coachable. He’s always wanting to learn. He’s a sponge for knowledge. I think that’s what made him so good to this point.

While Parker’s teammates appreciate what he provides on the football field, they’re just as appreciative, if not intrigued by his demeanor off the field.

Shackelford: It’s hard to gauge him. He loves Halloween, first of all. Throughout October he always said, “It’s Spooky Season!” Just a quirky guy, a fun-loving guy that just kinda messes around.

Coburn: All he does is run. It’s funny, considering his size.

The Parker Braun story continues. As those who love him say, football holds a significant place in his life, but it’s not everything.

Mike: He wants to come back to Florida and live on the beach and teach at a school. Be kind of low-key.

Trey: It was different for me. I was always pushing towards football as what I wanted to do entering into adult life. But he wasn’t sure that he wanted to play football. Once he started playing, that’s I think when he fell in love with the game.

Karen: We always try to look beyond football. I’m glad it worked out for him to keep playing, but if it hadn’t, then God would have had a different route for him, you know?

Mike: To me, I think that’s the story of Parker: it’s finding a fit and making it work and being successful in it.

 

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Funk Doctor Spock

Funk Doctor Spock 12520

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20 minutes ago, IDIOTsavant said:
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AUSTIN, Texas — Anonymity and offensive linemen, typically, go hand-in-hand. Nonetheless, Texas left guard Parker Braun warrants additional characterization.

Just ask Longhorns nose tackle Keondre Coburn.

“Parker’s weird,” Coburn says, striking a tone equally polite as it is straightforward.

All season, Braun sported a thick, Paul Bunyanesque-beard and long, brown hair to match. But recently, he showed up to practice shaven, hair trimmed. The only explanation Coburn received: “I changed.”

“He’s just weird-funny,” Coburn explains.

Braun, the 6-foot-3, 300-pounder who joined UT as a graduate transfer from Georgia Tech this offseason, has made an impression on his teammates.

“A guy like Parker, he came in and, instantly, everyone loved him,” junior right tackle Derek Kerstetter says. “Everyone loves his personality and his work ethic.”

“Just somebody you wouldn’t expect to play football,” adds senior center Zach Shackelford. “Then he steps on the field and he’s like a different animal, so it’s kind of cool to see that enacted.”

Doug Nichols has coached high school football for more than 30 years. He coached Braun for three at Osceola High in Kissimmee, Fla. He says Braun’s play produced “one of the most impressive offensive line films I’ve ever seen.” He also maintains that Braun’s persona is distinct from any player he’s ever coached.

Speaking with Braun for just 20 minutes, Nichols swears, would be “some of the best 20 minutes of your life.” Perhaps that’s because Braun boasts a wide range of interests. His YouTube channel is a good representation of that, featuring videos of class presentations, imitation interviews with Romantic era poets, an attempt at an acoustic guitar cover and vlog messages of self-encouragement.

However, like most first-year players, Braun hasn’t been made available to media since arriving at the Forty Acres. That leaves those who know him to offer the best portrayal of who he is, what he’s like and how he became a Longhorn.

“You might want to sit with a drink before this whole thing gets over with,” Nichols says. “Not only is he a phenomenal athlete, but his whole story is pretty phenomenal.”

Braun was born on Dec. 13, 1996 to Karen and Mike Braun in Athens, Tenn. The couple met while both were competing in Division I athletics at Army. Mike played for the Black Knights football team from 1985-1989, a one-year starter at offensive tackle. He currently coaches Suwannee (Fla.) High School. Karen captained the Black Knights’ 1988-1989 women’s basketball team, boasts Army’s third-best single-season field-goal percentage (.537) and ranks fourth all-time in career rebounds (863).

They have three boys: Trey, Parker and Joshua, born roughly four years apart. Trey, 26, started three seasons at left guard for Georgia Tech. Parker, 22, followed, establishing himself as one of the nation’s top guards prior to joining the Longhorns. Joshua, 18, ranks as one of the top high school offensive line prospects in the nation and has committed to Georgia.

Karen: Parker’s brothers walked at 10 months. They would get up, stumble, fall and get up and try. At 11 months, Parker just stepped and walked across the room. He was a little bit later, but it was flawless from the time he was a little baby.

Mike: Parker’s always been a different kid with his own mind and always did things the way he wanted.

Trey: He’s always been focused, attentive.

Karen: Parker is very creative and deliberate. His demeanor was more quiet and observant.

One activity Parker especially enjoyed that’s a bit different: running … without a shirt on.

Mike: I always joke that it started when he was 11 or 12. He was running around outside with his shirt off. My wife’s like, ‘I don’t want you outside with your shirt off. It’s not respectful.’ He said, ‘Well, it’s hot.’ We lived in Tallahassee at the time, and she says, ‘Well, if you’re running, you can have your shirt off, but I don’t want you playing around with your shirt off.’ Like playing tag. So he went, he started running. Anytime he was outside, he would take his shirt off and run.

Karen: I just tried to raise proper boys. I don’t remember necessarily that incident. But, I mean, it sounds about right.

Mike: That kind of describes Parker as best I can. He finds the loophole to what he wants, then does it.

Karen: When we lived in Tallahassee — we lived in an apartment for a long time there — he ran from our apartment to the capitol, which was, like, seven miles.

Nichols: When Parker attended Osceola, his parents lived maybe eight miles away. Parker would run home every day after school. He had these long locks. You’d see this kid going down Neptune Road, one of the roads that goes down the way to the house. You’d see Parker Braun running home on Neptune Road, no shirt on, hair flying in the air.

Karen: You don’t really know why a lot with Parker. The more you want to draw out of him, the more he doesn’t want you to know.

parker-mug.jpg
 
(Courtesy of the Braun family)

Parker measured around 5-10 and 180 pounds as a high school freshman. He had only briefly played tackle football in middle school before enrolling at Osceola High, where Mike had joined Nichols’ staff as a varsity offensive line coach. Parker played quarterback and defensive end. Nichols envisioned Parker as a signal-caller running the triple-option offense. However, the pressure and responsibility of quarterback seemed to frustrate Parker, especially when plays broke down. Football wasn’t fun for him that way. The sport didn’t resonate with him as it did with Trey, who was playing for Georgia Tech then. After Parker’s freshman season, he quit altogether.

Karen: I don’t even know if it was a three-month period. But in our family, that felt like a three-year kind of thing because Parker had the courage to say to his father, a former football player, “Dad, I just don’t think this is for me. I really don’t wanna play.”

Mike: I said, “Well, what do you want to do?”

He goes, “I still want to lift with the team, but I want to do something else.”

Karen: Parker thinks deeply about small decisions in his life. For him, I guess he wasn’t getting fulfillment from it and was wondering why does everybody make such a big deal about football? It’s just a game.

Nichols: Mike kind of put his hands up in the air and was like, “I don’t know. Parker’s Parker.”

Karen: It was, for our family, a period of growth, because we’ve always wanted to accept our kids for whoever they are, and to help them achieve whatever goals they want to.

Mike: Very difficult for me to let it be. But I got some counsel from my dad, my wife and they said, “Just give him his space, let him see what he wants to do.” So I bit my tongue and said, “You don’t have to play ball. But in our family, you do have to either play a sport or you have to work. We don’t come home after school and just don’t do anything.”

He said, “I want to play the violin.” So we got him a violin, and I used to come home after school and I would take him to violin practice.

In the meantime, Parker continued lifting with Osceola’s football team, growing and running. He also worked at a Nike clearance outlet.

Mike: Parker’s like, “So, I have to work?” I said, “Well, yeah, you’ll probably have to work, go to college.” He goes, “I don’t like this job at Nike.” I said, “Well, the Nike shoe store is probably the easiest job on the planet.”

parker-transformation.jpg
 
After working at a Nike store, Braun decided to return to football and transform his body. It led to beginning his college career at Georgia Tech. (Courtesy of the Braun family)

Mike: We wait about a couple of weeks. He came back to me, says, “What if I played ball? What would that look like?”

I said, “Well, you could come and play with me. You’d be an offensive tackle.” He goes, “But I don’t want to start.”

He came out that spring. I said, “You have to talk to Doug. If Doug will let you come out because you missed some of the stuff, that’s up to him.”

Nichols: After spring ball’s over with, Parker’s like, “Eh, Coach, I think I wanna play football again.” I go, “What are you talking about?”

He says, “I really wanna play football again. But I wanna be an offensive lineman.”

I said, “What?”

People don’t walk around and their dream is, “Hey, I want to be an offensive lineman.” Usually, that’s the last place you fall to.

He goes, “How big do you think I need to be?”

I say, “You’re gonna be in 10th grade next year. You’re 5-10, 5-11, and 185 pounds because you’re running eight miles a day. Let’s see if we can get you to 6-2, 215. If we can do that over the summer into August, then we’ll be good.”

Somehow, when Osceola began practicing in August, Parker stood at 6-foot-1 and 217 pounds.

Nichols: I’m like, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

So Parker worked under Mike’s guidance. He wasn’t forced to play. Although, despite his quiet demeanor, Parker found he could channel the nastiness necessary to play offensive line. He worked with the second-team unit and often took in practices standing next to Mike, asking questions. However, things changed when Osceola’s starting left tackle missed a week prior to a preseason contest to go home to Puerto Rico. He didn’t return. Parker was thrust into his spot. He was half of a backup duo pressed into starting action heading into the Cowboys’ season opener.

Mike: The two backups had an incredible game. We met the next day in the coaches meetings. They were like, “You know, that’s our two best two offensive linemen.”

Nichols: Just his effort and his motor. That’s shit you can’t teach.

Mike: I came back and said to Parker, “I’ve got some bad news. You have to start for me.”

Osceola reached the state semifinals with Parker as its starting left tackle. Perhaps just as impressive as the Cowboys’ progression throughout the season was Parker’s weight gain. Nichols estimates that by Week 3, Parker weighed 225 pounds. By Week 6, he weighed nearly 240.

Nichols: It’s crazy. It was insane. It’s not, “Hey, that kid’s on steroids.” It was one of those situations where this kid could pack it on and has a crazy metabolism. I don’t know if he has some kind of secret code to his metabolism to slow it down.

Mike: He’s always been able to lift and put on weight. When he has a goal, he’s very single-minded.

Nichols: He finished his sophomore year, all of a sudden you have people taking notice. We go into his junior year, next thing I know it, hell, the kid is 6-4, 265. This kid was 185, and I was trying to make a frickin’ quarterback out of him! Two years later, he’s 6-4, 265.

Parker impressed as a junior, becoming one of the top offensive line prospects in the nation. Osceola reached the state semifinals, where it lost to powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas. Parker matched up against current San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Nick Bosa, a bout commemorated to this day at Osceola.

Nichols: I have these wooden plaques and photos of all the kids who’ve made all-state. Parker Braun’s blocking Nick Bosa in the state championship game. That’s the picture in our locker room.

(What) makes the story even more (amazing): Come to find out, somewhere along the line, he broke a bone in his hand.

During the first game of Parker’s junior season, he had fractured his scaphoid, a small bone in the wrist.

Karen: I had no idea it was as bad as it was.

Mike: What people don’t understand is that his junior season film got him all the offers, and he played that whole year with a broken scaphoid.

Karen: I hate that, because of course you should take your kid to the doctor when they’re injured!

After the season, Mike and Karen took Parker to see Dr. Patrick F. Emerson of Jewett Orthopaedic, whose procedure rescued Parker’s wrist. It’s not as flexible as it used to be, but the result was still a relief.

Mike: That’s usually the kiss of death for that wrist.

He ran when he broke his wrist and he got down to about 240. The doc said, ‘Be as thin as you can. Once your wrist heals, then start lifting again.’

Although Parker’s athleticism and effort stood out on tape, his physique in the midst of his rehab turned off some college recruiters.

Nichols: I remember Florida coming in, looking at him and the guy said, “How can I go back to my head coach and tell him I’m recruiting an offensive lineman to play in the SEC that weighs 225 pounds?” I say, “Guys, I”m telling you he broke his hand — and he must be running again — but I’ve seen him go from 185 to 245 in a year.” I said, “If you’re gonna recruit this kid and he’s 245 right now and he needs to be at 280, he’ll get there. And he’ll get there legally.”

That, however, was the end of Nichols’ direct involvement in Parker’s tale. The Brauns moved to Hallsville, Texas, so Karen could be closer to her family. Mike coached offensive line at Hallsville High, where Parker transferred for his senior year. An introduction to a spread offensive scheme made Parker’s transition challenging.

Nichols: I remember Mike saying (after the move to Hallsville), “Well, we got beat Week 1, something like 38-35 in overtime. We threw it 42 times and Parker was ready to rip somebody’s head off,” because he was so used to the run aspect of the game.

Parker’s talents best fit a run-first scheme where he’s in control of his defenders and dictates where they move. Pass protection requires lateral, reactionary movement. Trey had played in Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense at Georgia Tech, so when Yellow Jackets offensive line coach Paul Sewald met with Parker, the fit made sense.

Trey: The Tech decision really came from him understanding what style of football he wanted to play. He had been in a downhill-oriented run offense for a lot of his high school career. He wasn’t sure he wanted to play in a pro-style or run-‘n-gun or something with more pass protection.

Karen: If Trey had not been at Georgia Tech, I don’t think that Parker would have gone to Georgia Tech. But I don’t think he went because Trey had gone there; he knew the style of offense because his brother had been there.

Parker blossomed at Georgia Tech. He started eight games as a true freshman at left guard and earned recognition as an ESPN true freshman All-American. He notched back-to-back first-team All-ACC honors his sophomore and junior seasons. He also completed a degree in literature, media and communications in three years.

Mike: Go watch his Georgia Tech stuff. His athleticism comes off much better there because there’s more downfield running. Parker is crazy athletic.

Karen: We always put academics before athletics, so it was a great fit for Trey, and then Parker. Parker found so much success so early. I think Mike talked about brushing up against the ceiling athletically at Georgia Tech. I think that’s why he was able to start as a freshman and graduate in three years.

Parker still had a season of eligibility remaining after graduating from Georgia Tech. He considered leaving to go study somewhere else. When Johnson retired after 11 seasons, it created an out.

Mike: It’s almost like the transition freed you up to transition. There’s not going to be anybody that you’re offending.

Parker entered his name into the transfer portal. Schools all over the country were interested. Three teams stood out.

Karen: He could have, I guess, gone anywhere. I know he was looking at, or at least entertaining, Florida and Ohio State, and then Texas.

Parker could have potentially started at center for Florida. He could have redshirted at Ohio State for a season and played after a year of acclimation. But there was something different about the Longhorns. When the Brauns lived in Hallsville, one of two colleges Parker visited was Houston, then led by current UT coach Tom Herman. Parker also visited Texas, still under Charlie Strong. Mike said the Longhorns didn’t seem to want Parker due to his size. Parker liked what Herman had going at Houston, though. 

Mike: I told him with both those schools, those coaches probably weren’t going to be there much longer. Herman was going one way and Coach Strong was going a different way. The odds that they’re even there when he’d get there would be small.

Mike was correct. Herman took over the Longhorns. When Parker decided to transfer, UT offensive line coach Herb Hand was among the first to call. After meeting with Hand and Herman, Parker was convinced. He grew especially fond of strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight. In March, he committed.

Still, questions remained about how quickly Parker could adapt to Herman’s pro-spread offense. He couldn’t join the Longhorns for spring practices because he had to finish his degree at Georgia Tech. So the possibility of redshirting a season came up.

Mike: How do we make sure the transition works as smoothly as possible? What happens if you get there and there’s not as much of an opportunity or you’re just not picking it up like you hoped? It was really about being successful and their willingness to embrace it. Everybody was willing to. Some people were in different situations, but with Texas it was the possibility that there would be an opportunity right away, but also a chance that we could take a step back.

parker-weight-room.jpg
 
Braun worked out in Florida between graduating from Georgia Tech and transferring to Texas. (Courtesy of the Braun family)

It wouldn’t matter. By Week 1, Parker solidified himself as UT’s No. 1 left guard. He’s started every game this year.

Kerstetter: We could all kind of see he was going to mold very well into what we’re building here, and that he was going to fit into our scheme very well. He loves to hit people. He loves to be physical.

Herman: He’s a great fit culturally. He was raised right, and he’s a tough, hard-nosed dude. He still has his moments where you can tell this type of offense is still something new for him. But he’s assimilated into that room. The O-line room in most places that’s worth a you-know-what is gonna be a tough room to gain acceptance to, and he did that very early into his tenure.

Shackelford: Watching him play and pull, it’s fun, because he’s a really good player. He’s super coachable. He’s always wanting to learn. He’s a sponge for knowledge. I think that’s what made him so good to this point.

While Parker’s teammates appreciate what he provides on the football field, they’re just as appreciative, if not intrigued by his demeanor off the field.

Shackelford: It’s hard to gauge him. He loves Halloween, first of all. Throughout October he always said, “It’s Spooky Season!” Just a quirky guy, a fun-loving guy that just kinda messes around.

Coburn: All he does is run. It’s funny, considering his size.

The Parker Braun story continues. As those who love him say, football holds a significant place in his life, but it’s not everything.

Mike: He wants to come back to Florida and live on the beach and teach at a school. Be kind of low-key.

Trey: It was different for me. I was always pushing towards football as what I wanted to do entering into adult life. But he wasn’t sure that he wanted to play football. Once he started playing, that’s I think when he fell in love with the game.

Karen: We always try to look beyond football. I’m glad it worked out for him to keep playing, but if it hadn’t, then God would have had a different route for him, you know?

Mike: To me, I think that’s the story of Parker: it’s finding a fit and making it work and being successful in it.

 

Good read. Thx for sharing 

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KYHorn

KYHorn 17200

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29 minutes ago, IDIOTsavant said:
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AUSTIN, Texas — Anonymity and offensive linemen, typically, go hand-in-hand. Nonetheless, Texas left guard Parker Braun warrants additional characterization.

Just ask Longhorns nose tackle Keondre Coburn.

“Parker’s weird,” Coburn says, striking a tone equally polite as it is straightforward.

All season, Braun sported a thick, Paul Bunyanesque-beard and long, brown hair to match. But recently, he showed up to practice shaven, hair trimmed. The only explanation Coburn received: “I changed.”

“He’s just weird-funny,” Coburn explains.

Braun, the 6-foot-3, 300-pounder who joined UT as a graduate transfer from Georgia Tech this offseason, has made an impression on his teammates.

“A guy like Parker, he came in and, instantly, everyone loved him,” junior right tackle Derek Kerstetter says. “Everyone loves his personality and his work ethic.”

“Just somebody you wouldn’t expect to play football,” adds senior center Zach Shackelford. “Then he steps on the field and he’s like a different animal, so it’s kind of cool to see that enacted.”

Doug Nichols has coached high school football for more than 30 years. He coached Braun for three at Osceola High in Kissimmee, Fla. He says Braun’s play produced “one of the most impressive offensive line films I’ve ever seen.” He also maintains that Braun’s persona is distinct from any player he’s ever coached.

Speaking with Braun for just 20 minutes, Nichols swears, would be “some of the best 20 minutes of your life.” Perhaps that’s because Braun boasts a wide range of interests. His YouTube channel is a good representation of that, featuring videos of class presentations, imitation interviews with Romantic era poets, an attempt at an acoustic guitar cover and vlog messages of self-encouragement.

However, like most first-year players, Braun hasn’t been made available to media since arriving at the Forty Acres. That leaves those who know him to offer the best portrayal of who he is, what he’s like and how he became a Longhorn.

“You might want to sit with a drink before this whole thing gets over with,” Nichols says. “Not only is he a phenomenal athlete, but his whole story is pretty phenomenal.”

Braun was born on Dec. 13, 1996 to Karen and Mike Braun in Athens, Tenn. The couple met while both were competing in Division I athletics at Army. Mike played for the Black Knights football team from 1985-1989, a one-year starter at offensive tackle. He currently coaches Suwannee (Fla.) High School. Karen captained the Black Knights’ 1988-1989 women’s basketball team, boasts Army’s third-best single-season field-goal percentage (.537) and ranks fourth all-time in career rebounds (863).

They have three boys: Trey, Parker and Joshua, born roughly four years apart. Trey, 26, started three seasons at left guard for Georgia Tech. Parker, 22, followed, establishing himself as one of the nation’s top guards prior to joining the Longhorns. Joshua, 18, ranks as one of the top high school offensive line prospects in the nation and has committed to Georgia.

Karen: Parker’s brothers walked at 10 months. They would get up, stumble, fall and get up and try. At 11 months, Parker just stepped and walked across the room. He was a little bit later, but it was flawless from the time he was a little baby.

Mike: Parker’s always been a different kid with his own mind and always did things the way he wanted.

Trey: He’s always been focused, attentive.

Karen: Parker is very creative and deliberate. His demeanor was more quiet and observant.

One activity Parker especially enjoyed that’s a bit different: running … without a shirt on.

Mike: I always joke that it started when he was 11 or 12. He was running around outside with his shirt off. My wife’s like, ‘I don’t want you outside with your shirt off. It’s not respectful.’ He said, ‘Well, it’s hot.’ We lived in Tallahassee at the time, and she says, ‘Well, if you’re running, you can have your shirt off, but I don’t want you playing around with your shirt off.’ Like playing tag. So he went, he started running. Anytime he was outside, he would take his shirt off and run.

Karen: I just tried to raise proper boys. I don’t remember necessarily that incident. But, I mean, it sounds about right.

Mike: That kind of describes Parker as best I can. He finds the loophole to what he wants, then does it.

Karen: When we lived in Tallahassee — we lived in an apartment for a long time there — he ran from our apartment to the capitol, which was, like, seven miles.

Nichols: When Parker attended Osceola, his parents lived maybe eight miles away. Parker would run home every day after school. He had these long locks. You’d see this kid going down Neptune Road, one of the roads that goes down the way to the house. You’d see Parker Braun running home on Neptune Road, no shirt on, hair flying in the air.

Karen: You don’t really know why a lot with Parker. The more you want to draw out of him, the more he doesn’t want you to know.

parker-mug.jpg
 
(Courtesy of the Braun family)

Parker measured around 5-10 and 180 pounds as a high school freshman. He had only briefly played tackle football in middle school before enrolling at Osceola High, where Mike had joined Nichols’ staff as a varsity offensive line coach. Parker played quarterback and defensive end. Nichols envisioned Parker as a signal-caller running the triple-option offense. However, the pressure and responsibility of quarterback seemed to frustrate Parker, especially when plays broke down. Football wasn’t fun for him that way. The sport didn’t resonate with him as it did with Trey, who was playing for Georgia Tech then. After Parker’s freshman season, he quit altogether.

Karen: I don’t even know if it was a three-month period. But in our family, that felt like a three-year kind of thing because Parker had the courage to say to his father, a former football player, “Dad, I just don’t think this is for me. I really don’t wanna play.”

Mike: I said, “Well, what do you want to do?”

He goes, “I still want to lift with the team, but I want to do something else.”

Karen: Parker thinks deeply about small decisions in his life. For him, I guess he wasn’t getting fulfillment from it and was wondering why does everybody make such a big deal about football? It’s just a game.

Nichols: Mike kind of put his hands up in the air and was like, “I don’t know. Parker’s Parker.”

Karen: It was, for our family, a period of growth, because we’ve always wanted to accept our kids for whoever they are, and to help them achieve whatever goals they want to.

Mike: Very difficult for me to let it be. But I got some counsel from my dad, my wife and they said, “Just give him his space, let him see what he wants to do.” So I bit my tongue and said, “You don’t have to play ball. But in our family, you do have to either play a sport or you have to work. We don’t come home after school and just don’t do anything.”

He said, “I want to play the violin.” So we got him a violin, and I used to come home after school and I would take him to violin practice.

In the meantime, Parker continued lifting with Osceola’s football team, growing and running. He also worked at a Nike clearance outlet.

Mike: Parker’s like, “So, I have to work?” I said, “Well, yeah, you’ll probably have to work, go to college.” He goes, “I don’t like this job at Nike.” I said, “Well, the Nike shoe store is probably the easiest job on the planet.”

parker-transformation.jpg
 
After working at a Nike store, Braun decided to return to football and transform his body. It led to beginning his college career at Georgia Tech. (Courtesy of the Braun family)

Mike: We wait about a couple of weeks. He came back to me, says, “What if I played ball? What would that look like?”

I said, “Well, you could come and play with me. You’d be an offensive tackle.” He goes, “But I don’t want to start.”

He came out that spring. I said, “You have to talk to Doug. If Doug will let you come out because you missed some of the stuff, that’s up to him.”

Nichols: After spring ball’s over with, Parker’s like, “Eh, Coach, I think I wanna play football again.” I go, “What are you talking about?”

He says, “I really wanna play football again. But I wanna be an offensive lineman.”

I said, “What?”

People don’t walk around and their dream is, “Hey, I want to be an offensive lineman.” Usually, that’s the last place you fall to.

He goes, “How big do you think I need to be?”

I say, “You’re gonna be in 10th grade next year. You’re 5-10, 5-11, and 185 pounds because you’re running eight miles a day. Let’s see if we can get you to 6-2, 215. If we can do that over the summer into August, then we’ll be good.”

Somehow, when Osceola began practicing in August, Parker stood at 6-foot-1 and 217 pounds.

Nichols: I’m like, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

So Parker worked under Mike’s guidance. He wasn’t forced to play. Although, despite his quiet demeanor, Parker found he could channel the nastiness necessary to play offensive line. He worked with the second-team unit and often took in practices standing next to Mike, asking questions. However, things changed when Osceola’s starting left tackle missed a week prior to a preseason contest to go home to Puerto Rico. He didn’t return. Parker was thrust into his spot. He was half of a backup duo pressed into starting action heading into the Cowboys’ season opener.

Mike: The two backups had an incredible game. We met the next day in the coaches meetings. They were like, “You know, that’s our two best two offensive linemen.”

Nichols: Just his effort and his motor. That’s shit you can’t teach.

Mike: I came back and said to Parker, “I’ve got some bad news. You have to start for me.”

Osceola reached the state semifinals with Parker as its starting left tackle. Perhaps just as impressive as the Cowboys’ progression throughout the season was Parker’s weight gain. Nichols estimates that by Week 3, Parker weighed 225 pounds. By Week 6, he weighed nearly 240.

Nichols: It’s crazy. It was insane. It’s not, “Hey, that kid’s on steroids.” It was one of those situations where this kid could pack it on and has a crazy metabolism. I don’t know if he has some kind of secret code to his metabolism to slow it down.

Mike: He’s always been able to lift and put on weight. When he has a goal, he’s very single-minded.

Nichols: He finished his sophomore year, all of a sudden you have people taking notice. We go into his junior year, next thing I know it, hell, the kid is 6-4, 265. This kid was 185, and I was trying to make a frickin’ quarterback out of him! Two years later, he’s 6-4, 265.

Parker impressed as a junior, becoming one of the top offensive line prospects in the nation. Osceola reached the state semifinals, where it lost to powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas. Parker matched up against current San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Nick Bosa, a bout commemorated to this day at Osceola.

Nichols: I have these wooden plaques and photos of all the kids who’ve made all-state. Parker Braun’s blocking Nick Bosa in the state championship game. That’s the picture in our locker room.

(What) makes the story even more (amazing): Come to find out, somewhere along the line, he broke a bone in his hand.

During the first game of Parker’s junior season, he had fractured his scaphoid, a small bone in the wrist.

Karen: I had no idea it was as bad as it was.

Mike: What people don’t understand is that his junior season film got him all the offers, and he played that whole year with a broken scaphoid.

Karen: I hate that, because of course you should take your kid to the doctor when they’re injured!

After the season, Mike and Karen took Parker to see Dr. Patrick F. Emerson of Jewett Orthopaedic, whose procedure rescued Parker’s wrist. It’s not as flexible as it used to be, but the result was still a relief.

Mike: That’s usually the kiss of death for that wrist.

He ran when he broke his wrist and he got down to about 240. The doc said, ‘Be as thin as you can. Once your wrist heals, then start lifting again.’

Although Parker’s athleticism and effort stood out on tape, his physique in the midst of his rehab turned off some college recruiters.

Nichols: I remember Florida coming in, looking at him and the guy said, “How can I go back to my head coach and tell him I’m recruiting an offensive lineman to play in the SEC that weighs 225 pounds?” I say, “Guys, I”m telling you he broke his hand — and he must be running again — but I’ve seen him go from 185 to 245 in a year.” I said, “If you’re gonna recruit this kid and he’s 245 right now and he needs to be at 280, he’ll get there. And he’ll get there legally.”

That, however, was the end of Nichols’ direct involvement in Parker’s tale. The Brauns moved to Hallsville, Texas, so Karen could be closer to her family. Mike coached offensive line at Hallsville High, where Parker transferred for his senior year. An introduction to a spread offensive scheme made Parker’s transition challenging.

Nichols: I remember Mike saying (after the move to Hallsville), “Well, we got beat Week 1, something like 38-35 in overtime. We threw it 42 times and Parker was ready to rip somebody’s head off,” because he was so used to the run aspect of the game.

Parker’s talents best fit a run-first scheme where he’s in control of his defenders and dictates where they move. Pass protection requires lateral, reactionary movement. Trey had played in Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense at Georgia Tech, so when Yellow Jackets offensive line coach Paul Sewald met with Parker, the fit made sense.

Trey: The Tech decision really came from him understanding what style of football he wanted to play. He had been in a downhill-oriented run offense for a lot of his high school career. He wasn’t sure he wanted to play in a pro-style or run-‘n-gun or something with more pass protection.

Karen: If Trey had not been at Georgia Tech, I don’t think that Parker would have gone to Georgia Tech. But I don’t think he went because Trey had gone there; he knew the style of offense because his brother had been there.

Parker blossomed at Georgia Tech. He started eight games as a true freshman at left guard and earned recognition as an ESPN true freshman All-American. He notched back-to-back first-team All-ACC honors his sophomore and junior seasons. He also completed a degree in literature, media and communications in three years.

Mike: Go watch his Georgia Tech stuff. His athleticism comes off much better there because there’s more downfield running. Parker is crazy athletic.

Karen: We always put academics before athletics, so it was a great fit for Trey, and then Parker. Parker found so much success so early. I think Mike talked about brushing up against the ceiling athletically at Georgia Tech. I think that’s why he was able to start as a freshman and graduate in three years.

Parker still had a season of eligibility remaining after graduating from Georgia Tech. He considered leaving to go study somewhere else. When Johnson retired after 11 seasons, it created an out.

Mike: It’s almost like the transition freed you up to transition. There’s not going to be anybody that you’re offending.

Parker entered his name into the transfer portal. Schools all over the country were interested. Three teams stood out.

Karen: He could have, I guess, gone anywhere. I know he was looking at, or at least entertaining, Florida and Ohio State, and then Texas.

Parker could have potentially started at center for Florida. He could have redshirted at Ohio State for a season and played after a year of acclimation. But there was something different about the Longhorns. When the Brauns lived in Hallsville, one of two colleges Parker visited was Houston, then led by current UT coach Tom Herman. Parker also visited Texas, still under Charlie Strong. Mike said the Longhorns didn’t seem to want Parker due to his size. Parker liked what Herman had going at Houston, though. 

Mike: I told him with both those schools, those coaches probably weren’t going to be there much longer. Herman was going one way and Coach Strong was going a different way. The odds that they’re even there when he’d get there would be small.

Mike was correct. Herman took over the Longhorns. When Parker decided to transfer, UT offensive line coach Herb Hand was among the first to call. After meeting with Hand and Herman, Parker was convinced. He grew especially fond of strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight. In March, he committed.

Still, questions remained about how quickly Parker could adapt to Herman’s pro-spread offense. He couldn’t join the Longhorns for spring practices because he had to finish his degree at Georgia Tech. So the possibility of redshirting a season came up.

Mike: How do we make sure the transition works as smoothly as possible? What happens if you get there and there’s not as much of an opportunity or you’re just not picking it up like you hoped? It was really about being successful and their willingness to embrace it. Everybody was willing to. Some people were in different situations, but with Texas it was the possibility that there would be an opportunity right away, but also a chance that we could take a step back.

parker-weight-room.jpg
 
Braun worked out in Florida between graduating from Georgia Tech and transferring to Texas. (Courtesy of the Braun family)

It wouldn’t matter. By Week 1, Parker solidified himself as UT’s No. 1 left guard. He’s started every game this year.

Kerstetter: We could all kind of see he was going to mold very well into what we’re building here, and that he was going to fit into our scheme very well. He loves to hit people. He loves to be physical.

Herman: He’s a great fit culturally. He was raised right, and he’s a tough, hard-nosed dude. He still has his moments where you can tell this type of offense is still something new for him. But he’s assimilated into that room. The O-line room in most places that’s worth a you-know-what is gonna be a tough room to gain acceptance to, and he did that very early into his tenure.

Shackelford: Watching him play and pull, it’s fun, because he’s a really good player. He’s super coachable. He’s always wanting to learn. He’s a sponge for knowledge. I think that’s what made him so good to this point.

While Parker’s teammates appreciate what he provides on the football field, they’re just as appreciative, if not intrigued by his demeanor off the field.

Shackelford: It’s hard to gauge him. He loves Halloween, first of all. Throughout October he always said, “It’s Spooky Season!” Just a quirky guy, a fun-loving guy that just kinda messes around.

Coburn: All he does is run. It’s funny, considering his size.

The Parker Braun story continues. As those who love him say, football holds a significant place in his life, but it’s not everything.

Mike: He wants to come back to Florida and live on the beach and teach at a school. Be kind of low-key.

Trey: It was different for me. I was always pushing towards football as what I wanted to do entering into adult life. But he wasn’t sure that he wanted to play football. Once he started playing, that’s I think when he fell in love with the game.

Karen: We always try to look beyond football. I’m glad it worked out for him to keep playing, but if it hadn’t, then God would have had a different route for him, you know?

Mike: To me, I think that’s the story of Parker: it’s finding a fit and making it work and being successful in it.

 

Bummer, he removed all the videos from his channel.

I loled at "IT'S SPOOKY SEASON!"

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31541

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

I’d say he about number 45 on the list of things that haven’t gone as well as hoped. 

The OL has been quite a shitshow this year.  Maybe a product of the total lack of misdirection in the offense and stagnant, predictable playcalling, but it's been fucking awful compared to last year.  A top 10 problem on the offense, top 5, even.

It may be facile, but one big difference is subtract Calvin Anderson, add Parker Braun.

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gsoda3

gsoda3 3283

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Kerstetter got one immediately before and Braun apparently was jawjacking the ref pretty hard, apparently about it.

The announcers said he must have found some "magic words."

it was shack, no?

 

and i was looking for a replay also, didn't see one. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43545

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, EZ$ said:

The ACC must suck if this dude was 1st Team All Conference. He’s been a disappointment. 

The ACC does suck. A lot. Fucking Wake Forest has been in and out of the top 25 this season and they would be a 5-7 or 6-6 team at best in any of the top 3 conferences. 

4 hours ago, immamac said:

Because he quit and literally said I'm done and left. 

Are you just joking or do you have a source for that? What a flaming vagina if you're right. 

Edited by ztejas
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Treefidy

Treefidy 1469

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Posted

There was definitely some dirty going on.  

It's a penalty when a 300lb DL tackles the QB after the pass and drops all their weight on them.  Unless it's Sam. 

Its also quite the penalty to hit a QB when he slides, particularly when it's the 2nd defender to arrive and the QB has completed their slide when they make forcible contact.  Unless it's Sam.  He has a reputation for toughness but he's still a QB and absolutely should be treated and protected as such.  

 

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Valmy77

Valmy77 13273

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The OL has been quite a shitshow this year.  Maybe a product of the total lack of misdirection in the offense and stagnant, predictable playcalling, but it's been fucking awful compared to last year.  A top 10 problem on the offense, top 5, even.

It may be facile, but one big difference is subtract Calvin Anderson, add Parker Braun.

Yeah the offensive line has just been an abomination every since OU. It wasn't great but had its moments before then, there were drives where it looked dominant. 

I don't know what happened.

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49371

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Posted

Yeah.. Really disappointed in lack of development and improvement in the O-line this year.  Parker mentioned in article below...

https://247sports.com/college/texas/Article/Texas-Longhorns-football-Tom-Herman-Dan-Neil-run-game-embarrassing-Sam-Ehlinger-Denzel-Okafor-Reese-Leitao-Marcel-Spears-Mike-Rose-139018240/

Dan Neil: Texas run game against Iowa State was embarrassing

ByDAN NEIL 63 minutes ago

I finally got ahold of the game film and started watching the Texas offense to see what happened against Iowa State. It really is sickening to watch Texas try to run the ball in this game. 

What is obvious is ISU played harder on defense then Texas did on offense.  Iowa State linebacker Marcel Spears (No. 42) and Mike Rose (No. 23) whipped everyone’s ass last Saturday.  At one point Rose stands up Denzel Okafor in the hole. When a lineman gets stood up in the hole, taking away the running backs lane, you are going to lose every time.  Texas also turned free safety Lawrence White (No. 11) into a tackling machine. He was one-on-one with the back and made the tackle every time. The back needs to make this guy miss or flat out run his ass over! He is a safety and a back needs to beat a safety.

Herman said the injury to right guard Junior Angilau was more of a problem then they thought. The problem was Okafor in the run. He simply can’t cut off the backside end. This takes away your entire run game to the left. He missed the backside cutoff the entire game!  I’m watching guys like left guard Parker Braun, who has played well, not get their head across in zone blocks. The tight end getting beat. I see no defender getting driven backward - ever.   

What jumps out at me more then anything else is Texas made Spears into an All-American. He whipped everyone’s backside on Saturday. It was not that Texas did not get a body on him. Rather, he kicked the guy’s ass who was trying to block him. You will not see it in the stat sheets, because Spears didn’t always make the tackle. What he did was take on the lead blocker, drive him in the hole so the back had nowhere to run and allowed someone else to make the tackle.  There are plays where the tight end and Okafor do not know who to block. I will defend offensive line coach Herb Hand here. These are the two new starters for this game.

It was not all bad. 

There were times where the line got the back to the safety and the back did not make the safety miss, but it was for a gain. I will take that. At least it is not for a loss. You can’t have a loss of yards. Negative plays kill an offense. 

Let me give you the sequence for the failed fourth-and-2 play in the second quarter after D’Shawn Jamison’s interception in Iowa State territory.  On third-and-3, Texas ran QB power right. They moved Samuel Cosmi to the right side in an overload line. The middle linebacker came in unblocked. On this play that’s not unusual.  It is hard to get to the middle linebacker because of all the bodies in a small area. Running back Keaontay Ingram completely missed his guy. Watch the film and you would laugh at the attempt (if it wasn’t so heartbreaking to watch this over and over again all day).

So, what does Texas do? Get in an overloaded line and run the exact same play! Same result. Ingram got beat - again - and the middle linebacker was unblocked - again. Not sure why Texas thought somehow the result was going to be different.

I have a philosophy about running the same play back-to-back. You do that in middle school. When I was at Texas with John Mackovic calling plays and at Denver with Gary Kubiak and Mike Shanahan calling plays, I can’t remember ever calling a play back-to-back after the first one failed.

I don’t even know what to say.

Now, let’s take a look at the final two run plays everyone is complaining about when Texas had the ball with four minutes left, holding a 21-20 lead from the Texas 15.  The first one failed because tight end Reese Leitao didn’t know who to block. Mental error. The second play was a zone read out of an unbalanced formation.  Instead of Sam Ehlinger keeping it, he hands it off to Roschon Johnson going to the left side. Braun and Leitao got beat, and those two defenders made the tackle.

I hear everyone complain about the time it took Tom Herman to get out of 21 personnel and into 11 personnel. Let me just say they should have never been in 21 personnel.  It has nothing to do with the plays or the situations. It has to do with the fact their tight ends (Leitao and Jared Wiley) can’t block, and the ball was never thrown to either of them. Coaches need to see this and take the tight ends off the field earlier.

I try not to be too critical of the coaches or players. I know one thing: everyone is trying to win the game.  I usually stay out of the week-to-week overreactions about if a coach is the greatest or should be fired.

Watch the film and you will see all you need to see. I watched this film and I am here to say on offense that both the coaches and the players were bad.

This loss falls across the entire offense - top to bottom. The fourth-and-2 call was bad. Taking too long to get out of the run game and into a pass-first, run-second mode was bad. Effort and execution by the players were bad. Getting beat physically is awful.

Now comes the moment when we see if the coaches can call a better game and if the players decide they want to be more physical than their opponent.  Baylor’s front three are damn good and physical along with linebacker Terrel Bernard (No. 26) being a tackling machine. Texas better show up for this one!

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Chopper

Chopper 17278

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Dan Neil: Texas run game against Iowa State was embarrassing

...Now comes the moment when we see if the coaches can call a better game and if the players decide they want to be more physical than their opponent.  Baylor’s front three are damn good and physical along with linebacker Terrel Bernard (No. 26) being a tackling machine. Texas better show up for this one!

I'm practically on pins and needles waiting to find out. 

Wait. What?

Jeezus. 

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Goodman

Goodman 3273

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13 hours ago, Treefidy said:

There was definitely some dirty going on.  

It's a penalty when a 300lb DL tackles the QB after the pass and drops all their weight on them.  Unless it's Sam. 

Its also quite the penalty to hit a QB when he slides, particularly when it's the 2nd defender to arrive and the QB has completed their slide when they make forcible contact.  Unless it's Sam.  He has a reputation for toughness but he's still a QB and absolutely should be treated and protected as such.  

 

All of this and IMO it comes back to coaching. Watch how a good HC works refs and how Tom does it, Rhule put on a clinic yesterday. 

 

Scipio highlighted this before and after the shootout, he said that we better work the league office and refs leading up to the game on ou's holding principles which are fundemental for their ol and db's. Work the refs before the game on what to watch for and hammer them during game when it happens. Tom is not prepared for this job.

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