SB Nation - Traylon Shead

Chris Whaley Has Taken Unlikely Path To Defensive Tackle

Wescott Eberts — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 20:37:29 -0000

Texas Longhorns junior defensive tackle Chris Whaley never expected that he would end up in this position -- playing right above the football, firing off into 300-pound offensive linemen. He always expected to be the one firing into 300-pound defensive lineman at the line of scrimmage, carrying the football in the crook of his arm.

It's better than the alternative, however -- being labeled a bust. As a running back, that's certainly the case, as head coach Mack Brown infamously called him the best running back in the 2009 class, which also included former Alabama back Trent Richardson and Texas A&M's Christine Michael, both stereotypical backs who experienced a great deal of success for their respective programs. In the case, of Michael, still experiencing a great deal of success.

But as a defensive tackle? At that position, Whaley possesses uncommon speed for someone carrying 293 pounds, which he does easily and having lost little speed since his time as a running back. That speed has prompted accolades from defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and defensive tackles coach Bo Davis, who has been outspoken in his belief that Whaley is on the way to NFL millions if he can improve at his craft.

Coming out of Madisonville, a small town close to College Station boasting a population of barely more than 4,000 people, Whaley never expected to be in this position. He saw only a brief turn ($) on the defensive side of the ball at his 3A high school:

I played free safety as a freshman, started the first give games there, but I didn't like hitting people. I wanted to carry the ball.

The path to the defensive side of the ball had already been paved by a former Longhorn -- Henry Melton, who also started out at running back before eventually growing into a defensive tackle. It was a comparison that defensive players invoked quickly with Whaley when he arrived on the 40 Acres:

When I first came in a lot of the defensive guys teased me. They said I was just like Henry Melton and I'd get put on defense.

There was rampant speculation that a position change was going to happen, especially after a history of weight issues in high school that bled into his arrival at Texas. Some players just put on weight easily and it was clear by early in his Texas career that he was one of those players. Simple fact -- 6-3, 240-pounders who have trouble staying lean aren't running backs.

Within his first year in the program, he had already been moved to tight end/H-back, despite running backs coach Major Applewhite standing by his Signing Day pledge of keeping Whaley at running back.

Whaley said the former Texas quarterback made sure he got a chance at his high school position:

Coach Applewhite always influenced me to keep working hard. He told me when I came here that there was no talk about me playing defense. He said I needed to just work hard and try to earn my place on the field.

It just wasn't working. Always an upright runner with a high center of gravity, the increased mass kept Whaley from being able to make anything approaching a sharp cut, a necessity for the position. He made that move to tight end/H-back, but saw little playing time there during his redshirt freshman season in 2010. Buried on the depth chart, there were no strong signs that he would ever contributed at Texas.

Then, eventually spurred by comments from strength and conditioning coach Jeff Madden about joining those same defensive players who had teased him about moving over to defense, Whaley slowly began to accept the idea, all while keeping his work ethic and intensity at a high level, rather than giving up an transferring, an alternative that Whaley said Tuesday he never considered:

When I made my decision to come to UT, it's where I always wanted to be. Even if I didn't play running back, I wasn't going to transfer.

Not every former running back at Texas has taken that approach -- Cayuga product Traylon Shead left the program last fall rather than continue his work at H-back, eventually landing at Navarro College, where he is back at his prep position.

A final comment from Madden seemed to seal the deal for the switch:

He said there was no reason I shouldn't be on the field helping the team. I told him I'd do whatever I could to help the team. One day he called me and asked if I was ready to move to defense, and I told him I was. That's when we went and talked to Coach (Mack) Brown.

So Whaley made the leap of faith, despite never being pushed or prodded by the actual coaching staff, moving to defensive end in the spring of 2011 before moving inside shortly thereafter as he continued to gain weight.

In part aided by the encouragement of Davis and the dreams of NFL riches, Whaley has adapted well to a position he never expected to play ($), according to junior linebacker Jordan Hicks:

He's really taken to the defensive line. He's been in the weight room working hard. He's really adapted to that position and done everything that's been asked of him.

He's a big, physical guy, and obviously fast. He's a big asset for our team.

Even Mason Walters has noticed the buy-in from the other side of the football:

He's always had athletic ability. The key for him is he's completely bought into the philosophy on that side of the ball. Going from being a running back to being a defensive tackle is something you don't see too often, but to Chris' credit he's done really well there.

The support from teammate Kheeston Randall and Davis helped:

I had Kheeston Randall, he was an upper classman when I first moved over, and he took me in and taught me everything. Coach Davis is a great coach and also taught me how to do everything. So I never felt out of place and always just felt at home.

Coach Bo Davis took me in and treated me the same as the other guys. I get the same amount of reps as the other guys get, and this is such a wonderful opportunity to go over and be able to play.

In particular, Davis implores him to make use of his considerable gifts:

Coach Davis always tells me I have a gift. He tells me to never hold back, and use it.

Insert Spiderman cliche.

Maybe it's just the smell of money at the end of the tunnel, but Whaley is enjoying himself as he tracks down players at his former position on screens or rushing the quarterback on third downs, his two specialties last season:

Just lining up and being able to come off the ball. Being able to chase the ball. It's fun for me.

Maybe it's just the fact that it's fun to be good at something. And though his technique still needs refinement, there's no question that Whaley is good at what he does. Far better than he ever could have been at running back, even if he had stayed in the 240-pound range. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been named the starter at a position that boasts four starting-level players.

The Melton comparisons are no longer a tease, but rather the best-case scenario for Whaley. The achievement of dreams he probably never realized he had until recently:

The coaches have mentioned it to me. I just want to keep working and maybe one day I'll have that opportunity.

He could have accepted the bust label. He could have quit. Transferred. Become more attrition in a class chock-full of it. Instead, Whaley is the starting nose tackle for the University of Texas and is putting himself in a position to continue his career past college.

It's a Hallmark story worthy of a smile. From all indications, Whaley is wearing one these days, even though he's playing on the side of the football he used to hate. Funny thing, life, and the twists and turns it takes us on.

Texas RB Traylon Shead Transferring

Wescott Eberts — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:32:54 -0000

The attrition keeps on coming for the Texas Longhorn football program and, more specifically, the class of 2010, which has now lost three members to transfer with the news on Sunday evening that redshirt freshman running back Traylon Shead will leave the program and has been given his unconditional release, according to a statement from the university.

Here's the statement from Shead:

I'd like to thank The University of Texas, all the coaches and my teammates. It's a wonderful place, and I appreciate the opportunity that I was given by the coaches. I have a lot of friends I've made over the last two years, and some of them I'll hold on to for the rest of my life. This was a great experience for me. I just know that sometimes things don't work out, and I think it's in my best interest to get a fresh start. I'll still be rooting for Texas, and I hope they win the rest of their games and go to a great bowl game and win that. I just want to thank everyone who has anything to do with the program for supporting me over the past few years.

Shead was a record-setting running back in 1A at tiny Cayuga as the former career state leader in touchdowns before Texas commit Johnathan Gray recently broke his record, but never received a carry at Texas after being passed on the depth chart by true freshmen Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron, with the superstar Gray set to arrive on campus next season and further limit any chance for Shead to tote the football as a Longhorn.

As a result, Shead had been seeing some time at H-back during practice and in the Kansas game, but it appears that he believes he has the ability to play running back somewhere in college football, despite his 6-3, 220-pound frame, not the ideal build for someone wanting to carry the football consistently.

Shead marks another in a long line of tall Texas running backs forced to at least consider changing positions in the program and despite the success of Brown and Bergeron this season, it's clear that someone needs to stop Mack Brown from recruiting tall backs. The aforementioned success of the freshmen backs and the pending appearance of a true prototypical running back in Gray speaks well of Major Applewhite's understanding of what a running back actually looks like, so hopefully he can keep Brown in line and away from running backs better suited to play in the trenches.

Shead has not yet decided where he will transfer, but will likely always have a fond spot in the heart of Texas fans after throwing his horns up in the face of governor Rick Perry, a Texas A&M graduate, while receiving his medal after Cayuga won the state basketball title.

Texas Dominates Kansas 43-0, Continues To Improve

Peter Bean — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:01:04 -0000

There wasn't much doubt that Texas would beat the Jayhawks on Saturday, but fans were eager to see if the Longhorns could assert themselves and control the game for four quarters against an inferior opponent. They most certainly did, obliterating Kansas 43-0, outgaining the Jayhawks 590 to 46 in total yardage. No, that's not a typo.

With the win Texas moves to 5-2 on the season, 2-2 in the Big 12, rebounding from back-to-back losses against the Oklahomas in impressive fashion, on a weekend when we were reminded that anything can happen in perhaps the deepest year in Big 12 history. Oklahoma rebounded from their home loss to Tech to crush previously undefeated Kansas State with 38 unanswered points, while Tech got blown out at home by Iowa State(!), and Texas A&M blew yet another second half lead in an overtime home loss to Missouri. The only thing that could make the A&M GTFO Tour better at this point would be for this young Texas team to pull off a win in College Station.

Even this Kansas team had managed to remain competitive going into halftime of three of their four conference games this year, so while there seemed to be little chance that Kansas would come in to Austin and challenge UT for an upset, it was hardly a given that the Longhorns would dominate the Jayhawks as completely as they did. Consider some of these numbers (after the jump):

* Texas picked up 35 first downs, while allowing Kansas just 3.

* Texas rushed the ball for 441 yards on 72 carries, the most since Vince Young, Cedric Benson, and Selvin Young teamed up for 513 on the ground versus North Texas in the 2004 season opener.

* On the other side of the ball, Texas held Kansas to -2 yards rushing on 20 carries.

* Overall, the Longhorns defense held Kansas to 46 total yards of offense, and before anyone qualifies that with, "Yeah, but Kansas sucks," consider the following: (1) You have to go back to 1944 to find a better defensive performance by the Longhorns defense (37 yards allowed against Southwestern - who?), and (2) the 46 yards allowed Saturday was 359 yards below the Jayhawks season average heading into the game.

* How completely did Texas control the game? They ran 93 plays and had the ball for 44:07, while Kansas managed just 36 plays across 15:53 of game time. The 36 total plays is the fewest allowed in the history of the Big 12 conference.

* All told, Texas outgained Kansas 590 to 46, just the third time in school history that Texas has recorded over 500 yards of total offense while holding the opponent to under 100 total yards. The other two instances came in 2001, when Texas crushed Kansas (606 yards gained versus 67 allowed), and 2009 when the Horns dominated UTEP (639 yards gained versus 53 allowed).

As thorough a whipping as it was, I could go on (and on and on), and if you enjoyed those numbers, go ahead and print out the box score -- it's ridiculous. And to think, this is still a green offense with a freshman quarterback who's learning his way.

So what's the big takeaway from this game? The truth of the matter is, Kansas was so outmatched physically that there's not too much we can say about what this means for the rest of the season, where the competition will be decidedly better, but it was nonetheless a very satisfying and encouraging win that confirmed a lot of the progress this team is making. Above all else, it was a tremendous performance by a very good and steadily improving defense, as well as another encouraging data point that our offense is improving in its blocking and overall execution, the importance of which I'll expound on at the end of this post.

Beating this Kansas team may not be much to brag about, but Texas fans have to like how this team continues to develop and improve. A few specific notes:

Run the damn ball! Those who wished Bryan Harsin would just RUN THE DAMN BALL had to be pleased with Saturday night's performance, as Texas pounded out 441 yards on the ground across 72 carries (6.1 per attempt), including 4 touchdowns from the tailbacks -- 2 each for both Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron. The two freshmen each finished with over 100 yards, as Brown methodically picked up 119 yards on 28 carries (4.2 ypc) while Bergeron had a breakout performance dominating the 4th quarter, finishing with 136 yards on 13 impressive carries (10.5), and Fozzy chipped in 68 more on just 9 carries (7.6).

More important than the gaudy stats is the ongoing development amongst the offensive linemen and tight ends. The true freshman Josh Cochran did a fantastic job anchoring the left side of the line, where the left tackle was extremely effective at the point of attack. Harsin also rolled out some new players at tight end, trotting out Luke Poehlmann as a blocking tight end, and giving Traylon Shead some looks at the position as well. An underrated component of Boise State's offense was/is their tight end play and Texas is aggressively trying to find its best options to assist its blossoming running game.

A nice balance. As much and as well as Texas ran the ball, I liked what Harsin did to try and continue to bring along David Ash. Though Texas assuredly could have won the game without attempting a single pass, Harsin wisely involved his freshman quarterback, and Ash did a solid job managing the game. Ash completed 14 of his 18 pass attempts for 145 yards, and made just two freshman mistakes -- taking a bad sack running backwards to try and make a play, and throwing a pick into double coverage on a terrible read. Texas also failed to execute a QB sneak on 4th and Goal from the 1, but the whole offensive unit looked discombobulated on the botched attempt.

Beyond those two mistakes, Ash turned in a steady performance, and scored his first career rushing touchdown on a nice scamper when he couldn't find a receiver in the end zone. All in all, it was a positive performance for the freshman to build on as the team gets ready for a challenging closing stretch to the season.

Dominant defense... Even early in the season when Texas jumped out to a 4-0 record we talked about waiting for four quarters of dominant play from this defense. We certainly saw that on Saturday night, and I liked that Manny Diaz reinserted his starters late in the fourth quarter to preserve the shut out. Kansas has bigger problems, and I thought it was a good way for our defense to finish the game. We may well find ourselves in a situation where we need a stop to preserve a win over one of the teams left on our schedule, and I like that Diaz brought back in our starters to try and preserve the shut out, our first since 2005 (62-0 over Baylor).

You don't want to get too carried away about wins over bad teams, but this was the second straight strong performance from this defense. Yes, we lost to Oklahoma State, but our defense provided the most resistance the Pokes have seen this season, and they followed it up by whipping the Jayhawks offense like no other defense had to date. Coming into the game KU's offense was averaging 5.5 yards per play on the season, and 5.2 per play in Big 12 play. They managed just 1.3 per play against Texas, failing to nudge their total yards gained (46) above total plays run (36) until their final drive of the game, all 28 yards of which was gained against our back ups, until Diaz reinserted his starters to finish off Kansas for good.

Dominance up front. The performance of Texas' defensive line this season has at times been underrated by fans, largely because of the stats it was (or wasn't, as the case may be) recording, but they finally 'got theirs' against Kansas, completely dominating the Jayhawks up front with a performance that didn't leave much else for the rest of the defense to do. Jackson Jeffcoat apparently got tired of hearing that he's struggling and led the way on the stat sheet with a team-high 7 tackles, including 3 for a loss (1 sack), 2 QB hurries, and a pass broken up. Kheeston Randall forced a fumble and had 3 tackles and 2 QB hurries, and both of Alex Okafor's tackles went for losses and he forced two fumbles of his own. Add in Chris Whaley's impressive sack and the Texas' DL combined for 6 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 4 QB hurries. And the Jayhawks only managed to run 36 plays, mind you.

Although this unit has at times struggled to get pressure on the quarterback, a big part of that has simply been a reflection of the choices made by opposing offenses, who have largely fired the ball rapidly. Overall, though, this group has been the primary reason why Texas has largely shut down opponents rushing games, and the three big busts that have gone for long touchdowns (Whaley's 64-yarder in the RRS, and Smith's 30- and 74-yard romps) were failures at the second level.

Manny Diaz's defensive scheme tends to funnel the tackling stats to the linebackers, so it was nice to see Saturday's box score reflect the quality play that this year's D-Line has mostly delivered. We'll certainly need them to play well against the remaining offenses on the schedule, all of which can light up the scoreboard like OU and Oklahoma State.

Other hat tips. Briefly, salutes as well to: Quandre Diggs, who's rebounded exceptionally well from his "Welcome to the big leagues" moment in Dallas, finishing with 5 tackles (2 for loss) and his second pick of the season, showcasing more of his playmaking skills as the game continues to slow down for him.... Chris Whaley, who's coming along nicely at DT, a la Henry Melton, and is starting to look like a likely starter next year.... and Kenny Vaccaro and Carrington Byndom, who are somewhat quietly anchoring what's quickly becoming a difficult secondary to pass on. We'll certainly find out a lot more against the remaining offenses on the schedule, but there's been a whole lot to like about the progress and development of this unit thus far. Hopefully they'll be peaking by Thanksgiving and give us a chance to send off A&M in style.

Final thoughts. The dominant theme of my discussions with fellow fans in the 24 hours since the game ended has been, "Just how terrible is Kansas?" Safe to say they're awful, and perhaps getting worse with every loss in this miserable season, but in any case it was great to see this Texas team clamp down and dominate the game for four full quarters. As fabulously as we ran the ball, given the season-long ineptitude of the KU defense and modestly competent performances by the offense, I think the bigger takeaway from the game was the obliterating performance of our defense.

On offense, more than the success itself -- seemingly a given for any offense facing KU this year -- I found myself focused on three important storylines. First, we saw Harsin stick with his commitment to David Ash, not only as QB1 but as a passer. After the loss to OSU, not only could the offensive coaches have re-introduced more of a time-share amongst the two quarterbacks, but they could have pounded out a 64-point shredding of Kansas without attempting a single pass. I was pleased with both decisions. Kansas provided a nice confidence builder for Ash, who still made freshman mistakes but was given the chance to throw nearly 20 passes and improve his ability to manage the offense. To the extent the coaches believe he's the long-term guy at QB -- as they clearly do -- this was great to see, and important for Ash's development.

Second, it was interesting to see Harsin's tweaks to our base running sets, where he experimented with new players at tight end -- one bigger and stronger (Poehlmann), one smaller and quicker (Shead). Whether or not those players last in their roles, it was perhaps a message to the incumbents (Grant, Irby, Jones, and Matthews), who have variously struggled to provide the blocking Harsin demands from the position, as well as a pretty strong indication of what this base offense is going to look like the rest of the year. I like it on both counts, and don't much care which personnel gets it done. With our true freshman QB under center, we're going to be an extreme power rushing team that mainly asks our quarterback to keep defenses honest by being an effective manager who can introduce some variety.

Third and most importantly, the very real, observable improvement we're seeing in this offensive unit in terms of blocking and execution is hugely encouraging. Although the offenses in the SEC the last decade have often been underwhelming -- in part because of mediocre quarterback play, and in part a reflection of the superior defenses they face -- the thing that's often overlooked (but is a huge reason why they've won five straight BCS titles) is how much the offenses of the top teams in the conference improve as the season goes on. They're rarely flashy, but year in and year out the offenses of the top teams in the SEC get stronger and steadier as the season goes on, a big reason why offenses with underwhelming quarterbacks have nonetheless been able to combine with elite defense to control title games.

Obviously we're not talking about a championship caliber Texas team this year, but to those of us who are (properly, in my opinion) evaluating this 2011 season not by wins and losses but by the developmental processes the staff employs, it's impossible to overstate how encouraging it is to see the in-season improvement that we are. I think you have to just throw out the OU game -- the first time our youngsters got popped in the mouth, and struggled to respond. What's mattered to me has been the ways we've continued to get demonstrably better in foundational ways. Looking at how strong a rushing team we've become with little passing game to help out, I see a lot of the same kind of development you see in those top SEC teams, and like those teams we won't need our quarterback to be a superhero to compete for championships if we're going to continue to field teams that steadily build and improve, both in-season and season-to-season. From what we're seeing this year, that's looking like what to expect. It's important, and exciting.

So yeah, it was a terrible Kansas team, and yeah, the rest of the season ahead could be pretty damn bumpy. But once again we saw the kinds of things that bode well for our long-term trajectory. Whether we win out or lose each of our next five, that's the standard that really matters.

Hook 'em

Johnathan Gray Honored By Under Armour

Wescott Eberts — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:46:49 -0000

In a ceremony at Aledo High School on Wednesday, 2012 Texas commit Johnathan Gray was presented his honorary Under Armour game jersey as part of the American Family Insurance Selection Tour that will make its way to DeSoto on Thursday to fete fellow Texas commits Bryson Echols and Curtis Riser.

Gray, the top-ranked running back in the country by ESPNU and fifth-ranked player overall, is in the midst of another record-breaking season at Aledo, having already broken Texas running back Traylon Shead's mark for career touchdowns in the state of Texas, as well as the state scoring record.

On Tuesday, Gray had the opportunity to spend some time with another record-breaking running back, Kenneth Hall, the fabled "Sugar Land Express" who set 17 national rushing and scoring records during his own prep years now some time in the past.

It was a visit that had a strong impact on the young running back:

It meant a lot to me. For someone like him, who is a legend in Texas and the nation, to drive up here to talk to me and the team, it was a blessing.

He is a really cool guy. He enjoys seeing kids progress, even if it means breaking his records. He wants us to succeed. He wants more for the kids.

Though Gray is busy tearing down state records, there is one record that will be difficult for Gray to reach before his high school career ends and that is Hall's state and national record for rushing yards -- 11,232. The star Bearkat back would have to average 282 yards per game through the state finals to break the record, a tall order even for the prolific Gray.

Hall got his first look at Gray last season during yet another record-breaking night for Gray at the state championship game against LaMarque. Needless to say, he came away impressed:

I saw the first few touchdowns and thought, 'I have to keep watching this whole thing. Eight touchdowns later, I said: 'Good Lord, this player is just a junior.

You can't teach what he has. You can't coach that. You can help players like that improve, but he's just a natural.

A natural, indeed. The Euclidian Terrorist was born to blow up angles.

At the ceremony, Gray reflected on being one of 90 players nationally invited to participate in the fifth iteration of the Under Armour All-American game ($) held January 5th in Orlando, which is quickly surpassing the US Army All-American game in prestige:

It's an honor to be privileged enough to play in the Under Armour game. With the teammates I have and the family I have and all the support, there's no telling how high I can go. I'm just blessed to be here and in this position. I couldn't do it without my team and my family. I'm honored.

For his head coach, Tim Buchanan, Gray is much more than simply a talented running back on the field:

All I want to say about John is he is a great running back. His teammates and everyone will attest to that. But as good a running back as he is, he's a better kid. Thanks to James and Tonya, they turned out a great kid and hopefully he'll keep with that same personality through high school and through college and wherever he goes from there. Thanks Johnathan.

Still skeptical? Check out this story from Sports Illustrated several weeks ago.

On the field, though, Gray will continue his pursuit of Hall's record for career rushing yardage when Aledo takes on Birdville Thursday night at 7 pm CST on ESPNU.