SB Nation - Deon Beasley

Postgame React: Texas Buries Kansas 51-20, Improves To 11-0

Peter Bean — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:33:20 -0000

More photos » by Erich Schlegel - AP

28 days ago: Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (12) walks a victory lap after the Texas Longhorns beat Kansas 51-20 in the NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. McCoy also set a NCAA Division I record for most wins as a starting quarterback (43). (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

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The outcome was: fantastic. Though Texas has for some time been locked into "win and they're in" territory, even now not all wins are created equal. We're 11 wins deep into this thing, and tonight's punishing win over the Jayhawks might be my favorite to date (OU excepted, always).The offense turned in its most encouraging performance, the defense got a healthy test from Kansas' strong receiving corps, and -- I'm damn happy to say -- the seniors walk out of DKR one last time, having played well, won impressively, and remaining on track to achieve all their goals.

As noted in the celebration thread: this is as good as I've felt about the team all year. Join me after the jump to discuss.

COLT MCCOY

We can't say what his final legacy will be until the season ends, because the only thing he's missing are rings. First and foremost, I hope he gets the conference championship he was robbed of last year. And of course, if he leads Texas to a national title in Pasadena, he joins Vince Young atop the Texas pantheon -- the absolute best of the best.

Even if the team falls short of that goal, it is remarkable to reflect on just how many games he's won; if his predecessor were anyone else, we would by this time have forgotten what it is like to be quarterbacked by anyone other than Colt McCoy. An NCAA record 43 career wins, 3 of them against Oklahoma. Every passing record in the books. He's a great kid and fine representative of the university and football program. And he's earned everything that he's accomplished.

Fittingly, I thought tonight's performance was his best of the season. He completed 32 of 41 passes for 396 yards, 4 TDs, and 0 INTs. Though he fumbled once and took three sacks, they were the result of McCoy having his most active game of the season -- the good kind of chaos, in which he uses his feet to scramble, extend plays, and break down defenses. Removing the 3 sacks and 11 yards lost on them, he rushed 9 times for 40 yards. He wasn't his most accurate throwing the ball tonight, but he was absolutely at his best as a playmaker, mixing short, intermediate, and long passes across multiple receivers: 10 completions to Shipley (108 yards), 6 to Malcolm (103 yds), 8 to Kirkendoll (86), 3 to Newton (36), 2 apiece to Goodwin (34) and Chiles (16), and 1 to Buckner (13).

It was his best performance of the year. Congratulations to a damn fine quarterback.

OFFENSE

Texas racked up 532 yards of total offense on an outstanding 6.5 yards per play, picking up 29 first downs overall and converting 9 of their 15 third downs. The Horns rushed 37 times for 151 yards (sacks excluded), led by Tre Newton's impressive 12 carry, 66-yard (1 TD) performance. The ground game was modest, but it was sufficient: Texas needn't be a strong running team, but it must commit to rushing the ball for the good of the passing game. We've been seeing much more of that in the five games since OU, and it's no accident that McCoy's numbers have improved:

Colt McCoy, first 6 games: 156-223 (69.9%) for 1,537 yards, 11 TDs, 7 INTs
Colt McCoy, last 5 games: 130-169 (76.9%) for 1,477 yards, 12 TDs, 2 INTs

In this regard, the commitment to rushing the ball isn't even about doing so successfully -- the 3-4 yards per carry the staff apparently seeks is actually fine. So long as Texas runs with sufficient purpose that defenses cannot completely ignore it, the mission is accomplished. The real prize is the boost that commitment provides to the passing game -- in particular, with play action. Whether he was saving his good stuff for mid-season, or just slow to figure it out -- an indictment either way -- Greg Davis has gone bonkers using play action the past five games. And it's working. Well. More, please.

On a related note: Davis is doing some really nice things in this belated diversification of the offense. In focusing on the need to improve the vertical passing game, we mostly focus on it as an end unto itself, but there are ripple effects from regularly attempting intermediate and long passes, including an opening up of enough space to strategically use short passes as runs. Without the deep passes, there's no room for it to work, but as the field gets stretched and defenses align to cover larger swaths of the field, there are opportunities to hit designed passes that have little-to-no big gain potential but are valuable as a boost to a mediocre rushing team.

McCoy's not the only one who's gotten it together since OU: what about the performances we've seen from James Kirkendoll the past three weeks? The junior wideout contributed 5 catches for 40 yards and a TD against UCF, 6 catches for 43 against Baylor, and 8 for 86 and 2 TDs tonight against Kansas. For a guy whose season-defining moment had been his Killebrew imitation, he's clearly gotten his head on straight and done what he needed to in practice. Most of us groaned when it was announced Kirk would replace Goodwin as a starter, but he's made the most out of the opportunity. That's all you can ask, and it's great seeing him out there working well with McCoy.

I'm almost afraid to say it because I'm terrified I'll jinx it, but Malcolm Williams is... emerging. Ignoring the Baylor game (in which we barely tried to pass at all), the outrageously athletic wideout has been consistently productive: 5 catches for 53 yards against Missouri, 2 for 55 (1 TD) against the Pokes, 5 for 67 against UCF, and 6 for 103 (1 TD) tonight. It's taken awhile, but as the passing offense diversifies to involve Goodwin, Kirkendoll, and Williams, the offensive attack is starting to have some real bite. For all the deserved criticism he's received this year, Greg Davis' extreme increase in the use of play action passing has this offense approaching its potential. If that trend continues, Malcolm will continue to find the end zone.

The season-long game of musical running-backs has been hilarious, and makes ridiculous any attempt to discuss it meaningfully. We opened the season with McGee, went to Newton, dabbled with Fozzy, changed to Cody, and now return to Newton. Would you even blink if Jeremy Hills was announced as next week's starter?

All that said, it looks like the coaches are settling in on Tre Newton as The Guy. While for the most part it still seems like Texas can plug-n-play with anyone and get roughly the same results, I like the move. Newton has the speed and agility to break runs Big Cody will not, and a toughness and downhill running style that separates him a bit from Whittaker. The bottom line is that Newton is the only tailback who is proving solid in all four aspects of the position: downhill running, speed to break a run, pass blocking, and receiving. He's like my boy Ogbonnaya with slightly better top-end speed: not particularly flashy, consistently productive, versatile, and strong as a finisher. Given our modest aims as a rushing team, that's the guy we want.

Turning to the O-Line: To be honest, I've been too busy (and maybe a little fat and happy with our commanding position) to sit down and re-watch our last three games, so I can't offer much more than just general observations picked up from live viewing. But this much I'll say: things are better than they've been all season.

As for rush blocking, there's no question it's better. You wouldn't put it on a video and try to sell it, but it's better. Last week I had to do a double-take when a replay revealed Michael Huey and Chris Hall perfectly executing zone blocking -- doubling the tackle at the snap before Huey quickly released upfield to get his hat on a linebacker. Our pulling guards on misdirection are finding guys to block. If this is the line performance Texas will get at A&M and, especially, against Nebraska, I'll feel great about not having to worry that the offense could suffer some sort of season-spoiling meltdown.

[Edit: Most everyone I've talked to since the game thought the line played poorly. As noted in the comments, I watched at a bar with friends and didn't watch terribly closely, so take my observation with a grain of salt. I'd have to re-watch to offer anything substantive. --PB--]

DEFENSE

Though they didn't dominate the stat sheet like they have of late, let's start with a salute to the two senior starters on the defensive line -- Sergio Kindle and Lamarr Houston. Though Kindle gets most of the attention, as the career of Lamarr Houston draws to a close, he's not only my favorite Longhorn on the team (that's been true for a long while now), but he joins Casey Hampton as my favorite Longhorn defender of all time. While I'm certain that loving an average defensive tackle might not be the most rewarding fan experience, there is nothing I enjoy more than watching a great one wreak havoc -- and especially when the big guy is someone you also admire as a person. The best DTs can uniquely impact a game and utterly destroy the strength of the opposing offense. I've watched Hampton do it for 15 years with the Longhorns and Steelers, and I couldn't be more pleased with the exceptional quality of Houston's senior season. That he was perhaps the team's best defensive end as a sophomore just makes it -- and him -- all the more amazing.

No fanboy salutes for Kindle and Rod Muckelroy, but no less fond a DKR farewell. They're both guys who had to battle to get to this level of senior success, though in different ways. Kindle arrived on campus overflowing with athletic talent, but raw as a football player -- a weakness that was only compounded by ankle trouble that slowed his development. But by all accounts he is a humble, hard worker, and when the perfect coach showed up his junior year, he had put himself in a position to take advantage of it. Amazingly, he's still pretty damn raw, but no one plays harder, and whatever short-term setbacks he faces as the difficulty elevates in the pros, that room to grow will prove a good thing. If he stays healthy, he can get there as a Sunday starter.

For his part, Muckelroy all but had to have his finger amputated when early in his sophomore season he severed a nerve. It is practically unfathomable to imagine an athlete that good having to sit on the sidelines because of a numb finger, but he bode his time, kept preparing, and closed his career fulfilling the promise he showed early on. A string of nagging injuries have held him back from having the gaudy senior season he's capable of, but as he returns to full health, he'll be as important as anyone on the entire defense if/when Texas matches up with Alabama or Florida.

It's hard to be anything but sappy about all of these guys, because everyone's so clearly worked so hard and contributed to the team so selflessly, and that goes for Deon Beasley, as well. It was Beasley -- not Chykie Brown -- who got put on the fast track as a freshman, but after he struggled with the big play as a sophomore and underestimated the importance of physical play as a junior, he lost his starting job to younger talent. Aaron Williams, Chykie Brown, and Curtis Brown haven't relinquished those spots, yet the demotion wasn't the death knell for Beasley, either. It would have been easy for Beasley to look at his impending graduation and his diminished role and coast to the finish line, but he clearly did just the opposite: though his role is more limited, when he's been out there he has played physically and hungry. It not only says something good about his character, but if Texas suffers an injury down the stretch, Beasley has shown he's ready to play. Heavy applause, sir.

Last but not least, I hope Ben Alexander is as proud of himself as we the fans are of him. When asked over and over on radio interviews this summer about the defensive line (the unit's presumed Achilles' heel), my go-to line that I repeated time and again was that "Alexander isn't much more than a situational space eater." But when the season started, there was Alexander, regularly rotating into the line, visibly slimmer and demonstrably quicker. And he has now played in all 11 games this season -- including one start -- accumulating 27 tackles and 7 tackles for loss. Texas needed Ben Alexander this year, and he put in the work to ready himself to contribute. Congrats, big fella.

He's not a senior, but the way he's playing football, I think we have to ask whether Earl Thomas is NFL-bound. Earlier in the season, I hung my hat on his diminutive size masking from scouts just how good he really is, but he's been so utterly exceptional over the past six games that it's becoming harder and harder to believe the secret's not out. I trust that Muschamp will help him make the decision that's best for him, but if the pro scouts are on to his excellence, "what's best for him" may, gulp, mean "going pro after this year."

Thomas was brilliant again tonight, whether shedding blocks to make a tackle before the marker, smothering Kerry Meier in coverage (5.1 yards per reception), or making another great play with the ball in the air to snatch a turnover. Again, he's just playing too well to be a secret. This is not a complaint.

Curtis Brown got his first taste of an NFL-caliber receiver since whats-his-name caught that pass at the end of regulation last year, and it wasn't terribly pretty tonight. I mentioned at the outset that I thought Kansas' success in the passing game was healthy: as thoroughly as this defense has dominated almost every opponent this year, I'm not opposed to a challenge providing a spark to keep everyone focused on improving. Curtis is so quick and athletic that he's capable of defending 98% of college receivers without worrying too much about technique, but Briscoe is not among them. The senior wideout repeatedly worked Brown with inside moves and then surprised him with his professional grade strength and speed. For the team and for Curtis: a good lesson and motivation to keep working.

SPECIAL TEAMS

I was away from the television for the kickoff return so I haven't had a good look at what went wrong, but kickoff coverage had been solid the previous five games and outside Briscoe's touchdown we held Jayhawks returners to a perfectly acceptable 19 yards per return. Texas only punted twice, one of which was returned for 32 yards, so I'd expect that'll be a point of emphasis in the coming week of practice. Given the overall strength of the kickoff and punt games on the season, I'm not going to lose much sleep over it, at least until there appears to be something systemically wrong. I didn't get a good look at either return live.

The big story on special teams to me was Hunter Lawrence, who buried kicks from 49, 47, and 35 yards out, raising his season totals to 8-of-9 from 40-49 yards and 7-of-7 from 30-39 yards. All told, Hunter has knocked through 20 of his 23 kicks, and among the three misses, only one is his fault -- a 28-yarder he jerked to the left; the other two were a miss from outside 50 yards and a block. Lawrence is 52-of-53 on PATs. Bottom line: if Texas finds itself in a game that comes down to a Lawrence field goal try, I like our chances. The senior has been absolutely nails all year long.

And with that, I'm out, with a short week before us until the final regular season game at A&M, who cost me a bottle of whisky by whipping the Bears today. I hope we beat 'em by 50.

BCS Profiles: Texas Longhorns

utesfan100 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:24:06 -0000

With the third BCS standings now out it is past time for me to profile a third team in the standings. The highest ranked team I have yet to profile is #2 Texas.

BCS Race:

Texas might be dancing with Alabama for the rest of the season for the 2 spot. Alabama and Florida would square off in the SEC championship game so all Texas is required to do is win their games.

A statistical breakdown of Texas is next:

Offense:

Texas is #31 in total offense at 417.8 yards per game, #1 in scoring offense at 41.75 points per game and #7 in Red Zone offense at 95%.

They are #26 in passign offense at 261.9 yards per game and #49 in rushing offense at 155.9 yards per game.

Former Heisman winner Colt McCoy is #7 in passing with 24.75 completions per game. In yards per game he is #23 at 247.1. In all purpose yards per game he is #24 at 264.4. In passing efficiency he is #25 at 144.6. he is tied for #35 in points responsible for at 12 per game.

Jordan Shipley has 64 of those receptions earning a tie for #3. He is #11 in receiving yards per game at 97.1. In all purpose running per game he is #34 at 134.5.

These two form a formidable threat to any defense, but cold not have the success they have had without the excellence of their supporting cast..

Defense:

Texas is #3 in total defense at 240.8 yards per game. They are #11 in scoring defense at 13.6 points per game. They are #95 in Red Zone defense, allowing opponents to score 87% of the time.

They are #1 against the run, allowing only 52.9 yards per game and #29 in passing offense at 187.9 yards allowed per game.

Earl Thomas is # 2 in passes defended per game at 1.83. He is #3 in interceptions with 0.75 per game.

Curtis Brown is tied for #32 in passes defended per game at 1.00.

Sam Acho leads the nation in fumbles recovered with 4 in 8 games. Emmanuel Acho and Lamar Houston are tied at #38 with 2 recoveries in 8 games.

Deon Beasley is tied for #35 in forced fumbles with 2 in 6 games.

This defense is a turnover machine. They may give up a few yards, but they are ready to burn your every mistake.

Other:

Hunter Lawrence is the #5 field goal kicker with 2 per game.

D.J. Monroe is #4 in Kickoff returns with 38.1 yards per kickoff return.

Jordan Shipley appears again here at #11 with 15.35 yards per punt return.

They are tied for #5 in turnover margin with +1.25 turnovers per game. They are #27 in time of possession at 31:34.

Prospectus:

Texas has faced all of their ranked opposition. The Big 12 championship game is the biggest game left, though complacency can rear its ugly head this time of year if a coach is not careful.

Even with a loss, Texas would be high on the list for an at-large invitation to the BCS.

Afternoon Brewsky Digs the "New" Receivers

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:59:58 -0000

Flavor of the Week at running back: Fozzy-CoJo one-two punch. Given that Fozzy Whittaker and Cody Johnson have now gone two straight weeks (two!) as the top two running backs in the rotation, this feature may need to retire prematurely. However, there are always concerns about Fozzy's health (knock on wood) and giving a few carries to Tre' Newton or trying to get the ball to DJ Monroe five times per game could be beneficial to the offense.

Right now, though, Whittaker and Johnson compliment each other well and have each brought their particular strengths to bear against Oklahoma and Missouri. Johnson, in particular, has looked more impressive than ever, running with determination and a combination of quickness and power that Mack Brown obviously appreciates in a running back. Last week, I wrote that he was settling into a role as a fourth-quarter bludgeon, but the first drive against Missouri proved that he can do it early in the game as well, picking up a critical third and short, as well as pounding his way for seven yards after running through the tackles of four Missouri players. Has he even taken a hit in the last two weeks or has he given out all the hits on his tough runs?

As for Whittaker, he's no savior for the running game, but he does have good if not great speed. He's capable as a wide receiver, giving Greg Davis some flexibility in using him in empty sets and he ran harder against Missouri than he did against Oklahoma, seemingly trusting his body more and showing a greater willingness to pick up some tough extra yardage instead of leaving it on the field. The greatest asset that he brings to the table is his vision, allowing him to see the cut-back lanes, a point that isn't exactly a revelation at this point, but is still fundamental to understanding why Whittaker can be more successful in the Texas scheme than other running backs on the roster. It is, perhaps, simply a matter of time before he breaks a long running play.

New receivers pay early dividends. Missouri certainly didn't make it overly difficult for Texas to complete passes and pick up yardage early in the game by playing so far off the Texas receivers, but Marquise Goodwin and Malcolm Williams provided noticable upgrades over James Kirkendoll and John Chiles, while Jordan Shipley seemed to thrive in his return to the slot position, which allows him to catch more short passes, especially screens, while also having to ability to work inside or outside.

Despite predictably dropping an easy pass, Williams also showed that he deserves to be on the field with his combination of size and speed -- he's simply an extremely difficult player to tackle and on several of his catches, it looked like he was only one broken tackle or one step away from breaking a long play. At the end of the night, he totaled five catches for 53 yards and the first time that he's caught that many passes in a game -- against Tech he had only four catches and has had three catches on several occasions. If the coaches continue to play him, it's only a matter of time before he makes the same type of plays he did against Texas Tech last season.

The drops are a problem, but protecting the football is a larger issue, as Williams fumbled once and several times had trouble maintaining possession of the football after the play. Back to the problem with drops -- Greg Davis believes that Williams simply needs to do a better job of consistently attacking the football with his hands because he gets in trouble when he lets the ball get in on him.

In fact, with all the parallels between the Tech game last season and the upcoming trip to Stillwater, the game on Halloween night is the perfect time for Williams to finally fulfill the lofty expectations of Texas fans enamored with his physical gifts. Put the man on the field and get him the football.

Marquise Goodwin had an excellent night blocking, showing not only determination, but also an understanding of how to get up into defenders. Obviously, he doesn't have great size, but it never seemed to hurt him against Missouri, putting on a blocking performance that should have put James Kirkendoll to shame -- Goodwin probably gave better effort in one half than Kirkendoll has blocking all season.

Catching the football four times for 24 yards, Goodwin looked natural as always and didn't seem to have any moments of miscommunication with McCoy as he did at least twice against Oklahoma -- no doubt he is learning quickly, a remarkable ability of the young receiver. The biggest remaining question about Goodwin is just how much shake he has in his hips and if he has the ability to make defenders miss in space, but those questions will surely find some answers in the next several weeks if he continues to receive significant snaps.

Ultimately, it's difficult to separate how much the changes at receiver made a difference and how much of the first-half success was directly a result of Dave Steckel seemingly having little idea of how the stop the Texas passing game. For now, it's enough to say that the results speak for themselves and that players like Williams and Goodwin have a chance to grow with the offense as the season progresses and are major causes for optimism and a renewed belief that this offense can start clicking and put up the gaudy yardage and point-scoring numbers of last season.

Tracking: the "new" offense. It was probably not the best choice of words to say that the Texas offense was about ready to take a "complete 180," but that description does work in several ways. Last season, the coaches clearly committed to the four-wide offense and when Greg Davis went to EBS in the Texas Tech game, it was because he got scared, flat out. He felt like the offensive line wasn't protecting well, so he basically went to max protection, but the problem was that Smith didn't do well in some of his one-on-one opportunities, giving up a sack and obviously not providing the same threat in the passing game as the extra receiver. Overall, the decision was a net loss for that game.

Defensives started taking away what Texas was doing in four wide and the running game was struggling mightily, so Davis and Mack Brown decided to go back in the other direction, realizing that putting EBS in the game for more snaps would help the running game, particularly with misdirection, counters, and the possibility of using play-action more often and more effectively. The running game has improved with those decisions, but it was perhaps the play-action game that helped the Longhorns the most against Missouri. Starting out the game, Texas used play-action to get the linebacker covering Shipley a step out of position for a big gain and John Chiles had his first success down the field on a play-action pass. It's been some time since the Longhorns have so effectively run play-action fakes consistently in a single game. Perhaps several years -- the lack of a good play-action game has been a serious problem for some time, but at least for one game worked well. That's promising.

The other major change was supposed to be throwing more downfield -- how teams have played the Longhorns with two safeties deep and the effectiveness of the controlled passing game last season lead the coaches to eschew many long passes downfield, despite a player in Malcolm Williams who can go up and get the football using his size and athleticism. On that front, the Longhorns didn't attack down the field much, but they didn't have to because of MIssouri's softer than soft coverage. Brown said on Monday that there were some new wrinkles for the game the coaches didn't have to show because the first half went so well -- those plays could have been longer passes or they could have been new additions to the running game.

For the game, Texas played 11 personnel for around 80% of the snaps. EBS missed two pass blocks and one run block -- not a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, but the coaching staff needs to be careful about how many times he gets matched up one-on-one on the edge, especially against an extremely talented edge rusher like Aldon Smith -- he wasn't great in those situations last year at about 30 or more pounds heavier and that's just not his strength right now. It's not necessarily his fault, much like last season -- the coaches just need to put him in a situation to more consistently be successful.

In the running game, he didn't dominate, but he was effective, providing a nice extra blocking surface and forcing the linebacker to have one extra gap for which they are responsible. The other aspect, of course, is his pass catching and he caught the only ball thrown at him for nine yards, but the surprising thing was that he was often open in the flat. Wide open. So were many other receivers on the same plays, but if other defenses deal with him the same way, there might be some chances to pick up yardage with EBS in the passing game if the defense isn't going to pay attention to him.

Overall, it's safe to say the offense will continue to head back in the direction of using 11 personnel at roughly the same 80% clip and it should continue benefiting the running game. To make the next step in improving the running game, the individual players on the offensive line need to perform better, but putting EBS on the right side of the line almost exclusively seemed to help Hix, who probably had his best game since ULM. At receiver, the changes clearly made a big difference, at least in blocking and should continue to help the offense improve moving forward. That should be a scary thought for the rest of the teams on the schedule.

Tracking: playmaking defense. After forcing five turnovers against Oklahoma, including three fumbles (two on special teams) and making two interceptions, the Longhorns only intercepted two passes and had the blocked punt by Curtis Brown. "Only" three turnovers because Texas didn't knock any balls loose, a similar performance to the Colorado game in that respect. It may have been mostly a result of Emmanuel Acho not getting a ton of playing time when Missouri was actually moving the football in the running game on their only touchdown drive, as neither Keenan Robinson nor Roddrick Muckelroy have shown the ability to relieve ball carriers of the football, but to be fair to Robinson, his sample size is pretty small. Muckelroy's is not. The bottom line is that the coaching staff is probably going to emphasize ball-stripping techniques again this week and the defense could really help the offense by forcing a fumble or two.

In the department of intercepting passes, the Longhorns continue to do a good job, but the biggest difference between now and earlier in the season is that players are finishing plays right now instead of dropping easy or relatively easy interceptions. Perhaps the biggest surprise in that department is Blake Gideon, who now has three interceptions after failing to pick off a pass all last season. Late in the game against Missouri, he read the quarterback's eyes and came off his man to intercept a pass intended for a receiver behind him along the sidelines, an excellent heads-up play. As long as he can make the plays he puts himself in a position to make, his athletic limitations aren't as much of a problem.

Chykie Brown also intercepted a pass, the first of his career, showing off his ability to react quickly by catching a tipped pass that ended up basically hitting him near the chest on a slant. While it wasn't an extremely difficult play, it's really his reward for having been around the football on so many short passes this year -- he's had his share of mental breakdowns, but his play this season has only been a disappointment compared to the high level of play turned in by Aaron Williams, Curtis Brown, and now Deon Beasley in limited opportunities. How about Beasley, though? It looks like coming so close to having his football career taken away from him has finally made him turn it up a notch on the field. He's actually a physical presence out there now. Good for him.

It's worth noting that both interceptions came off of back-up Jimmy Costello, but it's not like Blaine Gabbert was gashing the Longhorns in the passing game, though he did deliver an incredible pass to Danario Alexander into good double coverage by Robinson and Gideon. The Longhorns managed to knock Gabbert from the game on a sack by Eddie Jones, who continues to make the most of his snaps and continues to be a major success story for this team. Sergio Kindle was Sergio Kindle, disrupting plays. Missouri tried to run at him on the second play of the game and that's just a bad idea. That's just making it easy for him. Lamarr Houston was extremely disruptive and showed no ill effects from the OU offensive lineman trying to end his college career with a dangerous blow below to the knee in the Cotton Bowl. It's clear now that he is a defensive tackle through and through. It's hard to say enough about how well this defensive line has played and it's comforting to know that Ben Alexander can give the team some really good snaps up in Stillwater.

The bottom line -- right now it's dangerous to be an opposing quarterback facing the Longhorns.

Up on the high horse. The Tim Tebow love is sickening. Absolutely sickening. It was sickening when Thom Brennaman kept going on and on during the national championship game about how five minutes with Tebow would change your life. Hey, it's true -- if you've got some extra skin on your genitalia, Tebow will happily remove it for you. That's life changing right there. But what Tebow does with young Phillipino children isn't the point here.

The point is what Tebow did after his worst collegiate game, throwing two interceptions returned for touchdowns against MIssissipi State -- clearly, Tebow decided to channel his inner Jarrett Lee and that's just never a good idea. Instead of being a man, being the so-called greatest leader in the history of people leading people, and facing the media after his struggles, Tebow was nowhere to be found at the post-game press conference. Urban Meyer offered some lame, bullshit excuse about his quarterback visiting with his former offensive coordinator, current Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullens. Trash.

The cult of personality surrounding Tebow has gotten completely out of control over the last several years, but it's something that Tebow has more than embraced. He's allowed it to become what it is. His stupid speech after the Ole Miss loss last season that is ridiculously enshrined at Florida already. Congratulations -- as a quarterback, Tebow accepted responsibility for losing after failing to convert the crucial play of the game. Incredible! Has a quarterback ever taken responsibility for a loss they were responsible for in the history of football? Apparently not. The talk of how great of a leader he is all the time, yet his teammates visibly tune him out on the sidelines when he's giving them a tongue-lashing. Blah blah blah. Man up, Tebow -- you act like the second coming of Jesus, but then can't talk to the media after a bad game?

Colt McCoy, who obviously has no love lost for Tebow, saying several weeks ago that he has no relationship with the guy, had this to say ($) about avoiding post-game press conferences:

First of all, (Texas football communications director) John (Bianco) and them wouldn't let me do that if I wanted to. But I think it's your job as a leader, as the quarterback, no matter what, win, lose or draw, if you play good or you don't, you've got to go talk to the media. You're the voice for the fans to let them know what happened, and that's your job as a quarterback to do that.

That's right, Tebow, not only is Colt more of a man and a leader, but your SID is a weeny, too.

There were some murmurs last week about McCoy making excuses for his poor play against Oklahoma with talk of him being sick for the hundredth time this season and the thumb injury he said made it hard to hold onto the football and led to him fumbling near the goalline. Yet, McCoy still went and spoke to the media about it, manning up for his poor play. Not so Tebow.

It's certainly interesting to wonder why it is that Tebow and McCoy don't have some sort of friendship, given that both have deep religious beliefs and are seemingly cut from the mold. Perhaps McCoy feels resentment that Tebow gets such wide-spread adulation for snipping foreskins, while McCoy receives relatively little acclaim for travelling on two separate mission trips to Peru. Maybe it's frustrating to McCoy that he's a much better quarterback, but comparatively receives so little love for it. Of course, as Longhorns fans, it's actually beneficial that McCoy doesn't receive the same attention, as it would surely become just as sickening for the rest of the country as Tebow-love has become.

Given this last performance by Tebow, though? McCoy is not only a better leader than Tebow, which he showed, but he's also a much better quarterback than Tebow and every bit the runner, ably filling the unbelievably huge shoes of Vince Young, handling that pressure with aplomb. I'll take McCoy any day. You can buzz off, Tebow, I'd just as soon never hear from you again.

Morning Coffee Loves Beating OU

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:31:57 -0000

More photos » by Donna McWilliam - AP

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Flavor of the Week at running back: Cody Johnson. Yes, one might be inclined to suggest that Fozzy Whittaker deserves this honor after what was undoubtedly his best performance in a Longhorn uniform and to further suggest that the only reason Cody Johnson is receiving this coveted honor is because the Flavor of the Week must change, avoid repeats as long as possible. Both valid arguments.

However, there are several reasons for Johnson winning the award this week -- the first reason is the hard work that he put in this fall to lose nearly 20 pounds and maximize his quickness. Yes, he should have been in better shape coming into fall practice, but the point is that right now he is where he needs to be physically. The second reason is that the coaching staff seems to finally have settled on the proper role for Johnson -- a fourth-quarter battering ram to bludgeon tired defenses. Mack Brown spent a lot of time during the spring and beginning of fall practice talking about wanting to run a better four-minute drill at the end of games to kill the clock and maintain possession of the football. For that role, Johnson is the perfect weapon.

Johnson also wins this award because against Oklahoma he looked as quick as he ever have, but more importantly, he ran angry, with a purpose, instead of the tentative Johnson from earlier in the season. The end result -- five carries for 31 yards, helping him finish with the highest per-carry average on the team for the game, while also catching a pass out of the backfield for a six-yard gain. He won't ever be a big-play threat in the passing game, but if he can make himself available for McCoy to pick up positive yardage on otherwise well-defended plays it can provide a big lift to an offense struggling to find an identity.

The bottom line is that Johnson provides the Longhorns with a serious weapon in games that are close into the fourth quarter and in situations where Texas needs to kill the clock. Nice to see him finally deployed in a way that strategically makes sense other than his specialty, short-yardage situations.

Musical chairs at the receiver position. John Chiles took a beating in PB's Postgame React due to his inability to separate from defenders. Well deserved after catching two passes for one yard on the day, one of them on a slip screen that Oklahoma clealry saw coming, as they did not even bother to line up a defensvie back over him. Had he just run straight down the field he probably would have been open. James Kirkendoll picked up a personal foul penalty for head-butting Quinton Carter, who apparently took acting lessons this off season from former punter Mike Knall and would have made Vlade Divac or your average Argentinian basketball player proud with his subsequent flop. Kirkendoll caught three passes for 11 yards and may be the biggest disappointment in the receiving corps after so much off season talk about how consistently he runs routes. Besides the Wyoming game, Kirkendoll has provided little in the way of help this season on offense and has been giving questionable effort.

So, exit Kirkendoll and Chiles, enter Malcolm Williams and Marquise Goodwin. During his Monday press conference, Brown spoke about wanting to run the ball better to open up more play-action possibilities downfield, which is where Williams enters the equation. The bottom line is that the other receivers haven't produced, so it's time to finally, belatedly, see what Williams can do with his first shot at extended playing time. As for Goodwin, the touchdown catch and the diving play near the sideline illustrate just how good he can be with more opportunities. It's cliche now given that he's proven all season that he's a football player willing to put as much of a hit on defenders as he can, but it's true. He's a football player who also happens to be an all-world track star and the future at Texas is incredibly bright for that young man. It's also worth noting that Jordan Shipley will return to the flanker position that he occupied most of the last season after failing to create separation against Oklahoma's Brian Jackson, who surely raised his NFL stock with his strong performance on Saturday.

Tracking: playmaking defense. What a change a year can make. After forcing five turnovers against Oklahoma, with two coming on special teams, the Longhorns now have three more turnovers than they forced all of last season. Individually, Earl Thomas now has five interceptions, only one fewer than the team had as a whole in 2008 and good enough to tie for the national lead in that category. Apparently not content to allow his brother to recover all the fumbles, Emmanuel Acho joined the party with two fumble recoveries and would have had a chance at the fumble Thomas forced near the goalline had he broken down a little better instead of overrunning the football. Hey, at this point, if an Acho is around a loose football and doesn't recover it, it's a remarkable occurrence.

Curtis Brown and Deon Beasley, once regarded as the two least physical members of the entire defense, put hard hits on Oklahoma players to knock the ball out, with Beasley's play probably ranking as his best at Texas, though there really isn't much competition. Like Michael Huff and Aaron Ross before them, it's now time to say that Duane Akina has finally molded them into football players. At points last season, I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to say that about them.

Consider for a second the stats put up by Earl Thomas -- seven tackles, two for loss, three pass break ups, one forced fumble, and one interception. Thomas had huge expectations for growth entering the season and it's safe to say that he has fulfilled those expectations and perhaps even gone beyond them. His play on the interception was just beautiful -- he faked the blitz towards the line of scrimmage, then dropped back into coverage and showed off his excellent speed doing so. Kid is fun to watch and it will be a travesty if he doesn't win a Thorpe Award at Texas.

Speaking of which, he might end up with some serious competition from Aaron Williams, who recovered from the biggest mistake of his career, the missed tackle on the long touchdown by Ryan Broyles, by using his sick vertical leap to catch a pass that Landry Jones was trying to throw out of bounds. You can watch football for a long time and never see a more athletic pick than that. Oh yeah, and he also knocked the reigning Heisman winner out of the game. If Will Muschamp could engineer a nickel back, he would have a hard time making a more perfect player than Aaron Williams. Simply incredible.

It's easy to forget now how much the Longhorns had to replace on the defensive line losing four players who were essentially starters or major members of the rotation in Roy Miller, Brian Orakpo, Aaron Lewis, and Henry Melton. This group inside is playing about as well as you could ask -- even though Sergio Kindle doesn't have the gaudy sack numbers, every team slides their protection to his side of the field and he still makes plays, pressuring the quarterback and playing the running game so quickly and aggressively that he's able to consistently make plays up and down the line of scrimmage. The player that he has become in the last season and a half makes his usage through his first two seasons at Texas all the more criminal. Shame on you, Gene Chizik, Larry Mac Duff, and Duane Akina.

Sam Acho's play on the other side deserves plaudits as well -- he has made the jump predicted in his first season lagging heavy snaps. Then there's the interior of the line, supposedly a major weakness. Remember that? Seems so long ago, doesn't it, since we were all wringing our hands about the defensive tackle position? Lamarr Houston has been unbelievable and Ben Alexander continues to play extremely well in his last season on the 40 Acres. Kheeston Randall has held his own, but now has at least three roughing the passer penalties on the season and that needs to stop. Like, yesterday. Oscar Giles and Mike Tolleson both deserve a raise after the job they have done with this group. Phenomenal.

Tracking: special teams. The special teams may not have scored a touchdown on Saturday, but they sure worked hard at it. Deon Beasley's forced fumble along the sideline nearly led to a scoop and score by Malcolm Williams, but I still have no idea how the officials ended up determining that it was Texas ball at the OU 18. As mentioned below, the field goal kicking was perfect from Hunter Lawrence and the rubgy punt was much more effective this week from Justin Tucker, who did not kick the ball left-footed during the game.

Of his eight punts on the day, Tucker put three inside the Oklahoma 20 yardline and averaged 45 yards per attempt, including one 60-yarder. The concern is that he's having trouble consistently getting the ball to fall in front of opponents to get that good roll he consistently got last season, which creates another problem -- with the low, line-drive nature of the punts, it's easy to out-kick the coverage, especially if the punt travels 40 or more yards in the air. That precise scenario allowed Dominique Franks to return a punt 30 yards to midfield. After a week of evaluating whether to stick with the rugby punting or return to using John Gold, Brown clearly made the philosophical decision to stick with Tucker and that simply may be the way that Texas continues to punt in the future.

The return game was not as effective as it has been, with Shipley picking up negative yardage on his two punt returns and DJ Monroe failing to break off any long plays on his three returns. On the positive side, Antwan Cobb returned a sky kick 18 yards and Monroe was effective, averaging 25 yards a return, certainly enough to give the Longhorns the good field position they enjoyed for most of the day.

The Sooners made the smart decision to block Marquise Goodwin when punting, but Aaron Williams came free on the edge and nearly blocked the first attempt of the day. Good to see him return to action in that capacity. On the other side, the Longhorns covered kicks as well as they have this season, holding Mossis Madu to only 21 yards per return on the day.

Overall, it's clear that the Sooners have worked hard in the last year to shore up their kick coverage and did a passable job by not allowing any long returns by Jordan Shipley or DJ Monroe. However, it's equally clear that Texas will continue to win the special teams phase of the game if the Longhorns can continue to cover kicks and get good production of Justin Tucker rugby punting. And it should be a major relief to Texas fans that Hunter Lawrence proved himself so capable on such a pick stage. Way to go, kicker.

Randomness. Let's do this bullet-style.

The game plan running the football was excellent against Oklahoma with some actual misdirection and using DJ Monroe in motion on the jet sweep. Kudos to the coaching staff. The plan in the passing game? Not so much.
Recently, PB asked me about where I would rank this Texas defense and after that performance against Oklahoma, it has to rank right up there with 2005, but this team even seems to have a few more playmakers on it. Another performance like that against Missouri and I might be inclined to put them in front of that excellent 2005 unit.
Fozzy Whittaker won the Hard Hat award this week after crashing into Thomas following a personal foul committed by Oklahoma. Mack Brown said that the team had a good laugh about that at the meeting.
How clutch was Hunter Lawrence? Anyone who has watched teams like South Florida over the years knows that field goals of over 40 yards are far from gimmes in the college game and Lawrence nailed identical 42-yarders. You can bet that Bobby Petrino would have sacrificed one of his children to have someone that consistent against Florida this weekend.
Blake Gideon missed six tackles by himself against Oklahoma. Christian Scott let his team down terribly by failing to remain eligible and I wonder how his teammates will accept him back next season, assuming that he makes progress academically -- will it be hard for them to trust someone who left them hanging with his own selfishness?
Why has the offensive line been such a disaster in the first half of so many games, only to respond with sometimes-dominant performances in the second half? I love the ability to finish, but why the consistently poor play early?
You may have heard rumors about OU still sucking. Absolutely true.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 09.19.09

Seth C — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:07:54 -0000

Odds and Ends

Max Stallings: Last night I went to go see Max Stallings in Greenville (yep, Greenville) and it was a good time (i.e., open air venue, Lone Star on tap, and good music). If you've never heard of Stallings, it's quality Texas country, although I think that term may not mean the same thing to everyone. Give him a listen:

Runnin' Buddy - Max Stalling

Texas Tech Football

There Are No Defensive Ends: That's an exaggeration, there's one, Daniel Howard. LAJ's Don Williams reported last night that Brandon Sharpe did not travel with the team due to an "internal issue". Sharpe is officially out for the game. Just in case anyone wants to check, the dress roster (pdf) can be found on the official site under each game link. Williams does a good job of running down the options, including although if you read DTN carefully, you'll know that you need to watch where DT Richard Jones, LB Sam Fehoko and LB Bront Bird line up tonight.

Texas Tech Wants More: LAJ's Adam Zuvanich writes that the Red Raiders want more than what 2008 offered and knows that winning on the road against the top-tier teams is a big part of being a part of the elite:

That’s largely because the Red Raiders haven’t won at Texas or Oklahoma in more than a decade, and as a result, they haven’t beaten either team in back-to-back years since 1997 and ‘98. Leach, in his 10th season at Tech, has yet to beat UT and OU in the same year, and he didn’t have a winning record in Big 12 Conference road games until last fall.

Until Leach and the Red Raiders cross those items off their checklist, and prove they can beat the big boys on an annual basis, the rest of the world won’t be convinced that they can.

A win today would go a long way in that regard, and it certainly would vault Tech back into the top 25. And with a remaining schedule that includes five more ranked opponents – three of those games are on the road – anything is possible from there.

Dr. Saturday Knows it was the Defense in 2008: Dr. Saturday's Matt Hinton looks at the 2009 game, but acknowledges the difference in 2008 was the defense:

The difference in last year's win, without question, was the Raider defense, the only D to hold the 'Horns below 400 yards all season and a contributor of nine essential points on an early safety and a third quarter touchdown. By the time UT finally got on the board with a field goal in the second quarter -- which itself came on a short field following the Raiders' only turnover -- the Longhorn offense had been hit for a safety, stopped for three consecutive three-and-outs (four if you count the field goal "drive"), been outgained by more than 250 yards and trailed by three scores. Those first half heroics, the shining defensive moment of Leach's tenure, put the offense in a position to win even when Texas kicked into gear in the second half.

The Hurdle is Winning in Austin: LAJ's Don Williams also writes that Mike Leach's biggest hurdle thus far has been winning in Austin:

Something he’s never done is beat the University of Texas in Austin. It’s not getting any easier. With the latest expansion, capacity of Royal-Memorial Stadium is up to 100,119, meaning as far as the eye can see people wearing burnt orange will be rooting for No. 2 Texas to keep Leach oh-for-the decade in Austin.

"Maybe it’ll be the loudest place now," Leach said this week. "I’ve felt since I’ve been here that the loudest place is A&M."

LB Williams Got Out of Austin as Quickly as Possible: FWST's Dwain Price features LB Marlon Williams who never wanted to play for the Longhorns:

"I’ve never really liked Texas, actually," the Texas Tech senior weakside linebacker said. "If they offered me [a scholarship] I probably still wouldn’t have went there.

"I just never really have liked them as a team. I really actually wanted to go somewhere where I could actually play against them."

Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill likes what Williams did during the offseason:

"I gave him some assignments over the off-season to work on — change of directions, foot quickness, trust in his eyes and read — and he’s done those things," McNeill said. "He’s pulling the trigger, as Coach [Mike] Leach says. But the biggest thing he’s doing is he’s trusting the technique, and he’s really not hesitating on the field."

Texas Tech Links: RaiderAde's ayileen previews today's game . . . LAJ's Tale of the Tape . . .

Muschamp Game Plan: The Statesman's Suzanne Halliburton writes that UT defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has learned some lessons from last year, but this year, Texas Tech can expect to see more of the same:

"That's always our game plan, to get to the quarterback," said Texas defensive end Sergio Kindle. "Those guys are great blockers and they're massive human beings, so we're just going to have to see how that goes.

"That was the game plan last year, too. They had a good game blocking. Maybe we can take from what we saw and what we learned from last year and implement it to this year's package and see how we can modify it to be even better this year."

Texas Longhorn Links: What joy! Texas Tech is losing players by the hour, meanwhile, the NCAA has cleared UT's most experienced cornerback in Deon Beasley . . . DMN's Chuck Carlton writes that the UT secondary has learned lessons from 2008 . . . and LAJ's Adam Zuvanich also writes that the UT secondary has matured . . .

Ten Thoughts on Texas Football: Week One Notes

Peter Bean — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:41:51 -0000

Ah, sweet football returns. Unfortunately, yours truly got pulled away to a wedding in Bend, Oregon, filled with guests who didn't think an opening weekend wedding much a problem since the Ducks opened their season on Thursday evening. While I managed not to get sucker-punched, I did fall way behind on my football consumption. Time to start getting caught up... your week one thoughts are after the jump.

D.J. Monroe is faster than you.

All our anxiety about Fozzy Whittaker and whether Texas could find a big play threat at tailback? Gone. The anxiety now rests squarely with Fozzy and -- with the promising debut of redshirt freshman D.J. Monroe -- whether by the time he gets healthy there will be a role for him. Setting aside what it means for the depth chart, the most exciting aspect of what Monroe brings to the team is an explosiveness Texas is going to need to run the table this year. Whether they need it in a shootout with one of the Oklahomas or Missouri, or down the road against a top-tier bowl opponent like Florida (look familiar?), Monroe is precisely the kind of offensive weapon the Longhorns need to open up the field, provide big plays, and make defenses think. As good as McCoy has been, just wait and see what he and the offense are capable of with a guy like Monroe in the mix.
Speaking of Monroe, how good might the Texas special teams be this year? D.J. was the highlight on Saturday, but in the return game alone, don't be surprised to see if either Jordan Shipley and/or Aaron Williams run one back for six at some point this season, too. Texas has an All American-caliber punter in John Gold, a nifty niche guy in Justin Tucker, and two proven veterans (Hunter Lawrence and Ryan Bailey) pushing each other on place kicks. Throw in the nasty athleticism the Longhorns deploy on kick coverage, and you might be looking at the nation's best special teams.
Back to the tailbacks: Sophomore Cody Johnson is one of those guys who's easy both to overrate and underrate. On the one hand, his steadiness and inability to lose yards make him a tempting choice for a featured role... if you're trying to win the 1985 Big 10 championship. (The Texas coaching staff flirted with the idea in the spring, but, perhaps fortuitously, Johnson tweaked his hammy and the coaches thought the better of it.) On the other hand, in discussing what Cody is not it's easy to under-appreciate just how much value he adds to the team as a short distance and goal to-go specialist. If it's possible there's one aspect of Tim Tebow's game that actually manages to be underrated, it's in this role; the one time Tebow came up short last season, Ole Miss stunned the Gators to hand them their lone loss on the season.
And finally, what do we make of Vondrell McGee's performance? Obviously, rotten tomatoes on the two fumbles, but outside those two ill-fated carries, the junior accumulated a solid 77 yards on 13 carries (5.9 per), including a nice finisher at the goal line for six. The optimistic take here is that McGee's proven himself fumble-averse in the past and if he needed a reminder of its importance, best to have the slip up against ULM in the season opener. A McGee doubter may have noted Tre Newton's strong fall camp and 28 yards on 4 carries Saturday and begun to wonder whether there's about to be a logjam of competition for featured carries. Whatever your take, all should agree that the competition and increasingly promising looking set of options are good things.
It's an absolute joy to watch Rodderick Muckelroy play football. At Texas, we're treated to scores of outrageously athletic and talented kids, but there's a third dimension to truly special players -- guys who so clearly live and breathe the game -- and Muck's got it in spades. He understands the game, wants to understand the game, drinks it all in, and plays with that unbridled passion that you can't teach. We're lucky to have him.
Because it's our team, and our obsession, we've been hyper-focused on what this Texas defense lacks (proven play at DT, outside Houston), but I think on Saturday we started to see why the strength everywhere else led me to conclude that "it's the defense that gives me the most confidence Texas can run the table." For starters, the talent Texas is fielding at defensive end is simply unfair. Kindle got the preseason press and Sam Acho looks poised to have the breakout season we expected. And then there's Alex Okafor, who I honestly thought might have to go through a year of dealing with outsized expectations from the fanbase before breaking through; after watching him in the spring, fall, and week one, I think he's ahead of where Brian Orakpo was as a true freshman and has a legitimate chance to develop into the #1 overall NFL Draft pick in four years.

At linebacker, the situation is so strong that Jared Norton's ankle injury isn't a major concern. We've already discussed Muck, but both Keenan Robinson (one of My Guys this year) and Emmanuel Acho look more than just ready for big minutes -- they demand them. Hell, even Dustin Earnest is starting to look like he can contribute quality minutes if need be, surprising me much like Georgia fans must have been surprised by the contributions of a one Will Muschamp 20 years ago.

As for the secondary? Its quality won't be catching anyone by surprise, but even today it's worth stepping back to contemplate just how silly the situation really is -- when guys like Deon Beasley can't crack the starting lineup, Ben Wells can't crack the two deep, and someone as supremely talented as Christian Scott better get his act together (on and off the field) if he expects to play. There's simply no room for error, no matter your pedigree: kick ass or sit down.

All told, this is, at the least, a defense whose glaring weakness is a problem fans can confront without panic, and whose upside is the potential to become as good as we've seen on the 40 Acres in the last 25 years.
I've been clamoring all off-season about how disappointed I'd be if Texas brought in Garrett Gilbert to run-run-run-punt away the fourth quarters of games. He's only getting his feet wet and we needn't overly-celebrate his delightful debut, but at least where his performance was an indication that Mack Brown and Greg Davis intend to play the second team offense, I couldn't be more pleased. If the opposition can't stop the second team, it's their problem not ours. Keep it coming, coaches.
We've talked a lot about the competition for playing time in the secondary, but what about the army of talent at wide receiver? And how about Dan Buckner? We'll find out more about how well Texas can slide in and out of the blocking/receiving tight end sets with impunity, but the early returns on Texas' flex-threat are terrific. There aren't many defenses who can stop this offense spread out four wide, especially if the running backs are making defenses pay for selling out on the pass.
I, for one, am glad Texas was far from perfect on Saturday night. No question, they were sufficiently impressive, but one of my worries for this team was that things would come just a little bit too easy in the early going. The Texas Longhorns online presence is a magnifiently rich one, but perhaps even more so than godfathers like Geoff Ketchum at Orangebloods, I'm not sure anyone has devoted more words to analyzing Mack Brown from a big picture perspective than I have. Part of that's five years at this website and three years writing The Eyes of Texas magazines, and part of that's just the fact that I can't control my word counts, but the biggest reason I've hammered out so many words on this topic is that I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about it. None of which is to say I'm the authority on Texas football (you won't find a better post-game breakdown than this guy's, for example), but you won't find many out there who have so systematically analyzed Mack Brown and the Texas program from a big picture perspective during his tenure.

I point all that out to qualify my argument that there was as much value in Saturday's bad moments as good. This should all probably be a post of its own, but for now, at least, the Cliff's Notes: First, I'm glad Colt McCoy threw an interception. One of the keys to Texas' offense improving upon 2008 depends firmly upon Greg Davis not feeling comfortable with the idea that he can just ride Colt McCoy's exceptional talents. To be sure, Texas can be very, very good just riding McCoy's coattails, but to give the team the best chance of running the regular season and, should it do so, maximize its chances of beating a ridiculously great team like Florida, the Texas offense needs to be as well-rounded and explosive as possible. We want to put Colt in a position to bring home the trophy because defenses have to key on more than just him; to the extent that Colt's early mistakes open Davis's eyes to the idea of building a more robust offense, they are a positive.

Second, I'm glad Vondrell McGee fumbled the football. Related to the first point, mistakes like McGee's in non-contests serve a dual purpose -- reinforcing among the players that the details matter, and among the coaches that the competition for playing time must be a season-long evaluation. You perform, you play. Nothing else matters.

Third, I'm glad that the defense allowed 20 points. Because right now, Will Muschamp is either literally or metaphorically out there with his defense, staring at the Jumbotron, out of his mind with rage that he has to see the number 20 beneath the visitors' name. Watching his post-game press conference was both amusing and awe-inspiring; it was literally all Muschamp could do to sit there and answer questions about a game in which his defense had mostly played well. He rushed through his answers, visibly annoyed, and visibly eager to get back in the locker room to get to work.

Fourth, I'm glad that Chykie Brown got smoked. I'm a huge fan of Chykie Brown, I love his go-go-gadget arms, his long strides, and his passion to man up a great receiver. But I'm an even bigger fan of top talent feeling challenged. A healthy Chykie Brown is as important to your defensive game plan against Danario Alexander, Detron Lewis, Dezmon Briscoe, and Dez Bryant as anything else, and this defense will be all the better if he feels as much pressure as everyone else in Texas' ridiculously talented and deep secondary to perform at the highest level possible, week in and week out.

There were other disappointments, but that's more than enough to make the point I want to hit: Mack Brown was right when he said on Saturday night that that was likely "the worst that we'll play all year," but it's important not because of what he said -- standard coachspeak, for the most part -- but because this is a team and coaching staff that seems genuinely focused on, and hungry for, excellence. This is a team and a program hitting its peak precisely because it learned the hard way that showing up with better talent only gets you so far, and that being your best means looking for and studying weaknesses, building on them to achieve your potential.

If all that sounds just a bit too abstract to consider, just remember that my big picture approach has always been an effort to better understand what we see on the field. And while a big part of that is how the players perform, at least as much is determined by Mack Brown and how he prepares them for battle. In that sense, consider me pleased that the team has plenty to work on in the weeks ahead.
Texas fans' eyes are rightly trained on 2009 as The Year to make the run at the BCS Title, but depending on the offensive line and how much Garrett Gilbert develops this year, is there any reason to be any less excited about what's ahead in 2010? The list of important, incredibly talented freshmen and sophomores who look like they're going to start contributing now, and will be even better a year from now, is a long one: Monroe, Newton, C. Johnson, Dan Buckner, Marquise Goodwin, Malcolm Williams, Aaron Williams, Earl Thomas, Alex Okafor, Keenan Robinson, Emmanuel Acho, Blake Gideon, Kheeston Randall, Calvin Howell... We could list others, but just let that sink in for a moment. There's a reason upperclassmen like Deon Beasley weren't cracking the starting line up in August. And don't even get me started on my excitement for a number of these guys. This football program changed on November 23, 2007 and the best of that change is just getting started.

SB Nation Big 12 Preview: Texas Longhorns Team Capsule

Peter Bean — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:02:25 -0000

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

Before he hands Will Muschamp the keys to the machine, Mack Brown wants another national title at Texas.

Browse more photos »

The SB Nation Big 12 preview will post on Friday at The Ralphie Report. The following is the Texas team capsule for the conference-wide preview piece.

When Texas has the ball: Texas returns 8 starters (Lost: RB, Chris Ogbonnaya, WR Quan Cosby, RG Cedric Dockery) from an offense a year ago that averaged a healthy 6.5 yards per play. The name everyone knows is ~~deserving~~ Heisman ~~winner~~ runner-up Colt McCoy, who led the team in rushing attempts and rushing yards in 2008. He also did a little passing: Following an up-and-down sophomore season, McCoy transformed into a robot last season, setting the single-season NCAA record for completion percentage in a season (76.7%), throwing a school record 34 touchdowns against just 8 interceptions. If there's a legitimate critique of last year's outstanding offense, it would have to be the razor thin margins on which the Longhorns relied; looking forward to this fall, Texas would like to rely less on McCoy being a superhuman by bolstering the running game and finding more big plays.

The running game: Texas wasn't a poor rushing team a year ago, but the rushing attack was inconsistent and prone to disappear, necessitating McCoy's otherworldly performances to keep the engine humming. The offensive line is experienced, if not spectacular, returning four starters (LT Adam Ulatoski, LG Charlie Tanner, C Chris Hall, and RT Kyle Hix) who, combined with RG Michael Huey (3 starts in '08) enter the fall with 90 career starts between them. Both starting tackles are excellent in pass protection, but the question for this line will be their ability to create running room in the rushing offense. To that end, Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis appears committed to introducing more plays under center and more man blocking, but for the offense to truly reach its fullest potential, the unit will need to open holes in the running game when McCoy is in its favored 11-personnel, with McCoy in the shotgun, flanked by a tailback. Like last year, a triumvirate of tailbacks will rotate situationally, with Vondrell McGee the likely nominal starter, Fozzy Whittaker the do-it-all Ogbonnaya role, and Cody Johnson the short yardage specialist.

The passing game: Replacing departed WR Quan Cosby won't exactly be a cinch, but if Texas fails to do so, an impressive number of promising candidates would have to fail. In the spring, the speedy James Kirkendoll (now also having a great fall camp) got the starting nod at the Sub-B wideout position formerly occupied by Cosby, but fans are watching fellow junior Brandon Collins closely as well, particularly after Colt McCoy commented at Big 12 media days that Collins was poised to break out for a tremendous season. Behind those two, a small army of unproven young talents will compete for playing time, among them converted QB John Chiles, as well as the speedy DeSean Hales (RS-Fr), DJ Monroe (RS-Fr) and Marquise Goodwin (True Freshman). Returning to man the flanker position is The Roommate, Jordan Shipley, a 1000-yard receiver in 2008 with 11 touchdowns. On the outside, Texas expects big things from third-year sophomore Malcolm Williams, whose football skills are catching up to his outrageous athletic talent. (Expecting an update on the tight end position? It's cursed, thank you very little; we decline to name names.)

When opponents have the ball: If Texas is on your television screen on January 7th in Pasadena, this unit will be the reason. Don't get us wrong: Colt McCoy deserves all the attention and accolades, but it's the potential of this defensive unit that makes us most confident in Texas' chances to roll through the conference unblemished.

Rush defense: The Longhorns held opponents to a paltry 3.05 yards per rushing attempt last season, but they lose three starters -- DT Roy Miller and DEs Brian Orakpo and Henry Melton -- to the NFL. Texas faces serious questions about the viability of the DT position in particular this fall, with only the exceptional Lamarr Houston returning. Vying for viability alongside him will be the senior situation space eater Ben Alexander, unproven sophomore Kheeston Randall, and recently converted offensive lineman Tray Allen. None of them needs to be spectacular, but at least one needs to prove himself capable of solid, block-eating play for 30-35 snaps a game. The rest of the work can be done by the talented, probably underrated, group of defensive ends and linebackers who will rotate heavily to keep everyone fresh. Everyone knows about Sergio Kindle, but by November, expect ends Eddie Jones and Sam Acho to be names every Big 12 quarterback knows as well. As for the linebackers, Texas has four players we absolutely love ready to lead what will prove to be the best tackling team in the conference: Rod Muckelroy, Jared Norton, Keenan Robinson, and Emmanuel Acho,

Pass defense: Two words come to mind: Un. Fair. The secondary may not prove as statistically dominant as Will Muschamp's 2003 title-winning LSU squad (too much help in run support for that, we suspect), but they'll make just as many big plays, and give top receivers in the conference more than a few forgettable nights. Both Earl Thomas and Aaron Williams look like First Team Big 12-level performers, Chykie Brown's not far behind, and Blake Gideon, Christian Scott, Curtis Brown, and Deon Beasley would comfortably start for at least 9 schools in the conference. This group is damn good.

The schedule: You could call it a two-game schedule (vs OU in Dallas, at Oklahoma State) and wouldn't draw much argument from the gallery. Beyond those two monsters, Texas's next three toughest tests all come at home: Texas Tech, Colorado, and Kansas. A road trip to Missouri on their homecoming might be a potential trap game (sandwiched between the two Oklahomas), but with a new quarterback and a questionable defensive line and secondary, an upset would be truly stunning. As for the non-conference schedule... well... maybe Texas just wanted to welcome home Bill Snyder? Yeah, that's it.

The outlook: Anything short of a 12-0 trip to the Rose Bowl will disappoint Texas fans, and for good reason. The talent cycle hits a peak this year, there's experience, skill talent, depth, and a favorable schedule. And some bitterness, too. Texas rightly felt hosed by the BCS system last season and will approach this season with a sense of focus, urgency, and more than a little hostility. That's a good thing for a program under Mack Brown that struggles when it's comfortable. All eyes on Dallas, then, for one of the biggest regular season football games of the last decade. We predict a Texas win and, two months later, a return trip to Vince Young Stadium West.

Poll

Predict Texas' losses in 2009.

None -- See you in Pasadena.

554 votes

1 -- Oklahoma

35 votes

1 -- Oklahoma State

64 votes

1 -- Other

18 votes

2 -- OU and Oklahoma State

19 votes

2 -- Other

7 votes

3 or more

1 votes

698 votes | Poll has closed

My Guys, 2009

Peter Bean — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:02:40 -0000

More photos » by Donna McWilliam - AP

Unpredictable: Colt McCoy's Heisman-worthy production in 2008. Predictable: Heisman voters would get it wrong. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

Browse more photos »

One of my favorite pieces to read prior to each MLB season is Joe Sheehan's "My Guys" column, penned before each year to highlight those players Joe is eyeballing for a breakout season, yet who aren't receiving big time hype. Translating that to Texas football, I'm looking for those guys (limit of five) who might surprise a lot of folks with how well they play this year -- those with the highest production-to-hype ratio. Malcolm Williams was one of My Guys last year, but doesn't qualify this year because the hype amongst fans has ratcheted way up.

Before offering My Guys for 2009, a quick review of My Guys from a season ago:

Lamarr Houston had a fine, fine year -- even his off-field mistake wound up something of a positive -- but I probably overestimated his immediate impact a smidge. Moving inside from end to tackle, Houston was an outstanding complement to Roy Miller, but the senior Miller was the DT MVP.

Deon Beasley was something of a goat to many fans last year, as his coverage mistakes were highly visible ones and his lack of run support stood out on a Muschamp-directed team full of tacklers. Still, he was mostly outstanding in pass coverage -- far better than most gave him credit for -- and if he decides the NFL might want to see him do some hitting this year, he's got Tarell Brown upside.

Sam Acho had three sacks and nine quarterback hurries and played well as a back up, but the breakout season came from Melton. Acho is primed to shine this year.

Maclolm Williams was a bit of a disappointment out of the gate, simply because he looked so tentative with the ball in his hands. By the end of the year, he was going up and snagging balls at the highest point, one of the team's best special teams players, a ferocious blocker, and a big play threat who only needed a tight end to help him spring free. The best is yet to come.

Michael Huey was a flat out disappointment. When Charlie Tanner went down to injury in September, I thought Huey would keep the starting spot with excellent play, but he was terribly inconsistent. The strength and skills are there; hopefully in year three the light comes on mentally.

Looking at My Guys from 2008, I might have been a year early across the board. I like all five to have "step forward" years this fall.

Finally, while we're here, how about a 2008 All-Breakout Team. If these guys were Your Guys, I'm looking forward to hearing your picks for this year:

2008 All-Breakout Team

David Snow, C
Henry Melton, DE
Colt McCoy, QB
Chris Ogbonnaya, RB
Aaron Williams, CB
Roy Miller, DT
Rod Muckelroy, LB

My five guys for 2009, after the jump.

MY GUYS, 2009

Chykie Brown, CB -- He's an Aaron Ross clone. Same size, similar skill set and disruptive potential. Not that his talent is much of a secret, but he played hurt throughout most of 2008. If he plays the full season healthy, he's a huge reason Texas gets to Pasadena. Especially in the Big 12, and especially with our question marks on the defensive line, Brown's ability to deal with every team's 1A receiver gives Muschamp breathing room to do all sorts of fun stuff.

Fozzy Whittaker, RB -- I'm bullish on Vondrell McGee, but I tingle a little bit thinking about what Fozzy can do for this team if he stays healthy. In this offense, he could score a half dozen receiving touchdowns out of the backfield, if he earns the coaches' trust to do all the little things a guy like Chris Ogbonnaya did so well. Whittaker could easily be for Texas what Baron Batch was for Texas Tech a year ago.

Keenan Robinson, LB -- Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rod Muckelroy's replacement in 2010. He'll be dandy as a back up in 2009, as well. The kid tackles so soundly, plays sideline to sideline, and understands how to flow to the ball, avoid/shed blocks, and make the play. Not flashy, just great. He's ready.

Aaron Williams, DB -- It's utterly silly that this guy is going to be a true sophomore. It's utterly silly how much talent Texas is fielding in their defensive backfield, period. I've already said nice things about Chykie Brown and Deon Beasley; Williams may have the most upside of the bunch, and we haven't yet mentioned Christian Scott, Blake Gideon, Curtis Brown, or Earl Thomas. The biggest question surrounding Williams is how best to deploy him: Does Muschamp rotate him as the do-it-all nickelback with the exceptional Earl Thomas? Stick him at corner and douse the opposing passing game with piss and vinegar? There's not much Williams can't do, and he's one big reason why this backfield is as good as was Muschamp's 2003 title-winning group at LSU.

DJ Grant, TE -- Texas's offense needs a tight end. Blaine Irby isn't available. And DJ Grant is as good a candidate as Texas has to fill the role. We don't know how his strength will hold up in a blocking role, but he won't be asked to move mountains here -- just be solid. More than anything, we need a guy who can run the seven yard curl, and dart down the seam to keep safeties from cheating.

And now, you: Who are Your Guys for 2009? And most importantly, why?

2nd Annual SB Nation Big 12 All-Conference Team Ballot

RPT — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:30:08 -0000

Our Colorado cohorts at The Ralphie Report have once again solicited the powers that be in the Big 12 Blogosphere here at SB Nation to determine the SB Nation Preseason All-Big 12 Team. As Rock M Nation's representative in the voting process, here's how my ballot will appear. It must be noted that bloggers are NOT allowed to vote for players on teams they cover. As an aside, I must give a major shoutout to the SB Nation tech team, whose "Autotag" tool probably just imploded upon linking this post.

On to the ballot!

Quarterback (2)

Nominees: Jerrod Johnson (TAMU), Austen Arnaud (ISU), Taylor Potts (TTU), Sam Bradford (OU), Zac Robinson (OSU), Blaine Gabbert, Robert Griffin (BU), Colt McCoy, Todd Reesing (KU), Daniel Thomas (KSU)

The Vote: Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford

Notes: You can go around looking for ways to justify other picks, but it's going to be McCoy and Bradford at the top. I'm just glad we're selecting two quarterbacks so I don't have to decide between them and draw the ire of one of the fan bases. At the same time, you've got to feel for Reesing, Robinson and Griffin, dynamic players who'd be shoo-ins in a lot of other conferences.

Running Back (2)

Nominees: Roy Helu Jr. (NU), Cyrus Gray (TAMU), Christine Michael (TAMU), Chris Brown (OU), DeMarco Murray (OU), Kendall Hunter (OSU), Derrick Washington, Darrell Scott (CU), Rodney Stewart (CU), Jay Finley (BU), Jake Sharp (KU), Cody Johnson (UT), Vondrell McGee (UT), Foswhitt Whittaker (UT)

The Vote: Kendall Hunter, Chris Brown, DeMarco Murray

Notes: I went with the Oklahoma trio here. Kendall Hunter may well be the best back in the conference. Brown and Murray are a formidable 1-2 punch, assuming Murray is capable of staying healthy in 2009. Derrick Washington would have been my pick over one of these two had the blogger/player restrictions not been in place. I fought with including Roy Helu on the ballot. Helu came on hot at the end of 2008 (he averaged almost 10 yards a carry in a 157-yard day at Oklahoma) and could very well prove me wrong. Darrell Scott still has a lot to prove.

Fullback (1)

Nominees: Matt Clapp (OU), Jake Behrens (CU)

The Vote: Matt Clapp

Notes: I see no reason to unseat the reigning All-Big 12 fullback.

Wide Receiver (3)

Nominees: Ryan Tannehill (TAMU), Jeff Fuller (TAMU), Darius Darks (ISU), Detron Lewis (TTU), Edward Britton (TTU), Dez Bryant (OSU), Danario Alexander, Jared Perry, David Gettis (BU), Dezmon Briscoe (KU), Jordan Shipley (UT), Kerry Meier (KU), Brandon Banks (KSU), Jonathan Wilson (KU), Malcolm Williams (UT)

The Vote: Dez Bryant, Dezmon Briscoe, Jordan Shipley

Notes: Bryant has the unenviable task of trying to replace Michael Crabtree as the conference's best receiver, even though some call Bryant "a superior receiver" to Crabtree. Briscoe continues to be undervalued by the conference as a whole, and Shipley -- one of the conference's most consistent producers over the last few seasons -- has seen his stock rise in the national eye since last year's Red River Shootout. Honorable mentions go out to Kerry Meier, Brandon Banks and Detron Lewis, and player to watch mentions go out to Jeff Fuller and Malcolm Williams.

Rest of the ballot after the jump!

Tight End (2)

Nominees: Mike McNeill (NU), Jamie McCoy (TAMU), Jermaine Gresham (OU), Andrew Jones, Riar Geer (CU), Patrick Devenny (CU), Tim Biere (KU)

The Vote: Jermaine Gresham and Mike McNeill

Notes: Gresham is the no-brainer with the first vote. I know we're supposed to scoff at Nebraska right now, but I feel like McNeill is the only Husker that's being underhyped. A tight end like that is a tremendous asset in the process of breaking in a new quarterback.

Offensive Line (5)

Nominees: Jacob Hickman (NU), Mike Smith (NU), Brandon Carter (TTU), Marlon Winn (TTU), Trent Williams (OU), Brady Bond (OSU), Russell Okung (OSU), Kurtis Gregory, Elvis Fisher, Dan Hoch, Tim Barnes, Nate Solder (CU), Ryan Miller (CU), Adam Ulatoski (UT), Chris Hall (UT), Nick Stringer (KSU), JD Walton (Baylor), James Barnard (BU), Charlie Tanner (UT), Jeremiah Hatch (KU), Kyle Hixx (UT)

The Vote: Brandon Carter, Trent Williams, Russell Okung, Adam Ulatoski, Chris Hall

Notes: I'd be lying to you if I said I had hard and fast reasoning for selecting individual lineman. I do hope the other Big 12 bloggers give some love to Gregory and Barnes, who we've extolled here at RMN many times.

Interior D-Line (2)

Nominees: Ndamukong Suh (NU), Eddie Brown (Texas A&M), Colby Whitlock (Texas Tech), DeMarcus Granger (OU), Gerald McCoy (OU), Jaron Baston, Jeffrey Fitzgerald (KSU), Lamarr Houston (UT)

The Vote: Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy

Notes: Another relatively painless selection. Even a second team of any two of the trio of Granger, Fitzgerald and Houston would be extremely stout.

Defensive End (2)

Nominees: Pierre Allen (NU), Barry Turner (NU), Matt Featherston (TAMU), Jeremy Beal (OU), Auston English (OU), Brian Coulter, Jacquies Smith, Brandon Herald (KSU), Jake Laptad (KU), Sergio Kindle (UT)

The Vote: Sergio Kindle, Auston English

Notes: I know Jeremy Beal is getting most of the pundit love at DE for Oklahoma, but I remain a massive apologist for English when he's healthy. Maybe it's all just fallout from seeing English singlehandedly dominate Mizzou in person in Norman back in 2007. And, oh yeah, Sergio Kindle is a physical freak of nature.

Linebacker (4)

Nominees: Von Miller (TAMU), Brian Duncan (TTU), Marlon Williams (TTU), Keenan Clayton (OU), Travis Lewis (OU), Patrick Lavine (OSU), Sean Weatherspoon, Luke Lambert, Jeff Smart (CU), Shaun Mohler (CU), BJ Beatty (CU), Joe Pawelek (BU), Andre Sexton (OSU), Rod Muckelroy (UT)

The Vote: Joe Pawelek, Andre Sexton, Travis Lewis, Von Miller

Notes: Let's all take a moment to pour one out for Sean Weatherspoon, who is required to be left off my ballot. Pawelek enters what seems like his 37th year of eligibility at Baylor. Sexton and Lewis are relatively safe picks, while I take my one big departure from security and select A&M's Von Miller as my fourth 'backer. Miller is really more of a "project pick" here, as he's got the physical skills to be as good any other linebacker nominated if he's able to carve out his own role in Joe Kines' system. If it all comes together, Miller could turn into the type of player Kines had in Demeco Ryans at Alabama.

Cornerback (2)

Nominees: Leonard Johnson (ISU), Jamar Wall (TTU), Dominique Franks (OU), Perrish Cox (OSU), Carl Gettis, Jimmy Smith (CU), Cha'pelle Brown (CU), Josh Moore (KSU), Justin Thornton (KU), Daymond Patterson (KU), Chykie Brown (UT), Deon Beasley (UT)

The Vote: Dominique Franks, Josh Moore

Notes: A surprisingly solid list of nominees here. Franks was a second team All-Big 12 selection last year, and Moore quietly had a good year in the midst of a forgettable season for K-State. Brown would have been next on my radar, with Johnson, Wall, and Beasley close behind.

Safety (2)

Nominees: Larry Asante (NU), Trent Hunter (TAMU), Jordan Pugh (TAMU), Kenji Jackson, Jordan Lake (BU), Earl Thomas (UT), Blake Gideon (UT), Darrell Stuckey (KU), Phillip Strozier (KU)

The Vote: Jordan Lake, Darrell Stuckey

Notes: I'm probably drawing the wrath of the Burnt Orange Nation community by excluding two very talented young safeties in Earl Thomas and Blake Gideon, but Lake and Stuckey are certainly deserving of the nods here. Lake means to the Baylor defensive backfield what Pawelek means to Baylor's linebacking corps. Stuckey was ALL over the field at Arrowhead last year, and has to be the top safety in the Big 12 North (this despite my almost irrational love of Kenji Jackson).

Kicker (1)

Nominees: Alex Henery (NU), Hunter Lawrence (UT)

The Vote: Alex Henery

Notes: Hard to make the call here, but the cannon attached to Henery's hip gave Nebraska the win that COMPLETELY changed the outlook for the Huskers in 2009.

Punter (1)

Nominees: Mike Brandtner (ISU), Jake Harry, Derek Epperson (BU), Ryan Doerr (KSU), Alonzo Rojas (KU)

The Vote: Derek Epperson

Notes: Epperson is the returning leader in punt average, which is good enough for me. My apologies to Jake Harry.... THE FOURTH.

Kick Returner (1)

Nominees: Cyrus Gray (TAMU), Leonard Johnson (ISU), Perrish Cox (OSU), Dez Bryant (OSU), Jordan Shipley (UT)

The Vote: Perrish Cox

Notes: Cox and Bryant are somewhat interchangeable here, and since Bryant's already feeling the love, I decided to go with Cox. I would have had no qualms with Shipley in this slot either.

Recruiting Spotlight: Marcus Davis

GhostofBigRoy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:24:55 -0000

With Signing Day rapidly approaching and the great majority of the Longhorns' 2009 class already committed, it's time to look at each individual prospect.

Vitals

Name: Marcus Davis

Position: Cornerback

Height: 6-1

Weight: 192

Speed: 4.47 40-yard dash

High School: Clear Creek

Rating (Rivals): Four out of five (Five stars from Scout)

Strengths

The hallmark of every great cornerback is recovery speed -- the ability to make up for a misstep or poor read on the play and still have the speed to impact the play. A perfect example was a play during the Army All-American game in which Davis was beaten, but had the speed to recover and break up the pass -- in fact the only throw that came in his direction during that game, a remarkable sign of consistency from Davis, absolutely crucial for cornerbacks.

Coaches love seeing potential recruits and commitments take part in summer mini-camps, because it pits top players against other top competition, the type of match ups that don't occur often in high school football. Davis didn't disappoint, as his name was the first coming off the lips of the wide receiver attendees, with Davis saying that he did not give up any big plays at all, a performance that would have been similar to his appearance in the Army game, in which he did not allow any receptions.

It wasn't a surprise that Davis allowed nothing during his time on the field during the game, since he and his West defensive back teammates dominated during the week of practice ($). Davis showed off his physical nature by crunching Patrick Patterson after he caught a hitch and knocking the ball free, an ability noticeably absent from the Longhorns secondary last season -- that of forcing turnovers. All week Davis made receivers pay for catching passes, a rarity for cornerbacks and a main reason recruiting services think so highly of him.

Davis has the size and skills to play safety, never more evident than in his ability to provide support in the running game ($), tackling with form reminiscent of Aaron Williams, wrapping up and driving his legs to finish the play. Further, Davis takes good angles when playing safety and does a good job of working his way through traffic.

Muschamp likes to blitz use his safeties and cornerbacks to blitz at times to keep quarterbacks guessing where the pressure will come from and Davis shows the ability to get to the quarterback and finish the play, recording four sacks as a senior, often finishing with big hits.

As a cornerback Davs is a little bit raw, but has great ball skills, able to attack the ball at its apex and maintain proper body position to properly track the ball. Where Davis really excels though is in zone coverage, where he can read and react to underneath routes and punish receivers for making catches.

There have been several players, like Patrick Nkwopara and Kenny Vaccaro, mentioned as possible special teams contributors early in their Texas careers, but Marcus Davis fits into a different category of special teams contributor. More than any other player in the class, Davis could be a dynamic return man for Texas with his rare blend of top-end speed and ability to reach that speed extremely quickly.

Weaknesses

Since Davis excels in zone coverage, it stands to reason that jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage is not his strength, tough he was physical in the practices leading up to the Army game. With his relatively large frame for a cornerback, Davis should have the tools to learn the proper techniques at the college level and it's unclear why he struggled in high school to do so. The other aspect of his game that he struggles with is his ability to play man-to-man coverage, as those skills are still quite raw. That rawness manifests itself as a result of his questionable lateral quickness and flexibility, serious concerns for a cornerback who will likely be asked to play a lot of man defense in college. Davis also has issues with defending vertical routes, as his lack of flexibility keeps him from consistently sinking into his back pedal to turn and run with receivers.

Verdict

Like all the other defensive back recruits in the class, Davis has the skills to play safety along with cornerback. While Eryon Barnett is a cornerback who might project at safety, Davis is a cornerback with some safety skills and will almost certainly stay at the cornerback position because of pure numbers. The other consideration is that each cornerback/safety hybrid exists along a continuum ranging from cornerback skills to safety skills, with Davis falling on the cornerback side, despite some his issues as a man-to-man defender.

It's difficult to overstate how important it is to have large cornerbacks. A lot of teams in the Big 12 like to run wide receivers screens, which means that cornerbacks have to be strong enough and willing enough to fight through blockers to make plays. With the size of Texas and good receiving prospects coming out of the state every matriculating (that's for you, BZ) at Big 12 schools, there are physically dominate receivers like Dez Bryan, Michael Crabtree, and Dezmon Briscoe in the league every year.

In addition to needing cornerbacks to match up physically with large receivers, the members of the secondary are the last line of defense against large running backs steaming into and through the second level. The difference between Deon Beasley being back there or Aaron Williams being back there could well be the difference between six points and a touchdown-saving tackle.

With Ryan Palmer leaving an open spot in the cornerback rotation and Davis the only corner in the class, he should see playing time as a nickel or dime back his freshman year. How much playing time he receivers depends on his ability to pick up on the nuances of playing the position that he currently lacks, as the Longhorn coaching staff hasn't shown the ability to teach zone techniques, even though guys like Davis and Eryon Barnett excel in zone coverage.

His playing time may also depend on how far into the doghouse Deon Beasley descends, since Davis is larger and more physical in the running game. It may be that Beasley has slid much further in the minds of Longhorn fans than he actually has with the coaches. Perhaps the best comparison for Davis is Aaron Williams, another large, highly-rated and form-tackling cornerback who played in some nickel situations as a freshman. Expect a similar trajectory for Davis, aided by his early enrollment and ability to participate in spring practice.

Marcus Davis Sophomore Highlights (via InsideTexas)