SBNation.com User Blog: John Kocurek

Mack Brown and Texas Longhorns football are creatures of habit

John Kocurek — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:31:48 -0000

I worry that something has gone seriously wrong with the way we run companies. If you read the media coverage of our company, or of the technology industry in general, it's always about the competition. The stories are written as if they are covering a sporting event. But it's hard to find actual examples of really amazing things that happened solely due to competition." --- Larry Page

When you were in high school, this is how your football practice went: you stretched for ten minutes, went through 20-30 minutes of drills, had run and pass shell, then finished with full team scrimmages, about one play every minute, with special teams worked in someplace.

Since you are in your 30s or 40s, it's safe to assume that your football career peaked well before anybody knew what a spread offense was (aside from the few experimenters who were genuinely ahead of their time). Football has taken a few steps forward since then, some bigger than others, and the game as we know it today barely resembles at all the game from 1985, when 10-7 finals were commonplace.

West Virginia, for instance, has spent the last decade putting up offensive numbers unthinkable to even the most powerful football factories, never mind being a small (but proud) school in an area known more for black lung, obesity and incest than it is for sports. I have West Virginia hill folk ancestry which am allows me to say things like this. Why West Virginia?

Why are Louisiana Tech, Texas A&M, or Oregon the new models for offensive success, instead of Texas, USC, or Michigan? It's because they've all taken the next step in streamlining their preparation.

If you're here, then you have read all the same things I have over the last 3 years: Texas needs to hit more, Texas needs to be more physical, Texas needs to recruit tougher/better/bigger/smaller/faster players. Those things may be true (even the a few of the contradictions), but there is a bigger issue that goes both seen and unseen, because it's so familiar to most observers that it doesn't stand out as an issue. Texas practices like this: they stretch for ten minutes, they go through 20-30 minutes of drills, have run and pass shell, then finish with full team scrimmages, about one play every minute, with special teams worked in someplace.

All that's missing is the one ornery old fat guy who doesn't think you need water until after practice.

Texas is a conservative state, with largely conservative institutions. For this piece, please keep in mind that "conservative" is not a political term. I am not advocating liberalism, insulting your belief system, or making any economic/governmental judgments whatsoever. To be a conservative, in the context of this piece, simply means to want to conserve the lifestyle or belief system you are used to. Texas football is no exception, to the extent of a larger-than-you-would-expect subculture of fans that has absolutely fetishized the fullback position based on games played 4-5 decades ago.

The problem with conservatism is the same problem Texas football seems to have run in to; systems that worked in the past may not work now, due to massive changes in the world around us. Progressive attitudes are required, at some point, as the world keeps progressing. America has ebbed and flowed back and forth between conservative and liberal leadership simply because that's how institutions survive. One can't exist without the other. Progressives take a step; conservatives see to it that the footing is sure.

Each time a progressive wave rushes across the country, it acts as a culling device, picking off weak or outdated, allowing forward only the institutions that successfully negotiate the new landscape. We've seen this a number of times across every possible platform. Civil rights turned powerful southern politicians into embarrassing dinosaurs. Internet commerce turned proud brick and mortar corporations into cautionary tales for the next generation of business leaders. The spread put Mack Brown in his grave. This is partially a story of how he once guessed right and how he once guessed wrong, but it is mostly a story about how his football program is largely at the mercy of a man who is simply guessing.

It goes like this: Football in the mid 80s was largely a bad mix of Bill Walsh and Vince Lombardi. Fullbacks and blocking tight ends ruled the day, receivers lined up in a three-point stance (the most unbelievable aspect of "The Catch" today might be that Dwight Clark starts that play with his hand on the ground!), and the punt was a viable offensive strategy. But at the same time, coaches were beginning to move away from the option towards the forward pass, it's just that almost nobody knew how to do it yet.

Defensive coordinators ruled the land at this time, the way a T-Rex would fare hunting sheep. This persisted, more or less, until a talented coach up in basketball country took a midget QB out of Austin, Texas, and a small, Italian slot receiver in place of a fullback, and proceeded to light the football world on fire (this is an enormous over-simplification, but largely accurate and I stand by it), bringing Purdue to its first and only modern Rose Bowl.

Suddenly, offenses were playing with five skill threats instead of two, and defenses had a whole new set of headaches to deal with. Coaches began to figure out that making a safety or linebacker cover a receiver had the same effect as blocking him, except an uncovered slot receiver could turn into a touchdown instead of a first down. Smaller, quicker players were more common, and the college football world suddenly found itself in a very progressive wave. Traditional powers gave way to newer, risk-taking upstarts. Mike Leach and Hal Mumme invented a new way to play at a tiny school in Iowa. Urban Meyer and Rich Rodriquez, separately but concurrently, added the QB option to the mix and never looked back. Mack Brown was still playing the old way, and gave up 60+ points to a noodle-armed spread QB and a 5'4 running back.

The thing is, the schemes were relatively unimportant. As much attention as they get and as fun as it is to discuss, the actual concepts and plays weren't why the new wave of coaches were finding success. Mike Leach ran Norm Chow's offense, who was running Lavell Edwards' offense, who was running Bill Walsh's offense, who was running Don Coryell's offense, and so on and so forth. Each coach added something, but more importantly, each coach also subtracted something. The BYU staff from the 70s onward ran a simplified version of Walsh's west coast offense. Mumme and Leach ran a simplified version of that, and today coaches like Dana Holgorsen and Sonny Dykes run a simplified version of that.

The role of the modern coach is less innovator, more curator. Fast-paced teams who seemingly execute flawlessly without a hitch so do because they practice a limited amount of scheme an enormous number of times. Leach always compares his offense to a wishbone scheme - the QB is making a few decisions he's practiced over and over, except instead of a handoff or pitch, he's throwing forward. In its most basic form, the same thing is happening, but happening after an evolutionary step forward.

So why now are concepts popularized in the 1920s suddenly dominating football again? Why are ideas Bill Walsh had in 1966 still so popular and effective? What actually changed?

I submit that the biggest change of all was the sheer amount of reps young coaches were finding ways to cram into their limited practice time. Tiger Ellison once said that if you couldn't practice your entire offense every day you were doing too much, and offensive football now seems to reflect that. Air Raid teams go through their entire base pass game in 20 minute chunks. Every drill is directly related to something they will do in a game. Fundamentals are stressed, conditioning happens as a result of the pace, and "mediocre" recruits are suddenly experts game in a way once unthinkable to any amateur football player. Part of the 49ers dominance in the 80s was a factor of familiarity -- they had loads of good football players who played together in the same system for a decade. College football distilled that into its core concepts and now can produce roughly the same outcome - no Montanas or Rices required.

Oregon doesn't run the same offense as these teams, but they do practice similarly. Chip Kelly tracked the amount of plays they got off in their team periods, always pushing for more (for reference, they'd regularly crack 100 in 30 minute periods). Sonny Dykes wants a snap every 20 seconds or so. Cal had a coach last year who had more protections than Dykes does plays, which is fine when your QB is Aaron Rogers but not fine when he isn't. Dykes' system will take one afternoon to install at Cal, as opposed to a month or two with the old regime. The game isn't about X's and O's anymore, if it ever was in the first place. Now it's about a mastery, an automatic reaction finely honed over years of practice. This is why these small, out-of-the-way nothing schools are suddenly at the forefront of college football.

It is also why Texas isn't.

Coach Brown did get one thing right. In 2004, after (rather absurdly) casting Vince Young as the lead in Greg Davis' sort-of-but-not-totally west coast scheme, he simplified things and let Young run a small number of plays that built upon each other, making the entire scheme relatively Davis-proof. Because this isn't who either of those coaches are, the change was very late in happening. Also because this isn't who either of those coaches are, they proceeded to miscast their next QB, asking a scrawny, scrambling freshman to be the same type of player Young was. Their solution to this problem was ultimately to remove the read aspect of the zone read, leading to about 400 plays where the defensive end chased down the running back, while Colt McCoy harmlessly looked on.

I'd like to point out that Greg Davis will retire a millionaire.

This is an important concept for the rest of this article. Coach Brown has no ethos, he has no base. Texas' schemes on both sides of the ball generally reflect what Brown wants to be, not what he is. The program as a whole, then, does generally reflect what he is: Directionless, contradictory, entitled, and confused.

Just as Vince Young was once a dropback passer, just as Colt McCoy was once a zone-read QB, the Texas offense is now in its worst shape ever. The QB is a handoff-and-play action whiz, but the offensive line is soft and weak. The receivers are typical Greg Davis guys: good route runner, quick, solid hands, but not the deep threats they need to be to fit in now. Tight ends are a weird mix of big blockers who can't catch and converted wide receivers who can't block, none of whom possess a complete game. The depth chart shows a fullback, which is the only time you'll see something resembling one.

So how did this happen? How did Texas end up a smashmouth team with players not quite suited to anything? Part of it is a lack of conviction. The new era of football has proven to us that mastery over a certain kind of football is irrelevant, it's far more important to be a master of anything. Alabama wins their way and Oregon wins theirs. Pick something you can be passionate about, and bring with you to work every day. What is that thing for Texas?

Texas was a west coast team once. They were a spread option team after that, then a kind of a spread-nothing team, then a nothing team. Now they are suddenly supposed to be Alabama. Linemen were recruited to be small, quick zone blockers, now they need to be able to push bigger players around. Flex tight ends are now trying to control defensive ends. Quicker than fast possession receivers are miscast as deep threats. This happens to teams who don't stand for something. Obviously, Texas has a talent problem, right?

What's not obvious is that Texas had the talent all along to stay relevant. Who was complaining the day they took Malcolm Williams? Who didn't celebrate over Garrett Gilbert? Choices like Taylor Doyle and Dom Espinosa were questioned even at the time, but Texas still has a bunch of big guys everyone wanted.

My thesis statement is not that Texas lacks talent. My thesis statement is that Texas lacks skill. Oklahoma does not have 50 points worth more talent. West Virginia has exactly one player who is "better" than any other teams have. Texas A&M just put a freshman on the Heisman podium, and for three years Ruston, LA was a point of focus for coaching staffs looking for an edge.

Texas, simply put, doesn't create experts. Johnny Manziel has more reps in his offense already than all the Texas QBs do in theirs, combined. This is not researched fact, but it could be true. The (exaggerated) point here is that other teams are putting in way more work than Texas is. Travon Austin is better at the three things he's asked to do than the defenses he faces are at the myriad things they are tasked with. This is what college football is now, and this is exactly what Texas isn't. The game is still about physical ability, but there is now a higher baseline for competence. "Worse" recruits can turn into "better" plays, and Brown is allowing it to happen to him.

Texas recently announced a move to this up-tempo type of offense, but will once again face the same problems. Does Brown really understand what it takes to be successful with it? Will the practices jump into this century? Will Major's influence on the offense be to ask David Ash to be Major Jr.? See the first half of the Alamo Bowl if you want to know how well that will work. Or is this just another case of Mack Brown wanting to be something he doesn't fully understand? In a sport where progress is measured in years, it's unclear to me what Texas will look like next season. Davis Ash won't suddenly become a quick-passing dynamo, the OL won't suddenly strength-&-condition themselves into something beyond the barely passable unit they have been.

Brown is old now, and likely set in his ways. His assistants run scheme, but he controls the basics. If we're asking him to reinvent himself, why not reinvent the position fully and hire someone different who already knows how to do it? This, to me, is the goofiest subplot of the entire saga. Mack Brown makes over 5 million dollars a year. If he quit, who else would pay him even a fraction of that tomorrow? How many better options are out there that Texas could have for less than a fifth of that total, or even a tenth? From a purely economic standpoint, it makes no sense to keep Brown, as his fundraising machine is an autopilot now anyway. Recruiting has fallen off and the brand isn't as powerful anymore, so it's unclear what it is Brown brings to the table these days. He's at the mercy of a good hire turned bad (Diaz) and a bad hire that might turn out well (Major). He has no experience running a football program that belongs in a post-Drew Brees world. Simply asking him to do his job in a slightly better way isn't going to do much for the program.

"How exciting is it to come to work if the best you can do is trounce some other company that does roughly the same thing? That's why most companies decay slowly over time. They tend to do approximately what they did before, with a few minor changes. It's natural for people to want to work on things that they know aren't going to fail. But incremental improvement is guaranteed to be obsolete over time." --- Larry Page

Texas could win ten games next year, maybe 11. The talent from the last couple recruiting classes should start to bloom, particularly on the lines. This post hasn't talked about Diaz and the defense much (more to come), partially because I genuinely don't understand why he's still on campus or what to expect next year from them, but the potential is there for a good team. This, I assume, is why Brown stuck around. Retiring now would be selling low on the team he's recruited.

But my viewpoint is simple - the best thing to do right now is turn the page entirely. Texas has peaked under Mack Brown, playing the Mack Brown way. The rest of the universe is slowly moving forward, while dinosaurs like Brown, Jeff Tedford, Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin are stuck in various stages of decay.

The new template isn't perfect - one side effect of the high-tempo offense is the worn out and useless defense that accompanies it. Bill Young lost his job because Mike Gundy's offense is very effective. Nobody that I've seen has figured out a way to deal with this yet. Yet it remains, in my opinion, better. Every school can take something from it, even the ones that actively resist the lifestyle. Nick Saban runs the offense he runs to protect his defense, which works if you build around it, but there is no reason a team like that can't practice the same way Oregon does. More reps in practice is rarely a bad thing, even if you don't play that way in a game.

So we're left with a hard cap, in my estimation, on what this team can bring. Mack Brown wants toughness, in an eerie parallel to his coworker Rick Barnes. Toughness and effort! Those things come from confidence, and confidence comes from expertise, and expertise comes from practice, and practice is run by coaches. One coach I know in the Bay Area has a saying over his desk: "If it's on film, you're coaching it." It's easy to blame kids for not trying hard enough; it's a lot harder to put the blame on you.

Texas athletics has the programs it deserves: largely unskilled, confused and hopeless. It is the by-product of old men who don't have the desire, skill, or energy to completely reinvent themselves with the times. No matter how much talent is brought in, that hard cap exists. Maybe you get lucky and guess right and the next Vince Young or TJ Ford can fool your bosses into another extension, or you may guess wrong and end up with a pointless, irrelevant program. This is not something Texas should strive for. Nick Saban stays on top of the world by constantly evaluating every detail in his program. Chip Kelly didn't just change the football team's M.O.; he played an instrumental role in reorganizing the entire athletic department. This is how you get to the top and stay there.

Asking a group of teenagers to give "more effort" is how you go .500 and stay there, instead.

Anatomy of a Meltdown - The Final Texas @ Texas A&M

John Kocurek — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:39:44 -0000

On November 25, 2011, two improbable things happened in College Station, Texas. The first was the Texas Longhorns upsetting a better football team, and the second was that the better football team was, in a rare twist, Texas A&M. Cats mating with dogs, and all that.

If the game were played on paper, A&M wins by double digits, perhaps by three touchdowns or more. Texas' offense spent most of the night barely meeting the requirements to be considered an offense at all -- between the talented players who were hurt, and the not-as-talented players who were healthy, it's worth considering that A&M probably would've won had they just gone the route of coach Red Beaulieu and knelt every down in the second half.

I read and enjoyed Drew Kelson's take and there were enough things in this game that were of interest I thought I'd write another piece. Texas finished under 4 yards per play for the game, had two turnovers, ten penalties, and punted 19 times in the first half (I couldn't find the real number, but that feels right). There were times when even getting a snap off proved to be a challenge. Yet Texas still won.

It was one of the ugliest games I've ever seen and, at the same time, one of the most remarkable. Not every team would have been able to pull it off. Here is how the Texas defense (and special teams) earned one of the most important wins in rivalry history.

1. Stop the run

First things first, I will go to the grave believing that A&M wins if Cyrus Gray is healthy. A&M runs a very similar system to the Houston Texans, a zone based blocking scheme designed around clinical expertise and a running back with vision and balance to find a crease and keep the arm tackles from bringing him down. The system has a long history of making stars out of lesser-known talents by limiting the skill set needed. As long as you're patient, disciplined, and aggressive, you'll succeed.

Cyrus Gray fit this mold perfectly, an amateur version of Arian Foster. Christine Michael is a very good player, but didn't fit Mike Sherman's scheme with the same way Gray does (Michael is arguable a better fit for Kevin Sumlin's offense).

His injury caused a ripple effect in the game -- A&M couldn't produce on the ground as the game wore on and put more and more responsibility on the usually productive Ryan Tannehill. Ben Malena made a few good plays, but couldn't escape Longhorn tacklers and extend drives with yards after contact.

The Aggie OL also struggled in the second half. They are a well-trained unit but couldn't match the athleticism and length of the Longhorn defensive front. They were constantly out-angled and overrun, meaning the Ags couldn't grind the game away on the ground.

2. Carrington Byndom beat up on a gimpy Jeff Fuller

Another key injury left A&M exposed in the passing game at the worst possible time. Byndom, who might be the best cover corner in the country now that Morris Claiborne in is the NFL, spent more of the night matched up with Fuller on the outside.

In the west coast scheme, the slot receiver (Ryan Swope, usually) or tight end (stiff) is assigned to find space in the middle of the field, based on what the near safety does. The safety has to choose between helping in the seam and leaving the middle of the field open, or staying inside and leaving the WR with a one-on-one matchup with a corner.

This exact scenario played out a couple dozen times that night, and Byndom and crew won almost every battle. Swope was a non-factor, thanks to being overrated in the first place and now finding himself covered by more defenders than he's capable of handling. Normally, this means Jess Fuller finishes with 12 catches for 200 yards. Normally, he is not facing corners like Byndom.

Byndom's pick 6 is the most important example. It's a three step slant read perfectly by Tannehill. The slot defender ran inside with the lookie (basically a quick seam route), leaving Fuller alone outside. Byndom simply ran his route for him, beating him across his face while taking Fuller's girlfriend and knocking over his sandcastle. This was the single most important play of the game.

3. Ryan Tannehill was not ready for all the stunting in the secondary.

Good west coast QBs are servants of the system. This guy does this, you do this. You look here, you throw there. Ryan Tannehill is well schooled, which is why he threw to Fuller on the slant. Fine read, bad outcome.

Kenny Vaccaro's interception was another robot throw by Tannehill. This was the pre-snap look Tannehill got:

Looked like your typical 4-across quarters read, which it was, sort of. Tannehill expected the flat coverage to run with one of the inside seam routes, leaving Fuller alone on the outside. The quirk in the coverage was that Texas dropped 8, putting an extra guy to the trips side who Tannehill never saw. As hard as it is to tell what a QB is looking at from 480p clips on YouTube, I'm certain he was looking at Acho drop underneath the seams the whole way.

This made him think nobody was going to get underneath Fuller's okie route, and even with a 4 deep 4 under defense, there probably shouldn't have been anyone there anyway. Vaccaro backed off before the snap, turned and ran underneath Fuller, and read his route perfectly. Tannehill turned to throw and never saw Vacarro there. This is the majesty of Manny Diaz's defense. He doesn't always guess right, but when he does, his guys come out of nowhere right where you don't want them to be.

4. Quandre Diggs is made of magic

I got in a debate once about who was a more valuable player, Morris Claiborne or Tyrann Mathieu. One side argued for Claiborne and his shut-down ability. I argued for Mathieu and his off-schedule wizardry. You know what you'll get from Claiborne, but Mathieu will do something a couple times a game that you'll have never seen before. I believe that is more valuable.

Texas has the exact same situation now. Carrington Byndom is the guy who stays in your hip pocket and makes you play perfect football to beat him. Quandre Diggs will appear in a puff of smoke and rob you of the football in a way you weren't sure was possible. His INT was a perfect example of his ninja skills.

The play was a basic high/low read on the outside linebacker (it's possible this was supposed to be another 3 step route like the slant to Fuller and Tannehill just threw it super late. Tough to tell because he stares down the route the whole way and shows no sense of urgency at all).

If the backer ran with the seam, Tannehill would fire underneath to the in route. Texas was looked to be in quarter/quarter/half coverage, meaning two players would be responsible for a quarter of the field (Gideon and Diggs, in this case) and another would take the other half (Scott?). This leaves the LB to the sideline with the flat area, and that's where he went, leaving the seam route open.

This is where the ball went, and although Tannehill was late with his throw, it would have been a completion against just about any other team in the world.

The first diagram shows what should have happened, this second one shows what did happen, complete with Baller Flames coming out of Diggs' ass. He had no business making that play. That ball should've been completed and nobody on Earth would've blamed Diggs. That fact that he prevented a completion is remarkable enough but the fact that he caught the damn thing and started the avalanche of misfortune that would end up crushing Tannehill and the Aggie offense is, frankly, the only case I need to make as to who he's my first pick if we're drafting a defense.

Some players multitask better than others. These players can see things before they happen. They can do their job while simultaneously patrolling the grounds for other things to do. Earl Thomas had this ability. Tyrann Mathieu has this ability. Quandre Diggs has this ability . . .

5. That punt return, too

. . . in more ways than one. Byndom will do more for you over the course of the game, but Diggs will do one or two things that will burn themselves into your brain. Byndom is global warming, and Diggs is a massive solar flare that ends all life immediately. Take your pick, humanity.

Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC - Part I

John Kocurek — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:58:07 -0000

In 867 Vikings landed in Scotland. Reputations preceding them, the Mother Superior of a monastery on Scotland’s southeast coastline ordered the nuns under her watch to disfigure themselves, hoping to make them unappealing to the Viking raiding party. She cut off her nose and upper lip, and her nuns did the same.

That story is the origin of the phrase "cut off your nose to spite your face."

The story of Texas A&M and the SEC isn’t written yet, but it will probably also involve brutal sexual torture (metaphorically). Is it possible that Texas A&M climbs up into the national conversation alongside Alabama and Florida without big brother looming over them? Sure. Is it likely? Not so sure.

There are several interesting factors that will influence the story. Some are worth discussion, some aren’t. We can knock a couple out very quickly after the jump.

The defense is probably going to stink. There isn’t much talent and they lost the guy that held it all together with duct tape and glue. Texas A&M lost four double digit leads last year, and a nine pointer to Texas. Turnover and luck played a role, but the biggest factor is that it’s much harder to fool a team for 48 minutes than it is 24. Tim DeRuyter was a magician but even the best tricks get figured out eventually.
The Air Raid can work in the SEC. I know this because it has (video below). The scheme isn’t a mystery and can be tailored to any need. It’s not a chuck and duck system anymore.

New defense, new offense, new QB, lost three NFL-quality players on offense . . . this is not going to be a good football team. No matter where they are sitting in ten years, this season will likely be forgettable. They play 10 D1 teams and will be lucky to take four of those.

This post will focus on the offense, the next on recruiting. Those are the interesting aspects to me.

QUARTERBACK

Kentucky had two things going for it in 1998. One was Mike Leach, one of the best teachers in the game. If you want a laugh, try and find old message board threads where confident Tech fans tell other people how they’ll run the same offense as Leach and will suffer no drop off. Yeah, it’s good times.

Second was future Cleveland Brown Tim Couch, one of the great NFL tragedies. Good thing Longhorn fans don’t have to worry about that awful franchise squandering QB talent.

Anyway, any pass heavy spread offense puts a million pounds of pressure per spare inch on its QB. Make the right read, make a good throw and don’t throw INTs or we lose (if Cyrus Gray is healthy and Tanny doesn’t have to do everything for that team, maybe the rivalry ends differently).

The problem now for Aggie fans is that there isn’t any experience on the roster, and no proven throwing talent, as every single one of the kids in contention is a dual-threat type player. I have no idea what Mike Sherman was planning here, and it’ll be interesting to see what a pass-happy head coach does with a bunch of running QBs on offense whose best player is a RB.

Your guess is as good as mine as to what happens here. Kenny Hill and Kohl Stewart are both better fits for Sumlin’s offense, but neither is done with puberty yet.

RUNNING BACK

Christine Michael is good, although he’s a big downgrade from Cyrus Gray. He’s tough, quick and a good receiver, but has had two seasons in a row cut short by major leg injuries. Ben Malena is just good enough to get you beat. I expect Sumlin to work Trey Williams in immediately because his offense is the exact kind that can turn a back like Williams into an absolute bitch to deal with.

Between the three of them, A&M will have an SEC-capable backfield, all of whom are decent fits in a shotgun spread offense IF the pass offense is any good. None of these guys are win-this-game-for-us players, although Williams has a chance to be.

OFFENSIVE LINE

The Aggie OL is what it looks like when OK athletes are really well trained. Good footwork, excellent hand placement, great with punching and controlling defenders. None of them are super quick or strong, but all five starters last year played with good technique.

I expect this to be the case in 2012, especially since Air Raid OLs are usually asked to back up and catch whatever defender runs into them. It’s a simple system and this is a well-trained group, even if some of that training may not carry over to the new system.

Luke Jeockel is the best at LT, although strong DE’s can push him around. The weakness of the OL is at guard, who lack quickness to deal with the better DTs. As the Air Raid as evolved over the years, it’s started to attack downfield more and more, asking its OL to hold up for longer and longer. I suspect Conference USA foes and the Aggie defense in the spring will do nothing to dissuade Kevin Sumlin on his ability to strike downfield, so it will be interesting to see just how the OL holds up early on.

Sumlin, like Leach, will mitigate this with draws and screens. The OL is mobile and no stranger to open field blocking, so expect to see a strong screen game, especially from Trey Williams.

WIDE

RECEIVER

There are three categories of WR: guys you don’t need to cover, guys you need to cover with one person, and guys you need to cover with two people.

Jeff Fuller was a two person job, the only one of his kind on the roster (his injury kept A&M from winning those 1-on-1 battles on the outside against Texas and played a big part in the loss). Ryan Swope and Uzoma Nwachukwu are both fine when running unopposed through the seam, but are effectively mitigated by man coverage, something that is much more prevalent in the SEC than here.

A&M move to a full-time spread will help these guys, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Sumlin learned the same lesson Urban Meyer did, that 4-wide offenses don’t work when you don’t have anyone that can beat man coverage (Meyer also learned to love the fullback).

A&M has a few guys in the pipeline that can be that guy, but until one develops, it’s going to be slow going.

TIGHT ENDS

Mike Sherman spent most of the Texas game with 3 WRs and 2 backs in the game, which should tell you all you need to know about how he felt about the position (it would be fair to classify the FB as an H-back in that game, but most of his job was blocking).

Sumlin probably won’t have much use for one anyway, but it’s always nice to have somebody who can play James Whalen for you. You can’t bubble screen and draw yourself to a championship (exception: OU in 2000. They averaged just under 20 point per game after RC Slocum showed the world how to slow them down, but has such a good defense that it didn’t matter).

THE FUTURE

There isn’t a lot of be excited about in 2012, but there are a couple of freshman I really like. As mentioned, Trey Williams should be a killer in this offense, and Kohl Stewart should be a suitable Case Keenum redux. Both lacked the arm to be high draft picks, but Aggies need wins and he’ll be plenty good for that. I also like Kenny Hill, a QB comfortable in a system who also lacks an elite arm but makes up for it with his mobility. One of those two should be the answer eventually.

Thomas Johnson is a bright spot at WR, even if flaky WRs make me nervous. There is nothing on his high school highlight reel that shows us if he can run a route, but the talent is definitely there. Sumlin is a strong teacher so it’s reasonable to expect Johnson to develop into at least a competent starting option.

Nobody else inspired fear, awe, or even words. Somebody will take to the coaching and the system and become a good player, but they’ll need more than what they have to become competitive anytime soon.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened to the nunnery, the Vikings burned it to the ground.

Project 2013: Jake Raulerson

John Kocurek — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:14:10 -0000

Good recruiter.

Jake Raulerson is a coach's wet dream. You watch the tape and you say "yep, that's how you play football. Keep doing that. OK, see you later." You don't need to wear yourself out yelling, or get on his case, because wanting to crush anything you put in front of him is in his DNA already. Nobody needs to motivate a lion to maul an antelope.

He was identified early as a must have, not only by Texas but by 40 or so other schools, and treated as such. He's clearly a very talented prospect, but is he in the same stratosphere as the Cameron Hughes and Kent Perkins type player?

Related: Kent Perkins Project 2013

For starters, he stands in stark contrast to the rest of Stacy Searels' choices, a relatively thin 6'5 250, lacking the size/speed ratio of his future teammates. And while Tyrone Swoopes gets questioned for playing sub-par competition, Raulerson is afforded the benefit of the doubt. Videos exist of him dominating other top recruits a year older than him, but in high school, a complete grasp of fundamentals can dominate athletic ability well beyond your own. It's why our state champions are mostly from affluent suburbs.

Related: Tyrone Swoopes Is The Best QB Prospect In Texas

One of the country's most successful high school teams, De La Salle, in Concord, CA, consists mainly of 180 lb. white boys who care way more than their opponents. Yes, they have the occasional future NFLer (and by now have grown to a point where good players flock to the school), but for the most part they are the modern day, whiter version of TC Williams HS. They run the same offense with the same methodology and they beat the shit out of everyone that steps in front of them, size be damned.

So what to make of this very interesting prospect?

I don't know how to project size very well, unless the player is obviously skinny or tall. Raulerson already looks like an action star, with a thick neck and arms. I don't know where his body goes from here. What he is not is the genetically freakish athlete than can just walk into a different meeting room and start rushing the passer, I don't see an Aaron Humphrey ceiling here. I see a kid who is an expert at what he does, and any talk of moving positions is just a hedge in case he can't gain the needed size.

However, how much size does he need? Leverage and footwork go an awful long way on the line of scrimmage. Jake uses 100% of his 250 pounds, and plays from a position of power on every down. He'll be asked to block down or zone block, which does not require the big ass you'd expect, but does require good footwork, leverage and strength, things he has in spades.

However being undersized, or slow, means you have to play perfect football in order to win. If a bigger DL gets into his body, he can wreck he play by pushing Raulerson back into the play. It seems absurd now that anyone could push Raulerson around, remember that any team worth beating is going to have at least one good lineman that is good enough to do so. He does a lot of reach blocking on his highlight video, and most of those would get strung out by a stronger opponent.

His good news for you is that he's probably the most polished, perfect offensive lineman I have ever seen in high school. Watch how his feet don't gain ground while the rest of his body does in order to get his exceptional body lean, or how once he's on you, he's on you until the whistle. He understands his job and executes it thoroughly. His pass pro is rough, but whose isn't? He gets the job done.

And it's not as if the size he'll need is all that uncommon. Most people gain 10 pounds by doing nothing more than turning 19, and hell, he's not even a senior yet. His neck tells me he already knows how to dominate a workout, and his technique tells me he loves what he does. He might need a redshirt +1, but I'd guess he'll end up where he wants. Most lineman need a few years, but in this case, he's waiting on size, not technique.

Bottom line is, he needs another 30 pounds at least to play OL, and my personal opinion is that Texas will always have better DEs than what he could become. Texas drafted a first baseman, either he hits or he is out of the game. Worst case scenario, Texas ends up with a better Neal Tweedie. He'll probably end up in the Will Allen / Lyle Sendlein / Kasey Studdard class, with a decent shot of being someone as good as Dan Neil. I apologize for not being able to think of any black player to compare him to.

Quick Bites on the Texas Longhorns Spring Game

John Kocurek — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:09:52 -0000

My favorite part of every spring is the crowd. Why cheer for a long TD, when it's your own defense getting sliced up, and then stay quiet when Jordan Hicks takes on a lineman and a fullback and still makes a TFL? Why get so happy for long punt returns against what basically amounts to a DIII team? Kills me every time. Anyway, don't read too much into anything and you'll be OK. The game looks a lot different when you aren't playing a defense than knows all your calls already.

With that in mind, here are some short thoughts that I thought while watching:

QB - Ash is the man now, but isn't totally ready yet. Texas probably won't waste much time on Case McCoy moving forward, Brewer is Kellen Moore 2 and needs to be pushed from day 1. If Ash gets the job done, try to redshirt him, if not, Brewer needs to be the next option. He's legitimately exciting as a prospect.

RB - Joe Bergeron runs angry, like old Nebraska tailbacks used to. Lets hope he doesn't take it out on his girlfriend, like old Nebraska tailbacks used to. Congrats to Jeremy Hills, he stuck it out and deserves your respect. He's not as smooth or strong as Johnathan Gray as a runner, but if Gray redshirts and Hills is your RB3 for a year, are you complaining? Can't imagine Gray redshirting, however.

TE - M.J. McFarland, Grant, and Terrell will give Texas what they need. McFarland looks the part but is a passive blocker. Grant is active in the run game and will probably start because of it. The two of them will give Texas a solid TE position, but Harsin will still probably have to be deliberate with blocking assignments. Terrell looks leaps and bounds better than he did last year, which I believe was his first as a TE.

WR - As a group, still not good enough. Outside of Jaxon Shipley, nobody is a strong enough route runner to help out the QBs in any meaningful way. Mike Davis seems to have no passion whatsoever about catching the football. McCoy's pick in the endzone was a bad decision and bad throw (and good coverage on both routes), but Davis didn't even make an effort on the ball. Josh Turner's INT was also in front of him. He's a good player, but is he a starter? Maybe he's tired of having to go get the ball in the first place. I'd be surprised if a freshman or two didn't play here. Congrats to DeSean Hales for becoming a football player. DJ Monroe continues to be faster than everybody.

OL - Interior had ups and downs, but played more solidly than they did last year. The DL made plenty of plays in the backfield, but that's just as much about how good they are than anything. The first team offense ran very well, but protection was still an issue, mostly from the offense's right side. Donald Hawkins will be good at LT, he's as big and athletic as advertised, but Josh Cochran will be a question mark until the fall. He will have issues controlling the stronger DEs in the league.

DL - Brandon Moore is a beast, but will need to learn to be a beast every down. The Internet says he's not in shape yet, but a month of practices will get you there pretty quick. He's probably not used to needing to put in the effort every down. I still expect him and Ashton Dorsey to start in the middle and be wildly effective come September. Alex Okafor is a joke, how do you even get that athletic and tall? Cedric Reed certainly looks the part, and should calm any depth fears you might have at DE.

LB - Took some bad angles which led to big runs, but made plays behind the LOS, Hicks mostly. He made the aforementioned play on the power, and had success blitzing. one of the long runs was his fault, getting trapped inside, but he looks like the best LB at the moment. Demarco Cobbs, Steve Edmond and Jackson all looked good, but didn't have a chance to do much. Cobbs looks like a blend of Keenan Robinson and Von Miller, in terms of football responsibility. Go cover, come blitz.

DB - Josh Turner would start on almost any other team in the country. He is not only good, but standout good. Carrington Byndom plays like a poor mans' Derrell Revis. He's an expert and keeping leverage and anticipation, but doesn't have Revis' quickness or strength (but who does?) yet. Manny Diaz deserves some credit with his schemes, he's allowed the corners to play aggressively without worrying about getting roasted every play Leroy Scott and Michael (my white brain can't remember the correct spelling) Thompson aren't ready yet, but Scott is getting there. He's not as fast as I thought. Duke Thomas got Mossed on a fade into the end zone, but had good position and timed his jump well. He makes that play in a year.

K/P - Will Russ killed it as punter. He might have averaged 55 a kick, even with most kicks into the wind.

Returners - whatever. You know Texas can beat Trinity now.

I try not to make any grand assumptions based on an hour of practice, as I didn't see the other 16 before it, and don't have access to play sheets or film. Some things, however, are evident, and others jive well with what we already know and have heard.

The important thing is that Texas appears to have long term solutions where there are areas of weakness. How far along those youngsters are in the fall will determine how far along this team gets into the post season. I could see 10 wins and I could see 8, but gun to my head I say 10-2, with a real chance at glory in '13 and '14.

Project 2013: Kent Perkins & Darius James

John Kocurek — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:26:47 -0000

There are three kinds of OL you can recruit:

- Giant bowling balls

- Savvy technicians

- Terrible

In the past, Texas has gravitated towards the last two types of player, leaving Texas with a unit whose best days consist of getting blown off the ball in the correct direction, leaving their crumpled remains in between the defender and the football:

Exhibit A

That highlight tape should be auto-starting at 7:38. If it doesn’t, go there and watch what the current best-case scenario is for Espinosa.

Enter Stacy Searels, whose SEC upbringing has led to taking giant, high-upside athletes rather than over-achieving 230 pound products of endless summer camps and private coaching sessions. To put it simply, our recruits look different now, in size, speed and attitude.

To Mac McWhorter’s credit, he did bring in the likes of Jamarcus Webb, Aundre Mcgaskey, and Roy Watts - all athletic big men. Maybe their failures tainted McWhorter’s process, I don’t know, but we’ve never seen Texas draw back-to-back classes quite like this, even in more optimistic times.

To start, I want to throw in my two cents on something – this class is not better than last year’s. Kennedy Estelle is what Ricky Seals-Jones would look like with three more inches and 70 more pounds, and if you asked an NFL line coach to put together a prototype tackle, he’d build Camrhon Hughes. This class does not have anything approaching either of those guys. And Curtis Riser is a better version of the headliners of this post. I’d rather have any of those three than anybody Texas has so far this year, even Raulerson. Toss in a physically ready JUCO LT, and the class of 2012 wins in a landslide.

For 2013, I lump Kent Perkins and Darius James together because they, like most Giant Bowling Balls, are essentially the same player at this point. Neither is overwhelmingly skilled just yet, like 99.99% of all linemen in high school (although James does use his hands pretty well). Kent Perkins pass sets like he shit his pants and is trying to hide it from everyone in front of him. Neither guy is a blocker so much as a pusher.

But that stuff doesn’t really matter. It’s easy for a coach to fall in love with whoever is playing LT at Lake Travis right now, letting the college-level skill set override that fact that he’ll be the exact same player in 3-4 years. Recruiting is about finding the best juniors, not freshmen. Both players are thick in the right places, quick off the ball, and call pull and run well enough for any scheme. I’d be surprised if James ended up at center, but the fact that he has experience there is a plus any way you slice it.

The most important aspect is size and athleticism. You shouldn’t need anybody to tell you that. But the second bit that is almost just as important is the player’s demeanor. It’s not about how hard he hits, but how hard to wants to hit. Pulling is a graceful act that should end violently, like a scene from American Psycho. I want to see if a player lowers his shoulders and tries to deliver a blow, rather than push the force defender out of the way. I want to see if a 17 year old LB will try to break the ball carrier in half. I want to see a WR go get a ball, rather than wait for it to come to him. I want to see QBs make decisions within the scheme and get the ball out, not scramble around and launch a jump ball. It’s not about refined mechanics so much as it is about the instinct to use technique at all. Technique can be improved, but mentality is hard to change.

So at this stage, what can we see from either player? For starters, I’d put both players at guard, with the option of cross training them at tackle. James uses his hands, and Perkins already has experience there, with the long arms and frame to match. But I don’t like Perkins on the edge at this point because he reacts to pass rushers, however he does have the ability to play tackle one day.

Ideally, you drop to a spot and give the DE a choice – either you try to go around me or we fight right here. You start jumping out at speed moves and you’ll give up a lot of quick pressure to the inside. Even on his highlight tape, Perkins is jumpy and submissive in pass pro. Run blocking is really where he excels, coming off the ball hard and low, back flat and feet pumping. He’s ideally built to block down, an important aspect of our power offense, at all five OL spots. He can run well enough to pull as well, but he’ll need to learn to apply that same pad level for when he has a running start.

Texas is a power/inside zone team, which requires a lot of the skill set Perkins has. He’s got the length and athleticism to play tackle, as well, with the requisite disclaimer that he’ll need to improve his footwork blah blah blah. At a bare minimum, assuming he isn’t a mental midget in any number of ways, you're looking at a solid guard who fits the scheme. At best, we’re talking about a future first day pick at RT.

James is more interesting to me, for no other reason than he’s a 6’6 center. I really wonder how he ended up there. Was he the only 14 year old that could snap? Is he smart? Does he make the line calls? Is he bad on the edge in pass pro? The team’s best lineman prospect is almost never a center, especially if he’s over 6’2 or so. It’s like seeing an albino penguin or something.

The first thing that jumps out to me is how well he can dig out players playing over him. A guy his size shouldn’t be able to get under nose tackles, even in high school. Sure, he’ll stand straight up once he’s done with them, but the ability to move a 1-tech by yourself is invaluable. If he can do that to whatever roided-up, V12 motor-powered DT is playing for Oklahoma in 2015, Texas has themselves a winner.

The next best thing about James isn’t on offense at all. He makes a cameo on defense toward the end of his highlights, and someone please tell me that he doesn’t look like a young Kheeston Randall. Maybe A’Shawn Robinson isn’t the best big athlete Texas grabbed this spring.

Either way, James is a big kid who can move, and at the very least understands leverage. He’s dynamite at the point of attack, and is a ways away on everything else. Centers aren’t typically judged on pass protection, so no idea what kind of player he could be at tackle. You’re probably looking at a guard who may get a look on defense, who, like Perkins, is a brick wall with a motor who needs light seasoning.

Texas’ OL prospects are going from cheap meat that needs to be covered in BBQ sauce to be edible to grass fed rib-eye that only needs a bit of salt and pepper. These aren’t classes of beef, they are classes of filet mignon.

Project 2013: Ricky Seals-Jones

John Kocurek — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:57:16 -0000

For the last two years, part of my job has been to watch a young man's YouTube highlights and assess his ability to play college football. I'm far from the hardened, white-haired veteran, two days from retirement, but it still takes a lot to lift my eyebrow.

It takes something like a 6'5, 220 pound QB taking a shotgun snap, then ending up two yards past the line of scrimmage in four steps (1st play in the video over at Recruitocosm).

Look at that acceleration! Ricky Seals-Jones is why the tag "ATH" exists. Echoing Scipio, there is no point in evaluating footwork or route discipline. When your best player is that good, you make him do everything. You shouldn't be worried about a lack of expertise, you should be impressed that he can do all of it. All I wonder when I watch him play is which sadistic Sealy employee is letting that grown ass man play with children. Being comically large is one thing, but to be the quickest and fastest as well? OK football gods, good one.

The most important things about RSJ stand out immediately and are visible to even the most untrained eyes. Following the theme of this class so far, he is huge, and he is fast. It can be difficult, though, to appreciate just how quick he is. Moving 220 pounds of human and 15 more of equipment from one hashmark to the other is hard enough, but to make it look so effortless, so drama-free, undersells just how rare and amazing it is.

So is he a tight end? Receiver? Safety? No. He is a rather large young man who, unlike his genetic equal Tyrone Swoopes, doesn't need a role right now. He has great ball skills and hits with his shoulder pads. He's talented and creates violence. Worrying about a position now misses what Texas is trying to do -- collect as much physical talent as possible and put it in a pail (or as Bo Davis says, "pell." Sorry Bo, I heard about that. Everyone has their moments!) to sort out later.

In a way, we'll all get a peek into the minds of the coaching staff, using RSJ as a black ink spot (no racist!). When I watch him, I see another exciting option at QB. Guys like that can dominate games. But, we already have one of those, so next I see a future outside LB, jamming TEs off the line on one play and flying around the edge after the QB on the next. I believe in dominant running QBs and a strong pass rush.

But that's me. Bryan Harsin might feel that way about tight ends or big receivers. Maybe Mack gets excited about 240 lb. safeties. Part of it will be Jones' desire to play a certain position. I expect him to outgrow the purely skill positions and fall somewhere nearer the ball. His willingness to create contact would be best served, either way, with his hand down. You can win with Billy PIttman and Brian Carter at WR, if you have a David Thomas (or in this case, Jermichael Finley).

It's safe to project him into an H-Back type role immediately, lining up as a match-up problem on the outside, seam threat in the slot, or a deadly kick-out blocker from a fullback or motioning TE spot. The hard part for him will be learning to be a reliable edge blocker as a traditional TE. Blocking is not only one of the hardest things for a young player to master (especially if you're not full-time like a lineman), but he'll be going up against what is usually the defense's best player. The upshot here is that if you have an athlete like him, think Jason Witten here, your run game multiplies in effectiveness. If he can even become serviceable, it's still an advantage because Harsin can find match-ups. It not, Texas can still use him situationally, with heavy play-action, since he'll almost certainly be terrific receiving threat in relatively short order.

Do you keep your base package on the field to make sure Texas doesn't run you to death? Or do you bring on an extra safety, TCU-style, in order to defend against the scary downfield threats? Each team will have its own answer, and Harsin will earn his paycheck finding each solution.

The problem with RSJ is that nothing he does projects immediately to a role on a college football team. Yes, he's big and fast, but so was Myron Hardy. No sane high school coach is going to ask him to block all that often, so we have no idea how he'll take to it. Playing the Star Player Safety role won't prepare him for real, disciplined football, either. This should make you nervous with Brock Fitzhenry. When your take is 6'5, has RB vision and WR ball skills, you don't need to worry as much. If he has any competitive bones in his body, he'll be a good player somewhere.

Tyrone Swoopes is the best QB prospect in Texas...

John Kocurek — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:20:04 -0000

...and you need to be OK with that.

JT Barrett is what Robert Griffin would look like if Griffin played in the current era of Texas football, one dominated by shotgun spread option. Other than distance from the center and the deployment of a fullback, the two players are nearly identical. Seriously, watch one reel and then the other and try to come up with a meaningful difference.

Cody Thomas plays the position better than Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady did at the same age. Kenny Hill is a product of the productive SLC QB Cloning Program, with top scientists managing to take Chase Daniel's DNA and redistribute the excess weight from the skull to the legs. Kohl Stewart also exists.

Texas will likely have to face them all at some point, possibly more than once. You should be OK with this because our guy is better than the whole lot of them.

I will spend the next 1,800 words telling you why, starting with this hyper-technical answer: Tyrone Swoopes is the best prospect in Texas because he is enormous and he is fast. He can throw a football very far, very quickly. And our OC loves him.

He is enormous

You're heard the phrase "3 inches only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades and porn and quarterbacking," right? It's a common phrase because it's true -- taller QBs are generally better for any number of reasons so obvious that they don't need to be covered here. But it isn't just his height that separates him, it's the girth that comes with it. Barrett will likely play around 6'2 210, Swoopes should be aiming for a Newtonian 6'5 250.

If you're curious how important those 40 pounds are, go into a weight room with a friend and have him toss a 45 pound plate at your head. That's the difference between tackling the 20-year-old versions of Barrett and Swoopes. That'll be important. too, because the less reliable your arm is, the better your run game needs to be. Cam Newton and Tim Tebow were essentially wildcat QBs, using their size and quickness to gain the 4-8 yard runs every chain-moving offense needs between TD strikes.

Griffin and Barrett are a different sort of fast, the kind that needs space to really blossom. They aren't tackle-breakers, aren't pile-movers, aren't the type for which you'd call QB Power on 3rd and 4. They can buy time to throw, scramble for 10 yards on 3rd and 9, etc, but neither one is what you'd call run first.

Grffin, as it turns out, has a sophisticated risk aversion combined with dangerous downfield accuracy and built a career out of turning threats to scramble into deep throws over flat-footed, run-fearing safeties. His success came from a simple, run/screen/play-action system built around his ability to seize touchdown opportunities at a superhuman clip. He only averaged about a dozen carries per game, many coming on busted passing plays. Cam Newton, meanwhile, averaged over 20 carries and ran for over 65% of Griffin's entire collegiate total in one season.

So it's not as much a measure of "better" as it is "different," as you can win with either guy, obviously. But if you are looking at replicating one style over the other, and I should stress that this is solely my opinion (to be fair, I am never wrong), you take Auburn's old fashioned single wing approach over Baylor's scramble and pray. Why? Because Robert Griffin, pound for pound, is a much better football player, with a more varied and unique skill set. The odds that JT Barrett reaches that level of excellence if pretty slim, while the odds of Tyrone Swoopes growing 30 more pounds and being a bitch to bring down on an off-tackle run are pretty high. We already know he can do it, and he's 17 years old.

Usually, a raw passer is a risk. In this case, he's the safe play. He can command a dangerous, championship-caliber run game in three years, you can be damned certain of that. Nobody else coming out of Texas since Vince Young can say that, and the sure-thing passer simply doesn't exist.

He is fast

The early narrative that developed was that Swoopes may have an edge in straight line speed, but Barrett was quicker, which is more important. And it is, which is why you should be doubly pleased with Swoopes because he's the quicker of the two. He can change direction, shift sideways full yards at a time with little warning, and can keep a defender off balance enough to make it even less likely that he'll go down. Imagine tackling a refrigerator in the dark.

6'2 210 is not exactly small (for the record, Griffin was 6'3 195 out of high school), but when your direct competition is Keenan Robinson, it can seem that way. The smaller you are, the quicker you need to be to get the same results. Johnathan Gray has mastered the art of blinking from one plane of existence to another, amassing roughly 1.2 billion yards during his high school career. Vince Young could do the same thing. Swoopes has shown the same ability at 16, which is when most chicken-legged high schoolers are just learning to run without wobbling.

Does it it matter if he's juking 2A athletes? Not really, just watch where his feet go and how fast they get there. It's the same size field as everyone else. Competition is relative but size and speed aren't.

He can throw a football very far

He has a really strong arm.

. . . very quickly

This is actually more important to me than arm strength. Garrett Gilbert had a glacial wind-up, to the point where it didn't matter how fast he could make the ball move, the defense was already on its way. A quick release, paired with a quick mind, can take advantage of smaller windows and give teammates more opportunities after the catch.

Barrett has an OK release, but when he rushes it the ball flutters and his zip disappears. Cody Thomas is technical perfection and gives me a complete football boner, but has the downside of not being a massive bundle of fast twitch surrounded by uniform. Swoopes is so strong that his foot placement and momentum almost don't even matter, the ball gets out quick and it stays quick for the duration.

When he throws deep, his mechanics are fine, his arm is high and he gets full extension, the ball spirals and goes roughly where he wants it to. This is why most of his highlights, I'm guessing, are deep balls. On shorter throws he has the Vince quirk where he lets his elbow fall and he throws like he has a squirrel in his jersey. That can be coached out, but based on the booger-flinger we let man the spot part-time last year, I'm guessing it's not going to be a priority. The difference is that Swoopes can shoot a free throw from 40 yards away, while Case McCoy has to muster everything he has to squirt that ball that far.

You'll probably never see Swoopes picking teams apart with the quick game. He'll never have exquisite footwork, and probably won't ever hit a fourth read in a pattern. Happily, the other team does not get to pick which plays we run. Stick to the veer/power/zone/wildcat run game with a healthy dose of play-action, and you've got a winner.

And our OC loves him

If there was one thing I learned from coaching, it's that fans are morons. Across the board idiots, every one. I include myself in this, too, because as good as I look in headphones, I still become a blathering iDolt when talked about football teams I don't belong to, which is a majority of them.

We have incomplete information. We buy any rumor or theory that fits the things we do know, which is often frighteningly little. Why is Little Johnny Superstar struggling? Nobody knows, so we all offer opinions, pick the best one, and repeat it until it becomes fact. A run got stuffed? Should've called a pass. A pass falls incomplete? Should've called a run.

We are not always wrong, but often when we're right, it's by chance. The guy who claims he always knew Garrett Gilbert would bust is the same guy that still thinks Case McCoy is the future of Texas football, Gene Chizik checked out in 2006, Blake Gideon is good, and 9/11 was an inside job. We have strong opinions on everything, we are going to hit on a few of them.

So what do we know about Tyrone Swoopes? Not much. We don't know his grades, his study habits, how he treats his teammates, classmates, teachers or coaches. We don't know how well he takes to instruction, learns a scheme, or his practice habits. We don't know what he looks like throwing to other talented players in a camp setting. We've never talked to him. Bryan Harsin has, and he likes what he saw. That's why I'm not overthinking this. Swoopes is The ManChild: Eater of Worlds, there is only one guy like him every 4-5 years. Every comp he has won a BCS Bowl, and two won MNCs (two were also involved in serious NCAA violations, which, if anything, should show the market value of a kid like this).

Now, Harsin did come from Boise State, which does not have access to guys like this. Could this be a case of a teenager losing his mind when upgrading from the Victoria's Secret catalogue to internet porn? Perhaps. His first QB recruit at Texas was Kellen Moore Jr. What must it be like to see someone like Tyrone Swoopes stroll onto your campus and say he'd like to play for you? I imagine it would be fast, messy, and shameful. It's entirely possible Harsin is infatuated with the new toys suddenly available to him, but until it's proven, the combination of genetics and Harsin-approved intangibles should be enough for us.

The bottom line is, I can imagine a scenario in which JT Barrett best football has already been played. All you have to do is look at the career of John Chiles or Reggie McNeal. They were fast, but not great runners, had big arms, but weren't great passers. Cody Thomas could never adjust to the speed of the big leagues and turn up in 4 years at Sam Houston State. Even if Tyrone Swoopes never learned to throw, he could still carve a career, Tommie Frazier style, out of a punishing ground game. Alternatively, Barrett could be at TCU, Thomas at OU, fighting one another for yet another Big 12 title. I would still maintain that we made the right choice in 2012, although I will say it in as bitter and hater-y a way possible.

He is simply a phenomenal athletic specimen. He's a better runner than Cody Thomas is a passer, he's a better runner than JT Barrett is a dual-threat. For a prospect whose reputation is built on upside, he also has the highest floor. If he never progresses in the pass game, he's Terrell Pryor. You take that. You always bet on phenomenal.