HornSports Staff
HornSports.com
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- Oct 20, 2013
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- 2,468
The point on a brisket is typically the fattiest cut. Pitmasters often trim the point and select edges off a whole brisket and return them to the smoker.
Are burnt ends tough, chewy worthless cuts of meat, or are they a heavenly bites of smoky goodness? I suppose it depends on who you ask...
Rather than discard trimmings and fat, we chose to savor all the information that flows through the site. So, sit down and help yourself to some burnt ends.
***DO NOT FORWARD***
Starting off on the lighter side of things. We had a funny conversation with a guy that played on the offensive line in college...
He said he was, “Really disappointed in Perkins and Hughes†because, "they wore long sleeves."
If you missed it, here were Strong’s post-game remarks on the weather, “They thought it was cold, but I told them it wasn't cold. I said, 'Look what I have on. ‘ I said that up front we were going to win the game, so you get that mess off. I made them take it off. The skill guys had the little pouches on and I said the quarterback was going to wear one, but the rest of you take it off. It was all about our mindset. The weather was not going to be an issue."
In true OL fashion, our friend only had one thing to say to Perkins and Hughes, “Come on guys.â€
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With the resignation/firing/dismissal of Will Muschamp at UF, there are early reports naming Charlie Strong as a likely candidate for the Gators’ vacancy. While the idea seems far-fetched to many, we thought we should check in with a few folks, just to be sure.
We asked three different people about the speculation and all three laughed. Someone close to Coach Strong summed up everyone’s thoughts, “That’s ridiculous. Absurd. Tell your readers to think for themselves and not believe what gets put out there.â€
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In the post-game media session in Stillwater, John Harris commented on Armanti Foreman’s speed. Of Foreman’s 2 catches, one went for a first down (on 3rd & 8) and the other went for a touchdown. The freshman burned the Cowboys for 74 yards on just 2 receptions.
The performance was good enough for us to ask a current wide receiver about Foreman in practices. We wanted to know if what fans saw against OSU was what to expect moving forward.
“I wouldn’t race him. Straight up, I’m not about getting beat by a young guy. No though, the crazy thing is he’s just as fast when he’s on his routes. That’s hard to do, man. Kid is a natural.â€
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We had an interesting talk with a former player. His comments don’t need an intro:
“I read all those opinions on Swoopes last week, so I paid particular attention to him on Saturday night. The two most encouraging things to me were:
1. I thought Swoopes really played big when it mattered.
2. He did a nice job of distributing the ball across a ton of receivers. Some of that comes from the box, but give credit to 18 too.
The downside to the first part is that he was pretty average throughout the rest of the game. I’m not sure what to think about that. Obviously you like to have him be at his best when it matters most, like he was. But for a young guy that’s kinda backwards. Very strange.â€
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For contrast on the Horns’ most talked about player, this is from a current member of the Texas coaching staff:
“Tyrone is growing tons. What’s even more promising about the progress he has shown this season is that he doesn’t have the luxury of checking with the coaches like a lot of other Big 12 quarterbacks have with their coaching staff. Ty has to know what the defensive set is and adjust accordingly all by himself.â€
Adding, “For all practical purposes, the leash is off. He is getting 100% of the playbook. He is gaining more and more confidence every week and it shows. Some of the throws he made against OSU were off the charts good.â€
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Had a chance to catch up with a very connected guy that was comfortable sharing quite a few notes of interest. For starters:
“Whatever you do, do not call me a ‘BMD’. I hate that term. I’m an alum. I’m a fan. And, I’m a donor. In that order.â€
On to the good stuff…
- Strong has the full support of the bulk of the high-dollar donor contingent, as does Patterson.
- Corporate-minded donors that understand business and the value of a dollar are moving into Patterson’s corner. Guys are starting to see results and believe Patterson can deliver on why he was hired. According to them, Patterson is doing everything they expected so far.
- This group wants UT to become the darling of the country and, in fact, the globe as well. They think this can happen and they are working on things to bring this about. You will see, in the future, a humongous campaign of public relations, facilities and academic excesses like never seen on the 40 acres before. Of course it is understood that money will be no object…even Hollywood is being contracted to support the surge.
- As fans, this class of donors is really annoyed with A&M and their perceived successes. In their own way, they want to do everything necessary to crush that little uprising.
- Plans are proceeding on the state of the art athletic facility. Those plans are being treated carefully for the moment because they don’t want competing interests to hear anything (even rumors). “No one will have a better one and that includes colleges and the NFL.â€
- UT’s recruiting is picking up momentum and was doing so before the winning streak. Now after three straight wins, Strong and his crew believe they will have a huge recruiting year, this year. “They’ve gone from being in a position of having to take certain guys to being able to choose guys.â€
- On the recruiting front, Malik Jefferson’s visit to A&M was simply a fun trip with his friends. Jefferson appears to have made up his mind where he is going and it's not A&M.
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Most of the team is pretty tight-lipped and focused at this point in the year. However, we did manage to connect with one offensive player that was comfortable chatting about the current state of the team:
“This team is buying into the coaching staff and what they are trying to accomplish, like nobody would believe. The last thing I want to do is badmouth the old staff but this football team wouldn’t be close to where it is now with the old staff."
Since there are so many opinions on Swoopes, we asked about his progress and got this in reply, “Watson is a tremendous QB coach.â€
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We’ll close this edition with a last minute entry from another member of the alumni crowd that donates heavily to UT. He doesn’t have his name on a building yet, but that’s the circle he runs in….as evidenced by his first comment:
“McCombs is talking, now, like he was the one who recommended Strong to the program.â€
In our conversation, he echoed the comments above regarding the group’s thoughts on Charlie Strong, “The support for Strong, today, is overwhelming and there is already talk about giving him a raise. Bedford is well liked as well and will, most likely, receive a raise.â€
