primal defense
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It looks like it will come down to QB and OL improvement for 2015.
Charlie Strong ready for next step in rebirth at Texas; Punt, Pass & Pork
AUSTIN, Texas—Charlie Strong swears he didn't want to tear anything down last season, even if that's what it looked like. Every time he kicked another player off the team at Texas, it seemed he wanted to burn the remnants of the Mack Brown era so the Longhorns could begin anew once the ashes were blown away. That may not be what Strong desired, but it's basically what he got.
“Guys made the decision they didn’t want to be a part of the program," Strong said. "They made that decision when they’d been given opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to make it right. When you have a set of players who are doing it right, then how can you allow other guys who want to do their own thing?â€
Strong wanted to send a large group of senior contributors off with a winning final season. But as the misbehavior mounted, he had to make a choice. Should he let it slide in the hope of winning two or three more games in 2014? Or should he take drastic action to establish a standard so he wouldn’t have to keep dealing with the same issues in later years? “Kids are smart," Strong said. "They’re going to always sit back and watch how you handle a situation.†Strong felt that if the Longhorns saw him let banned behavior slide in ’14, they’d assume he always would. “It undermines everything," he said
So, Strong kept chucking players—including his two best offensive tackles (Desmond Harrison and Kennedy Estelle)—and Texas slogged its way through a 6-7 campaign that ended with the Longhorns running 43 plays for a whopping 59 yards in a 31-7 Texas Bowl loss to Arkansas. Strong wanted better for Quandre Diggs, Jordan Hicks, Steve Edmond, Jaxon Shipley and the rest who had toiled for Texas without ever winning anything of note, but he felt he had to do what was best for the long-term health of the program. “I just feel bad because I wanted those guys to go out the right way,†Strong said. “I wanted them to enjoy their last year and that didn’t happen.â€
What happened was a frustrating but instructive season. For example, Strong and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson came to Austin assuming the Longhorns could thrive using the same conservative, clock-milking offense that quarterback Teddy Bridgewater ran so capably at Louisville. That attack was the perfect complement to Louisville’s smothering defense, and the Cardinals went 23-3 in Watson’s two full seasons as the primary play-caller. At Texas, David Ash had the arm and temperament to run the scheme to Watson’s satisfaction. The transition wouldn't be easy because of depth issues on the line, but the offense would work. Then Ash, who had missed most of the 2013 season because of concussions, suffered another one in the opener against North Texas. Making matters worse, center Dominic Espinosa—the team’s top remaining lineman—was lost for the year to an ankle injury suffered in the same game.
Suddenly, the Longhorns had two scholarship quarterbacks, neither of whom was comfortable in a pro-style offense. Like most Lone Star State quarterbacks of their generation, sophomore Tyrone Swoopes and freshman Jerrod Heard grew up in the shotgun running the spread. Heard wasn't quite ready to play, so he redshirted. Meanwhile, Swoopes attempted to run an offense to which he was ill-suited behind a line that could barely function. “There was no help for him at all," Strong said. "You didn’t have an offensive line that could protect him. You didn’t have an offensive line that could open holes for the running backs. So, just load the box. They ain’t going to be able to move the ball.â€
<img src="http://cdn-jpg.si.com/sites/default/files/2015/04/20/strong-ppp-inline.jpg">
Photo: Ed Zurga/AP
That Texas won six games under these circumstances is a testament to the veterans the Longhorns had on defense. But Strong realized how unfair it had been to put his players in that position in the first place. He, Watson and co-offensive coordinator Joe Wickline decided this off-season to switch to a style that fits the quarterbacks they have on roster and the ones they'll recruit in the future. “In this state, it’s 98% spread in high school," Strong said. "Why take a player who has run that through his middle and high school years and try to change him?â€
That switch has energized the competition between Swoopes and Heard this spring. They have split first-team reps, and Swoopes has fended off his younger teammate so far. "I don’t know that Heard has done anything yet to unseat him as a starter," Strong told reporters after Saturday’s spring game. "I said he’s closed the gap, which is what you want." The competition will almost certainly continue into preseason camp. “You want the competition to continue," Strong said. "It needs to continue so they’ll continue to work.†In fact, Strong wishes the Longhorns had more position battles like Swoopes-Heard across the depth chart. “Here, you should have competition like that at every position," Strong said. "That’s why you have to recruit—to get back to that. It was here before. If it’s been here before, it can be done again.â€
Watson and Wickline will have to choose between two distinct personalities. Swoopes has tried to correct every mistake and run every play as designed. Heard enjoys improvising. "He’s one of those guys where nothing really fazes him," Strong said. "Tyrone has game experience. He wants to make sure everything is right. With Jerrod, his mindset is, ‘I know I can get it right.’â€
If the Longhorns still had last year's offensive line, Heard might be the obvious choice. Plays were bound to break down, especially after Espinosa's injury. Strong points out that the losses of Espinosa and Ash crippled the offense’s on-field leadership. On the field, Strong says, leadership has to come through the middle, meaning the quarterback, center, middle linebacker and free safety have to take on outsized roles. (The reason is practical; players in the middle can communicate with everyone.) Texas started true freshman Jason Hall at free safety in 2014, so when Ash and Espinosa went down, senior linebacker Edmond was the only one in those critical positions with any real experience. “It was just one of those years," tailback Johnathan Gray said. "They’re still your teammates, and you still have to fight behind them. With the injuries and the suspensions, you just had to fight through it.â€
The Texas line now has the experience it lacked last year because center Taylor Doyle, left guard Sedrick Flowers and left tackle Marcus Hutchins learned about everything that can go wrong in 2014. Thanks to the arrival of two juco transfers (Brandon Hodges and Tristan Nicholson) and two early enrolling freshmen (Garrett Thomas and Connor Williams), the line might also have depth. That across-the-board competition Strong desires? He may soon get it on his line. Wickline has made it clear to veterans that newcomers have arrived looking to take their jobs.
If the line improves, everything else should improve as well. The Longhorns have speed outside in the form of receivers Daje Johnson and Armanti Foreman, and the new offense and superior blocking should allow either of the quarterbacks to get the ball to those playmakers in space. That should cut down on those loaded boxes, which should help Gray find more room between the tackles
The mood in the program is quietly optimistic, but everyone seems to understand where Texas currently sits in the Big 12 pecking order. Take away the brand-name prestige, and the Longhorns are looking up at programs like Baylor and TCU, which simply evaluated recruits better and then coached them better in the waning years of Brown's tenure. Oklahoma, which didn't fall as far as Texas, is in a similar position after retooling its coaching staff.
Texas can get back, but maybe it had to hit rock bottom before it realized how much work needed to be done. That point probably came during the smothering loss to Arkansas. “It shows how far the step back we had taken was," Strong said. He has yet to show his players the grisly footage, but he will. “They’re going to get a chance to look at it," he said. Maybe after watching that snuff film, they'll know they have the chance to contribute to the rebirth of Texas football.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/04/20/charlie-strong-texas-longhorns-punt-pass-pork
Charlie Strong ready for next step in rebirth at Texas; Punt, Pass & Pork
AUSTIN, Texas—Charlie Strong swears he didn't want to tear anything down last season, even if that's what it looked like. Every time he kicked another player off the team at Texas, it seemed he wanted to burn the remnants of the Mack Brown era so the Longhorns could begin anew once the ashes were blown away. That may not be what Strong desired, but it's basically what he got.
“Guys made the decision they didn’t want to be a part of the program," Strong said. "They made that decision when they’d been given opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to make it right. When you have a set of players who are doing it right, then how can you allow other guys who want to do their own thing?â€
Strong wanted to send a large group of senior contributors off with a winning final season. But as the misbehavior mounted, he had to make a choice. Should he let it slide in the hope of winning two or three more games in 2014? Or should he take drastic action to establish a standard so he wouldn’t have to keep dealing with the same issues in later years? “Kids are smart," Strong said. "They’re going to always sit back and watch how you handle a situation.†Strong felt that if the Longhorns saw him let banned behavior slide in ’14, they’d assume he always would. “It undermines everything," he said
So, Strong kept chucking players—including his two best offensive tackles (Desmond Harrison and Kennedy Estelle)—and Texas slogged its way through a 6-7 campaign that ended with the Longhorns running 43 plays for a whopping 59 yards in a 31-7 Texas Bowl loss to Arkansas. Strong wanted better for Quandre Diggs, Jordan Hicks, Steve Edmond, Jaxon Shipley and the rest who had toiled for Texas without ever winning anything of note, but he felt he had to do what was best for the long-term health of the program. “I just feel bad because I wanted those guys to go out the right way,†Strong said. “I wanted them to enjoy their last year and that didn’t happen.â€
What happened was a frustrating but instructive season. For example, Strong and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson came to Austin assuming the Longhorns could thrive using the same conservative, clock-milking offense that quarterback Teddy Bridgewater ran so capably at Louisville. That attack was the perfect complement to Louisville’s smothering defense, and the Cardinals went 23-3 in Watson’s two full seasons as the primary play-caller. At Texas, David Ash had the arm and temperament to run the scheme to Watson’s satisfaction. The transition wouldn't be easy because of depth issues on the line, but the offense would work. Then Ash, who had missed most of the 2013 season because of concussions, suffered another one in the opener against North Texas. Making matters worse, center Dominic Espinosa—the team’s top remaining lineman—was lost for the year to an ankle injury suffered in the same game.
Suddenly, the Longhorns had two scholarship quarterbacks, neither of whom was comfortable in a pro-style offense. Like most Lone Star State quarterbacks of their generation, sophomore Tyrone Swoopes and freshman Jerrod Heard grew up in the shotgun running the spread. Heard wasn't quite ready to play, so he redshirted. Meanwhile, Swoopes attempted to run an offense to which he was ill-suited behind a line that could barely function. “There was no help for him at all," Strong said. "You didn’t have an offensive line that could protect him. You didn’t have an offensive line that could open holes for the running backs. So, just load the box. They ain’t going to be able to move the ball.â€
<img src="http://cdn-jpg.si.com/sites/default/files/2015/04/20/strong-ppp-inline.jpg">
Photo: Ed Zurga/AP
That Texas won six games under these circumstances is a testament to the veterans the Longhorns had on defense. But Strong realized how unfair it had been to put his players in that position in the first place. He, Watson and co-offensive coordinator Joe Wickline decided this off-season to switch to a style that fits the quarterbacks they have on roster and the ones they'll recruit in the future. “In this state, it’s 98% spread in high school," Strong said. "Why take a player who has run that through his middle and high school years and try to change him?â€
That switch has energized the competition between Swoopes and Heard this spring. They have split first-team reps, and Swoopes has fended off his younger teammate so far. "I don’t know that Heard has done anything yet to unseat him as a starter," Strong told reporters after Saturday’s spring game. "I said he’s closed the gap, which is what you want." The competition will almost certainly continue into preseason camp. “You want the competition to continue," Strong said. "It needs to continue so they’ll continue to work.†In fact, Strong wishes the Longhorns had more position battles like Swoopes-Heard across the depth chart. “Here, you should have competition like that at every position," Strong said. "That’s why you have to recruit—to get back to that. It was here before. If it’s been here before, it can be done again.â€
Watson and Wickline will have to choose between two distinct personalities. Swoopes has tried to correct every mistake and run every play as designed. Heard enjoys improvising. "He’s one of those guys where nothing really fazes him," Strong said. "Tyrone has game experience. He wants to make sure everything is right. With Jerrod, his mindset is, ‘I know I can get it right.’â€
If the Longhorns still had last year's offensive line, Heard might be the obvious choice. Plays were bound to break down, especially after Espinosa's injury. Strong points out that the losses of Espinosa and Ash crippled the offense’s on-field leadership. On the field, Strong says, leadership has to come through the middle, meaning the quarterback, center, middle linebacker and free safety have to take on outsized roles. (The reason is practical; players in the middle can communicate with everyone.) Texas started true freshman Jason Hall at free safety in 2014, so when Ash and Espinosa went down, senior linebacker Edmond was the only one in those critical positions with any real experience. “It was just one of those years," tailback Johnathan Gray said. "They’re still your teammates, and you still have to fight behind them. With the injuries and the suspensions, you just had to fight through it.â€
The Texas line now has the experience it lacked last year because center Taylor Doyle, left guard Sedrick Flowers and left tackle Marcus Hutchins learned about everything that can go wrong in 2014. Thanks to the arrival of two juco transfers (Brandon Hodges and Tristan Nicholson) and two early enrolling freshmen (Garrett Thomas and Connor Williams), the line might also have depth. That across-the-board competition Strong desires? He may soon get it on his line. Wickline has made it clear to veterans that newcomers have arrived looking to take their jobs.
If the line improves, everything else should improve as well. The Longhorns have speed outside in the form of receivers Daje Johnson and Armanti Foreman, and the new offense and superior blocking should allow either of the quarterbacks to get the ball to those playmakers in space. That should cut down on those loaded boxes, which should help Gray find more room between the tackles
The mood in the program is quietly optimistic, but everyone seems to understand where Texas currently sits in the Big 12 pecking order. Take away the brand-name prestige, and the Longhorns are looking up at programs like Baylor and TCU, which simply evaluated recruits better and then coached them better in the waning years of Brown's tenure. Oklahoma, which didn't fall as far as Texas, is in a similar position after retooling its coaching staff.
Texas can get back, but maybe it had to hit rock bottom before it realized how much work needed to be done. That point probably came during the smothering loss to Arkansas. “It shows how far the step back we had taken was," Strong said. He has yet to show his players the grisly footage, but he will. “They’re going to get a chance to look at it," he said. Maybe after watching that snuff film, they'll know they have the chance to contribute to the rebirth of Texas football.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/04/20/charlie-strong-texas-longhorns-punt-pass-pork
