Longhorn News/Discussion (Non-Recruiting)

[Brad Usrey]

9 hours ago, 83Dee said:

If there’s one thing Texas has proven over the past 10+ years, it’s that 4&5 stars aren’t immune to getting whipped by 3 stars.

I think Sark & staff will develop the talent they recruit much better than we’ve seen in our recent past.  

We can only hope. I want Sark to succeed  but am not sure. He showed lot stubbornness. 

[Billybass]

1 hour ago, dssl said:

Nobody paying attention though they were good. The reason they weren't good wasn't for lack of trying. 

I agree. They were trying.
But the fact remains they did not recruit Oline successfully.
With the school’s capabilities and influence it is hard to understand why they were consistently not successful.

The recruiting services gave them high ratings most years, but it was smoke and mirrors because of putrid Oline recruiting.
The  line was not good when Sark took over. It’s young now, but it’s better than it has been in a long time.

 

[BWilk55]

20 hours ago, Billybass said:

it is hard to understand why they were consistently not successful.

Part of this was probably that Hand was not a great OL coach and people knew it. I remember when we hired him, the Auburn fans were not one bit upset. Now, you have to take that with a grain of salt but it is a good thing to pay attention to when hiring new coaches. 

[Soldierhorn]

On 2/4/2023 at 10:10 PM, Billybass said:

I agree. They were trying.
But the fact remains they did not recruit Oline successfully.
With the school’s capabilities and influence it is hard to understand why they were consistently not successful.

The recruiting services gave them high ratings most years, but it was smoke and mirrors because of putrid Oline recruiting.
The  line was not good when Sark took over. It’s young now, but it’s better than it has been in a long time.

 

A close look shows that Texas has been bad at OL recruiting/development going through the Mack Brown years, except for the years leading up to the 2005 NC. The awesome 2005 OL/DLs were had more to do with the assistants he had that did the recruiting/development.  If OL were a Mack Brown priority, he would have been more consistent in his OL recruiting/development over the years.  2001-2003 are arguably Mack's best OL recruiting years and those years had quite a few crossover players vital to the NC run of 2005:

2001 Johnathan Scott recruited DL; started at OT in 2005; drafted in 2006
2001 Will Allen recruited OT; started at OG in 2005 
2001 Mike Garcia depth chart at OG in 2005
2002 Justin Blalock recruited 5* OG; started at OT in 2005; drafted in 2007
2002 Kasey Studdard recruited 3* DE; started at OG in 2005; drafted in 2007
2002 Lyle Sendlein recruited as 3* DE/DT; started at OC in 2005; UFA OC
2002 Neale Tweedie recruited as 4* OG/DE; #2 TE in 2005
2003 Tony Hills recruited as 5* TE; backup OT in 2005; drafted OT in 2008  
2003 Dallas Griffin recruited 3* OG; backup OC in 2005

This requires talent & development that I havent seen since then, including the rest of Mack's career.  Had Mack made the OL & DLs a priority, I'm confident he would have had at least one more championship & possibly two, esp 2008 & 2009. 

2008-2018 was a 9 yr drought of Longhorn OL being drafted - none in a 9 yr period. And, it was even longer if you go by recruited class. 2003 was the last class that resulted in a drafted OL (Tony Hills 2008) until 2015 landed 3*OT Connor Williams (drafted in 2018). 11 of those 12 recruited non-drafted OL classes were Mack Brown recruited classes (have to include 2014 since Strong just signed Mack's  three 3* OL commitments)

By contrast, it's too early to tell but it looks like Sark putting back to back OL classes that could have several players drafted.  

[Billybass]

9 hours ago, Soldierhorn said:

A close look shows that Texas has been bad at OL recruiting/development going through the Mack Brown years, except for the years leading up to the 2005 NC. The awesome 2005 OL/DLs were had more to do with the assistants he had that did the recruiting/development.  If OL were a Mack Brown priority, he would have been more consistent in his OL recruiting/development over the years.  2001-2003 are arguably Mack's best OL recruiting years and those years had quite a few crossover players vital to the NC run of 2005:

2001 Johnathan Scott recruited DL; started at OT in 2005; drafted in 2006
2001 Will Allen recruited OT; started at OG in 2005 
2001 Mike Garcia depth chart at OG in 2005
2002 Justin Blalock recruited 5* OG; started at OT in 2005; drafted in 2007
2002 Kasey Studdard recruited 3* DE; started at OG in 2005; drafted in 2007
2002 Lyle Sendlein recruited as 3* DE/DT; started at OC in 2005; UFA OC
2002 Neale Tweedie recruited as 4* OG/DE; #2 TE in 2005
2003 Tony Hills recruited as 5* TE; backup OT in 2005; drafted OT in 2008  
2003 Dallas Griffin recruited 3* OG; backup OC in 2005

This requires talent & development that I havent seen since then, including the rest of Mack's career.  Had Mack made the OL & DLs a priority, I'm confident he would have had at least one more championship & possibly two, esp 2008 & 2009. 

2008-2018 was a 9 yr drought of Longhorn OL being drafted - none in a 9 yr period. And, it was even longer if you go by recruited class. 2003 was the last class that resulted in a drafted OL (Tony Hills 2008) until 2015 landed 3*OT Connor Williams (drafted in 2018). 11 of those 12 recruited non-drafted OL classes were Mack Brown recruited classes (have to include 2014 since Strong just signed Mack's  three 3* OL commitments)

By contrast, it's too early to tell but it looks like Sark putting back to back OL classes that could have several players drafted.  

Great post. And I believe you will see a correlation to Oline players getting drafted and winning football teams.

And this goes back to my original post about how baffling it has been not to have had better Olines at Texas. Especially when you consider the resources available to us.

[Sugabread]

I heard on 104.9 that sark said they are moving Savion Red to RB.

[TFloss32]

 

[TFloss32]

39 minutes ago, Sugabread said:

I heard on 104.9 that sark said they are moving Savion Red to RB.

Correct, IT reported this morning as well.

[Eastexhorn]

If Red moves to RB staff must not have any faith in Blue. However Brooks, Baxter should be able to handle main RBS snaps. With KRon getting 5-4 special plays a game.

[NEOkHorn]

16 minutes ago, Eastexhorn said:

If Red moves to RB staff must not have any faith in Blue. However Brooks, Baxter should be able to handle main RBS snaps. With KRon getting 5-4 special plays a game.

Red may be the next gadget back like KRob has been used or going back a little farther, Ramonce. Man, I had high hopes for that kid. 

[Eastexhorn]

6 minutes ago, NEOkHorn said:

Red may be the next gadget back like KRob has been used or going back a little farther, Ramonce. Man, I had high hopes for that kid. 

Does Red have that kind of speed? I would think Wisner would fit in that role. Spring game will work out a lot of questions.

[Eastexhorn]

Two questions for board.

1 Anyone have a number of players on roster? I have 87.

2 Anyone who accesses On3's top 100 recruits, is the list scrambled or maybe my Ipad?

[dssl]

1 hour ago, Sugabread said:

I heard on 104.9 that sark said they are moving Savion Red to RB.

This surprises me. I figured with his hands and build he would be used like JWhit is used. I assumed we didn't see more of him because he needed to work on his blocking. Hopefully the move works out well for him.

[Coot]

12 minutes ago, dssl said:

This surprises me. I figured with his hands and build he would be used like JWhit is used. I assumed we didn't see more of him because he needed to work on his blocking. Hopefully the move works out well for him.

I may not be remembering this correctly, but it seems like JWhit played RB very early in his career at UT due to need there.

[dssl]

1 minute ago, Coot said:

I may not be remembering this correctly, but it seems like JWhit played RB very early in his career at UT due to need there.

True, and maybe it's just temporary,  but with Brooks,Baxter, Krob and Blue , plus Wisner.  I wouldn't think the need would be that strong. 

 

As someone else said maybe they are losing faith in Blue, although if that's the case then it's odd that the coaches allowed him to return, vs picking up another back from the portal.

[Big Daddy Cane]

2 hours ago, Eastexhorn said:

If Red moves to RB staff must not have any faith in Blue. However Brooks, Baxter should be able to handle main RBS snaps. With KRon getting 5-4 special plays a game.

If we're going from Blue to Red, we're going to be more conservative next year.. lol.

My guess would be that either Blue or another back has wondering eyes and may be hitting the portal. Might also be a motivational tactic for both Red and whoever in the RB room might need it.

[Bear19]

Likely that Blue portals.

[UTfish]

Maybe the move is because Brooks and Blue are both still recovering from injuries. Red is versatile and a highly rated blocker. He's built like a running back also. 

He could be a good surprise like Roschon was. We'll see. Trust the staff. 

[TFloss32]

[RickyFlair]

I had the chance to visit with one of the folks of a 24 recruiting target. He said during their one on one that Sark said he hates the portal.

He said they would use it since it’s here but if any of our current players come to him and say they are thinking about entering it he tells them to do it.

He told them he didn’t care who it was if they are not 100% committed to what we are doing he’s done with them. 

The guy also told me he was expecting Sark to be a used car salesman type and that he couldn’t have been more wrong. Said Sark was straight forward, organized and laid out everything they could expect from the program and what the program expected from players. He said the whole family was “blown away”.
 

The kid is one of our more coveted recruits and the dad said we were firmly in the drivers seat after the visit. 

[BWilk55]

1 hour ago, RickyFlair said:

I had the chance to visit with one of the folks of a 24 recruiting target. He said during their one on one that Sark said he hates the portal.

He said they would use it since it’s here but if any of our current players come to him and say they are thinking about entering it he tells them to do it.

He told them he didn’t care who it was if they are not 100% committed to what we are doing he’s done with them. 

The guy also told me he was expecting Sark to be a used car salesman type and that he couldn’t have been more wrong. Said Sark was straight forward, organized and laid out everything they could expect from the program and what the program expected from players. He said the whole family was “blown away”.
 

The kid is one of our more coveted recruits and the dad said we were firmly in the drivers seat after the visit. 

Does the kid go to a high school? Does he have initials? 

Sark does seem to be very genuine overall. I think going through his struggles with alcoholism has made him a very positive personality that families and players really seem to connect with.  

[RickyFlair]

1 hour ago, BWilk55 said:

Does the kid go to a high school? Does he have initials? 

Sark does seem to be very genuine overall. I think going through his struggles with alcoholism has made him a very positive personality that families and players really seem to connect with.  

He is in HS (2024 graduate).

1308 

[TXFF]

4 hours ago, RickyFlair said:

I had the chance to visit with one of the folks of a 24 recruiting target. He said during their one on one that Sark said he hates the portal.

He said they would use it since it’s here but if any of our current players come to him and say they are thinking about entering it he tells them to do it.

He told them he didn’t care who it was if they are not 100% committed to what we are doing he’s done with them. 

The guy also told me he was expecting Sark to be a used car salesman type and that he couldn’t have been more wrong. Said Sark was straight forward, organized and laid out everything they could expect from the program and what the program expected from players. He said the whole family was “blown away”.
 

The kid is one of our more coveted recruits and the dad said we were firmly in the drivers seat after the visit. 

It seems to me that this is the perfect approach from Sark. There is no middle ground, you're either in or you're out. Avoids players from holding the program hostage for more NIL money, too. If you're in, the NIL program will help you maximize your earning potential. If you're out, good luck!

[BWilk55]

3 hours ago, RickyFlair said:

He is in HS (2024 graduate).

1308 

Not surprising but great to hear that from a recruit we covet so much.

[North Texas Golfer]

22 hours ago, Eastexhorn said:

Two questions for board.

1 Anyone have a number of players on roster? I have 87.

2 Anyone who accesses On3's top 100 recruits, is the list scrambled or maybe my Ipad?

Orangebloods is showing 88 players on the roster. 

The player list on On3 is not scrambled on my computer.