Jump to content

Bevo14

Burnt Ends
  • Posts

    6462
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Bevo14

  1. 21 hours ago, closetojumping said:

    I also posted this on the aggie thread in the football forum, but recognizing that some of you elitists don't visit there:

    The Elk has confessed to his audience, after the first aggie scrimmage, that things are ... not so great right now.

    https://247sports.com/college/texas-am/longformarticle/texas-a-m-football-notebook-aggie-coach-mike-elko-says-team-remains-a-work-in-progress-230249778/#2404181

    "I am a coach, so I do not know how to sugarcoat all of this stuff," Elko said. "It is not great right now, because they are not comfortable in it yet. That is part of spring. It is just learning how the system works, taking more and more reps of it. 

    "The challenge that we will have coming out of spring ball is understanding where we are and having a phenomenal summer so that when we get back to fall camp, practice one, we are 100 days better and not taking any steps back."

    Spoilered the full article in case the link is subscriber only:

      Reveal hidden contents

    COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko covered a variety of topics in his mid-spring press conference Wednesday. Here are five highlights from what he discussed with the media.

    The Aggies are still a 'work in progress'

    A&M is beyond the halfway point of spring football, completing nine of its 15 practices so far. The Aggies also held their first spring scrimmage Tuesday. But in his three spring football press conferences, Elko has seemingly refrained from giving many revealing takeaways.

    Elko does not appear to be playing coy with his answers. He has simply suggested that his Aggie team remains far from a finished product, describing them as a "work in progress." With a new coaching staff and 30 scholarship newcomers this spring, A&M certainly has a learning curve.

    "Every time our kids are going out on the field, they are doing something for the first time," Elko said. "I think that is always a challenge, and that is what makes the first spring so challenging. Very happy with our guys in terms of their mindset, how hard they are working, the things that they are doing to try to get this thing in the right direction. 

    "We have managed to stay relatively healthy, which is huge, and getting a lot of guys out there and getting a lot of reps and a lot of work."

    With six practices remaining, the Aggies should only continue to progress and have a better understanding of the scheme and depth chart. They are expected to have two more scrimmages this spring – one next Tuesday and the other for the Maroon and White Game in Kyle Field next Saturday.

    "I am a coach, so I do not know how to sugarcoat all of this stuff," Elko said. "It is not great right now, because they are not comfortable in it yet. That is part of spring. It is just learning how the system works, taking more and more reps of it. 

    "The challenge that we will have coming out of spring ball is understanding where we are and having a phenomenal summer so that when we get back to fall camp, practice one, we are 100 days better and not taking any steps back."

    QB Conner Weigman is not exactly cemented as the starter

    Going into the spring, Elko named redshirt sophomore Conner Weigman as his starting quarterback. However, that label should not be considered permanent. If quarterbacks Jaylen Henderson or Marcel Reed outperform Weigman in practice, they could conceivably leapfrog him on the depth chart. At least, that is how Elko seemed to describe the situation.

    "Just because you go in the spring as the number one (quarterback), that does not really mean anything other than your number one going in the spring," Elko said. "Conner had earned that right, we felt like from how he had performed. But like every kid in our program, competition is there. So Conner knows there is a level of play that he needs to reach in order to continue to be number one and be number one when we play Notre Dame."

    Weigman began last season as the top option and impressed in his four starts. He completed 68.9% (82 of 119) of his passes for 979 yards and eight touchdowns with two interceptions while turning 12 carries into 63 yards and two scores.

    However, Weigman remains limited from the season-ending left foot/ankle injury that he suffered against Auburn last September. He has been practicing with restrictions throughout this spring.

    "He is not 100%," said Elko of Weigman. "He is not going to be 100% coming out of spring. He is still recovering from the ankle. So he is able to go. He is a tough kid, and it is a testament to him that he understands how important it is to get these reps."

    After what they showed last season, Henderson and Reed appear to have the talent to push Weigman in the coming months.

    Henderson started the last four games last season, though he permanently exited the TaxAct Texas Bowl vs. Oklahoma State early after going down with a right arm/elbow injury. In his three full starts combined, Henderson completed 67.5% (52 of 77) of his passes for six touchdowns with two interceptions while turning 40 carries into 97 yards and two scores.

    As a true freshman last season, Reed initially served as the fourth-team quarterback. But he replaced Henderson in the bowl game and shined, completing 20 of 33 passes for 361 yards with an interception. He also rushed for 29 yards and a score on 10 carries.

    "Jaylen Henderson is getting a little bit more and more comfortable functioning within the system," Elko said. "He is obviously extremely athletic. He does have the ability to throw the football well. Just seeing the game and getting the game to slow down for him a little bit so it can be a little bit more consistent, the way he delivers the football, I think would help. 

    "Then Marcel Reed as a young kid – and you saw it in the bowl game. I think he has really high potential. It is very similar, though. It is, can we get it to be out there every single play? A little less peaks and valleys and a little bit more consistent execution and operation is what we need to get."

    New transfers who have stood out this spring

    A&M has landed 24 scholarship players from the NCAA Transfer Portal this offseason, and only three of them are not on campus yet. After fielding a question about who has stood out among the new transfers, Elko initially dodged it with a quip.

    "I could reword that question," Elko said. "'Hey, coach, you brought in 24 guys. Are there 22 you would like to really get upset by singling out only two?' I am trying to figure out how to word it without doing that."

    Elko eventually named defensive end Nic Scourton (Purdue), offensive lineman Ar'maj Reed-Adams (Kansas) and tight end Tre Watson (Fresno State) as three transfers who have made a solid first impression this spring. He added that Watson has been dealing with a shoulder injury, though, and did not participate in the scrimmage Tuesday.

    Scourton impressing is no surprise. He led the Big Ten in sacks last season with 10 and received second-team all-conference honors. Reed-Adams and Watson emerging are the more interesting developments.

    The 6-foot-5, 325-pound Reed-Adams brings versatility and significant experience. In four seasons with the Jayhawks, he appeared in 31 games with 14 starts. Reed-Adams started his first eight games of the 2023 season at left guard before lining up at right tackle for the final three. His other three career starts came as a true freshman in 2020 and were all at right guard. Reed-Adams will likely compete for one of the two starting spots at offensive guard for the Aggies.

    A&M lacks a cemented starter at tight end, and Watson has the talent to be in consideration. He is seen as more of a receiving tight end but had a productive 2023 season with the Bulldogs, catching 38 passes for 378 yards and four touchdowns. Watson and Henderson were teammates at Fresno State in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

    Elko also named most of the eight new transfers in the secondary as standout performers. Safety Trey Jones III (Central Michigan) and cornerback Dezz Ricks (Alabama) have been dealing with injuries. Safety De'Rickey Wright (Vanderbilt) is not set to join the Aggies until June.

    "From Marcus Ratcliffe to Will Lee to Donovan Saunders to BJ Mayes … every one of those kids has flashed at times," Elko said. "They are going to add a lot of value back there."

    Bryce Anderson affirmatively moving to safety, other DB tidbits

    As a sophomore, Bryce Anderson entered last season with lofty expectations. He stepped into a starting role at nickel cornerback and looked ready to fill the void that the previous starter, Antonio Johnson, left. But while Anderson had his moments, he mostly produced mixed results.

    Perhaps because he played out of position.

    "Bryce is a safety. We recruited Bryce to play safety," said Elko, who as the former A&M defensive coordinator helped pursue Anderson out of the 2022 recruiting class. "I have always envisioned him being a safety in this defense. He is not playing nickel. I do not think he is a nickel."

    Anderson seems like a lock to secure one of the two starting safety jobs. Which player will claim the other starting spot remains unclear. Jones and Wright bring the most starting experience, but one has not been 100% healthy and the other is not with the team yet.

    Elko noticeably raved about Dalton Brooks, who played a lot of high-leverage reps as a true freshman last season.

    "Dalton Brooks has taken a huge step forward this spring and been really happy with him," Elko said. "He is an elite run-and-hit safety. He still has a little bit of a gap to close in terms of processing and understanding everything that we are doing, which he is doing every day. But I do think he has got some really elite traits, and we are excited about that one."

    With Anderson permanently leaving the nickel unit, that position group will be worth monitoring as well. 

    Going into the spring, Florida transfer Jaydon Hill seemed like the favorite to win the starting nickel job. He started 11 games at nickel for the Gators last season. However, Elko mentioned that incumbent starting cornerback Tyreek Chappell has been cross training on the outside and at nickel. He said cornerback Bravion Rogers has seen action at nickel, too.

    "Nickel is probably a little bit harder than corner," Elko said. "You are a little bit closer to the ball. There is a little bit more going on. From a scheme standpoint, the more reps you can get at nickel, it probably benefits you than always needing them to be out at corner."

    The next step for running back Rueben Owens II

    In an interview with the media last week, A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein opined that the days of a workhorse running back are "probably not there anymore." The Aggies using a committee approach in 2024 would certainly make sense. Running backs Amari Daniels, Le'Veon Moss and Rueben Owens II shared an equal workload last season, and they all produced similar numbers.

    Still, Owens will be worth monitoring as someone who could emerge from the group this offseason. He has the recruiting pedigree, receiving a five-star rating in the 2023 class. And despite being a true freshman last season, Owens played about as well as Daniels and Moss.

    To reach another level as a player, though, Owens will probably need to improve his pass protection and ability to gain yards after contact. Pro Football Focus gave Owens a 16.8 pass-blocking grade last season. Among the 119 FBS running backs who played at least 50 pass-blocking snaps, that grade came in last. His 2.53 yards after contact per attempt ranked 143rd out of 157 FBS running backs (minimum 100 attempts).

    "He has had a really good spring in terms of doing the things he needs to do to take his game to the next level," Elko said. "He is extremely athletic. He does a really good job catching the ball out of the backfield. 

    "He needs to just learn how to be a running back in the SEC and how to get four and five yards sometimes. He does a really good job of getting the 30 and 35 yards. That is his natural athleticism. We have to get him to be a little bit cleaner at the four and five yards, and that is what he is working on. I think he is getting really good at it."

    For the tl/dr crowd, Weigman isn't working out as much as Elko thinks he needs to, so Elko is hinting that he might not be QB1 after the spring; Reuben Owens is a pussy who still can't pass protect and goes down immediately on contact; Bryce Anderson is a safety and they don't know who the other safety will be, nor do they have a clue who the corner will be; outside of Nick Scourton and a guard from Kansas, they are in deep shit regarding transfer talent.

    Not sure Weigman can work out hard enough to be ready for that offense. If he starts bathing in roids maybe he'll make it to the midpoint of the season.

    Their schedule is about as easy as ours but they're probably headed for 5-7. The funny part is it's only comparable SOS because we raise the difficulty of their schedule and they bring ours down.

  2. 4 hours ago, campcrunk said:

    We just have SO MANY "fun," "little" recruiting hiccups to look back on "fondly" from the Charlie/Herman years. 

    Terrell Cuney, Cameron Hampton (WHO?), Lorenzo Joe, Chris Warren, Kai Locksley, Cameron Townsend (what's with all the LBs named "Cameron" that I do not remember at all?), Buck Major, Garrett Thomas, Patrick Hudson (alas, what could have been - under the pretty significant assumption that we didn't fuck up his development ALL the way up. Which is a MASSIVE gamble and probably not at all realistic given our staff at the time. Sigh...), Jeff McCulloch, Kyle Porter (saw him play in HS. I could've sworn he was even better than Rodney Anderson, though it's hard to tell behind the grown ass men Katy rolls out on OL. Turns out that they both just kind of sucked), Jean DeLance (see what proper development can do for you??? I don't give a shit that he didn't do anything in the NFL. He was damn solid in college. For Florida😠).

    And who could possibly forget JP Urquidez? Certainly not @Tex Pete. Then, OF COURSE, we have the amazing, astonishing, astounding, absolutely unparalled Florida Five. Thanks to Davante Davis for being the only one was worth a shit, managing to last through one, single, solitary motherfucking practice without quitting, AND having the grades to make it onto campus in the first place. Also, does the name "Shiro Davis" ring a bell for anyone? Me neither. 

    Oh, and hey! Who wants to see Tom Herman call a pitch to Danny Young on 4th and 0.5 so we can watch him promptly lose 3 yards and turn the ball over at our own 40 while looking like he's running through quicksand? Good times, good times. Herman EASILY had some of the most baffling turnovers on downs I've ever seen. And I LOVE it when coaches are aggressive and do that. Herman was just godawful at it. Then, of course, we had the other "magnificant" offensive "weapons" Herman and his cadre of imbicile assistants and yes men brought in.

    Montrell Estell (when he wasn't switching back and forth to DB), Reese Moore, Reese Leitao, doctor and amateur pharmacist (and as an part time amateur pharmicist myself, I don't even respect his work in that field. Xanax? How generic and uncreative can you get? Go get you some 4-HO-MiPT, DPT, or DiPT. Or, if you absolutely have to sell benzos instead of something cool, try Pyrazolam, Bromazolam, Flubrotizolam, or Flubromazolam. They're not even technically illegal as long as marked "not for human consumption" and/or you put the little skull and crossbones on the container thanks a loophole in the Federal Analogue Act you could pilot an aircraft carrier through), Toneil (excuse me: Toenail) Carter, Jordan Pouncey, Brennan "Alligator Arms" Eagles, Josh Moore's unregistered gat, Malcom Epps (probably my personal favorite. "Bama wanted him so he MUST be good!!1" Saban would have trapdoored his ass 15 seconds after he set foot in Tuscaloosa. Assuming, of course, that the only reason we got him at all isn't because Saban had already trapdoored his ass. And then, "offensive wunderkind genius" Lincoln Riley takes him? That alone should disprove every "Riley is an incredible coach" argument we've ever had on this board), and Casey Thompson, annihilator of locker rooms. Who could forget good old Casey Thomson, his proud papa, and their insistence that Casey was worlds better than Ehlinger. 

    We should also note that Thompson (and dear old dad, of course. I wonder if he got to keep the orange jumpsuit from that SI cover?) played at least some small part in Cam Rising bolting for Utah - though I concede most of it had to do with Rising's idiotic assumption that he'd come take Sam's job from day 1), Tyler Johnson, Javonne Shephard (lol), Ja'Quinden Jackson (GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, HERMAN AND YURCICH. We had this guy as a potential wildcat QB or powerback and we were running pitches to DANNY FUCKING YOUNG on 4th and inches???!!) and, of course, Keaontay Ingram (here come the intrusive thoughts and involuntary flashbacks of the LSU game which will probably be followed by seizures and months long severe depression...). 

    And, of course, Herman's defensive recruiting. Just... MWAH! *Chef's kiss.* Jalen Green, Tyler Owens, Juwan "I'm collecting AARP checks dven though I'm still transferring between schools" Mitchell, Prince Dorbah ("just look at that first step! He's like our very own Von Miller!"), Xavion Aford, Sawyer Goram-Welch (counting him as a DT since that's what he was recruited as - even though he's found a way to be a complete non-factor (or worse) on BOTH sides of the ball now), and Caleb Johnson ("if he ever gets on the field, he's like Gary Johnson but bigger and faster! Really! I swear! Guys? Guys? Where are you going?").

    And, to save the absolute best for last, the tin man himself, BJ Foster. Maybe the single most frustrating Texas defensive back I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Say what you want about Taafe, Schooler, and Haines. At least they left everything on the field when they played. Foster, on the other hand, couldn't even be bothered to run down multiple very stoppable touchdown plays and plenty of other long gains when he didn't feel like it.

    Meanwhile, Breckyn Hager is still MASSIVELY overrunning the backfield somewhere. He's probably several hundred miles behind the play by now and still going, determined to get to that QB. Don't ever give up, little buddy. You'll get to freshman Brock Purdy someday, even if you have to sprint all the way to San Francisco to do it. 

    J0Ro72.gif

    Well. What a "fun" little walk down memory lane. I think almost everyone here knows I could keep going on this. For a long, LONG time. But I think this post is already too long (and disheartening, enraging, and just plain miserable enough). Also, I prefer not to disparage MOST kids who decide to be Longhorns as long as they try, aren't complete fuckups, or aren't just bad guys. Anyway, now that I've remembered all of that and even done some research on it, I'm gonna go drink a whole container of bleach, swallow 3 bottles of Oxy, and stick my head in the oven just to make sure I get the "job" done.

    Sincere thanks to Bijan, Sam, Roschon, Lil'Jordan, Collin Johnson, Sweat, Ford, Cosmi, Poona, and some other guys for making our games under Herman and Strong (usually) bearable to watch. Especially when Herman actually bothered to play Bijan.

    why are you the way that you are GIF

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Haha 3
×
×
  • Create New...