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2019 Texas Longhorns fall practice thread


Machinator

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2 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

It doesn’t, as far as I know.  I’m just a traditionalist, when it comes to turf.

But it’s almost purely the aesthetics of it.   

Just fucking win and I’ll get over it.

You've never played on it?

I think it's better than grass, but only for night games. Daytime heat and sun heats up the little black pellets and makes it way hot on the field and on your feet.

Grass has more crown, and it's less predictable. Turf can be a bit more slick in a rain, but the benefit of sliding after tackles and softer landing helps more than it hurts.

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1 hour ago, Zavala said:

You've never played on it?

I think it's better than grass, but only for night games. Daytime heat and sun heats up the little black pellets and makes it way hot on the field and on your feet.

Grass has more crown, and it's less predictable. Turf can be a bit more slick in a rain, but the benefit of sliding after tackles and softer landing helps more than it hurts.

I haven’t played on artificial turf since hs, in the eighties.  I know there’s been a ton of improvement since then.  I saw a lot of bad knee and ankle injuries and the fucking turf burn was brutal.   

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Uhhh...did you watch our football team last year? We started two first year DBs all last year and they were incredible. Even Cook was good when he got to play. 
Including 2nd year DBs is also way behind the times. With so much 7 on 7, advanced training and a lot of guys being early enrollees, a lot of guys are ready to go Year 1 and almost all are ready to go Year 2. 
Green and Jamison May struggle a bit early just because they didn’t get many game reps at CB last year early, but to say that all 1st and 2nd year DBs get torched and struggle, even Thorpe Winners, is just flat out wrong.
I should have said CBs instead of DBs... freshman at safety can work... FR and FRRS at CB is going to have bad moments...
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43 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

I haven’t played on artificial turf since hs, in the eighties.  I know there’s been a ton of improvement since then.  I saw a lot of bad knee and ankle injuries and the fucking turf burn was brutal.   

I've played on "astroturf" that shit is not even in the same relm as the modern artificial grass. 

My HS played a team that had astroturf before our district play, that shit was horrible. You play in tennis shoes and it's very speedy but very different, like playing on concrete. We played on grass until my junior year and we switched to the new kind of artificial turf. 

https://fieldturf.com/en/products/detail/turf-systems/

Wow, how amazing it feels, and it's never fucked up with multiple games being played on it. I grew up in an area with too much rain (Houston berb) and it created mudholes on the grass field. Plus you needed a bunch of crown to keep the water off the field. It sucked shit.

The turf was amazing for keeping a uniform condition for games.  The downside, in the summer daytime especially, you melt your fucking cleats playing ball on this shit. It gets way too hot. I don't know what they could do, maybe run sprinklers (even though it doesn't need water lol) or something? But it's just way, way too hot. Real grass at least stays cool, we ended up practicing a lot on the JV field because it was grass. If it was cool or once it got further into wintertime we used the 'game field' and practiced on the turf. 

Anyway, for Austin, with unlimited funds, they could pull off some natural field. But it takes a lot of work.. Maybe it's easier for everyone and better for the players to use artificial. I just hope they aren't practicing on it in the middle of the day, because it's hot as fuck. 

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22 hours ago, Rick Fuckin’ Dalton said:

A negative feedback rating that has been going down lol. Me attending games or not has nothing to do with this convo right now. Idk why you felt that you had to quote me earlier trying to be a smart ass over a question I had about a hat.  Childish fuck

Surly Horns; not a place for the sensitive or easily offended.

 

22 hours ago, brojangles2 said:

You don’t have to be mad at me because you’re a fan that buys your gear at Buc-ees in Baytown. That’s on you. It’s clear you’re quite detached from this program and know little about it. Thought you were blocking me? Still trying to prove your worth? Get on with the blocking, you thin skinned fairy. 

There's a Buc-ees in Baytown?  I guess I may finally have a reason to upgrade my view of that town.

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51 minutes ago, Sleepygrad said:

GD sure found some new Texas gear pretty quickly

I have a feeling any visitor to practice of note gets run past the Co-op for gear for photography/publicity reasons. Or more likely, they’re asked their shirt size and a staffer appears fresh from the Co-op with some gear. 

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IT team notes / Kool-Aid

By: Eric and Justin

With Wednesday being the first full-pad practice we can start to get a better feel for the individuals as well as the units. They still haven't scrimmaged but have done a lot of physical situational work.

We'll try to encompass everything we're hearing within position groupings.

Quarterback

As Ehlinger found his groove last year in-season we began hearing superlatives but it's nothing like what we're hearing now. "His accuracy is better. He's hitting windows he hasn't in the past. He's throwing better down the field, better back shoulders 30 yards down field -- can't defend it. He's spreading the ball around, you have to account for everyone. There's no, 'take this guy away and they're in trouble.'"

Thompson continues to improve and looks more viable as a back-up with each practice. He's also throwing the ball better than ever and has a much better command of the offense than during the spring. The feeling remains Texas can win with him.

"This is going to be a much different offense. They're not going to grind drives out, they'll be able to score much quicker." It sounds like the offensive brain-trust is creating more space and allowing Ehlinger to take more deep shots. 

Running Back

Keaontay Ingram is the undisputed lead back. 

Jordan Whittington is seeing the field quite a bit and often when he does he's motioned out. All the talk regarding him early in camp is how devastating he is as a receiver. "If he's matched up on a linebacker it's over. Pretty much everyone is struggling with covering him out of the back-field. They're doing a lot of different things with him to exploit match-ups."

I still haven't heard much about two-back sets but they're coming.

Wide Receiver

"They're all good. Brennan Eagles had a big week. He does most of his damage down the field. Duvernay is the guy they hit quick and underneath. He's been good about breaking tackles or making the first guy miss and getting down field quick for extra yardage."

I asked about Jake Smith. "He's fine, definitely fast but still learning where to be. He'll play this year, but it looks like Duvernay's position."

Offensive Line

It's the same group of five players as last week with Kerstetter and Okafor still rotating at guard and tackle. I asked about a few guys in particular.

Parker Braun: "He's legitimately fast. I'm not sure I've seen somebody pull with that speed and aggression before. Pass protection is average but run blocking is very good."

Christian Jones: "He's doing all right, he needs to improve blitz pick-up. It's not an athleticism thing, just needs better recognition."

Junior Angilau: "He's a solid player, just needs to keep working. Strong and athletic. He has some older players in front of him but he could come in and they wouldn't skip a beat."

Tyler Johnson: "He hasn't been too bad, he gives up a sack every now and then but unless you're Sam Cosmi that'll happen with all the reps they get. He's been rotating with the twos along with some others. Not ready yet but he'll be a player."

Javonne Shepherd: "He moves really well but he needs to get nastier at the point of contact. He has a long way to go become more physical. Definitely moves good, though."

Tight End

The tight ends are still flexed out quite a bit but are being woven into the run game more and more. 

They're being used in the passing game more than last year as both Cade Brewer and Reese Leitao are better receivers than Andrew Beck was. Leitao even caught a touchdown this week. He still needs to get more physical in the run game but he'll play this year.

I asked for a comparison between Brewer and Beck: "Brewer is a better athlete for sure, a better receiver. Beck was the better blocker. Beck was just really reliable but Brewer is getting there." 

Defensive Line

Will this defensive line be better than last year? "It will be. There's no selfishness with that group, nobody is worrying about individual statistics. They're going to make things easier for the linebackers. Depth won't be as good as last year when you had guys as back-ups who were as good as some starters."

Roach profiles to the guy they're going to move around the most but there isn't much difference between he and Graham in quality.

Behind the first three it's a mad scramble for reps. Like with wide receiver the bench is pretty deep. I even heard a guy like Daniel Carson could see snaps this year.

Linebacker

I was not expecting to hear much positivity at the position but here we go.

Dele: "Moving better than ever. He'll never move great but he'll be better than Wheeler. That's not what you're looking for but you can work with it."

Juwan Mitchell: "He's having a good start to camp. He's picked things up quickly, moves pretty well, but what stands out is he plays with bad intentions." Mitchell will not only play this year, but it sounds like he's going to push Dele.

Caleb Johnson: "He runs well but still doesn't know exactly where to be. He'd probably be okay playing next to McCulloch."

David Gbenda: "He's ahead of schedule. He's going to be a really good player. He likes to hit, he knows what he's doing, and he can run -- he's fast. He plays bigger than he looks and he's put on some size since June. He might emerge as an option. He has a really good feel for the position." 

McCulloch returned to practice after missing for whatever reason and he seems to be the steadying voice. All these guys know what they're supposed to do but he's doing a good job of directing traffic. 

After these discussions I didn't get the feeling Ossai would be the Rover when the defense goes to dime but that remains to be seen. It looks like viable options are starting to emerge. 

Since he was asked about, I mentioned Luke Brockermeyer to my source. "He's having a good camp and making some plays when he gets snaps. He's had a few tackles for loss." 

Defensive Back

Something they're tinkering with is BJ Foster in the boundary and Caden Sterns to the field. These were their obvious long-term assignments coming out of high school but I didn't expect to hear about this until next spring after Brandon Jones departs. This alignment only works if Jones can credibly play nickel. We know that he would excel in the run force aspects, though he'd have similar coverage concerns to Foster at the position. However, there are some positives here.

Foster runs the alley better than Sterns while still possessing good ball skills a la Deshon Elliott in 2017. He's not as instinctive versus the pass as Sterns but he's more athletic with plenty of range. Sterns to the field would convert more turnovers than Jones thanks to his better instincts and ball skills. Sterns, being good in coverage, would also provide needed help to Jones versus the pass. In nickel or dime, having Jones out there gives you a pseudo linebacker while improving the pass defense behind him. 

If this does work, then the only thing that would change from the 2019 secondary to the 2020 is changing out the nickel, and Josh Thompson is already starter-level. We'll keep an eye on this. It could work.

Thompson and Brown provide excellent depth across the board. Brown knows every position back there. 

Corner

There isn't much new here. The top two corners are Jalen Green and Anthony Cook, though D'Shawn Jamison is emerging as a player and is currently the starter at field corner. Cook's ideal position is boundary corner where Green has been working with the ones. This reads like Green will move to the field after Cook serves his half game suspension in the opener. Cook's skill-set is better suited to boundary while Green can play anywhere. 

Along with Jamison, the staff has Kobe Boyce and Kenyatta Watson as options. Feedback on Watson remains very positive.

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16 minutes ago, Machinator said:

IT team notes / Kool-Aid

 

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"This is going to be a much different offense. They're not going to grind drives out, they'll be able to score much quicker." It sounds like the offensive brain-trust is creating more space and allowing Ehlinger to take more deep shots. 

 

I hope this is true. I've been waiting 10 years to have one of the best offenses in the conference. So sick of trying to dodge haymakers from TCU, Baylor, and West Virginia and not being able to respond in kind. Let's see how they like it.

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28 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I hope the Ross’s have at least 21 more children. 

Ross, in the pocket, looking deep for Ross but he's covered! Picks up a great block from Ross, scrambles outside behind his lead blocker Ross, tries to go over the middle but it's picked off!

Not a good turnover for the Horns - and now we'll see if this Horns' defense led by senior safety Ross and junior linebacker Ross can force another stop. 

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