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Texas Recruiting Notes 2022 - Idiotic Slapfights Unrelated To 2022 Recruiting


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5 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

It could be that expecting one or even two-year turnarounds on an offensive line that has been hemorrhagic explosive dogshit diarrhea since Dubya is the retarded part

Baylor was a 2 win team. They added starters via the portal on the O and D lines and won the Big 12.

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IT

Spoiler

It’s often said seasons are won and lost in the offseason. Through shoddy schemes, subpar talent, poor install, and/or lack of player development, Texas fans have seen that all too often on the negative side, including last year on defense.

Fortunately for Steve Sarkisian, in the modern era of scholarship limits, it’s never been easier to overhaul a roster. Along with Sark’s fortunate timing, he chose to work for a school uniquely positioned to take advantage of the pro-player environment. In addition, he chose an administration rigid to its evaluation of him, meaning he has a longer leash than 5-7 would normally warrant. Leash isn’t even the right word. From our vantage, the support Sark has is no different than if he won eight or 9 games.

I was going to write a version of this in early December but those were wild times where all we had time for was reporting. The centerpiece of that article would have been finishing out the class strong, which clearly Sarkisian did thanks in part to that unique positioning mentioned above.

What now? With the December recruiting flourish behind the program, it’s time to chart the course for a winning offseason. That starts in January.
 

Finish Roster Churn


The points of emphasis here are adding immediately productive players from the portal as well as corralling any Volunteers in the 2022 recruiting class.

Who will join quarterback Quinn Ewers and cornerback Ryan Watts as talented additions from the portal? Yesterday the staff offered Jared Verse, an EDGE by way of the University of Alabany. Verse is an upwardly mobile player who fell through the cracks out of high school but is clearly too talented for a school in the Colonial Athletic Association. Hell, Jimbo Fisher couldn’t even find the kid.

Big needs remaining from the portal, along with EDGE, are wide receiver and off-the-ball linebacker. Safety could also be considered a need but the focus appears to be Jacoby Mathews in the 2022 class at the moment. IT wouldn’t be surprised if a tight end was added as well to replace a departed Jared Wiley.

While we wait for more players to trickle into the portal after bowl season, we also await decisions from Larry Turner-Gooden, Earnest Greene, and most notably, Devon Campbell. UT’s good standing with Campbell is why you’re unlikely to see an offensive lineman out of the portal.

Over the course of the month, the staff will pursue more high school options to varying degrees

 

 

Assimilate the Noobs


Hopefully the melting pot in Austin goes a little more buttery than the dynamics on IT of late. Oh yes, there will be a January Resolutions post for Inside Texas to address that minor issue.

Along with the aforementioned Ewers and Watts, fans can expect at least 2-3 more transfers before classes start in the middle of January. Those players are already accustomed to life in college football. The real work will be in assimilating the early enrollees from high school.

Here are those players: S Bryan Allen, Jr., DL Jaray Bledsoe, RB Jaydon Blue, DB X’Avion Brice, CB Terrance Brooks, DL Aaron Bryant, EDGE Justice Finkley, CB Jaylon Guilbeau, OL Cole Hutson, and QB Maalik Murphy

Who are the leaders on the team who will take these players under their wings? Texas’ two best leaders are probably Roschon Johnson and Bijan Robinson. That’s good for Jaydon Blue, but the rest of the program needs leaders to emerge in a hurry.

IT reported the staff won’t give the same latitude it did to the players last offseason. That should help keep the younger players focused while new leaders hopefully emerge.

 

 

Changes on Defensive Staff?


This is justifiably an oft-discussed topic on the board. Sark has yet to make any intentions known after the defense struggled for most of the season. I can personally see both sides of the argument, which are:

1. Pete Kwiatkwoski has the sort of lengthy resume you don’t throw out after one year. He didn’t have his players in place, and the ones he inherited weren’t always coachable. Kwiatkowski also didn’t have his coaches in place as Sark curiously hired defensive back coaches before the coordinator. That was an issue we saw coming in real-time, which means it is a blemish on Sark’s tenure.

And:

2. His resume doesn’t matter because he was just that bad and as coordinator he demonstrated poor situational awareness, independent of player and coaching shortcomings, far too frequently.

I tend to side with No. 1, but something has to change on that side of the ball. That’s not to say the Sark era is tied to how the defense plays next year — I don’t buy that at all, his tenure in the short and intermediate will be decide by what happens on offense — but it would be an oddly stubborn position to take from a coach who seems quite flexible.

Another defensive mind needs to be added to the mix, preferably someone familiar with the requirements of the secondary playing behind PK’s defensive front.

 

 

Strength and Conditioning


Sark should have somebody knowledgeable audit this aspect of the program. Maybe that’s where a Gary Patterson would prove most useful.

It’s hard to have a firm grasp on S&C from outside the building, but year over year did you see a more or less in-shape team this season? More or less strength at the point of attack? More or less physicality? More or less mental toughness?

#####

January is a big month for the program. I could have even mentioned hiring a wide receiver coach, but I don’t see much reason for concern on that front.

I didn’t mention 2023 recruiting because it doesn’t affect next season, but we’ll be focusing more on that going forward as well.

 

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12 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

247 is butthurt about On3 taking a bunch of 247's talent.

Yeah. They’re not going to incorporate it at this point because it just gives On3 free publicity. Regardless, over the long-term, On3 is going to steal 247’s market share. CBS doesn’t give a crap about it from a revenue portfolio perspective compared to their other ventures and On3 is essentially run by the old 247 talent on the executive side. 

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  • closetojumping changed the title to Texas Recruiting Notes 2022 - Idiotic Slapfights Unrelated To 2022 Recruiting

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