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2023 Fall Camp Thread of Dominance


USMCHorn

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On 8/19/2023 at 6:27 PM, SubliminalHorn said:

So are now in official panic mode over the offense or what. I just need to know what to freak out about right now 

Any reasonable observer knew going into this year that Texas had much bigger questions on the offensive side. The defense brings a lot back from a pretty good unit and added high level talent at all three levels. The offense lost by far its best weapon and its emotional leader. The defense should be the strength of the team at this point. I wouldn't panic over $9.95'ers in general, and especially not when it logically checks out.

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5 hours ago, mwaadeeb said:

I still have hope for him as a game-day thinker. He clearly stroked out a few times and didn't make obvious changes, but there were times when he did make obvious changes, they just didn't work. He says he's aware of the problem. Hopefully he's smart enough to have someone badass in his ear specifically tasked with adjustments.

With our growing cast of playmakers, he may be able to change that narrative pretty quickly.

I'm on board with this thinking. All coaches have to be somewhat prideful and arrogant, but Sark strikes me as the kind of guy who is willing to learn from his mistakes and maybe knows when to admit his limitations and ask for help if he needs it. Maybe that's just a recovery thing?

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15 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Any reasonable observer knew going into this year that Texas had much bigger questions on the offensive side. The defense brings a lot back from a pretty good unit and added high level talent at all three levels. The offense lost by far its best weapon and its emotional leader. The defense should be the strength of the team at this point. I wouldn't panic over $9.95'ers in general, and especially not when it logically checks out.

I disagree. Our offense is littered with playmakers all over the field, and an OL that brings back all five starters. The offense should be great this year. 

On defense there are tons of questions. We lost two DL and a LB to the NFL, and our Edge play was lackluster last year. Other than Jaylan Ford (and maaaaybe Murphy), the front seven are mostly all new. 

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17 minutes ago, Hornlover said:

I disagree. Our offense is littered with playmakers all over the field, and an OL that brings back all five starters. The offense should be great this year. 

On defense there are tons of questions. We lost two DL and a LB to the NFL, and our Edge play was lackluster last year. Other than Jaylan Ford (and maaaaybe Murphy), the front seven are mostly all new. 

I disagree with your disagreement. While our offense is littered with playmakers including an OL returning all 5 starters and a vastly improved WR and QB room, our defense, too, has improved. We have an equally strong defensive front and linebacker unit with improved edge play and a much better defensive back group with a greater understanding of what PK wants. If we have a weakness, it is that we are a little too hard on ourselves regarding past mistakes.

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13 minutes ago, Hornlover said:

I disagree. Our offense is littered with playmakers all over the field, and an OL that brings back all five starters. The offense should be great this year. 

On defense there are tons of questions. We lost two DL and a LB to the NFL, and our Edge play was lackluster last year. Other than Jaylan Ford (and maaaaybe Murphy), the front seven are mostly all new. 

I mean, then I guess you should panic about the questionable defense getting better of the stacked offense.

Note I didn't say the offense can't or won't be good, just that it has more questions and requires more projection. QB is still young and was situationally terrible on critical downs and in the second half. RB losses are frankly irreplaceable and in many games Texas only had a functional running game because of those guys. OL is going to be a significantly better run blocking unit on the interior to mitigate that (Campbell hopefully helps there but one man is not going to fix that problem), and the passing game is going to have to carry more of the overall offensive weight. Worthy was comically bad at times last year, Neyor is coming off an ACL, and Whittington's healthy season, while great to see, was an anomaly. AD Mitchell and the freshman class no doubt upgrade the pass catching talent overall and I expect Worthy to bounce back, but the ability to set those guys up for success is an open question.

As to the bolded, ??????

Sweat, Murphy, Collins, Broughton, Sorrell, Finkley, Ford, and Gbenda were all starters or in the rotation last year. Trill Carter wasn't but was an honorable mention all Big Ten selection last year and three year starter at Minnesota. I'll take my chances on replacing Ovie full time. As you pointed out the edge play left plenty to be desired last year, especially outside of Sorrell, and the overall defense was still strong. Overshown is a bona fide loss and that second LB spot is shaky but Anthony Hill projects nicely to filling a similar role; though it's worth noting that as a pure LB Overshown was far from elite.

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If IT publishes another article with “Gbenda and league average linebacker” I going to accuse them of some inner office drinking game. 
 

Let me get this straight, Gbenda is mediocre, but they have to play him because Ant is a freshman? Yeah they’ve never counted on a 5 star freshman at a critical position before. Ant probably is playing more by the Bama game. 

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19 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

If IT publishes another article with “Gbenda and league average linebacker” I going to accuse them of some inner office drinking game. 
 

Let me get this straight, Gbenda is mediocre, but they have to play him because Ant is a freshman? Yeah they’ve never counted on a 5 star freshman at a critical position before. Ant probably is playing more by the Bama game. 

Agree....don't see anyway that Ant Hill isn't starting....

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10 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

Possibly, but linebacker is a mentally heavy position where you have to correctly read and process cues quickly or else the defense starts looking like a Manny Diaz one without Jordan Hicks. 

Every report and Sarks words say he's great at picking up things. So much so that the package of him at edge is partially because of his IQ. 

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38 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

God. The last few pages of this thread just reminded me how fucking stupid and senseless the average fan is. What a bunch of thoughtless idiots this thread is comprised of generally. 

Everyone else in the world is merely here to make you feel good about yourself.

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4 hours ago, gmr548 said:

I mean, then I guess you should panic about the questionable defense getting better of the stacked offense.

Note I didn't say the offense can't or won't be good, just that it has more questions and requires more projection. QB is still young and was situationally terrible on critical downs and in the second half. RB losses are frankly irreplaceable and in many games Texas only had a functional running game because of those guys. OL is going to be a significantly better run blocking unit on the interior to mitigate that (Campbell hopefully helps there but one man is not going to fix that problem), and the passing game is going to have to carry more of the overall offensive weight. Worthy was comically bad at times last year, Neyor is coming off an ACL, and Whittington's healthy season, while great to see, was an anomaly. AD Mitchell and the freshman class no doubt upgrade the pass catching talent overall and I expect Worthy to bounce back, but the ability to set those guys up for success is an open question.

As to the bolded, ??????

Sweat, Murphy, Collins, Broughton, Sorrell, Finkley, Ford, and Gbenda were all starters or in the rotation last year. Trill Carter wasn't but was an honorable mention all Big Ten selection last year and three year starter at Minnesota. I'll take my chances on replacing Ovie full time. As you pointed out the edge play left plenty to be desired last year, especially outside of Sorrell, and the overall defense was still strong. Overshown is a bona fide loss and that second LB spot is shaky but Anthony Hill projects nicely to filling a similar role; though it's worth noting that as a pure LB Overshown was far from elite.

This Is just comical. Your questions on offense boil down to "Some of the players on O had poor results last season". Then, you proceed to say "All of these defensive players, that couldn't even start last year, are likely to be better than the person they're replacing". 

You listed 8 defensive players, only two of which (Ford and Sorrell) were starters last year. The rest were all backups. Yes, they played, but they are mostly unproven. That's why there are so many question marks. 

The offense returns 9 starters (10 if you want to count Cain). Yes, we lose the best RB in the country, but that's also usually one of the easiest positions for a freshman to play, and we have 4 or 5 excellent choices including the #1 RB recruit in the country. Otherwise, the only question surrounding the offense is basically "Will all of the players from last year be better this year?" Much of that hinges on Ewers, but even that's not some big question mark. 

Versus the defense, where we don't have any clue if either Edge can generate pressure consistently or hold the edge against the run. How will a new DT stand up in the middle with starters' snaps? (Murphy has enough track record to not be unproven).  Will Collins or Vasek or Tapp or Finkley or Walton contribute meaningfully? Who's going to play next to Ford? Gbenda, Bush, Blackwell, and all the freshman have questions surrounding them.

The starters in the secondary are likely solid, but we're also expecting lots of contributions from young unproven players. Especially if Catalon gets hurt again. 

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On 8/19/2023 at 7:55 PM, Coelenterate Fuccboi said:

The point is, players of a certain talent immediately transcend above other, more experienced players. That’s the level of talent we should always hope to bring in, and unlike Tom Herman’s dumb ass, get them on the field immediately. 

I’ve loved me some Brooks, what little we’ve seen, but here’s a reminder about expectations of the program. His offer list:

That was before he had a monster HS senior season in 2020.  Here's what his UT Bio says about that year: Gained 3,849 yards from scrimmage and scored 65 offensive TD's (70 total) as a senior; helped Hallettsville to a 13-3 record and a Texas 3A D-I state runner-up finish.

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5 minutes ago, bejezuz said:

That was before he had a monster HS senior season in 2020.  Here's what his UT Bio says about that year: Gained 3,849 yards from scrimmage and scored 65 offensive TD's (70 total) as a senior; helped Hallettsville to a 13-3 record and a Texas 3A D-I state runner-up finish.

I don't think Brooks frequented the camp circuits to really get his ratings up either. 

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On 8/19/2023 at 6:08 PM, Bodacious Bevo said:

Here’s the OB scrimmage notes

  Hide contents

(Geoff 5:35pm)

* Malik Muhammad was all over the place. Apparently, he had one INT and multiple pass break-ups. The young freshman continues his surge. 

* Overall, one source described the day as great for the defense

* Yet another person went out of their way to mention CJ Baxter.

* One source said the first-team offense was pretty much the first-team offense, while the second-team offense rotated quite a bit. 

* One source mentioned that Isaiah Neyor's route-running and athleticism stood out. 

* Another source mentioned that the sheer size of the team was something that he couldn't help but notice. He observed it's so clear how different this team looks to the naked eye compared to recent history. 

(Anwar)

--- It looks like the defense had another strong performance on Saturday. I was told the front seven dominated throughout most of the scrimmage and the offense struggled to complete drives. It was the second consecutive week the Longhorn defense had a better day than the offense.

--- One example of that is Quinn Ewers led his team from their own 20-yard line to the opposing 20-yard line. However, the offense failed to score.

--- If there is one offensive bright note, Ewers did throw a touchdown pass to AD Mitchell, who caught a tippy-toe pass in the end zone.

--- The defensive line was consistently in the backfield on Saturday. This unit has performed well throughout training camp.

--- Xavier Worthy caught a one-handed pass while falling down after a ball was tipped. That was the most exciting offensive play.

--- Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning split second-team reps on Saturday. Manning worked with the 3s last week. Neither quarterback had a spectacular pass or run during the scrimmage. However, it appears they did not turn the ball over, which was an area of emphasis in practice this week.

--- The running backs were described as "solid". Keilan Robinson and Jaydon Blue were solid on short-yardage runs. It does not appear the running backs got loose for long runs.


******

(Ketch)

A few notes from a source still exchanging texts (will update when I have more).

1. The biggest piece of good news. No injuries. One person told me it was the best part of the scrimmage.

2. Doesn't sound like the offense bounced back from last week's scrimmage with a big performance. It wasn't described as a one-sided practice, but one person told me that the offense is still a work in progress.

3. Same source: "Cedric Baxter will start at running back before the season is finished."

4. I'm still trying to get specifics on the back-up quarterbacks, but one source noted that this offense isn't the same when Quinn isn't the quarterback. "We'll go as he goes," the source said.

Will add more as the notes come in

 

Geoff Ketchum out here truly breaking news. the backup QBs aren't as good as the starting QBs. the season hinges on how good the starting QB plays.

Quote

I'm still trying to get specifics on the back-up quarterbacks, but one source noted that this offense isn't the same when Quinn isn't the quarterback. "We'll go as he goes," the source said.

 

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57 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

When you can only list 8 returning contributors and 3 of them are Broughton, Finkley, and Gbenda, it’s probably time to rethink your argument. 

I don't have a dog in this fight, but listing 5 quality starters for a group consisting of only 7 positions isn't that egregious. Especially when Finkley and Gbenda showed themselves to be generally competent last year. If we were talking about all 11 positions on defense, you could also point to guys like Watts, Thompson, and Barron as starters, with Guilbeau and Brooks as promising contributors. Plus the two DB transfers who appear to be solid.  Again - I'm not adopting the original argument that defense will be better than offense because there's more proven returning production. That is a dumb argument. I'm just pointing out that the defense as a whole is also returning a lot of production. 

There's reason to be optimistic about both sides of the ball, if we're looking at what's returning from 2022. 

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58 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

When you can only list 8 returning contributors and 3 of them are Broughton, Finkley, and Gbenda, it’s probably time to rethink your argument. 

True, but he wasn't including DBs. Barron, Watts, (Holmes - but not for us), Thompson, (Catalon - but not for us), Guilbeau, Taaffe (jk), Brooks, and Crawford (cringing).

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12 hours ago, gmr548 said:

I mean, then I guess you should panic about the questionable defense getting better of the stacked offense.

Note I didn't say the offense can't or won't be good, just that it has more questions and requires more projection. QB is still young and was situationally terrible on critical downs and in the second half. RB losses are frankly irreplaceable and in many games Texas only had a functional running game because of those guys. OL is going to be a significantly better run blocking unit on the interior to mitigate that (Campbell hopefully helps there but one man is not going to fix that problem), and the passing game is going to have to carry more of the overall offensive weight. Worthy was comically bad at times last year, Neyor is coming off an ACL, and Whittington's healthy season, while great to see, was an anomaly. AD Mitchell and the freshman class no doubt upgrade the pass catching talent overall and I expect Worthy to bounce back, but the ability to set those guys up for success is an open question.

As to the bolded, ??????

Sweat, Murphy, Collins, Broughton, Sorrell, Finkley, Ford, and Gbenda Brooks were all starters or in the rotation last year. Trill Carter wasn't but was an honorable mention all Big Ten selection last year and three year starter at Minnesota. I'll take my chances on replacing Ovie full time. As you pointed out the edge play left plenty to be desired last year, especially outside of Sorrell, and the overall defense was still strong. Overshown is a bona fide loss and that second LB spot is shaky but Anthony Hill projects nicely to filling a similar role; though it's worth noting that as a pure LB Overshown was far from elite.

Biggest reason to be excited for the defense is the secondary. Brooks had taken over for Jamison by the end of the year. Camp reports are implying he has continued his upward trajectory. CB depth has been fixed (Holmes/Muhammed). If practice reports are to be believed, Watts maybe the 4th best CB in coverage (still an A++ run defender).  A healthy Catalon (please Baby Jesus) is a big upgrade over Cook. The defense fixed their biggest weakness from last year. Outside of Overshown's replacement, the biggest question is can Collins finally breakout and provide the same flexibility and reliability that Ojomo gave Texas last year. The emphasis being on reliability. Collins is way more talented, but he has never shown the ability to be consistent. The ceiling is higher here, but the floor is much lower. 

Offense's issues last year were consistent QB play, WR, and interior OL. The interior OL really struggled to deal with stunts and blitzes. Campbell is a superior talent and an obvious physical upgrade, but can he be consistent (early) is the question. The other guard spot is a question wrapped in an enigma. We probably wont know, if that has been fixed until Bama. The offense has fixed WR issues with AD Mitchell, Neyor, and even Cook. Quinn should take another step forward, but how big is anyone's guess. The edges are rock solid, the season will be determined by the middle of the offense. 

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Gbenda’s Cinco Ranch tape is some of the best ILB tape you’ll find at the HS level. I remember the recruiting board whining that Herman waited nearly to his senior year to offer. It’d be nice if we could get some quality production out of him this season. 

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14 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Offense's issues last year were consistent QB play, WR, and interior OL. The interior OL really struggled to deal with stunts and blitzes. Campbell is a superior talent and an obvious physical upgrade, but can he be consistent (early) is the question. The other guard spot is a question wrapped in an enigma. We probably wont know, if that has been fixed until Bama. The offense has fixed WR issues with AD Mitchell, Neyor, and even Cook. Quinn should take another step forward, but how big is anyone's guess. The edges are rock solid, the season will be determined by the middle of the offense. 

Yeah pass protection vs washington and especially baylor last year was bad.

Aranda at times ran an amoeba junk defense that kicked the ass out of the Horns OL pass protection.

Sark has to play 3+WR sets more this year.  Quinn must do a better job setting pass protections, processing quicker, and get the damn ball out faster.

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7 minutes ago, CastHorn said:

Gbenda’s Cinco Ranch tape is some of the best ILB tape you’ll find at the HS level. I remember the recruiting board whining that Herman waited nearly to his senior year to offer. It’d be nice if we could get some quality production out of him this season. 

EGAT just did a breakdown of the LB position. Waddlington and Boyd are bullish on Gbenda while acknowledging his shortcomings. Scipio saw improvement from '21 to '22 and made the case that the trend should continue, especially in coverage. He noted that Gbenda may still be playing "wait and see" against the run (rather than being proactive), but that is still better than his strategy of "run around randomly" from 2021. 

Remember, Ford wasn't shit until he was.  

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5 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Yeah pass protection vs washington and especially baylor last year was bad.

Aranda at times ran an amoeba junk defense that kicked the ass out of the Horns OL pass protection.

Sark has to play 3+WR sets more this year.  Quinn must do a better job setting pass protections, processing quicker, and get the damn ball out faster.

Wasnt just pass pro. Texas did not do a great jump handling DL movement in the run game either. 

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When you can only list 8 returning contributors and 3 of them are Broughton, Finkley, and Gbenda, it’s probably time to rethink your argument. 

You’re smarter than this.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but listing 5 quality starters for a group consisting of only 7 positions isn't that egregious. Especially when Finkley and Gbenda showed themselves to be generally competent last year. If we were talking about all 11 positions on defense, you could also point to guys like Watts, Thompson, and Barron as starters, with Guilbeau and Brooks as promising contributors. Plus the two DB transfers who appear to be solid.  Again - I'm not adopting the original argument that defense will be better than offense because there's more proven returning production. That is a dumb argument. I'm just pointing out that the defense as a whole is also returning a lot of production. 
There's reason to be optimistic about both sides of the ball, if we're looking at what's returning from 2022. 

Not even seven really. “Front seven” is kind of a dated term. Texas will rarely deploy 7 DL/LBs.
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1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

When you can only list 8 returning contributors and 3 of them are Broughton, Finkley, and Gbenda, it’s probably time to rethink your argument. 

And two of them are Collins - a fourth year senior who has never shown anything resembling consistency or high effort, and Sweat - a fifth year senior that has trouble shedding blocks and whose main contribution seems to be just being big and clogging up the middle.  You're hoping these guys are Gaskamp candidates that turn into this years' version of Ojomo and Coburn, but like @closetojumping likes to say - I'm from Missouri.

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29 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Offense's issues last year were consistent QB play, WR, and interior OL. The interior OL really struggled to deal with stunts and blitzes. Campbell is a superior talent and an obvious physical upgrade, but can he be consistent (early) is the question. The other guard spot is a question wrapped in an enigma. We probably wont know, if that has been fixed until Bama ... The edges are rock solid, the season will be determined by the middle of the offense. 

Nailed it on the interior OL. That's my primary concern and whether Ewers is substantially improved. If both of those boxes are checked, ass kickings will ensue.

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23 minutes ago, Hornlover said:

And two of them are Collins - a fourth year senior who has never shown anything resembling consistency or high effort, and Sweat - a fifth year senior that has trouble shedding blocks and whose main contribution seems to be just being big and clogging up the middle.  You're hoping these guys are Gaskamp candidates that turn into this years' version of Ojomo and Coburn, but like @closetojumping likes to say - I'm from Missouri.

Sweat is not a question mark. He was 3rd team All Big 12 by PFF last year. Starting DT is in line with starting WR on the lists of worries for 2023. Collins is a fair criticism. 

 

PFF Preseason All-Big 12

 

SECOND TEAM

QB Jalon Daniels, Kansas
RB Treshaun Ward, Kansas State
RB C.J. Donaldson, West Virginia
WR Kody Epps, BYU
WR Jordan Whittington, Texas
WR Luke Grimm, Kansas
TE Jared Wiley, TCU
T Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas
T Brandon Coleman, TCU
G McKade Mettauer, Oklahoma
G Lokahi Pauole, UCF
C Clark Barrington, Baylor

DI Byron Murphy II, Texas
DI T'Vondre Sweat, Texas

Edge Ethan Downs, Oklahoma
Edge Rondell Bothroyd, Oklahoma
LB Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma
LB Gerry Vaughn, Iowa State
CB Cobee Bryant, Kansas
CB Ryan Watts, Texas
S Kenny Logan Jr., Kansas
S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Texas Tech
Flex Billy Bowman, Oklahoma

K Griffin Kell, TCU
P Austin McNamara, Texas Tech
RS Brennan Presley, Oklahoma State

Edited by Codaxx
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Just now, perfectchaos007 said:

This weeks batch of kool-aid is sugar free.

The closer we get to the opener, the more antsy people are going to be. Time to latch on to anything as DOOOOOM.

This team is pretty experienced and talent rich (in terms of the conference, mostly) and should be favored in every conference games, or almost every one. 

Just sit back and enjoy the ride. 

image.gif.dc1c3767f2899fdefbb871b6d4b77e85.gif

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