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Spring Football starts today


Goo Punch

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Pouncey is a great program guy.  With that said, I hope the level of talent at Texas has reached a new level where depth guys aren’t seeing significant playing time.   Eagles, Moore, Epps, Bru, Woodard are all ahead of him and you can add Jake Smith and Washington to that list when they arrive.  This is a good thing...

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1 minute ago, victory88 said:

Pouncey is a great program guy.  With that said, I hope the level of talent at Texas has reached a new level where depth guys aren’t seeing significant playing time.   Eagles, Moore, Epps, Bru, Woodard are all ahead of him and you can add Jake Smith and Washington to that list when they arrive.  This is a good thing...

You're conflating a whole lot of different wide receiver positions and skillsets here, hombre.

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22 minutes ago, UncleBuck said:

 

hey guys this is a spring football thread

Exactly, please take this discussion to another realm.

Also - It looked like Kirko was back to grinding.  And we made some tackles.  And black jersey is not "no contact".

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(Chip Brown) The Eyes of Texas: Spring football overload

WEDNESDAY PRACTICE REPORT

According to a couple sources who were present for Wednesday’s practice inside Royal-Memorial Stadium, the offense won the day — again. “Let’s just say the defense — and the defensive coaches — did a lot of running after practice,” one source said. “Like, a lot of running. It’s become kind of a running theme to this spring.” Junior safety Chris Brown, who is back to full contact this week after missing some practice time with a lung issue, was leading the defense in the post-practice sprints and declaring things are going to change heading into this weekend, a source said.

It wasn’t all confetti for the offense. I’m told the second-team offensive line continues to get a lot of attention from the coaching staff after practice, including a bunch of extra shotgun snaps for backup center Rafiti Ghirmai. Early enrollee freshman offensive tackle Tyler Johnson also had to do a body roll the length of the field after practice, a source said. “Those guys have definitely hit a wall, and they’re going to have to get through it for the spring game, or things could get rough for the second-team offense,” the source said.

Fifth-year senior running back Kirk Johnson, who missed several practices after suffering a stinger, is back in full contact and is likely to see action in Saturday’s spring game, a source said.

***

HERE COMES JUNIOR ANGILAU

I said coming into the spring one of the best position battles was likely to be at left guard between junior Tope Imade and redshirt freshman Junior Angilau. Here comes Angilau. I’m told Angilau has been getting almost all the first-team reps at left guard the last several practices and will likely be with the first-team offense in Saturday’s spring game. “It’s not that Tope is doing badly,” one source said. “Junior is just putting it together and has really good strength and stamina. Junior’s going to be hard to get out of there. But with (Derek) Kerstetter at right guard and Tope, there’s some depth (at guard), which this line desperately needs.”

I’m told Angilau, who moves better than Imade, is playing with a lot of confidence, using his hands well to finish blocks and still has gas in the tank at the end of practice. “He’s taking big steps,” the source said. “I’d imagine he’ll grade well Saturday night. Fans are going to enjoy watching (number) 75 develop.”

Backup right tackle Christian Jones is back to full contact after missing several practices with an ankle injury. That’s allowed Reese Moore to move back to left tackle, where he’s playing behind Samuel Cosmi. Tyler Johnson is running third-team left tackle. Herman said Johnson looks the part and is going to be an impact player eventually but is experiencing freshman growing pains right now.

***

THE LATEST ON DE’GABRIEL FLOYD

I reported last Thursday in the Eyes that early enrollee De'Gabriel Floyd was likely facing a diagnosis of spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column that can result in tingling and numbness, because of the pressure being put on the spinal column. Two days later, Tom Herman confirmed the diagnosis and announced Floyd would be held out of football for the rest of 2019 and would be re-evaluated in January.

There’ve been rumors emanating from LSU message boards that Floyd is considering transferring. I’m told Floyd is going through an incredibly emotional time following the diagnosis and probably is hoping for a second or third medical opinion from a doctor that would lead to him being medically cleared.

That’s what happened in the case of former Georgia Bulldog linebacker Jarvis Jones. Jones, of Columbus, Ga., signed with USC out of high school in 2009 and was subsequently diagnosed with spinal stenosis at the fourth and fifth of seven cervical vertebrae after a hit that left both of his shoulders numb temporarily. USC refused to clear Jones to play football, but Jones would ultimately transfer back home to Georgia, where he was cleared to play — and thrived.

Jones set a Georgia single-season record for sacks (14.5) as a senior and was the No. 17 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Four years later, Jones was out of the league after a series of injuries, including a back issue. Thus far Floyd, who grew up in Westlake Village, Calif., but has some very close family relationships in Austin, has given no indication to the Texas coaching staff that he plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. It’s obviously an emotional time for Floyd after some devastating news, and, obviously, the hope is whatever is best for Floyd and his long-term future.

***

THE CONCERNS AT LINEBACKER

With the injury development involving De'Gabriel Floyd, there’s obviously a lot of concern about the depth at linebacker at Texas. I reported in last week’s Eyes that UT will be in the market for a grad transfer linebacker if any decide to enter the transfer portal after spring football. Right now, there aren’t any names in the portal who really excite Texas, so the hope is a few more names pop up in the portal after spring ball.

Right now, redshirt freshman Ayodele Adeoye (No. 40) is battling early enrollee junior college transfer Caleb Johnson (No. 30) at middle linebacker. Johnson had been expected to compete with Jeffrey McCulloch at Rover but was moved to middle after Floyd’s injury. So, early enrollee freshman Marcus Tillman (No. 13) is battling McCulloch at Rover. It’s fair to say Adeoye, Johnson and Tillman are all works in progress at this point and have had their struggles, especially against the run, in the last two spring scrimmages.

Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said this week all of those linebackers have had some good moments but need to do a better job of taking their training into scrimmage/game situations. Orlando said they’ll do well when the coaches are on the field with them, able to instruct them. But when the coaches are over on the sideline during scrimmage situations, Adeoye, Johnson and Tillman become unsure and end up getting blocked out of a play.

One possible scenario the coaches would be willing to consider — if absolutely necessary — is moving Joseph Ossai inside and having Byron Vaughns replace Ossai at B-backer. For better or worse, there likely will be a lot of eyes on the linebacker play in Saturday’s spring game in search of positives … and then to the portal in search of potential help.

***

ROOKIE STRIPES WILL REMAIN UNTIL FALL

This week, Texas football tweeted out that senior walk-on offensive lineman Ishan Rison had gone “level up” by losing the stripe on his helmet. Just FYI, no first-year players will have the chance to lose their rookie stripe in the spring. Only in the fall. I mention this because after the camps early enrollee freshmen Jordan Whittington and Bru McCoy have had, it was a legitimate question about if they had or were about to lose the the stripe on their helmets.

***

FULL STEAM AHEAD WITH SATURDAY’S SPRING GAME

Texas A&M has moved its spring game from Saturday to Friday because of heavy rain in the forecast on Saturday. The Longhorns, however, are sticking with their 6:30 pm start on Saturday for the Orange-White Game, followed by autographs on the field with UT players as well as a post-game Ludacris concert on the Longhorns City Limits stage just east of DKR. UT officials are relying on forecasts that say the rains should start clearing out of Austin around 1 pm CT.

***

NEW ESPN+ DEAL WON’T IMPACT LONGHORN NETWORK

The Big 12 and ESPN on Wednesday announced a new deal involving exclusive, third-tier league content on the ESPN+ platform that will work around ESPN’s Longhorn Network deal with Texas. ESPN already has exclusive rights to UT’s third-tier content thanks to a 20-year, $300 million deal through August of 2031. But those who pay the $4.99 per month to subscribe to ESPN+ will see Texas in some football and basketball games when the Longhorns are the visiting team.

Starting in 2019, there will be games from Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, in addition to select Big 12 Conference championship events. In 2020-21, Iowa State, TCU, West Virginia and Texas Tech will join the lineup. Due to existing long-term rights agreements, Texas (the Longhorn Network) and Oklahoma will not produce and deliver programming included on ESPN+ at this time, but will be featured as road teams in games listed under the new Big 12-branded offering on the service.

(Chip Brown)

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