Texas Card House is the official sponsor of this week's War Room.
Visit www.TexasCardHouse.com for more information.
There appears to be more optimism from people associated with the program this week than there has been since the off-season.
Don't get me wrong. Everyone I spoke with this week is concerned about West Virginia. They know winning this game is going to be difficult. There is not a single person willing to say Texas “should” win this weekend. There are plenty of people associated with the program who believe Texas will have to play better than it has in previous games to pull off a victory.
Yet, there is more hope 10 games into the season than in previous years under Charlie Strong.
The goal for everyone associated in the program – from top to bottom – is getting to at least six wins and advancing to a bowl game. Texas football coach Tom Herman has talked about advancing to a bowl game for the seniors, but it appears everyone on the team wants to make a postseason appearance.
From what I was told, players with NFL aspirations want the extra game to impress scouts. The underclassmen want the opportunity to experience a bowl game. Coaches want the extra practices. Administrators want Herman to hang his hat on something in year one.
ESPN recently projected Texas to play against Utah in the Texas Bowl (Houston), or face Missouri in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis. The picture will become much clearer after the season finale against Texas Tech next week.
One reason people associated with the program are excited is the returned presence of left tackle Connor Williams.
After sustaining a knee injury against USC in week three, Williams has been on the shelf until this week. Williams was considering not playing and preparing for the NFL. However, he spoke to Herman last week and was convinced to play against West Virginia. Williams will not be asked to risk another injury, but he is hoping to help his team, while improving his draft stock, this weekend.
From what I was told this week, Williams played well during practice this week. Williams seemingly has not lost a step while recovering from his injury, and everyone who saw him practice this week said he looked like the same guy.
However, there is some concern about the offense.
Multiple people described Shane Buechele’s week of practice as “okay,” and nobody was willing to say the offense looked better this week. In fact, the only time the offense excelled, according to those who witnessed practice, is when the unit performed against the twos. Still, many associated with the program are optimistic Buechele can lead this offense to enough points to help the Longhorns’ defense.
Neither quarterback is viewed as a close-to-completed product by this staff. They believe Buechele is an accurate passer who takes too many sacks. At the same time, they view Ehlinger as an exciting gun-slinger who misses the designed routes. The staff likes both quarterbacks, but they are waiting for one passer to take over.
“We’re going to talk about it tonight,” Herman said when asked about a potential quarterback rotation. “We’re going to talk about it again tomorrow. What we told them, what they’re prepared for, is both of them will play. Play early, probably. Then probably get a feel for how each of them is playing, and how we have to win the game is probably the best way to put it.” (Richardson)
******
Coming into last weekend’s official visit, the thought was that Texas would have to knock it out of the park to have any shot of landing five-star wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. The overwhelming sentiment coming into the UT visit was that the Bossier City (LA) Parkway product would stay in-state and sign with LSU unless Texas was able to blow Marshall and his family away last weekend.
After talking to Marshall’s father this week, I think it’s safe to say that Texas did in fact make a tremendous on the entire family, and the guess here is that this one is much closer than it was at this time last week. Will it be enough in the end? I’m not ready to predict the Longhorns in a major upset just yet (and one LSU source told me on Monday that LSU feels Marshall is “all LSU”), but Texas definitely put itself in consideration.
Along with the UT visit, Marshall has already taken visits to Florida State and Texas A&M. He’ll visit LSU next weekend. Officially, all four schools are still in the mix, but this one is down to LSU and Texas and it’s a pretty close race for that top spot. LSU getting the last visit may ultimately be too much to overcome, but Marshall Sr. said anyone thinking his son is locked into LSU is misreading the situation.
“Being from Louisiana, being the top player in Louisiana, sometimes people speculate that a player pretty much leans towards LSU. In Terrace’s perspective, he’s not, he’s just looking for the place where he fits best,” Marshall Sr. said.
After his LSU visit, the plan is for Marshall and his family to get together and discuss his options before Marshall announces his final decision on December 22. If he decides to go out-of-state, Marshall Sr. said, he’ll have his family’s full support, and the opportunity to develop him for the NFL will be a huge factor.
“We’re going to sit down, talk as a family - me, him and his mom. We’ll kind of go over everything that we took in, wherever he decides out of those schools, where he wants to play the next three or four years,” Marshall Sr. said. “Wherever is going to get him to the next level.” (Suchomel)
******
Richland linebacker DaShaun White has been committed to Texas A&M for a while, but after a recent visit to Oklahoma, there was a lot of chatter that White could be close to flipping to the Sooners. Last weekend, White took an official visit to Texas, and while he remains committed to A&M, it’s now the Longhorns who have picked up some steam.
"The biggest thing for me would have to be the feel I got for coach Orlando and coach Herman," White said. "I had a good feel before, but getting around them, their families, the film room, watching coach Orlando coach, the mistakes and the good plays, was really big for me."
White’s visit spanned from Saturday until Monday. Good friend and UT commitment Byron Hobbs came in town for the game, and he and his mother actually stuck around until Sunday night, spending a lot of time with White and the UT coaches on Sunday. White said he really connected with the UT coaches and got some key questions answered, including why UT offered a bit later than other programs.
“It was like a numbers game. He said originally they were only going to take three linebackers. One of the linebackers got hurt this year and then it goes to four. Now it looks like Jefferson may not go back. Who knows? It’s his own decision, but with him maybe being gone, they’re going to try to take five, if you include Demarvion (Overshown). They have three now with Dele (Adeoye), Byron (Hobbs) and Demarvion.”
White has maintained all along that he’d wait to see what happens with the Texas A&M staff before making any final decisions, and he said he’s “still in the same spot” following his UT visit. He’ll visit Texas A&M on December 8 and would like to sign in the December signing period if possible, but said he will wait until February if some issues are still unresolved.
As for where things stand right now?
“I would say it’s pretty close. Texas made a really good impression on me. I got a really good feel for a lot of things I didn’t have a feel for yet,” White said. “It likes on me to do my research now, find out what benefits me the most.”
The Texas coaches compared White to Gary Johnson and feel he could fill a similar type of role. One thing that could wind up helping the Longhorns’ chances is White’s friendship with Hobbs and some other players in the UT class.
“It does, it does (help). You want to play with people like him. Even a lot of the other guys in that class I’m friends with, B.J., Caden. I feel like they have such good talents and are good people to be around. It’s almost second nature playing with guys like them, it’s going to make things better.” (Suchomel)
******
As mentioned above, UT linebacker commitment Byron Hobbs came in for the Kansas game last weekend, and then he and his mother stuck around until Sunday night so he could get some extra time with the coaches, DaShaun White and Terrace Marshall.
Hobbs got in a little late for the game since his team played on Saturday and while he enjoyed the Texas victory, he understands that there’s room for improvement.
“I feel like there are some holes that need to be filled. Talking with coach Orlando (on Sunday), listening to him talk, he definitely hit it on the dot with everything he said. They’re just trying to find what they need to find to be successful,” Hobbs said.
The Fort Worth Eastern Hills product missed a good chunk of his senior year with an injury and his team didn’t qualify for the playoffs, so Hobbs’ high school football career has come to an end. He said he’ll now turn his attention towards adding weight to his frame while also playing basketball.
“I want to get up to 215 and play basketball at 215,” Hobbs said
Always a pro-Texas recruiter, Hobbs said he “definitely did some heavy recruiting on (White) and (Marshall),” but he didn’t want to speculate on where each guy might be leaning. Whatever the case, expect Hobbs to continue his recruiting efforts.
Hobbs plans to sign with Texas on December 22. (Suchomel)
******
Luke Ford hasn’t done many interviews, if any, since his UT official visit other than talking to Rivals.com regional recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt, so I checked in with Helmholdt to get his assessment of where things stand.
Ford, the nation’s No. 1-ranked tight end prospect, still has visits left to take to Auburn, Alabama and Georgia. Normally, getting the first visit for a player who is strongly considering other schools isn’t the ideal situation, but Ford said he’s looking at it like Texas set the standard to which others will have to measure up.
“Honestly, I was on the Orangebloods message board and people were asking, is this early official a negative? I took that directly to him,” Helmholdt said. “He said no, not at all. He looks at it like it was a chance to get out and set the bar and set it really high. He was generally pretty jazzed about the visit.”
Ford was accompanied on the visit by his mother and brother. His father was unable to attend due to a conflict.
“It’s not like dad not going shows that they’re not seriously considering Texas. I wouldn’t worry about that one bit if I’m Texas,” Helmholdt said. “Dad would have been down there if he could. And he didn’t just take one free parent trip, they sent his brother down there too.
“At the end of the day, Luke runs the recruitment. He’s not a puppet. He genuinely values his family’s input, but it’s Luke’s decision.”
One of Texas’ biggest selling points, obviously, is the opportunity to play early. The staff did a good job of stressing that point during Ford’s visit.
“What they did with him, they sat him down and showed him old stuff from Herman’s previous stops to show him ‘Hey, we do use the tight end.’ He seemed to feel very comfortable with how Texas would utilize him, how much they would utilize him. They went back through old stuff, I’m assuming at Houston and Ohio State, and showed him ‘Hey, we do throw to the tight end.’”
Coming into the UT visit, the thought was that Georgia and Alabama were the two teams to beat. Helmhold said he feels Texas may have put itself in that top tier, but he still thinks it’ll be hard to hold off the two SEC powers in the end.
“That’s going to be the trick. Going into the visit, Georgia and Alabama were 1-2. He also throws in auburn, but I always thought it was Georgia-Alabama, then Texas in the next tier, auburn maybe in the third tier,” Helmholdt said. “Did this pull Texas all the way to the top? It had to for them to have any chance. I think for now it has. But obviously he’s going to enjoy his time at Georgia and Alabama. I think some things have to break Texas’ way, but I think they’re in the ball game.
“If I had to pick today, would I pick Texas? Probably not. But I wouldn’t say that there’s no chance. I just think things have to break their way. He’s legitimately excited about it. There’s recruiting that has to be done, but I think Texas is in the ball game.”
Ford plans to commit at the Army All-American Bowl, at the earliest. It’s not out of the question that he could take his decision all the way until the February signing day. (Suchomel)
******
Tight end Nic McTear was one of the more intriguing uncommitted prospects at the game on Saturday. Texas has not offered the Frisco Heritage product and former Oklahoma State commitment, but this one feels like it would quickly trend UT’s way if that was to change at some point.
McTear told us this was his third time visiting UT and he got to the game a little later than expected, so only had a few minutes to talk to tight ends coach Corby Meekins and Director of High School Relations Bob Shipley.
“We talked briefly because I was a little late and it was pre-game. He (Meekins) was glad that I came,” McTear said. “I hear things that they might offer, or they’re looking at me. Anything offer wise, I didn’t really hear anything on that.”
McTear is hopeful he can make it to the Longhorns’ game against Texas Tech next week. If he gets invited he said he’ll “definitely” try to make it in. While the Longhorns haven’t offered, the 6-4, 220-pound McTear said Texas is high on his list.
“They would probably be around top three right now,” McTear said. “Houston and TCU (would be the other two). I still have Auburn still reaching out. I’m from Alabama, so that’s a connection right there. Also, Purdue has been reaching out to me too.”
McTear plans to take some official visits before deciding. He said he’d “hopefully” get to take one to Texas and mentioned TC, Houston and Auburn as other places he’d probably hit.
On what he likes about Texas … “The new staff. I like the way they use the tight ends. Austin’s not too far from home, not too close to home. There’s lots of tradition. It’s a big-time program, big-time school. And it has great education.”
McTear said he actually could commit as early as this week but may decide to wait things out. He’s scheduled to re-take his ACT in December, which he feels could open up some other doors for him. (Suchomel)
******
Houston Lamar defensive tackle Joshua Landry has been tough to track down after his visit for the Kansas game, but this one has felt for a long time like it’s a potential flip should Texas offer.
Going back to this summer, when Landry was already committed to Baylor, he mentioned that Texas was the only other school he was considering and he camped at UT despite his Baylor pledge. In fact, a Baylor source told me this week he believes Landry flips if Texas does answer. Texas will continue to monitor Landry as it manages its numbers.
LSU offensive line/defensive line commitment Chasen Hines made it in for the game last week, but was actually tweeting pro-LSU stuff while still in Austin, before the UT game ever ended. Not a good sign for UT’s chances. (Suchomel)
*****
Quick update on freshman big man Mohamed Bamba, who suffered a concussion in Sunday’s practice and missed Tuesday’s game:
We’ve heard that Bamba continues to progress well, and that his presence around the team during Tuesday’s game represented that he’s progressing well through the protocol. No one has expressed concern about the concussion and his status moving forward, and Shaka Smart said Tuesday he was hopeful Bamba would be back Saturday. After Friday’s practice, the medical staff will likely make a determination about his Saturday status, or update his recovery.
Last edited:
