Got to catch up with a couple of coaching friends at the Texas relays and talked some UT football while watching some outstanding track and field.
They had attended a high school clinic at UT and had some insights after mingling with the UT Staff.
On the new DL coach--Very high energy and very personable. --One guy said he is going to kill it recruiting once he gets established. He sure dont mind calling a player out in front of the team but he does it with a specific theme to improve on. As an example, he got on Alfred about not using his quickness to defeat an OL man by telling him that he was twice the athlete the OL man was but because he was trying to bull rush a 360 lb guy evidently the OL man was smarter because he had Alford playing his game. Alfred won the next three snaps.
There are quit a few battles for pecking order going on on the OL, The starters from last year are back plus Cam Williams at RT but the 2nd team is really pushing, He said Goolsby was a starter on any team that didnt have Banks in front of him.
He also made a comment that the 2nd teams run blocking got a better push in the power game than the first teams in what he had observed. 2nd team was Goolsby,Neto, Hutson,Stroh and Cojoe,he said the first and 2nd team defense had trouble with this unit with Christain Clark carrying the ball.
Quinn and Arch have looked interchangeable, Both have been very precise, not many passes have hit the ground and when they have,most times the coaches address the receiver for a wrong route or pulling up early. There were a couple of times a wide open WR dropped the ball and the coaches let them know that was not acceptable and that there was a lot of talent in the WR room and they were not going to play people with game losing tendencies.
Freshman Wingo was described as a person who looks like a redshirt jr going into his contract year, He is going to take some snaps away from somebody, I dont know who yet but he is too good to be a spectator. One thing that people may not know about him is his ability after the catch, its like he shifts from WR to high level RB one guy said,he has some serious power and some moves after the ball is in his hands. He is also very consistent ,yest there is a freshman learning curve but its safe to say he is well ahead of it at this early stage.
Golden appears to be a legit deep threat,moreso than Bond at this early stage,but Bond looks a lot like AD Mitchell with his fluid play and catch radius. Cook was dealing with the dropsies the day we saw them.
Jaray Bledsoe could turn into a monster with his athleticism but he aint there yet,he will look like an All American one play and get pushed backward by some 3rd teamer the next. Jamond Tapp had a good but not spectacular day,he was consistent at holding up at the point of attack but didnt have any wow plays in the live action.
Anthony Hill was a beast last year,now he is a bigger and faster beast,he was allmost unblockable and was a factor that had to be dealt with on seeming every play,also Gbenda and Blackwell were very active,Lafau also had some teeth rattling hits.
Trey Moore is a major upgrade as a pass rusher,but the OL is still winning the pass protection game versus the DL at about an 85% rate at this time,Moore ,Simmons and the other pass rushers won a few,but not as much as you would like to see if you are a defensive fan.
The secondary has eye popping athletes who made some outstanding individual plays but they havent meshed as a unit yet,they were rotating so many players in and out that this is understandable this early. Its safe to say the passing game is ahead of the passing defense at this point,but the run support was encouraging to see,they will all come up and hit you.
Here are some random players they mentioned as standing out--- OL Campbell,Banks Neto,Cojoe DL-Collins,Moore LB--Hill Gbenda,Lafau S--none CB--none RB Blue, Wisner, Baxter,Clark WR Moore, Wingo, Golden TE Helm--utx