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Locked
The TCH War Room: "We've got a lot of flames all of a sudden."
- By Ketchum
- Inside the War Room
- 69 Replies
(Ketch)
* I talked to a team source this week that told me that the excitement surrounding the trio of Ethan Burke, Trey Moore and Colin Simmons continues to grow and that we should expect to see a lot of movement in the spring with all of the defensive ends/edge players as the coaches look to find the combination of players that work best together in a variety of different down and distance packages. "Nothing is off the table," the source told me. "When you're bringing hell against opposing offenses, you want flames coming from all directions to cut off the emergency exits. We've got a lot of flames all of a sudden."
* Another source told me this week that the hire of new linebackers coach Johnny Nansen was made with Steve Sarkisian's intention of getting every last ounce of ability out of Anthony Hill. "He might be the best player on our team. If he's not leading the defense in nearly every major statistical category, we've failed. He's Nansen's No.1 weapon. Nansen and (Pete) Kwiatkoski's goal this off-season is to figure out the best ways to maximize the two seasons we have left with him. There's no one else on the team quite like him."
* If you're wondering whether there was a buzz in the Texas recruiting department following this weekend's performance at the NFL combine, you can safely say the answer is yes. One person I spoke with involved in UT recruiting was on cloud nine and felt like the combination of the performance on the field, the performances in the Combine and what's expected in the Draft, along with the momentum that the program has previously gathered would be on full display this summer when commitments start to go down in earnest. "Don't bet against us," one text message read. "With anyone," the following text read.
* If you're looking for perhaps Steve Sarkisian's preferred favorite at the wide receiver position among the out-of-state players that the Longhorns are recruiting, it might just be Jacksonville (Florida) Mandarin star Jaime Ffrench, who will take his official visit on the weekend of June 21st. Florida State and Ohio State will make this tough hand to hand combat, but there's a quiet burnt orange confidence here.
* If French is 1a or 1b, the other is Mater Dei's Marcus Harris, who currently ranks No. 95 on the Rivals100 and will also take his official visit to Texas on the 21st of June. In an interview with Rivals that was posted today, Harris said, “Really, I talk to their whole staff too. My guy, coach (Chris) Jackson, we talk a lot. You know, he came from Mater Dei so we’ve got a lot of mutuals and things like that. That's family over there too for real.”
* I was told on Thursday morning that there was optimism that senior basketball star Dylan Disu's "sprained" right knee would be fine and that he might even play against Oklahoma on senior Day, although I was told that they might lean on the side of caution. Disu seemed to confirm that on Thursday with the media.
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(Anwar)
* This is the last week of winter conditioning before spring break begins next week. Most players are expected to leave town this weekend and return by March 17. I was told many players will spend next week working with their respective personal trainers. Players will officially hit the field for practice on March 19.
* I was told there was a lot of team energy this week because players are excited about getting a few days off. Basically, they wanted to finish strong and get the hell away from strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton, who has kicked their ass during runs and lifting. Even though the players understand why winter conditioning is difficult, they are looking forward to a few days off.
* The morning runs and lifts did have more energy this week than the past. The workouts begin at 6 a.m. and often conclude around 10:30 a.m. That schedule typically included a morning lift, followed by team meetings, and practice, and concluded with a team run.
* One area the staff will continue to work on after spring break is building team chemistry. The high number of new players has created competition for multiple positions. However, many new players are attempting to integrate with the incumbent players. I was informed that the staff believes it may take longer for this team to gel than last year’s squad, but they expect cohesiveness to develop during this offseason."
* I was previously told freshman offensive lineman Brandon Baker stood out during winter conditioning. I was told Baker is still killing it. However, he is the third-string right tackle at the moment. Everyone inside the building expects Baker to develop during his freshman season and evolve into a future standout at Texas, even if this is a learning year.
* With Amari Niblack nursing an injured ankle, Gunnar Helm is currently at the No.1 spot. However, file this nugget away. I was told freshman tight end Jordan Washington flashed this week and had several spectacular catches. Clearly, Washington has not put on the pads at Texas. Nevertheless, he is off to a good start.
* One person told me Ethan Burke has been impressive this offseason. I was told Burke looks like a player who could have a breakout season.
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(Travis)
ESPN draft analyst Field Yates held a conference call with reporters Thursday to go over draft prospects. I hopped on to find out his thoughts about some of the Texas players looking to be drafted next month.
* My biggest question for him was how much, if any, T’Vondre Sweat’s weigh in (366 pounds) would hurt him in the upcoming draft. “Yeah, Travis. The last player that I watched prior to this conference call today was revisiting T’Vondre Sweat just because he fascinates me.
“I don't know when I have a query out to one of our researchers at ESPN about players that are at least 350 pounds and find out how many of them played more than 50% of snaps on defense last year. Now there's not a lot of 350 pound guys in the NFL and not all listed weights on rosters are accurate. But the point is that there aren't a ton of players of that stature that are able to stay on the field a ton at that size. It’s a hard thing to do. That makes the T’Vondre Sweat question very, very interesting to me.
“Down at the one-on-ones at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, no player was more dominant than T’Vondre Sweat. The things that he did to guys that are going to be drafted and probably be drafted fairly high, were unfair. I mean, it was truly impressive. His raw strength is rare. Which to me is the highest form of compliment, using that rare tab on a trait for scouting a player.
“Just five sacks and five seasons so it's not gonna be like a bunch of blow you away production. He is a specific role type of player and T’Vondre Sweat, when he gets his hands on you and he's fully engaged, is the strongest player, at least amongst the defensive guys in this entire class. He has the chance to become a dominant run stuffing defensive tackle.
“My forecast would be that he needs to be in a roll that enables him to play a sort of designated number of snaps so you can keep that juice up consistently. There are a lot of teams that can use the guy like T’Vondre Sweat. Everybody had their eyes on him during the Senior Bowl. So I don't know if there's like a specific fit that I say to myself, ‘this is the right scheme for him,’ I think it's the right role for T’Vondre that will be in the team's hands.
Projection: “If you told me he was a late second round pick or mid second round pick, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
* On Jonothan Brooks: “Had he not had the knee injury in November? I’ll make it very simple, he would have been the best running back in the class. ACL tears obviously are not the kind of thing you can't come back from, but it often takes a full season to get back to the player that you were prior to the injury. So it could be more of a redshirt year than a featured back roll year for Jonathan Brooks. I didn’t move him down that far (he’s Field’s #2 RB), but he did fall behind Trey Benson just because of the availability for Benson, who also ran a 4.39 at the combine.”
Projection: “I would Jonathan Brooks probably ends up in round three, just because of the injury.”
On Christian Jones: “I liked him on tape all season. I mean, it's a big, long, powerful offensive tackle who's got a ton of experience. I mean, six years at Texas so he's played a lot of football. During the pre-draft process he just continues to go up, and up, and up. He had a good week down at the Senior Bowl; strong, moved well. At the Combine I thought all of the athletic testing that actually matters for offensive lineman was good for Christian Jones.
“I do feel like once we get past the initial run of tackles at some point you get to the spot where you find guys that you just know you can win with. They may not end up being 10 Pro Bowl players, but they can be starters for a handful of seasons and could feel good about it. I feel like he fits that bill.”
Projection: Late round three, early round four.
On Ja'Tavion Sanders (3RD TE ON YATES’ BIG BOARD BEHIND JARED WILEY): “It is a close race for that second tight end spot for me. Brock Bowers is in a clear tier of his own and this is not going to be a hallmark tight end class in general. J’Tavion is excellent after the catch. Sark did an amazing job of scheming up open plays for him. What I would have liked to see more of is his ability to get off man coverage, run routes, generate separation in man coverage, which not all tight ends are asked to do.”
On Adonai Mitchell: “Mitchell has kind of played himself into you know borderline top 25 lock for the draft. Jacksonville at 17 could have a Calvin Ridley size gap in their offense. Indianapolis is going to keep obviously Michael Pittman Jr. on that franchise tag but they need some extra help there at the wide receiver spot, more speed for an offensive that has a quarterback in Anthony Richardson that might have the strongest arm in the league.”
On Xavier Worthy: “Everybody's going to do this, so I'll jump on the bandwagon and just note that in Kansas City they are desperate for speed after recently releasing Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Pick number 32 would certainly make a whole lot of sense. Buffalo might be in that same mix with Gabe Davis as a free agent. He's an interesting one because obviously the speed is world class. 165 pounds, not the typical size for a guy that could end up being a wide receiver one for a team but when you are the fastest man in the history of the combine and you've got good production to go along with it. You don't usually last too long in the NFL Draft.”
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(Suchomel)
I thought I’d have a little fun with this week’s War Room. Those of you who have followed my reporting over the years know that I’m more conservative with my recruiting predictions. I don’t usually enter FutureCasts without having a pretty solid idea of which was a recruit is leaning at the time, and I really don’t make those types of “predictions” until I’m probably 75% sure of where a kid will wind up.
It’s time to throw caution to the wind, to some degree. Listed below are players that I’ll be entering FutureCast predictions for in favor of Texas before the end of the week. As always, those things can change in a hurry but these are guys with whom I feel pretty good about the direction Texas is trending.
RB Jordon Davison – I’ve said ever since talking with Davison in person at a recruiting even in Atlanta last summer that this one would come down to Texas and Ohio State, and I still feel that way. Oregon and Alabama are in the mix but Davison has been to Austin about a half-dozen times and I’m not going to bet against Tashard Choice.
RB Rickey Stewart Jr – The writing seemed to be on the wall for this one when Stewart decommitted from SMU pretty quickly after picking up a Texas offer in January. Stewart doesn’t do a ton interviews so he hasn’t commented publicly on favorites, but this one looks pretty good for Texas. He’ll take official visits to Baylor, SMU and UT in May and June, with Texas slated to get the last visit.
WR Marcus Harris – I’ve said for probably a year or longer that there wasn’t a school I’d put in front of Texas for the Mater Dei receiver. Other schools like Oregon and Alabama are in the mix, but Harris has been to UT a bunch and every time I talk to him he raves about the Longhorns.
WR Kelshaun Johnson – This is one I’ve quietly felt pretty confident about for a while. Johnson is a regular at UT’s recruiting events and it doesn’t seem like he takes a bunch of other visits. He’ll be in Austin on April 6 and has official visits set up to UT, Texas Tech and Penn State.
OL Michael Fasusi – This one’s tough for me. For the longest time, I’ve slightly favored Oklahoma over Texas, mostly because Fasusi seemed to be in love with OU when I first talked to him 12 months ago. Since then, he’s visited Texas a ton and this just feels like one the Longhorns know they need to win as a possible replacement for Kelvin Banks and Texas doesn’t usually lose those must-win recruitments.
OL John Mills – In talking to the San Francisco St. Ignatius product recently, it’s pretty obvious he has a very strong affinity for the Longhorns. Mills has visited three times already. He’ll be back on April 6 and then again for an official visit in June. Washington, where he has some family ties, will be a factor. So will Michigan. But I favor Texas right now.
OL Byron Washington – The big fella from DeSoto has changed up his favorites but Texas is the one team that remains in that top group. There’s some fluidity to OL recruiting right now because but if Kyle Flood pushes for Washington’s commitment, Texas should land him later this spring.
OL Jackson Christian – Again, OL is a bit tricky because Texas has so many irons in the fire and is in good standing with players like Jonte Newman, Jordan Coleman, Devin Coleman, etc … but Christian feels to me like a guy that’s going to wind up in this class. He’s visited UT numerous times and Kyle Flood has done a really good job with this one.
DL Xavier Ukponu – I’m going out on a bit of a limb with this one and may regret it, but he’s visited Texas a bunch raves about the Longhorns when I talk to him. Of course, the coaching change at DL for UT could impact things but he’s already met with Kenny Baker and told me recently he’ll get to Austin this spring to meet him and again for an official visit. He does have a few OVs lined up (Oklahoma State, Florida, Texas A&M) but doesn’t have one locked in for Texas yet. That has me a bit leery but I expect a date will get solidified soon.
LB Elijah “Bo” Barnes – He’s got a top-10 and a busy spring visit schedule, including a stop at UT on April 6. A June 21 official visit to Texas is a strong possibility. He and Johnny Nansen really hit it off at UT’s junior day and the Longhorns seem to be in a great spot here.
Riley Pettijohn – He’s held Texas in high regard for a long time. He’s visited UT several times already. Having former teammate Xavier Filsaime on campus can’t hurt. Pettijohn recently dropped a top six and there’s not a school in that group that I’d put in front of Texas.
Kade Phillips – He’s a pretty new offer for Texas, but the Longhorns are in a good standing. LSU and Texas A&M are also in the mix.
Other recruits that I gave some degree of consideration to but decided to hold off (for now): Tanook Hines, Michael Terry, Jonte Newman, Jordan Coleman, Devin Coleman, Floyd Guidry, Zion Williams, Kamauryn Morgan, Chad Woodfork, Courtland Guillory
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* Nashville Ensworth DL Ethan Utley is a player who has visited UT on multiple occasions. He’ll announce his commitment on March 28 and while Texas is a factor, I’m expecting him to stay in-state and commit to Tennessee. Utley already has an OV on the calendar with the Vols in June, which would seem to be a solid indicator of his intentions. We’ll keep an eye on this one just in case.
- A couple comments of note from Dallas Skyline LB Elijah “Bo” Barnes:
* On what he likes about Texas: “I just feel like Texas is one of those schools I can be developed at. They have a great culture there, a great atmosphere. I feel like Texas going in the right direction with the program, feel like they’re going to be great next year and the year after that, bringing in so much talent. I feel like they’re going to go for a national championship run again next year, be a playoff team again next year. I’m hoping so, hope they do great things. The coaching staff has showed a lot of love to me and my family, that’s why they’re in my top 10.”
* On if the CFP run and the move to the SEC elevates Texas in his mind: “Absolutely. Just playing on the biggest stage in college football, seeing them succeed, that did boost them a lot in my recruitment. With them going to the SEC, paying tough competition, I feel like it just gives them more exposure, gives them the look they need.”
* There was a time early on when it looked like Texas might be the team to beat for Port Arthur Memorial DL Michael Riles. That’s probably not the cases anymore. Riles told OB this week that he wasn’t blown away by his UT junior day visit in January because there were too many recruits there and he didn’t get much time with the UT staff (Texas didn’t have a D-line coach at the time). He has exchanged a couple texts with Kenny Baker but it sounds like the contact has been sparse. He’ll be at LSU this weekend and has one official visit locked in, to Oklahoma State, in April. We’ll see if Texas jumps back into this one.
* Offensive lineman Peter Langi, out of San Francisco Riordan, said he’s been in talks with Texas about setting up an official visit. He also may swing by in late-March for an unofficial visit. Langi said when he drops a list of favorites (probably late March), Teas will definitely make the cut.
Notes on the Updated Texas football roster...
- By Ketchum
- Inside the 40 Acres
- 102 Replies
I'll post more when I get a chance to really go through it.
1. Johntay Cook is now wearing jersey #1
2. Colin Simmons is listed at 6-3, 234 pounds and wearing #11.
3. Ryan Wingo is 6-2, 208, while Kobe Black is 6-2, 204.
4. Trey Owens is 6-5, 236.
5. Jelani McDonald is 6-2, 211.
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1. Johntay Cook is now wearing jersey #1
2. Colin Simmons is listed at 6-3, 234 pounds and wearing #11.
3. Ryan Wingo is 6-2, 208, while Kobe Black is 6-2, 204.
4. Trey Owens is 6-5, 236.
5. Jelani McDonald is 6-2, 211.
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Saturday afternoon nugget- Asked my source who’s showing out so far
- By RLong68
- Inside the 40 Acres
- 3 Replies
He told me
The North Face
- By Seftees
- The Longhorn Corral
- 4 Replies
North Face offers discount for customers taking equity course that says Black people can’t enjoy the outdoors
The North Face's allyship course claimed that the White people never experience harm as a result of their race and asked customers to become racial justice activists.
How do we get blacks and other minorities to love the outdoors? I got it John, we offer a discount to those evil crackas. They'll be in our stores in droves then!! lolololol.
Or they could set up shop in black neighborhoods selling their gear.... oh wait, we know better don't we?
OB fan reaction after last night's baseball win...
- By LonghornGary
- Inside the 40 Acres
- 4 Replies
followed by today's performance
Despite a 14 point win last night, the team is still giving up an average of 9+ runs a game over the past six ball games. That is just not a receipe for sustained success.
Despite a 14 point win last night, the team is still giving up an average of 9+ runs a game over the past six ball games. That is just not a receipe for sustained success.
