A few little things stood out to me in Charlie Strong’s last-minute and somewhat out-of-the-ordinary summer media availability on Wednesday. You don’t ever get anything huge from a press conference, but you can pick up on some small things.
Like DE/LB Erick Fowler and DT Marcel Southall, both of whom Strong mentioned as not yet being enrolled and working through academic issues. Strong seemed confident in talking about these players as if he was truly expecting them to be there, which is hard to really remember in the cases of the Gilbert Johnsons or the Du’Vonta Lampkins of the world.
Lil’Jordan at Receiver
I’d personally heard a lot about ATH Lil’Jordan Humphrey as coming in and looking good, but I hadn’t gotten any answers about where the staff was envisioning playing him. Strong, when talking about the incoming freshmen, mentioned Humphrey along with the wide receivers. This is sure to mean that Humphrey will play in a role similar to the one that sophomore Deandre McNeal has thus far been trying to ascend to, given their similarities in being bigger-bodied mismatches up the seam.
Malcolm Roach may go the way of Charles O.
I asked Coach if incoming freshman DE Malcolm Roach was going to play FOX or strong-side DE and got mostly a non-answer in that Roach could play both. My takeaway is that it’s likely true that he can at around 250 pounds if Strong believes he has the athleticism and reach to operate in space. It could be a Charles Omenihu-situation where a player plays the FOX for one season as he fills out then moves over to the strong-side eventually.
Strong’s the Anti-Harbaugh when it comes to satellites
Strong doesn’t like the current setup of satellite camps and seems to strongly believe the NCAA should reform the process. It’s a fact that hasn’t yet gotten much play in the media, but when looking at the two sides of the satellite camp debate, Charlie Strong is a lot different from a guy like Jim Harbaugh.
- “There’s so many now, plus 7-on-7’s going on.”
- “It’s really a grind on a lot of the kids.”
- “I just think we can do a better job with the satellite camps.”
- “Just limit the number, say ‘only so many can be done.’”
- “The good (players) that are being recruited, they’re not coming to the satellite camps anyway.”
- “You can maybe find one or two (at a satellite camp) who’s being recruited.”
- “We just need to find a way where we can help the student-athletes.”
- “Guys just get worn down.”
- “It takes a toll on a young man’s body.”
Strong doesn't sound like a guy who'll be signing up to do 40 of these next season just to keep up with the competition.
A quarterback vs. an athlete that plays quarterback
Strong said, “the thing about Shane (Buechele) is that he’s a quarterback, that’s what he’s always worked at has been quarterback. A lot of times you see athletes who are playing quarterback, where (Buechele) is a quarterback.”
Which one of those types do you think Strong views Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard as? Here’s a hint: it's an easy answer.
A different approach to Notre Dame
It was interesting that Strong said the Notre Dame game felt like a bigger deal coming into this season than the Oklahoma game. One would figure, though, that with Notre Dame first on the docket, it’s easier to put emphasis on its importance — not to mention the fact that it’ll be the only football game played during the last Sunday afternoon before NFL football kicks off.
One of the things that Strong has told the media repeatedly over the course of the last year is about his regret in the way he handled the build-up for the Notre Dame season-opener for 2015 in South Bend.
At the time, he would show players a picture each day of a person or legendary place or item of interest regarding each program to drill in the idea of prestige and tradition at each institution and the corresponding enormity of their meeting on the football field.
And then the football game was an enormous disaster.
I think the outcome will be much better for the Longhorns this year, just playing in a home-opener like any other.
Well, maybe not like any other.
Still no kicker
“No, the guys we ended up spring with are going to be our kickers,” Strong sounded and looked significantly deflated when answering this question about whether there was anything new to report on the kicker situation. You’d think that after having the kicking game cost Strong and his Longhorns so dearly in 2015 he may have grown a sense of urgency regarding getting that position sewn up, but if he has, it hasn’t had any real results.
The role of the 18-wheeler under Sterlin Gilbert
I had reported previously that Texas didn’t practice the 18-wheeler package at all during spring football, and Strong was asked today if this was indeed the case. He did not give an answer one way or the other, but Texas did not practice the 18-wheeler during the spring.
I think that it may (and should) be used in the fall, though. Swoopes is a huge guy and he can deliver a pounding on people. It’s the only package he was ever comfortable in, and schematically, having that thing rolling for when you need it in short yardage or to kill clock is a terrific weapon. With two punishing runners in Foreman and Warren plus a punishing QB-run option in Swoopes for his packages, Texas can turn opposing defensive fronts into burger meat quickly.
A week in the life
I asked Coach what the average week was of summer conditioning right now during the summer sessions:
Monday — Run, Upper-Body Lift
Tuesday — Agility, Lower-Body Lift
Wednesday OFF
Thursday — Agility, Upper-Body Lift
Friday — Run, Lower-Body Lift
Like DE/LB Erick Fowler and DT Marcel Southall, both of whom Strong mentioned as not yet being enrolled and working through academic issues. Strong seemed confident in talking about these players as if he was truly expecting them to be there, which is hard to really remember in the cases of the Gilbert Johnsons or the Du’Vonta Lampkins of the world.
Lil’Jordan at Receiver
I’d personally heard a lot about ATH Lil’Jordan Humphrey as coming in and looking good, but I hadn’t gotten any answers about where the staff was envisioning playing him. Strong, when talking about the incoming freshmen, mentioned Humphrey along with the wide receivers. This is sure to mean that Humphrey will play in a role similar to the one that sophomore Deandre McNeal has thus far been trying to ascend to, given their similarities in being bigger-bodied mismatches up the seam.
Malcolm Roach may go the way of Charles O.
I asked Coach if incoming freshman DE Malcolm Roach was going to play FOX or strong-side DE and got mostly a non-answer in that Roach could play both. My takeaway is that it’s likely true that he can at around 250 pounds if Strong believes he has the athleticism and reach to operate in space. It could be a Charles Omenihu-situation where a player plays the FOX for one season as he fills out then moves over to the strong-side eventually.
Strong’s the Anti-Harbaugh when it comes to satellites
Strong doesn’t like the current setup of satellite camps and seems to strongly believe the NCAA should reform the process. It’s a fact that hasn’t yet gotten much play in the media, but when looking at the two sides of the satellite camp debate, Charlie Strong is a lot different from a guy like Jim Harbaugh.
- “There’s so many now, plus 7-on-7’s going on.”
- “It’s really a grind on a lot of the kids.”
- “I just think we can do a better job with the satellite camps.”
- “Just limit the number, say ‘only so many can be done.’”
- “The good (players) that are being recruited, they’re not coming to the satellite camps anyway.”
- “You can maybe find one or two (at a satellite camp) who’s being recruited.”
- “We just need to find a way where we can help the student-athletes.”
- “Guys just get worn down.”
- “It takes a toll on a young man’s body.”
Strong doesn't sound like a guy who'll be signing up to do 40 of these next season just to keep up with the competition.
A quarterback vs. an athlete that plays quarterback
Strong said, “the thing about Shane (Buechele) is that he’s a quarterback, that’s what he’s always worked at has been quarterback. A lot of times you see athletes who are playing quarterback, where (Buechele) is a quarterback.”
Which one of those types do you think Strong views Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard as? Here’s a hint: it's an easy answer.
A different approach to Notre Dame
It was interesting that Strong said the Notre Dame game felt like a bigger deal coming into this season than the Oklahoma game. One would figure, though, that with Notre Dame first on the docket, it’s easier to put emphasis on its importance — not to mention the fact that it’ll be the only football game played during the last Sunday afternoon before NFL football kicks off.
One of the things that Strong has told the media repeatedly over the course of the last year is about his regret in the way he handled the build-up for the Notre Dame season-opener for 2015 in South Bend.
At the time, he would show players a picture each day of a person or legendary place or item of interest regarding each program to drill in the idea of prestige and tradition at each institution and the corresponding enormity of their meeting on the football field.
And then the football game was an enormous disaster.
I think the outcome will be much better for the Longhorns this year, just playing in a home-opener like any other.
Well, maybe not like any other.
Still no kicker
“No, the guys we ended up spring with are going to be our kickers,” Strong sounded and looked significantly deflated when answering this question about whether there was anything new to report on the kicker situation. You’d think that after having the kicking game cost Strong and his Longhorns so dearly in 2015 he may have grown a sense of urgency regarding getting that position sewn up, but if he has, it hasn’t had any real results.
The role of the 18-wheeler under Sterlin Gilbert
I had reported previously that Texas didn’t practice the 18-wheeler package at all during spring football, and Strong was asked today if this was indeed the case. He did not give an answer one way or the other, but Texas did not practice the 18-wheeler during the spring.
I think that it may (and should) be used in the fall, though. Swoopes is a huge guy and he can deliver a pounding on people. It’s the only package he was ever comfortable in, and schematically, having that thing rolling for when you need it in short yardage or to kill clock is a terrific weapon. With two punishing runners in Foreman and Warren plus a punishing QB-run option in Swoopes for his packages, Texas can turn opposing defensive fronts into burger meat quickly.
A week in the life
I asked Coach what the average week was of summer conditioning right now during the summer sessions:
Monday — Run, Upper-Body Lift
Tuesday — Agility, Lower-Body Lift
Wednesday OFF
Thursday — Agility, Upper-Body Lift
Friday — Run, Lower-Body Lift
