SPONSORED BY MYPERFECTFRANCHISE.NET
Are you…- Ready to leave the corporate Rat Race for the American Dream?
- Looking for a side hustle while working your current job?
- Wanting to diversify, build wealth, and/or leave a legacy?
Andy is a franchise consultant (as well as franchise owner) and helps people find franchises that fit their skill sets, financial requirements, time to commit and more….
His services are 100% free and he’s here to help if you have any questions about business ownership.
Learn more about Andy and franchise ownership through these resources:
Andy's Story
Why a Franchise
Service Based vs Brick and Mortar
Semi Absentee Ownership
The Process and How It works
Andy Luedecke
www.MyPerfectFranchise.Net
p: 404-973-9901
e: andy@myperfectfranchise.net
Book time with me at: Andy's Calendar
*****
Last week, we discussed how the first question that needed answering when trying to wrap our minds around the 2023 Texas offensive line was figuring out who we're projecting to be the starting right guard. In a battle between Cole Hutson, DJ Campbell and Cam Williams, it's just ... hard.
In the comments to that column, some on the forums were absolutely sure it would be their preferred guy (which, notably, was rarely Cole Hutson -- the player who Kyle Flood trusted to start last season and who he stuck with until the very tail-end of the campaign when DJ Campbell started to work in during the final two regular-season games prior to Hutson's season-ending injury). Some were sure that it was actually Hayden Conner's left guard spot that was truly up for grabs (even though they didn't agree on who the starter among the three listed above was going to be back over at right guard). Some were sure that Jake Majors simply cannot stay in the starting lineup and that looking at the equation without taking that huge piece into consideration rendered the whole right guard discussion useless, anyway.
One thing to remember is that the starting unit that walks out to the first set of team drills in fall camp is very likely to change through camp. As the talent on the Texas offensive line has improved, it's been a pretty static situation over the course of the last 10 months or so regarding the starting five players, even despite the fact that there is a lot of exciting depth vying for time. Not seeing much "tinkering" to get to your best five on the field has made for an easier series of camps and practices to report on through last fall and the spring, but with development of young players (particularly the Class of 2022 additions), there are going to have to be battles, and they're going to need to come soon. Soon like this fall.
Guys like Neto Umeozulu, Cam Williams, DJ Campbell, etc. aren't going to sit on their hands forever -- not in today's college football landscape. We don't get to attend every practice and no one who's reading this column outside of Coach Flood himself (Hey, Coach!) knows better than he does regarding what he is looking for, and what his eyes have seen -- not only in closed practices, but in the weight room, meeting rooms and day-to-day life. If these players aren't starting to get chances, we have to assume there is a reason.
With guys like ... say ... Malik Agbo, we know what that reason likely is: he's still developing. It was always going to be a Year 3 deal with him coming online. (The same can be said with even more conviction about basically all of the baby-faced-monster 2023 guys). With Connor Robertson, it's pretty easy to identify as well (although he's been hurt all spring and for all we know, he could have been ahead of the curve more than we would have expected coming into Year 2), but Robertson plays center and Jake Majors has worlds of experience over him while Hayden Conner (who also does) is more than capable of kicking inside.
But the three I mentioned above: Campbell, Willliams and, to a slightly lesser degree, Umeozulu surely view themselves as rightful to at least a shot coming into Year 2. Even if Flood sees something that is going to prevent that, discontent could certainly start to creep in.
So, we have 8 guys realistically fighting for 5 spots. Kelvin Banks (locked in), Christian Jones (he has to be locked in at this point), Hayden Conner (despite some people's calls to the contrary, he feels like the third-most locked in, and has been consistently above-average, and Jake Majors who has played more football than anyone on the team besides super-senior Christian Jones, and Majors is not even THAT far behind him experience-wise. Jones has played 2074 offensive snaps so far at Texas while Majors has been out there for 1579. Majors is also considered the team's vocal leader and dispenser of defensive-formation-specific information to the rest of the group at the line in-game: a skill that is worth its weight in gold to an offensive line coach who, like Flood, will be breaking in some relatively inexperienced OL talent this season.
That's why it's highly unlikely, maybe even ridiculously unlikely, that barring injury, we don't see Majors trot out with the first group on the first practice of fall.
The most likely scenario?
LT Banks
LG Conner
C Majors
RG Hutson and Campbell splitting reps
RT Jones
Second-most likely scenario (the all-out RG dogfight)
LT Banks
LG Conner
C Majors
RG Hutson, Williams and Campbell splitting reps
RT Jones
Third most-likely scenario
LT Banks
LG Conner
C Majors
RG Campbell
RT Jones
Fourth-most likely
LT Banks
LG Conner
C Majors
RG Williams
RT Jones
A guy can dream, can't he?
LT Banks
LG Campbell (Umeozulu works in)
C Conner
RG Williams (Umeozulu works in)
RT Jones
Crazy Town
LT Banks
LG Conner
C Campbell
RG Williams (Umeozulu works in)
RT Jones
Probably need a trip to the psychiatrist
LT Banks
LG Umeozulu
C Campbell
RG Williams
RT Jones
A threat to yourself and others
LT Banks
LG Umeozulu
C Conner
RG Jones
RT Williams
*****
Book Review: A Bright Shore by S.M. Anderson
(The Eden Chronicles, Book 1)
FROM THE PUBLISHER: The West's own governments are giving up, have already lost, or are leading the charge to something else. This doesn't sit well with those who believe in liberty. This is the story of a people who have lost the political fight, they've lost the culture wars, they haven't seen a level playing field in a generation, and they are about to be made serfs. None of that matters. They're leaving.... Fresh starts are never easy. This is the first book in a story about a new world, different enemies, and old luggage.
ALEX'S THOUGHTS: After finishing Anderson's EXCELLENT Seasons of Man Series last week, I saw that he had another one that looked similar enough to interest me, but different enough to bring some variety from the same author who'd I'd enjoyed so much in those books. This one is dystopian in nature, too ... but the force that is doing its best to end the earth is a completely tyrannical government instead of a virus. "A Bright Shore" is a good book. Entertaining and wild. A group of liberty-minded global elites and biotech billionaires (who saw the writing on the wall long before the collapse of society actually happened) are busy overseeing the teleportation of like-minded individuals to a parallel universe where, eventually, American originalist constitutional principles would be instituted. For the time being, though, it is just raw wilderness -- filled with threats dating back to prehistoric times on Earth -- oh, and the reason the protagonist has been sought out to join them in the first place as an ex-elite military forces officer: there are other "people" on the planet, too. People who came from the next universe over looking for an escape hatch of their own ... and they are decidedly not friendly.
I would rate the book a little higher if it did not seem to end in a way that made the fact that a series would be continuing quite so obvious. Even when books come in a series, they should each have standalone value for readers who may not want to commit to the whole thing. It's a fun book -- entertaining and quite a page-turner, though. I'll add it to the list with a rating of 3.5 stars.
- Alex's Daily Short Reading List (updated 6-13-2023)
Books I've read or listened to on Audiobook since I've been sharing these reviews on OB (this list is not encompassing of all of my favorite books although it certainly includes a few of them - books I recommend reading/listening to start at 3.5 stars - I will review every book I read, but only list those that I awarded 3.5 stars and up here).
Lonesome Dove (5 stars)
Joe Pickett Series by CJ Box (5 stars)
The Undoing Project (5 stars)
The Accidental Superpower (5 stars)
I Am Pilgrim (5 stars)
Empire of the Summer Moon (5 stars)
Gridiron Genius (5 Stars)
The Cartel (5 stars)
Disunited Nations (5 stars)
Lone Survivor (5 stars)
The Terminal List Series (5 stars)
The Gray Man Series (5 stars)
The Son (4.75 stars)
Seasons of Man Series (4.75 stars)
The Lincoln Highway (4.75 stars)
The 4-Hour Work Week (4.75 stars)
Astroball (4.75 stars)
Project Hail Mary (4.75 stars)
Shantaram (4.5 stars)
Dueling With Kings (4.5 stars)
Wanderers (4.5 stars)
Back of Beyond (4.25 stars)
Blue Heaven (4.25 stars)
The Border (4.25 stars)
Wrath of the Khans - Dan Carlin Podcast Series (4.25 stars)
The Time it Never Rained (4.25 stars)
Hard Country (4.25 stars)
This Tender Land (4 stars)
Supermarket (4 stars)
Ready Player Two (4 stars)
When Christmas Comes (4 stars)
Hollywood Park (4 stars)
Fields of Fire (4 stars)
The Great Alone (3.75 stars)
Hunting El Chapo (3.75 stars)
The President is Missing (3.75 stars)
The First Conspiracy (3.75 stars)
REAMDE (3.75 stars)
American Wolf (3.75 stars)
The End is Always Near (3.75 stars)
Second Wind (3.75 stars)
The End of the World is Just the Beginning (3.75 stars)
A Strange Habit of Mind (3.75 stars)
The River (3.75 stars)
A Bright Shore (3.5 stars)
The Lost City of the Monkey God (3.5 stars)
The Summer That Melted Everything (3.5 stars)
The North Water (3.5 stars)
Deep Survival (3.5 stars)
The Boy From the Woods (3.5 stars)
The Frackers (3.5 stars)
Arliss Cutter Series (3.5 stars)
AS ALWAYS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ANY BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND, PREFERABLY THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON AUDIOBOOK. MANY OF THE BEST BOOKS ON THIS LIST HAVE COME VIA RECOMMENDATIONS ON ORANGEBLOODS.
