Daily Short #50, August 29th, 2017: Depth Chart Reactions
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Thankfully, there were not many surprises in Texas' official release of its two-deep for the Maryland game. I say "thankfully," because, had the OB community been overly surprised about anything on the depth chart, it would've meant I didn't do my job very well with the multiple iterations of the depth chart projections I've shared here in the Short through the summer.
It doesn't mean I had everything pegged exactly right, though.
The defense had no surprises. I actually did have that exactly right. That two-deep is simple enough to see in practice because the defensive units all work together, even in periods of individual work for the offensive players. But, since we don't see 11-on-11 periods of practice, it's very hard to tell which offensive players (outside of the offensive line) are working with which groups. You can take keys by who's "first up" in drills and other context clues, but alignments, etc. are largely projection during summer workouts.
With all this said, here are the few items on the initial depth chart for Maryland that I was surprised by:
Cade Brewer as the second TE: Definitely the most surprising item on the depth chart to me of everything on there. All we heard all summer was how great Reese Leitao looked in workouts without so much as a peep about Brewer. At practices, Brewer wasn't a player who made my notes once, so that's probably on me for not identifying the guy was probably doing a few things right. It's telling that Herman said that Brewer was "serviceable" in the run-block game on top of being a smooth route-runner because we always knew he was a smooth route-runner, but he's one of the smaller guys in the TE room at his current stage of development. If he's already serviceable enough for Herman to trust in the run-game, it's bodes extremely well for his future development as an all-around player at the position. While Leitao can't be listed on the depth chart (as he's suspended for the first two games) it certainly seems like an indictment on JUCO transfer Kendall Moore, that, as a graduate transfer, he's currently trailing a true freshman.
Kyle Porter OR Chris Warren at first RB: I had kind of come to the conclusion (based a lot on what Herman had said publicly in the last week at post-practice availabilities) that Chris Warren had finally cracked ahead in the RB race to be the "starter" in a group I'd originally pegged as likely to operate as somewhat of a starterless committee. He mentioned that Kyle Porter would be next man up at that same time, but then said at the Monday PC that "had Kyle not missed the extended lengths of practice that he did with the shoulder injury, I think he would have been in that top spot by himself." My main takeaways about this item are 1) Herman, all things being equal, seems to prefer Kyle Porter to Chris Warren as a runner in his system (which is perfectly understandable and reasonable); 2) Kirk Johnson will likely start out as a change-of-pace option if he can stay healthy (which may already be a concern as I've heard he had to return to wearing a knee brace at practice recently); and 3) Toneil Carter didn't do himself many favors this summer after a pretty fantastic true freshman spring period, all things considered.
Lil'Jordan Humphrey as a co-starter in the slot: LJH didn't work in the slot all spring and I had him pegged to stay at the X WR position behind Collin Johnson. As mentioned, we don't really get to see offensive alignments at practice, so that was me just assuming that things wouldn't change there. I have to hand it to the posters here on OB who were critical of my not considering Humphrey as an option in the slot, and also to Herman for having what I view as excellent reasoning for the move. He said on Monday, "Obviously Little Jordan is a big, fluid athlete that is going to pose some size matchups on safeties and linebackers," which is clearly the case. In the right matchups, LJH could be dominant when given a two-way go in option routes versus these types of players, as well as an appealing seam option.
Devin Duvernay as the starter at the Z WR: He played in the slot this spring, and I should have known with all the Reggie Hemphill-Mapps hype in the slot (or "H" WR position) that the staff simply had to find a way to get Duvernay on the field. I'd asked in this column frequently over the first 50 editions how it was possible that he may not be a starter in 2017 after being the teams most effective weapon as freshman just last year. Moving him to the Z makes all the sense in the world, where he'll frequently be the wide-open field-side of the formation and have the ability to be off the line of scrimmage to work his feet and stems to keep corners from getting physical and jamming him. He's a downfield threat that will thrive in an outside role and I'm relieved to see that the staff has found a way to continue to feature one of its most outstanding overall talents.
presented by the Dental Offices of Wendy Swantkowski, DDS
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
Thankfully, there were not many surprises in Texas' official release of its two-deep for the Maryland game. I say "thankfully," because, had the OB community been overly surprised about anything on the depth chart, it would've meant I didn't do my job very well with the multiple iterations of the depth chart projections I've shared here in the Short through the summer.
It doesn't mean I had everything pegged exactly right, though.
The defense had no surprises. I actually did have that exactly right. That two-deep is simple enough to see in practice because the defensive units all work together, even in periods of individual work for the offensive players. But, since we don't see 11-on-11 periods of practice, it's very hard to tell which offensive players (outside of the offensive line) are working with which groups. You can take keys by who's "first up" in drills and other context clues, but alignments, etc. are largely projection during summer workouts.
With all this said, here are the few items on the initial depth chart for Maryland that I was surprised by:
Cade Brewer as the second TE: Definitely the most surprising item on the depth chart to me of everything on there. All we heard all summer was how great Reese Leitao looked in workouts without so much as a peep about Brewer. At practices, Brewer wasn't a player who made my notes once, so that's probably on me for not identifying the guy was probably doing a few things right. It's telling that Herman said that Brewer was "serviceable" in the run-block game on top of being a smooth route-runner because we always knew he was a smooth route-runner, but he's one of the smaller guys in the TE room at his current stage of development. If he's already serviceable enough for Herman to trust in the run-game, it's bodes extremely well for his future development as an all-around player at the position. While Leitao can't be listed on the depth chart (as he's suspended for the first two games) it certainly seems like an indictment on JUCO transfer Kendall Moore, that, as a graduate transfer, he's currently trailing a true freshman.
Kyle Porter OR Chris Warren at first RB: I had kind of come to the conclusion (based a lot on what Herman had said publicly in the last week at post-practice availabilities) that Chris Warren had finally cracked ahead in the RB race to be the "starter" in a group I'd originally pegged as likely to operate as somewhat of a starterless committee. He mentioned that Kyle Porter would be next man up at that same time, but then said at the Monday PC that "had Kyle not missed the extended lengths of practice that he did with the shoulder injury, I think he would have been in that top spot by himself." My main takeaways about this item are 1) Herman, all things being equal, seems to prefer Kyle Porter to Chris Warren as a runner in his system (which is perfectly understandable and reasonable); 2) Kirk Johnson will likely start out as a change-of-pace option if he can stay healthy (which may already be a concern as I've heard he had to return to wearing a knee brace at practice recently); and 3) Toneil Carter didn't do himself many favors this summer after a pretty fantastic true freshman spring period, all things considered.
Lil'Jordan Humphrey as a co-starter in the slot: LJH didn't work in the slot all spring and I had him pegged to stay at the X WR position behind Collin Johnson. As mentioned, we don't really get to see offensive alignments at practice, so that was me just assuming that things wouldn't change there. I have to hand it to the posters here on OB who were critical of my not considering Humphrey as an option in the slot, and also to Herman for having what I view as excellent reasoning for the move. He said on Monday, "Obviously Little Jordan is a big, fluid athlete that is going to pose some size matchups on safeties and linebackers," which is clearly the case. In the right matchups, LJH could be dominant when given a two-way go in option routes versus these types of players, as well as an appealing seam option.
Devin Duvernay as the starter at the Z WR: He played in the slot this spring, and I should have known with all the Reggie Hemphill-Mapps hype in the slot (or "H" WR position) that the staff simply had to find a way to get Duvernay on the field. I'd asked in this column frequently over the first 50 editions how it was possible that he may not be a starter in 2017 after being the teams most effective weapon as freshman just last year. Moving him to the Z makes all the sense in the world, where he'll frequently be the wide-open field-side of the formation and have the ability to be off the line of scrimmage to work his feet and stems to keep corners from getting physical and jamming him. He's a downfield threat that will thrive in an outside role and I'm relieved to see that the staff has found a way to continue to feature one of its most outstanding overall talents.
