Daily Short #155, March 14th, 2018: Patrick Vahe PLAYER AUDIT
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PLAYER AUDIT
Player Name: Patrick Vahe
(via Texas Athletics):
A fourth-year offensive lineman who has played in 34 career games and made 31 starts ... named honorable mention All-Big 12 in 2017 ... also named to the watch list for the 2017 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award ... earned 2015 Freshman All-America and honorable mention All-Big 12 honors … a two-time all-state player in high school … rated as the No. 6 offensive guard in the nation by Rivals.
As a recruit:
Year: 2015
School: Euless Trinity
Position: OG
Height: 6-2
Weight: 305
Ranking: 4-star (Rivals 250, #183 nationally)
Scouting notes generally associated with Vahe's film from high school:
- played all along the line in high school, likely more suited for guard in college
- good feet, good player on the move; pulling, second-level, screens, etc.
- strong, violent and heavy hands; a very powerful punch to him
- clearly a grown man and terrific-looking, beastly player
- not so sure about pass-pro as there weren't many reps to see on his HUDL reel
- definitely a player that came to Texas with high hopes attached given lack of quality OL depth
ARRIVAL IN AUSTIN (2015 Summer Enrollee):
Notable Quotes IN BOLD
6-18-15 (War Room Note from a source from summer workouts)
I asked how freshman OL Patrick Vahe looked and where he was lining up in drills - and was told left guard. I asked if this meant he was backing up LG Sedrick Flowers and the source said "Flowers lets him work in with the (first group), he fits in (and looks like he) belongs." It should be noted that these are not contact drills and are likely glorified walk-throughs against dummies. The real test of how linemen look, including Vahe, will come in fall camp. However, given a current lack of quality depth at the guard positions, Vahe could realistically come in and immediately represent a swing-guard option should either Flowers or RG Kent Perkins suffer injury. If people are saying he looks like "he belongs," and team leaders are giving him extra reps in quarter-speed drills with the first group, it's clear Vahe has at least made an impression on his teammates - as well as others who've been around workouts thus far.
7-2-15 (Summer chat answer to a question from @RLong68 about how Vahe was looking and if he was fitting in)
The team is not participating in contact workouts, but from all I’ve heard, Vahe looks fantastic and ready to go. He is coming off of shoulder surgery, so it will be important to monitor once pads go on, but one source mentioned Vahe as one of the most impressive players of all the freshmen who got to campus in early-June. Vahe is practicing in player-led position drills at left guard and appears to be an odds-on candidate to start his career at Texas on the two-deep behind LG Sedrick Flowers by the time the season begins.
8-6-15 (Then-OL-coach Joe Wickline spoke to me of Vahe at his pre-Fall Camp availability)
“I don’t think it’s any mystery that Patrick probably is more well-versed for an inside position, because of his girth and his mass and what he brings to table as a physical guy. We didn’t get to look at him in the spring like a, say, Garrett Thomas - we didn’t have him like we had Connor. So, it’s really hard to justify or really get a feel - but we do know this through Coach Pat (Moorer) and the strength staff: he’s done an excellent job conditioning himself from that standpoint. He’s into it. He’s on board. I don’t think he’s going to get really flinched by anything and he looks forward to the occasion.”
8-27-15 (Final War Room update about Vahe heading into the season)
Another huge story of fall camp, Orangebloods.com broke the news of Vahe’s insertion into the first group on August 13th. Now, exactly two weeks later, seemingly nothing has changed and Vahe projects as the starter. From what we’ve seen in practices open to the media, he’s been good in the run-game because he’s strong and he’s big with a motor to him. He doesn’t loaf on the back side of zone plays and he looks for work the whole time between whistles. Charlie Strong indicated at his availability last week that where Vahe struggles is in pass-protection.
2015 Season (True Freshman):
- Started 10 of 12 regular season games, missed the final two of the season versus Tech and Baylor (injury).
- Played a total of 553 snaps on the season, good for fifth-most of any OL that year.
- Allowed 10 pressures, 1 QB hit, 2 sacks, 3 run-stuffs, 3.5 TFL and caused 1 penalty.
- Allowed disruption and/or caused a penalty overall once per every 26.98 snaps (good for second-best on the team).
- Was clearly the second-best player on the OL as a freshman behind Connor Williams.
- Played his best game of the season versus Kansas State, scoring a 78.38 on the Deep Dig scale.
- Was named, along with Connor Williams, to the ESPN true freshman All-America team.
2016 Season (Sophomore):
- Started 10 of 12 regular season games, was benched, presumably for poor play, during two games versus (once again, oddly) Baylor and Tech (as an aside, what a difference in snap-count from OC Shawn Watson to Sterlin Gilbert over 10 games).
- Played a total of 795 snaps on the season, good for third-most of any OL that year.
- Allowed 4 pressures, 4 QB hits, 1 sack, 8 run-stuffs, 4 TFL and caused 4 penalties.
- Allowed disruption and/or caused a penalty overall once per every 31.8 snaps (good for fourth-best on the team).
- Was clearly the usurped as the second-best player on the OL as a sophomore by Jake McMillon.
- Played his best game of the season versus Kansas, scoring a 78.2 on the Deep Dig scale.
- It was clear to end the year that Vahe and Connor Williams appeared to be on different developmental paths.
2017 Season (Junior)
- Started 11 of 12 games, was injured after 10 snaps in the West Virginia game and missed the season finale versus Tech (Today I learned/was reminded that Patrick Vahe has never played against Texas Tech).
- Played a total of 751 snaps on the season, good for second-most of any OL that year.
- Allowed 8 pressures, 6 QB hits, 1 sack, 3 run-stuffs, 5 TFL and caused 1 penalty.
- Allowed disruption and/or caused a penalty overall once per every 31.29 snaps (good for second-best on the team).
- Was able to work his way back into the discussion as the best player on the offensive line absent Connor Williams (meniscus injury) -- the problem is, that was comparatively versus unprepared freshmen and other sluggish, Island-of-misfit-toys pieces along the line.
- Played his best game of the season versus San Jose, scoring a BIG 80.94 on the Deep Dig scale (the only time Vahe has broken the all-important 80 threshold during his career at Texas).
- Should return for his senior season as de-facto starter at left guard and veteran leader of the group.
AUDIT FINDINGS
Accomplishments:
- Has been a serviceable three-year starter at the Division I level; has only had four unacceptable performances over 31 starts (2015 vs. Oklahoma State, 2017 vs. USC, 2017 vs. TCU and 2017 vs. Kansas). Two-time honorable mention Big 12 honors and one-time freshman sensation. Any who pegged Vahe as a must-take recruit coming out, you can definitely hang your hat on these facts.
- One of only two Texas offensive linemen over the course of the last three season to record an 80-plus score on the Deep Dig's scale for a game performance. Only Connor Williams and Patrick Vahe have accomplished this feat.
- Given depth at the other positions, can be argued as the best option on the 2018 Texas offensive line among returning Texas players (Calvin Anderson is not in this conversation, and Derek Kerstetter -- while possibly possessing higher upside -- simply had too many penalties caused and pressures allowed in 2017 to assume this title. Center Zach Shackelford -- while improved and also worthy of consideration -- can be argued to need exclusion from consideration due to a higher-than-optimal frequency of bad snaps and various injury/benching concerns from the campaign).
- Seen by some NFL scouts (based on body mass and straight-ahead run-block chops alone) as a player who could have been considered in Day 3 of even the 2018 NFL draft had he elected to leave early. Regardless of warts, there are traits within Vahe that some NFL minds think can be molded and worked with.
Concerns:
- The snaps per disruption-allowed and/or penalty-caused numbers make a nice jump from Year 1 to Year 2 but then regress ever-so-slightly in Year 3 despite turning in a better overall performance.
- Never got onto the same progression curve as Connor Williams; worry exists that he may have come in more ready but plateaued more quickly.
- Has failed to make it through an entire regular season at Texas completely healthy and/or playing starter-quality football.
- The types of disruption allowed over three years don't seem to follow any real pattern, it's hard to tell which areas he's actually improving in and which statistics are just noise due to expected variance in opponent and 1v1 matchups, etc.
- Certain functional strengths observed in Vahe coming into college have actually become terrible weaknesses at the college level (see No. 1 below).
Areas Where Improvement is Needed:
Functionally, there are three recommendations of this audit to be instilled for continued improvement and growth:
1) Pulling and engaging edge defenders: as mentioned above, this appeared to be a strength coming into college for Vahe but has turned into a major hole in his game. Vahe is currently (and really always has been at Texas) unwieldy pulling out of his stance, out of control coming down the line as a puller, and seemingly incapable of engaging edge defenders left free for him to kick out with the proper leverage. He doesn't keep his eyes up in these spots and will sometimes lurch with aimless aggression in the general direction of his target. It's not only dangerous, it's ineffective.
2) Identifying twist and stunt action from his side of the defensive front: admittedly, he was better in this area when aligned next to Connor Williams, but the issue noted above from Charlie Strong back in 2015 training camp regarding Vahe's struggles in this area is still prevalent. He needs better awareness of the defensive look, better spacial awareness of where the A and B gaps are in relation to the positioning of his hip flexors and the reach of his arms. He needs his head on a more lubed-up swivel and he needs more active eyes in pass-protection, period. He allowed more QB hits, sacks and pressures combined in 2017 (15) than he did in either his freshman (13) or sophomore (9) seasons.
3) Motor and conditioning: One thing everyone loves Vahe for is his presumed motor and we've seen it a ton. It still needs to be on full-steam through games and not something that can be hindered by indecisiveness and fear of not knowing what to do. Vahe can get frozen in the moment. Certain types of people like doing what they know 100% is right. In a game as fast as football, any little synapse in your brain's cognition that holds up the process by even a split-second and says, 'wait, is that right?' will lose you the rep. We know that the new strength and conditioning staff has been effective thus far at Texas. We know Patrick Vahe has the heart to go full-steam, and now, probably the conditioning as well. Can he manage to get up out of his head and have a little more fun kicking ass as a senior?
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
Support the Short by supporting our sponsor - Give Wendy a call today!
PLAYER AUDIT
Player Name: Patrick Vahe
(via Texas Athletics):
A fourth-year offensive lineman who has played in 34 career games and made 31 starts ... named honorable mention All-Big 12 in 2017 ... also named to the watch list for the 2017 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award ... earned 2015 Freshman All-America and honorable mention All-Big 12 honors … a two-time all-state player in high school … rated as the No. 6 offensive guard in the nation by Rivals.
. . .
As a recruit:
Year: 2015
School: Euless Trinity
Position: OG
Height: 6-2
Weight: 305
Ranking: 4-star (Rivals 250, #183 nationally)
Scouting notes generally associated with Vahe's film from high school:
- played all along the line in high school, likely more suited for guard in college
- good feet, good player on the move; pulling, second-level, screens, etc.
- strong, violent and heavy hands; a very powerful punch to him
- clearly a grown man and terrific-looking, beastly player
- not so sure about pass-pro as there weren't many reps to see on his HUDL reel
- definitely a player that came to Texas with high hopes attached given lack of quality OL depth
ARRIVAL IN AUSTIN (2015 Summer Enrollee):
Notable Quotes IN BOLD
6-18-15 (War Room Note from a source from summer workouts)
I asked how freshman OL Patrick Vahe looked and where he was lining up in drills - and was told left guard. I asked if this meant he was backing up LG Sedrick Flowers and the source said "Flowers lets him work in with the (first group), he fits in (and looks like he) belongs." It should be noted that these are not contact drills and are likely glorified walk-throughs against dummies. The real test of how linemen look, including Vahe, will come in fall camp. However, given a current lack of quality depth at the guard positions, Vahe could realistically come in and immediately represent a swing-guard option should either Flowers or RG Kent Perkins suffer injury. If people are saying he looks like "he belongs," and team leaders are giving him extra reps in quarter-speed drills with the first group, it's clear Vahe has at least made an impression on his teammates - as well as others who've been around workouts thus far.
7-2-15 (Summer chat answer to a question from @RLong68 about how Vahe was looking and if he was fitting in)
The team is not participating in contact workouts, but from all I’ve heard, Vahe looks fantastic and ready to go. He is coming off of shoulder surgery, so it will be important to monitor once pads go on, but one source mentioned Vahe as one of the most impressive players of all the freshmen who got to campus in early-June. Vahe is practicing in player-led position drills at left guard and appears to be an odds-on candidate to start his career at Texas on the two-deep behind LG Sedrick Flowers by the time the season begins.
8-6-15 (Then-OL-coach Joe Wickline spoke to me of Vahe at his pre-Fall Camp availability)
“I don’t think it’s any mystery that Patrick probably is more well-versed for an inside position, because of his girth and his mass and what he brings to table as a physical guy. We didn’t get to look at him in the spring like a, say, Garrett Thomas - we didn’t have him like we had Connor. So, it’s really hard to justify or really get a feel - but we do know this through Coach Pat (Moorer) and the strength staff: he’s done an excellent job conditioning himself from that standpoint. He’s into it. He’s on board. I don’t think he’s going to get really flinched by anything and he looks forward to the occasion.”
8-27-15 (Final War Room update about Vahe heading into the season)
Another huge story of fall camp, Orangebloods.com broke the news of Vahe’s insertion into the first group on August 13th. Now, exactly two weeks later, seemingly nothing has changed and Vahe projects as the starter. From what we’ve seen in practices open to the media, he’s been good in the run-game because he’s strong and he’s big with a motor to him. He doesn’t loaf on the back side of zone plays and he looks for work the whole time between whistles. Charlie Strong indicated at his availability last week that where Vahe struggles is in pass-protection.
2015 Season (True Freshman):
- Started 10 of 12 regular season games, missed the final two of the season versus Tech and Baylor (injury).
- Played a total of 553 snaps on the season, good for fifth-most of any OL that year.
- Allowed 10 pressures, 1 QB hit, 2 sacks, 3 run-stuffs, 3.5 TFL and caused 1 penalty.
- Allowed disruption and/or caused a penalty overall once per every 26.98 snaps (good for second-best on the team).
- Was clearly the second-best player on the OL as a freshman behind Connor Williams.
- Played his best game of the season versus Kansas State, scoring a 78.38 on the Deep Dig scale.
- Was named, along with Connor Williams, to the ESPN true freshman All-America team.
2016 Season (Sophomore):
- Started 10 of 12 regular season games, was benched, presumably for poor play, during two games versus (once again, oddly) Baylor and Tech (as an aside, what a difference in snap-count from OC Shawn Watson to Sterlin Gilbert over 10 games).
- Played a total of 795 snaps on the season, good for third-most of any OL that year.
- Allowed 4 pressures, 4 QB hits, 1 sack, 8 run-stuffs, 4 TFL and caused 4 penalties.
- Allowed disruption and/or caused a penalty overall once per every 31.8 snaps (good for fourth-best on the team).
- Was clearly the usurped as the second-best player on the OL as a sophomore by Jake McMillon.
- Played his best game of the season versus Kansas, scoring a 78.2 on the Deep Dig scale.
- It was clear to end the year that Vahe and Connor Williams appeared to be on different developmental paths.
2017 Season (Junior)
- Started 11 of 12 games, was injured after 10 snaps in the West Virginia game and missed the season finale versus Tech (Today I learned/was reminded that Patrick Vahe has never played against Texas Tech).
- Played a total of 751 snaps on the season, good for second-most of any OL that year.
- Allowed 8 pressures, 6 QB hits, 1 sack, 3 run-stuffs, 5 TFL and caused 1 penalty.
- Allowed disruption and/or caused a penalty overall once per every 31.29 snaps (good for second-best on the team).
- Was able to work his way back into the discussion as the best player on the offensive line absent Connor Williams (meniscus injury) -- the problem is, that was comparatively versus unprepared freshmen and other sluggish, Island-of-misfit-toys pieces along the line.
- Played his best game of the season versus San Jose, scoring a BIG 80.94 on the Deep Dig scale (the only time Vahe has broken the all-important 80 threshold during his career at Texas).
- Should return for his senior season as de-facto starter at left guard and veteran leader of the group.
. . .
AUDIT FINDINGS
Accomplishments:
- Has been a serviceable three-year starter at the Division I level; has only had four unacceptable performances over 31 starts (2015 vs. Oklahoma State, 2017 vs. USC, 2017 vs. TCU and 2017 vs. Kansas). Two-time honorable mention Big 12 honors and one-time freshman sensation. Any who pegged Vahe as a must-take recruit coming out, you can definitely hang your hat on these facts.
- One of only two Texas offensive linemen over the course of the last three season to record an 80-plus score on the Deep Dig's scale for a game performance. Only Connor Williams and Patrick Vahe have accomplished this feat.
- Given depth at the other positions, can be argued as the best option on the 2018 Texas offensive line among returning Texas players (Calvin Anderson is not in this conversation, and Derek Kerstetter -- while possibly possessing higher upside -- simply had too many penalties caused and pressures allowed in 2017 to assume this title. Center Zach Shackelford -- while improved and also worthy of consideration -- can be argued to need exclusion from consideration due to a higher-than-optimal frequency of bad snaps and various injury/benching concerns from the campaign).
- Seen by some NFL scouts (based on body mass and straight-ahead run-block chops alone) as a player who could have been considered in Day 3 of even the 2018 NFL draft had he elected to leave early. Regardless of warts, there are traits within Vahe that some NFL minds think can be molded and worked with.
Concerns:
- The snaps per disruption-allowed and/or penalty-caused numbers make a nice jump from Year 1 to Year 2 but then regress ever-so-slightly in Year 3 despite turning in a better overall performance.
- Never got onto the same progression curve as Connor Williams; worry exists that he may have come in more ready but plateaued more quickly.
- Has failed to make it through an entire regular season at Texas completely healthy and/or playing starter-quality football.
- The types of disruption allowed over three years don't seem to follow any real pattern, it's hard to tell which areas he's actually improving in and which statistics are just noise due to expected variance in opponent and 1v1 matchups, etc.
- Certain functional strengths observed in Vahe coming into college have actually become terrible weaknesses at the college level (see No. 1 below).
Areas Where Improvement is Needed:
Functionally, there are three recommendations of this audit to be instilled for continued improvement and growth:
1) Pulling and engaging edge defenders: as mentioned above, this appeared to be a strength coming into college for Vahe but has turned into a major hole in his game. Vahe is currently (and really always has been at Texas) unwieldy pulling out of his stance, out of control coming down the line as a puller, and seemingly incapable of engaging edge defenders left free for him to kick out with the proper leverage. He doesn't keep his eyes up in these spots and will sometimes lurch with aimless aggression in the general direction of his target. It's not only dangerous, it's ineffective.
2) Identifying twist and stunt action from his side of the defensive front: admittedly, he was better in this area when aligned next to Connor Williams, but the issue noted above from Charlie Strong back in 2015 training camp regarding Vahe's struggles in this area is still prevalent. He needs better awareness of the defensive look, better spacial awareness of where the A and B gaps are in relation to the positioning of his hip flexors and the reach of his arms. He needs his head on a more lubed-up swivel and he needs more active eyes in pass-protection, period. He allowed more QB hits, sacks and pressures combined in 2017 (15) than he did in either his freshman (13) or sophomore (9) seasons.
3) Motor and conditioning: One thing everyone loves Vahe for is his presumed motor and we've seen it a ton. It still needs to be on full-steam through games and not something that can be hindered by indecisiveness and fear of not knowing what to do. Vahe can get frozen in the moment. Certain types of people like doing what they know 100% is right. In a game as fast as football, any little synapse in your brain's cognition that holds up the process by even a split-second and says, 'wait, is that right?' will lose you the rep. We know that the new strength and conditioning staff has been effective thus far at Texas. We know Patrick Vahe has the heart to go full-steam, and now, probably the conditioning as well. Can he manage to get up out of his head and have a little more fun kicking ass as a senior?
