The creaky door swings upward and then over, slamming loudly against a bumper affixed to the kitchen floor. Light floods in the new, door-sized hole and reveals a set of steps.
We’ve missed you down here.
We welcome you back to …
The Deep Dig
Notre Dame Part I: Defense
presented by Wendy Swantkowksi, DDS
Looking for experienced, family and cosmetic dental care in the Houston-Memorial area? Go with the best! OB sponsor Wendy Swantkowski, DDS. Call 281-293-9140 and find out why so many Orangebloods members are her patients!
Market Shares and Futures
photo courtesy Texas Football
Here’s how the productivity rankings are tallied, as always, Deep Dig data and statistics are likely to differ from “official” statistics kept by the university:
Solo Tackles: 1 point
Assisted and Boundary-Assisted Tackles: .5 points
Touches-Down and Untouched Force-Outs: 0 points
Sacks: 2 points
QB Hits: 1 point
QB Pressures: 1 point
TFL: 2 points
Batted Passes: 1 point
Fumbles Caused: 3 points
Fumbles Recovered: 1.5 points
Run-Stuffs: 1 point (on top of tackle if applicable)
Pass Break-Ups: 1 point
Blowups (a PBU that ‘blows up’ the opposing WR): 2 points
Interceptions: 3 points
Defensive Touchdowns: 6 points
Missed Tackles: -1 point
FOR DBs ONLY (new in 2016)
Lockdown Bonus: A bonus awarded (3 points for CB, 2 points for S and Nickel*) that can be whittled down by the following negatives stats:
Completions allowed: -.5 points
Burns: -2 points
* points per total snaps in the game. If a player was only a 50% snap participant as an outside cornerback, the lockdown bonus he’d start out with would be only 1.5 points.
Standings in the Deep Dig’s Productivity Market Share Rankings represent the number of points the player has scored to this point in the season per the Deep Dig’s official records.
The rankings will be updated weekly through the season as players move in and out of the Top 10 and market-shares shift toward the future. For now, there’s one newcomer atop the leaderboards that will likely surprise you and one other who won’t …
THE TOP 10 RANKINGS - Week 1
(Player) (% total team productivity created)
1. LB Malik Jefferson (13.09%)
2. DT Chris Nelson (11.31%)
3. DE Charles Omenihu (8.93%)
4. DT Paul Boyette (7.74%)
5. CB Holton Hill (7.27%)
T6. LB Anthony Wheeler (7.14%)
T6. DT Poona Ford (7.14%)
7. FOX Naashon Hughes (5.95%)
8. S Kevin Vaccaro (5.31%)
9. Nickel PJ Locke (5.02%)
10. S Deshon Elliott (4.50%)
Snap Counts and Quick Hits
NOSE
93 Paul Boyette - 48 snaps (47 at nose, 1 at tackle)
97 Chris Nelson 42 snaps (21 at nose, 21 at tackle)
94 Gerald Wilbon - 1 snap
TACKLE
95 Poona Ford - 50 snaps (45 at tackle, 5 at nose)
- As much as we heard and thought about the the insertion of a new 300-plus-pound freshman platoon in the interior defensive line, we sure didn’t see many totally new faces in trenches versus Notre Dame. In fact, only four players rotated in at the nose and the tackle through the entire game.
- Chris Nelson was an absolute beast. It wasn’t completely unexpected by many dwellers of our dark basement, but it was certainly not an en vogue preseason prediction to proclaim that Nelson would come out of the gates looking like no significant downgrade from Hassan Ridgeway. Oftentimes going against future NFL players, the attribute that was most apparent in Nelson was the ability to get off the football, get his run-fits right and then anchor without getting his feet in cement. Nelson was often seen rag-dolling his opposition from side-to-side as he diagnosed both the gap inside and the gap outside of him.
- Let’s put it this way, Chris Nelson had a Hassan Ridgeway/Malcom Brown huge game — one that, if continued, would surely make him the most productive player on the entire defense this season — versus the best offensive line Texas will face all year. We recommend Texas fans begin to embrace the potential of a 2016 Chris Nelson monster.
- Freshman Gerald Wilbon actually lined up to play four total snaps, but only one counted for our purposes here at the Deep Dig. Maybe he’s a bit of a good-luck charm for the defense as his first two snaps of action were nullified by holding calls against the offense while a third was nullified by Notre Dame calling a timeout pre-snap, during which time Texas substituted personnel. All that talk of freshman defensive tackles (five of them) and only one played one single snap at either interior DL position … but that doesn’t mean one other one didn’t line up somewhere else …
END
90 Charles Omenihu - 55 snaps
55 Jordan Elliott - 14 snaps
32 Malcolm Roach - 9 snaps (7 at Cheetah DE, 2 at SDE)
FOX
40 Naashon Hughes - 48 snaps (46 at FOX, 2 at Cheetah DE)
44 Breckyn Hager - 16 snaps (15 at FOX, 1 at Cheetah DE)
- Number 55 Jordan Elliott? The 320-pound freshman defensive tackle is lining up at defensive end?! You should have seen the reaction of some our regulars down here as the game was reviewed. But, that’s the case; Elliott took his only snaps of the night off the strong-side edge. It’s unclear to us whether this has been out of necessity with Bryce Cottrell clearly still ailing or whether the staff ultimately sees him developing as an SDE.
- There’ve been whispers floating around down here about freshman Andrew Fitzgerald being a little banged up himself, so the depth at the position is now nonexistent behind Charles Omenihu.
- The official view of the Deep Dig at this time regarding Malcolm Roach is that we feel like he could possibly be very sick. The staff has praised Roach for his pin-back-the-ears style, and his game-situation usage says a lot about how the staff views him. Virtually all of Roach’s snaps came when the defense was in its Cheetah package which is a third-down blitz package. Roach never got to the QB, but there were 2-3 times where he was right back in the action on sacks other players got, players like …
MIKE
Malik Jefferson - 65 snaps
Tim Cole - 9 snaps
WILL
Anthony Wheeler - 68 snaps
Edwin Freeman - 7 snaps (6 at WILL, 1 at SAM)
- Malik Jefferson had a big fourth quarter of the Notre Dame game where one regular in our dark basement jumped up and shrieked “he came alive!”
- He did come alive to end the game, but it was interesting to look back at the 2016 game versus the 2015 game for Jefferson specifically, and his score from his freshman debut was actually slightly higher. Of course fans will remember that Jefferson was the single shining ray of sunshine in the misery of its 2015 loss in the opener.
- Anthony Wheeler, snap-participation leader for Week 1 on defense. Usually, that crown goes to someone in the …
SECONDARY
NICKEL
11 PJ Locke - 45 snaps
25 Antwuan Davis - 28 snaps
RIGHT CORNER
5 Holton Hill - 52 snaps (37 at RCB, 4 at LCB, 11 at Cheetah)
9 Davante Davis - 43 snaps (37 at RCB, 4 at LCB, 2 at Cheetah)
LEFT CORNER
1 Sheroid Evans - 66 snaps
SAFETY
18 Kevin Vaccaro - 54 snaps
31 Jason Hall - 45 snaps
4 Deshon Elliott - 29 snaps
14 Dylan Haines - 16 snaps
19 Brandon Jones - 4 snaps
- Davante Davis had his toughest game as a Longhorn and was benched. The Deep Dig’s new DB grading criteria-updates were helpful to a player like Holton Hill who only allowed one underneath completion and didn’t lose any of his Lockdown Bonus points. Davis on the other hand blew all of his and then some with one completely identifiable burn and then another that our basement argued over for hours regarding Davis and Jason Hall ... where both eventually were charged with “half” a burn. (Because we unanimously think they were BOTH wrong). Davis also allowed two completions. If Davis continues like this, Holton Hill undoubtedly looks like the better option.
- But Holton Hill didn’t start versus Notre Dame, as the participation chart shows …
CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART
This Week in Missed Tackles …
The Sheroid Evans comeback tour came complete with missed tackles
Sheroid Evans - 3 missed tackles on defense
Jason Hall - 2 missed tackles on defense
Malik Jefferson - 1 missed tackle on defense
Holton Hill - 1 missed tackle on defense
Anthony Wheeler - 1 missed tackle on defense
Kevin Vaccaro - 1 missed tackle on defense
Deshon Elliott - 1 missed tackle on defense
Dylan Haines - 1 missed tackle on defense
Davante Davis - 1 missed tackle on defense
Naashon Hughes - 1 missed tackle on defense
For a total of 13 missed tackles on defense versus Notre Dame. In case Vance Bedford asks.
As we turn our attention to Part II: Offense, we thank you, once again, for reading.
We’ve missed you down here.
We welcome you back to …
. . .
The Deep Dig
Notre Dame Part I: Defense
presented by Wendy Swantkowksi, DDS
Looking for experienced, family and cosmetic dental care in the Houston-Memorial area? Go with the best! OB sponsor Wendy Swantkowski, DDS. Call 281-293-9140 and find out why so many Orangebloods members are her patients!
. . .
Market Shares and Futures
photo courtesy Texas Football
Here’s how the productivity rankings are tallied, as always, Deep Dig data and statistics are likely to differ from “official” statistics kept by the university:
Solo Tackles: 1 point
Assisted and Boundary-Assisted Tackles: .5 points
Touches-Down and Untouched Force-Outs: 0 points
Sacks: 2 points
QB Hits: 1 point
QB Pressures: 1 point
TFL: 2 points
Batted Passes: 1 point
Fumbles Caused: 3 points
Fumbles Recovered: 1.5 points
Run-Stuffs: 1 point (on top of tackle if applicable)
Pass Break-Ups: 1 point
Blowups (a PBU that ‘blows up’ the opposing WR): 2 points
Interceptions: 3 points
Defensive Touchdowns: 6 points
Missed Tackles: -1 point
FOR DBs ONLY (new in 2016)
Lockdown Bonus: A bonus awarded (3 points for CB, 2 points for S and Nickel*) that can be whittled down by the following negatives stats:
Completions allowed: -.5 points
Burns: -2 points
* points per total snaps in the game. If a player was only a 50% snap participant as an outside cornerback, the lockdown bonus he’d start out with would be only 1.5 points.
Standings in the Deep Dig’s Productivity Market Share Rankings represent the number of points the player has scored to this point in the season per the Deep Dig’s official records.
The rankings will be updated weekly through the season as players move in and out of the Top 10 and market-shares shift toward the future. For now, there’s one newcomer atop the leaderboards that will likely surprise you and one other who won’t …
. . .
THE TOP 10 RANKINGS - Week 1
(Player) (% total team productivity created)
1. LB Malik Jefferson (13.09%)
2. DT Chris Nelson (11.31%)
3. DE Charles Omenihu (8.93%)
4. DT Paul Boyette (7.74%)
5. CB Holton Hill (7.27%)
T6. LB Anthony Wheeler (7.14%)
T6. DT Poona Ford (7.14%)
7. FOX Naashon Hughes (5.95%)
8. S Kevin Vaccaro (5.31%)
9. Nickel PJ Locke (5.02%)
10. S Deshon Elliott (4.50%)
. . .
Snap Counts and Quick Hits
NOSE
93 Paul Boyette - 48 snaps (47 at nose, 1 at tackle)
97 Chris Nelson 42 snaps (21 at nose, 21 at tackle)
94 Gerald Wilbon - 1 snap
TACKLE
95 Poona Ford - 50 snaps (45 at tackle, 5 at nose)
- As much as we heard and thought about the the insertion of a new 300-plus-pound freshman platoon in the interior defensive line, we sure didn’t see many totally new faces in trenches versus Notre Dame. In fact, only four players rotated in at the nose and the tackle through the entire game.
- Chris Nelson was an absolute beast. It wasn’t completely unexpected by many dwellers of our dark basement, but it was certainly not an en vogue preseason prediction to proclaim that Nelson would come out of the gates looking like no significant downgrade from Hassan Ridgeway. Oftentimes going against future NFL players, the attribute that was most apparent in Nelson was the ability to get off the football, get his run-fits right and then anchor without getting his feet in cement. Nelson was often seen rag-dolling his opposition from side-to-side as he diagnosed both the gap inside and the gap outside of him.
- Let’s put it this way, Chris Nelson had a Hassan Ridgeway/Malcom Brown huge game — one that, if continued, would surely make him the most productive player on the entire defense this season — versus the best offensive line Texas will face all year. We recommend Texas fans begin to embrace the potential of a 2016 Chris Nelson monster.
- Freshman Gerald Wilbon actually lined up to play four total snaps, but only one counted for our purposes here at the Deep Dig. Maybe he’s a bit of a good-luck charm for the defense as his first two snaps of action were nullified by holding calls against the offense while a third was nullified by Notre Dame calling a timeout pre-snap, during which time Texas substituted personnel. All that talk of freshman defensive tackles (five of them) and only one played one single snap at either interior DL position … but that doesn’t mean one other one didn’t line up somewhere else …
END
90 Charles Omenihu - 55 snaps
55 Jordan Elliott - 14 snaps
32 Malcolm Roach - 9 snaps (7 at Cheetah DE, 2 at SDE)
FOX
40 Naashon Hughes - 48 snaps (46 at FOX, 2 at Cheetah DE)
44 Breckyn Hager - 16 snaps (15 at FOX, 1 at Cheetah DE)
- Number 55 Jordan Elliott? The 320-pound freshman defensive tackle is lining up at defensive end?! You should have seen the reaction of some our regulars down here as the game was reviewed. But, that’s the case; Elliott took his only snaps of the night off the strong-side edge. It’s unclear to us whether this has been out of necessity with Bryce Cottrell clearly still ailing or whether the staff ultimately sees him developing as an SDE.
- There’ve been whispers floating around down here about freshman Andrew Fitzgerald being a little banged up himself, so the depth at the position is now nonexistent behind Charles Omenihu.
- The official view of the Deep Dig at this time regarding Malcolm Roach is that we feel like he could possibly be very sick. The staff has praised Roach for his pin-back-the-ears style, and his game-situation usage says a lot about how the staff views him. Virtually all of Roach’s snaps came when the defense was in its Cheetah package which is a third-down blitz package. Roach never got to the QB, but there were 2-3 times where he was right back in the action on sacks other players got, players like …
MIKE
Malik Jefferson - 65 snaps
Tim Cole - 9 snaps
WILL
Anthony Wheeler - 68 snaps
Edwin Freeman - 7 snaps (6 at WILL, 1 at SAM)
- Malik Jefferson had a big fourth quarter of the Notre Dame game where one regular in our dark basement jumped up and shrieked “he came alive!”
- He did come alive to end the game, but it was interesting to look back at the 2016 game versus the 2015 game for Jefferson specifically, and his score from his freshman debut was actually slightly higher. Of course fans will remember that Jefferson was the single shining ray of sunshine in the misery of its 2015 loss in the opener.
- Anthony Wheeler, snap-participation leader for Week 1 on defense. Usually, that crown goes to someone in the …
SECONDARY
NICKEL
11 PJ Locke - 45 snaps
25 Antwuan Davis - 28 snaps
RIGHT CORNER
5 Holton Hill - 52 snaps (37 at RCB, 4 at LCB, 11 at Cheetah)
9 Davante Davis - 43 snaps (37 at RCB, 4 at LCB, 2 at Cheetah)
LEFT CORNER
1 Sheroid Evans - 66 snaps
SAFETY
18 Kevin Vaccaro - 54 snaps
31 Jason Hall - 45 snaps
4 Deshon Elliott - 29 snaps
14 Dylan Haines - 16 snaps
19 Brandon Jones - 4 snaps
- Davante Davis had his toughest game as a Longhorn and was benched. The Deep Dig’s new DB grading criteria-updates were helpful to a player like Holton Hill who only allowed one underneath completion and didn’t lose any of his Lockdown Bonus points. Davis on the other hand blew all of his and then some with one completely identifiable burn and then another that our basement argued over for hours regarding Davis and Jason Hall ... where both eventually were charged with “half” a burn. (Because we unanimously think they were BOTH wrong). Davis also allowed two completions. If Davis continues like this, Holton Hill undoubtedly looks like the better option.
- But Holton Hill didn’t start versus Notre Dame, as the participation chart shows …
CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART
. . .
This Week in Missed Tackles …
The Sheroid Evans comeback tour came complete with missed tackles
Sheroid Evans - 3 missed tackles on defense
Jason Hall - 2 missed tackles on defense
Malik Jefferson - 1 missed tackle on defense
Holton Hill - 1 missed tackle on defense
Anthony Wheeler - 1 missed tackle on defense
Kevin Vaccaro - 1 missed tackle on defense
Deshon Elliott - 1 missed tackle on defense
Dylan Haines - 1 missed tackle on defense
Davante Davis - 1 missed tackle on defense
Naashon Hughes - 1 missed tackle on defense
For a total of 13 missed tackles on defense versus Notre Dame. In case Vance Bedford asks.
. . .
As we turn our attention to Part II: Offense, we thank you, once again, for reading.
