Let’s start this week’s War Room off with an update on offensive lineman Christian Westerman.
For those who have been living under a rock the past 24 hours, Westerman is set to make his final college announcement at an 11 a.m. press conference at Chandler Hamilton H.S. on Friday. The timing of the announcement has everyone scratching their heads since Westerman and both his parents were scheduled to take their official visit to Texas this weekend. Barring something truly crazy happening, that visit looks like it will not happen.
So what changed to completely shut Texas out to the point where it now appears Westerman will not even give the new UT coaching staff a shot? We’ll have to wait on his comments at the press conference to know for sure, but this one sure has the feel that it came down to Jeff Grimes staying at Auburn and the Westermans having no prior relationship with (and little background knowledge of) new UT offensive line coach Stacy Searels.
Searels’ list of qualifications (all-American lineman at Auburn, national title as an OL coach, loads of pupils in the NFL) are impressive, but it looks like he will not get the chance to give his pitch to Westerman and his family.
For those holding out a glimmer of hope that Westerman will announce that he’s locked and loaded UT, that he’ll re-confirm his commitment, a couple things to chew on. People I talked to on the Auburn side of things tonight said people inside the Auburn football offices are very confident. It’s hard to imagine a press conference would be called to reconfirm a commitment, only to jump on a flight to Austin after that. And last, but certainly not least, according to people I talked to late tonight, Texas has been given no indication of where this one’s heading or no direct confirmation that there’s even going to be an announcement. It’s been dead quiet.
This one has some unique circumstances with the coaching situation, the upcoming visit and the 11th hour press conference. It’s taken what appears to be a wild turn down the stretch, one like I haven’t seen before. Whatever the outcome, best of luck to Westerman wherever he lands. (Suchomel)
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Speaking of new offensive line coach Stacy Searels, a couple comments after talking to a number of people this week ...
This is a hire that people with connections to the football department are extremely excited about. He fits in with everything Texas wants in its new coaching staff, and he’s drawn rave reviews from a couple college coaches I’ve talked to. In fact, one person I talked to said Texas definitely got the better end of the deal with the Searels/Jeff Grimes argument.
A lot was made of Grimes being “option number one” since he was brought in first (Steve Addazio notwithstanding), but that is not the case. Texas got the man it wanted and though the official statement had Grimes deciding to turn down UT and stay at Auburn, the decision was, shall we say, much mutual.
Speaking of Searels, he’s made his way back to Athens and will return to Texas on Friday for the Horns busy recruiting weekend, which includes Lake Travis OL Josh Cochran to get his thoughts on the hire.
“I knew a hire was going to happen pretty soon from coach (Ken) Rucker said. I’ve read up on him, I’m anxious to meet him. He sounds like a great hire,” Cochran said. “I watched some interviews with him and he seems like a good guy. The thing people have to realize, you just have to trust coach (Mack) Brown. I do, fully. You know he’s going to hire a great coach and a great person. He (Searels) is a guy who has won a national championship so he must be a great coach.” (Suchomel)
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A lot of you have asked how the first week of workouts are going under Bennie Wylie. In a nutshell, the guys are going through workouts the like that most of them have not experienced before. Players had individual workouts early in the week and group workouts began on Thursday. The guys are required to work out four days a week and Wylie apparently told the team he’ll also be there on Wednesday and Saturday (two of the off days, along with Sunday) for anyone who wants to do extra work.
Numerous players have posted notes on facebook and twitter detailing how intense the workouts have been. Here are a couple other quotes I picked up this week.
“Now that was definitely the hardest workout of my life … one on one with Bennie equals death.”
And … “I’m in really good shape, but I’m not even close to being in Bennie Wylie shape.” (Suchomel)
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Focusing on speed
In talking to several former Longhorns players, including a couple who played in the NFL, about the work done by strength and conditioning coach Jeff "Mad Dog" Madden, they said Madden has always been focused on building strength. But they said he didn't focus enough on increasing speed. The players said they didn't get faster while they were at Texas. A couple NFL people I talked to also said they never expect UT players to blow them away by running fast and are pleasantly surprised when they do. The ex-players said they hope new strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie will continue to maintain Madden's focus on strength but will also work much more on increasing the speed of players. (Brown)
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Speaking of former players
Talked to a couple sources familiar with CAA, with whom Aaron Williams signed to represent him, and Williams measured in at just over 6-1 and 195 pounds. He's at CAA's athletic performance institute in Phoenix training with Missouri's Blaine Gabbert, Nebraska's Prince Amakumara, Georgia's A.J. Green and Alabama's Julio Jones, among others. So far so good, from what I'm told. I hear Aaron wants to run in the low 4.4s for the NFL combine. I can tell you if he pulls that off, he'll be taken in the first 15 picks of the draft. The Houston Texans are picking at No. 11 and desperately need corner help. Just sayin. (Brown)
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Note: We'll have part II of the War Room posted on Friday.
For those who have been living under a rock the past 24 hours, Westerman is set to make his final college announcement at an 11 a.m. press conference at Chandler Hamilton H.S. on Friday. The timing of the announcement has everyone scratching their heads since Westerman and both his parents were scheduled to take their official visit to Texas this weekend. Barring something truly crazy happening, that visit looks like it will not happen.
So what changed to completely shut Texas out to the point where it now appears Westerman will not even give the new UT coaching staff a shot? We’ll have to wait on his comments at the press conference to know for sure, but this one sure has the feel that it came down to Jeff Grimes staying at Auburn and the Westermans having no prior relationship with (and little background knowledge of) new UT offensive line coach Stacy Searels.
Searels’ list of qualifications (all-American lineman at Auburn, national title as an OL coach, loads of pupils in the NFL) are impressive, but it looks like he will not get the chance to give his pitch to Westerman and his family.
For those holding out a glimmer of hope that Westerman will announce that he’s locked and loaded UT, that he’ll re-confirm his commitment, a couple things to chew on. People I talked to on the Auburn side of things tonight said people inside the Auburn football offices are very confident. It’s hard to imagine a press conference would be called to reconfirm a commitment, only to jump on a flight to Austin after that. And last, but certainly not least, according to people I talked to late tonight, Texas has been given no indication of where this one’s heading or no direct confirmation that there’s even going to be an announcement. It’s been dead quiet.
This one has some unique circumstances with the coaching situation, the upcoming visit and the 11th hour press conference. It’s taken what appears to be a wild turn down the stretch, one like I haven’t seen before. Whatever the outcome, best of luck to Westerman wherever he lands. (Suchomel)
******
Speaking of new offensive line coach Stacy Searels, a couple comments after talking to a number of people this week ...
This is a hire that people with connections to the football department are extremely excited about. He fits in with everything Texas wants in its new coaching staff, and he’s drawn rave reviews from a couple college coaches I’ve talked to. In fact, one person I talked to said Texas definitely got the better end of the deal with the Searels/Jeff Grimes argument.
A lot was made of Grimes being “option number one” since he was brought in first (Steve Addazio notwithstanding), but that is not the case. Texas got the man it wanted and though the official statement had Grimes deciding to turn down UT and stay at Auburn, the decision was, shall we say, much mutual.
Speaking of Searels, he’s made his way back to Athens and will return to Texas on Friday for the Horns busy recruiting weekend, which includes Lake Travis OL Josh Cochran to get his thoughts on the hire.
“I knew a hire was going to happen pretty soon from coach (Ken) Rucker said. I’ve read up on him, I’m anxious to meet him. He sounds like a great hire,” Cochran said. “I watched some interviews with him and he seems like a good guy. The thing people have to realize, you just have to trust coach (Mack) Brown. I do, fully. You know he’s going to hire a great coach and a great person. He (Searels) is a guy who has won a national championship so he must be a great coach.” (Suchomel)
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A lot of you have asked how the first week of workouts are going under Bennie Wylie. In a nutshell, the guys are going through workouts the like that most of them have not experienced before. Players had individual workouts early in the week and group workouts began on Thursday. The guys are required to work out four days a week and Wylie apparently told the team he’ll also be there on Wednesday and Saturday (two of the off days, along with Sunday) for anyone who wants to do extra work.
Numerous players have posted notes on facebook and twitter detailing how intense the workouts have been. Here are a couple other quotes I picked up this week.
“Now that was definitely the hardest workout of my life … one on one with Bennie equals death.”
And … “I’m in really good shape, but I’m not even close to being in Bennie Wylie shape.” (Suchomel)
******
Focusing on speed
In talking to several former Longhorns players, including a couple who played in the NFL, about the work done by strength and conditioning coach Jeff "Mad Dog" Madden, they said Madden has always been focused on building strength. But they said he didn't focus enough on increasing speed. The players said they didn't get faster while they were at Texas. A couple NFL people I talked to also said they never expect UT players to blow them away by running fast and are pleasantly surprised when they do. The ex-players said they hope new strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie will continue to maintain Madden's focus on strength but will also work much more on increasing the speed of players. (Brown)
******
Speaking of former players
Talked to a couple sources familiar with CAA, with whom Aaron Williams signed to represent him, and Williams measured in at just over 6-1 and 195 pounds. He's at CAA's athletic performance institute in Phoenix training with Missouri's Blaine Gabbert, Nebraska's Prince Amakumara, Georgia's A.J. Green and Alabama's Julio Jones, among others. So far so good, from what I'm told. I hear Aaron wants to run in the low 4.4s for the NFL combine. I can tell you if he pulls that off, he'll be taken in the first 15 picks of the draft. The Houston Texans are picking at No. 11 and desperately need corner help. Just sayin. (Brown)
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Note: We'll have part II of the War Room posted on Friday.
