Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Boy, that escalated quickly...)

[CS]

lol, this one?

I guess I was off a year. It's the '87 one shown in the image in the OP. I'm just learning now, 30 years later, that the set year is one year ahead of the most recent year listed in the player's stats on the back of the card. I always identified the wood trim set as the '86 set because 1986 was the last stat year on the back.

 

[SpaceCityWrangler]

@Ketchum

Jalen Green? He's heavily leaning our way. He might be the best cover corner in the state.

Clement...bad body type. I can see Texas possibly passing in the end.

Anyway, I'm not so sure it has to be 8 or 9 wins. Hell, it could be seven provided Texas is competitive in the losses (no embarrassments). Basically, the players want to feel what they're feeling now in December (i.e. that things are clearly heading in the right direction).

 

[EG-man]

Your OL list needs to find two more guys to add to it for TH to be doing all he should be doing for Texas (IMO). If that means scouring the entire country and sleepless nights and adding support staff dedicated to only that, then so be it! If that means dropping a LB or WR (or some other position other than QB) to make the numbers fit, so be it.

For the record, Larry Allen squatted 905 when he benched 700, so he too was stronger in his legs than arms. Every football player should be.

Have to agree about the OL recruiting. Have to load up on OL and DL....every year. Period.

 

[SpaceCityWrangler]

Double post

 

[EG-man]

@Ketchum

Jalen Green? He's heavily leaning our way. He might be the best cover corner in the state.

Clement...bad body type. I can see Texas possibly passing in the end.

Anyway, I'm not so sure it has to be 8 or 9 wins. Hell, it could be seven provided Texas is competitive in the losses (no embarrassments). Basically, the players want to feel what they're feeling now in December (i.e. that things are clearly heading in the right direction.

Need 8 W's to be sure. 7 loses momentum we r building.

 

[MikeCorleone]

Two things. First, if Hager was really our 2nd best defensive player, to my eyes he was not, it explains why our defense was awful. Until he stops making negative plays, you and Alex need to slow down the hyperbole.

2nd, it is massively unfair for you to write this:

"because Brown had to truly convince talent from inner-city Dallas and Houston that Texas was a school that would look out for them, create an atmosphere that they would be successful...There was literally a generation of hostility"

You really think Texas had a hostile environment for black kids in the 90's? You on that limb? I would call our recruiting in the inner cities ineffective, feckless or even cowardly, but hostile? No, you cannot make that case and it is an insult to try.

There was definitely the PERCEPTION that UT was hostile to blacks, that persisted into the 1990s. It was actually Mackovic who worked hard to change that perception.

 

[EastTexasLonghorn]

Where did u get this ?

you back to playing insider again?

 

[SpaceCityWrangler]

Need 8 W's to be sure. 7 loses momentum we r building.

Maybe...maybe not. It's a moot point. This was an eight win team last fall. They're winning 8+ this fall. Seven wins can look a lot of different ways. The kids just want what's happening now to continue.

 

[texasd11]

Where did u get this ?

out of his coronal hole

 

[satterwm]

I'm glad you said this. There are a lot of folks on this site with plenty of perspective on UT recruiting, but it feels like the people covering recruiting on various Texas based premium sites lack it to some extent. They don't remember what it was like from 1984-1997, and how Mack Brown changed the paradigm. That's not to take anything away from what Herman can do. In fact, one of the things Mack Brown never did was take advantage of Texas having a nationally recognized brand. It's obvious that's the direction Herman wants to go.

But Brown came into the region recruiting with such a shock and awe campaign. He completely wiped away any stigma surrounding the program for inner city kids who associated Texas with the legacy of the 60s to some degree. He galvanized the university into seeing what a successful football program could do for the school in a way that opened eyes that needed to be opened. He made Texas the cool school in such a dominating fashion that left RC Slocum and A&M recruiting coordinator Tim Cassidy starving for oxygen.

Charlie Strong benefitted from that legacy, and now Tom Herman is to. Which is not to take away with what is going on in the program right now. Tom Herman is challenging everyone to keep up with his vision, whereas Mack Brown was more of a schmoozer. I relate to Tom Herman's approach a lot more, and feel confident it's going to bring about an unprecedented level of success.

But I like you giving credit to Mack Brown for both the challenges he faced as well as his astounding ability to eclipse them.

No doubt true.
But we need to win conference championships. I think we will under Herman.

 

[KeepAustinGeared]

I'd like to know where to sell some? And buy? Grown or not I still enjoy it.

There's a card shop here in South Austin.

 

[Guy Smiley]

I brought up the "bad moon" Rising nickname merely to be humorous. I guess I shouldn't quit my day job.

 

[depock]

There was definitely the PERCEPTION that UT was hostile to blacks, that persisted into the 1990s. It was actually Mackovic who worked hard to change that perception.

Yeah, but Ketch lumped Mackovic into that "generation of hostility". The one, apparently, just before Mack.

David McWilliams was not much of a football coach but he is one of the finest men I know. Was he also hostile to inner city blacks?

 

[MikeCorleone]

Yeah, but Ketch lumped Mackovic into that "generation of hostility". The one, apparently, just before Mack.

David McWilliams was not much of a football coach but he is one of the finest men I know. Was he also hostile to inner city blacks?

I doubt McWilliams was hostile to anyone. But it was Mackovic who made the first concerted effort to combat the perception. Recall the story about his first meeting with the team?

 

[marka1]

That...and he was a safety high school that wasn't much to look at back then.

He was all state at safety and wr but, yeah, he didn't grow until his senior year. Always worth saving a scholarship for late rising seniors

 

[Diesel710]

Have to agree about the OL recruiting. Have to load up on OL and DL....every year. Period.

We must go OOS to fix the OL & DL like we did w/QB. We're there any big time OL or DL at the Spring game? These positions will keep us from competing for the CFB playoff.

 

[BobHorn]

I guess I was off a year. It's the '87 one shown in the image in the OP. I'm just learning now, 30 years later, that the set year is one year ahead of the most recent year listed in the player's stats on the back of the card. I always identified the wood trim set as the '86 set because 1986 was the last stat year on the back.

Killer common you kept pulling. I used to covet my '87 Topps Canseco. That set had some good cards, overall.

 

[rvm96]

Ketch, why do you consider Shack undersized? He is listed about the same height and weight as McMillon.

 

[El Mahico]

Texad absolutely needs to find a way to get better recruits on the ol and it looks like the only way to do that is out of state.

 

[Suchomel]

None of Clement, Orji, Brown, Ingram, or Muhammed are coming to Texas. I don't even know if Overshown is still in the picture.

I wouldn't completely give up on Muhammad. If Texas wins big, I could see that one happening. But there's ground to make up on a couple out of state schools right now.

 

[Prodigy Rick]

If I get banned then head to BMT for eight and a half weeks, was I really banned?

 

[Dualthreat]

Texad absolutely needs to find a way to get better recruits on the ol and it looks like the only way to do that is out of state.

MORE and better recruits for the OL.

Wisconsin has a history of looking hard and finding some large-framed prospects, bringing them into the program, and putting them through a detailed developmental program of lifting and good diet to gain good weight and strength over a period of two years. Wisconsin has also generally carried 2-3 more OL than Texas has often averaged. They've recognized the primacy of OL importance and dedicated the resources and determination to insist they get results. That's the last time I looked hard at them.

 

[emerymichael]

So who all is taking the trip to Cali for USC?

 

[HookemChargers]

Texad absolutely needs to find a way to get better recruits on the ol and it looks like the only way to do that is out of state.

RB as well. We need a J. Charles type back in this class.

 

[LonghornCPA82]

Are you going to put those cards on the spokes of your bike so it sounds like a motorcycle?

 

[LonghornCPA82]

So who all is taking the trip to Cali for USC?

I am heading West for the game.

 

[Other Barry]

lol, this one?

That is such shit design. Ugh.

 

[El Mahico]

RB as well. We need a J. Charles type back in this class.

Ill be happy with just a selvin young.

 

[FrancoBevo]

@Ketchum I really don't see how you think Zaire is the best option for Texas in 2017 - you do realize that if he'd played the whole game against Texas last year, that Texas likely wins that game by 21 in regulation. Goofy take.

 

[JinSOTEX]

The Malik being a better option stuff is truly bizarre. I'd take him as a backup but he's shown nothing in his career with less than a handful of starts to show he's clearly some better option than Shane

 

[PowerSpread1]

Where did u get this ?

It's public knowledge.

 

[LA Horns]

Short and sweet. I like it.

 

[TrailsPoppy]

With the RB health the way it repeatedly is & Carter our present only back, why would we take only one? Is Ingram that good to be our only back? If he is the best in Texas, why wouldn't we go OOS?

 

[marinehorn]

I'd like to know where to sell some? And buy? Grown or not I still enjoy it.

A friend of mine buys and sells on ebay

 

[ball911]

I am heading West for the game.

Good decision...if you went east, it could take a long time to get there.