I want to tell you a story.
I'm going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story.
I want you to listen to me.
I want you to listen to yourselves.
Go ahead. Close your eyes, please.
This is a story about a returning Texas quarterback who started a year ago preparing for the season. I want you to picture this quarterback. Suddenly, the season is racing up. He’s doing the best he can to retain his position, but every single day that he gives 100-percent effort, he is met with skepticism, dismissiveness, frustration and at times pure venom.
He’s taking reps with the first-team offense on a daily basis, but some will never view him as a first-team player. In fact, some believe his coach should be fired if he walks out in the season-opener as the starting quarterback. It’s fair to say that the fans for whom he plays view him as a symbol of past failure, whether that’s completely fair or not.
Behind him is an up-and-coming young player who many people view as the future of the program and because of that, he knows he can’t just be slightly better than the up-and-comer if he wants to win the job, he has to win somewhat emphatically.
No one questions his desire. No one questions that he’s a good dude. No one questions that underneath all of his failure is some quality God-given talent.
Yet, the mere mention of his name in the context of potentially winning the starting quarterback is met with screams of media agendas, terrible sourcing and creating click-bait.
Can you see him?
His every move and achievement of success is soaked in absolute rejection.
Can you see him?
I want you to picture that Texas quarterback.
Now imagine he’s Garrett Gilbert.
No. 2– Folks, we’ve been here before ...
About every five years or so, the Texas fan-base loses its mind inside of a quarterback battle.
Five years ago, it was Garrett Gilbert vs. David Ash vs. Case McCoy. Ten years ago, it was Colt McCoy vs. Jevan Snead. Fifteen years ago, it was Major Applewhite vs. Chris Simms. About 20 years ago, it was James Brown vs. Shea Morenz.
Hell, the old-timers (or just older-timers) will tell you that almost every year of the 80s was filled with constant quarterback debate. That there’s so little self-awareness to the long and storied quarterback controversy is a little disappointing because on some level I’d like to think we’d learn something along the way about the way we react as a group to things.
For instance, let’s talk about five years ago when Garrett Gilbert was essentially Tyrone Swoopes before Tyrone Swoopes was even Tyrone Swoopes. Might as well just call him Tyrone Gilbert.
Heading into that 2011 season, it didn’t matter what Garrett Gilbert did in practice or what any other quarterback did, all that mattered was that the majority of the Texas football universe viewed him as the ultimate symbol of a 5-7 disaster and they didn’t care to ever see him play quarterback in a Texas uniform again.
It didn’t matter that he was taking all the reps with the first-team offense. It didn’t matter that he was better than his competition in every facet in practice. Practice? Hell, the masses had seen this guy in games and they might not have known what the answer to the question was, but they knew what wasn’t the answer.
Sound familiar?
Of course, we should all recall what happened in the 2011 season, as Gilbert emerged as the starter and in the second game of the season, one of the most disgraceful moments I’ve witnessed in following Texas football occurred. After the Longhorns fell behind 13-3 in what was a calamity of blah on the offensive side of the ball, the stadium booed Garrett Gilbert off the field and into the locker room. They didn’t boo the coaches. They weren’t booing the rest of the players. They were booing Garrett Gilbert. No one that was there that day could possibly dispute this point and history shows that he never played another down for the Longhorns. The end.
Flash-forward five years, and Tyrone Swoopes is caring the same scarlet letter as the ultimate symbol for Texas football failure and many people are so worried about history repeating itself that any mention of Swoopes’ name in a positive manner is enough to get you cussed out quickly.
It’s one of the reasons why an assessment of this exact build-up moment for this quarterback discussion needs to occur without confirmation bias, at least it does if we want to make logical conclusions about the absolute facts of the here and now.
As Anwar Richardson wrote on Sunday, there are two absolutes that we can agree on.
The first one is that Tyrone Swoopes and Shane Buechele are both taking shared reps with the first-team offense. We can quibble about who has more snaps on any given day because those numbers are constantly varied, but not one person in the world would claim that up until now it has not been a shared position.
Anyone disagree? Ok, let’s move on.
The second thing that we can all agree on is that if the coaches know with absolute certainty that Shane Buechele is going to start the opener, he needs to be taking every first-team rep that his human hands can get. We’re talking about a true freshman potentially playing in his first game in prime-time on a Sunday night against a top 10 team that just happens to be the most well-known program in college football.
If he takes 1,000 reps every day, it might not be enough if 1,001 are available. I feel like we can all agree to that, right?
Anyone disagree? Ok, let’s move on.
Logic would dictate that the surest sign that we’ve got about this quarterback battle being anything but a slam dunk for Buechele to be named the starter is the fact that he’s not dominating the lion's share of the snaps and there’s not an indication that this is going to change over the course of the next week at a minimum. If Buechele is definitely going to be the starter and you’re robbing him of valuable reps, you’re not just cheating Buechele, you’re cheating the offense, the defense and the entire coaching staff.
As Anwar also pointed out, it’s logical to think that if this competition was truly close, the tie would go to the younger player, as that’s a pretty common line of thinking in these types of discussions. You’ve probably seen me write, “If he’s even, he’s leaving” about 1,000 times in the last year.
Well, nobody has left at this point and it has me believing a few things.
As crazy as it sounds, Tyrone Swoopes is ahead in the competition . Maybe not by a lot, but maybe not by a mere smidge, either. If this wasn’t the case, none of the last 384 words would have been written for reasons explained in those 384 words.
The coaches are going to give Shane Buechele every chance to win the job. In a perfect world, I believe they want him to take the damn thing and go with it. If nothing else, it’s the best thing from a political and optical prism for the program.
The coaches aren’t stupid.
I think Charlie thought a month ago that Buechele would have won the job by now and it explains why he was so sure he would name a starter early on and be done with it, but things have gone in the opposite direction.
Given what has taken place, Charlie almost certainly wants to show his hand to Notre Dame as little as possible. I think logic would indicate that gamesmanship doesn’t outweigh the need to get a young player ready, if he’s definitely going to start, so I think there’s a little bit of a clue of what’s happening in Charlie’s gamesmanship.
Here’s the last thing I’m going to point out before moving on to the rest of the column.
A lot of coaches hate playing true freshmen.
Mack Brown used to quote Joe Paterno on the subject and once touted that he had always heard that every pair of freshman legs playing on the field for you will translate to a loss. Now, we know that Charlie isn’t afraid to throw a true freshman on the field, but a true freshman quarterback is a different animal, especially when the opener is in prime-time against Notre Freaking Dame.
The gut for almost every non-millennial head coach is to play it a little more conservative if you have a conservative option. Defensive-minded head coaches are especially prone to conservative thinking versus the type of throw caution to the wind thinking that is starting a true freshman quarterback in a game of massive magnitude.
It’s like watching professional poker on television. Everyone has an opinion about calls, checks or bets when it’s not their money, but put them in a cash game for $20 and suddenly their hands are shaking. You can probably tell Charlie to his face that Buechele should start for a million reasons and can’t be worse than Swoopes, but he might just look at you and think, “Yeah, easy for you to say, but your ass isn’t the one on the line.”
At the end of the day, I’m not telling you that Swoopes should start because I literally wrote a column a week ago asserting that, “It’s Buechele.” I’m not telling you that Buechele won’t win the job because it’s the thing I keep expecting to take place.
What I am telling you is that if you eliminate your fury from the last six years, take a deep breath and attempt to view what’s happening from a logical perspective, there are answers to be found. You might not like them at all, but they are there.
No. 3– While we’re talking about true freshmen ...
I don’t know how many of these cats are going to be starting (Collin Johnson and Zach Shackelford are givens), but I’m expecting more fish to see the field in 2016 than I was probably expecting two weeks ago.
Let’s count them.
QB (1): Shane Buechele
RB (1): Kyle Porter
WR (3) Johnson, Devin Duvernay and Lil’Jordan Humphrey
OL (4): Shackelford, Denzel Okafor, Patrick Hudson and Jean Delance
DT: (3) D’Andre Christmas, Jordan Elliott, Gerald Wilbon
DE: (2) Erick Fowler (assuming no Clearinghouse issues) and Andrew Fitzgerald
LB: (2) Jeff McCulloch and Demarco Boyd
DB: (2) Brandon Jones and Eric Cuffee
That’s 18 without really even flinching. That doesn’t include guys like Malcolm Roach, Chris Brown or Reggie Hemphill, guys I could also easily see getting on the field this season.
One of these days, there’s going to be a hellacious group of upperclassmen in this program, but it won’t be this year, as the numbers will dictate that somewhere between 40-50 sophomores, redshirt freshmen and true freshmen will be carrying a ton of water this season.
No. 4 – ICYMI ...
In what’s been a whirlwind of a last week or so, here’s a look at all of the content from the training camp, in the event that you were overwhelmed by it all or stopped reading after Thursday night’s War Room.
Monday, August 8th (Day Three)
Monday practice notes (Heard moves to wide receiver)
Alex's nuggets from practice
Tuesday, August 9th (Day Four)
Alex's Tuesday practice nuggets
Tuesday night chat
Wednesday, August 10th (Day Five)
Alex's nuggets from the first day in pads
Alex's War Room note on D'Onta Foreman
Thursday, August 11th (Day Six)
Thursday's Weekly War Room (yes, the one that caused the uprising)
Anwar's update on Erick Fowler
Friday, August 12th (Day Six)
Suchomel's Friday morning notes
Friday's Erick Fowler update
Anwar's Friday chat
Saturday, August 13th (Day Seven)
Live updates from Charlie Strong's Press Conference
Suchomel's scrimmage notes
Alex's APB on Chris Daniels, Charles Omenihu Note, Malik Off the Edge
Sunday, August 14th (Day Eight)
Anwar's Sunday Pulpit
A few notes from Saturday's scrimmage
No. 5– Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
… The starting quarterback for the Notre Dame game will have the best supporting cast on offense that the Longhorns have seen since 2008. The running back position is loaded with four guys you’d like to give at least 10 carries a game to, the wide receiver position is five-deep with players you’d like to get six touches per game and the offensive line isn’t a complete mess when healthy. These groups were heralded before camp started and both groups have proven to be better than originally advertised in my mind. They still have to do it in the games, but the skill position players are dripping with talent.
… Jerrod Heard is going to have an impact on offense this season. He’s taken to his new position like a duck to water. If he keeps showing out, the coaches are going to increase his workload significantly going into the Notre Dame game. There’s literally zero film of him doing anything at wide receiver anywhere and that’s a pretty big advantage to have, given his skill set.
… With the injury to Zach Shackelford, it’s all hands on deck at center until he gets back, but the Longhorns can’t prepare for Notre Dame with Jake McMillon as the only option. Try everyone out if you have to. Oh, and is relates to Shack, he probably needs a full week of practice before you’d want to throw him into the game, so he’s basically got two weeks to get that ankle injury right. You’d hate to be in the middle of game-week and trying to work him back in.
… I haven’t had anyone mention Brandon Hodges’ name to me in a week. To think that he was a potential starter coming into camp before the move of Kent Perkins inside occurred gives you an idea of what might happen if there’s an injury or two during the season with this group … it would be complete youth or mostly unimpressive non-freshmen.
… Color me incorrect about D’Andre Christmas, as I thought he might need a year before spreading his wings because dudes from New Orleans need a little time to make the adjustment to high-level college football, but he’s absolutely looked the part of the highest-rated defensive tackle on campus among the true freshmen. Someone told me over the weekend that, “He makes mistakes, but he makes plays. If someone is getting into the backfield and disrupting the offense (among the freshmen defensive tackles), it’s usually him.”
… It’s been All Quiet on the Longhorns Front when it comes to Connor Williams and Patrick Vahe. No spectacular thoughts and no disappointing thoughts, just a bunch of quiet. On the other hand, Kent Perkins’ stock is going up per almost everyone.
… Best player that we’re not talking about enough? One former player told me this week that it’s Anthony Wheeler.
… I think Texas would be just fine at running back if it only had Kirk Johnson and Kyle Porter as a top two backs at the position. These dudes can play.
No. 6 – Buy or sell …
(As always, all of these questions were submitted by actual Orangebloods subscribers.)
BUY or SELL: Regardless of who starts vs Notre Dame, who starts the 2nd half at QB is more important?
(Buy) That seems like an easy answer. If there’s a different guy in there to start the third quarter than the one that started the first quarter, the game has probably gone sideways on this team. The best-case scenario is consistency in that department.
BUY or SELL: A better-coached, more-disciplined team this season?
(Sell) A better-coached team? Absolutely. A more-disciplined team? That respect has to be earned and this is still a very young team.
BUY or SELL: 90k UT Fans boo during the opening offensive series against ND?
(Sell) There won’t be 90,000 Texas fans in the stands for the opener. I expect Notre Dame to bring a large crowd. Their fans want to see this game more than Texas fans.
BUY or SELL: When their Longhorn careers are done, the Johnson brothers will have more combined career rushing + receiving yards than the Foreman brothers?
(Buy) I say this knowing that D’Onta Foreman could be a 1,200-yard back this season if he stays healthy.
BUY or SELL: Charlie keeps his job with seven regular season wins?
(Buy) There’s not an athletic director in place to make this kind of move and I don’t get the sense that anyone actually wants to have to fire him and still pay him his remaining buyout.
BUY or SELL: If Tyrone Swoopes is the QB and underperforms and gets benched, it will be worse for Strong publicly than it was last year?
(Buy) Those are absolutely the stakes. I’ve always thought starting Buechele gives Charlie a mini-Get Out of Jail card.
BUY or SELL: Charlie's next coaching job is as a DC, and if termed from UT never has an HC job at a P5 school again?
(Sell) It might not be top of the food chain power five, but he’d be a head coach of a power five school in his next job. He doesn’t come across to me as a guy that is ever going to work in the industry as an assistant again.
BUY or SELL: As of today, Swoopes gives the team a better chance to win against ND?
(Sell) I just don’t know if either quarterback has enough of an edge to say the one is truly better than the other.
BUY or SELL: History repeats itself and Notre Dame takes a 14-0 lead in the first quarter?
(Sell) I expect a different looking first half this year. It’ll be a game for at least a couple of quarters and I would consider a 14-0 deficit as game over.
BUY or SELL: Despite all the hoopla about Buechele being dedicated and a total gym rat, it was actually Swoopes that buckled down this offseason and is in considerably better physical shape coming into camp?
(Sell) All of the things Strong said of Buechele were true, but yes, Swoopes worked his butt off, too.
BUY or SELL: We win 8 games and go to a mid-level bowl?
(Sell) I’m only willing to go as high as seven until I know the quarterback position isn’t a disaster.
No. 7 – Golden Era of Longhorns…
Clearly, there are a lot of Longhorns doing work in Rio in these Olympics and it’s unlikely that the gold medal count is done churning, but through the first full week of the Games there are two Longhorns that stand out from the pack - Michelle Carter and Joseph Schooling.
Let’s start with Carter, who made the throw of her life on her final throw of the competition to take gold at the age of 30 and in doing so, she slew the dragon that was a legendary father in the same event. In this state, Michael Carter is a legend, but he never won gold in the shot put, which means that Michelle’s gold overtakes her father’s silver medal as the most note-worthy mark from a Texan in the history of the sport.
As someone who threw the shot put in high school, I’m in awe of the Carter family.
Meanwhile, all Schooling did this week was take the GOAT down and set an Olympic record in the process. Seriously, how cool is to be known as the last person to actually defeat Michael Phelps in an Olympic race. The only thing keeping Phelps from having five gold medals in this year’s Olympics is the junior Longhorns swimmer.
I’m guessing both will receive quite the recognition at DKR in the season-opener. Both deserve to have 100,000+ on their feet clapping for them.
No. 8 – Fantasy football pop-quiz …
Assume that you have the fifth pick in a 12-team standard league and the first four picks look like this:
1. Antonio Brown
2. Todd Gurley
3. Odell Beckham
4. Adrian Peterson or Julio Jones
Who do you take at No.5?
I’ll hang up and listen.
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
.... Randomness from Rio:
a. Team USA men’s basketball has been an eyesore for the last week. It would be nice if the guys cared enough to play more defense than they do in pre-season NBA action. I find it an indictment on everyone not named Carmelo Anthony.
b. Usain Bolt is insane. Can you imagine how popular he would be if he was an American?
c. Simone Biles is the first American gymnast to ever win three golds (vault, all-around champion and team champion) in the same Olympic games. Yeah, she’s kind of good. Three down, two to go and she’ll be the new GOAT in women’s gymnastics.
d. Ryan Lochte and three others swimmers were robbed at gunpoint by men posing as police officers? Rio gonna Rio.
e. If the US women’s soccer team losing before it could medal means we’ve heard the last of Hope Solo … like forever … then that’s a trade I’m willing to make as an American.
f. If Ray Lewis had been in Ivan Drago’s corner in Rocky IV the way he was always in Michael Phelps ear on race-days, Rocky dies in the ring after two rounds and the US would have lost the Cold War.
… I’m almost at a loss for words for how good Dak Prescott was in the pre-season opener for the Cowboys. Surely, he’s not going to keep that kind of play up.
… Is Prescott better than Brock Osweiler right now? Sorry Texans fans, just trolling you.
… I like Randy Moss on the NFL Countdown set for ESPN. He’s good.
… A-Rod needs to stay retired. There’s nothing wrong with an RBI double on the night of your sendoff at Yankee Stadium. Stay away from the Marlins.
… How crazy is it that Malcolm Brown and Aaron Green are fighting for the same roster spot in Los Angeles as the No. 3 running back?
… RGIII is going to get Hue Jackson fired.
… DeMarco Murray is back? Maybe, but that huge run the other night was one of the worst looking run-stopping snaps I have ever seen. I’d advise watching him another game or two before going too crazy.
… Hello, Liverpool! The Reds are heading for a top three finish in the Premier League this year and the win at Arsenal on Sunday was a message for the entire league … you’re gonna need to score some goals to beat this team. That attacking line for the Reds is no joke.
... How good is this Sadio Mane goal?
… Leicester City won’t see a single day this year at the top of the league.
… When the dust settles, we might have an old school Man United/Liverpool battle for the No. 1. Go ahead and put me on the record.
… The media that covers soccer in this country is not very good. Robbie Keane missed Saturday’s game against Colorado with a broken face and not one report of his injury existed an hour before the game. How in the hell does that happen? Can you imagine than happening in the NFL, NBA or MLB? Mini-rant over.
No. 10 - And finally …
Coolest Tweet I came across in the last week? Might be this one.
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