I am a little drunk... but why isn’t Justin Tucker on the top 10 list ??
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Possible insight on UT's next OC?)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
Austin Westlake would’ve had a state championship in 2001 had they not run into Lufkin.
not sure where the dispute is coming from on calling plays. Seems just from a few select posters but has definitely been disputed that he didn’t by many and now even confirmed by ketch
Your reservations on the guy seem More about being strongly out on herman. Even people like Nahlin have been calming Yurcich would basically be a home run hire.
Like you list top players last 10 years. Some suggestions for changes:
Forgive me for leading off this week with something other than offensive coordinator discussion, but I wanted to pass along a message heading into the holidays and I didn't want to bury it at the bottom of the column.
From the bottom of my heart, I just wanted two say two things ...
1. Thank you.
2. I love you guys.
I know that we'll sometimes strongly bicker about a myriad of different topics, but I hope you know that there's a special place in my heart and all of Orangebloods for the loyalty and faith so many of you have put in us for such a long time.
Here's to a Merry Christmas and a New Year that is 10 times better.
No. 2 - Intel on your next OC?
In case you weren't paying attention on Sunday morning, E.F. Hutton Richardson provided a pretty big hint about the direction of Tom Herman's offensive coordinator search.
Given that Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has emerged as the leading candidate for the position, I thought it would be a good idea to clear up a few details about his career in Stillwater as an assistant under Mike Gundy, which is why I spoke with several Oklahoma State insiders/sources on Sunday.
Here's what they told me.
1. Yurcich absolutely called plays on game-days with Oklahoma State. According to those with whom I've spoken, it seems like Gundy carried a ton of influence during the week in meeting rooms and with regards to game-plans, but Yurcich called the shots on the day of games.
2. In the minds of those I spoke with, they felt like Oklahoma State's offense during Yurcich's tenure was mostly a Gundy offense and that proof of that existed with the 2019 Cowboys offense. Other than the adjustments made to fit the strengths of Spencer Sanders, OSU insiders claim the 2019 offense was a continuation of the offense in previous seasons.
3. Per my sources, Gundy called plays in the Alamo Bowl following Dana Holgorsen's departure at the end of the 2010 season and struggled with that assignment. Yet, for the better part of the next two seasons, Gundy remained the play-caller. That control remained for a lot of Yurcich's first season in Stillwater in 2013. Part of the issue is that Gundy transitioned away from Holgorsen's offense and it took some time for the comfort level to exist upon those changes.
4. There's a general feeling in Stillwater that we still haven't completely seen what the Yurcich offense looks like because of the control Gundy has on that side of the ball, even if he had been calling almost all of the plays. I was told the same feeling exists about new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson's offense. Oklahoma State plays Gundy-ball and because of the problems created with Holgorsen's departure nearly a decade ago, we'll probably always see Oklahoma State play Gundy-ball.
5. The overall opinion of Yurcich is very positive from conversations with my sources. "I think Yurcich is a really smart OC. Think he was in fact over his head a bit the first year, but was fine after. Constrained by a micro managing HC," one source said.
6. The end of his tenure at Oklahoma State arrived with both sides ready to move on. There's a feeling behind the scenes that Yurcich and Gundy didn't see eye to eye on the direction of the offense. "It was time to do something different on both ends, I think," another source said.
7. In terms of being a recruiter, Yurcich wasn't really viewed as a plus-recruiter during his time in Stillwater.
No. 3 - Five players that should be the most-excited about the hire of Chris Ash ...
1. DE Marquez Bimage - The hire of Ash and the turn to a four-man front should give the former Brenham star a new lease on his football life. He flashed a little of his upside in the season-finale when he was turned loose as a pass rusher outside of the tackle's outside shoulder. Don't be shocked if he has a senior season explosion.
2. DT Moro Ojomo - Mostly reduced to back-up nose-tackle action behind Keondre Coburn, Ojomo will finally be in the defensive scheme in which he was born to play.
3. LB Joseph Ossai - Finally, he's going to be turned loose to attack. Like Sergio Kindle before him, don't ask a thoroughbred to run backwards, let him run forward.
4. DB Caden Sterns - This kid is too good to have been stuck in neutral for much of the last 1 1/2 seasons. I expect the hire of Ash be just what Sterns need to take the next step.
5. DB BJ Foster - See Sterns. He needs someone to help him take the next step as a player, the step that was never taken this season.
No. 4 - A Blast From The Past ...
Once upon a time not too long ago, I was pretty over the moon on San Antonio Brennan pass-rusher Derick Roberson, who signed with the Longhorns back in 2014.
Incredibly athletic, with a great first step and a frame with plenty of room to fill out, I had Roberson ranked as high as No. 2 on my Lone Star Recruiting Top 100 list before eventually placing him at No. 9 on the list.
His career at Texas never really got off the ground because of concussion issues stemming from an off-season car accident, which is why he eventually landed at Sam Houston State. After a 15-sack senior season with the Bearkats, Roberson went undrafted and signed with Tennessee as a free agent.
After spending most of the season on the practice squad, Roberson was named to the 53-man roster on November 26. In his second career game on Sunday, Roberson sacked future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees twice.
Boy, could the Longhorns have used him for much of the last half-decade.
No. 5 - Problem in Providence ...
In the grand scheme of things, I don't know that Saturday's loss will make much of a difference when this season is over for the men's basketball team.
Don't get me wrong, it was a horrific loss. I just don't think it will define this season like so many of the looming conference games might in the coming months.
More than anything, the 70-48 loss was a reminder for Texas fans that have been slow to come around to this team's 9-1 start as to why they've been slow to come around to this team.
You can change the assistants and you can change the players, but at this point you cannot change the fact that Shaka Smart hasn't earned an ounce of benefit of the doubt and Saturday was a perfect example of that.
With conference play starting soon, it's the cloud that follows the program to a degree. When on earth can Texas fans watch the basketball team without feeling like a trapdoor of doom will open up underneath them at a moment when they have started to believe?
I'm rooting for Shaka to get this thing going in the direction he was hired to take it, but I can't say that I believe.
I can't remember the last time I did.
No. 6 - Karen Aston's Finest Hour
Speaking of basketball programs that I don't understand, the unranked Texas Longhorns knocked off undefeated No. 1 Stanford on Sunday afternoon.
Seriously, I was literally about to type that Texas has two basketball programs that kind of mirror each other in the sense that I can't remember the last time I believed in either program and then they knock off the Cardinal.
I don't know that I believe in Aston any more after the win than I did before it, but the hope has to be that this season reached a new launching point after a 6-4 start, which included three losses by a combined 45 points to unranked teams coming into the game.
After watching this team play a few times this season, I'm just not sure what to think about the ceiling of this group.
Can Aston turn this thing around?
Here's hoping she pulls it off, but my sense is that Sunday's win will likely be more of a wild footnote than the springboard to the type of success that is expected of a coach in her eighth year.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I don't believe in accidents. That's not me telling you that it's officially going to be Yurcich, but I am telling you I don't believe in accidents.
(Sell) Never say never, but I would have to think there's a good chance that someone with connections to the new offensive coordinator will arrive as the wide receivers coach. Given the struggles at that position this year, bringing in someone that can turn that group around is paramount to the success of the 2020 Longhorns and I just can't imagine that someone with no real coaching experience will get the job.
(Sell) There are a number of personnel questions that need answers before I can take those types of leaps.
(Sell) Before Beaty could join the Texas staff, he's going to need a clean bill from the NCAA in its current investigation of the KU football program. It's unlikely that the NCAA's investigation is completed on a timeframe that would allow Herman to include him on this year's staff. Maybe 2021?
(Sell) You're basically asking me if I think he's going to finish his career as the third-best running back in school history (over Ced Benson, Jamaal Charles, D'Onta Foreman, etc ...) and I'm not ready to go that far.
(Sell) It's really, really, really hard to keep two quarterbacks from the same recruiting class on the roster for four seasons.
(Sell) No, he didn't regress from 2018 to 2019. I just don't think he made the type of advancement that many, including myself, thought he'd make. If you're asking if he regressed DURING the season, yeah, I'd have to say he did based on the fact that he had as many poor statistical games down the stretch as he had very good ones.
(Buy) Herman will be hunting for at least one.
(Buy) If both stay healthy, absolutely.
(Sell) I just don't believe this. Texas spends as much as anyone salries and sup
(Sell) I don't mean for this to sound snarky at all, but Shaka is a damn good coach, even if he hasn't been a damn good coach at Texas thus far. He's in the top 1% of all people in his profession, has been to the Final Four, has coached US national teams and is well-respected in his profession. I'd simply say a person can still fail at something and still be damn good at what they do. What I wouldn't stand in the way of is someone saying he's not great.
p.s. - I never chastised anyone for giving up on Shaka. I've been quite vocal about him being a failure at Texas in his tenure, especially after the disaster from two seasons ago.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... I tried to watch a little college football bowl action this weekend, but I just couldn't force myself to stick with any of the games, but I did stumble upon this...
p.s. SMU lost by 24.
... Man, how good is North Shore? They sent five-star running back Zach Evans home on the eve of a state championship game and still beat a Ja'Quinden Jackson-less Duncanville by two touchdowns on Saturday.
... I cannot believe that Austin Westlake won its first title since 1996 on Saturday. Off the top of my head, I would have assumed that wasn't true, but there were a lot of bridesmaid seasons since the last one. Congrats to all the Chaps out there.
... Aledo is quite an incredible story as a football program. NINE STATE TITLES!!!!
... With the season on the line on the most important play of the season, the Cowboys left its No.1 receiver on the sideline and threw a low percentage pass to its No.2 receiver. That's as Jason Garrett as it gets. Now go away from my football team!
... Julio Jones became the fastest to 12,000 career receiving yards on Sunday, doing it in his 125th career game, which is 17 games faster than Jerry Rice (previous record-holder). Wow.
... Speaking of bad ass NFL receiver record-breaking, shout out to Michael Thomas for breaking Marvin Harrison's 17-year-old record for receptions in a single-season with one game to play. Run it up, Michael.
... Pour one out for @Alex Dunlap's fantasy football team, who ran into a Kamara/Barkley monster in our fantasy league title game.
... I'm starting to believe in the Mavericks after they punked my Sixers on Friday night. Damnit, that was hard-core.
... Kevin Love already received his Christmas present early this year.
... Ladies and gentlemen, your world champions.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Texas Football Players of the Decade ...
This was not nearly as much fun putting together as I thought it might be.
Read it and weep.
1. P Michael Dickson
2. DT Malcom Brown
3. DB Kenny Vaccaro
4. RB D’Onta Foreman
5. LB Jordan Hicks
6. WR Devin Duvernay
7. QB Sam Ehlinger
8. OT Connor Williams
9. DE Alex Okafor
10. DE Sam Acho
No.10 - And finally...[
Somehow I made it to Sunday without a single Star Wars spoiler entering my realm. I'm off to the see the movie right now. May the force be with me.
2. Ehlinger
3. Williams
4. Hicks
What do you think?
Hook'Em
Where is Tucker in the top 10?
Forgive me for leading off this week with something other than offensive coordinator discussion, but I wanted to pass along a message heading into the holidays and I didn't want to bury it at the bottom of the column.
From the bottom of my heart, I just wanted two say two things ...
1. Thank you.
2. I love you guys.
I know that we'll sometimes strongly bicker about a myriad of different topics, but I hope you know that there's a special place in my heart and all of Orangebloods for the loyalty and faith so many of you have put in us for such a long time.
Here's to a Merry Christmas and a New Year that is 10 times better.
No. 2 - Intel on your next OC?
In case you weren't paying attention on Sunday morning, E.F. Hutton Richardson provided a pretty big hint about the direction of Tom Herman's offensive coordinator search.
Given that Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has emerged as the leading candidate for the position, I thought it would be a good idea to clear up a few details about his career in Stillwater as an assistant under Mike Gundy, which is why I spoke with several Oklahoma State insiders/sources on Sunday.
Here's what they told me.
1. Yurcich absolutely called plays on game-days with Oklahoma State. According to those with whom I've spoken, it seems like Gundy carried a ton of influence during the week in meeting rooms and with regards to game-plans, but Yurcich called the shots on the day of games.
2. In the minds of those I spoke with, they felt like Oklahoma State's offense during Yurcich's tenure was mostly a Gundy offense and that proof of that existed with the 2019 Cowboys offense. Other than the adjustments made to fit the strengths of Spencer Sanders, OSU insiders claim the 2019 offense was a continuation of the offense in previous seasons.
3. Per my sources, Gundy called plays in the Alamo Bowl following Dana Holgorsen's departure at the end of the 2010 season and struggled with that assignment. Yet, for the better part of the next two seasons, Gundy remained the play-caller. That control remained for a lot of Yurcich's first season in Stillwater in 2013. Part of the issue is that Gundy transitioned away from Holgorsen's offense and it took some time for the comfort level to exist upon those changes.
4. There's a general feeling in Stillwater that we still haven't completely seen what the Yurcich offense looks like because of the control Gundy has on that side of the ball, even if he had been calling almost all of the plays. I was told the same feeling exists about new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson's offense. Oklahoma State plays Gundy-ball and because of the problems created with Holgorsen's departure nearly a decade ago, we'll probably always see Oklahoma State play Gundy-ball.
5. The overall opinion of Yurcich is very positive from conversations with my sources. "I think Yurcich is a really smart OC. Think he was in fact over his head a bit the first year, but was fine after. Constrained by a micro managing HC," one source said.
6. The end of his tenure at Oklahoma State arrived with both sides ready to move on. There's a feeling behind the scenes that Yurcich and Gundy didn't see eye to eye on the direction of the offense. "It was time to do something different on both ends, I think," another source said.
7. In terms of being a recruiter, Yurcich wasn't really viewed as a plus-recruiter during his time in Stillwater.
No. 3 - Five players that should be the most-excited about the hire of Chris Ash ...
1. DE Marquez Bimage - The hire of Ash and the turn to a four-man front should give the former Brenham star a new lease on his football life. He flashed a little of his upside in the season-finale when he was turned loose as a pass rusher outside of the tackle's outside shoulder. Don't be shocked if he has a senior season explosion.
2. DT Moro Ojomo - Mostly reduced to back-up nose-tackle action behind Keondre Coburn, Ojomo will finally be in the defensive scheme in which he was born to play.
3. LB Joseph Ossai - Finally, he's going to be turned loose to attack. Like Sergio Kindle before him, don't ask a thoroughbred to run backwards, let him run forward.
4. DB Caden Sterns - This kid is too good to have been stuck in neutral for much of the last 1 1/2 seasons. I expect the hire of Ash be just what Sterns need to take the next step.
5. DB BJ Foster - See Sterns. He needs someone to help him take the next step as a player, the step that was never taken this season.
No. 4 - A Blast From The Past ...
Once upon a time not too long ago, I was pretty over the moon on San Antonio Brennan pass-rusher Derick Roberson, who signed with the Longhorns back in 2014.
Incredibly athletic, with a great first step and a frame with plenty of room to fill out, I had Roberson ranked as high as No. 2 on my Lone Star Recruiting Top 100 list before eventually placing him at No. 9 on the list.
His career at Texas never really got off the ground because of concussion issues stemming from an off-season car accident, which is why he eventually landed at Sam Houston State. After a 15-sack senior season with the Bearkats, Roberson went undrafted and signed with Tennessee as a free agent.
After spending most of the season on the practice squad, Roberson was named to the 53-man roster on November 26. In his second career game on Sunday, Roberson sacked future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees twice.
Boy, could the Longhorns have used him for much of the last half-decade.
No. 5 - Problem in Providence ...
In the grand scheme of things, I don't know that Saturday's loss will make much of a difference when this season is over for the men's basketball team.
Don't get me wrong, it was a horrific loss. I just don't think it will define this season like so many of the looming conference games might in the coming months.
More than anything, the 70-48 loss was a reminder for Texas fans that have been slow to come around to this team's 9-1 start as to why they've been slow to come around to this team.
You can change the assistants and you can change the players, but at this point you cannot change the fact that Shaka Smart hasn't earned an ounce of benefit of the doubt and Saturday was a perfect example of that.
With conference play starting soon, it's the cloud that follows the program to a degree. When on earth can Texas fans watch the basketball team without feeling like a trapdoor of doom will open up underneath them at a moment when they have started to believe?
I'm rooting for Shaka to get this thing going in the direction he was hired to take it, but I can't say that I believe.
I can't remember the last time I did.
No. 6 - Karen Aston's Finest Hour
Speaking of basketball programs that I don't understand, the unranked Texas Longhorns knocked off undefeated No. 1 Stanford on Sunday afternoon.
Seriously, I was literally about to type that Texas has two basketball programs that kind of mirror each other in the sense that I can't remember the last time I believed in either program and then they knock off the Cardinal.
I don't know that I believe in Aston any more after the win than I did before it, but the hope has to be that this season reached a new launching point after a 6-4 start, which included three losses by a combined 45 points to unranked teams coming into the game.
After watching this team play a few times this season, I'm just not sure what to think about the ceiling of this group.
Can Aston turn this thing around?
Here's hoping she pulls it off, but my sense is that Sunday's win will likely be more of a wild footnote than the springboard to the type of success that is expected of a coach in her eighth year.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I don't believe in accidents. That's not me telling you that it's officially going to be Yurcich, but I am telling you I don't believe in accidents.
(Sell) Never say never, but I would have to think there's a good chance that someone with connections to the new offensive coordinator will arrive as the wide receivers coach. Given the struggles at that position this year, bringing in someone that can turn that group around is paramount to the success of the 2020 Longhorns and I just can't imagine that someone with no real coaching experience will get the job.
(Sell) There are a number of personnel questions that need answers before I can take those types of leaps.
(Sell) Before Beaty could join the Texas staff, he's going to need a clean bill from the NCAA in its current investigation of the KU football program. It's unlikely that the NCAA's investigation is completed on a timeframe that would allow Herman to include him on this year's staff. Maybe 2021?
(Sell) You're basically asking me if I think he's going to finish his career as the third-best running back in school history (over Ced Benson, Jamaal Charles, D'Onta Foreman, etc ...) and I'm not ready to go that far.
(Sell) It's really, really, really hard to keep two quarterbacks from the same recruiting class on the roster for four seasons.
(Sell) No, he didn't regress from 2018 to 2019. I just don't think he made the type of advancement that many, including myself, thought he'd make. If you're asking if he regressed DURING the season, yeah, I'd have to say he did based on the fact that he had as many poor statistical games down the stretch as he had very good ones.
(Buy) Herman will be hunting for at least one.
(Buy) If both stay healthy, absolutely.
(Sell) I just don't believe this. Texas spends as much as anyone salries and sup
(Sell) I don't mean for this to sound snarky at all, but Shaka is a damn good coach, even if he hasn't been a damn good coach at Texas thus far. He's in the top 1% of all people in his profession, has been to the Final Four, has coached US national teams and is well-respected in his profession. I'd simply say a person can still fail at something and still be damn good at what they do. What I wouldn't stand in the way of is someone saying he's not great.
p.s. - I never chastised anyone for giving up on Shaka. I've been quite vocal about him being a failure at Texas in his tenure, especially after the disaster from two seasons ago.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... I tried to watch a little college football bowl action this weekend, but I just couldn't force myself to stick with any of the games, but I did stumble upon this...
p.s. SMU lost by 24.
... Man, how good is North Shore? They sent five-star running back Zach Evans home on the eve of a state championship game and still beat a Ja'Quinden Jackson-less Duncanville by two touchdowns on Saturday.
... I cannot believe that Austin Westlake won its first title since 1996 on Saturday. Off the top of my head, I would have assumed that wasn't true, but there were a lot of bridesmaid seasons since the last one. Congrats to all the Chaps out there.
... Aledo is quite an incredible story as a football program. NINE STATE TITLES!!!!
... With the season on the line on the most important play of the season, the Cowboys left its No.1 receiver on the sideline and threw a low percentage pass to its No.2 receiver. That's as Jason Garrett as it gets. Now go away from my football team!
... Julio Jones became the fastest to 12,000 career receiving yards on Sunday, doing it in his 125th career game, which is 17 games faster than Jerry Rice (previous record-holder). Wow.
... Speaking of bad ass NFL receiver record-breaking, shout out to Michael Thomas for breaking Marvin Harrison's 17-year-old record for receptions in a single-season with one game to play. Run it up, Michael.
... Pour one out for @Alex Dunlap's fantasy football team, who ran into a Kamara/Barkley monster in our fantasy league title game.
... I'm starting to believe in the Mavericks after they punked my Sixers on Friday night. Damnit, that was hard-core.
... Kevin Love already received his Christmas present early this year.
... Ladies and gentlemen, your world champions.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Texas Football Players of the Decade ...
This was not nearly as much fun putting together as I thought it might be.
Read it and weep.
1. P Michael Dickson
2. DT Malcom Brown
3. DB Kenny Vaccaro
4. RB D’Onta Foreman
5. LB Jordan Hicks
6. WR Devin Duvernay
7. QB Sam Ehlinger
8. OT Connor Williams
9. DE Alex Okafor
10. DE Sam Acho
No.10 - And finally...[
Somehow I made it to Sunday without a single Star Wars spoiler entering my realm. I'm off to the see the movie right now. May the force be with me.
Well Ketch you do have a heart after all and even if no one tells you we appreciate you appreciating us as well. Even if it wasn’t a thank you for my Christmas Wish too you and your family lol. Ketch you’re a stand up guy.
Forgive me for leading off this week with something other than offensive coordinator discussion, but I wanted to pass along a message heading into the holidays and I didn't want to bury it at the bottom of the column.
From the bottom of my heart, I just wanted two say two things ...
1. Thank you.
2. I love you guys.
I know that we'll sometimes strongly bicker about a myriad of different topics, but I hope you know that there's a special place in my heart and all of Orangebloods for the loyalty and faith so many of you have put in us for such a long time.
Here's to a Merry Christmas and a New Year that is 10 times better.
No. 2 - Intel on your next OC?
In case you weren't paying attention on Sunday morning, E.F. Hutton Richardson provided a pretty big hint about the direction of Tom Herman's offensive coordinator search.
Given that Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has emerged as the leading candidate for the position, I thought it would be a good idea to clear up a few details about his career in Stillwater as an assistant under Mike Gundy, which is why I spoke with several Oklahoma State insiders/sources on Sunday.
Here's what they told me.
1. Yurcich absolutely called plays on game-days with Oklahoma State. According to those with whom I've spoken, it seems like Gundy carried a ton of influence during the week in meeting rooms and with regards to game-plans, but Yurcich called the shots on the day of games.
2. In the minds of those I spoke with, they felt like Oklahoma State's offense during Yurcich's tenure was mostly a Gundy offense and that proof of that existed with the 2019 Cowboys offense. Other than the adjustments made to fit the strengths of Spencer Sanders, OSU insiders claim the 2019 offense was a continuation of the offense in previous seasons.
3. Per my sources, Gundy called plays in the Alamo Bowl following Dana Holgorsen's departure at the end of the 2010 season and struggled with that assignment. Yet, for the better part of the next two seasons, Gundy remained the play-caller. That control remained for a lot of Yurcich's first season in Stillwater in 2013. Part of the issue is that Gundy transitioned away from Holgorsen's offense and it took some time for the comfort level to exist upon those changes.
4. There's a general feeling in Stillwater that we still haven't completely seen what the Yurcich offense looks like because of the control Gundy has on that side of the ball, even if he had been calling almost all of the plays. I was told the same feeling exists about new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson's offense. Oklahoma State plays Gundy-ball and because of the problems created with Holgorsen's departure nearly a decade ago, we'll probably always see Oklahoma State play Gundy-ball.
5. The overall opinion of Yurcich is very positive from conversations with my sources. "I think Yurcich is a really smart OC. Think he was in fact over his head a bit the first year, but was fine after. Constrained by a micro managing HC," one source said.
6. The end of his tenure at Oklahoma State arrived with both sides ready to move on. There's a feeling behind the scenes that Yurcich and Gundy didn't see eye to eye on the direction of the offense. "It was time to do something different on both ends, I think," another source said.
7. In terms of being a recruiter, Yurcich wasn't really viewed as a plus-recruiter during his time in Stillwater.
No. 3 - Five players that should be the most-excited about the hire of Chris Ash ...
1. DE Marquez Bimage - The hire of Ash and the turn to a four-man front should give the former Brenham star a new lease on his football life. He flashed a little of his upside in the season-finale when he was turned loose as a pass rusher outside of the tackle's outside shoulder. Don't be shocked if he has a senior season explosion.
2. DT Moro Ojomo - Mostly reduced to back-up nose-tackle action behind Keondre Coburn, Ojomo will finally be in the defensive scheme in which he was born to play.
3. LB Joseph Ossai - Finally, he's going to be turned loose to attack. Like Sergio Kindle before him, don't ask a thoroughbred to run backwards, let him run forward.
4. DB Caden Sterns - This kid is too good to have been stuck in neutral for much of the last 1 1/2 seasons. I expect the hire of Ash be just what Sterns need to take the next step.
5. DB BJ Foster - See Sterns. He needs someone to help him take the next step as a player, the step that was never taken this season.
No. 4 - A Blast From The Past ...
Once upon a time not too long ago, I was pretty over the moon on San Antonio Brennan pass-rusher Derick Roberson, who signed with the Longhorns back in 2014.
Incredibly athletic, with a great first step and a frame with plenty of room to fill out, I had Roberson ranked as high as No. 2 on my Lone Star Recruiting Top 100 list before eventually placing him at No. 9 on the list.
His career at Texas never really got off the ground because of concussion issues stemming from an off-season car accident, which is why he eventually landed at Sam Houston State. After a 15-sack senior season with the Bearkats, Roberson went undrafted and signed with Tennessee as a free agent.
After spending most of the season on the practice squad, Roberson was named to the 53-man roster on November 26. In his second career game on Sunday, Roberson sacked future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees twice.
Boy, could the Longhorns have used him for much of the last half-decade.
No. 5 - Problem in Providence ...
In the grand scheme of things, I don't know that Saturday's loss will make much of a difference when this season is over for the men's basketball team.
Don't get me wrong, it was a horrific loss. I just don't think it will define this season like so many of the looming conference games might in the coming months.
More than anything, the 70-48 loss was a reminder for Texas fans that have been slow to come around to this team's 9-1 start as to why they've been slow to come around to this team.
You can change the assistants and you can change the players, but at this point you cannot change the fact that Shaka Smart hasn't earned an ounce of benefit of the doubt and Saturday was a perfect example of that.
With conference play starting soon, it's the cloud that follows the program to a degree. When on earth can Texas fans watch the basketball team without feeling like a trapdoor of doom will open up underneath them at a moment when they have started to believe?
I'm rooting for Shaka to get this thing going in the direction he was hired to take it, but I can't say that I believe.
I can't remember the last time I did.
No. 6 - Karen Aston's Finest Hour
Speaking of basketball programs that I don't understand, the unranked Texas Longhorns knocked off undefeated No. 1 Stanford on Sunday afternoon.
Seriously, I was literally about to type that Texas has two basketball programs that kind of mirror each other in the sense that I can't remember the last time I believed in either program and then they knock off the Cardinal.
I don't know that I believe in Aston any more after the win than I did before it, but the hope has to be that this season reached a new launching point after a 6-4 start, which included three losses by a combined 45 points to unranked teams coming into the game.
After watching this team play a few times this season, I'm just not sure what to think about the ceiling of this group.
Can Aston turn this thing around?
Here's hoping she pulls it off, but my sense is that Sunday's win will likely be more of a wild footnote than the springboard to the type of success that is expected of a coach in her eighth year.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I don't believe in accidents. That's not me telling you that it's officially going to be Yurcich, but I am telling you I don't believe in accidents.
(Sell) Never say never, but I would have to think there's a good chance that someone with connections to the new offensive coordinator will arrive as the wide receivers coach. Given the struggles at that position this year, bringing in someone that can turn that group around is paramount to the success of the 2020 Longhorns and I just can't imagine that someone with no real coaching experience will get the job.
(Sell) There are a number of personnel questions that need answers before I can take those types of leaps.
(Sell) Before Beaty could join the Texas staff, he's going to need a clean bill from the NCAA in its current investigation of the KU football program. It's unlikely that the NCAA's investigation is completed on a timeframe that would allow Herman to include him on this year's staff. Maybe 2021?
(Sell) You're basically asking me if I think he's going to finish his career as the third-best running back in school history (over Ced Benson, Jamaal Charles, D'Onta Foreman, etc ...) and I'm not ready to go that far.
(Sell) It's really, really, really hard to keep two quarterbacks from the same recruiting class on the roster for four seasons.
(Sell) No, he didn't regress from 2018 to 2019. I just don't think he made the type of advancement that many, including myself, thought he'd make. If you're asking if he regressed DURING the season, yeah, I'd have to say he did based on the fact that he had as many poor statistical games down the stretch as he had very good ones.
(Buy) Herman will be hunting for at least one.
(Buy) If both stay healthy, absolutely.
(Sell) I just don't believe this. Texas spends as much as anyone salries and sup
(Sell) I don't mean for this to sound snarky at all, but Shaka is a damn good coach, even if he hasn't been a damn good coach at Texas thus far. He's in the top 1% of all people in his profession, has been to the Final Four, has coached US national teams and is well-respected in his profession. I'd simply say a person can still fail at something and still be damn good at what they do. What I wouldn't stand in the way of is someone saying he's not great.
p.s. - I never chastised anyone for giving up on Shaka. I've been quite vocal about him being a failure at Texas in his tenure, especially after the disaster from two seasons ago.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... I tried to watch a little college football bowl action this weekend, but I just couldn't force myself to stick with any of the games, but I did stumble upon this...
p.s. SMU lost by 24.
... Man, how good is North Shore? They sent five-star running back Zach Evans home on the eve of a state championship game and still beat a Ja'Quinden Jackson-less Duncanville by two touchdowns on Saturday.
... I cannot believe that Austin Westlake won its first title since 1996 on Saturday. Off the top of my head, I would have assumed that wasn't true, but there were a lot of bridesmaid seasons since the last one. Congrats to all the Chaps out there.
... Aledo is quite an incredible story as a football program. NINE STATE TITLES!!!!
... With the season on the line on the most important play of the season, the Cowboys left its No.1 receiver on the sideline and threw a low percentage pass to its No.2 receiver. That's as Jason Garrett as it gets. Now go away from my football team!
... Julio Jones became the fastest to 12,000 career receiving yards on Sunday, doing it in his 125th career game, which is 17 games faster than Jerry Rice (previous record-holder). Wow.
... Speaking of bad ass NFL receiver record-breaking, shout out to Michael Thomas for breaking Marvin Harrison's 17-year-old record for receptions in a single-season with one game to play. Run it up, Michael.
... Pour one out for @Alex Dunlap's fantasy football team, who ran into a Kamara/Barkley monster in our fantasy league title game.
... I'm starting to believe in the Mavericks after they punked my Sixers on Friday night. Damnit, that was hard-core.
... Kevin Love already received his Christmas present early this year.
... Ladies and gentlemen, your world champions.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Texas Football Players of the Decade ...
This was not nearly as much fun putting together as I thought it might be.
Read it and weep.
1. P Michael Dickson
2. DT Malcom Brown
3. DB Kenny Vaccaro
4. RB D’Onta Foreman
5. LB Jordan Hicks
6. WR Devin Duvernay
7. QB Sam Ehlinger
8. OT Connor Williams
9. DE Alex Okafor
10. DE Sam Acho
No.10 - And finally...[
Somehow I made it to Sunday without a single Star Wars spoiler entering my realm. I'm off to the see the movie right now. May the force be with me.
People think Herman is going to make Yurcich call plays that resemble this years offense because they believe Herman is the most arrogant guy on the planet and is a nazi boss.
When in reality he’s like a lot of coaches who will welcome a new playcaller, and embrace a fresh set of ideas that have proven to be successful while maintaining a few non-negotiables for his team. Herman is always going to want to be physical in the run game, utilize the qbs mobility and play complimentary football. As long as Herman and the new Oc can agree to those and work together , there’s a chance this works out. Also a chance it doesn’t. But in reality is as close as a sure thing you’re going to find.
Ash is a stand up double as dc
Yurcich would be a homerun.
Also Herman still has to build out the rest of the staff so potential for our coaching staff to be massively upgraded all around. Or just slightly . Time will tell but I’m excited as hell. Also, there are no more silver bullets for Tom. If things don’t workout over the next couple of years he will be gone. No more upgrades available. This is a good thing.
@Ketchum .... Merry Christmas to you and yours, first off.... and now I must admit that I never liked the Shaka Smart hire and @DustinMcComas and I had a discussion on Twitter about it. He was a one trick pony and has faltered ever since he got here. It’s time for the admin and CDC to cut the ties that bind, shake hands as friends, and start putting together a basketball program worthy of the University of Texas. To be the state flagship school with the resources we have and building new world class facilities.... damn, we need to just go hire a Coach that can deliver with the talent at hand and keep the recruitment going. It is embarrassing for this school to have coaches in football, baseball, and basketball that have the salaries they have and do not produce. CDC should tell all three that no more contract extensions, and no more raises, until the payoff on the field equals what has already been paid out. I am getting to think that coaching is just a higher art form of stealing from colleges. Rant over and Merry Christmas.
You didn't read my post if you think my reservations lie with Yurich.
Not really concerned with what guys like Scip and Nahlin say, they took too long to be out on Charlie.
Well like I said you just seem out on Herman and determined not to like anyone that would get hired as think it doesn’t really matter.
people are likely excited over a big hire if it goes down. You had some posters here and mods on other sites who even wanted him over Graham Harrell
WTF? Did you not read the article?
We just read he was heavily influenced by Gundy, and he doesn't call plays currently at tOSU.
But you're assuming Herman will just relinquish control after seeing what transpired this season with him being completely unable to change really simple things because it goes against his ideologies.
This is the same dude who inexplicably ran the ball at the end of the Iowa State game, so it's not really at all about him being some nazi boss.
Like usual probably somewhere in the middle.
I’m hoping Herman finally learned his defensive staff was out classed by the better offenses in this league and learned his offensive staff was out classed by the better defenses in the league. Not a way to win the conference.
Herman wasn’t happy with his team this year and he’s making some steps to fix .
I hope it works. But there’s a chance it won’t and the buck will stop with Tom and we will find another schmuck to be our coach. People are capable of learning from failure and I’m hoping Herman is one is them.
You always harp on this “4 or 5 year rebuild”. How do you account for programs like Baylor and Minnesota who have nowhere near the recruits Texas does or even a school like Okie State that’s regularly ranked in the 30s-50s recruiting wise and is a much better program?
That's cool, and for the record, I wasn't being a smartass.
I'm just meh, and not saying it will be great or it will be a disaster.
Great read Ketch.
Forgive me for leading off this week with something other than offensive coordinator discussion, but I wanted to pass along a message heading into the holidays and I didn't want to bury it at the bottom of the column.
From the bottom of my heart, I just wanted two say two things ...
1. Thank you.
2. I love you guys.
I know that we'll sometimes strongly bicker about a myriad of different topics, but I hope you know that there's a special place in my heart and all of Orangebloods for the loyalty and faith so many of you have put in us for such a long time.
Here's to a Merry Christmas and a New Year that is 10 times better.
No. 2 - Intel on your next OC?
In case you weren't paying attention on Sunday morning, E.F. Hutton Richardson provided a pretty big hint about the direction of Tom Herman's offensive coordinator search.
Given that Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has emerged as the leading candidate for the position, I thought it would be a good idea to clear up a few details about his career in Stillwater as an assistant under Mike Gundy, which is why I spoke with several Oklahoma State insiders/sources on Sunday.
Here's what they told me.
1. Yurcich absolutely called plays on game-days with Oklahoma State. According to those with whom I've spoken, it seems like Gundy carried a ton of influence during the week in meeting rooms and with regards to game-plans, but Yurcich called the shots on the day of games.
2. In the minds of those I spoke with, they felt like Oklahoma State's offense during Yurcich's tenure was mostly a Gundy offense and that proof of that existed with the 2019 Cowboys offense. Other than the adjustments made to fit the strengths of Spencer Sanders, OSU insiders claim the 2019 offense was a continuation of the offense in previous seasons.
3. Per my sources, Gundy called plays in the Alamo Bowl following Dana Holgorsen's departure at the end of the 2010 season and struggled with that assignment. Yet, for the better part of the next two seasons, Gundy remained the play-caller. That control remained for a lot of Yurcich's first season in Stillwater in 2013. Part of the issue is that Gundy transitioned away from Holgorsen's offense and it took some time for the comfort level to exist upon those changes.
4. There's a general feeling in Stillwater that we still haven't completely seen what the Yurcich offense looks like because of the control Gundy has on that side of the ball, even if he had been calling almost all of the plays. I was told the same feeling exists about new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson's offense. Oklahoma State plays Gundy-ball and because of the problems created with Holgorsen's departure nearly a decade ago, we'll probably always see Oklahoma State play Gundy-ball.
5. The overall opinion of Yurcich is very positive from conversations with my sources. "I think Yurcich is a really smart OC. Think he was in fact over his head a bit the first year, but was fine after. Constrained by a micro managing HC," one source said.
6. The end of his tenure at Oklahoma State arrived with both sides ready to move on. There's a feeling behind the scenes that Yurcich and Gundy didn't see eye to eye on the direction of the offense. "It was time to do something different on both ends, I think," another source said.
7. In terms of being a recruiter, Yurcich wasn't really viewed as a plus-recruiter during his time in Stillwater.
No. 3 - Five players that should be the most-excited about the hire of Chris Ash ...
1. DE Marquez Bimage - The hire of Ash and the turn to a four-man front should give the former Brenham star a new lease on his football life. He flashed a little of his upside in the season-finale when he was turned loose as a pass rusher outside of the tackle's outside shoulder. Don't be shocked if he has a senior season explosion.
2. DT Moro Ojomo - Mostly reduced to back-up nose-tackle action behind Keondre Coburn, Ojomo will finally be in the defensive scheme in which he was born to play.
3. LB Joseph Ossai - Finally, he's going to be turned loose to attack. Like Sergio Kindle before him, don't ask a thoroughbred to run backwards, let him run forward.
4. DB Caden Sterns - This kid is too good to have been stuck in neutral for much of the last 1 1/2 seasons. I expect the hire of Ash be just what Sterns need to take the next step.
5. DB BJ Foster - See Sterns. He needs someone to help him take the next step as a player, the step that was never taken this season.
No. 4 - A Blast From The Past ...
Once upon a time not too long ago, I was pretty over the moon on San Antonio Brennan pass-rusher Derick Roberson, who signed with the Longhorns back in 2014.
Incredibly athletic, with a great first step and a frame with plenty of room to fill out, I had Roberson ranked as high as No. 2 on my Lone Star Recruiting Top 100 list before eventually placing him at No. 9 on the list.
His career at Texas never really got off the ground because of concussion issues stemming from an off-season car accident, which is why he eventually landed at Sam Houston State. After a 15-sack senior season with the Bearkats, Roberson went undrafted and signed with Tennessee as a free agent.
After spending most of the season on the practice squad, Roberson was named to the 53-man roster on November 26. In his second career game on Sunday, Roberson sacked future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees twice.
Boy, could the Longhorns have used him for much of the last half-decade.
No. 5 - Problem in Providence ...
In the grand scheme of things, I don't know that Saturday's loss will make much of a difference when this season is over for the men's basketball team.
Don't get me wrong, it was a horrific loss. I just don't think it will define this season like so many of the looming conference games might in the coming months.
More than anything, the 70-48 loss was a reminder for Texas fans that have been slow to come around to this team's 9-1 start as to why they've been slow to come around to this team.
You can change the assistants and you can change the players, but at this point you cannot change the fact that Shaka Smart hasn't earned an ounce of benefit of the doubt and Saturday was a perfect example of that.
With conference play starting soon, it's the cloud that follows the program to a degree. When on earth can Texas fans watch the basketball team without feeling like a trapdoor of doom will open up underneath them at a moment when they have started to believe?
I'm rooting for Shaka to get this thing going in the direction he was hired to take it, but I can't say that I believe.
I can't remember the last time I did.
No. 6 - Karen Aston's Finest Hour
Speaking of basketball programs that I don't understand, the unranked Texas Longhorns knocked off undefeated No. 1 Stanford on Sunday afternoon.
Seriously, I was literally about to type that Texas has two basketball programs that kind of mirror each other in the sense that I can't remember the last time I believed in either program and then they knock off the Cardinal.
I don't know that I believe in Aston any more after the win than I did before it, but the hope has to be that this season reached a new launching point after a 6-4 start, which included three losses by a combined 45 points to unranked teams coming into the game.
After watching this team play a few times this season, I'm just not sure what to think about the ceiling of this group.
Can Aston turn this thing around?
Here's hoping she pulls it off, but my sense is that Sunday's win will likely be more of a wild footnote than the springboard to the type of success that is expected of a coach in her eighth year.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I don't believe in accidents. That's not me telling you that it's officially going to be Yurcich, but I am telling you I don't believe in accidents.
(Sell) Never say never, but I would have to think there's a good chance that someone with connections to the new offensive coordinator will arrive as the wide receivers coach. Given the struggles at that position this year, bringing in someone that can turn that group around is paramount to the success of the 2020 Longhorns and I just can't imagine that someone with no real coaching experience will get the job.
(Sell) There are a number of personnel questions that need answers before I can take those types of leaps.
(Sell) Before Beaty could join the Texas staff, he's going to need a clean bill from the NCAA in its current investigation of the KU football program. It's unlikely that the NCAA's investigation is completed on a timeframe that would allow Herman to include him on this year's staff. Maybe 2021?
(Sell) You're basically asking me if I think he's going to finish his career as the third-best running back in school history (over Ced Benson, Jamaal Charles, D'Onta Foreman, etc ...) and I'm not ready to go that far.
(Sell) It's really, really, really hard to keep two quarterbacks from the same recruiting class on the roster for four seasons.
(Sell) No, he didn't regress from 2018 to 2019. I just don't think he made the type of advancement that many, including myself, thought he'd make. If you're asking if he regressed DURING the season, yeah, I'd have to say he did based on the fact that he had as many poor statistical games down the stretch as he had very good ones.
(Buy) Herman will be hunting for at least one.
(Buy) If both stay healthy, absolutely.
(Sell) I just don't believe this. Texas spends as much as anyone salries and sup
(Sell) I don't mean for this to sound snarky at all, but Shaka is a damn good coach, even if he hasn't been a damn good coach at Texas thus far. He's in the top 1% of all people in his profession, has been to the Final Four, has coached US national teams and is well-respected in his profession. I'd simply say a person can still fail at something and still be damn good at what they do. What I wouldn't stand in the way of is someone saying he's not great.
p.s. - I never chastised anyone for giving up on Shaka. I've been quite vocal about him being a failure at Texas in his tenure, especially after the disaster from two seasons ago.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... I tried to watch a little college football bowl action this weekend, but I just couldn't force myself to stick with any of the games, but I did stumble upon this...
p.s. SMU lost by 24.
... Man, how good is North Shore? They sent five-star running back Zach Evans home on the eve of a state championship game and still beat a Ja'Quinden Jackson-less Duncanville by two touchdowns on Saturday.
... I cannot believe that Austin Westlake won its first title since 1996 on Saturday. Off the top of my head, I would have assumed that wasn't true, but there were a lot of bridesmaid seasons since the last one. Congrats to all the Chaps out there.
... Aledo is quite an incredible story as a football program. NINE STATE TITLES!!!!
... With the season on the line on the most important play of the season, the Cowboys left its No.1 receiver on the sideline and threw a low percentage pass to its No.2 receiver. That's as Jason Garrett as it gets. Now go away from my football team!
... Julio Jones became the fastest to 12,000 career receiving yards on Sunday, doing it in his 125th career game, which is 17 games faster than Jerry Rice (previous record-holder). Wow.
... Speaking of bad ass NFL receiver record-breaking, shout out to Michael Thomas for breaking Marvin Harrison's 17-year-old record for receptions in a single-season with one game to play. Run it up, Michael.
... Pour one out for @Alex Dunlap's fantasy football team, who ran into a Kamara/Barkley monster in our fantasy league title game.
... I'm starting to believe in the Mavericks after they punked my Sixers on Friday night. Damnit, that was hard-core.
... Kevin Love already received his Christmas present early this year.
... Ladies and gentlemen, your world champions.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Texas Football Players of the Decade ...
This was not nearly as much fun putting together as I thought it might be.
Read it and weep.
1. P Michael Dickson
2. DT Malcom Brown
3. DB Kenny Vaccaro
4. RB D’Onta Foreman
5. LB Jordan Hicks
6. WR Devin Duvernay
7. QB Sam Ehlinger
8. OT Connor Williams
9. DE Alex Okafor
10. DE Sam Acho
No.10 - And finally...[
Somehow I made it to Sunday without a single Star Wars spoiler entering my realm. I'm off to the see the movie right now. May the force be with me.
Happy Holidays to you too. Hope we can all meet up next year, glasses, raised, toasting a new regime.
Ketch acting like his “damn good” Coach spiel never happened.... oh how wrong you were.
Forgive me for leading off this week with something other than offensive coordinator discussion, but I wanted to pass along a message heading into the holidays and I didn't want to bury it at the bottom of the column.
From the bottom of my heart, I just wanted two say two things ...
1. Thank you.
2. I love you guys.
I know that we'll sometimes strongly bicker about a myriad of different topics, but I hope you know that there's a special place in my heart and all of Orangebloods for the loyalty and faith so many of you have put in us for such a long time.
Here's to a Merry Christmas and a New Year that is 10 times better.
No. 2 - Intel on your next OC?
In case you weren't paying attention on Sunday morning, E.F. Hutton Richardson provided a pretty big hint about the direction of Tom Herman's offensive coordinator search.
Given that Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has emerged as the leading candidate for the position, I thought it would be a good idea to clear up a few details about his career in Stillwater as an assistant under Mike Gundy, which is why I spoke with several Oklahoma State insiders/sources on Sunday.
Here's what they told me.
1. Yurcich absolutely called plays on game-days with Oklahoma State. According to those with whom I've spoken, it seems like Gundy carried a ton of influence during the week in meeting rooms and with regards to game-plans, but Yurcich called the shots on the day of games.
2. In the minds of those I spoke with, they felt like Oklahoma State's offense during Yurcich's tenure was mostly a Gundy offense and that proof of that existed with the 2019 Cowboys offense. Other than the adjustments made to fit the strengths of Spencer Sanders, OSU insiders claim the 2019 offense was a continuation of the offense in previous seasons.
3. Per my sources, Gundy called plays in the Alamo Bowl following Dana Holgorsen's departure at the end of the 2010 season and struggled with that assignment. Yet, for the better part of the next two seasons, Gundy remained the play-caller. That control remained for a lot of Yurcich's first season in Stillwater in 2013. Part of the issue is that Gundy transitioned away from Holgorsen's offense and it took some time for the comfort level to exist upon those changes.
4. There's a general feeling in Stillwater that we still haven't completely seen what the Yurcich offense looks like because of the control Gundy has on that side of the ball, even if he had been calling almost all of the plays. I was told the same feeling exists about new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson's offense. Oklahoma State plays Gundy-ball and because of the problems created with Holgorsen's departure nearly a decade ago, we'll probably always see Oklahoma State play Gundy-ball.
5. The overall opinion of Yurcich is very positive from conversations with my sources. "I think Yurcich is a really smart OC. Think he was in fact over his head a bit the first year, but was fine after. Constrained by a micro managing HC," one source said.
6. The end of his tenure at Oklahoma State arrived with both sides ready to move on. There's a feeling behind the scenes that Yurcich and Gundy didn't see eye to eye on the direction of the offense. "It was time to do something different on both ends, I think," another source said.
7. In terms of being a recruiter, Yurcich wasn't really viewed as a plus-recruiter during his time in Stillwater.
No. 3 - Five players that should be the most-excited about the hire of Chris Ash ...
1. DE Marquez Bimage - The hire of Ash and the turn to a four-man front should give the former Brenham star a new lease on his football life. He flashed a little of his upside in the season-finale when he was turned loose as a pass rusher outside of the tackle's outside shoulder. Don't be shocked if he has a senior season explosion.
2. DT Moro Ojomo - Mostly reduced to back-up nose-tackle action behind Keondre Coburn, Ojomo will finally be in the defensive scheme in which he was born to play.
3. LB Joseph Ossai - Finally, he's going to be turned loose to attack. Like Sergio Kindle before him, don't ask a thoroughbred to run backwards, let him run forward.
4. DB Caden Sterns - This kid is too good to have been stuck in neutral for much of the last 1 1/2 seasons. I expect the hire of Ash be just what Sterns need to take the next step.
5. DB BJ Foster - See Sterns. He needs someone to help him take the next step as a player, the step that was never taken this season.
No. 4 - A Blast From The Past ...
Once upon a time not too long ago, I was pretty over the moon on San Antonio Brennan pass-rusher Derick Roberson, who signed with the Longhorns back in 2014.
Incredibly athletic, with a great first step and a frame with plenty of room to fill out, I had Roberson ranked as high as No. 2 on my Lone Star Recruiting Top 100 list before eventually placing him at No. 9 on the list.
His career at Texas never really got off the ground because of concussion issues stemming from an off-season car accident, which is why he eventually landed at Sam Houston State. After a 15-sack senior season with the Bearkats, Roberson went undrafted and signed with Tennessee as a free agent.
After spending most of the season on the practice squad, Roberson was named to the 53-man roster on November 26. In his second career game on Sunday, Roberson sacked future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees twice.
Boy, could the Longhorns have used him for much of the last half-decade.
No. 5 - Problem in Providence ...
In the grand scheme of things, I don't know that Saturday's loss will make much of a difference when this season is over for the men's basketball team.
Don't get me wrong, it was a horrific loss. I just don't think it will define this season like so many of the looming conference games might in the coming months.
More than anything, the 70-48 loss was a reminder for Texas fans that have been slow to come around to this team's 9-1 start as to why they've been slow to come around to this team.
You can change the assistants and you can change the players, but at this point you cannot change the fact that Shaka Smart hasn't earned an ounce of benefit of the doubt and Saturday was a perfect example of that.
With conference play starting soon, it's the cloud that follows the program to a degree. When on earth can Texas fans watch the basketball team without feeling like a trapdoor of doom will open up underneath them at a moment when they have started to believe?
I'm rooting for Shaka to get this thing going in the direction he was hired to take it, but I can't say that I believe.
I can't remember the last time I did.
No. 6 - Karen Aston's Finest Hour
Speaking of basketball programs that I don't understand, the unranked Texas Longhorns knocked off undefeated No. 1 Stanford on Sunday afternoon.
Seriously, I was literally about to type that Texas has two basketball programs that kind of mirror each other in the sense that I can't remember the last time I believed in either program and then they knock off the Cardinal.
I don't know that I believe in Aston any more after the win than I did before it, but the hope has to be that this season reached a new launching point after a 6-4 start, which included three losses by a combined 45 points to unranked teams coming into the game.
After watching this team play a few times this season, I'm just not sure what to think about the ceiling of this group.
Can Aston turn this thing around?
Here's hoping she pulls it off, but my sense is that Sunday's win will likely be more of a wild footnote than the springboard to the type of success that is expected of a coach in her eighth year.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I don't believe in accidents. That's not me telling you that it's officially going to be Yurcich, but I am telling you I don't believe in accidents.
(Sell) Never say never, but I would have to think there's a good chance that someone with connections to the new offensive coordinator will arrive as the wide receivers coach. Given the struggles at that position this year, bringing in someone that can turn that group around is paramount to the success of the 2020 Longhorns and I just can't imagine that someone with no real coaching experience will get the job.
(Sell) There are a number of personnel questions that need answers before I can take those types of leaps.
(Sell) Before Beaty could join the Texas staff, he's going to need a clean bill from the NCAA in its current investigation of the KU football program. It's unlikely that the NCAA's investigation is completed on a timeframe that would allow Herman to include him on this year's staff. Maybe 2021?
(Sell) You're basically asking me if I think he's going to finish his career as the third-best running back in school history (over Ced Benson, Jamaal Charles, D'Onta Foreman, etc ...) and I'm not ready to go that far.
(Sell) It's really, really, really hard to keep two quarterbacks from the same recruiting class on the roster for four seasons.
(Sell) No, he didn't regress from 2018 to 2019. I just don't think he made the type of advancement that many, including myself, thought he'd make. If you're asking if he regressed DURING the season, yeah, I'd have to say he did based on the fact that he had as many poor statistical games down the stretch as he had very good ones.
(Buy) Herman will be hunting for at least one.
(Buy) If both stay healthy, absolutely.
(Sell) I just don't believe this. Texas spends as much as anyone salries and sup
(Sell) I don't mean for this to sound snarky at all, but Shaka is a damn good coach, even if he hasn't been a damn good coach at Texas thus far. He's in the top 1% of all people in his profession, has been to the Final Four, has coached US national teams and is well-respected in his profession. I'd simply say a person can still fail at something and still be damn good at what they do. What I wouldn't stand in the way of is someone saying he's not great.
p.s. - I never chastised anyone for giving up on Shaka. I've been quite vocal about him being a failure at Texas in his tenure, especially after the disaster from two seasons ago.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... I tried to watch a little college football bowl action this weekend, but I just couldn't force myself to stick with any of the games, but I did stumble upon this...
p.s. SMU lost by 24.
... Man, how good is North Shore? They sent five-star running back Zach Evans home on the eve of a state championship game and still beat a Ja'Quinden Jackson-less Duncanville by two touchdowns on Saturday.
... I cannot believe that Austin Westlake won its first title since 1996 on Saturday. Off the top of my head, I would have assumed that wasn't true, but there were a lot of bridesmaid seasons since the last one. Congrats to all the Chaps out there.
... Aledo is quite an incredible story as a football program. NINE STATE TITLES!!!!
... With the season on the line on the most important play of the season, the Cowboys left its No.1 receiver on the sideline and threw a low percentage pass to its No.2 receiver. That's as Jason Garrett as it gets. Now go away from my football team!
... Julio Jones became the fastest to 12,000 career receiving yards on Sunday, doing it in his 125th career game, which is 17 games faster than Jerry Rice (previous record-holder). Wow.
... Speaking of bad ass NFL receiver record-breaking, shout out to Michael Thomas for breaking Marvin Harrison's 17-year-old record for receptions in a single-season with one game to play. Run it up, Michael.
... Pour one out for @Alex Dunlap's fantasy football team, who ran into a Kamara/Barkley monster in our fantasy league title game.
... I'm starting to believe in the Mavericks after they punked my Sixers on Friday night. Damnit, that was hard-core.
... Kevin Love already received his Christmas present early this year.
... Ladies and gentlemen, your world champions.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Texas Football Players of the Decade ...
This was not nearly as much fun putting together as I thought it might be.
Read it and weep.
1. P Michael Dickson
2. DT Malcom Brown
3. DB Kenny Vaccaro
4. RB D’Onta Foreman
5. LB Jordan Hicks
6. WR Devin Duvernay
7. QB Sam Ehlinger
8. OT Connor Williams
9. DE Alex Okafor
10. DE Sam Acho
No.10 - And finally...[
Somehow I made it to Sunday without a single Star Wars spoiler entering my realm. I'm off to the see the movie right now. May the force be with me.
No Quandre Diggs in the top 10?
I know you’re weren’t behind a smartass brotha.
And I get where you’re coming from. This could still flop. Herman can still mess this up. And honestly, anyone other than a Harrel or Yurcich hire would have been a huge “meh” from me too. I mean 24 hours ago I was resigned to us getting Rhett Lashlee.
Herman needs both OCs to be jackpots and the other coaches at least a 7 out of 10 imo. Going to be hard. He dug himself big hole and 2019 was probably the worst of his entire career. Hope he learns some valuable lessons
So neither Ash nor Yurcich are known for being great recruiters. Hey, as long as they’re great play-callers, I can live with that. We’ve got BC and others who can handle the recruiting end of things.
Good column, @Ketchum. Thanks.
Hook ’em.
Our player of the decade was Case McCoy because he is so symbolic. He played key rolls in several of the most important/pivotal games (think about the last minute win at Kansas and the final A&M game) and did so with a talent package that would have made it difficult to win a starting job on a decent FCS team. What does tell us about the last decade.
Karen Aston is 100x the coach Shaka Smart is.
Trade their accomplishments while at Texas, & Shaka would be lauded as a success.
Aston is tough minded & is a damn good coach. Problem is she has to go up against a legendary coach up in Waco.
Trade their accomplishments while at Texas, & Shaka would be lauded as a success.
Aston is tough minded & is a damn good coach. Problem is she has to go up against a legendary coach up in Waco.
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