You’re just going to have to trust Tom Herman.
With the news on Sunday that Rutgers offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer was set to join the Texas staff as a wide receivers coach/potential passing game coordinator, it’s clearer now than ever that Herman subscribes to the theory of surrounding himself with people he’s knows well through previous working relationships.
It’s a philosophy that Texas fans watched fail Charlie Strong when he made his transition to Louisville, so I will excuse all of you if you’re a little concerned that Herman could be walking into the same exact comfort trap.
Who you know isn’t always the better answer over who you can get and if you pay the price in learning the lesson the hard way, it can set a program backwards before it can go forwards.
Yet, if you think Tom Herman can be the kind of coach that surpasses the legacy created by a future Hall of Fame coach in Mack Brown, then you have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he’s doing.
Either he’s the right guy for the job or he’s not.
One of the reasons I’m willing to give Herman the benefit of the doubt is that I haven’t seen him making the kind of glaring initial mistakes that Strong made that seemed to scream he was in over his head. Deep down, we all should have known that Strong was the wrong choice when his idea of stepping out of his box to hire someone he didn’t really know turned into a second life-line for Bruce Chambers, a guy that probably should have been the last coach hired from Mack Brown’s final staff. That might sound harsh, but considering that it will probably be the last coaching job of Chambers’ career, I don’t think it is.
I just don’t sense that Herman has come close to making that kind of mistake.
What’s clear is that he values the connections he’s made in coaching and it seems like he’s created a bit of a “Best-of” list from his career path to Texas and it doesn’t matter if it’s Houston, Ohio State or his time at Texas State. Herman’s idea of a Dream Team of coaches is simply different than those that would simply like to stack a list of the most impressive resumes possible together.
The addition of Mehringer would seem to indicate that the splashiest hire he’ll make will come at the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coaching position and there was a little behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt from a fellow Rivals.com publisher on Sunday that Ohio State offensive coordinator Tim Beck is a name that has emerged as a real possibility for the job.
Given Beck’s Texas roots as a former high school coach in the Metroplex, his familiarity with the offense that Herman runs and his chops as a recruiter, it certainly makes a ton of sense from Herman’s perspective. Of course, one of the interesting things about the idea of Beck-to-Texas is the fact that he’s never worked with Herman.
Would Beck be a splashy enough hire to hire to quench your thirst for something shiny?
If you’re looking for a sign that Beck could be a real possibility, look for the hiring process to go into January because it’s hard to imagine that Beck would create a distraction for the Buckeyes right as the team is preparing for a playoff game. If he’s the guy or even has a chance to be the guy, Herman will probably need to make that the last chess pieces he moves.
Regardless, you’re going to have to trust Herman.
It’s his show.
Until he makes an obvious critical error that exposes a flaw in his staff building, it’s unreasonable to expect that one is looming in the background because each decision fits Herman’s list of priorities over your own.
Either he's the right guy for this job or he's not.
No. 2 – Evaluating the Evaluating ...
One of the revelations I had this week while putting together the latest release of the Lone Star Recruiting's Top 100 list was the quality skill-set that Tom Herman and his staff at Houston seemed to exhibit in piecing together a recruiting class full of smart, well-evaluated commitments.
Time and time again, I would take a look at some nobody mid-three star prospect that had committed to the Cougars, only to find that a good number of them were players that looked much closer to the kind of four-star wonderboys that the elite of the elite make a habit of targeting.
When you have to build your foundation around third-tier blue chips, being able to find the kids who can play above their offer sheets is critical and on the surface Herman and Co. were displaying the kind of chops that paralleled the single greatest strength of UT's previous coach.
It got me to wondering just how much of Herman’s only two recruiting classes at Houston had contributed to his climb to the head coaching job.
The sample size is fairly small, but the results are promising. Keep in mind that this doesn’t include any of the young players in the program that Herman and his staff developed, it’s just the players Herman and his staff have personally recruited who were able to make immediate impacts.
Class of 2015
Josh Jones (Mid-three star) - Jones flipped to Houston on NSD after committing to Oklahoma State at the beginning of his senior season. After taking a redshirt in 2015, he started every game at left tackle for the Cougars this season.
William Noble (Mid-two star) - A virtual unknown prospect who emerged as a starter at center as a true freshman, and has started 19 games in his first two seasons.
Kameron Eloph (Mid-three star) - The last prospect added to Houston’s 2015 class, Eloph emerged as a starter at left guard this season before injuries ended his season.
Class of 2016
Ed Oliver (Five stars) - It’s probably worth mentioning that Herman’s crown jewel in his two seasons of recruiting at Houston was just named a first-team all-American as a true freshman. I’m pretty sure that has never happened with a true freshman in Austin.
Braylon Jones (Mid-three star) - Herman loves to recruit Tyler John Tyler (which makes him a very smart man) and one of the guys who will be remembered for starting the Herman Pipeline is Jones, who emerged as a five-game starter this season as a true freshman.
Na’Ty Rodgers (Low four-star) - Herman dipped into the JUCO ranks at Iowa Western Community College to pluck his starting right tackle for the first seven games of this season before injuries took him out of the line-up.
D’Eriq King (High-Three star) - Started four games for the Cougars as a true freshman and pretty much did a little bit of everything, as he averaged 25.4 yards per kick return, caught 29 passes for 228 yards and had 15 carries for 74 yards. Is currently listed as the top back-up quarterback to Greg Ward going into the bowl game.
Javian Smith (Mid-two star) - Played in 10 games as a true freshman for the Cougars and projects as a future starter at cornerback, despite having offers from only the Cougars, SMU, Sam Houston State and Fresno State.
Collin Wilder (High-three star) - Played in 12 games as a special teams/safety contributor.
No. 3– Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
… I found it interesting that Tom Herman started two freshmen and two sophomores along his offensive line this season, as I don’t remember hearing a lot of excuse-making because of the youth that team had in the trenches this season. I think this speaks well of the quality of work that Derek Warehime will be able to do with the group he inherits in Austin.
… Josh Thompson, Kary Vincent and Chevin Calloway are the top three corners in the state in my LSR rankings and with the news that Calloway is going to take an official visit to Texas in January, you have to like Herman’s chances of landing at least two of the three.
… Texas offered Houston commit/Brenham linebacker Marqez Bimage on Sunday and if you’re wondering, he’s the guy off of the Houston commit list that you should probably covet the most. He’s basically the long lost brother of Breckyn Hager.
… It might not matter, but I get the sense that Walker Little would be in the bag for Texas if Tim Brewster joined Herman’s staff. Little isn’t going to Florida State, but he loves him some Coach Brew.
… I’m really looking forward to seeing Jeff McCulloch and Malik Jefferson on the field together next season at linebacker.
No. 4 – Buy or sell …
BUY or SELL: Tom Herman has UT a contender for the final 4 within three years?
(Buy) I think he’ll have the Longhorns playing for a Big 12 championship by his second season, which would likely put them in contention for the playoff.
BUY or SELL: Top 20 class in 2017 & Top 5 class in 2018?
(Buy) I think that’s completely realistic.
BUY or SELL: There will be a QB battle this offseason and Sam Ehlinger has a real shot of starting?
(Buy) With a new offensive system coming in, I think it’s game on in terms of a true quarterback battle. Both players will get a ton of reps in the spring and it’s a long time until August. Anything could happen.
BUY or SELL: Texas takes its rightful place as the best college football team in Texas by the end of next year?
(Buy) That’s not an especially high bar at the moment, is it?
BUY or SELL: Jerrod Heard takes legitimate snaps at QB in the spring?
(Buy) If I’m Herman, I think I kick the tires on Heard at quarterback, just to see if there’s anything he can do with him than Sterlin Gilbert could not.
BUY or SELL: Walker Little commits to Texas and becomes the bell cow of the recruiting class, helping to secure at least one other 5 star in this recruiting cycle?
(Sell) I don’t see a second five-star in this class.
BUY or SELL: Big Herm is the nickname we are using from now on because Herman obviously likes it?
(Buy) Can you imagine the Photoshop possibilities?
BUY or SELL: If Texas had hired James Franklin instead of Charlie Strong, he'd still be sitting comfortably as the Longhorn Head Coach?
(Buy) He’s a better head football coach than Strong. Period.
No. 5 – Charlie Strong’s perfect job …
The Michael Scott of college football might have found his Dunder-Mifflin on Sunday with the announcement that he has signed a five-year deal to be the new head coach at South Florida.
Let us count the ways this is the job he needs.
1. It’s in South Florida, duh. He is fairly beloved there.
2. It’s the kind of low-pressure job that won’t see meltdowns when he wins seven games in a season. Instead of “only winning seven games,” it’ll be viewed as “hey, he won seven games.”
3. Willie Taggart left him a loaded roster that returns 22 starters (including special teams), including a very good senior quarterback and nine starters on defense.
4. No one will care who his assistant coaches are.
5. It’s not Texas.
I don’t want to say that he’s receiving a job that has success on a tee for him, but a real discussion could be made that he’s in a better situation to win right now than Tom Herman is. With more money in the bank account than he can probably ever spend, he gets to coach football where he’s welcomed with open arms. Hell, he’s home.
Good for him.
No. 6 – I’m still very much on Team Shaka …
Let’s make two acknowledgments before we get to the good.
a.Shaka Smart’s second team in Austin is painful to watch at times.
b. His team has a glaring need at point guard and that there’s not one available is ultimately his responsibility. Just like Charlie Strong has to own not improving his quarterback options in his first two seasons in town, Smart has to do the same, even if the departure of Isaiah Taylor makes less sense today (he’s played in six games for the Rio Valley Vipers this season) than it did in the spring.
There’s no doubt that this season is going to put a lot of pressure on him going into year three when you consider that there’s a very good chance this will be a season without any post-season, but I still find myself believing that Smart is the right guy for the job.
Smart’s kids are giving maximum effort, they’re playing really hard on defense and slowly but surely, we’re seeing players grow up on the fly during the nonconference season. Hell, in the last couple of games alone, sophomore Tevin Mack has really started to emerge as a player that Smart can lean on in a close game and that’s just not something you would say when the season started.
You just can’t run around the fact that this team has two seniors and then a bevy of freshmen/sophomores that aren’t ready to be play in the brightest of the bright lights.
Freshman Jarrett Allen is exactly the kind of five-star prospect on paper that projects as an impact player and future lottery front-court player, but in the opening months of his college career, he just looks like a guy.
The ingredients and timing are just off this year.
I feel confident that this won’t be the case in 12 months, especially if Matt Coleman picks Texas, but even if he doesn’t, this is going to be a team that is much-improved. As a Sixers fan, I kind of view the season as a developing year, which means that the record won’t be as important as the development of the babies on the roster.
If Allen comes through the other side of the wall he’s climbing as one of the best bigs in the Big 12 next year, what happens this year will have significance. Same with Eric Davis. Same with Jacob Young. Same with all the freshmen and sophomores.
Texas isn’t Kentucky. Period. This is what it looks like when a squad is incredibly young and doesn’t have top-shelf backcourt leadership.
Shaka Smart is going to win big at Texas, but it’s not going to happen this year.
Rest assured, he’s making wine, but he’s not good enough to make it out of water.
No. 7 – Time to being in Tony?
I don't even know what to say about what happened in New York tonight, but that was one hell of an ugly performance by America's Team and you're being disingenuous if the role of Dak Prescott in that ugly performance isn't flashing some sort of alarm.
Against two of the toughest defenses in the NFC in the last two weeks, Prescott hasn't looked like a quarterback capable of winning key games in January.
It didn't help that Dez Bryant played like a total JAG.
With Tampa Bay looming next week, it'll be fascinating to see if Prescott can get his mojo back because that is a defense that might be better than the one he played tonight. If he struggles again, the calls for you-know-who are probably going to heat up.
All I know is that I hope I've seen the last of the Giants and the Cowboys playing against each other this season because it's not a match-up that seems to favor the silver and blue.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Lamar Jackson won the Heisman and I guess that’s fine because I can’t think of anyone truly more deserving. I’m not so sure Ed Oliver wasn’t the best player I watched this season.
… Jackson spending more than five seconds with Johnny Manziel seems like the worst idea I’ve ever heard. It never occurred to me, but we’re going to watch Manziel grow up before our eyes as a returning Heisman winner every year. What else does he have to do?
… Army beating Navy was good for America. That streak needed to end.
… Mike D’Antoni is the best thing that ever happened to James Harden’s career and the Rockets look like a team that’s going to be a handful the postseason. The Western Conference semifinals have a chance to be spectacularly entertaining.
… Golden State doesn’t lose often, but when it does, it goes all-in with the losing.
… Le’Veon Bell looked like an MVP candidate on Sunday. You can make the case that there’s potentially not a more dynamic playmaker in the AFC playoffs than Bell.
… Eagles tears are the best tears.
… Man, that Ryan Tannehill injury (reported ACL tear) is going to make for a tough off-season for the Dolphins. Just when he was playing the best football of his career and had his team on the verge of the playoffs, he goes out for the rest of the year and likely projects as a tough guy to count on for the opening of the season. What do you do if you’re the Dolphins? Go get Tony Romo?
… The NFL needs to allow Aqib Talib to fight Harry Douglas without the threat of a suspension.
… Nice win, Texans. I don’t know what else to say because the Colts are kind of a mess, but that was a much-needed road win.
… I said it last week and I’ll say it again, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the biggest threat to the Dallas Cowboys making the Super Bowl right now.
… Am I an MLS bandwagon-rider if I admit that the Seattle Sounders are my favorite team to watch, game-in and game-out, especially after the mid-season addition of Nic Lodeiro? I felt this way before they were crowned MLS champions on Saturday night in Toronto.
… Don’t ask me about Liverpool right now. I’m too busy making voodoo dolls of Loris Karius at the moment. On a more serious note, the Reds just seem stuck in mid-gear. Ugh.
… Chelsea is clearly the class of the EPL right now. That’s a team that got its stuff straight and outside of Arsenal, most of the other teams in the top six are pretty much still trying to find elite form heading into the critical holiday stretch.
… I still don’t know what to think of Tottenham.
No. 9 – This and That ...
… Thing that annoys me that might just be a me issue: As a guy who holds doors open for people all the time, I have to admit that it irks me when people still put their hands on the door to hold it open when it’s clear that I’m holding the door open for them.
… What am I supposed to do without Westworld? Suddenly, I don’t really have a show to watch.
… I’ve tried getting into The Walking Dead and I have to make a confession … Negan is my favorite character.
… Here’s an update look at my current Oscar favorites (based only on movies that I have seen)
Best Picture
1. Arrival
2. Manchester by the Sea
3. Moonlight
4. Hell or High Water
5. Sully
6. Allied
7. Birth of a Nation
8. Queen of Katwe
9. Snowden
10. Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Actor
1. Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Tom Hank (Sully)
3. Chris Pine (Hell or High Water)
4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Snowden)
5. Nate Parker (Birth of a Nation)
Best Actress
1. Amy Adams (Arrival)
2. Marion Cotillard (Allied)
3. Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
4. Madina Nalwanga (Queen of Katwe)
Best Supporting Actor
1. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
2. Andre Holland (Moonlight)
3. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
4. Aaron Eckhart (Sully)
5. Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Best Supporting Actress
1. Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Naomi Harris (Moonlight)
3. Lupita Nyong’o (Queen of Katwe)
4. Aja Naomi King (Birth of a Nation)
5. Shailene Woodley (Snowden)
Best Director
1. Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
3. Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
4. David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water)
5. Clint Eastwood (Sully)
No. 10 - And finally …
With the holiday season upon us, I wanted to pass along a note that if you're interested in having your business spotlighted on Orangebloods during this very busy season, drop me an email at gkketch@gmail.com. Let the power of Orangebloods work for your business.
With the news on Sunday that Rutgers offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer was set to join the Texas staff as a wide receivers coach/potential passing game coordinator, it’s clearer now than ever that Herman subscribes to the theory of surrounding himself with people he’s knows well through previous working relationships.
It’s a philosophy that Texas fans watched fail Charlie Strong when he made his transition to Louisville, so I will excuse all of you if you’re a little concerned that Herman could be walking into the same exact comfort trap.
Who you know isn’t always the better answer over who you can get and if you pay the price in learning the lesson the hard way, it can set a program backwards before it can go forwards.
Yet, if you think Tom Herman can be the kind of coach that surpasses the legacy created by a future Hall of Fame coach in Mack Brown, then you have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he’s doing.
Either he’s the right guy for the job or he’s not.
One of the reasons I’m willing to give Herman the benefit of the doubt is that I haven’t seen him making the kind of glaring initial mistakes that Strong made that seemed to scream he was in over his head. Deep down, we all should have known that Strong was the wrong choice when his idea of stepping out of his box to hire someone he didn’t really know turned into a second life-line for Bruce Chambers, a guy that probably should have been the last coach hired from Mack Brown’s final staff. That might sound harsh, but considering that it will probably be the last coaching job of Chambers’ career, I don’t think it is.
I just don’t sense that Herman has come close to making that kind of mistake.
What’s clear is that he values the connections he’s made in coaching and it seems like he’s created a bit of a “Best-of” list from his career path to Texas and it doesn’t matter if it’s Houston, Ohio State or his time at Texas State. Herman’s idea of a Dream Team of coaches is simply different than those that would simply like to stack a list of the most impressive resumes possible together.
The addition of Mehringer would seem to indicate that the splashiest hire he’ll make will come at the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coaching position and there was a little behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt from a fellow Rivals.com publisher on Sunday that Ohio State offensive coordinator Tim Beck is a name that has emerged as a real possibility for the job.
Given Beck’s Texas roots as a former high school coach in the Metroplex, his familiarity with the offense that Herman runs and his chops as a recruiter, it certainly makes a ton of sense from Herman’s perspective. Of course, one of the interesting things about the idea of Beck-to-Texas is the fact that he’s never worked with Herman.
Would Beck be a splashy enough hire to hire to quench your thirst for something shiny?
If you’re looking for a sign that Beck could be a real possibility, look for the hiring process to go into January because it’s hard to imagine that Beck would create a distraction for the Buckeyes right as the team is preparing for a playoff game. If he’s the guy or even has a chance to be the guy, Herman will probably need to make that the last chess pieces he moves.
Regardless, you’re going to have to trust Herman.
It’s his show.
Until he makes an obvious critical error that exposes a flaw in his staff building, it’s unreasonable to expect that one is looming in the background because each decision fits Herman’s list of priorities over your own.
Either he's the right guy for this job or he's not.
No. 2 – Evaluating the Evaluating ...
One of the revelations I had this week while putting together the latest release of the Lone Star Recruiting's Top 100 list was the quality skill-set that Tom Herman and his staff at Houston seemed to exhibit in piecing together a recruiting class full of smart, well-evaluated commitments.
Time and time again, I would take a look at some nobody mid-three star prospect that had committed to the Cougars, only to find that a good number of them were players that looked much closer to the kind of four-star wonderboys that the elite of the elite make a habit of targeting.
When you have to build your foundation around third-tier blue chips, being able to find the kids who can play above their offer sheets is critical and on the surface Herman and Co. were displaying the kind of chops that paralleled the single greatest strength of UT's previous coach.
It got me to wondering just how much of Herman’s only two recruiting classes at Houston had contributed to his climb to the head coaching job.
The sample size is fairly small, but the results are promising. Keep in mind that this doesn’t include any of the young players in the program that Herman and his staff developed, it’s just the players Herman and his staff have personally recruited who were able to make immediate impacts.
Class of 2015
Josh Jones (Mid-three star) - Jones flipped to Houston on NSD after committing to Oklahoma State at the beginning of his senior season. After taking a redshirt in 2015, he started every game at left tackle for the Cougars this season.
William Noble (Mid-two star) - A virtual unknown prospect who emerged as a starter at center as a true freshman, and has started 19 games in his first two seasons.
Kameron Eloph (Mid-three star) - The last prospect added to Houston’s 2015 class, Eloph emerged as a starter at left guard this season before injuries ended his season.
Class of 2016
Ed Oliver (Five stars) - It’s probably worth mentioning that Herman’s crown jewel in his two seasons of recruiting at Houston was just named a first-team all-American as a true freshman. I’m pretty sure that has never happened with a true freshman in Austin.
Braylon Jones (Mid-three star) - Herman loves to recruit Tyler John Tyler (which makes him a very smart man) and one of the guys who will be remembered for starting the Herman Pipeline is Jones, who emerged as a five-game starter this season as a true freshman.
Na’Ty Rodgers (Low four-star) - Herman dipped into the JUCO ranks at Iowa Western Community College to pluck his starting right tackle for the first seven games of this season before injuries took him out of the line-up.
D’Eriq King (High-Three star) - Started four games for the Cougars as a true freshman and pretty much did a little bit of everything, as he averaged 25.4 yards per kick return, caught 29 passes for 228 yards and had 15 carries for 74 yards. Is currently listed as the top back-up quarterback to Greg Ward going into the bowl game.
Javian Smith (Mid-two star) - Played in 10 games as a true freshman for the Cougars and projects as a future starter at cornerback, despite having offers from only the Cougars, SMU, Sam Houston State and Fresno State.
Collin Wilder (High-three star) - Played in 12 games as a special teams/safety contributor.
No. 3– Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
… I found it interesting that Tom Herman started two freshmen and two sophomores along his offensive line this season, as I don’t remember hearing a lot of excuse-making because of the youth that team had in the trenches this season. I think this speaks well of the quality of work that Derek Warehime will be able to do with the group he inherits in Austin.
… Josh Thompson, Kary Vincent and Chevin Calloway are the top three corners in the state in my LSR rankings and with the news that Calloway is going to take an official visit to Texas in January, you have to like Herman’s chances of landing at least two of the three.
… Texas offered Houston commit/Brenham linebacker Marqez Bimage on Sunday and if you’re wondering, he’s the guy off of the Houston commit list that you should probably covet the most. He’s basically the long lost brother of Breckyn Hager.
… It might not matter, but I get the sense that Walker Little would be in the bag for Texas if Tim Brewster joined Herman’s staff. Little isn’t going to Florida State, but he loves him some Coach Brew.
… I’m really looking forward to seeing Jeff McCulloch and Malik Jefferson on the field together next season at linebacker.
No. 4 – Buy or sell …
BUY or SELL: Tom Herman has UT a contender for the final 4 within three years?
(Buy) I think he’ll have the Longhorns playing for a Big 12 championship by his second season, which would likely put them in contention for the playoff.
BUY or SELL: Top 20 class in 2017 & Top 5 class in 2018?
(Buy) I think that’s completely realistic.
BUY or SELL: There will be a QB battle this offseason and Sam Ehlinger has a real shot of starting?
(Buy) With a new offensive system coming in, I think it’s game on in terms of a true quarterback battle. Both players will get a ton of reps in the spring and it’s a long time until August. Anything could happen.
BUY or SELL: Texas takes its rightful place as the best college football team in Texas by the end of next year?
(Buy) That’s not an especially high bar at the moment, is it?
BUY or SELL: Jerrod Heard takes legitimate snaps at QB in the spring?
(Buy) If I’m Herman, I think I kick the tires on Heard at quarterback, just to see if there’s anything he can do with him than Sterlin Gilbert could not.
BUY or SELL: Walker Little commits to Texas and becomes the bell cow of the recruiting class, helping to secure at least one other 5 star in this recruiting cycle?
(Sell) I don’t see a second five-star in this class.
BUY or SELL: Big Herm is the nickname we are using from now on because Herman obviously likes it?
(Buy) Can you imagine the Photoshop possibilities?
BUY or SELL: If Texas had hired James Franklin instead of Charlie Strong, he'd still be sitting comfortably as the Longhorn Head Coach?
(Buy) He’s a better head football coach than Strong. Period.
No. 5 – Charlie Strong’s perfect job …
The Michael Scott of college football might have found his Dunder-Mifflin on Sunday with the announcement that he has signed a five-year deal to be the new head coach at South Florida.
Let us count the ways this is the job he needs.
1. It’s in South Florida, duh. He is fairly beloved there.
2. It’s the kind of low-pressure job that won’t see meltdowns when he wins seven games in a season. Instead of “only winning seven games,” it’ll be viewed as “hey, he won seven games.”
3. Willie Taggart left him a loaded roster that returns 22 starters (including special teams), including a very good senior quarterback and nine starters on defense.
4. No one will care who his assistant coaches are.
5. It’s not Texas.
I don’t want to say that he’s receiving a job that has success on a tee for him, but a real discussion could be made that he’s in a better situation to win right now than Tom Herman is. With more money in the bank account than he can probably ever spend, he gets to coach football where he’s welcomed with open arms. Hell, he’s home.
Good for him.
No. 6 – I’m still very much on Team Shaka …
Let’s make two acknowledgments before we get to the good.
a.Shaka Smart’s second team in Austin is painful to watch at times.
b. His team has a glaring need at point guard and that there’s not one available is ultimately his responsibility. Just like Charlie Strong has to own not improving his quarterback options in his first two seasons in town, Smart has to do the same, even if the departure of Isaiah Taylor makes less sense today (he’s played in six games for the Rio Valley Vipers this season) than it did in the spring.
There’s no doubt that this season is going to put a lot of pressure on him going into year three when you consider that there’s a very good chance this will be a season without any post-season, but I still find myself believing that Smart is the right guy for the job.
Smart’s kids are giving maximum effort, they’re playing really hard on defense and slowly but surely, we’re seeing players grow up on the fly during the nonconference season. Hell, in the last couple of games alone, sophomore Tevin Mack has really started to emerge as a player that Smart can lean on in a close game and that’s just not something you would say when the season started.
You just can’t run around the fact that this team has two seniors and then a bevy of freshmen/sophomores that aren’t ready to be play in the brightest of the bright lights.
Freshman Jarrett Allen is exactly the kind of five-star prospect on paper that projects as an impact player and future lottery front-court player, but in the opening months of his college career, he just looks like a guy.
The ingredients and timing are just off this year.
I feel confident that this won’t be the case in 12 months, especially if Matt Coleman picks Texas, but even if he doesn’t, this is going to be a team that is much-improved. As a Sixers fan, I kind of view the season as a developing year, which means that the record won’t be as important as the development of the babies on the roster.
If Allen comes through the other side of the wall he’s climbing as one of the best bigs in the Big 12 next year, what happens this year will have significance. Same with Eric Davis. Same with Jacob Young. Same with all the freshmen and sophomores.
Texas isn’t Kentucky. Period. This is what it looks like when a squad is incredibly young and doesn’t have top-shelf backcourt leadership.
Shaka Smart is going to win big at Texas, but it’s not going to happen this year.
Rest assured, he’s making wine, but he’s not good enough to make it out of water.
No. 7 – Time to being in Tony?
I don't even know what to say about what happened in New York tonight, but that was one hell of an ugly performance by America's Team and you're being disingenuous if the role of Dak Prescott in that ugly performance isn't flashing some sort of alarm.
Against two of the toughest defenses in the NFC in the last two weeks, Prescott hasn't looked like a quarterback capable of winning key games in January.
It didn't help that Dez Bryant played like a total JAG.
With Tampa Bay looming next week, it'll be fascinating to see if Prescott can get his mojo back because that is a defense that might be better than the one he played tonight. If he struggles again, the calls for you-know-who are probably going to heat up.
All I know is that I hope I've seen the last of the Giants and the Cowboys playing against each other this season because it's not a match-up that seems to favor the silver and blue.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… Lamar Jackson won the Heisman and I guess that’s fine because I can’t think of anyone truly more deserving. I’m not so sure Ed Oliver wasn’t the best player I watched this season.
… Jackson spending more than five seconds with Johnny Manziel seems like the worst idea I’ve ever heard. It never occurred to me, but we’re going to watch Manziel grow up before our eyes as a returning Heisman winner every year. What else does he have to do?
… Army beating Navy was good for America. That streak needed to end.
… Mike D’Antoni is the best thing that ever happened to James Harden’s career and the Rockets look like a team that’s going to be a handful the postseason. The Western Conference semifinals have a chance to be spectacularly entertaining.
… Golden State doesn’t lose often, but when it does, it goes all-in with the losing.
… Le’Veon Bell looked like an MVP candidate on Sunday. You can make the case that there’s potentially not a more dynamic playmaker in the AFC playoffs than Bell.
… Eagles tears are the best tears.
… Man, that Ryan Tannehill injury (reported ACL tear) is going to make for a tough off-season for the Dolphins. Just when he was playing the best football of his career and had his team on the verge of the playoffs, he goes out for the rest of the year and likely projects as a tough guy to count on for the opening of the season. What do you do if you’re the Dolphins? Go get Tony Romo?
… The NFL needs to allow Aqib Talib to fight Harry Douglas without the threat of a suspension.
… Nice win, Texans. I don’t know what else to say because the Colts are kind of a mess, but that was a much-needed road win.
… I said it last week and I’ll say it again, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the biggest threat to the Dallas Cowboys making the Super Bowl right now.
… Am I an MLS bandwagon-rider if I admit that the Seattle Sounders are my favorite team to watch, game-in and game-out, especially after the mid-season addition of Nic Lodeiro? I felt this way before they were crowned MLS champions on Saturday night in Toronto.
… Don’t ask me about Liverpool right now. I’m too busy making voodoo dolls of Loris Karius at the moment. On a more serious note, the Reds just seem stuck in mid-gear. Ugh.
… Chelsea is clearly the class of the EPL right now. That’s a team that got its stuff straight and outside of Arsenal, most of the other teams in the top six are pretty much still trying to find elite form heading into the critical holiday stretch.
… I still don’t know what to think of Tottenham.
No. 9 – This and That ...
… Thing that annoys me that might just be a me issue: As a guy who holds doors open for people all the time, I have to admit that it irks me when people still put their hands on the door to hold it open when it’s clear that I’m holding the door open for them.
… What am I supposed to do without Westworld? Suddenly, I don’t really have a show to watch.
… I’ve tried getting into The Walking Dead and I have to make a confession … Negan is my favorite character.
… Here’s an update look at my current Oscar favorites (based only on movies that I have seen)
Best Picture
1. Arrival
2. Manchester by the Sea
3. Moonlight
4. Hell or High Water
5. Sully
6. Allied
7. Birth of a Nation
8. Queen of Katwe
9. Snowden
10. Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Actor
1. Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Tom Hank (Sully)
3. Chris Pine (Hell or High Water)
4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Snowden)
5. Nate Parker (Birth of a Nation)
Best Actress
1. Amy Adams (Arrival)
2. Marion Cotillard (Allied)
3. Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
4. Madina Nalwanga (Queen of Katwe)
Best Supporting Actor
1. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
2. Andre Holland (Moonlight)
3. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
4. Aaron Eckhart (Sully)
5. Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Best Supporting Actress
1. Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Naomi Harris (Moonlight)
3. Lupita Nyong’o (Queen of Katwe)
4. Aja Naomi King (Birth of a Nation)
5. Shailene Woodley (Snowden)
Best Director
1. Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
2. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
3. Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
4. David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water)
5. Clint Eastwood (Sully)
No. 10 - And finally …
With the holiday season upon us, I wanted to pass along a note that if you're interested in having your business spotlighted on Orangebloods during this very busy season, drop me an email at gkketch@gmail.com. Let the power of Orangebloods work for your business.
