A match made in heaven.
In the 72+ hours that have passed since Texas head coach Tom Herman joined Orangebloods for an 80-minute dive into the soul of the Texas football program, a lot of different thoughts have gone through my head with regards to what transpired, but the one I keep circling back to relates to new Texas offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.
While I don't think we'd ever hear so much as a negative word about former offensive coordinator Tim Beck from Herman's own lips, it was fascinating from my perspective to hear Herman discuss his own deficiencies in ways that underscore just how important the hire of Yurcich might prove to be once we eventually get back to football.
“I felt that I had become a jack of all trades and a master of none," Herman confessed. "I felt like as the primary play-caller on offense that because of all of my head coaching duties that come with being the head coach at Texas, I wasn't being the best head coach that I could be."
Herman wasn't done with the subject.
“I was not doing a great job overseeing the defense," Herman continued. "At the same time, because there are some things that are non-negotiable, I wasn't the best offensive coordinator or play-caller that I could be. For that side of the ball that was really, really easy. I just do better. You know when I had Major at Houston, that was such a great relationship”.
Finally, Herman brought the topic full circle by including the topic of Yurcich.
"It definitely feels like Mike and I are cut from the same cloth and believe in the same things."
In just that one little exchange, Herman's transparency was fairly breathtaking. Not only did he do something we rarely see from college head coaches, which was essentially saying that he wasn't personally able be as good as he needed to be in his role as head coach, but he explained exactly how and why it all happened.
Batman needed his Robin, and while Beck is a great dude, an above average recruiter and a very good football coach, he never emerged as Herman's Robin. The need for Herman to have a Robin sidekick on the offensive side of the ball was likely underestimated by everyone, including Herman, when he was originally hired.
Not even Herman could know after two seasons as a head coach just how important it was having Major "Robin" Applewhite riding shotgun with him on the offensive side of the ball until he no longer had him riding shotgun with him. The hope was that Beck would be able to fill that void, but the seamless type of tag-team chemistry that Herman enjoyed at Houston was never found.
From my perspective, there's a lot more shame to be found in never being able to admit a mistake than there is from being upfront about the need to fix the mistake. Also, let's be clear in pointing out that the Texas offense was pretty damn good a season ago from a statistical standpoint.
For Herman, this was about the big picture from 30,000 feet in the sky and he was honest enough about his own need to elevate himself from the perch he'd been working from that he felt a change simply had to happen.
To get the best out of HIM.
You can make a case that the handling of this situation inside of his program is the single biggest sign of growth from a head coach that is absolutely still growing into this massive job that we've seen in his first five years as a head coach. Herman has done so many things well in his first three seasons in Austin, but improving the fine margins ultimately decides whether any and all programs can cut through the clutter and eventually break through with championships.
Herman's excitement level about this tweak in the program should excite everyone.
He thinks he's found the sidekick he needs in order for him to get the best out of both the offense and the head coaching position.
In fact, in his own words, he has mentioned that the arrival in Yurcich is a match made in heaven.
Herman found his Robin and with that little key development, all of the doors that Herman seems to desire to have open are opened.
Now it's time for him to go be Batman.
No. 2 - Eagles ready to soar ...
Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone.
As it relates to the 2020 Texas Longhorns, Tom Herman is telling us that junior wide receiver Brennan Eagles is the next in line behind the likes of Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay to emerge as a star in the Texas offense. When discussing the notion of getting his best players the football, Eagles was the only player currently in the program that Herman referenced in the same breath as some of his former monsters.
Truth be told, one of the most underrated developments of the 2019 season for the Longhorns was the emergence of Eagles in his second season in the program. While it was easy to be somewhat dismissive of Eagles' season because of bouts of inconsistency, sometimes you have to look at a player for what he actually does instead of focusing too much on what he didn't do.
Consider Eagles' second season in Austin, which featured 32 receptions for 522 yards and six touchdowns. On the surface, those numbers aren't going to wow you, mostly because they don't quite register as the type of stats that get a guy noticed in the wide-open Big 12.
Yet if we just focus on a different set of context, you might be surprised by the historical impressiveness of Eagles' season.
If we were to compile a list of the best receivers in the Texas program since 2000, the list almost certainly would include Roy Williams, B.J. Johnson, Limas Sweed, Quan Cosby, Jordan Shipley, Mike Davis, Humphrey, Johnson and Duvernay. If we rank the sophomore seasons of each player, here's what it looks like:
Roy Williams: 67 receptions for 836 yards and five touchdowns
B.J. Johnson: 41 receptions for 539 yards and four touchdowns
Limas Sweed: 36 receptions for 545 yards and five touchdowns
Quan Cosby: 45 receptions for 525 yards and two touchdowns
Jordan Shipley: 27 receptions for 417 yards and five touchdowns
Mike Davis: 45 receptions for 609 yards and one touchdown
Lil'Jordan Humphrey: 37 receptions for 431 yards and one touchdown
Collin Johnson: 54 receptions for 765 yards and two touchdowns
Devin Duvernay: 9 receptions for 124 yards and zero touchdowns.
From a yardage standpoint, Eagles' sophomore season ranked 7th, while his touchdowns ranked first and his yards per receptions ranked first by almost a full yard (16.3 vs. Shipley's 15.4). In reality, Eagles' 2019 season was one of the best sophomore seasons by any wide receiver in the history of the school.
Herman is telling us loud and clear that Eagles is destined for a monster junior campaign with Johnson and Duvernay off the NFL.
The data supports his opinion.
No. 3 - Scattershooting on Herman a little more ...
* Am I dumb for not knowing that there was such a thing as a "floating rib fracture?" Probably. Anyways, it was kind of fascinating to hear Herman talk about Sam Ehlinger's rib injury now that we're three full months removed from the season and at least six more months away from the start of the 2020 season.
"It gave him a lot of pain throughout the season because if you've ever had a broken rib … I've had a broken rib before. It's miserable. It hurts to cough, it hurts to sneeze, it hurts to laugh, but you can function too," Herman said of the injury.
Yeah, I'd say the rib injury was a big deal.
* I'm going to forgive Herman for giving up on The Wire, but he has to at least finish season one before he can give up for good. When I close my eyes and think about the series, it doesn't really take off until episode 12 with the conclusion of the Wallace storyline. I might have to re-watch the show myself after thinking about it the last few days.
* The next time we do one of these broadcasts, Herman needs a better answer to his favorite BBQ location in Austin other than the Salt Lick. No offense to the Salt Lick, as I used to be a spokesperson for the place in my old radio days, but it's not in the conversation with the elite of the elite BBQ places. Just saying ...
* Here's a photo of the Hampton Inn in Bastrop where Herman was hired. I'll never drive through Bastrop the same.
No. 4 - Underrated big deal of the weekend ...
Personally, I'm not nearly as freaked as the Doomsday folks on this particular matter. Not only do I not think it'll cause wide-spread chaos, but I think it stands to favor a program like Texas and a head coach like Tom Herman because with proper planning, a lot of big-time talent could look to come back home if there's no punishment in doing so.
In fact, if I'm Herman, I'd consider adding a position on staff that does nothing but track and focus on the players potentially available.
A good boy scout is always prepared.
No. 5 - Story-time with Uncle Ketch ...
Have I ever told you guys about the time I used to run about 10 different 900-call numbers related to college football recruiting.
For the youngsters out there, one of the great hustles in the history of the industry used to occur during the 90s when fans of college football recruiting would pay up to $5 per minute to get recruiting scoop each night over the phone.
In fact, in talking to people who were knee-deep in the 900-number business back then, we're talking about a hustle that used to generate between $500,000-$750,000 annually for those at the top of the 900-number food chain. Once the Internet really started picking up steam on the recruiting info front, you can only imagine how much those that used to work the 900-number hustle were upset about the developments.
Anyways, when I started working at the original Rivals.com in 1999, one of the assignments I was given was to provide the 900 number info for the entire Big East.
It wasn't something I had any financial incentives to do outside of it being included among my list of responsibilities while working with Rivals. If I remember correctly, Bobby Burton had the Big 12 South/SEC schools, while Jeremy Crabtree handled the Big 10 and Big 12 North schools (forgive me if I have this particular detail wrong).
I was given the damn Big East, a conference that I literally knew nothing about from a recruiting standpoint, outside of the occasional calls to a prospect like Johnnie Morant that I might make. Basically, I'd look at the most recent recruiting updates that had been put on the Rivals100 site and I would read them as slowly as humanly possible in an effort to make sure each call went at least five minutes.
Off the top of my head, it's easily the most used-car salesman thing I have ever done in my entire career. It just felt dirty.
So bored with the assignment, I can remember the last 900-number update that I ever did involved the Syracuse hotline and I made a point to read the entire update as if it was from a 900-sex number... or what I thought a 900-sex number would sound like. It was so awful, so bad and luckily for me, so outdated by 2000 because I never had a single person mention what happened to me.
Question... how many of you old-timers used to pay for 900-number info and how much money were you spending each month? Tell the truth.
No. 6 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) I just don't think everyone has a full understanding of what kind of impact losing any part of the football season will have on all of college athletics. These college athletic departments are run with the idea of spending almost as much as they make and the dollars coming in each year have been taken for granted to a certain extent ... until now. Anything short of a standard season with all of the financial whistles and bells could set college athletics up for the nuclear winter option it probably didn't think was entirely possible.
(Sell) Not as much as the declining financial pool of dollars that looks to be in play moving forward.
(Buy) It's not something that you can really see or taste at the moment, but when we get closer to signing day, I think we're going to see more kids staying close to home. Texas should be in a position to scoop some of those kids up.
(Buy) While there are a million little issues that Texas has racked up in the problem folder, player development has actually been a huge issue going back to before 2009.
(Buy) If I lose 25 more pounds, it's a no-brainer.
(Sell) I believe Sanders' eventual position is on the defensive side of the ball.
(Sell) Is it ok if I admit that I literally don't know what the hell you're talking about?
(Buy) I so badly want to see this as a real rivalry.
(Buy) From his standpoint, absolutely. We don't have to agree with him, but I felt like he knew exactly the answer he wanted to give for that question and if nothing else, he convinced the hell out of himself.
(Sell) I never needed to come to terms with his departure. I merely gave my opinion on the timing of it. Nothing has changed with regards to that opinion on that front.
(Buy) Yes, for the 2020 season. No, for the 2021 season.
(Sell) I'm going to make a few tweaks.
Superman: Earl Campbell
Batman: Chris Simms (closest thing to Bruce Wayne the program has had)
Spider-Man: Jordan Shipley
Flash: Jamaal Charles
Daredevil: Ramonce Taylor
Hulk: Quan Cosby
Captain America: Colt McCoy
Deadpool: Rod Babers
A few more...
Doctor Manhattan: Vince Young
Black Panther: Brian Orakpo
Wolverine: Kasey Studdard
Hellboy: Casey Hampton
Dr. Strange: Justin Tucker
Colossus: Leonard Davis
Star-Lord: Sam Ehlinger
Ant-Man: Eric Metcalf
No. 7 - Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind ...
... I didn't watch any of the old broadcasts from The Masters this weekend, but not because I didn't want to. The Easter clock swallowed me whole.
... No, Simone Biles, this is not a challenge for mere mortals.
... I repeat... I'm not watching televised H-O-R-S-E.
... This is cold-blooded. True, but it's still cold-blooded.
... Speaking of bad throws, where is Dak on this list?
... Speaking of Dak ... come on, man. A party? Really?
... Why do I have doubts that Drew Brees will succeed as a voice of Monday Night Football? I can't quite put my finger on it, but he doesn't feel like Tony Romo 2.0.
... Patrick Beverly being the best trash-talking NBA 2K video game player among all NBA players feels very on-brand and on-point.
No. 8 - Three Random Things From This Week in Quarantine ...
a. I'm 10 days into not having anything but smoothies and shakes ... and it started getting to me a little this weekend. After doing some research about foods that can be blended, I decided to give blending lasagna a try.
It did not go well. AT ALL.
b. My kids are six and still enjoyed doing an Easter Egg hunt on Sunday. I don't know how much longer these go on, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.
c. I'm into season five or "ER," which means that I have officially seen George Clooney leave the show for the first time since watching the show live nearly two decades ago. I'm not sure I can make it to season six because I can't stand the thought of watching what happens to Lucy and Carter.
With season five of Better Call Saul set to wrap up in eight days, I thought I would combine Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul in an effort to compose the best combined Top 10 characters from the two shows.
When you consider that almost every character of both shows is perfectly-casted, this is far from an easy assignment.
I expect lots of arguing. Lots.
10. Nacho Varga
9.Mike Ehrmantraut
8. Lalo Salamanca
7. Hector Salamanca
6. Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill
5. Gus Fring
4. Hank Schrader
3. Kim Wexler
2. Jesse Pinkman
1. Walter White
No.10 - And finally...
I want to do something this fun this week.
