Day 1 of the Longhorns 2016 football season is in the books. Congratulations ... you made it.
I started to write a practice recap, then just decided it would be better to answer whatever questions people had directly. I'll copy and paste each answer here in the OP so it's easier to find all of my responses in one place as opposed to wading through the thread.
GO.
Texas needs to work out both QBs and even Heard, it's not like Buechele was ever slated to get all the reps. During drills, Buechele would often rotate in with the first group and furthermore, the "first group" is not very structured in a Sterlin Gilbert offensive practice. Substitutions occur nearly every play at at least one position. With this said, Swoopes was always the first one in to a drill with the first group when there was a clear and identifiable "first group" to start a period from everything I personally saw.
- Cottrell started with the first group during pursuit and inside drills at the SDE probably because he's a senior and it's the very first day. They were in base anyway, they'll only be in base about 10% of the time next season. Charles worked in with the first group more and more through team drills, though. He'll be a big part of the rotation.
- Johnson wasn't ineffective but he was either seeming to have more trouble separating than in the spring or the DBs looked a little more athletic, one of the two.
- Duvernay's route-running seems fine, he lined up at the inside receiver position and ran a number of routes that were not vertical as part of the two-man combo to his side.
It's impossible to tell by one practice, but I'll say this -- Hall and Haines bark orders at the young corners. Hill, Davis and Boyd, especially Davis, seem to need this kind of player on the field and depend on them at this time in their development of complete understanding of a defensive scheme. If Jones wants to take one of those guys' jobs from them while they're healthy during camp, I would imagine he'll need to start acting like an upperclassmen. I'd basically say the same for Elliott. Both players should see more and more playing time through the year, but I'm not sure how soon one of them will emerge as a true and undisputed starter barring injuries.
Hard to think of losers on the first day. If you're putting a gun to my head and making me tell you losers I would say Tyrone Swoopes (wasn't a terribly good passing day), maybe the kicker Trent Domingue who I saw miss some field goal attempts and whose leg didn't really look like a monster. Also Donovan Duvernay got burned pretty frequently at the third-team corner by guys like Burt and Hemphill-Mapps on some long balls.
Winners, I'd say Armanti Foreman - he's one of the best players on the team and in for a breakout season. Kirk Johnson is just so fast. Lil'Jordan Humphrey looks like a million bucks. He's already lining up at the right outside WR spot behind Burt with about as much frequency as Dorian Leonard. Tristan Nickelson looks a little more balanced and a little less clunky this year. Davion Curtis may eventually be the receiver we didn't talk about enough ... that kid is fast.
I didn't see them hitting the five-man today but I know they do drills involving the one-man. Mattox is more of a chutes-and-dummies postion-drill guy than a five-man sled position-drill guy. In fact, the line works in two groups (right side and left side) and rarely even practice as a unit of five outside of team drills.
- Kyle Porter looks like a mighty mouse, he's so ripped and almost caroon-like with his muscles popping out, he reminds me of a young Doug Martin.
- Armanti lined up almost exclusively outside.
- My main thought about the second OL is that it will not be long before Brandon Hodges is supplanted at second RT by either Okafor or Hudson.
The starting OL looked exactly as you'd expect a starting OL to look in Year 2 with Williams and Vahe, Perkins inside at his natural position as a senior and Tristan Nickelson seemingly improving in key areas of strength, balance and footwork (at least to some degree, we've not seen them in full pads and we'll need to make sure Nickelson doesn't still pass-protect like Tristan Nickelson circa 2015).
The most impressive young DL so far is Jordan Elliott and he was the only one to crack the two-deep through practice at the second tackle. Gerald Wilbon made a nice play during inside drills, beating Elijah Rodriguez for a solo, open-field TFL and caused fumble. Very athletic kid as well, Wilbon is lining up as projected behind Chris Nelson at the third nose.
He's lining up at the corner for now as expected.
He pulled the ball down and ran it more than anything. To me, at this point, he officially doesn't look like the answer at QB for Texas.
Actually, both and also by themselves. They do certain work independent of either group, do some receiving drills with the WRs and do inside-run drills with the OL and RBs.
I've mentioned him in a response. Third-team nose behind Boyette and Nelson as expected.
First instinct is Jordan Elliott.
If they are getting off the bus you ask yourself who the hell they are and figure out how to get out of their way immediately. I'll say that much.
- Coach and player energy was fine. The new staff is low-key and not high-intensity with the yelling. You could tell freshmen were a little nervous, energy will get better through camp.
- The pace is breakneck as usual.
- I'd say it was an even split of first-team work. You're splitting hairs to think about who took more snaps with the ones. Half Swoopes, half Buechele.
- The last update I received on Fowler, I posted to the board at 11PM last night.
I'd tell your friend to tap the brakes, we're only one practice in.
L Humphrey is 81 and K Porter is 21.
Texas has never had an issue with speed, even through the lean years. The Texas football team is fast as can be at a number of key positions this year, just like most every year in recent memory. How the speed is utilized is what will be important.
Feels like a trick question because if I said they COULD shock the world, then the act of them succeeding in this wild way wouldn't be too entirely shocking to the world. : )
Three things that would need to happen?
- Excellent QB play from Buechele.
- Health for Foreman and Warren for an entire season.
- Virtually every new contributor being depended on contributing at a somewhat higher level than expected.
1) Just the runners. Warren was held back a little bit but Foreman looks really good. He's listed at 249 but he's not currently 249, I was told last week he was just over 240. His speed is still there and he showed some great hands on a big catch out of the backfield today. Porter, as mentioned, looks like a ridiculous Mighty Mouse cartoon-football-player and Kirk Johnson is simply exciting and electric with his speed, explosion and change-of-direction. Texas has an abundance of riches at RB.
2) Why move Buck Major into guard? He's the second-tallest guy in the whole OL group, but it seems the staff would rather be giving tackle reps to the younger players in Urquidez, Delance, Hudson and Okafor, which bumps Major inside whether it's the position his body is best suited for or not.
3) Kicker might have seemed to still be a bit of an issue but punter isn't. Michael Dickson is absolutely booming the heck out of the thing. If he punts all season like he did today, he'll be a great attribute to Texas in the field-position battle.
He'll be back soon and he'll be fine for Notre Dame.
Ask me again after we get to see a full-pads practice. He was only just getting to the precipice of that level-of-play by the end of spring, so hopefully he has improved some strength-wise. I did see him getting pushed back a little bit off the line of scrimmage in team drills by Chris Nelson on a few occasions during solo-base blocking assignments, but again, we're not in full pads so there could be differences in how hard each guy was going, etc.
No but she gives me a look that says it all the time.
You are always welcome to donate anything you'd like. We also accept gifts such as alcohol, fine foods and sundries.
As for not telling anyone, no, it doesn't bother me. I've always understood that being in the fantasy advice business is a business that comes with absolutely no word of mouth. Most people you talk to about fantasy are in a league with you, so nobody wants each other to know their secrets.
Is it cheating to say Shane Buechele?
Outside of that, it's a good question. I'll say Devin Duvernay will beat out guys like Warrick, etc. to handle the 4th WR duties.
I started to write a practice recap, then just decided it would be better to answer whatever questions people had directly. I'll copy and paste each answer here in the OP so it's easier to find all of my responses in one place as opposed to wading through the thread.
GO.
Texas needs to work out both QBs and even Heard, it's not like Buechele was ever slated to get all the reps. During drills, Buechele would often rotate in with the first group and furthermore, the "first group" is not very structured in a Sterlin Gilbert offensive practice. Substitutions occur nearly every play at at least one position. With this said, Swoopes was always the first one in to a drill with the first group when there was a clear and identifiable "first group" to start a period from everything I personally saw.
- Cottrell started with the first group during pursuit and inside drills at the SDE probably because he's a senior and it's the very first day. They were in base anyway, they'll only be in base about 10% of the time next season. Charles worked in with the first group more and more through team drills, though. He'll be a big part of the rotation.
- Johnson wasn't ineffective but he was either seeming to have more trouble separating than in the spring or the DBs looked a little more athletic, one of the two.
- Duvernay's route-running seems fine, he lined up at the inside receiver position and ran a number of routes that were not vertical as part of the two-man combo to his side.
It's impossible to tell by one practice, but I'll say this -- Hall and Haines bark orders at the young corners. Hill, Davis and Boyd, especially Davis, seem to need this kind of player on the field and depend on them at this time in their development of complete understanding of a defensive scheme. If Jones wants to take one of those guys' jobs from them while they're healthy during camp, I would imagine he'll need to start acting like an upperclassmen. I'd basically say the same for Elliott. Both players should see more and more playing time through the year, but I'm not sure how soon one of them will emerge as a true and undisputed starter barring injuries.
Hard to think of losers on the first day. If you're putting a gun to my head and making me tell you losers I would say Tyrone Swoopes (wasn't a terribly good passing day), maybe the kicker Trent Domingue who I saw miss some field goal attempts and whose leg didn't really look like a monster. Also Donovan Duvernay got burned pretty frequently at the third-team corner by guys like Burt and Hemphill-Mapps on some long balls.
Winners, I'd say Armanti Foreman - he's one of the best players on the team and in for a breakout season. Kirk Johnson is just so fast. Lil'Jordan Humphrey looks like a million bucks. He's already lining up at the right outside WR spot behind Burt with about as much frequency as Dorian Leonard. Tristan Nickelson looks a little more balanced and a little less clunky this year. Davion Curtis may eventually be the receiver we didn't talk about enough ... that kid is fast.
I didn't see them hitting the five-man today but I know they do drills involving the one-man. Mattox is more of a chutes-and-dummies postion-drill guy than a five-man sled position-drill guy. In fact, the line works in two groups (right side and left side) and rarely even practice as a unit of five outside of team drills.
- Kyle Porter looks like a mighty mouse, he's so ripped and almost caroon-like with his muscles popping out, he reminds me of a young Doug Martin.
- Armanti lined up almost exclusively outside.
- My main thought about the second OL is that it will not be long before Brandon Hodges is supplanted at second RT by either Okafor or Hudson.
The starting OL looked exactly as you'd expect a starting OL to look in Year 2 with Williams and Vahe, Perkins inside at his natural position as a senior and Tristan Nickelson seemingly improving in key areas of strength, balance and footwork (at least to some degree, we've not seen them in full pads and we'll need to make sure Nickelson doesn't still pass-protect like Tristan Nickelson circa 2015).
The most impressive young DL so far is Jordan Elliott and he was the only one to crack the two-deep through practice at the second tackle. Gerald Wilbon made a nice play during inside drills, beating Elijah Rodriguez for a solo, open-field TFL and caused fumble. Very athletic kid as well, Wilbon is lining up as projected behind Chris Nelson at the third nose.
He's lining up at the corner for now as expected.
He pulled the ball down and ran it more than anything. To me, at this point, he officially doesn't look like the answer at QB for Texas.
Actually, both and also by themselves. They do certain work independent of either group, do some receiving drills with the WRs and do inside-run drills with the OL and RBs.
I've mentioned him in a response. Third-team nose behind Boyette and Nelson as expected.
First instinct is Jordan Elliott.
If they are getting off the bus you ask yourself who the hell they are and figure out how to get out of their way immediately. I'll say that much.
- Coach and player energy was fine. The new staff is low-key and not high-intensity with the yelling. You could tell freshmen were a little nervous, energy will get better through camp.
- The pace is breakneck as usual.
- I'd say it was an even split of first-team work. You're splitting hairs to think about who took more snaps with the ones. Half Swoopes, half Buechele.
- The last update I received on Fowler, I posted to the board at 11PM last night.
I'd tell your friend to tap the brakes, we're only one practice in.
L Humphrey is 81 and K Porter is 21.
Texas has never had an issue with speed, even through the lean years. The Texas football team is fast as can be at a number of key positions this year, just like most every year in recent memory. How the speed is utilized is what will be important.
Feels like a trick question because if I said they COULD shock the world, then the act of them succeeding in this wild way wouldn't be too entirely shocking to the world. : )
Three things that would need to happen?
- Excellent QB play from Buechele.
- Health for Foreman and Warren for an entire season.
- Virtually every new contributor being depended on contributing at a somewhat higher level than expected.
1) Just the runners. Warren was held back a little bit but Foreman looks really good. He's listed at 249 but he's not currently 249, I was told last week he was just over 240. His speed is still there and he showed some great hands on a big catch out of the backfield today. Porter, as mentioned, looks like a ridiculous Mighty Mouse cartoon-football-player and Kirk Johnson is simply exciting and electric with his speed, explosion and change-of-direction. Texas has an abundance of riches at RB.
2) Why move Buck Major into guard? He's the second-tallest guy in the whole OL group, but it seems the staff would rather be giving tackle reps to the younger players in Urquidez, Delance, Hudson and Okafor, which bumps Major inside whether it's the position his body is best suited for or not.
3) Kicker might have seemed to still be a bit of an issue but punter isn't. Michael Dickson is absolutely booming the heck out of the thing. If he punts all season like he did today, he'll be a great attribute to Texas in the field-position battle.
He'll be back soon and he'll be fine for Notre Dame.
Ask me again after we get to see a full-pads practice. He was only just getting to the precipice of that level-of-play by the end of spring, so hopefully he has improved some strength-wise. I did see him getting pushed back a little bit off the line of scrimmage in team drills by Chris Nelson on a few occasions during solo-base blocking assignments, but again, we're not in full pads so there could be differences in how hard each guy was going, etc.
No but she gives me a look that says it all the time.
You are always welcome to donate anything you'd like. We also accept gifts such as alcohol, fine foods and sundries.
As for not telling anyone, no, it doesn't bother me. I've always understood that being in the fantasy advice business is a business that comes with absolutely no word of mouth. Most people you talk to about fantasy are in a league with you, so nobody wants each other to know their secrets.
Is it cheating to say Shane Buechele?
Outside of that, it's a good question. I'll say Devin Duvernay will beat out guys like Warrick, etc. to handle the 4th WR duties.
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