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Game-by-Game Skill Player Participation Chart (Through Tulsa)
(total snaps on offense and % of total offensive snaps)
OL Thoughts and Grades
So often, offensive line play is blamed for Texas' recent lack of success in generating explosive offenses to keep up with the Joneses in the Big 12.
Not anymore.
If things do indeed go south, it will be time for fans, stake-holders, play-callers and head coaches to find a new scapegoat. We have now seen what this offensive line can be over two games including 60 minutes at home versus Tulsa.
Here, we'll chronicle it ...
LT Calvin Anderson - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 79.38
No disruption allowed
1 holding penalty
4 knockdowns
SEASON: 73 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
The tackle play versus Tulsa was outstanding. The best combination of two tackle performances in one game of all the Deep Dig era.
Anderson, who is sitting at an obscene 73 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused, will surely see that number regress to the recent mean around here, but his level of play aligns seamlessly with the evaluation we had on him coming in -- and surely the one that NFL scouts gave their feedback on following his senior year at Rice.
Because let's be honest: Calvin Anderson doesn't come to Texas as a graduate transfer if he was a hot commodity in the NFL draft post-2017. He came to Austin to elevate that status under a coach like Herb Hand in an offense projected to take the next step in Year 2 under Tom Herman. And while the offense as a whole hasn't yet shown it will, in fact, be taking that step, Hand has been everything expected and more. For once in what seems like an eternity, the OL is not the biggest worry on offense -- far from it, in fact. And along with this improvement, here we have Calvin Anderson who is on a trajectory to take himself from being the priority UDFA-type of prospect he graded as through five games studied from last season at Rice, to more of a later-round, but still draftable selection.
Anderson is much better in the pass pro portion of his game than he is as a run-blocker. It's not that he's not effective as a run-blocker but he's not as balanced and comfortable as he is getting back into his kick and mirroring pass-rushers when he's out in space needing to assert his will with the same level of leverage and balance.
Texas fans will take that, though. It's been pass protection that has been the glaring hole in the offensive game plan for so long. Average-to-above average play in the run-game will get things done at the D1 level in the Big 12 due to how spread out teams are and how many players they drop into coverage.
Where you get roasted as a player, coordinator or play-caller is when the defense only brings three or four guys and they can still get home. Welcome to our shared nightmare as fans and observers of the Texas program for the last near-decade. Having Anderson over at the left tackle thus far has felt like a layer of security similar to Connor Williams while healthy, although he's not as smooth, doesn't have the same feet or strength and is a lesser-caliber of talent by a good margin in the run-portion. But, you see, here, we're only talking about attributes, not effectiveness in the Big 12. As far as that goes, the left side as been as quiet as a church mouse to start the 2018 and attributes be damned, Texas fans will take it and hope it continues.
LG Patrick Vahe - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 75
2 run-stuffs, 2 QB hits allowed
1 knockdown
SEASON: 20.86 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
Tom Herman said at his availability on Monday morning that there were not many negative plays overall from the offensive line versus Tulsa and my hunch is that he didn't have Vahe under a microscope before making that statement.
Patrick Vahe officially needs to pick it up if he wants any chance at an NFL future -- in fact, he needs to pick it up if he simply doesn't want to be the weakest link on the entire Texas starting offensive line. It's feeling like stronger and strong deja vu to Kent Perkins' senior season at Texas. Every week, asking if this is going to be the one where he finally turns the corner and lives up to his potential on a consistent, play-after-play basis. It's hard to believe that's where we stand at this point in his senior season given the promising start he got off to as a freshman and the fact that new OL coach Herb Hand has had such a positive effect on the line collectively.
It's not like he has been playing against good opponents in individual matchups, and still Vahe is operating at his lowest snaps-per-disruption-allowed and/or penalty-caused clip of his career. Once every 20.86 snaps is about the same level as Denzel Okafor circa 2017, Zach Shackelford as a sophomore in 2016, and lower than the following uninspiring options from the 2015 season:
Marcus Hutchins, who is remembered as basically looking like a perennial turnstile: (22)
Tristan Nickelson, who is remembered is many of those same ways: (22.57)
Sedrick Flowers, who only graded out above the acceptability threshold of 75 FOUR TIMES out of his final 12 games: (24.63)
Vahe needs to play with better leverage, better balance and better eyes. He needs to keep his head up and his hands inside. He needs to finish blocks and show better motor. In short, he has a lot of improving to do and these games versus that patsies of the world like Tulsa should stand as jumping-off-points to this level of play. Unfortunately for all involved, that just isn't happening yet.
C Elijah Rodriguez - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 75.44
2 run-stuffs, 1 pressure allowed
SEASON: 20.86 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
Another serviceable week for Elijah Rodriguez, who, at this point, we might be able to say was somewhat unfairly maligned as a viable starting candidate due to the fact he looked so absolutely horrible at tackle when asked to play there in the bowl game versus Mizzou (and in spot duty during other parts of his Texas career like the UTEP game in 2016 where he allowed 3 sacks, a stuff and a TFL).
Rodriguez, filling in for the injured Zach Shackelford at center, again put together a game that isn't going to get him any Rimington trophies, but was at least suitable and, overall, not detrimental to a D1 game plan. In fact, Rodriguez has played at this level for every start he's made as a Longhorn that he played at one of the inside positions. With Shackelford returning to the fold soon, it will be interesting to see who within the first group gets displaced, if anyone, to make room for Shack.
At this point, Patrick Vahe should be considered as viable a candidate for demotion as Rodriguez based on what we've seen on film. Their s/dis numbers are exactly the same on the year and Rodriguez, to this point, has graded out almost exactly in line with Vahe.
RG Derek Kerstetter - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 77.06
1 run-stuff allowed
1 knockdown
SEASON: 26.5 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
With Rodriguez bumping in to center, it opened up the RG position for Kerstetter who had been relegated to second-team RT with the ascension through camp and Game 1 of RS FR Samuel Cosmi. Kerstetter stepped in and played a great game, improving on his abysmal showing in a RT-by-committee that Herb Hand employed at Maryland. The s/dis numbers improved to 1 act of disruption allowed and/or penalty caused every 12.67 snaps all the way up to 26.5 -- indicating fewer mistakes per snap than his 2017 numbers thus far.
Cosmi's rise at RT could be serendipitous for Kerstetter, who profiled more as an inside player coming out of high school. The right side of the Texas offensive line was clearly its strength in the run game versus Tulsa, and this was thanks to Kerstetter and Cosmi working in lock-step on combination blocks and executing near-perfect three-hand technique and climbing assignments to the second level. It was a joy to watch and felt like an oasis in the middle of a long desert that hasn't had such reprieves often lately.
If I'm Herb Hand, I don't separate those two guys over on the right side. As a tandem, they have something cooking that you don't want to mess with.
RT Samuel Cosmi
Deep Dig Grade: 81.44
No disruption allowed
3 knockdowns, 2 pin-blocks
SEASON: 118 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
Finally, the main event -- the big story. The lede was buried because we always break down the OL from left to right but Samuel Cosmi was the story of the day, and in a year that felt like it was going to be marked in history as the one where Calvin Anderson arrived to save the day, the history books will actually say that player was instead breakout RS freshman sensation Samuel Cosmi.
Since 2015, when the Deep Dig quit giving separate grades for the run-blocking and the pass-blocking portion of the game, only five performances (all by Connor Williams) have been in this range of grades: In 2016 versus Baylor (80.42), Tech (81.07) and Kansas (80.6) and in 2017 versus SJSU (84.7) and WVU (84.87). In short, it's the third-highest grade given in this new era of scoring and was a better performance than Connor Williams put on tape for his entire fantastic sophomore season.
Cosmi is, without a doubt, the best player on the Texas offensive line.
He's still got some growing to do in the strength department and the scary part is that he's already downright dominant, at least against mid-tier players like those that teams like Tulsa trot out. Unlike some teammates, he doesn't play down to his level of competition. The highlight-reel blocks are too many to separate out and create .gifs for, but those who honed in on watching Cosmi surely know what is being referenced. He opened up huge holes regularly in three different run-block concepts: inside zone, outside zone (a new pin-and-pull wrinkle introduced versus Tulsa), and of course in power. He keeps his hip pointers upfield in pass pro and his he stays within the cylinder with the weight of his body rarely getting overextended. He has as good a set of feet as most any player on offense, receivers aside.
Cosmi looks like a young Connor Williams to the eyeball test, and the numbers thus far tell the story that he's every bit as precocious. He's sure to stumble and take lumps at times, and it's virtually impossible to imagine that we won't regress through the season -- much like Calvin Anderson -- from the ridiculous snaps/disruption-allowed numbers he's currently sitting at. 118 snaps is video game-stuff (if they made video games about stuffy offensive line attribute-based performance metrics). The best on record since 2013 is Connor Williams of 2016 at 56.9.
Even if he has a tough game versus USC and a full-grown senior man Porter Gustin, Cosmi will be the next great NFL lineman to come out of Texas. He's on the Connor Williams trajectory and all of the requisite attributes which will lead to his success are easily and readily apparent.
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Game-by-Game Skill Player Participation Chart (Through Tulsa)
(total snaps on offense and % of total offensive snaps)
OL Thoughts and Grades
So often, offensive line play is blamed for Texas' recent lack of success in generating explosive offenses to keep up with the Joneses in the Big 12.
Not anymore.
If things do indeed go south, it will be time for fans, stake-holders, play-callers and head coaches to find a new scapegoat. We have now seen what this offensive line can be over two games including 60 minutes at home versus Tulsa.
Here, we'll chronicle it ...
LT Calvin Anderson - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 79.38
No disruption allowed
1 holding penalty
4 knockdowns
SEASON: 73 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
The tackle play versus Tulsa was outstanding. The best combination of two tackle performances in one game of all the Deep Dig era.
Anderson, who is sitting at an obscene 73 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused, will surely see that number regress to the recent mean around here, but his level of play aligns seamlessly with the evaluation we had on him coming in -- and surely the one that NFL scouts gave their feedback on following his senior year at Rice.
Because let's be honest: Calvin Anderson doesn't come to Texas as a graduate transfer if he was a hot commodity in the NFL draft post-2017. He came to Austin to elevate that status under a coach like Herb Hand in an offense projected to take the next step in Year 2 under Tom Herman. And while the offense as a whole hasn't yet shown it will, in fact, be taking that step, Hand has been everything expected and more. For once in what seems like an eternity, the OL is not the biggest worry on offense -- far from it, in fact. And along with this improvement, here we have Calvin Anderson who is on a trajectory to take himself from being the priority UDFA-type of prospect he graded as through five games studied from last season at Rice, to more of a later-round, but still draftable selection.
Anderson is much better in the pass pro portion of his game than he is as a run-blocker. It's not that he's not effective as a run-blocker but he's not as balanced and comfortable as he is getting back into his kick and mirroring pass-rushers when he's out in space needing to assert his will with the same level of leverage and balance.
Texas fans will take that, though. It's been pass protection that has been the glaring hole in the offensive game plan for so long. Average-to-above average play in the run-game will get things done at the D1 level in the Big 12 due to how spread out teams are and how many players they drop into coverage.
Where you get roasted as a player, coordinator or play-caller is when the defense only brings three or four guys and they can still get home. Welcome to our shared nightmare as fans and observers of the Texas program for the last near-decade. Having Anderson over at the left tackle thus far has felt like a layer of security similar to Connor Williams while healthy, although he's not as smooth, doesn't have the same feet or strength and is a lesser-caliber of talent by a good margin in the run-portion. But, you see, here, we're only talking about attributes, not effectiveness in the Big 12. As far as that goes, the left side as been as quiet as a church mouse to start the 2018 and attributes be damned, Texas fans will take it and hope it continues.
LG Patrick Vahe - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 75
2 run-stuffs, 2 QB hits allowed
1 knockdown
SEASON: 20.86 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
Tom Herman said at his availability on Monday morning that there were not many negative plays overall from the offensive line versus Tulsa and my hunch is that he didn't have Vahe under a microscope before making that statement.
Patrick Vahe officially needs to pick it up if he wants any chance at an NFL future -- in fact, he needs to pick it up if he simply doesn't want to be the weakest link on the entire Texas starting offensive line. It's feeling like stronger and strong deja vu to Kent Perkins' senior season at Texas. Every week, asking if this is going to be the one where he finally turns the corner and lives up to his potential on a consistent, play-after-play basis. It's hard to believe that's where we stand at this point in his senior season given the promising start he got off to as a freshman and the fact that new OL coach Herb Hand has had such a positive effect on the line collectively.
It's not like he has been playing against good opponents in individual matchups, and still Vahe is operating at his lowest snaps-per-disruption-allowed and/or penalty-caused clip of his career. Once every 20.86 snaps is about the same level as Denzel Okafor circa 2017, Zach Shackelford as a sophomore in 2016, and lower than the following uninspiring options from the 2015 season:
Marcus Hutchins, who is remembered as basically looking like a perennial turnstile: (22)
Tristan Nickelson, who is remembered is many of those same ways: (22.57)
Sedrick Flowers, who only graded out above the acceptability threshold of 75 FOUR TIMES out of his final 12 games: (24.63)
Vahe needs to play with better leverage, better balance and better eyes. He needs to keep his head up and his hands inside. He needs to finish blocks and show better motor. In short, he has a lot of improving to do and these games versus that patsies of the world like Tulsa should stand as jumping-off-points to this level of play. Unfortunately for all involved, that just isn't happening yet.
C Elijah Rodriguez - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 75.44
2 run-stuffs, 1 pressure allowed
SEASON: 20.86 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
Another serviceable week for Elijah Rodriguez, who, at this point, we might be able to say was somewhat unfairly maligned as a viable starting candidate due to the fact he looked so absolutely horrible at tackle when asked to play there in the bowl game versus Mizzou (and in spot duty during other parts of his Texas career like the UTEP game in 2016 where he allowed 3 sacks, a stuff and a TFL).
Rodriguez, filling in for the injured Zach Shackelford at center, again put together a game that isn't going to get him any Rimington trophies, but was at least suitable and, overall, not detrimental to a D1 game plan. In fact, Rodriguez has played at this level for every start he's made as a Longhorn that he played at one of the inside positions. With Shackelford returning to the fold soon, it will be interesting to see who within the first group gets displaced, if anyone, to make room for Shack.
At this point, Patrick Vahe should be considered as viable a candidate for demotion as Rodriguez based on what we've seen on film. Their s/dis numbers are exactly the same on the year and Rodriguez, to this point, has graded out almost exactly in line with Vahe.
RG Derek Kerstetter - 68 snaps
Deep Dig Grade: 77.06
1 run-stuff allowed
1 knockdown
SEASON: 26.5 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
With Rodriguez bumping in to center, it opened up the RG position for Kerstetter who had been relegated to second-team RT with the ascension through camp and Game 1 of RS FR Samuel Cosmi. Kerstetter stepped in and played a great game, improving on his abysmal showing in a RT-by-committee that Herb Hand employed at Maryland. The s/dis numbers improved to 1 act of disruption allowed and/or penalty caused every 12.67 snaps all the way up to 26.5 -- indicating fewer mistakes per snap than his 2017 numbers thus far.
Cosmi's rise at RT could be serendipitous for Kerstetter, who profiled more as an inside player coming out of high school. The right side of the Texas offensive line was clearly its strength in the run game versus Tulsa, and this was thanks to Kerstetter and Cosmi working in lock-step on combination blocks and executing near-perfect three-hand technique and climbing assignments to the second level. It was a joy to watch and felt like an oasis in the middle of a long desert that hasn't had such reprieves often lately.
If I'm Herb Hand, I don't separate those two guys over on the right side. As a tandem, they have something cooking that you don't want to mess with.
RT Samuel Cosmi
Deep Dig Grade: 81.44
No disruption allowed
3 knockdowns, 2 pin-blocks
SEASON: 118 snaps per disruption allowed and/or penalty caused
Finally, the main event -- the big story. The lede was buried because we always break down the OL from left to right but Samuel Cosmi was the story of the day, and in a year that felt like it was going to be marked in history as the one where Calvin Anderson arrived to save the day, the history books will actually say that player was instead breakout RS freshman sensation Samuel Cosmi.
Since 2015, when the Deep Dig quit giving separate grades for the run-blocking and the pass-blocking portion of the game, only five performances (all by Connor Williams) have been in this range of grades: In 2016 versus Baylor (80.42), Tech (81.07) and Kansas (80.6) and in 2017 versus SJSU (84.7) and WVU (84.87). In short, it's the third-highest grade given in this new era of scoring and was a better performance than Connor Williams put on tape for his entire fantastic sophomore season.
Cosmi is, without a doubt, the best player on the Texas offensive line.
He's still got some growing to do in the strength department and the scary part is that he's already downright dominant, at least against mid-tier players like those that teams like Tulsa trot out. Unlike some teammates, he doesn't play down to his level of competition. The highlight-reel blocks are too many to separate out and create .gifs for, but those who honed in on watching Cosmi surely know what is being referenced. He opened up huge holes regularly in three different run-block concepts: inside zone, outside zone (a new pin-and-pull wrinkle introduced versus Tulsa), and of course in power. He keeps his hip pointers upfield in pass pro and his he stays within the cylinder with the weight of his body rarely getting overextended. He has as good a set of feet as most any player on offense, receivers aside.
Cosmi looks like a young Connor Williams to the eyeball test, and the numbers thus far tell the story that he's every bit as precocious. He's sure to stumble and take lumps at times, and it's virtually impossible to imagine that we won't regress through the season -- much like Calvin Anderson -- from the ridiculous snaps/disruption-allowed numbers he's currently sitting at. 118 snaps is video game-stuff (if they made video games about stuffy offensive line attribute-based performance metrics). The best on record since 2013 is Connor Williams of 2016 at 56.9.
Even if he has a tough game versus USC and a full-grown senior man Porter Gustin, Cosmi will be the next great NFL lineman to come out of Texas. He's on the Connor Williams trajectory and all of the requisite attributes which will lead to his success are easily and readily apparent.
