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(From Anwar)
Most of the news surrounding Texas’ football team is bland this time ofyear.
Players are in the midst of summer workouts, meaning there really is not a lot of team news to support. Strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight is working on getting his players ready for training camp and the upcoming season. The summer is about getting physically ready for the upcoming season as opposed to executing plays and climbing up the depth chart. Under Texas football coach Tom Herman, players do not fall behind or get ahead during summer workouts. Instead, Herman focuses more on the performances of his players in the spring and fall. It is a change from how depth charts were determined in the past, but a process Herman is very comfortable with.
From what I can tell, everyone within the program is more than comfortable with grad transfer left tackle Calvin Anderson.
The former Rice offensive lineman recently in arrived in Austin, and I wanted to know how what kind of shape Anderson was in as he joined the team. Anderson attended multiple practices during the spring before he enrolled this summer. When I saw Anderson at spring practice, he was glued to offensive line coach Herb Hand with a playbook in his hand. Anderson wanted to hit the ground running this summer, and I could tell he was mentally focused.
However, Texas fans will be happy to know Anderson has been physically focused, too.
From what I was told, Anderson showed up to summer workouts in “great” shape. Anderson was forced to work out on his own for most of this offseason after making the decision to leave Rice, and he clearly did not take his offseason workouts lightly at all.
Even though Anderson posted a workout video on Twitter earlier this year, it was not for show. He was serious.
Right now, nobody knows where Anderson is when it comes to his knowledge of the playbook. Texas is not running plays during summer workouts, which means it’s hard to know where Anderson stands playbook wise.
That being said, Anderson hit campus in shape and could endure McKnight’s strenuous workouts, which probably means he spent time studying Texas’ offensive playbook this offseason.
Anderson is expected to fill the void left by Connor Williams, who decided to skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Williams became a second-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in April, and some NFL observers believe Anderson has a future on the next level. However, before we get too far ahead, Anderson’s main job is to anchor an offensive line that has been a weakness for several years.
Texas gave up 32 sacks last season, tying Iowa State and Oklahoma State for most in the Big 12. Quarterbacks Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger were left unprotected on several occasions, which made it easy for opposing defenses to rough them up. In addition, the offensive line struggled in run blocking, which contributed to a very unproductive season for Herman’s running backs.
After last season, Herman reassigned Derek Warehime and hired Hand, former offensive line coach at Auburn. Herman also made it a priority to obtain Anderson because he desperately needed help on the offensive line.
Herman was asked about the expectation Anderson would replace Williams this past spring and was hesitant to place lofty expectations on his grad transfer.
“That’s tough for him, and really the guys that are out there competing,” Herman previously said. “He’s out there in shorts and a t-shirt with a script trying to learn the offense, and the rest of the offensive linemen are out there working their tails off. That’s the normal in today’s media climate, I guess, but it’s not fair to him, it’s not fairto the rest of the offensive line, but we’re excited to have him, and we’re excited that a guy that is not going to be here until June can be out here for some of these practices and watching and trying to learn.”
Anderson may have stepped into a good situation.
Four out of five starting offensive linemen for Texas will likely be upperclassmen this season. Right tackle Derek Kerstetter is a sophomore, but right tackle Elijah Rodriguez is a senior, center Zach Shackelford is a junior, left guard Patrick Vahe is a senior, while Anderson is a grad transfer. The incumbents should have the advantage of being physically developed after being overpowered for multiple years.
Again, we will have to see what happens this season.
For now, Texas fans need to know Anderson hit the ground running, and everyone associated with the program is happy about his physical condition during offseason workouts.
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Outside of Anderson, there are some other things you should know about summer workouts.
Summer conditioning will end five days before the team reports on August 2.
In addition, there have been several questions about seven-on-seven workouts, and I do have an answer for you.
Players are currently participating in seven-on-seven workouts, and as always, it is voluntary and player-led.
I spoke to a person associated with the program about summer workouts and was told, “All appears to be going well in the leadership of that.”
Again, it is important to remember that Herman views seven-on-seven differently than what Texas fans are used to.
I pointed this out in a previous War Room, but this is what I was told about summer workouts: “Very similar to before spring practice. Position specific conditioning. The only difference will be the running. It will be much more run and conditioning specific. A little more scientific about getting faster, quicker, and getting in shape.”
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I wanted to get a recruiting gauge from a few people in the building this week after a weekend of highs and lows.
Texas has been very successful in out-of-state recruiting this year, but have seen coveted in-state prospects commit to other schools recently.
From I was told, the people associated with the program still feel great about recruiting.
“There is a loooong time before now and signing day, so I wouldn’t overreact to anything this early,” I was told.
When Charlie Strong was at Texas, he would always refer to verbal commits as players “making reservations,” but said his staff would do everything it could to flip those players. It appears Herman’s staff is not willing to accept defeat when it comes to in-state players.
For those who missed Ketch’s column on Sunday, let me quote an important part of his write-up:
The number of available top-shelf blue-chip prospects in the state of Texas is dwindling quickly. Of the top 20 in-state prospects, here is who remains uncommitted.
#5 Richmond Bush CB Erick Young
#7 Houston St. Pius X DB Jalen Curry
#8 Cedar Hill Trinity Christian DB Lewis Cine
#15 Houston Mayde Creek DE Marcus Stripling
#19 Fort Worth Eaton WR Titus Swen
#20 Fort Bend Ridge Point DE Nelson Ceasar
Sixty-five percent of the top 20 players in the state are already committed. Two are Longhorns. Texas will likely land another name or two from the list of names above, but I'm not telling you something you don't already know when I tell you that the in-state recruiting success of 2019 isn't the same as that of 2018.
It's a good thing the out of state recruiting is at an elite level because it would be a problem if it wasn't.
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(From Suchomel)
I touched on the commitment of wide receiver Jake Smith in my 3-2-1 column earlier this week, but a few more notes of interest on the speedster wide receiver.
Texas won out over Southern Cal in this one, and it was an incredible recruiting job by the Texas staff when you factor in that USC was Smith’s stated dream school and early on, most people had him pegged to stay out West. According to Smith’s father, Jamie Smith, it was the relationships with and trust in guys like Bryan Carrington, Tim Beck, Tom Herman and Drew Mehringer that really stood out.
“Love them. I love them,” Mr. Smith said of the UT staff. “The hardest part about the whole recruiting process, you’re trying to figure out in a short period of time who you can place your son with, who you can trust, who will raise him those four years he was in school. Overwhelmingly, they proved to me they were the right people for that, both in football and off the field.”
High praise right there …
I asked Mr. Smith where Jake got his athleticism. He jokingly said it all comes from him, but noted that his wife may argue. Interestingly, Mr. Smith said Jake has a younger brother who is about to start his freshman year of high school, and he’s on a very similar talent level as Jake at this age. Too early to offer?
“Myself personally, I was a good athlete, but never an elite athlete. More of a baseball guy. He (younger son) is right there with Jake too. Maybe just a hair slower, but athletically he’s right there with Jake when he was in that grade,” Mr. Smith said.
The family is planning to return to Austin for the USC game in September and may hit the Texas-OU game if they can work it in with their sports schedules.
A little background on what type of Smith is. His film and his 4.37 speed speak for itself, but he’s also a very skilled baseball player and now a very skilled lacrosse player. Mr. Smith said Jake played shortstop on the varsity baseball his freshman year, but decided to give it up since he felt lacrosse would help him more with his football career since there’s some carryover in the skills necessary to play those two sports. In talking to people at his school, he’s now a very talented lacrosse player (including scoring three goals in the state championship game last month).
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Richmond George Ranch defensive end Peter Mpagi attended Tuesday’s UT mini-camp hoping to make a strong enough impression on the Texas coaches that he would draw consideration for an offer. Following the camp, Mpagi said he felt good about his showing.
“It was fun. I was being a leader like they want me to be. They said I impressed them, so I did the best I could,” Mpagi said.
After the camp, Mpagi got to talk to Tom Herman, who told him he’d be in touch later in the week to let Mpagi where things stand.
“He said he was really impressed by me and said he’s going to talk to me in two or three days. It’s a process here, so I’m just relaxing right now,” Mpagi said.
The 6-5, 220-pound Mpagi has been pretty open about his strong feelings for Texas. His sister ran track at UT before transferring to Rice and Mpagi said he grew up watching the Longhorns.
“They’re my childhood ream school. I always grew up watching them. I know everyone on the team, I’m updated on everything. I like the city of Austin,” Mpagi said. “That’s why they’re high on my radar.”
Mpagi came in early, before the camp, and spent a couple hours getting to speak with people in the academic department, taking photos and generally just enjoying the day. If Texas does offer, look for the Longhorns to shoot up his list. Mpagi is very high on Washington after having taken a recent visit there, and Stanford is also being strongly considered (he’ll visit there this summer).
“They would probably be number one. They’d be ahead of Washington,” Mpagi said of a potential UT offer.
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Aside from Smith’s Sunday night commitment, the big story this week was the Tuesday visit of Houston North Forest offensive lineman Javonne Shepherd. Texas made a very strong impression on Shepherd once again. He got a lot of time with Herb Hand, met with Tom Herman and spent a lot of time with Bryan Carrington while he observed the camp.
“What stood out is the talk with coach Tom Herman in his office with all the other coaches. It might be home, that’s what I’m thinking. It was good,” Shepherd said. “He just talked about me, not just football. He talked more about me.”
The Longhorns are in the driver’s seat with this one following Tuesday’s visit.
“Right now, they stand number one with me, Texas,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd said on Tuesday that he probably would not be visiting A&M this weekend but left the door open a bit on that one. He did say he plans to visit Georgia, LSU and Alabama in the near future. He added that he’d like to take his official visits in the fall, but in listening to Shepherd talk about his visit, it wouldn’t be a complete shock if he shut things down before gets to those other visits. Texas has really done a good job with this one (Shepherd said the coaches are his favorite part of UT) and built strong relationships, including Hand.
“Coach Herb Hand, he’s always upfront on how you do things,” Shepherd said. “He was just talking to me about who I am and mainly football stuff.”
There was some speculation that a couple outside factors – Kenyon Green’s commitment to Texas A&M and Shepherd’s girlfriend getting into UT - could influence Shepherd’s decision, but he downplayed the significance of those two elements.
“That’s his decision,” Shepherd said of Green. “My decision is just me. We’re two different people. That’s where he feels best at.”
As for his girlfriend going to UT … “Not even one bit,” Shepherd said when I asked if it will impact his process. “I mean, it’s my girlfriend, but that’s her choice. We are two different people. She’s my girlfriend and all, but that doesn’t mean I’m coming to school because you’re hear. That’s your choice.”
After all that, he did add that “it’s possible” that they both wind up at Texas.
Texas continues to make a hard charge here and Tuesday’s visit definitely strengthened the Longhorns’ position atop his list.
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Round Rock Cedar Ridge wide receiver and Baylor commitment Jaylen Ellis picked up a recent UT offer, and he was on the Texas campus on Tuesday for an unofficial visit. I exchanged a couple texts with Ellis, who said it was another enjoyable trip to the Forty Acres.
“I loved being there. Always excites me every time,” Ellis said.
Texas talked to Ellis about how he’d be used at the Z (outside) receiver spot.
“I’d be getting those deep balls, which I am good at,” Ellis said.
Ellis has set a TCU official visit for next weekend and continues to explore his options despite his longtime Baylor pledge. This one just makes too much sense … if Texas pushes for a commitment, I fully expect the Longhorns to win out.
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Texas offered Alvin cornerback Marques Caldwell about a month ago and Caldwell has the Longhorns very high on his list despite him being an early Oregon commitment.
The long, rangy corner told us via text that he’ll visit Texas on Tuesday, and that’s certainly a situation to watch closely. In talking to Caldwell a couple times since he picked up his Texas offer, the odds of Texas flipping his commitment are very, very strong. We’ll see.
