Photo via AP
Texas football coach Tom Herman’s expectations remain the same even when so many things around him - and this world - have changed.
Herman made it clear the day he was hired that competing for championships would be the goal in his tenure. He has never shied away from that mission. When I interviewed Herman on Facebook Live earlier this year, he said there are still positive aspects to a season that does not involve competing in the title game. However, Herman reemphasized competing for championships is the ultimate goal.
It would be very easy for Herman to move the goalposts this offseason. His team never had a spring practice. His seven new assistant coaches spent most of this offseason working with players on Zoom. Players finally showed up for voluntary workouts in June. Texas has completed two weeks of training camp, and coaches are focused on getting players in shape. Longhorn players were forced to ride the emotional roller coaster this offseason. Nobody knew if the Big 12 would attempt to have a football season until this past week.
I asked Herman to describe his current definition of success during a Zoom call with the media after Saturday’s scrimmage. Was success just making it through this season? Keeping players engaged? Would Herman view a consolation prize as good enough? Nope.
Herman remains focused on winning a Big 12 championship.
“From now until whenever we leave here, hopefully, even after we leave here, the standard for success around here is competing for and winning Big 12 championships,” Herman said. “I've been on record many times stating if for some reason a team falls short of that, that doesn't by default mean that season was a failure by any stretch. I think there's a lot of good that can be drawn from every season. But around here, our standards and our sights are set on competing for a Big 12 championship. We've done that in our short time here.
“Taking the next step and winning the thing when we get there is certainly the goal this season, regardless of any roadblocks. Again, we have the same roadblocks everybody else does. That won't change throughout the course of the season. Our goals right now are as they always have been, which is to win a championship.”
There it is.
Herman could have downplayed the significance of a championship this season. Every college football observer expects some sort of interruption to college football this year due to COVID-19. Herman recently said running backs coach Stan Drayton and defensive coordinator Chris Ash would take over if he had the virus and was unable to coach, but nobody has talked about what might happen if multiple assistant coaches had to quarantine and could not be around the team. Heck, nobody knows if we make it to, or through, this season.
In fact, Oklahoma players recently returned to campus after coach Lincoln Riley sent them home, and we saw what happens when players leave their bubble on campus.
Even so, Herman is not willing to entertain any excuses.
“They're going to hand out a Big 12 championship trophy at the end of the season, as it's currently scheduled,” Herman said. “I think we all need to preface it with the asterisk. Our guys understand. It hasn't been difficult. These guys are eager to play. They understand that this inconvenience is not unique to the University of Texas. I think that calms a lot of apprehension and frustration because we realize that we're doing the same things as everybody else in the country, and are held to similar standards to everybody in the country.”
The challenge becomes more difficult this week.
According to the UT’s website, residence halls will open this week. It was easy to isolate players when they were the only students on campus. However, it remains to be seen whether players will keep their distance from other students this fall.
Plus, staff members must hope players avoid parties.
“I get the apprehension maybe of some, but I think upwards of 90 percent of our team is going to be taking online-only classes,” Herman said. “The guys that do live on campus have a pretty good setup in San Jacinto dorms, in terms of kind of being somewhat isolated. You can't isolate them completely because of NCAA rules, but you know they're going to be in as good a position as you can when it when it comes to interaction with the general public.
“Now, that's class time and dorm time. There's still a lot of other hours in the day, but I think our guys have proven that they understand and can execute the steps necessary to maintain the standards that we have to maintain. Now, it's just a matter of doing it diligently over the course of an entire semester.”
UT recently said it administered 153 COVID-19 tests between its five on-boarded teams over three weeks, and there were not any new positive tests. In addition, I recently reported Longhorn football players were allowed to return home for five days, and when they returned, nobody tested positive for COVID-19.
“I think it's been said by many people, but I'll say it again, the most mature, level-headed, rule-following team are going to be the ones that have the best opportunity to win at a very high level this season,” Herman said. “Our guys are completely bought into that fact. There isn't a whole lot of motivating.
“Prior to the Big 12 announcing their plans to move forward in an attempt to start the season, there was some, as with any massive uncertainty as we had floating around over [the previous] weekend, there was a lot of guys that needed some talking. Some assurances that this was going to be okay, that they didn't have to play if they didn't want to if they felt uncomfortable, but also if they did play, what was required if they chose to play. For the most part, our guys have bought into that, and it shows in their effort and attitude on the field.”
Everything around Herman has changed.
His definition of a successful season has not.
Herman remains focused on winning a Big 12 championship.
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1. Herman on his players self-policing and being safe once students return to campus: “Obviously, this isn't going away anytime soon. The newness is going to wear off at some point, and we've just got to maintain our diligence. But I've been really, really proud with our guy. In terms of the students coming back, I get the apprehension maybe of some, but I think upwards of 90 percent of our team is going to be taken online-only classes. The guys that do live on campus have a pretty good setup in San Jacinto dorms, in terms of kind of being somewhat isolated. You can't isolate them completely because of NCAA rules, but they're going to be in as good a position as you can when it comes to interaction with the general public. Now, that's class time and dorm time. There's still a lot of other hours in the day, but I think our guys have proven that they understand and can execute the steps necessary to maintain the standards that we have to maintain. Now it's just a matter of doing it diligently over the course of an entire semester.”
2. Herman on building the quarterback room and philosophy on managing transfers: “You got to bring in guys that you believe can start at an elite level and help you win championships, and we feel that we've done that. Let the best man win. Sometimes these guys have to understand there's a manner of patience that's involved at that position, too. I think, for the most part, the elite of the elite understand that. They've been playing this position for a long time, and they understand that, for the most part, you're only going to jog one guy out there for any extended period of time. Every single guy that we've recruited, signed, committed, whatever stage that we're in their recruitment, they all understand the level of competition necessary at that level, or at that position, as well as, the quality of a player that we're going to continue to bring in at that position. They're all eager to compete because I think they also understand that iron sharpens iron, and when you're competing against the best of the best, it makes you bring out the best in your game as well.”
3. Herman on evaluating recruits who may play this season: “Well, the way that recruiting is now, we're offering some guys after their freshman year, and especially their sophomore year. Obviously, there's one or two a year where it's going to take a great senior year for us to get a full evaluation on them. For the most part, our evaluation process has been pretty much completed, certainly for the 2021 class, for the most part, and 2022 even. You're talking about now a class of ‘23 guys that just finished their freshman year heading into their sophomore year. We've got plenty of time to evaluate them, but it does make it more difficult.”
4. In addition, this was a very interesting comment about Herman: “We've subscribed to more recruiting services this year than we have in years past to try to get maybe some combine footage on some guys here and there. For the most part, our evaluation, at least for those two classes, we’ve got most of that in. There’s still a few in 2020 we got to figure out a way to make a decision yea or nay on, but the class of 2021, we’ve pretty much evaluated the guys we were going to evaluate.”
5. Herman on getting 80 to 90 percent of his roster ready to play this year: “I think it's just a matter of being cognizant of it. For me, we have repped the threes, the third group, more in these first eight practices than we ever have. As a whole, ones up, twos up, threes up, and then a lot of those threes are getting rotated in with the twos. I think really in two main ways. The one, myself as the head coach, being cognizant of the fact that we just need set more blocks of time devoted to the third group. The second part of that is making sure that those guys rotate in with the ones and twos because the ones and twos need it, too, because of us not quite been in the shape that we're used to being in this time of year. Those guys have gotten some very valuable reps.”
6. Here is the weekly Sam Ehlinger love from PFF:
7. Hopefully, this was just a precautionary move and nothing serious for the former Longhorn
8. Apparently, there is a group of Big Ten parents fighting for their children to play football this season, and they are considering legal action, according to SI.com:
“Ultimately, this could be headed beyond players and parents voicing discontent and wind up where so many contentious issues do in America—in the land of lawyers. Prominent college sports attorney Tom Mars told SI that “several Big Ten players’ parents asked for help” in trying to find a way to play immediately. In response, Mars drew up a two-page document entitled, “Action Plan to Mitigate Concerns and Legal Risks of Playing Fall 2020 Football.” (Read that document here.)
“Mars said he shared the plan with at least two head coaches in the Big Ten, who in turn have passed it to parents of some players. The plan is based on four premises, the most important of which are getting all major stakeholders—players, parents, conference commissioners, university presidents, athletic directors and head coaches—to unite behind a petition to the NCAA to rescind its ban on liability waivers.”
9. It looks like George Foreman is getting his revenge on Muhammad Ali in his heavyweight rankings:
10. The best part of Max Verstappen’s victory last week was witnessing somebody actually win that was not driving for Mercedes. Do not get me wrong, I enjoy watching Lewis Hamilton and Valterri Bottas dominate - yes, I did watch the dramatic British Grand Prix ending a few weeks ago. However, it is good to see another driver sneak in there. As we get ready for the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, I want to see if Alex Albon can finish in the top four (starting at No.6). Albon’s ability to make up time every week has been impressive.
