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The person who announces last call during a burnt orange Kool-Aid party is similar to that kid who reminded your teacher he or she forgot to assign homework five minutes before the final bell on Friday.
This is supposed to be a great time of year. A time for hope and optimism about the upcoming season. Texas is ranked 18th in the USA Today Coaches Poll. One coach was bold or sarcastic enough to rank Texas first in their poll. ESPN’s Football Power Index predicted Texas would be favored in 11 of 12 games this season. This is the time of year to dream big, talk about competing for a Big 12 Championship, and believing Texas is about to embark on football success.
Then our sources began telling us earlier this week that Hudson Card and Quinn Ewers were struggling in practice. It was the first “uh oh” moment of the offseason. On Saturday, the OB staff began compiling one of the most depressing scrimmage practice reports in my nine years of covering this team. Heck, there was nothing negative about Tyrone Swoopes being ahead of Shane Buechele in training camp several years ago. At least the scrimmage reports were positive. I wish we had more positive things to report this week. Instead, @Suchomel , @Ketchum , and I were drawing straws to see determine who would become the most unpopular mod and post our team report. Luckily, Ketch was not worried about losing his last place ranking and stepped in.
We are less than three weeks away from the season opener and nobody wants to freak out after one scrimmage. Texas still has two scrimmages remaining. However, Saturday was a not-so-gentle reminder about how every Longhorn observer needs to approach the upcoming season.
Proceed with caution.
We know this season will likely have challenges. Longhorn fans were not forced to deal with that reality until Saturday. All of the reports were positive. We talked about players moving up the depth chart. Guys who stood out in practice. And we heard how a second year in the system was benefiting players on offense and defense.
I always say the easiest season to win is the offseason. It is nothing but sunshine and rainbows, from high school to the pros. Every team talks about how the chemistry has improved. Every team talks about the benefits of new coaching staff additions. Every team says this season feels different than last year. However, every team does not have a winning season.
Ewers struggling on Saturday is understandable.
Card struggling is disappointing.
Ewers is a redshirt freshman who has barely participated in live situations since his junior season in high school. He decided to skip his senior year of high school and eventually attended Ohio State before transferring to Texas. Ewers never participated in live scrimmages at Ohio State. Saturday was the most live reps Ewers has seen since high school. If you take a step back, Ewers’ performance makes sense.
That is why Ewers throwing a pick-six during Saturday’s scrimmage is forgivable. Ewers is still learning. And he may not have the benefit of sitting and learning Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian’s offense like many young quarterbacks. That means growing pains this season.
Remember Sam Ehlinger’s freshman season?
That was rough to watch at times. We knew Ehlinger would eventually develop into a good quarterback. Nevertheless, some of his games as a freshman were hard to watch. Remind yourself of Ehlinger as the season approaches.
Card is another story.
This is his third season as a college quarterback and second in Sarkisian’s system. Ideally, Card should be well ahead of Ewers in this quarterback competition. We should be hearing reports of Card turning heads in practice. Instead, Card’s performance during Saturday’s scrimmage was similar to his output in the same practice setting last season. Card began receiving first-team reps after that scrimmage and was eventually named the starter.
Sarkisian must decide which quarterback has more upside – and hope it does not blow up in his face like Arkansas last season.
Of course, if this offensive line struggles the way it did on Saturday, it may not matter who wins the quarterback battle.
To be fair, most defenses are usually ahead of offenses around this time in training camp. Offenses are trying to perfect plays. Defenses simply need to read and react. And it is easy to read and react when you know exactly what play the offense is running.
We know freshman offensive lineman Kelvin Banks is the real deal. Our staff was told Banks had multiple bright moments during the scrimmage. Overall, we were informed that no matter the lineup, that offensive line struggled. Once again, it was a reminder that even though the future may be bright because of the talented freshman offensive linemen on campus, assistant coach Kyle Flood may be forced to make the best casserole possible this season with the ingredients at his disposal.
I would love to be excited about the defensive performance on Saturday. The defense dominated. It would be great to give defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski props for solving all the problems that plagued his unit last season.
Those with Longhorn PTSD were probably trigged on Saturday because that was the same praise this defense received last season before being ranked 100th in the country out of 130 teams. I do not blame you for taking a wait-and-see approach.
It was not entirely bad.
Roschon Johnson went down during the scrimmage and was carted off the field. That is usually the first indication that a player has sustained a significant injury. On a bright note, Jaydon Blue stepped in and played extremely well.
Texas receiver Isaiah Neyor sustained an injury but Casey Cain had a very productive day. Plus, we already know Texas has a solid group of receivers.
Here are two other positives notes I received on Saturday night.
“[Jaylon] Guilbeau had a really nice play on J-Whitt [Jordan Whittington] at the end. Disrupted the pass.
“[Keondre] Coburn looked good. I think the reason he starts is how loud he is. He communicates really well. Definitely a leader on the defense.
“RB and WR are golden. (Need Rojo and Neyor back for good measure) but I mean these position groups are just ridiculous with talent.
“Jaydon Blue and [Jonathon] Brooks played really well today along with Casey Cain getting a ton of action. Troy Omiere had a few nice catches."
“[Ja’Tavion] Sanders and Juan Davis are badasses. They both run with Rojo power and do not back down.
“Obviously, it doesn’t matter if the o-line and QB suck but Sark was definitely going crazy with passing today as 80% of the plays were pass plays so he knows (hopefully).”
It was just one scrimmage.
Maybe it is a sign of things to come.
Maybe it was a teachable moment that will lead to success this year.
We are less than three weeks away from the season opener
Proceed with caution.
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
A hard day at work
He was ignored more than a parent that shows up at their child’s high school
Somebody should worry about final cuts
Every parent knows this - never ask kids questions unless you want a brutally honest answer
This is more dumb than funny (he somehow lived)
Sports On A Dime
(Theses quotes from players were before Saturday's scrimmage. Sarkisian will address the media on Monday.)
1. Jordan Whittington on strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton’s approach to getting the receiver ready for the season and helping him stay healthy: “I would say the difference would be more mobility, not as much strength and stuff like that because I had a lot of operations. So, just staying open, staying loose, and staying mobile is something that we worked on, and we do it with the whole team, so everyone was more fluent with their movements. That’s really important.”
As a follow-up, Whittington was asked if that was an adjustment considering he began lifting weights at a young age.
“When I was growing up, I was lifting. When I was 10 years old, I was bench pressing. It helped, in a way. But, most of football is movement and being explosive. I think that's more of what we do here. More explosiveness than just powerlifting strength.
2. Texas edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo’s response when asked about potential breakout players on this year’s team: “I always say Jaylan Ford. Jaylan Ford is definitely one of them. I love the way he plays. The way he comes downhill, his improvement from last year. Anthony Cook, again would be one. Also, Big Murph. Byron Murphy is another one. Every day, just consistent, unblockable.”
3. Oghoufo on Jaray Bledsoe and J’Mond Tapp: “First of all, Dre has like incredible twitch. Like amazing twitch. He comes off the ball and his inside swim, outside swim, his ability to just put his foot in the ground and go the other direction has been amazing. Tapp is like a sponge. He's understanding it every day, getting better, better, and better. Long, athletic. That's kind of what I've been seeing out of the two. Impressed, for sure.”
4. Texas receiver Xavier Worthy on having more pass-catching help this season: “J-Whit [Jordan Whittington], Isaiah [Neyor], everybody, Tarique [Milton]. I feel like the receiver room has gotten way better. It should be a great season for the receivers room.”
5. Worthy on freshman receivers Savion Red and Brenen Thompson: “Savion is explosive. He’s got sharp cuts, routes. Brenen, speed like that brand. They both are bringing two different dynamics to the room. They’re going to help out a lot this year.”
6. Texas defensive back Anthony Cook on the one aspect of Morice Blackwell Jr.’s game that has improved during the transition from linebacker to safety: “I’ll just say covering ability. You don't do a lot of that at linebacker and I've seen him grow a lot in that aspect of it. He's always been a great tackler. Something he’s really good at but the biggest thing is covering guys.”
7. The easiest thing to do is give up on Texas receiver Agiye Hall because of the mistakes he has made. However, many of us did dumb things as teenagers and our early 20s that could have altered our destinies if someone had not given us a second, third, fourth, or fifth chance. I do not know how his story will end. However, I hope Hall finds a way to overcome his mistakes and emerges into a success story as opposed to the alternative.
8. If I was advising Arch Manning, I would tell the young man to enjoy his senior season and we’ll see you on the 40 Acres in the summer of 2023. The Mannings want to redshirt Arch and it is unlikely he will beat out Quinn Ewers as a freshman next season. Arch should enjoy playing football, basketball, homecoming, prom, and spending time with his friends. He has the rest of his life to deal with the stress of being an adult.
9. Just imagine if Quinn Ewers is a more accurate passer this season than Casey Thompson.
10. This is for the old-school basketball fans
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