(Ketch)
We'll start where we know you want us to start, which is with the continued discussion of Tom Herman's immediate job security following Saturday's fairly historic win on the road against Oklahoma State.
I asked one high-level source on Thursday about the near-universal silence that has existed this week after a month of anything but silence.
"Nothing has changed," the source said. "We have to make a decision for the Texas football program when the season is over and what happened in Stillwater, honestly, it represents only a portion of what Chris (Del Conte) will consider when he makes that decision. The whole of the season will be considered. The whole of these four years will be considered. Where we are as a program in recruiting will be considered."
The next two questions I asked focused on the following:
a. What happens if Herman wins out and plays in a Big 12 championship?
b. What aspect of recruiting would matter the most in such an evaluation?
"Everyone here wants to win championships, so if Texas wins the Big 12 this year, that would mean he's reached the minimum bar that we hired him to reach. That's what we want. You want to know what would make Del Conte happy? A program that's is generating excitement and winning championships. Getting to the Big 12 championship game alone is not what he was hired to produce by the end of year four. As for recruiting, we need to start seeing players like (Tommy) Brockermeyer and Quinn (Ewers) committing to us and staying with us. (We'll) need to see some proof."
When I asked about the difficulty of creating immediate recruiting momentum out of thin air over the course of the next six weeks, both with the 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes, the source was pretty blunt about the expectations.
"If he can't create momentum after he's won a Big 12 title, when would he ever create it?"
The bottom line that seems to continue to exist is that Herman's pathway is very narrow. Multiple sources within the program reported this week that a loss to West Virginia would be a crusher and unlike in 2017, Texas isn't waiting until the season is over to explore its options (Urban Meyer) with the possibility of change looming. As long as Herman and this team continue the current win streak, expect to hear radio silence from behind the scenes. If and when this team falls back into the world of the unranked and Big 12 roadkill, the silence will quickly disappear.
Finally, I asked the source about the program making the Big 12 championship game, but ultimately coming up short in the pursuit of a Big 12 title, which would leave Texas at possibly 8-3 (which might project to 10-3 with a full schedule), the source was once again blunt.
"We don't pay him to go 8-3 and finish second."
Ok, then.
*****
(From Anwar)
Texas has been forced to change its running backs strategy.
The Longhorn staff preferred to rotate three running backs this season prior to a win against Oklahoma State on Saturday. Keaontay Ingram, Roschon Johnson, Bijan Robinson, and not always in that order. Johnson started in the season opener against UTEP and rushed eight times for 38 yards and one touchdown, while Ingram had nine carries for 44 yards. Ingram started against Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma. Robinson has started in the past two games (Baylor and Oklahoma State).
Prior to this season, I was told Texas would not have a lead running back until one person in the group emerged as the main guy, and that has been evident throughout this season.
Ingram has rushed 53 times for 255 yards and one touchdown (4.7 yards per carry) this season, Johnson has 42 carries for 202 yards and two touchdowns (4.6 YPC), while Robinson compiled 39 carries for 189 rushing yards (4.6 YPC). Robinson rushed 13 times for 66 yards during a win against Oklahoma State this past Saturday.
Yet, Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger is the team’s leading rusher with 284 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns. Ehlinger previously led the team in rushing with 381 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman in 2017.
In addition, Texas currently has the Big 12’s fifth-ranked rushing offense (165 yards per game).
Prior to Oklahoma State, Texas offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich explained why he preferred to rotate three running backs instead of relying on one primary runner.
“If there’s obvious separation between the competition there, I think playing one over the other one has its advantages as long as you know everything else is equal,” Yurcich said. “Obviously, we want to play all three. We feel that all three are capable, and when they're fresh they're most effective.”
That is about to change.
According to my sources, Texas intends to lean on Robinson and Johnson due to Ingram’s high-ankle sprain, which will keep him on the sidelines for an undetermined amount of time. Ingram’s injury does not require surgery, but Texas football coach Tom Herman did not share a timetable for the return of his running back during his press conference on Tuesday.
However, Robinson and Johnson will split carries, and the Longhorns do not intend to use a third running back anytime soon.
I thought Ingram’s injury could mean grad transfer running back Gabriel Watson would be in the mix for playing time. Watson, along with receiver Brenden Schooler, was pursued my multiple major programs as grad transfers prior to this season.
The former Sioux Falls running back led Division II football with 1,957 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns (both single-season school records), but a hamstring injury prevented him from playing the majority of last season. When Watson entered the transfer portal during the summer, Longhorn staff members reached out to him after watching his college film.
Here is what I reported in August:
“According to my sources, Watson provides the Longhorns with depth for a room that takes a constant beating. I was told the concern about running backs missing games due to traditional pounding that occurs, coupled with the uncertainty of players being quarantined due to the coronavirus, Watson’s role is to provide depth.
“In fact, I learned Watson informed the staff he was not concerned about his spot on the depth chart. Instead, Watson wanted to practice a major college facility, contribute when his name is called, and get ready for the NFL draft. Texas gives Watson to opportunity to stay in shape for the NFL.
“Watson could sit out this year and return for 2021. However, I was told nobody is thinking that far ahead right now.”
It does not appear much has changed.
According to my sources, Watson will be the emergency running back against West Virginia on Saturday, but is not expected to be in the mix for playing time.
Why?
From what I have gathered, Watson is still adjusting to the competition level at a Division I program, which is why he was fourth-string when Texas had three healthy running backs. Considering this staff loves to rotate players, Watson’s lack of playing team likely means he has not emerged into a major college running back. There are only four games remaining in the season, and Watson is not in the mix for playing time at running back.
Nevertheless, Watson will suit up this weekend, and is expected to travel if Ingram is unable to play against Kansas on November 21. In addition, Watson is in the mix to play on special teams against West Virginia.
Also, it does not appear the Longhorns are interested in D’Shawn Jaminson returning to running back.
Jaminson saw limited action as a freshman running back in 2018. He had two rushes for 14 yards and one reception for three yards in the 24-17 road win over Kansas. He finished the season with four carries. However, I was told everyone inside the building wants Jaminson to focus on defense and special teams.
Lastly, I was not told whether Robinson or Johnson would receive the multitude of reps against West Virginia. Nevertheless, the smart money is on Robinson, who had five carries for 43 rushing yards in the first quarter against Oklahoma State.
For what it is worth, Robinson has out-performed every other 5-star running back in the 2021 class this season.
Georgia’s Kendall Milton has 29 carries for 165 rushing yards. TCU’s Zach Evans has 11 carries this season for 98 yards and one touchdown. Clemson’s Demarkcus Bowman is transferring to Florida, while South Carolina’s MarShawn Lloyd is not playing this season due to an ACL injury.
I will keep you posted.
*****
Not only was Texas forced to adjust its running back rotation this week, but practices were altered as well.
The NCAA mandated that student-athletes be given Election Day off to vote. Clearly, the NCAA could have given teams an option to participate in early voting, which ran from Oct. 13 to October 30. If given that option, football players could have voted during the bye week after the Red River Showdown. Instead, Election Day was a mandatory day off.
Of course, that meant Texas needed to alter its practice week this week prior to an important game against West Virginia.
Here is what occurred.
Sunday was lift day for the players with no on-the-field activities. Champions were announced during a meeting with players that day, followed by position meetings to wrap-up Oklahoma State. Players were dismissed around 5:30 p.m., and I was told the staff spent at least five hours working on a West Virginia game plan.
From what I was told, coaches arrived in the office around 6 a.m. and spent the day working on a game plan before practice later the day.
“We did not practice on Sunday to give our coaches a little extra time on Sunday the game plan and then had to really, really, be efficient with our work yesterday on Monday to get in here early and get a first and second-down game plan on all sides of the ball, ready to go for a practice yesterday evening, which our kids responded really, really, well to the change in schedule,” Texas football coach Tom Herman said on Tuesday.
Herman might be correct, but I heard Monday’s practice was challenging.
According to sources that witnessed practice on Monday, players needed more encouragement than usual at the beginning. One person I spoke with believed it was due to the change of routine this week.
“By no means was it a bad practice,” I was told. “It was just different.”
That being said, the practices after Monday were much better, according to my sources.
*****
Texas Jack DE Joseph Ossai on playing through shoulder pain this season
“I don't really like talk about pain because I feel like it's all mental. There's a lot of going on saying that your body can go through a lot more than what you think it can. It just depends on you telling yourself to keep going. So, I understand that pain is there. I do, but I always try to get myself to push through it. I can't really tell you how much I'm playing through, but I do know that the training staff here is phenomenal. They are doing all they can. I respect them so much. I respect all of them. The rehab I was able to do on my shoulder to get me even give me close to functional for the game, that was great. I'm very thankful to them for them.”
Ta’Quon Graham on his team possibly being written off too soon
“I feel like people wrote us off too soon. That's something I'm kind of angry about or salty about that. People were writing this off after two losses. Like I said before, that 2018 team had two losses in conference as well, and we made it to the Big 12 championship game. As a team as a whole, we've always believed in ourselves. We really didn't listen to all the people on the outside saying that Texas is the back. What are they doing? Is there division in a locker room? All this stuff that we're hearing after these two losses. It was a bunch of stuff being thrown at us, and I felt like we handled that pretty well. I felt like going to that bye week, the things that we worked on definitely has paid off. We've won these back-to-back games. I feel we’re going to keep this rolling and build off of that.”
Jake Smith’s response when asked if he considered playing lacrosse in college
“I never considered it instead of football. I definitely for a brief period of time considered playing both and trying to do that, but in the end, football is my dream. It's my dream to play football at the highest level. I figured that playing lacrosse might take up too much of my time to do that. I definitely miss it. It's an awesome sport. So much fun to play. At this level, I don't think that it would be beneficial to me to try balance both sports. If I were to do that, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have ended up here at Texas. If I decided to play lacrosse, too, I would have gone to an east coast school where lacrosse is big. I'm definitely happy with my decision to just stick with football.”
*****
(From Suchomel)
Texas linebacker target Terrence Cooks is nearing a decision date, with the Shadow Creek standout expected to announce his decision in a little less than two weeks, on November 4.
Cooks told us this week he’s down to four schools - Texas, Georgia, Baylor and LSU.
His thoughts on what stands out with his four finalists …
Texas – “Just coach Coleman (Hutler), everything he does, what Texas is about when I went on visits to Texas.”
Georgia – “Georgia is SEC ball. SEC linebacker U. A school like that, there’s nothing more you really can say. It’s SEC linebacker U.”
Baylor – “The have a defensive genius, Dave Aranda there, doing his thing. As a player, you have to respect the coach and what he’s talking about.”
LSU – “It’s just LSU. It’s just LSU. There’s nothing more you can really say. If you’re a southern boy, from down south, LSU is the pinnacle of South football.”
Cooks has talked very highly of Hutzler throughout his recruitment. He’s mentioned to me more than once how Hutzler has also struck up a good relationship with his family and when I asked him again this week what he likes about Hutzler, it was how the first-year defensive assistant has made Cooks and his family feel at home.
“He’s such a charismatic person. Once you get to know him, you can’t help but to like him,” Cooks said. “Unlike some people, he actually made a connection with my parents. He wasn’t trying to do it just because of football, it’s like everything was natural for him. If that’s how he was in real life – let’s say I wasn’t a recruit, he would still try to be cool with us. It just felt like family.”
Coming into the season, Cooks said he wanted to see the defenses at places like Texas and LSU since they were both breaking in new coordinators. The Longhorns took some lumps early but have won a couple games, while LSU has fallen off a cliff from last year’s performances. Cooks said he hears the criticisms, but he feels both schools – especially Texas – are hitting their stride.
“I hate when people think that. Texas, actually they both have new defensive systems. Plus they had to deal with COVID. You can’t judge when they weren’t able to coach their kids in person,” Cooks said. “You need spring ball to implement a new defense, and they had no spring.
“(Texas) told me from day one, it was going to be a rough patch, but they knew they can win. It just took their kids to feel at home and adjust in a new defensive system. And you can see, he’s putting all them in perfect situations to show their abilities. Now they’re starting to take route.”
Cooks did maintain that he’s still undecided and wide open among all four of his finalists. The guess here is that his mind is all but made up, and after talking to him, I still feel pretty good about UT’s chances due to his relationship with Hutzler and the defensive product Texas is putting on the field. He also mentioned academics as being a deciding factor, which should also weigh in UT’s favor.
We’re a little less than a week and a half out on this one, and while it doesn’t feel like the near lock it once did, Texas still seems to be the team to beat coming down the stretch.
******
It’s been pretty quiet on the LJ Johnson front, but a few of you asked if the recent Texas A&M commitment from running back Amari Daniels might impact the Aggies’ chances with Johnson.
In checking around this week, I don’t think it does.
From what I was told, Johnson and Daniels, a Rivals250 member out of Miami, actually met at an A&M camp at some point, and the two have had communication since that time, including talking about the possibility of playing together.
Johnson remains a priority target for A&M, and it sounds like A&M is selling him on the chance to come in and play alongside Daniels to lessen the wear and tear on Johnson’s body. Sub Bijan Robinson (or Jonathon Brooks) for Daniels and Texas is almost certainly doing the same.
Johnson and those close to him have gone quiet of late so it’s hard to get a clear read on what he’s thinking, but the confidence on A&M’s side has certainly gone up from where it was late in the summer. Most of that is probably based on A&M playing well on the field combined with Texas’ early struggles, but people who were once conceding Johnson to Texas now feel the Aggies have a legitimate shot here.
With so many unknowns and rumors surrounding the Texas program right now in terms of coaching instability, it’s hard to make any real concrete predictions with this one, but to answer the initial question that some of you posed, it does not sound like A&M’s commitment from Daniels will have a detrimental effect on the Aggies’ chances.
******
It’s similarly quiet with defensive lineman Shemar Turner.
The Rivals250 member out of DeSoto isn’t really focused on recruiting from what we were told this week, with him choosing instead to focus on his senior season. Turner remains at five finalists with Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama, LSU and Georgia still standing.
One person I talked to this week thought it would be an SEC battle between A&M and Bama, but that’s not based off anything Turner has said directly. I’ve felt for a while this one would ultimately come down to an in-state battle between Texas and Texas A&M, and I haven’t heard anything that makes me change that opinion.
Turner does like UT’s academic reputation and has a lot of respect for the UT staff, including Tom Herman, so I expect Texas to remain in this one for the time being. With Turner not planning on deciding until January, there’s still a lot of time for this one to go in a number of different directions. Like LJ Johnson, there’s some buzz about A&M gaining momentum and Texas slipping some, but that’s more people just trying to read the tea leaves than anything Turner himself has said.
If I’m handicapping it now, I’d put A&M ahead of the Longhorns but there’s still plenty of time for this one to take another turn or two.
******
Texas put an offer on the table for 2022 quarterback Cade Klubnik shortly after knocking off Oklahoma State last week, and there’s been some discussion on where the Longhorns stand, or if Klubnik has any favorites.
In talking to the Austin Westlake standout, he said he genuinely is very open to the schools recruiting him and he doesn’t see himself making a decision before being able to take some visits. There are a couple interesting dynamics in this one. Klubnik lives in Austin, and has some connections to Texas QB Sam Ehlinger. But his parent both went to A&M.
As for the Austin ties, Klubnik said he’d never really been on campus for a detailed tour, so it’s probably somewhat safe to down play that angle. He is friends with Sam Ehlinger though, so that could help UT’s cause when those two connect again.
“My brother actually is really good friends with him. And I'm pretty close with him,” Klubnik said. “We normally go work out a decent amount in the offseason. My brother played receiver at Westlake so they were pretty close.”
There’s been speculation that the A&M ties could be tough to overcome should the Aggies get into the mix with a scholarship offer. Very possible, but Klubnik said he really doesn’t have any allegiances towards A&M or anyone else.
“They both are (A&M grads),” Klubnik said of his parents. “But I’m not, not an A&M fan. I’m open to everything.”
Long way to go in this one, but I would expect Texas to be squarely in the mix as Klubnik works through the process.
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