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(From Anwar)
It appears the majority of readers on OB enjoyed reading a bunch of short nuggets in last week’s War Room.
Well, here we go again.
--- One of the biggest questions I wanted answered this week was how Texas intends to utilize its redshirt freshman candidates during the final three regular-season games, and the bowl appearance.
Beginning this season, players are allowed to play in up to four games and still qualify for a redshirt season, maintaining four years of eligibility. In the past, playing just one game could cost a player an entire season of eligibility.
Texas football coach Tom Herman and his staff were previously asked how they intended to utilize the new redshirt rule this season. Each person said the goal was to save this year’s freshmen until the final four games in case injuries began to mount. This current stretch of four games, which begins against Texas Tech on Saturday, is the time Longhorn fans anticipated seeing young players on the field.
In fact, here is a question-and-answer from Herman’s press conference this past Monday:
Q. With the four guaranteed, the redshirt rule, you had to trot out some defensive linemen. How do you manage that? Open up the roster, simply by necessity?
TOM HERMAN: “Yeah, I think it's by necessity because the championship game and the bowl game both count in those four games, too. You've got to be a bit cautious when you're making that decision even now in game 10.
“But guys like Moro Ojomo, Jamari Chisholm, Keondre Coburn, I think you're going to see them play again this week. If and when we do get some guys back, then I guess for lack of a better term deactivate them.
“It's very much out of necessity. John Burt is another guy we haven't talked about. He's a guy that's only played in two games right now, so we're very specific in the games that he's 'activated' in, as well.
“It will be much of the same I would think this week. I think next week, as we start to get maybe hopefully a little bit healthier, will be when some decisions are made.”
Okay, here is what I have been able to gather this week.
In an ideal world, Texas would give playing time to multiple freshmen and get them ready for next season.
However, Texas is still competing for a Big 12 title, and nobody on the staff intends to go out of their way just to give freshmen some playing time. The goal is to win games, and that means the best players will play down the stretch.
Honestly, it appears most of the freshmen who have not seen playing time will wait until bowl game practices to see more action.
--- Obviously, your next question is which freshmen should you expect to see during the next four games?
In addition to Ojomo and Coburn, keep an eye on Malcolm Epps and Ayodele Adeoye.
From what I was told, Adeoye will play on special teams this week. I cannot lie and say I know specifically how he will be used. However, you should expect to see him on a special teams unit against Texas Tech.
Adeoye sustained a knee injury prior to the season, and a slow recovery prevented him from seeing playing time earlier. Even when Adeoye was cleared by doctors to resume practice, the linebacker was unable to participate at 100 percent. As a result, everyone involved was forced to patiently wait for Adeoye to recover. It appears he is ready to go this weekend.
If Adeoye had been healthy, he would have fallen in the category of DeMarvion Overshwon, Jalen Green and Josh Thompson – guys who are so good, the staff believes they will be better for spending a year on special teams as freshmen. Nevertheless, Adeoye is good to go.
Meanwhile, Epps will receive limited snaps on special teams. I do not anticipate Epps seeing the same amount of reps as Adeoye.
Regardless, keep an eye on special teams this weekend.
--- It appears unlikely freshmen quarterbacks Cameron Rising and Casey Thompson will play this year, but that does not mean 2018 has been a waste.
In fact, it has been exactly the opposite.
When I spoke to one person associated with the program this week, he defiantly predicted Rising would become an NFL quarterback one day based on the tools displayed behind the scenes.
Let the record show that I did not predict that. I am just passing a tidbit along from the same person who told me during training camp that safety Caden Sterns would have an outstanding season.
Obviously, Rising has a long way to go before anyone can entertain the NFL conversation. That being said, there is a lot of excitement behind the scenes about Rising, and Thompson.
For now, everyone associated with the program is happy both quarterbacks get to learn under Sam Ehlinger this season. One person told me playing a freshman quarterback is tricky because they graduate from high school thinking they know everything about the position, but soon realize they have a lot to learn in college.
As a result, freshman quarterbacks thrown into the fire too soon run the risk of picking up bad habits, which often leads to consistent duplication of the same mistakes.
Instead, these Texas quarterbacks get to learn how to operate like a pro from Ehlinger. They see how he handles his daily business, can observe Ehlinger’s practice habits, studying techniques, and there is a lot of optimism about the future productivity from the quarterback room.
I asked Ehlinger about the freshmen quarterbacks earlier this week, and he said, “I think they’re very blessed that they have the opportunity to get a year where they get to get comfortable with the offense, be able to see what happens in a season. They’ve seen a lot through this season, how we are when we’re winning, and what happens when we lose, or what contributes to those factors. They’re getting a lot of experience on and off the field with emotions, situations, and they’re being able to learn a lot I think they’re doing a great job of staying focused throughout the season, always being locked into the game plan, and they’ve been doing a good job of progressing throughout the offense.”
Rising will be given an opportunity to compete against Ehlinger for the starting job next season. Right now, nobody knows if Shane Buechele will remain at Texas or whether he will leave as a grad transfer. Regardless, Rising is expected to push Ehlinger during the 2019 offseason.
Even if Rising needs another year of development, it will be viewed as a positive for the future of that quarterback room.
--- Time to talk about the defense.
Once again, I asked about the struggles on defense this season, and two names were mentioned multiple times this week – Poona Ford and Malik Jefferson.
Nobody in the building wants to use the loss off Ford and Jefferson as an excuse, but it does not take a football expert to realize their absence this season is the main reason why Texas is struggling against the run. Everyone I spoke with said Ford not only plugged many holes, he was also productive.
Now, everyone wanted me to know it was not a knock against Chris Nelson at all. They were simply pointing out the impact Ford has throughout last season.
In addition, Texas was without three starters before halftime against West Virginia (safety Brandon Jones, cornerback Davante Davis and defensive end Breckyn Hager, while defensive tackle Chris Nelson was not at 100 percent). One person told me there are only a handful of programs that would not have a production dropoff with four injuries to starters.
---- A huge point of emphasis in practice this week has been improving the defensive play up front.
They have been working on sustaining gaps and not getting washed out. The Longhorns expect Texas Tech to run the ball on Saturday, especially with a mobile quarterback. Texas has spent this week preparing for that potential scenario.
--- Speaking of Brandon Jones, it appears he sustained an ankle injury during a walk-through on Saturday prior to West Virginia.
Apparently, they practice every Saturday in hotels before games. That is when the freak accident occurred.
No, Jones did not hurt himself while riding on the luggage cart.
--- I asked one person to summarize P.J. Locke III’s performance this season.
“Just okay,” I was told. “Nothing awful, but nothing phenomenal. Solid.”
--- After the interest in Lil’Jordan Humphrey’s response about potentially skipping his junior season and entering the NFL draft, I spoke with WalterFootball.com draft analyst Charlie Campbell to get his insight.
I walked away from the conversation believing Collin Johnson and Humphrey would benefit from another year at Texas.
“I have spoken with scouts about Collin Johnson,” Campbell said. “They like his size, think he can run a little bit, has some athleticism, better in and out of breaks than one would think. But they also feel he has issues tracking the ball and for a big guy does not use his size enough on the 50-50 balls. It sounded like they were going to grade Johnson as a second or third-rounder.
“Lil'Jordan Humphrey could get a grade a little below. He's a fighter and teams like that, but he can't run with a serious lack of speed. Plus, he has the off-the-field issues, so that could cause him to slide.”
--- During media interviews on Tuesday, Humphrey said he reached out to Texas Tech as a high school player. Humphrey enjoyed watching Texas Tech’s offense, and believed he could be a good fit. However, Texas Tech never replied to Humphrey’s inquiry. Humphrey said he does not need any extra motivation, but has never forgotten Texas Tech’s lack of response.
--- Humphrey on his decision to apologize to coaches and teammates for being late to a team function and missing a series against Oklahoma State: “I feel like to have their trust, I have to be honest with them. It just wasn’t a good thing for me to be late to anything. That’s not showing any type of responsibility. I had to just take responsibility and apologize for it because it was kind of distracting the team at that time.”
When asked how late he was to the team function, Humphrey said he missed the start time by a couple of minutes.
However, Humphrey refused to downplay his mistake.
“It doesn’t matter. I have to be on time. Five minutes early,” Humphrey said.
--- Texas defensive backs coach Jason Washington recently lost his father, James T. Washington, who was born on March 14, 1942 and died on October 25, 2018. The funeral for Jason’s father was on Tuesday.
Herman expressed his sincere condolences when I asked how Washington was holding up when the coach and I spoke after Thursday’s practice.
“It’s been rough,” Herman said. “Rough couple of weeks. His dad suddenly had a stroke, was ICU for a while, and he [Jason] was going back and forth between San Antonio. Obviously, with his passing, it was very difficult.
“Jason, as we all know, is very close to his dad. When you lose a loved one, it’s difficult. It hurts. The defensive staff has done a nice job of when he hasn’t been present as much, picking up the slack. The players have really rallied around him as well.”
Here is the obituary: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/san-antonio-tx/james-washington-8036285
******
(Suchomel)
I had about a 30-minute conversation with the father of Rivals100 RB Noah Cain shortly after he touched down on Monday in returning home from Noah’s Texas official visit. In talking to Mr. Cain, and to Noah himself, I’m not sure Texas could have done much better of a job with this one.
Noah still has three visits left, starting with Penn State this week, then LSU and then Ohio State. This one’s not settled, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the Longhorns may be the team to beat coming out of last weekend’s official visit.
Some comments from my conversation with Terence Cain …
On the visit overall:
“The visit went extremely well. The entire family left feeling good. We got answers to a lot of questions we wanted to find out, of course in reference to the actual backfield presently, how they’re going to use Noah. All of that was identified and of course, Noah would be one of their every-down backs coming in. We’re not trying to beat him up early, but he would have significant impact in the gameplan right away.
“I tell you, we left there feeling comfortable. All of his mom’s questions were answered - the academic piece, the entire structure of the program outside of football at UT. The culture is really in place. The student athletes have bought in. It’s really working and you’re seeing the fruits early (under this staff).”
On the game:
“The game environment was awesome. It was a tough loss. But at the same time, the offense put points on the board. The defense wasn’t not able to stop West Virginia. But a lot of points about the program, they were very honest as to the weaknesses of the program, what they need to do to get better. It wasn’t like they were trying to hide. You watch a ton of football, I’ve been in this for a long time, getting Texas back up to that high caliber team, when you’re building a team it takes time. They’re doing well with recruiting the recruiting class but they may still be about two years away, which is fine.”
On what weaknesses were discussed:
“They knew the defense wasn’t there. They don’t really have that run game yet, or said the quarterback has been their running back as well. They said ‘We want him to run sometimes, but don’t want him to run as much as he runs.’ With a solid run game, this kid wouldn’t be running as much as he has. It’s not ideal. They did redshirt all their freshman linemen. Those guys, looking at where they were coming out of high school to now, they’ve each added about 15 pounds, so they’re looking really good.”
On the progress he sees in the Texas program:
“We saw tremendous improvement, tremendous improvement. I’m not going to say they’re all the way there, but they had some guys who are banged up. But for the spring, you’re going to see those Longhorns - these guys are getting very, very close. If these guys can stay healthy through spring and the season, have a chance to be special.
“They’re progressing even though they’re a work in progress. Another thing, they’re finally getting to a point where they’re getting that depth chart back. You have to have that as well. If you plan on continuing to beat the Oklahomas for years to come, you have to continue with the depth chart.”
On the recruiting message from the UT staff:
“With Noah, he’s a Metroplex guy, played for Denton Guyer before transferring to IMG. So returning back home, to be that featured back for the program. Coach (Stan) Drayton is a very, very good running backs coach in developing young running backs to reach their goals to get to the NFL. He has done extremely well, has had numerous backs over his 26-plus years have success not only at the collegiate level, but pro level as well. Like Ezekiel Elliott, when he came in, he wasn’t ready. It was a process along with him buying into the vision (Drayton) had for him. He said look, this guy was able to do some remarkable things when I had him back at Ohio State. Noah’s relationship, how they communicate, feeling comfortable with coach Drayton is very good, but the overall environment too. Coach Herman had a slip of paper, he’d been keeping in my pocket. It had at least 7 or 8 guys they want to sign for this class. It wasn’t just a piece of paper he had just printed and folded up. You could tell it had been in his pocket for probably 30 days or more. It had Noah Cain’s name, as a top priority, with 7 other names on there. He was very transparent, very honest in answering questions that mom had about the program. We Spent at least a couple hours with him, not just the dining and eating part, but spent at least two hours in his office talking.”
On Texas’ biggest selling point that’s different than other schools:
“Of course, the academic piece is very strong. Noah wanting to be a business major, with their school of business, it’s one of the top one in the entire United States. The McCombs School is critical. The direction of the program too. The timing is excellent if Noah was to choose Texas, where they are right now, to get in, they’re going to do some unique things. The actual alumni is giving Herman and his staff what they need to get Texas back to the Texas we know. That’s very important.
“I laughed with coach Herman and Drayton. When we went to Texas a year-and-a half ago, that was my first time going to UT. When I went there, I was like ‘This can’t be The University of Texas. This is the flagship school.’ Certain things, they had to get rid of some of the things to get this program up with other big time schools – the facilities, just the culture of student athletes, the way of doing things with a championship mentality. That’s awesome. … It doesn’t win a game, but it sure is nice to have.”
On his overall impression of what stood out about Texas:
“The program overall, even with coach Yancy (McKnight). We met with him. All the key people, the questions we had, everyone was very thorough with what they had to share with us. What we wanted to find out, how Noah would be instrumental in their system athletically and academically was answered. Even coach Herman’s support, Rashaad (Samples), Dr. (Ryan) Sutton, (Derek) Chang, (Bryan) Carrington, Jordyn (Fields) … shout out to all those guys. Don’t forget those guys. The support staff was very, very awesome.”
******
(Suchomel)
Offensive lineman Isaiah Hookfin attended the West Virginia came on an unofficial visit and was hopeful a UT offer would come his way. Hookfin got his wish after the game was over.
“We went in the lounge area. Coach (Herb) Hand had come and talked to me and my family and presented the offer to me,” Hookfin said. “I kind of saw it coming, but didn’t really see it at that moment. It was just joy, happiness of course.
“It was the same with my family. My mom was excited as always, my dad was happy for me. My little sister was just there. She was proud of me didn’t want to show it.”
Texas is in a good spot here and has made a really good impression over the past few weeks, but Hookfin has maintained that he wants to take his time and not rush into a decision.
“I’m still taking it slow. I’m not going to rush anything. I still want to evaluate all my options, look at what fits me, what can help me the best,” Hookfin said.
The 6-5, 273-pound Hookfin said he and the UT staff talked about an official visit, but no dates has been set up. He did say it’s “likely” that he’ll return for an OV though. Auburn is another that will get a visit and Mississippi State is a possibility that was mentioned.
When it comes time to decide, Hookfin said getting on the field early will be a key factor.
“Right now it’s playing time,” he said when asked what factors will be important in his decision. I want to set myself up to start or play a lot as a freshman. Just to get some experience, if possible, get those years and then be able to go to the next level.”
I asked Hookfin what he knew of UT’s depth chart …
“They have a good amount of depth as far as o-linemen. I know coach Hand is looking for more
lean tackles like Cosmi, that type of build at tackle,” Hookfin said. “I know he’s looking more of that in the last couple years. So I’m really trying to set myself up to be that guy for these schools.”
******
(Suchomel)
A quick update on JUCO linebacker Caleb Johnson …
When Johnson visited Texas in mid-October, he told me Texas was the team to beat and he had a hard time envisioning a scenario where anyone would be able to overtake the Longhorns. He did mention to other recruits behind the scenes that he’d likely wind up at Texas or Oregon.
Johnson told me earlier this week that he had locked in his Oregon official visit for November 17. Needless to say, we’ll be watching that one closely. The good news … Texas still holds the edge heading into his last visit.
“It’s still Texas but it’s still going to be a hard decision,” Johnson said.
******
(Suchomel)
Many (LA) defensive end Myron Warren visited LSU last weekend. The good news for Texas is that Warren did not receive an offer. The not-so-good news is that it sounds like Warren is still being considered for an offer by the in-state Tigers.
I communicated with someone on the LSU side of things who put it at a 50/50 chance that LSU would offer. I’m told it’s not so much a numbers thing as it simply is LSU wanting to do more evaluation on the 6-4, 230-pounder who recently picked up a UT offer and subsequently decommitted from TCU.
Warren tells me he’ll be in Austin next weekend for the Iowa State game, so Texas will have its first real chance to blow him away. I expect Warren to also take a UT official visit (he currently does not have any official visits set up). The Longhorns’ chances are very good here, but the LSU situation is certainly worth monitoring.
******
(Suchomel)
Questions about JUCO defensive line recruiting seem to come up every week. Here’s a bit of good news for you all.
Iowa Western Community College defensive end Malcolm Lee tells me not only has he been in touch with Oscar Giles (a lot), he’ll probably be taking a Texas visit in December.
*****
(McComas)
Some background on Will Baker’s recruitment…
While there were other teams mentioned some throughout his recruitment, like North Carolina, Stanford, Georgetown and Texas A&M, it was around May or June when UCLA and Texas emerged as the two biggest players in the recruitment. There was actually a point in time in April when Texas A&M was thought to be the leader of the recruitment.
Once some time passed, Baker sounded like he went back-and-forth with both Texas and UCLA.
“It’s been a crazy long process for me… hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I got the chance to develop really great relationships with all the coaches. As for UCLA, I really respect them. A lot of really great things going for them… when I came down to it, Texas was the best choice for me,” said Baker today after announcing his commitment in true Baker fashion with a video.
For a while in June and July it sounded like UCLA was the team to beat, and Texas needed a strong push over the next couple of months to get ahead in the recruitment. As Shaka Smart continued to develop a relationship with Baker, Texas slowly covered some ground, and don’t underestimate the role point guard Matt Coleman had as well. Coleman, who played a huge role in Texas landing Mo Bamba, was specifically mentioned to me by Baker back in late July and he was again mentioned today.
“One reason is coach Shaka Smart. He’s committed to my success as a player and I feel like I’d be successful there, and he really would utilize my offensive abilities,” Baker said about his commitment. “Secondly, I think I fit in with the guys really well there. I’m really looking forward to playing with Matt Coleman. He’s a pass-first point guard and I think we’d play really well together. I’m really looking forward to that.”
Baker even included the hashtag (#bakeshow) that Coleman included on his white poster he paraded down the sideline with at Texas Tip-off much to the delight of Baker and his family.
“Hashtag Bakeshow. Yeah, that was really cool. I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “It showed they wanted me really bad. So, that’s important to me. They didn’t only say they really wanted me. They showed it.”
Smart is a really, really good recruiter when he’s able to go all-in on a player and has some time to develop a relationship. Interestingly, Texas might have made up the most ground and make its biggest push ahead during Baker’s official visit, which wasn’t always a guarantee to happen considering he had visited Texas a lot before and didn’t necessarily have to take a visit to the hometown school.
“Texas… on my visit, they planned everything. They knew what they were doing. They showed how they really wanted me, which was important to me. They showed me… cleared the path a little in my mind,” he said.
Texas getting Baker on campus for an official visit the first weekend in September and again for two more unofficial visits played a role in Baker’s decision becoming clearer. And while many programs prioritized or tried to prioritize Baker, he noticed that Texas didn’t just say it. It showed it too.
“I noticed it in comparison to other schools because they would express to me how much they wanted me, and they would also show it,” Baker said about Texas prioritizing him early on.
Darrin Horn deserves major props in the recruitment as well. His connection with Baker and development of big men played a major role. So too did an unofficial visit to Texas when Baker didn’t do anything basketball related. Instead, he spent the day touring the academic side of Texas, and specifically its Radio, Television, and Film School.
“Yeah, actually, so basketball coaches said I’m a top priority, but also the film program the dean even… I met with him and he expressed how much he wanted me to be a part of the program, which is really cool,” Baker said. “And they’re obviously one of the top film programs in the nation. Either way if I went to Texas or UCLA I’d be able to study film, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.”
While programs like North Carolina were essentially eliminated because of their lack of film school, Texas’s strong program helped neutralize any sort of advantage UCLA would have in that area.
As expected, the Longhorns’ recent success developing big men helped their chances with Baker.
“Texas has a really good past history with developing big guys and that’s important to me as well. They have that history,” said Baker. “Hopefully, I can improve as much as I can like they did. Coach Smart, he’s going to utilize me as a big man that can have the freedom to go down low but also play on the perimeter in pick-and-pop and that kind of thing; offensive freedom in that way.”
In the end, Baker began to narrow his focus in schools and also the details he was evaluating about each school. Texas checked the boxes he was looking for, and also matched what he was feeling inside.
“What it comes down to, for me personally, is what I feel in my heart. It’s cliché, but it’s true,” the five-star big man said. “And you have to look at the facts too in my situation and the pros and cons of each school. When the feeling inside matches up with what’s the best fit as far as pros and cons, that’s how I decided.”
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