SPONSORED BY MYPERFECTFRANCHISE.NET
Are you…- Ready to leave the corporate Rat Race for the American Dream?
- Looking for a side hustle while working your current job?
- Wanting to diversify, build wealth, and/or leave a legacy?
Andy is a franchise consultant (as well as franchise owner) and helps people find franchises that fit their skill sets, financial requirements, time to commit and more….
His services are 100% free and he’s here to help if you have any questions about business ownership.
Learn more about Andy and franchise ownership through these resources:
Andy's Story
Why a Franchise
Service Based vs Brick and Mortar
Semi Absentee Ownership
The Process and How It works
Andy Luedecke
www.MyPerfectFranchise.Net
p: 404-973-9901
e: andy@myperfectfranchise.net
Book time with me at: Andy's Calendar
*****
As always, we'll give some quick analysis along with the tiered rankings (Now through Week 3 of 2024) and are derived via a proprietary scoring formula, and based on the following advanced charting statistics (please note the distinctions in how tackles, etc. are counted and why these stats will almost always differ from the official university stats and cockamamie PFF):
Click Images to Enlarge
DEEP DIG DEFENSIVE LEGEND
***Also, Please note: -1 point has been added for any defensive penalty outside of defensive pass interference which is always considered a coverage burn and is not double-counted. Also, please note that missed tackles that result in blown contains are counted as blown contains (-1) and are not double-counted as both a blown contain and a missed tackle.
Also, please note that exact snap-count numbers may differ from other sources at times, as the Deep Dig does not count plays as defensive player snaps that are blown dead due to penalty, punts, opponent victory formations, opponent kneel downs, opponent spiked balls, extra points or other plays where the player is not technically playing on defense***
Defensive Snap Counts By Week and Percentage of Total Defensive Snaps Played - Through Week 3
Defensive Productivity Market-Share Percentages and Snaps per Production Caused Metrics *Through Week 3* (snaps per disruption caused is colored coded from blue/best to white/median to red/worst; movement up or down the rankings from last week in parentheses after player's name)
Snaps per Production Caused Trends by Week (Season/Cumulative - Post Week 3)
Snaps per Production Caused Historical Context Chart Post-Week 3 (2024 starters and key contributors; historical comparison to former players -- former players on the list need 200 snaps played in a previous regular season dating back to 2015 for inclusion)
Quick Hits and Thoughts
- Collin Simmons has rightfully and officially moved ahead of Justice Finkley on the depth chart and could have actually forced Finkley to sort of change positions. During this game, in order to have Simmons playing as the second Buck end behind Trey Moore, Finkley would sometimes share the field with Simmons playing at the Jack end behind Barryn Sorrell and Ethan Burke, this is the position Finkley mostly played last season.
But, whether or not Colin Simmons is better than Justice Finkley was never in question. That usurpation was an inevitability from the start. Now the legitimate question becomes: is Simmons better than Trey Moore? And to that question, even with only three games of evidence, the answer is almost certainly yes. If you look at the historical comparison chart above for snaps-per-production-created, a couple of things really pop off and should be pointed out -- regarding Simmons and otherwise.
1) The sample is still very small. It is only three games. You'll notice that the 168 players on the list that are not from the 2024 team all have one thing in common, and that's that they each played at least 200 snaps on the season ... so if Texas is just off to a hot start, things should regress to a degree as this year's group reaches that minimum threshold. With this said ....
2) It has to mean something that the top of the Deep Dig's ALL TIME LIST is littered with players from this 2024 unit. I can't just mean nothing. The per-snap efficiency of the Texas defensive starters and key contributors through three games of the 2024 season is unheard of.
3) Clearly, players like Ethan Burke will have their efficiency drop as the play more snaps. Burke had a pick-six in this game which is basically like a supersonic injection to your standings within the formula, especially when the snap-count numbers are sitting at only three games worth. But, as you look at the others ... does their efficiency not seem sustainable? Anthony Hill? He's actually sort of poised for progression. Colin Simmons? The snap-count charts above show you he's still a part-time player who is ascending with each game. What happens when he inevitably gets more snaps.
4) Which brings us to our final point: You don't have to bench Trey Moore to play Colin Simmons more. You don't even really have to start Colin Simmons over Trey Moore. In a world where you could just do things optimally without any human fallout, well, you'd start Simmons. You can say it's only been three games of Simmons but at Texas, it's only been three games of Moore as well. And while Moore has been good, Simmons has been over three times more efficient and has certainly won the old eyeball test by a mile. As long as Simmons continues to trend up with his playing time, we will be very pleased around here. Because we still have a shot for Trey Moore to turn from good to great, and given his accolades coming in, he should be allowed to chase that opportunity. If we're simply talking about who has been Texas' best edge presence this season, though, there is no competition.
- David Gbenda got caught out of position on the 55 yard scamper by UTSA in the second quarter, but in all continued to play at a level that is much higher than his primary backup Morice Blackwell. (Thanks as always to @Nash Talks Texas for the YT cutups).
- Colin Simmons came this close to making another huge splash play -- this time a massive would-be TFL on 4th down.
- Ty'Anthony Smith is sorta in line to be a starter next season barring late-breaking commits or transfers and he played a terrific game versus UTSA. Check out this play.
- Alfred Collins continues to be relatively inconsistent but he did have one MONSTER play in this game that showed off his crazy upside as an interior presence.
- Wardell Mack has seemingly moved to the nickel corner position as depth to Guilbeau and Barron while Jordon Johnson-Rubell (who played nickel against CSU) was back at safety while the backups were in the game. This could have been some re-assembling in the back end due to missing Jelani McDonald as primary depth at safety.
- Tausili Akana, previously listed as an edge player, took snaps in the final defensive series at the inside linebacker, coming on after Hill, Lefau, Gbenda, Blackwell, Smith, Gullette and walk-on Marshall Landwehr.
