Here are the highlights of Texas football coach Tom Herman’s press conference after his team’s 13th spring practice:
- Herman said his team had a good day of practice after four days off. Texas worked a lot of game situations in practice on Tuesday (four-minute offense, two-minute offense and red zone).
- Herman on what fans should expect to see offensively during the spring game: “Inside zone, a couple of play-action shots. Hopefully, they’ll see a more cohesive offensive line. They’ll see on both sides of the ball, I think to the naked eye, our guys look better, just from having a year with coach [Yancy] McKnight and his crew. Hopefully, we can protect the football and protect the quarterback so when we do pass, we can complete some balls.”
- The offensive line was a big area of concern for Herman prior to this season, and he believes that unit has made a lot of improvements. However, Herman is happy with the first team, but said they have a lot of work to do with the second unit.
- In addition, Herman said the quarterbacks have made a lot of improvements: “I don’t know that it’s the biggest from where they started because it’s not like they needed as much work as the o-line, but I’ve been really, really happy with their improvement.”
- When asked what he needs to see on Saturday, Herman said a clean game, substitutions, and not a whole lot of busts with the ones on offense and defense.
- Herman said he has seen the urgency with from his players during spring practice. He said, “They saw last year, can you make a move in training camp? It’s not impossible, but we’re preparing for a season. We’re not trying guys out. We’re not experimenting a whole lot. We’re trying to get ready for the season, as well as towards the end, get ready for a game. I don’t know if that’s the time to be experimenting. I think they get it.”
- Texas will have an orange and white team with two quarterbacks on both sides. Herman said the scoring will be standard, but the offensive linemen will wear a special colored jersey, and Herb Hand will rotate his guys.
- The players who have impressed Herman have been Malcolm Roach, the three young defensive backs (he was not specific), Shane Buechele, Sam Ehlinger, Patrick Vahe, Zach Shackelford, Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, Devin Duvernay and Brandon Jones.
- Herman on the upcoming recruiting weekend and pitch to high school players: “Again, it’s all relationship driven. Everything has been sped so far up, I think there is still a lot of uncertainty from some guys. For whatever reason, they’re feeling pressure to make some decisions maybe without having all of the necessary information. For those who feel like they need to make a quick decision, we’ve got to shoot every bullet, if you will, here pretty quickly. Some told us it’s going to go into the fall, and we can take it normal speed, if you will.”
- If there is bad weather on Saturday, Herman said everything is on the table, which includes moving practice to the indoor facility and switching the game to Sunday. He also said the game time could move up, or played as scheduled. Everything is on the table, according to Herman.
- Here is a list of players Herman does not expect to play on Saturday: OL Patrick Hudson, RB Kyle Porter, RB Tristian Houston, RB Cameron Townsend, LB Gary Johnson, LB Ed Freeman and CB Davante Davis. Safety P.J. Locke has an opportunity to play if he is cleared on Thursday. In addition, Herman will not place a special jersey on Toneil Carter or Daniel Young due to the injuries in that room. He expects Carter and Young to be on separate teams, with Tim Yoder will be the second-team running back on both sides.
- Herman said his team had a good day of practice after four days off. Texas worked a lot of game situations in practice on Tuesday (four-minute offense, two-minute offense and red zone).
- Herman on what fans should expect to see offensively during the spring game: “Inside zone, a couple of play-action shots. Hopefully, they’ll see a more cohesive offensive line. They’ll see on both sides of the ball, I think to the naked eye, our guys look better, just from having a year with coach [Yancy] McKnight and his crew. Hopefully, we can protect the football and protect the quarterback so when we do pass, we can complete some balls.”
- The offensive line was a big area of concern for Herman prior to this season, and he believes that unit has made a lot of improvements. However, Herman is happy with the first team, but said they have a lot of work to do with the second unit.
- In addition, Herman said the quarterbacks have made a lot of improvements: “I don’t know that it’s the biggest from where they started because it’s not like they needed as much work as the o-line, but I’ve been really, really happy with their improvement.”
- When asked what he needs to see on Saturday, Herman said a clean game, substitutions, and not a whole lot of busts with the ones on offense and defense.
- Herman said he has seen the urgency with from his players during spring practice. He said, “They saw last year, can you make a move in training camp? It’s not impossible, but we’re preparing for a season. We’re not trying guys out. We’re not experimenting a whole lot. We’re trying to get ready for the season, as well as towards the end, get ready for a game. I don’t know if that’s the time to be experimenting. I think they get it.”
- Texas will have an orange and white team with two quarterbacks on both sides. Herman said the scoring will be standard, but the offensive linemen will wear a special colored jersey, and Herb Hand will rotate his guys.
- The players who have impressed Herman have been Malcolm Roach, the three young defensive backs (he was not specific), Shane Buechele, Sam Ehlinger, Patrick Vahe, Zach Shackelford, Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, Devin Duvernay and Brandon Jones.
- Herman on the upcoming recruiting weekend and pitch to high school players: “Again, it’s all relationship driven. Everything has been sped so far up, I think there is still a lot of uncertainty from some guys. For whatever reason, they’re feeling pressure to make some decisions maybe without having all of the necessary information. For those who feel like they need to make a quick decision, we’ve got to shoot every bullet, if you will, here pretty quickly. Some told us it’s going to go into the fall, and we can take it normal speed, if you will.”
- If there is bad weather on Saturday, Herman said everything is on the table, which includes moving practice to the indoor facility and switching the game to Sunday. He also said the game time could move up, or played as scheduled. Everything is on the table, according to Herman.
- Here is a list of players Herman does not expect to play on Saturday: OL Patrick Hudson, RB Kyle Porter, RB Tristian Houston, RB Cameron Townsend, LB Gary Johnson, LB Ed Freeman and CB Davante Davis. Safety P.J. Locke has an opportunity to play if he is cleared on Thursday. In addition, Herman will not place a special jersey on Toneil Carter or Daniel Young due to the injuries in that room. He expects Carter and Young to be on separate teams, with Tim Yoder will be the second-team running back on both sides.
