FORT WORTH - I drove to Fort Worth on Wednesday to catch Texas football coach Tom Herman before he spoke at ‘This is Texas Tour.’ Herman spoke for several minutes before the event and addressed a variety of subjects during the interview.
Before I get into the meat of the interview, let me tell you something that is totally off-topic. When I saw Herman, I noticed he appeared to be in great shape. I asked Herman if he had been working out lately, and he is actually working out four times a day. Herman has not lost weight, but said it has been re-proportioned.
- Herman is not allowed to talk about Cal transfer running back Tre Watson until he is enrolled.
- I asked Herman about the new emphasis on out-of-state recruiting, and he said, “There’s really no emphasis. Our philosophy right now hasn’t changed. If there’s a kid in Texas we believe we can win a national championship with, and he wants to come, or we believe he wants to come to Texas, then we’re going to take him. What that means is in a given signing class, we’re going to take four linebackers, and you think, great, there are four in the state we can win a national championship with, we feel good about the first two, the third one commits somewhere already, and the only one you don’t have a good feeling on, that doesn’t mean take the fifth-best linebacker in the state if you don’t believe he can win a national championship. It means cast your net a little wider, and find other people in other places you can win a national championship with. It’s just happenstance, really, that the last two commitments were from out-of-state, but it’s definitely not an emphasis or change in philosophy. It’s just how the dominoes fell.”
- When I asked Herman what his pitch is to high-level offensive recruits, he said, “The sell is myself, and all of our offensive coaches, have a very proven track record over the course of many, many years of high-powered offenses. We didn’t last year, but there were a lot of extenuating circumstances that went into that. There were multiple, multiple games where we started at least four true freshmen, and a true sophomore. I don’t care what coach you ask, that’s not a great recipe for lighting the scoreboard up. We had to win with defense last year. We’re going to develop those guys. We’re going to get better. They should look at it as an opportunity, too. To affect an offense that is in need of some game-changers.”
- Herman said the staff’s decision to recruit players who verbally commit elsewhere depends on the guy. Basically, Herman said he cannot recruit two players at once, but will treat it on a case-by-case basis.
- In addition, Herman said the players they do not sign will not bring down a program, especially if that person goes out of conference: “We’re not going to play against him. How can you say losing that kid hurts your program? It doesn’t. Not in the state of Texas, especially, because there’s one probably just as good, maybe even better, that hasn’t developed yet, or we need to evaluate in spring practice. Yeah, the train is rolling. This is a unique place. There’s a lot of Internet fans where if one small thing doesn’t go our way, the sky is falling, and everything is over. One thing happens for the positive, and we throw parades. It’s not that way. There’s a lot of elite recruits in the state of Texas, and beyond, that when a recruit decides to go somewhere else, we shake their hand, and we wish them luck and find the next great one.”
- Herman is looking forward to giving his players to strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight for summer workouts in a few weeks. In addition, Herman said last year the staff needed to beat the culture of non-accountability and lack of effort. Now, Herman said, “I wake up really excited to go to work every day, and I will be through training camp knowing how much more improvement these guys will make from a physical standpoint.”
- Herman’s response when I asked him where his head is at with his quarterbacks right now: “Nowhere. I haven’t thought about it since the end of spring. I had exit meetings with all four quarterbacks, and I told them the job is still open. Both veteran quarterbacks improved. The two young ones exceeded expectations. It should make for even more and better competition in August.”
- As a follow-up question, I asked Herman if he needs that position to be better in August. He said, “It already is.”
- Herman does not expect any academic issues with any players who will enroll this summer.
- I asked for an injury update, and here is a basic rundown:
Chris Nelson (elbow) is doing well. Nelson’s scar after the surgery slowed his recovery. However, he is feeling great now.
The players Herman does not expect to be fully cleared when the team returns on May 28 are DB Montrell Estell, LB Edwin Freeman, RB Kirk Johnson, and he said OL Mikey Grandy is working on it.
Patrick Hudson went through individual drills and one-on-one pass rush against the defensive line during the last day in pads this spring.
- Herman is torn about having a grass field: “I would love grass. I love grass. I believe football was meant to be played on grass. In our part of the country, there isn’t a lot of grass. Even in the SEC, there’s only a few. The issue with grass is if you put grass there, in the winter offseason, and in the summer conditioning, and even when it’s down, when do you go to do all your offseason drills? If you go out there every day, you’re going to tear up the grass. What do you do? That would be the only thing we've got to weigh because of our practice facility structure, is it more prudent to keep the turf versus the six Saturdays a year?”
- Herman on what excites and concerns him about the team: “What keeps me up at night is teaching them how to handle adversity because things have been so positive around here, and probably will continue to be throughout the course of the offseason. I’d imagine at some point, where it’s in the first game, somewhere we stub our toe in the season, there will be adversity, and can we block out all the noise, all of the sky is falling people? Can we rally around each other in the locker room? Just a continual emphasis on building that bunker mentality. What am I excited about? Definitely, the quarterback’s development, and I like our front seven. I know we lose Poona (Ford), and I know we lose Malik (Jefferson), but if we can find close to the production at nose guard that Poona provided us, we’re going to have a chance to be pretty good there.”
- In addition, Herman expects the tight ends and offensive line groups to be better this year. He said the tight ends will be better because of numbers, talent and development. Meanwhile, when it comes to the offensive line, Herman said, “We have to stay healthy. Once you get past the first five, those guys have to hurry up and be trustworthy, because odds are somebody is going to break a shoelace, or sprain an ankle, and it’s going to be, ‘Hey, so-and-so, you’re in, and your team is going to count on you.’ That’s where a sense of urgency hits me. We've got to develop those guys. Adding Calvin (Anderson) into that mix will certainly help a little bit, but when you go through spring ball with eight scholarship offensive linemen healthy ... don’t get me wrong, the threes with the twos got better, but they’re still not game ready yet.”
Before I get into the meat of the interview, let me tell you something that is totally off-topic. When I saw Herman, I noticed he appeared to be in great shape. I asked Herman if he had been working out lately, and he is actually working out four times a day. Herman has not lost weight, but said it has been re-proportioned.
- Herman is not allowed to talk about Cal transfer running back Tre Watson until he is enrolled.
- I asked Herman about the new emphasis on out-of-state recruiting, and he said, “There’s really no emphasis. Our philosophy right now hasn’t changed. If there’s a kid in Texas we believe we can win a national championship with, and he wants to come, or we believe he wants to come to Texas, then we’re going to take him. What that means is in a given signing class, we’re going to take four linebackers, and you think, great, there are four in the state we can win a national championship with, we feel good about the first two, the third one commits somewhere already, and the only one you don’t have a good feeling on, that doesn’t mean take the fifth-best linebacker in the state if you don’t believe he can win a national championship. It means cast your net a little wider, and find other people in other places you can win a national championship with. It’s just happenstance, really, that the last two commitments were from out-of-state, but it’s definitely not an emphasis or change in philosophy. It’s just how the dominoes fell.”
- When I asked Herman what his pitch is to high-level offensive recruits, he said, “The sell is myself, and all of our offensive coaches, have a very proven track record over the course of many, many years of high-powered offenses. We didn’t last year, but there were a lot of extenuating circumstances that went into that. There were multiple, multiple games where we started at least four true freshmen, and a true sophomore. I don’t care what coach you ask, that’s not a great recipe for lighting the scoreboard up. We had to win with defense last year. We’re going to develop those guys. We’re going to get better. They should look at it as an opportunity, too. To affect an offense that is in need of some game-changers.”
- Herman said the staff’s decision to recruit players who verbally commit elsewhere depends on the guy. Basically, Herman said he cannot recruit two players at once, but will treat it on a case-by-case basis.
- In addition, Herman said the players they do not sign will not bring down a program, especially if that person goes out of conference: “We’re not going to play against him. How can you say losing that kid hurts your program? It doesn’t. Not in the state of Texas, especially, because there’s one probably just as good, maybe even better, that hasn’t developed yet, or we need to evaluate in spring practice. Yeah, the train is rolling. This is a unique place. There’s a lot of Internet fans where if one small thing doesn’t go our way, the sky is falling, and everything is over. One thing happens for the positive, and we throw parades. It’s not that way. There’s a lot of elite recruits in the state of Texas, and beyond, that when a recruit decides to go somewhere else, we shake their hand, and we wish them luck and find the next great one.”
- Herman is looking forward to giving his players to strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight for summer workouts in a few weeks. In addition, Herman said last year the staff needed to beat the culture of non-accountability and lack of effort. Now, Herman said, “I wake up really excited to go to work every day, and I will be through training camp knowing how much more improvement these guys will make from a physical standpoint.”
- Herman’s response when I asked him where his head is at with his quarterbacks right now: “Nowhere. I haven’t thought about it since the end of spring. I had exit meetings with all four quarterbacks, and I told them the job is still open. Both veteran quarterbacks improved. The two young ones exceeded expectations. It should make for even more and better competition in August.”
- As a follow-up question, I asked Herman if he needs that position to be better in August. He said, “It already is.”
- Herman does not expect any academic issues with any players who will enroll this summer.
- I asked for an injury update, and here is a basic rundown:
Chris Nelson (elbow) is doing well. Nelson’s scar after the surgery slowed his recovery. However, he is feeling great now.
The players Herman does not expect to be fully cleared when the team returns on May 28 are DB Montrell Estell, LB Edwin Freeman, RB Kirk Johnson, and he said OL Mikey Grandy is working on it.
Patrick Hudson went through individual drills and one-on-one pass rush against the defensive line during the last day in pads this spring.
- Herman is torn about having a grass field: “I would love grass. I love grass. I believe football was meant to be played on grass. In our part of the country, there isn’t a lot of grass. Even in the SEC, there’s only a few. The issue with grass is if you put grass there, in the winter offseason, and in the summer conditioning, and even when it’s down, when do you go to do all your offseason drills? If you go out there every day, you’re going to tear up the grass. What do you do? That would be the only thing we've got to weigh because of our practice facility structure, is it more prudent to keep the turf versus the six Saturdays a year?”
- Herman on what excites and concerns him about the team: “What keeps me up at night is teaching them how to handle adversity because things have been so positive around here, and probably will continue to be throughout the course of the offseason. I’d imagine at some point, where it’s in the first game, somewhere we stub our toe in the season, there will be adversity, and can we block out all the noise, all of the sky is falling people? Can we rally around each other in the locker room? Just a continual emphasis on building that bunker mentality. What am I excited about? Definitely, the quarterback’s development, and I like our front seven. I know we lose Poona (Ford), and I know we lose Malik (Jefferson), but if we can find close to the production at nose guard that Poona provided us, we’re going to have a chance to be pretty good there.”
- In addition, Herman expects the tight ends and offensive line groups to be better this year. He said the tight ends will be better because of numbers, talent and development. Meanwhile, when it comes to the offensive line, Herman said, “We have to stay healthy. Once you get past the first five, those guys have to hurry up and be trustworthy, because odds are somebody is going to break a shoelace, or sprain an ankle, and it’s going to be, ‘Hey, so-and-so, you’re in, and your team is going to count on you.’ That’s where a sense of urgency hits me. We've got to develop those guys. Adding Calvin (Anderson) into that mix will certainly help a little bit, but when you go through spring ball with eight scholarship offensive linemen healthy ... don’t get me wrong, the threes with the twos got better, but they’re still not game ready yet.”
