Day 4 Notes from Football Practice
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- It was another practice in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets, but the intensity level was a little bit turned up as the Horns re-took the practice fields Tuesday, this time at the Whitaker Intramural Fields as opposed to the regular practice fields at Denius. As usual, the media window was short but it was enough time to glean at least a few observations.
- During offensive team period (versus air) grad transfer OT Calvin Anderson was still not working with the first group and continues to draw the anger of OL coach Herb Hand. They say that, as a player, you need to start worrying once the coach STOPS yelling at you, and if that's the case, Anderson is in impeccable shape because all Hand does is yell at that guy. The first group -- even during this short period -- was a mix-and-match unit featuring a few different looks:
LT Denzel Okafor, LG Patrick Vahe, C Zach Shackelford, RG Elijah Rodriguez, RT Derek Kerstetter
and
LT Samuel Cosmi, LG Patrick Vahe, C Zach Shackelford, RG Tope Imade, RT Denzel Okafor
- At this point, I wouldn't have the first guess as to who the first OL unit will be for the Maryland game, but I will say it's no shoe-in that Anderson is involved with the starters. He needs to start showing up and executing as he's coached. And don't look now, but Samuel Cosmi is possibly blossoming into a very nice player before our very eyes. (more on that in a minute).
- A random note on the TEs is that Max Cummins (who I guess is now going by "Rob" according to the roster provided by the SID?) is a really big dude who moves well and he's starting to find a voice out there to make his presence felt a bit. I'll be keeping more of an eye on him.
- One more quick not on the offense from these periods: Fans should see a lot of freshmen Josh Moore and D'Shawn Jamison out of the slot (H) position this year. They work with the second group and are heavily involved on bubble screens and sweeps and end-arounds, any way to get the ball in those guys' hands. Texas moving forward does not need to focus on slot WRs in recruiting (especially post-2019) and look more toward bigger, more physical wideouts as they have a surplus of the smaller, shiftier fast guys and little depth at X behind Collin Johnson and Brennan Eagles (hence the need to move Malcolm Epps to outside WR from TE).
- On the defensive side of the football, Todd Orlando berated freshman LB Byron Hobbs during tackling drills for not getting low enough and bringing his shoulders and hat across the bow and through the ball carrier. Hobbs in lanky and long and has a little bit of trouble getting low. While he's a little behind the curve right now, his frame looks excellent as far as filling out for the future.
- Finally, here are a few notes from the most interesting portion of practice, OL vs. DL 1v1 reps:
Derek Kerstetter stonewalls Breckyn Hager's pass rush off the edge twice in a row - Hager tried to long-arm him once and bull-rush him the second time and Kerstetter wasn't having any of it.
Jamari Chisolm made Elijah Rodriguez look like Rodriguez often looks on tape. Herb Hand just yelled "Horrible!" On the second rep, Rodriguez managed to hold up against Chisolm much better.
Chris Nelson shook Zach Shackelford out of his jock with a stab-and-swim set of moves that got Shack way off balance. On the second rep, they stalemated.
Patrick Vahe obliterated Ta'Quon Graham, got his hands inside his chest and blew his ass way off the line of scrimmage. On the second rep, Vahe won but less convincingly.
Charles Omenihu and Denzel Okafor traded wins in two straight reps but Okafor's feet were an issue both times. He tends to quit pumping them while engaged and it pisses Herb Hand off.
One of two most noteworthy reps of the day, Samuel Cosmi made absolute mincemeat out of freshman edge rusher Michael Williams. Cosmi (who's looking more and more like a young Connor Williams every day -- (fit, great feet, no fat on his body, moves well, takes coaching extremely well, etc.) -- quite literally drove Williams all the way onto the next practice field like a rag doll.
The other was a rep between freshman DT Keondre Coburn and OG Patrick Hudson where Coburn absolutely embarrassed Hudson by overpowering him and being more violent with his hands. This is shocking as Hudson is thought to be one of the strongest players on the team. Hudson's feet, while improving, are still not all there and he has zero bend or flexibility to his game at this time. Coburn followed the first rep up with another that looked very much the same, leaving Hudson lunging forward and losing his feet. "Horseshit!" yelled Herb Hand regarding Hudson's effort.
presented by the Dental Offices of Wendy Swantkowski, DDS
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
Support the Short by supporting our sponsor - Give Wendy a call today!
- It was another practice in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets, but the intensity level was a little bit turned up as the Horns re-took the practice fields Tuesday, this time at the Whitaker Intramural Fields as opposed to the regular practice fields at Denius. As usual, the media window was short but it was enough time to glean at least a few observations.
- During offensive team period (versus air) grad transfer OT Calvin Anderson was still not working with the first group and continues to draw the anger of OL coach Herb Hand. They say that, as a player, you need to start worrying once the coach STOPS yelling at you, and if that's the case, Anderson is in impeccable shape because all Hand does is yell at that guy. The first group -- even during this short period -- was a mix-and-match unit featuring a few different looks:
LT Denzel Okafor, LG Patrick Vahe, C Zach Shackelford, RG Elijah Rodriguez, RT Derek Kerstetter
and
LT Samuel Cosmi, LG Patrick Vahe, C Zach Shackelford, RG Tope Imade, RT Denzel Okafor
- At this point, I wouldn't have the first guess as to who the first OL unit will be for the Maryland game, but I will say it's no shoe-in that Anderson is involved with the starters. He needs to start showing up and executing as he's coached. And don't look now, but Samuel Cosmi is possibly blossoming into a very nice player before our very eyes. (more on that in a minute).
- A random note on the TEs is that Max Cummins (who I guess is now going by "Rob" according to the roster provided by the SID?) is a really big dude who moves well and he's starting to find a voice out there to make his presence felt a bit. I'll be keeping more of an eye on him.
- One more quick not on the offense from these periods: Fans should see a lot of freshmen Josh Moore and D'Shawn Jamison out of the slot (H) position this year. They work with the second group and are heavily involved on bubble screens and sweeps and end-arounds, any way to get the ball in those guys' hands. Texas moving forward does not need to focus on slot WRs in recruiting (especially post-2019) and look more toward bigger, more physical wideouts as they have a surplus of the smaller, shiftier fast guys and little depth at X behind Collin Johnson and Brennan Eagles (hence the need to move Malcolm Epps to outside WR from TE).
- On the defensive side of the football, Todd Orlando berated freshman LB Byron Hobbs during tackling drills for not getting low enough and bringing his shoulders and hat across the bow and through the ball carrier. Hobbs in lanky and long and has a little bit of trouble getting low. While he's a little behind the curve right now, his frame looks excellent as far as filling out for the future.
- Finally, here are a few notes from the most interesting portion of practice, OL vs. DL 1v1 reps:
Derek Kerstetter stonewalls Breckyn Hager's pass rush off the edge twice in a row - Hager tried to long-arm him once and bull-rush him the second time and Kerstetter wasn't having any of it.
Jamari Chisolm made Elijah Rodriguez look like Rodriguez often looks on tape. Herb Hand just yelled "Horrible!" On the second rep, Rodriguez managed to hold up against Chisolm much better.
Chris Nelson shook Zach Shackelford out of his jock with a stab-and-swim set of moves that got Shack way off balance. On the second rep, they stalemated.
Patrick Vahe obliterated Ta'Quon Graham, got his hands inside his chest and blew his ass way off the line of scrimmage. On the second rep, Vahe won but less convincingly.
Charles Omenihu and Denzel Okafor traded wins in two straight reps but Okafor's feet were an issue both times. He tends to quit pumping them while engaged and it pisses Herb Hand off.
One of two most noteworthy reps of the day, Samuel Cosmi made absolute mincemeat out of freshman edge rusher Michael Williams. Cosmi (who's looking more and more like a young Connor Williams every day -- (fit, great feet, no fat on his body, moves well, takes coaching extremely well, etc.) -- quite literally drove Williams all the way onto the next practice field like a rag doll.
The other was a rep between freshman DT Keondre Coburn and OG Patrick Hudson where Coburn absolutely embarrassed Hudson by overpowering him and being more violent with his hands. This is shocking as Hudson is thought to be one of the strongest players on the team. Hudson's feet, while improving, are still not all there and he has zero bend or flexibility to his game at this time. Coburn followed the first rep up with another that looked very much the same, leaving Hudson lunging forward and losing his feet. "Horseshit!" yelled Herb Hand regarding Hudson's effort.
