Burnt Ends (2-9)

[HornSports Staff]

The point on a brisket is typically the fattiest cut. Pitmasters often trim the point and select edges off a whole brisket and return them to the smoker.

Are burnt ends tough, chewy worthless cuts of meat, or are they a heavenly bites of smoky goodness? I suppose it depends on who you ask...

Rather than discard trimmings and fat, we chose to savor all the information that flows through the site. So, sit down and help yourself to some burnt ends.

***DO NOT FORWARD***

While the return of Desmond Jackson will certainly help depth, defensive tackle is a need position for the Longhorns going into 2016 recruiting.  Texas fought it out for Daylon Mack to the very end but only signed one interior d-line prospect in Du’Vonta Lampkin.  Fortunately for the Longhorns, 2016 is a strong year for defensive line talent especially at the tackle position. 

In the first set of rankings for the HornSports Top 50 for 2016, two defensive tackles rank in the top ten. One of them plays just down the road from Austin – Killeen Shoemaker’s Kendell Jones looks like a mountain at a towering 6’4, 315 pounds. Rated number 7 in our rankings, Jones will do battle all year with Westfield star Ed Oliver (ranked #5) for the honor of being named the number one defensive tackle in Texas. 

Jones profiles as a classic “nose” who lines up directly over the center and occupies two gaps.  He will constantly be faced with double teams, and while Jones thrives as a road block to inside run plays, he shows a nice combination of quickness and athleticism for a man his size. Without a doubt, it's those traits that distinguish him from other nose prospects.

Jones and Oliver are different types of players with Oliver being more of a one gap pass rushing type. Both project as being probable to make an early impact for any team. 

The knocks on Jones focus on consistency of technique, and a motor that doesn’t always run hot.  Many of the same things were said about Hasaan Ridgeway before he made it to Austin, and the staff is getting solid production out of him.

Jones is a weapon in even or odd fronts and provides some flexibility in Vance Bedford’s multiple defense.  Jones has been to Texas multiple times including a mini camp last summer.  He currently holds offers from Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Miami, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M, but has listed Texas in his top three previously. It remains to be seen how the loss of defensive line coach Chris Rumph will affect his recruitment.

+++++

In early January, after the Texas offense’s inept performance in the bowl game, word started leaking out that Texas planned to change the offense. Fans took snippets from players and recruits as gospel, and before long the Horns were going to run a pure spread offense in 2015.

Before the cart gets and farther ahead of the horse, let’s talk about what we know at this point. Here's Charlie Strong on changing the offense:

“What we're thinking about is we know we need to open it up some.”

For fans, the operative word in that last quote is some. Strong expanded on that answer:

“I don't know if we're just going to completely turn it over to a spread. You've just got to make sure that you take your offense and build around what we have with our talent pool. We've got to make changes. We know that with Heard and with Swoopes, they're both going to get a chance to go in and compete.”

Strong continued:

“We have to tweak it. We know this. I look at five games last season where we scored 20 points or less. We know we have to get better, and we have to tweak it some. We have a lot of time to sit down as a staff and decide what we're going to do there.”

Here are the facts that fans can glean from Strong’s quotes:

1. Texas will make adjustments to the offense in the offseason.

2. Those adjustments will be designed to take advantage of the skills of the players on the roster.

3. Texas will not completely scrap the 2014 offensive scheme.

4. Texas will not run a pure spread offense.

Those facts were solidly echoed when we talked with someone that is a regular attendee at practices and workouts:

“From what I’ve heard, offensive tweaks are as much about the other 10 players on the field as they are about whoever is under center. More depth up front, plus better skill talent means the staff is focusing on what the entire unit needs to improve, not just one player.”

+++++

While we’re squashing misinformation and speculation, let’s talk about the assistant coaching vacancies currently open on Charlie Strong’s staff.

“I haven't offered a job to anyone.”

That’s a direct quote from Strong regarding the spot vacated by the departure of Chris Rumph and the termination of Bruce Chambers. While it can be interpreted as someone that is clinging to a 1.000 batting average for perception’s sake, anyone spinning it as such needs a reminder on who the head coach is.

Whether it’s injury news, player dismissals, assistant firings, or assistant hirings, the one constant is the lack of verified information flowing from the Texas football offices. Simply put, what this staff values as internal information is held closely.

When information breaks, it’s usually within a few hours of an event – not a few days.

How does that translate to the two current openings on the staff? If past precedence is an indicator of future events, fans can disregard every name they’ve read for either position.

If a name is being discussed, that probably means the candidate is nothing more than an educated guess. If you don’t believe that to be true, count the number of times this staff has allowed internal information to leak more than 24 hours in advance of the event happening.

+++++

With the above out of the way, let’s talk about two candidates that have been linked to the vacant tight end coaching job – Cedar Hill’s Joey McGuire and Gilmer’s Jeff Traylor

Reports surfaced that McGuire was officially withdrawing his name from consideration. Whether that is the case, or if McGuire was never offered the job, as Strong’s quote above suggests, is inconsequential.

We checked in with one of our metroplex high school coaching contacts, and they were not particularly surprised that McGuire is staying at Cedar Hill:

“Joey is a family and community oriented guy.  He wanted his kids to have stability and he has everything he could want at Cedar Hill.  I know he really likes the Texas staff but he's a different kind of guy so this doesn't surprise me at all.  He preaches family and commitment to his program and this is a great way to show that.”

Case closed.

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Gilmer High’s head coach, Jeff Traylor appears to be an exception to the trend discussed above. Reports surfaced late last week that Traylor was a candidate for an assistant coaching position and those reports were verified today (Monday) when a reporter from Longview’s NBC affiliate confirmed that Traylor is in Austin and will meet with Charlie Strong on Tuesday.

Curiously, most of our East Texas connections were quiet on the subject. Other than saying that Traylor wants the job, there wasn't much speculation on the probability of Traylor being offered a position on the Texas staff.

If Strong values hiring a high school, many have posited that it would be to accelerate the relationship between the current Texas coaches and high school coaches around the state. While the need for doing so is debatable, Traylor's resume is not.

With Traylor at the helm, the Buckeyes have been playing in the postseason for 14 straight years, with state titles coming in '04, '09, & '14. Gilmer also finished as runner-up in '07 & '12.

Tuesday will be an interesting day in the football offices. We'll let you know what we're hearing.

+++++

As Charlie Strong and Shawn Watson continue to re-build the quarterback spot on the roster, there is no denying that securing an LOI in the 2015 class was a major priority – according to some it was their top priority.

The coaching staff couldn’t afford to just add a body at quarterback, they needed to bring in a legitimate talent. In order to continue to build a competitive environment in practices, Watson and Strong needed to secure a signal caller good enough to be a threat to Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard from the first day he steps foot on the 40 Acres.

The first piece of the puzzle was letting go of Zach Gentry. While Gentry has good athleticism for his height, his long-term future is as a pro-style, pass-first quarterback. In May 2014, when Gentry committed to Texas, Watson and Strong hadn’t hatched the idea of tweaking the offense. According to a team source, letting Gentry flip to Michigan and Jim Harbaugh was a calculated move:

“There were two things happening behind the scenes with Gentry’s switch. First the coaches felt confident about Locksley signing with Texas…not just taking an OV, but signing. Second, both Strong and Watson knew it was in Gentry’s long-term interest to go to elsewhere because of the changes they’re planning for the offense. This coaching staff consistently chooses what’s best for a kid over what’s best for them – it fits with the foundation they’re building for the program. I would categorize the situation as the coaches helping Gentry more than him flipping to Michigan or whatever.”

While working through the Gentry situation, Watson and Strong were also evaluating Kai Locksley vs Kyler Murray behind the scenes. Here’s what we were told about that shakedown:

1. In terms of physical talent, Texas rated both players very similarly. Each player had minor advantages over the other, but their overall grades were almost equal.

2. For the cerebral aspects of the position, Locksley graded marginally higher than Murray. Courtesy of their fathers, both players graded very well, but the slight edge went to Locksley.

3. Where Murray had the advantage was his championship mindset and experience. The staff valued that perspective at quarterback and wanted to add that to the locker room.

4. The entire coaching staff liked the “story” they could build out of a commitment from Murray.

5. Knowing they needed to add a quarterback made Murray and the MLB draft an X-factor. Even though they involved Garrido and Texas baseball, the coaches were not comfortable with the risk of an MLB team throwing 7-figures at Murray.

With Murray’s unofficial visit, and Locksley’s official visit almost happening on back-to-back dates, Texas coaches were able to assess those recruitments very accurately. There was no discussion of signing Murray and adding Locksley as a wide receiver – the coaches consider him a quarterback.

As Locksley continued to look probable, UT and the coaches were balking at some of the Murray family’s requests. According to our guy, in the end, the overall recruitment was fairly smooth despite being a hot debate on message boards:

“From my perspective, Locksley continued to emerge as a very realistic probability while Murray was headed in the opposite direction.  By the time Murray reaffirmed his commitment to A&M, the Texas coaches were already focused to securing Locksley.”

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Kirk Johnson signed his National Letter of Intent on February 4th, National Signing Day, and is one step closer to formally making his way to the 40 Acres this Summer.  Johnson plays safety and running back for the Valley Christian Warriors, but expect the 6-0, 210 pound athlete to spend most of his time in the backfield for the Longhorns. 

“I’m not 100% how they will use me, but what we talked about is using me like an all-purpose back.  I can run, hit, and catch.”

Johnson tells us his expectations are high when he arrives on campus:

“I want to push myself on the football field and in the classroom.” 

When we asked if he expected to see playing time his freshman season or if he would redshirt:

“Every great team needs competition.  I expect to compete.”

His brother Collin, had this to say about Kirk’s ability to run the ball.  “As a running back he is much better than most people give him credit for.”

Both Kirk and Collin are polite, courteous and humble, and on Sunday evening (2/8) the younger Johnson (2016 Texas wide receiver commit) announced he was planning to graduate in December 2015 so that he can enroll a semester early at Texas.  Enrolling early is becoming a frequent practice, but don’t think it comes easily.

We asked Johnson how many extra classes he was having to take in order to make an early graduation a reality.  His response, “quite a few.”  The drive for an early graduation stems from his eagerness to jump-start the process and “settle in and compete for a spot.”

New wide receivers Coach Jay Norvell is growing on Johnson as well.  We asked about the chemistry between the two, despite Norvell’s being new to the staff:

“It’s good.  We just need to keep building our relationship.”

Jokingly we asked Collin if the Johnson family (Johnnie and wife) would be relocating to Austin after his arrival next Spring.  After a small chuckle he told us it is possible, especially if his sister who is a sophomore basketball and track athlete attends Texas.

Coach Aston might want to start scouting the Warriors.

+++++

Couple of quick hitters from various conversations last week…

- A source on the coaching side of things told us that conditioning drills have increased in intensity. While there haven’t been any football-specific drills implemented yet, our source said, “The speed has increased tremendously and they always finish with sprints.”

- The same source noted that one of the early enrollees was performing much better than expected in workouts.   The exact quote we were given was “he looks like a 3 or 4 year starter in workouts.” 

The player?  Connor Williams.

 

[Mike Roach]

My guy Connor Williams doing work

 

[Shambeaux]

Outstanding job y'all.

 

[joeywa]

Nice write-up gents!

 

[echeese]

Strong continued:

“We have to tweak it. We know this. I look at five games last season where we scored 20 points or less. We know we have to get better, and we have to tweak it some. We have a lot of time to sit down as a staff and decide what we're going to do there.â€

Here are the facts that fans can glean from Strong’s quotes:

1. Texas will make adjustments to the offense in the offseason.

2. Those adjustments will be designed to take advantage of the skills of the players on the roster.

3. Texas will not completely scrap the 2014 offensive scheme.

4. Texas will not run a pure spread offense.

Those facts were solidly echoed when we talked with someone that is a regular attendee at practices and workouts:

“From what I’ve heard, offensive tweaks are as much about the other 10 players on the field as they are about whoever is under center. More depth up front, plus better skill talent means the staff is focusing on what the entire unit needs to improve, not just one player.â€

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An FYI,

TEXAS ran spread about half the time last year, Watson likes to be multiple.   It is amazing that our fans do not realize how much spread we run.

We can point to WVU as our signature win, we were in spread around 60% of the time.

What I expect us to be is even more like tOSU was in 2014. . . .and yes, we often ran an offense similar to tOSU. . . .we went away from misdirection that worked early, I suspect it's back.

Our 2014 problem was not X's and O's but rather Jimmy's and Joe's.    

Overall a good read, love/hate the comments on Williams.   Love it because I think he's a stud, hate it because it means he might be in teh 2 deep and OLs should shirt.   But roll out the best 8-10 and let's ride.

 

[Throthefade]

Very good stuff.

 

[doc longhorn]

Very interesting - the comparison between Murray and Locksley.  Especially physically.  Although you forgot to mention that Murray comes up to about Locksley's shoulder.  That can't be ignored when it comes to spotting receivers in college football - over towering defensive linemen.  A far cry from spotting them in high school.

 

[HornEsch]

Give us this day our Burnt Ends!

I love it, great and informative as always!!

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

- The same source noted that one of the early enrollees was performing much better than expected in workouts.   The exact quote we were given was “he looks like a 3 or 4 year starter in workouts.†

The player?  Connor Williams.

Williams has the best feet and most athletic frame of any OL in the 2015 class.

He's gonna be a helluva player for us, but I'd be a little nervous seeing him start at LT against Notre Dame on 9/5! Jeff Howe at 247 has him penciled in as a Day 1 starter on his first depth chart.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

Very interesting - the comparison between Murray and Locksley.  Especially physically.  Although you forgot to mention that Murray comes up to about Locksley's shoulder.  That can't be ignored when it comes to spotting receivers in college football - over towering defensive linemen.  A far cry from spotting them in high school.

That's assuming he stays in the pocket, Doc.

I see a lot of Manziel in Murray's game. He'll be a more effective play-maker on the move because of his short stature and running ability. If he ever puts on another football uniform again...

 

[Sirhornsalot]

My guy Connor Williams doing work

That's right. You did call his name as a hidden gem in this class.

 

[doc longhorn]

That's assuming he stays in the pocket, Doc.

I see a lot of Manziel in Murray's game. He'll be a more effective play-maker on the move because of his short stature and running ability. If he ever puts on another football uniform again...

Well, of course if he stays in the pocket.  The whole idea of a pass rush is to accomplish just that.  Manziel was gifted enough to create unscheduled and ad libbed runs.  Murray may well be able to do the same, but even then he would have to deal with big DE's.  I'm betting his performance in college will be way short of the success he had in high school.  Assuming, of course, if he ever takes a snap which, like you, I am betting he won't do this either.

 

[Mike Roach]

That's right. You did call his name as a hidden gem in this class.

I think he ends up a top 3 player from this class

 

[Bevostuntdouble]

Great write up... These have been and will continue to be the highlights of my month.

 

[Worster1]

With the problems the OL had last season, I am excited about a kid like Conner Williams coming in competing.   The good news is we will get to see some of his work this spring.