Burnt Ends (5-25)

[HornSports Staff]

The point on a brisket is typically the fattiest cut. Pitmasters often trim the point (and select edges) off a brisket and return those pieces to the smoker.

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

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

This is a free site, so anyone can read this report. If you share it with someone, please take time to attribute the information to HornSports.

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After the baseball team’s surprising Big 12 tournament crown we immediately checked with several sources to gauge it’s impact on their projections of Augie Garrido’s imminent retirement.

The first point they noted is that their reports were that Garrido would retire after the season, not that he would be fired due to the team’s performance this year. The team’s tournament victory in Tulsa has the ability to change the narrative of the story, but not the outcome.

In other words, we’re told that Garrido is still going to retire. The main difference now will be how it’s perceived.

+++++

There are only a handful of coach’s names that are mentioned consistently as potential replacements for Garrido. As reported last week, several of the top candidates are coaching teams in the postseason tournament. With the Longhorns and Garrido now in the tournament too, the entire story may take a while to come to fruition.

+++++

Beaumont Central defensive back James “PJ” Locke committed to the Longhorns during the week of National Signing Day.  The one-time Oregon commit had held Texas in his heart as a “dream school” and couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play for the Longhorns when it was presented to him. 

Since signing his letter of intent, Locke has been hard at work in the gym to get himself ready for summer workouts in Austin.  We caught up with Locke to see how he’s preparing for his arrival on the 40 Acres.

Locke is a member of Central’s track team, and blended a successful track season with workouts designed to sharpen his skills on the gridiron. He talked specifics:

“I’ve been working on short yardage burst and a lot of plyometrics.  I’m sharpening up my covering skills along with my footwork. My track season really improved my forty time.  I’ve been hitting the weights hard this offseason and have improved my strength.”

Locke told us he set new highs in the weight room with a squat of 525, 340 on the bench, and 300 in the power clean. As for how those achievements will help him this fall:

“I think this will help me to get off blocks and in run support at the nickel position”. 

Locke is one of the more versatile defensive backs the Longhorns have recruited in recent years.  He has the ability to play corner or safety, but could be an ideal nickel candidate.  We asked Locke if the Texas coaches have told him what position they expect him to play: 

“Not specifically. So I’m just preparing myself to be ready to play wherever they need me.” 

Locke understands that his versatility is a path to early playing time, and has been working on all aspects of the game: 

“I work on my ball skills and man-to-man coverage every day so I’m also ready for the corner or safety position.  No one will outwork me.”

Locke doesn’t have a true preference when it comes to his position, telling us there is appeal to each position in the defensive backfield: 

“I’m just a true defensive back.  I love contact, but I don’t mind playing man-to-man.  I really don’t care, I just want to ball.” 

With the turnover Texas faces in the secondary, playing time will be up for grabs for the incoming freshmen.  Locke says he’s looking forward to the battle: 

“It’s going to be some good competition.  I can guarantee you I won’t be backing down to anyone.”

As a late addition to the 2015 class, Locke was behind in forming a bond with the other signees.  Despite that, Locke feels right at home with the group, and is developing a close relationship with several of his classmates: 

“We started a 2015 signee chat group in February after signing day, so we have developed a strong bond over the past three months.”

With a talented skillset, and a work ethic Pat Moorer will love, it is safe to say that P.J. Locke is one to watch this season.

+++++

Prior to this weekend’s Big 12 Championship victory, a baseball player’s dad confirmed to HornSports that Augie Garrido had a long leash in terms of how his performance will be judged within the athletic department. That meshes with this report in Burnt Ends.

.

Personally, he thinks Augie Garrido should not return as head coach.

+++++

We heard from a different baseball source that Garrido’s advancing age is starting to become problematic on the practice field. The example cited in our conversation dealt with an outfield relay throw the team was practicing. As we were told, Garrido was telling players to hit the wrong cutoff man in the relay to home plate.

The conversation concluded with, “The other coaches were just shaking their heads.”

+++++

Last week we were able to catch up with an offensive player on the football team to gauge how things are going. 

The team is really excited about the upcoming year.  Year 2 with these coaches and a roster  lacking the negative influences that were dismissed in 2014 has the locker room feeling confident.

This particular player says Charlie Strong is a lot looser than he was last year: 

“Not loose to the point where he lets you slack off, but the guys know what to expect from him and what is expected of them.”

When discussing the roster purge of last year, the player pulled no punches, naming them “pieces of shit”, and saying that those who wanted to do things their way are gone.

Inevitably, the conversation turned to the quarterback situation. Confirming reports that Tyrone Swoopes had a strong spring in the weight room, the player also said that Swoopes is bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than Jerrod Heard. He even went so far as telling us that Swoopes has a better arm than Heard.

Despite all those advantages, he thinks Heard will be starting by the third game of the season. His reasoning?  He said Swoopes still throws too many head-scratching passes in practice when the pressure comes.

While that might be good news to the Jerrod Heard Fan Club, it also smacks of a locker room that might be forming their own opinion about the quarterback competition. But, as Charlie Strong proved last year, players that want to do things their way don’t last long.

 

[Godz40acres]

Good stuff on PJ. Can't wait for the 2015ers to get to fall camp.

 

[doc longhorn]

I like Heard's obvious leadership persona and his quick feet.  If he can eliminate the freshman tendency to throw into double and triple coverage, which will cause him to hit the bench, he should have a strong chance to overtake Swoopes.

I like Swoopes size and his ability to throw the long vertical pass.  I, also, think the offense this year will open up his ability to run.  I dislike his brain farts, he is too old and experienced now to continue with those.

The bad news is that I don't think either QB is capable of winning us a championship - at least this year.  Any injury to any of our OL and we will regress right back to last years pitiful OL and the offense will go out the window.

 

[primal defense]

I like Heard's obvious leadership persona and his quick feet.  If he can eliminate the freshman tendency to throw into double and triple coverage, which will cause him to hit the bench, he should have a strong chance to overtake Swoopes.

I like Swoopes size and his ability to throw the long vertical pass.  I, also, think the offense this year will open up his ability to run.  I dislike his brain farts, he is too old and experienced now to continue with those.

The bad news is that I don't think either QB is capable of winning us a championship - at least this year.  Any injury to any of our OL and we will regress right back to last years pitiful OL and the offense will go out the window.

After the way Swoopes closed the season against TCU and Arkansas, I'm not sure how you can say with any confidence that Swoopes will show improvement mentally.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

I like Heard's obvious leadership persona and his quick feet.  If he can eliminate the freshman tendency to throw into double and triple coverage, which will cause him to hit the bench, he should have a strong chance to overtake Swoopes.

I like Swoopes size and his ability to throw the long vertical pass.  I, also, think the offense this year will open up his ability to run.  I dislike his brain farts, he is too old and experienced now to continue with those.

The bad news is that I don't think either QB is capable of winning us a championship - at least this year.  Any injury to any of our OL and we will regress right back to last years pitiful OL and the offense will go out the window.

I expect another year of growing pains on offense, too, Doc.

Anyone with eyes knows Swoopes has a better arm than Heard and throws a much better deep ball. IMO, it'll be Heard's improvisational skills and quick feet running the ball that will separate the two. He also appears to have more of a take-charge personality and in-your-face leadership reminiscent of VY (him again).

I guess we'll see, but I'm a card-carrying member of the "Jerrod Heard Fan Club".

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Inevitably, the conversation turned to the quarterback situation. Confirming reports that Tyrone Swoopes had a strong spring in the weight room, the player also said that Swoopes is bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than Jerrod Heard. He even went so far as telling us that Swoopes has a better arm than Heard.

I buy the bigger and stronger part but I'm having a hard time buying the faster part.

Don't know about smarter because you can't "see" that. 

 

[Coal Harbour]

When Swoopes is confused in the pocket, I would describe him as a "plodder".  When he knows he is going to keep the ball on a zone read, he looks much more "athletic".  I think this all comes down to the small school vs. big school debate.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

When Swoopes is confused in the pocket, I would describe him as a "plodder".  When he knows he is going to keep the ball on a zone read, he looks much more "athletic".  I think this all comes down to the small school vs. big school debate.

The other problem is Swoopes is indecisive on the zone read plays, too. When do I keep it?

He's a beat slow on passing reads and options

 

[doc longhorn]

After the way Swoopes closed the season against TCU and Arkansas, I'm not sure how you can say with any confidence that Swoopes will show improvement mentally.

You can lay 100% of the offensive woes against TCU and Arky on Swoopes, but, if you know anything about football you know that's not fair.

Without going into the constant repetition of Swoopes didn't do this or Swoopes didn't do that - did anyone look at the films of the games?  I did and I can assure you that the pitiful offense was a team failure and not just Swoopes.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Tyrone, he certainly did poorly, but the films proved out that the bulk of the time he was running for his life.  and, yes, he made bad decisions.  So did the receivers - brother, did they.  They ran wrong routes, fell down, didn't block, didn't fight for the ball and just flat dropped passes that hit them squarely in the hands.  Dropped passes that made a humongous difference in play calling and the outcome of the games.

And that is just the receivers.  Don't get me started on the mediocre junior college offensive line.

Finally, and this will be an unpopular comment, UT had a month to prepare for Arky and the offensive scheme coaches presented was the best they could do?

They knew what they were facing and they knew their own weaknesses and liabilities.  I submit their preparation was abysmal and the offensive outcome exemplified it.  What the hell were they thinking?  Sam Houston State could have prepared better.  Charlie was right when he said it was a failure of the coaches.

The bottom line it that it is easy to demonize one player, like Tyrone, and make him the sole reason for losses.  But that is simply incorrect, narrow minded and, frankly, lacking in looking at the full picture.

Football is not like golf or tennis - it is a team sport and no one person is responsible for wins or losses.

 

[CCausey11]

Doc, the original highlighted statement did nothing to lay the blame for all of the woes on Swoopes.  It points out (validly in my opinion) that Swoopes did regress mentally and given those results and the defeated attitude he continued to exhibit that it is truly an unknown whether the young man will show an improvement in this area.  If you look at tape from those games and compare from early season there is no doubt he regressed in that area.  I don't think there is anything in that statement that is laying all of the offensive woes on Swoopes, just pointing out a fact about his play.  Your weekly posts/defense/diatribes about this subject are approaching RD levels when Patterson is mentioned, and that's not good.

 

[primal defense]

You can lay 100% of the offensive woes against TCU and Arky on Swoopes, but, if you know anything about football do you think that is fair? 

Without going into the constant repetition of Swoopes didn't do this or Swoopes didn't do that - did anyone look at the films of the games?  I did and I can assure you that the pitiful offense was a team failure and not just Swoopes.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Jerrod, he certainly did poorly, but the films proved out that the bulk of the time he was running for his life.  and, yes, he made bad decisions.  So did the receivers - brother, did they.  They ran wrong routes, fell down, didn't block, didn't fight for the ball and just flat dropped passes that hit them squarely in the hands.  Dropped passes that made a humongous difference in play calling and the outcome of the games.

And that is just the receivers.  Don't get me started on the mediocre junior college offensive line.

Finally, and this will be an unpopular comment, UT had a month to prepare for Arky and the offensive scheme coaches presented was the best they could do?

They knew what they were facing and they knew their own weaknesses and liabilities.  I submit their preparation was abysmal and the offensive outcome exemplified it.  What the hell were they thinking?  Sam Houston State could have prepared better.  Charlie was right when he said it was a failure of the coaches.

The bottom line it that it is easy to demonize one player, like Tyrone, and make him the sole reason for losses.  But that is simply incorrect, narrow minded and, frankly, lacking in looking at the full picture.

Football is not like golf or tennis - it is a team sport and no one person is responsible for wins or losses.


Come on Doc your a better poster than this. You posted that Swoopes should be better mentally this year because he will be older and more experienced. I posted that I didn't understand how you can say that with confidence. Now your saying from my post that I'm saying it's all Swoopes fault and I'm demonizing Swoopes.

Either your reading comprehension is poor or you decided to give a classic straw man argument. I don't mind defending what I wrote, but I do resent having to defend what your imagination said I wrote.

Straw man

A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on false representation of an opponent's argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

You can lay 100% of the offensive woes against TCU and Arky on Swoopes, but, if you know anything about football do you think that is fair? 

Without going into the constant repetition of Swoopes didn't do this or Swoopes didn't do that - did anyone look at the films of the games?  I did and I can assure you that the pitiful offense was a team failure and not just Swoopes.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Jerrod, he certainly did poorly, but the films proved out that the bulk of the time he was running for his life.  and, yes, he made bad decisions.  So did the receivers - brother, did they.  They ran wrong routes, fell down, didn't block, didn't fight for the ball and just flat dropped passes that hit them squarely in the hands.  Dropped passes that made a humongous difference in play calling and the outcome of the games.

And that is just the receivers.  Don't get me started on the mediocre junior college offensive line.

Finally, and this will be an unpopular comment, UT had a month to prepare for Arky and the offensive scheme coaches presented was the best they could do?

They knew what they were facing and they knew their own weaknesses and liabilities.  I submit their preparation was abysmal and the offensive outcome exemplified it.  What the hell were they thinking?  Sam Houston State could have prepared better.  Charlie was right when he said it was a failure of the coaches.

The bottom line it that it is easy to demonize one player, like Tyrone, and make him the sole reason for losses.  But that is simply incorrect, narrow minded and, frankly, lacking in looking at the full picture.

Football is not like golf or tennis - it is a team sport and no one person is responsible for wins or losses.

Doc, I don't think anyone is laying 100% of the blame for the TCU and Arky disasters at Swoopes feet. To your point, it was an organizational failure - from CFS to Watson on down to the OL and WRs. I agree - our offensive game plans were too vanilla. 

Do I think Ty improved this spring? Maybe, but to what level? Bad to mediocre? It's just my - and others - opinion that Jerrod's feet, attitude, and confidence gives us a better chance to win in 2015.

We could be dead wrong, but I'd rather not watch Ty struggle again. We need a spark

 

[doc longhorn]

Doc, the original highlighted statement did nothing to lay the blame for all of the woes on Swoopes.  It points out (validly in my opinion) that Swoopes did regress mentally and given those results and the defeated attitude he continued to exhibit that it is truly an unknown whether the young man will show an improvement in this area.  If you look at tape from those games and compare from early season there is no doubt he regressed in that area.  I don't think there is anything in that statement that is laying all of the offensive woes on Swoopes, just pointing out a fact about his play.  Your weekly posts/defense/diatribes about this subject are approaching RD levels when Patterson is mentioned, and that's not good.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive because I have read a years worth of mostly unfair Swoopes bashing.  Sometimes to the point of hysteria.

It has been the unfairness of it that has caused me to take up his banner.  Not because I am necessarily in love with his play - far from it.

Frankly, I'm not particularly surprised at Swoopes demeaner.  I mean, good Lord, he was essentially a freshman from a tiny town that played for a HS with poor coaching and he was thrust into a position WAY too soon and before he was either ready or mature enough to handle.

He was surrounded with, arguably, a worse team than Blinn Jr. college and had the hell beat out of him the entire year.

This is my major concern for him this year - has his confidence been shredded to the point that it is now destroyed ?  He desperately needs some team support in order to recover, if he can, any confidence at all.  It will be interesting to see if his confidence is salvageable.

That's why I get in conflict with the usual backup QB ilk that constantly railed to have Heard play.  I'm glad he didn't for Heards sake.  Playing with last years team and with the turnstile OL we had, it would have been a miracle if his slight body would not have been broken - never mind HIS confidence.

So, yeah, I could see Tyrone was down on himself - hell, who wouldn't have been?

 

[doc longhorn]

Doc, the original highlighted statement did nothing to lay the blame for all of the woes on Swoopes.  It points out (validly in my opinion) that Swoopes did regress mentally and given those results and the defeated attitude he continued to exhibit that it is truly an unknown whether the young man will show an improvement in this area.  If you look at tape from those games and compare from early season there is no doubt he regressed in that area.  I don't think there is anything in that statement that is laying all of the offensive woes on Swoopes, just pointing out a fact about his play.  Your weekly posts/defense/diatribes about this subject are approaching RD levels when Patterson is mentioned, and that's not good.

Once again, I took up the banners of both Swoopes and Patterson or anyone, when I thought they were being unfairly criticized.  I'm not accusing you, but I hate mob mentality when I know the uproar is unfounded and based on some blogs message board - which are moderator driven to create interest.

Discussion and debate are what drives these message boards, but some people really get angry and take it to the point of condescension and personal insults.  Particularly when their viewpoint is challenged.

And, yes, I confess to being guilty of this as well. 

You are right about Swoops digressing mentally and my previous comment discusses this. It's unknown  whether he can snap out of it - I have my own personal reservations as I think the damage has been done.  I think he will excel this year in calm waters, but what will he do in a storm?

 

[doc longhorn]

Come on Doc your a better poster than this. You posted that Swoopes should be better mentally this year because he will be older and more experienced. I posted that I didn't understand how you can say that with confidence. Now your saying from my post that I'm saying it's all Swoopes fault and I'm demonizing Swoopes.

Either your reading comprehension is poor or you decided to give a classic straw man argument. I don't mind defending what I wrote, but I do resent having to defend what your imagination said I wrote.

Straw man

A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on false representation of an opponent's argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

Actually I didn't mean to single you out personally.  I was just generally railing and your post was convenient.  Sorry.

 

[primal defense]

Once again, I took up the banners of both Swoopes and Patterson or anyone, when I thought they were being unfairly criticized.  I'm not accusing you, but I hate mob mentality when I know the uproar is unfounded and based on some blogs message board - which are moderator driven to create interest.

Discussion and debate are what drives these message boards, but some people really get angry and take it to the point of condescension and personal insults.  Particularly when their viewpoint is challenged.

And, yes, I confess to being guilty of this as well. 

You are right about Swoops digressing mentally and my previous comment discusses this. It's unknown  whether he can snap out of it - I have my own personal reservations as I think the damage has been done.  I think he will excel this year in calm waters, but what will he do in a storm?

I haven't seen very much unfair criticism for Swoopes this off season except for GBT who is either an aggie or posts like one. He seems  to enjoy criticizing Swoopes even if it means that he's beating that old dead horse.

Your not doing Swoopes any favors by bringing up on how delicate Swoopes' confidence is. If Swoopes confidence is so delicate that he is mentally destroyed from last year then he's not cut out to be a QB at the University of Texas. If that's the case then we need for Heard or Locksley to play.

 

[primal defense]

Actually I didn't mean to single you out personally.  I was just generally railing and your post was convenient.  Sorry.

Thanks, no problem. Any unfair Swoopes post is probably going to come from GBT.

 

[doc longhorn]

I haven't seen very much unfair criticism for Swoopes this off season except for GBT who is either an aggie or posts like one. He seems  to enjoy criticizing Swoopes even if it means that he's beating that old dead horse.

Your not doing Swoopes any favors by bringing up on how delicate Swoopes' confidence is. If Swoopes confidence is so delicate that he is mentally destroyed from last year then he's not cut out to be a QB at the University of Texas. If that's the case then we need for Heard or Locksley to play.

I visit many UT blogs and the general consensus is they are all the same, regarding Swoopes.  There is the contingent of the football ignorant folks, that think football is a one man team, the people who constantly promote Heard and need Swoopes out of the way and the non-thinkers that allow a blog to think for them.

One of the great things about this blog is the intelligence of the posters and the apparent open mindedness (my new word).

As far as how fragile Swoopes confidence is - that remains to be seen.  He played behind the worst OL I have ever seen at UT and managed to survive to play another day - at least physically.

This being said, if he is able to recover I think he will surprise all the nay sayers.  As far as Heard - I can see him being the QB in the red zone because of his quick feet and the added threat of him running.  For me, however, the jury is still out on him being a full time QB.  The spring game sure didn't convince me and I simply discount his high school play as.....well, high school.

He is another that bears watching - not because of the fragility of his confidence, but because he has the potential for being a turnover machine.  No coach will put up with that for long.

 

[doc longhorn]

Thanks, no problem. Any unfair Swoopes post is probably going to come from GBT.

Forgive me, but who is GBT?