Longhorn News/Discussion (Non-Recruiting)

[Eastexhorn]

On the RB rotation Texas does a lot of this due to injuries IMO.

Alabama, Georgia and LSU espically rotates thier RBS overthe last years. I belive LSU rotated three Geo two and Ala. three. This all from memory so takefor what it is worth.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

On the RB rotation Texas does a lot of this due to injuries IMO.

Alabama, Georgia and LSU espically rotates thier RBS overthe last years. I belive LSU rotated three Geo two and Ala. three. This all from memory so takefor what it is worth.

Took a quick 1 year sample from 2019 from the following teams; Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, and Texas. Compared how many carries the top 3 running backs had for each team. 

Georgia - 196 to 103 to 78

LSU - 215 to 64 to 39

Ohio State - 301 to 135 to 25

Clemson - 207 to 104 to 44

Alabama - 209 to 96 to 39

Texas - 144 to 123 to 16

As you can see,only 2 of the above teams are anywhere close to having their 2nd and 3rd backs combining for as many carries as the 1st RB, Georgia and Texas. And the above is holding so far this year with 2 exceptions. At LSU and Texas, the the 2nd and 3rd backs have combined for slightly more carries than the 1st. 

And I'll go ahead and beat @Sirhornsalotto the punch and call myself a nerd ?

 

[Soldierhorn]

When I get time, I'm going to do a little research on this. I really think the top teams don't swap the RB's and WR's in and out as much as Texas does. But I could be wrong. Will be interesting to see. 

That would be a good project.  I'm sure you'll find some teams that rotate less but I presuppose that those teams will have one primary bluechip RB.  The Horns had one primary go-to RB in 2016 (D'Onta Foreman) and everyone else on the roster was a disappointment (including Chris Warren). As a result, Foreman got 323 rushing attempts to Warren's 62... but this was out of necessity.   If you have 3-4 bluechip RBs (Ingram, Johnson, Robinson, & Whittington) that need touches, then you have to come up with a rotation plan esp if the younger RBs are arguably better than the upperclassman. 

edited: posted before I saw that you did a sample study.  Still, I would put up UT's RB room talent against any in the country and they ALL need touches. IMO, it shouldnt matter if the OL did their job. 

 

[Soldierhorn]

1 Been saying for years OL is biggest problem

2 At times Samis very inaccurate espicalyon long passes.

3 WRS havent lived up to thier ratings. TE and Moore best IMO. The rest for one reason or another are disapointing.

4 A win this week end will change a lot of how we all feel.

I agree with all this.  And, my point isnt to slam Sam because he is FAR down on the list of issues the team has, IMO, BUT... regardless of the stats, he isnt anywhere close to Colt McCoy with regards to QB skill set (or even Shane Buechele or David Ash) and nowhere near the athleticism effectiveness of VY.  BUT... he doesnt have to be great to be an effective QB and even be a championship QB (now out of reach of course) if they used him based on HIS talents and the cylinders around him were all firing (which they arent).  

 

[TFloss32]

 

[TFloss32]

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I agree with all this.  And, my point isnt to slam Sam because he is FAR down on the list of issues the team has, IMO, BUT... regardless of the stats, he isnt anywhere close to Colt McCoy with regards to QB skill set (or even Shane Buechele or David Ash) and nowhere near the athleticism effectiveness of VY.  BUT... he doesnt have to be great to be an effective QB and even be a championship QB (now out of reach of course) if they used him based on HIS talents and the cylinders around him were all firing (which they arent).  

I'm with you that Sam isn't anywhere close to the QB skill set of Colt or VY. But you might be stretching it just a wee little bit by saying Sam isn't anywhere close to the QB skill set of Steve Buechele or David Ash. That might be just a little outside for ball four, take your base ?

 

[Soldierhorn]

I'm with you that Sam isn't anywhere close to the QB skill set of Colt or VY. But you might be stretching it just a wee little bit by saying Sam isn't anywhere close to the QB skill set of Steve Buechele or David Ash. That might be just a little outside for ball four, take your base ?

Just an opinion of course, but QB skill set doesnt necessarily equate to effectiveness. 

VY's QB skill set was limited and he could not absorb the PRO set or concepts and that's why they had to install his high school offense and, subsequently, let "Vince be Vince".  However, his college athleticism was off the charts and more than made up for any skill set deficiencies.  

Like Colt, Shane was (and still is) an extremely accurate passer, great anticipation, read defenses quickly pre & post snap, didnt hang on to the ball too long, and manages the game very well; most of which are better QB traits than Sam.  So, the obvious question is: why pick Sam over Shane in 2017 instead of redshirting Sam (which I think they should have)?  Shane out-performed Sam passing the ball and it wasnt even close, however, Sam lead the team in rushing in 2017 in split action. Obviously, Herman thought (and probably still thinks) Sam fit his power-spread concepts better than Shane and didnt want to wait to install HIS offense. 

I said it then, and I stand by it today that David Ash would have played in the NFL if he didnt have to play full back the way Ehlinger does today. I would be very surprised if Sam makes a roster or sees any action as a QB in the NFL but would not have been with Ash.  While arguably not the better overt leader early on that Sam was, Ash had a better arm, better accuracy, better anticipation, better vision and passing decision maker, good game manager, and was developing into the solid leader when he got hurt. And, believe it or not, all this with a worse OL than Ehlinger has today

 

[primal defense]

Tom Herman on Sam Ehlinger: You couldn't design a better QB






https://247sports.com/Article/Tom-Herman-Sam-Ehlinger-Texas-Longhorns-Oklahoma-State-Cowboys-Mike-Gundy-153760728/

 

[Soldierhorn]

"If you could design the mental and emotional makeup of a quarterback, you couldn't have designed one better in a laboratory than Sam Ehlinger. He's not perfect by any stretch, but man, I don't know that there's another guy in my life that I would want in my foxhole than that guy. .. He's going to fight, scratch, claw and leave everything on the field — mind, body and soul, not just for this university, but more importantly, for his teammates and the coaches in that locker room that he cares so deeply about."

A LOT of coach-speak.  What else is he going to say? 

Sam provides the most results on offense and I dont think anyone questions his heart or love of the Longhorns

This is a must win for Herman if they are going to meet any season goals.  Therefore, the question is: 

Will they let Sam be Sam for 4 quarters or wait until the situation becomes desperate... again?

 

[Sirhornsalot]

I'm with you that Sam isn't anywhere close to the QB skill set of Colt or VY. But you might be stretching it just a wee little bit by saying Sam isn't anywhere close to the QB skill set of Steve Buechele or David Ash. That might be just a little outside for ball four, take your base ?

I was about to say, Ehlinger straight up beat Buechelle, who had advantages Ehlinger didn't. David Ash, we hardly knew ya.

If I compare Ehlinger to anyone, it would be Major Applewhite. Not a great passer, but adequate. Had the heart of a lion. You were never out of it with him around.

 

[Soldierhorn]

If we are looking for players in the likeness of Ehlinger, that's a conversation to be had. 

 

[Eastexhorn]

Speaking of Applewhite he was beat strait up by Sims. I buy the partthat Samfit Toms offense the best IMO  Buechelle was the better passer Glad to he doing ok at SMU.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Okay, continuing with the discussion of WR rotation and all, I took a look at how deep you have to go in the WR rotation before reaching more 50% of the team receptions. Texas and Clemson seem to be the outliers here. For most teams, by the time you get to the 3rd WR's, you have exceeded 50% of the team receptions. For Texas, that goes all the way to 5 WR's.

Here's how many WR's it took to exceed 50% of each team's total receptions.

Georgia - 4 WR's in 2019, 3 in 2020

LSU - 3 WR's in 2019, 3 in 2020 

Ohio State - 3 WR's 2019, didn't do 2020 since they've only played one game.

Clemson - 4 in 2019, 5 in 2020

Alabama - 2 in 2019, 2 in 2020

Texas - 3 in 2019, 5 in 2020

It is interesting is that last year Clemson had a RB that was 3rd on the team in receptions and this year has a RB that is 2nd and a TE that is 3rd. 

Well, that's it for today in the category of almost totally useless information. But I was bored and didn't really have anything else to do? But now the wife and I are headed to some friend's house for dinner and some really good wine. 

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Speaking of Applewhite he was beat strait up by Sims. I buy the partthat Samfit Toms offense the best IMO  Buechelle was the better passer Glad to he doing ok at SMU.

Buechelle's problem was, and still is, his incredibly slow delivery. Its almost like a wind up.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Speaking of Applewhite he was beat strait up by Sims. I buy the partthat Samfit Toms offense the best IMO  Buechelle was the better passer Glad to he doing ok at SMU.

Aaaaaahhh, I don't buy that. I lived that history too. What I saw was Mack feeling pressured to get a 5-star QB on the field. When Sims fell on his face in the Conf Championship game – who did they call? And who almost dug us out of the hole Sims had dug for us?

 

[Captain Hookem]

Aaaaaahhh, I don't buy that. I lived that history too. What I saw was Mack feeling pressured to get a 5-star QB on the field. When Sims fell on his face in the Conf Championship game – who did they call? And who almost dug us out of the hole Sims had dug for us?

Simms had all the talent in the world but couldn't read a defense. Applewhite knew what the defense was going to do before even they did. 

Listening to postgame on the way back from the game, they asked Applewhite about the long TD that brought us back to within a score. He said he threw the ball as soon as he saw "the cornerback turn his hips". I'm still amazed by that.

Side note... Simms really needed to sit and watch for a couple seasons rather than get the quick start. Watching them during a few games on the sidelines, Simms would be in the back joking around and Applewhite would have his toes on the sidelines watching every play - no matter who QB1 was. Simms just needed to mature a little bit and understand the work needed to put in as a starting college QB (having likely never had to study a defense in High School). Had he done so he may have been able to match his skill with expectations.   

 

[Eastexhorn]

Buechelle's problem was, and still is, his incredibly slow delivery. Its almost like a wind up.

IMO Buechelle was too fragile for Toms system hurt a lot. If you want to see a fast delevery chack out Rattler.

IMO practice does not always determine the best player. Only a game will..

Check out Cowboys thtsweekend might be a Garretsighting.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

IMO Buechelle was too fragile for Toms system hurt a lot. If you want to see a fast delevery chack out Rattler.

IMO practice does not always determine the best player. Only a game will..

Check out Cowboys thtsweekend might be a Garretsighting.

I don't watch the Cowboys or the nfl. I hear I'm not missing much.

 

[Soldierhorn]

IMO Buechelle was too fragile for Toms system hurt a lot. If you want to see a fast delevery chack out Rattler.

agree... I remember when VY declared for the draft.  I said that they needed to move away from the VY zone-read... but they didnt.  Colt didnt have the body for the Z-R and suffered through it during 2006 & 2007.  it wasnt until 2008 that GD/Mack went (or capitulated) to the full spread offense that unleashed Colt's talents. Herman could have done the same with Shane but being new and all, I think Herman wanted to establish his brand of power-spread offense. I think he could have waited a couple of years, esp since they didnt have a particularly good RB corps in 2017 or 2018.