The Texas football team didn’t take much of a break for the Christmas holiday. The team practiced all the way up through Christmas Eve, and then traveled to Houston on Wednesday night. After taking a day off and spending Christmas together as a team, everyone will be full bore for the Arkansas Razorbacks starting on Friday.
Throughout November, Charlie Strong consistently talked about how important 15 bowl practices would be for his young Texas team. The tricky part for coaches is to decide how much of a bowl practice to spend on the actual bowl game versus how much to focus on preparing for next season. After the Texas Bowl, there will be a void left by the departure of key Seniors – how much time will Strong spend repping younger players at those positions?
This is a quandary that every coach faces, but when coaches need to find a replacement for a name like Jaxon Shipley, it makes bowl preparations seem less of a priority. Offensively, here are some of the decisions Strong is faced with (broken down by position group):
QUARTERBACK
Realistically, nothing is going to change in the bowl game. Offensive performance rests squarely on the shoulders of Tyrone Swoopes and he’ll be backed up by Logan Vinklarek. The decision to balance at signal caller, is how much practice time to devote to Jerrod Heard (with the understanding that he will not play against Arkansas).
While fans want the competition at quarterback to start yesterday, every snap that Heard takes in practice is a snap that Swoopes needs. At one of the only positions on the field where only one player practices on any single play, Texas has a need to get multiple bodies as many snaps as possible.
RUNNING BACK
The Texas Bowl will be the last go ’round for the duo of Malcolm Brown and Jonathan Gray. Brown and Gray have had plenty of challenges to overcome throughout this season, but to the pair’s credit, they’ve done so without a complaint. Short term, both backs don’t need a tremendous amount of practice repetition because they’re both veteran players. However, running behind an inexperienced offensive line changes the game – the timing needed to find a crease, and knowing blitz keys are going to be important against the Hogs.
Balance that against letting Dont’a Foreman and Donald Catalon audition to replace Brown. Looking ahead at running back in 2015 shows there is a need for practice time for the youngsters. Not only is Brown graduating, but given Gray’s injury history, it’s tenuous to assume that the Horns won’t need multiple players to fill roles next Fall.
WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END
Jaxon Shipley and John Harris are moving on, and Texas has a solid group of young players to fill roles. But with the erratic play of Swoopes, the Longhorns need Shipley and Harris on the field throughout practices. Armanti Foreman has shown promise in limited duty; Marcus Johnson could be a steady Senior playmaker; Dorian Leonard, Lorenzo Joe, and Jacorey Warrick all have the ability to contribute; the question is whether any of those names need to take snaps away for Swoopes/Shipley/Harris.
At tight end, Geoff Swaim has been a solid surprise all season. Since both he and Greg Daniels are Seniors, the tight end position is full of questions next year – will MJ McFarland live up to his potential? Can Blake Whiteley produce the way he was able to in junior college? Is Andrew Beck need full time at tight end? The most intriguing question of all, also has a significant timing component…based on the current roster, how many tight ends does the staff need to recruit between now and Signing Day?
OFFENSIVE LINE
There is no question that the current Texas OL needs every practice snap they can get. For purposes of this discussion, the good news is also the bad news…the line is paper thin. That means that there aren’t extra bodies to take practice repetitions for next season.
Looking at the current commitment list, the offensive line is set to get an infusion of talented players. Joe Wickline’s work with the current group will pay dividends next season. This group’s improvement, plus the addition of new bodies makes the OL a key group to watch throughout Spring practice. Until then, bowl practices are time well spent for the current players.
