“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.â€
With apologies to Charles Dickens, in mid-July hope abounds at colleges across the country. Teams are unburdened with the reality of their roster. At the other end of the spectrum, there are teams glued to a rear view mirror that reflects a losing record, 59 yards of total offense in their previous game, the spectre of eight turnovers in their final two games, and two net yards rushing in a bowl game.
Such juxtaposition is how year two of the Charlie Strong era starts. At Big 12 media days in Dallas, depending on who was talking, Texas is poised to return to championship caliber football, or is headed for a second consecutive losing season.
In his opening remarks, Strong vacillated between hope and despair, “Last year 6‑7 is not good enough. It will never be good enough at the University of Texas. We know we lost a lot of players on defense, returned a lot on offense, but we have to improve as a coaching staff. We have to do a better job of coaching. But we’ve also got to get our players to go play and go compete and go compete week in and week out.â€
Strong spent an inordinate amount of time deftly dodging questions about the Longhorns’ quarterbacks. First, he reminded everyone how important it is to surround any signal caller with quality players. After all, football is the consummate team sport and a stout offensive line and a big season from Johnathan Gray would boost either Tyrone Swoopes’ or Jerrod Heard’s play.
In fact, Strong said he met with his senior running back to talk about the coaching staff’s expectations for him, “Now with him [Gray] being the guy, you expect big things for him. And I told him that…we’d like to see J. Gray go out and just have a big year.â€
There has been a justifiable focus on offense since Texas’ inept showing against Arkansas in the Texas Bowl. The Horns have two new offensive assistant coaches and are set to unveil a new scheme utilizing more spread-based concepts designed to take advantage of the strengths of the roster.
Jay Norvell is one of the two new assistants on offense. Norvell is charged with coaching a wide receiver group that lacked explosive plays in 2014. Strong mentioned needing Daje Johnson and Marcus Johnson to finish their careers with a flourish and provide the offense a needed spark, “Those guys need to step up and become playmakers. We have to develop playmakers at that position.â€
Being a defensive-minded coach, Strong quickly shifted back to the troubling forecast for the upcoming season, saying, “You look at us on defense, we lost six key starters there. So we’re going to have to play really well on defense. That’s where it all starts at.â€
