It’s never as bad or as good as you think. That’s what coaches will always tell you when they go back and look at the film from games, practices, and scrimmages. Today’s spring game provided us with the good, bad, and the ugly of the Texas Longhorn football team from the big plays made on both sides of the ball to the lack of quality depth at some key positions.
Here are some of my takeaways from Texas’ final scrimmage of the spring, as they prepare to head into the summer portion of the calendar.'”
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[*]One of the biggest and most notable things was the play of Shane Buechele today. Buechele was sharp, crisp, and accurate for majority of the scrimmage and while he had the one interception he didn’t make many bad passes or decisions out there and was impressive. Buechele finished 23 of 39 for 369 yards and two touchdowns.
[*]Sam Ehlinger on the other hand a rough go throughout the day and much of it can be attributed to the fact that the second team offensive line didn’t protect him well at all. While the numbers weren’t great and he definitely looked like a kid who just graduated from high school, he flashed at times and made some nice throws. Ehlinger finished the day 10 of 31 passing for 148 yards and a touchdown.
[*]All things considered, Buechele seems to be much further along right now and looked more comfortable out there today. Herman mentioned that they are still in the hunt for a grad transfer and I think that would be ideal so that Ehlinger can redshirt. I think that would be most beneficial in the long run.
[*]Freshman running back Toneil Carter received the bulk of the carries today with injuries piling up and while he ran hard and broke some tackles I was a little underwhelmed. He also put the ball on the ground and as Tom Herman noted will have to improve in pass protection.
[*]I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the state of the running back position. I think they need to be checking the waiver wire for a back as well personally.
[*]While the first team offensive line held up well and protected Buechele, the second team unit had a very forgettable day at the office and had Ehlinger running for his life for most of the day. Depth on the OL is going to be a concern and coaches probably hope they won’t have to give Terrell Cuney meaningful snaps anytime soon.
[*]The wide receiver threesome of Collin Johnson, Devin Duvernay, and Lil’Jordan Humphrey is going to give defenses headaches. Johnson looked as advertised and tallied two touchdown catches, Humphrey made a grown man touchdown catch over Kris Boyd, and Duvernay had a nice catch run as well. A nice surprise today was Reggie Hemphill-Mapps, who consistently got open and moved the chains and you also have to mention Dorian Leonard. This group is deep and talented and is only going to get better with time.
[*]While the second team defense surrendered plenty of yardage to the offense, the first team defense absolutely terrorized the second team offensive line and Sam Ehlinger. The sacks and pressures came in bunches for Todd Orlando’s first team defense, and it no doubt gave the offensive coaches plenty of things to coach up going into the summer.
[*]Jordan Elliott notched at least two sacks today during the scrimmage. If he gets his weight down and keeps coming along he is going to be quite the player.
[*]Jeff McCulloch notched a nice sack against a future first round pick in Connor Williams and continues to get better. I bet we will see a lot of The Shark in the fall.
[*]Chris Brown notched himself a pick against Shane Buechele and also had the big hit of scrimmage along the sideline on Toneil Carter on a swing pass. Brown was a big hitter in high school and continues to lay the wood in Austin.
[*]Eric Cuffee had a rough day at the office. He got picked on a bit throughout the game and he also took the worst of a collision with Toneil Carter.
[*]Anyone else listen to how Herman talked about the upgraded lockers when asked about it during the scrimmage? He’s definitely aware of the gap in facilities between Texas and schools in close proximity to Austin.
[*]Love that Herman tried to ice Josh Rowland during a spring game to try to throw him off. Rowland went 3 for 4 today with his lone miss coming from 49 yards out.
[*]Also love that Herman didn’t end the scrimmage in a tie and had the first team offense and defense go at it on 4th down at the two yard line. Constantly putting the players in a position to compete.
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