- I don’t want to sound too Aggie with this, but I thought the Horns showed themselves well in the loss at Mizzou. The Tigers are a veteran team that can shoot the ball and when they’re going well, they are very hard to stop. And when they are going well, their house is LOUD. Texas fought out of an early hole and was in the game late, taking the crowd out of it, before the Missouri upperclassmen made some plays. A loss is a loss and is never a good thing, but Texas looked much more comfortable and ready to fight at Missouri than they did at North Carolina earlier this year. The Ags, on the other hand, were run out of the gym by Missouri on Monday. More of that, Horns, and things will be OK.
- If J’Covan Brown isn’t a Big 12 Conference Player of the Year candidate right now, I don’t know the criteria for that award. He leads the conference in scoring at 19.1 ppg and is 9th in shooting percentage at .453 with over 100 more attempts than some of the players in front of him. He averages 3.88 assists per game, which is 8th in the league and his 84% clip from the free throw line is 6th in the Big 12. Texas is 5th in the league standings, sitting at 12-5/2-2, despite having six true freshmen on the roster. The reason the Horns are competing for an NCAA Tournament berth and not “rebuilding” like Texas Tech is Brown.
- With the majority of the 13 remaining regular season games on channels other than the Longhorn Network, maybe Texas fans can get to know this team. Seriously, how many players can you name aside from J’Covan Brown and Myck Kabongo? It’s not as easy as it used to be.
- In a little over four weeks (February 17th) Texas starts the baseball season. Texas enters the season ranked No.5 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
- Texas had six players enroll this semester and join the football program: Connor Brewer, Donald Hawkins, Brandon Moore, Camrhon Hughes, Orlando Thomas and Alex De La Torre. While quarterback Brewer will compete for playing time immediately, the two junior college transfers (Hawkins and Moore) are expected to play immediately. Hawkins will get a shot to win the starting tackle job and allow Trey Hopkins to move inside to guard while Moore will get a shot at replacing Kheeston Randall at defensive tackle. I don’t think anyone expects Hughes, Thomas or De La Torre to be starters by the summer time (Brewer, either) but the hope from everyone is that Moore and Hawkins are immediately ready to step in.
- School started on Tuesday, meaning off-season started on Tuesday. Make it count, fellas, and keep grindin’.
- The guy from New York City that spent $240,000 to take himself and five buddies on a road trip to Green Bay to see the Packers/Giants game sounds like a really good friend. My only question is how much of that $240k was on the two “waitresses” that were on the bus? I’ll bet it was a shockingly high percentage.
- If you haven’t seen the Mario Batali/Jon Stewart thing from the Daily Show Monday night, don’t. You can’t un-see that.
- These Go Daddy commercials with Danica Patrick and the mean lady from Biggest Loser drive me crazy. The set up is annoying, but not as annoying as the “WARNING: UNEDITED CONTENT” message they flash up after telling you to go to their website and see the shocking finale. Stop it. We both know that is nonsense… Right?
- Ravens @ Patriots. I’m going with Baltimore. Lots of Horns on that roster and not a single one on the Pats. Plus, I don’t like the Pats. Easy enough.
- NYG @ 49ers. Oy. I don’t know about this one. Tarrell Brown and Aaron Ross, so the Horn factor is negated. I don’t like Eli Manning and, you know, it’s the Giants from the NFC East. On the other hand it’s the San Francisco 49ers and they were the pro team I hated the most for at least 10 years. What to do? Go Ravens.
- So are the Rangers going to sign Darvish, or what? What about Prince Fielder? I need answers!
- If I am the Denver Broncos and I’ve decided Tim Tebow is my starting quarterback (which they have), I go sign Vince Young as soon as I can. I sign VY and get the best option/spread/zone read quarterback available in the draft so I have three guys that run the same offense. What’s the point of Brady Quinn being No.2 if the entire offense has to change when he comes in? None. Go get yourself some other running threat qb’s and get everyone on the same page. Sign two terrific tight ends and you get the Urban Meyer Florida/VY Texas offense chewing up defenses and spitting them out. Just an idea.
- Dez Bryant seems to be handling his NFL success well.
- Super all-everything quarterback recruit Gunner Kiel is certainly making the most of his recruitment. The top pro-style quarterback in the nation, he was considered a heavy ou lean and seemed to be destined for Norman; but when Kevin Wilson left and took the head coaching job at Indiana, he got Kiel to commit to the Hoosiers over the summer. Wilson getting him to stay in state (he’s from Indiana) was a huge coup and a massive shot in the arm for the struggling program. As the fall wore on, Kiel’s interest in IU waned, no doubt after watching them play. He switched his commitment to Les Miles and LSU a few days after Christmas, giving LSU the one piece they’ve been missing from their team in the Miles’ Era- a superstar quarterback. Kiel planned to enroll for the spring semester and compete right away… Or maybe not. On Monday, the day LSU football staff was to meet with their early enrollees, Kiel was not there. Rumors of him switching his commitment swirled and reports said he might be looking at Notre Dame now. In fact, both Notre Dame and LSU believed they’d have him on their campus and in their program. It’s looking more and more like he’s now in South Bend and one report says his mother “… was very emotional and did not want him to leave.” Mom usually wins in the recruiting battles, and it sounds like mom wanted him to stay in-state and closer to home. Good luck with Brian Kelly, kid. He seems warm and fuzzy and fun to hang around with. Of course, maybe he hadn’t made up his mind yet, or is trying to change her mind, or its all nonsense. We should know by the weekend. Recruiting is fun!
- I wonder if his change of heart had anything to do with all the rumors around LSU before the National Championship game? Very ugly stuff if any of it is true.
Back to the review of the 2011 Texas Longhorns. This week, the defense and special teams.
2011 Texas Longhorns: A Review
Defensive Line
Sick. By the end of the year the Texas defensive line was one of the best in the Big 12. Ends coach Oscar Giles and new defensive tackles coach Bo Davis got their guys to buy in and right now they are as stout a front four as there is in the Big 12. Jackson Jeffcoat and Alex Okafor are both going to be in the NFL when their careers are over and Kheeston Randall will be there next year. On the season the starting four (Jeffcoat, Randall, Dorsey, Okafor) combined for 99 tackles, 47 tackles for loss including 17 sacks, 8 passes batted down and a pair of forced fumbles. And then there’s Calvin Howell, and Chris Whaley, and Desmond Jackson, and Reggie Wilson, and Cedric Reed… And every single one of them, save Randall, is back next year, and six incoming freshman to fill out the depth chart. It’s amazing how worried we all were about their lack of production at the beginning of the season, isn’t?
Bo Davis came from Alabama and brought that SEC attitude with him and the results were felt immediately: ask anyone on the Cal offense. Defensive ends coach Oscar Giles has his guys playing at an elite level and, like I said, everyone will be back next year. The only down side is Jackson Jeffcoat will miss the spring rehabbing a torn pectoral muscle he suffered in the fall. He had/will have surgery to fix it, leaving the door open for guys like Wilson and Reed to get more reps. He should be back in the summer and ready to go. The d-line was ahead of the curve last fall, so expect them to be even better in 2012.
See? Sick.
Linebackers
Seniors. The face of the Texas defense for much of the year was Keenan Robinson and Emmanuel Acho. The seniors led the team in tackles with 131 (EAcho) and 106 (Robinson) and at times they just seemed to be everywhere. As with any new defense, there were growing pains with and there were times when the linebackers just weren't where they needed to be, but I’m nitpicking now for the sake of nitpicking. The two seniors were the emotional and vocal leaders of the unit and they led from the front at all times.
Texas has plenty of talent and there are able candidates like Jordan Hicks and DeMarco Cobbs, but it's going to be tough to replace their personalities in the locker room and their presence in the huddle; although the stories of Cobbs in the locker room mean he’s already stepped into that role.
Thanks for all you did, fellas, you guys left it all on the field.
Secondary
Frightening. The Horns’ secondary was destined to be mediocre last year, according to most, since they lost the top three cornerbacks on the team to the NFL when Chykie and Curtis Brown graduated and AJ Williams declared for the draft. The safeties were back, but their play was subpar in 2010 and many assumed it wouldn’t be much better in ’11 with a pair of unknowns at cornerback. Carrington Byndom and Quandre Diggs, a sophomore and a true freshman, won the corner jobs in camp and most Texas fans were terrified. How could these two handle the elite offenses of the Big 12? No way would they stand up to the Jones’, Weedens and Tannehills of the pass-happy Big 12. To be honest in the ou game, they couldn't. Landry Jones and Co. had their way with Texas, but a funny thing happened after that. These kids at corner started to grow up. In the loss to Oklahoma State, Justin Blackmon was held to 74 yards receiving and Brandon Weeden finished with a waay-under-his-average 218 yards passing with one score. In fact, with the exception of getting blown up by the Heisman Trophy winner in his final home game, the Texas secondary locked everyone down-ask the afore mentioned Mr. Tannehill. That sophomore and that true freshman, along with 2012-NFL-safety Kenny Vaccaro, turned the senior Aggie qb into a basket case, picking him off three times and returning one for a touchdown and completely owning the final Texas/A&M game.
The Big 12 noticed, too: Quandre Diggs(that true freshman) was named Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and 2nd Team All Big 12. Kenny Vaccaro was named 1st Team, All Big 12 and took home some votes for Defensive Player of the Year. How in the world Carrington Byndom was not on the list is beyond me, but no one asked what I thought. With all the faces they weren't supposed to be this good this fast, but they are, and considering the bulk of the unit returns next season, you see why I call them “frightening.”
Special Teams
Fozzy. The senior exploded on the scene returning kicks this fall, taking 100-yard kicks back for scores in consecutive weeks against ou and Oklahoma State. That stupid, stupid Missouri field turf cost him a shot at the next level returning kicks if nothing else, but even with the injury he was still named All Big 12 Kick Returner.
Quandre Diggs had his moments returning punts (A&M) and the Horns got some blocked kicks this year, but the staff needs to spread the duties of kickoffs, punts and points out because Justin Tucker was worn out at the end of the season.
Looked just fine on that game-winning kick in College Station, though, didn't he Ags? Yep.
Scoreboard. Forever.
In Conclusion….
The offense had issues, but the defense didn’t. For the most part everyone was healthy and no devastating injuries forced Manny Diaz to alter his plan. The thing about Diaz is that he probably wouldn’t do that, anyway. He’s the opposite of most coaches in that he doesn’t yell too often or get too high or low. He knows the body of work is what is important, and the body of work Texas’s defense had this year was impressive. You think the three losses where the defense had trouble: against the No.1 team in the land (ou), the Big 12 Champs (Oklahoma State) and the Heisman Trophy Winner (Baylor). In the other 10 games this year the defense not only kept the team in it, they outright won it. All this with a brand new DC and defensive tackles coach. Well done, Horns.
Who replaces Justin Tucker? That is not an afterthought. The qb development, the o-line development and a new kicker(s) are the goals for this spring. As long as the defense plays as well in 2012 as it did in 2011, everyone will get the chance to develop. And with some many returning for Manny Diaz, how could it not be better?
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