Per IT:
As a position coach
Texas now has a TE coach and OL coach with backgrounds in the “spread to run” school of offense working under an offensive coordinator who likes to use tight ends and motion to create leverage, move around defenses, and run the football like a pro-style system.
So the Longhorns haven’t exactly pulled in someone with Traylor who’s known for how to better involve the tight ends in the running game, or how to develop NFL prospects at the position.
Strong must be hoping that Traylor’s considerable overall skills as a coach will translate to being able to see out Watson and/or Wickline’s vision for how tight ends will be used in the offense.
On the special teams side, Traylor has experience coaching that unit and oversaw good special teams play from his Gilmer squads. In addition to being a good overseer of a unit and program, he actually has some special teams’ acumen.
The writer notes that college teams don't usually hire high school coaches who are strong position coaches. He believes Charlie's main reason for getting Traylor is for "building connections with HS coaches within the state and improving evaluations and recruiting in the key East Texas region."
As a recruiter
The writer states that for most of Strong's career, he’s relied on South Florida for providing players with both "speed and aggression in simple yet efficient schemes." He then asks:
[W]here in Texas can Strong find athletes that are hungry to use football as a vehicle to improve their lives?
East Texas.
When it comes to both knowing current East Texas players as well as having connections that will allow successful exploration, evaluation, and recruiting of future stars, Traylor is a major add for the Longhorns.
He has a reputation for getting a lot out of his players and years of relating to high school students as a head coach combined with the obvious ambition that led him to take the Texas job would lead you to believe that he’s probably going to work hard to recruit the area effectively for the Longhorns.
As an offensive brain
Traylor’s strategy on offense at Gilmer was very closely akin to Strong’s strategy on defense. Get great athletes, give them simple assignments, and put them in spaces where their athleticism can dominate.
Gilmer was a true spread team in 2014 that, ironically, went to a fullback rather than a tight end and used the spread-I formation when they needed to mix things up with the run-game from the base offense. The results were remarkable.
Perhaps the best part of the Gilmer offense was the way they’d mix in gap schemes, the nastiest of which was a counter/trap play that could attack the opposite side from outside zone from the same formation.
Conclusion
All of this offensive wizardry may be where Traylor’s greatest value lies for Charlie’s program. He’s arguably the best coach on the staff at putting athletes like Jerrod Heard, Kai Locksley, Tyrone Swoopes, or Daje Johnson in simple schemes where they could wreak havoc. All he needs is a good spread OL, a fullback, and some versatile athletes and he’ll get them opportunities in space, which is something Texas struggled to do in 2014.
[In depth analysis with diagrams - recommend reading the full article here.]
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I'm wondering if Traylor could be Charlie's back-up plan if it becomes necessary for him to pull the ol' Louisville two-step on Watson midway through the 2015 season. Just a thought - I haven't discussed it with Charlie, yet.