The 2021 Football season

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by Joe Fan, Jan 20, 2021.

  1. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    As we shift gears from the end of the Herman era to knowing who the new guys are, to now looking at what kind of a team we will have, I thought it would be good to have a single thread about the changes that will be brought on by the transition

    This is about Kwiatkowski's defense. If you don't follow the NFL, Buda Baker is a two-time first team All Pro

    Opinion: Texas should use Chris Adimora in a Budda Baker role

    "During his time at Washington, Kwiatkowski had plenty of playmakers on the backend that would find their way to the NFL. Taylor Rapp, Kevin King, Marcus Peters, and Byron Murphy among others. One of the top playmakers was Budda Baker, who was like a swiss army knife for Kwiatkowski’s defense. Could there be a player that could fit the mold of Baker at Texas?

    Baker was listed as a defensive back for the Huskies defense. During the 2016 season, he saw time at nickel cornerback, strong safety, and free safety. He was able to provide coverage on the back end, come up in run support, and blitz when called upon.

    Last season, Adimora played the Spur in Chris Ash’s defense. It is a hybrid position that combines the duties of a defensive back and a linebacker. They are used in coverage but also come up in run support, very similar to what Baker was for the Huskies. However, the role that may suit him best is the Rover.

    In that role, the defender must be physical enough to come up in support. In coverage, they will cover tight ends, slot receivers or backs coming out of the backfield. Adimora would be a prime candidate to fill multiple spots on the field. ...."
     
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  2. Run Pincher

    Run Pincher 2,500+ Posts

    And possibly Foster, but he's been slower grasping the mental aspects of the game.
     
  3. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Some more on that

    " ..... The name of the game in South Bend was quarters, cover 1, and some fire zone blitzes. When they played quarters they followed the normal Mike Elko/Clark Lea tradition of trying to use the boundary safety as a rover. In the example above the Irish are playing 4-man on the boundary with the boundary safety helping on glance routes and slants from the boundary receiver. To the field they play the field safety deep in cover 2 (occasionally in cover 4) behind their sam linebacker.

    [​IMG]

    There’s nothing easy here in the RPO game. The free safety is sitting on the glance route to the X receiver and the sam linebacker is sitting on the glance/stick/bubble/whathaveyou from the slot receiver. When they see the quarterback give up the ball to the running back, they close behind the hard-charging linebackers who key the tight end and running back.

    Texas did a fair amount of this as well in 2020 as it was their main defense. If you watch the Irish against North Carolina what stands out is how patient and rangy they were at the two main impact positions, the sam linebacker and boundary safety spots, and how disruptive their defensive front was against the North Carolina offensive line.

    For the Longhorns last year, the boundary safety was usually Chris Brown with B.J. Foster spelling him at times and playing to the wide side at others. The sam linebacker was Chris Adimora. In the base quarters defense these positions are asked to sit in the middle of the field, deny RPOs, and close and tackle in support of an aggressive defensive front.

    Here’s a comparison of the numbers put up by Texas and Notre Dame’s respective players:

    Boundary safety
    Kyle Hamilton (Notre Dame): 63 tackles in 11 games, 4.5 TFLs, one INT, six PBUs.
    Chris Brown (Texas): 46 tackles in nine games, two TFLs, one INT, seven PBUs, 43 flexes.

    Sam linebacker
    Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah (Notre Dame): 62 tackles in 12 games, 11 TFL, 1.5 sacks, one INT, three PBUs.
    Chris Adimora (Texas): 41 tackles in nine games, 1.5 TFL, one INT, three PBUs

    The Irish counterparts were rangier and more impactful overall. Kyle Hamilton will be a high draft pick. Owusu-Koromoah will hear his name called as well and was a senior and second-year starter for the Irish.

    In addition to the quarters coverages they’d also mix in cover 1 and some fire zones. The disguises weren’t always precise, Chris Ash’s Longhorns often disguised their looks better, but their blitzes were effective RPO counters. This was one of their favorite blitzes which was dialed up multiple times against the Tar Heels....."

     
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  4. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Scipio on Coach K

    If the Pete Kwiatkowski hire isn't a home run, it's a triple where the ball thunks off of the 420 foot stencil in deep center, the center fielder scrambles around like a disoriented chicken trying to corral the ricochet, and the base runner jogs into third base as the crowd goes "Oooooooh."

    It's an analogy so powerful, it almost makes baseball watchable.

    Oh hell, it's a home run. @Ian Boyd does a fine job talking chalk, but here are some 50,000 foot thoughts...which approximates the altitude of the current Longhorn high I'm on.

    1. Why didn't we talk about Kwiatkowski as a possible candidate? Not for lack of regard, but we simply didn't know he was in the universe of options. We might as well have pondered Eric Bienemy as our RB coach. It's like scanning the bar near closing time and Heidi Klum steps over a velvet rope, slinks over, and says, "Why haven't you been talking to me? I've been watching you all night." At that point, you just try your best not to lose your cool, yell out "Yippeeee I did it!" and fist bump every guy around you. That's what I did and to this day, I regret it.

    Pete was thought to be a UW lifer. Every Husky fan emphatically agreed on this point.

    Sark expanded the universe of what's possible.

    2. Let's keep Pole Assassin away from Kwiatkoswki until we're absolutely clear on exactly what kind of Poles she assassinates. I'm watching her henchman monkey as well.

    3. My biggest fear for this DC hire was WonderBoy schemer with press aplenty who just throws out a bunch of looks with no week to week growth of the players. It's all shiny facade and when things fall apart, there's no substance to fall back on. Or the inexperienced DC who has the guard rails of elite athletes and/or a defensive stud head coach, but doesn't really have the chops to teach defense all by his lonesome with greater athletic parity.

    You solve the spread with teaching, individual player agency, fundamentals, and creativity. Pete packages all of that up in innovative ways, but understand his schemes as a means to an end, not the end itself. He knows he's in the teaching profession, first and foremost. I cannot tell you how important that is.

    Watch:



    Coach K is the old hand who has seen everything, been everywhere, and is not impressed.

    4. This is a Top 5% hire. His resume is basically unimpeachable. He has done it at every level. Without having the bully veto of always having the best athletes on the field. You learn about coaching when you've spent years stopping the spread with recruits from Missoula.

    5. He is not a recruiter. That task is for his staff. His recruitment is a three hour infomercial every Saturday in the Fall. If an athlete wants to learn to really play football in a versatile defense that the NFL values for its showcase of skills, get on board. His assistants will whisper the sweet nothings.

    6. Kwiatkowski is the perfect temperamental complement to Sarkisian and this staff. He'll be a true collaborator with the head man for issues on and off of the field, he's a selfless culture guy, and he teaches players with a disappointed dad that you want to make proud vibe over mindless screaming. He's always the adult in the room.

    He is all team, all the time. He doesn't care about politics, positioning for the next job, or much else beyond kicking wholesale *** on Saturday.

    7. Kwiatkoswki adjusts in a matter of drives, not quarters, halves, or games.

    8. A Husky buddy I respect who knows football is distraught. Right now, the Husky boards feel like a wake. It's difficult to fully convey how much they love Kwiatkowski.

    "Texas hiring Sark is like a friend dating an ex girlfriend who used to be a mess, but seems like she got her **** together. I hope it works out for everybody, but I am not going to get too emotionally involved.

    Texas hiring Pete Kwiatkowski is like a friend coming in my house, stealing my wife, burning the house down on the way out the door, and taking my dog for good measure. I am not sure I can be friends after that."

    9. It's on.
     
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  5. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Here is Roach's take on the defense

    — A lot has been made of the front, but it can be really multiple. The personnel can be what you would see in a typical 4-2-5, but the edge guys are usually in a two-point stance. The front plays two defensive tackles so there is less reliance on a nose to eat blocks more of an attacking style up front. The result of this front is that Kwiatkowski is able to disguise blitzes well. He doesn't telegraph where they are coming from and they also don't come from 20 yards away. There isn't an over-reliance on blitzing from the eye test (I'd have to check the blitz percentages), but they do attack randomly and into the weak spots of an offense. For the majority of snaps I watched, Kwiatkowski was mostly calling four man rushes up front and dropping everyone else. This scheme is primed to be a strong weapon against spread offenses, but it requires things like gap discipline and good open-field tackling as most other schemes do. I'm excited to see the defensive line rotations at Texas where you have a ton of versatile bodies who were recruited for a mix of odd and even fronts. Alfred Collins is a guy who can play defensive tackle or on the strong side end at depending on the situation. Prince Dorbah could be a weakside edge or linebacker while T'Vondre Sweat, Vernon Broughton, Keondre Coburn and Byron Murphy are all going to be able to attack from the interior.

    — At the linebacker position, Kwiatkowski typically has two linebackers playing inside the hashes but these guys must be able to cover in space. That's encouraging for players like Jaylan Ford, DeMarvion Overshown, Morice Blackwell and Terrence Cooks. The x-factor in this defense seems to be the rover which was most famously played by Budda Baker back in the heyday. Baker could line up deep or in the box and work as a flat or underneath defender. Texas has players who can fit that skillset in Chris Adimora, BJ Foster and early enrollee JD Coffey seems like a perfect fit there as well. Like with the defensive line, I think there are a ton of options for the safety and rover roles. Herman's first staff loved bigger safeties who could play hybrid roles while Chris Ash preferred more mobile prospects who could cover in space. The result is a mixture of bodies and skillsets that need to be deployed correctly to take advantage of the recruiting success Texas had in the past few years.

    — In the secondary, Washington played a lot of one-high safety coverage and man on the outside. They don't press a ton and are often asked to be on an island deep. They also showed a ton of 2-man but they can disguise it fairly well because of the alignment and versatility of the safety. As talented as they were with a number of first-round picks, Washington just couldn't match the overwhelming talent difference of Alabama in the 2016 Peach Bowl. Still, Kwiatkowski's unit held them to 17 points on the day despite Washington struggling to get things going on offense and throwing a pick-six in the first half. Against Mike Leach's Air Raid offense at Washington State, Kwiatkowski's defense was good at creating pressure and though they couldn't totally stop the big plays, they succeeded at shutting down the chunk plays that give an offense like that oxygen. This defense was also incredibly adept at creating turnovers. Most people believe that turnovers aren't a skill that can be acquired and are more a measure of luck, but the high numbers they generate tell me they are opportunistic, in the right position and taught well when it comes to locating the ball and attacking it.
     
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  6. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Is that legal? :brickwall:
     
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  7. FWHORN

    FWHORN 10,000+ Posts

    Everything is corona dependent but frankly the floor for every Texas team every year should be 8 wins and that includes this coming season. I am cautiously optimistic about 2021 but its a first year and there will be some adjustment time and a loss or two that happen early in almost every tenure (even Saban went 7-6 his first year at Bama). Those games, win or lose, will be learning tools so while 10 plus wins would be incredible if Texas can get above that floor of 8 it will be a good start.
     
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  8. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    It is legal
    But it isn't in the binder
     
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  9. Badass

    Badass 2,500+ Posts

    more quotes from the interweb ...

    Talked to an old friend yesterday who works with FBS ADs and Head Coaches around the country and he had this to say about what's going on at Texas:

    "Any fans dumb enough not to be crazy excited about the recruiting potential, OC & DC and returning ability is bat **** nuts and should have their fan cards taken away. Its f'ing go time now in Austin."

    "Ya'll got no idea what ya got for 2021 potential."

    On our phone call he also said emphatically that the RRR next season will be for a playoff spot. He lives in Oregon and also works with most of the Pac-12 schools and said that Kwiatkowsi is THE BEST in the business - doesn't get a lot of the spotlight because he has been in the Pac-12 for so long.
     
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  10. Pomspoms

    Pomspoms 5,000+ Posts

    I'm thinking 10-2, competitive every game.
    Hoping things don't go sideways.
     
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  11. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Comments about Spring Ball

    “First of all, I want to learn the roster. I know them from afar. I know the names. I know what some of the game tape looks like. I really want to learn our team. I think that I talked about the relationship building, the culture building is another key component in this process.”

    “I firmly believe it’s not going to take us as long as maybe some of the outsiders think. I think we’ve got a good, young roster to work with. I think we’re going to recruit really well. At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to win those close games in the end, which clearly has snake bitten this program here a little bit the last couple of years.”

    “This is a velocity-based training program that really measures not necessarily so much how much you can lift, but how fast you can move the weight from an explosiveness standpoint, then clearly from a speed standpoint on the field,”

    “I say that because one guy may be playing a safety position that might be a better fit in our system at linebacker, or a defensive tackle might be a better fit at defensive end, or we might have a tight end who hasn’t played a whole lot that fits really good to our system. To do that, we have to allow the players a chance to be successful and put them in a position to do that. We want to maximize our roster. We want to find a role for everybody on our roster to help us win and help us go accomplish what we want to accomplish.”

    “This is a great opportunity. It’s clearly a great challenge. There’s high expectations and high goals here, but that’s what you embrace. You have to go for it. You have to be willing to chase greatness. You have to put yourself in position to compete and win championships. That’s what we’ll do.”

    Sarkisian outlines focuses of his first spring over Zoom with alumni, fans - Inside Texas
     
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  12. 4th_floor

    4th_floor Dude, where's my laptop?

    Sideways? Did I miss Greg Davis name on the list?
     
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  13. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    Do you mean insult your fan base sideways, alienate your players sideways, lose "solid" recruits sideways, fumble at the goal line sideways, blocked punt sideways, or can't get a couple yards and run out the clock sideways?
     
  14. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    This guy makes way too much sense to be our coach
     
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  15. Vino Bevo

    Vino Bevo Wine - how classy people get drunk

    This might just be the most exciting thing I've read in I don't know how long.
     
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  16. Pomspoms

    Pomspoms 5,000+ Posts

    Well, I hope Kwiat likes a challenge cause he's going to get one. I suppose this is the biggest reason why he's here along with a pay raise. I think we got the coaching pieces in place now we just need the right recruits. I think we have a good starting base as far as the recruits we already have. Wish I could push a button and fast forward 7 months but spring ball will have to do. Hopefully, we will have a spring ball.
     
  17. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    TFB notes --

    So far the players have only had their initial zoom meetings with their coaches.

    Sounds like they have cleared the nickel room. They have broken the DBs into safeties and corners and Adimora and Cook are both with Coach Gideon in the safety room right now. From what we are told they are going to be looking for a really good cover nickel so that will be an open competition and they may even wind up putting a corner there.

    Jalen Green ... received an offer from Mississippi State. You can make the connection there with former Texas DB coach Jason Washington. We are told there is still a chance he may stick around at Texas.
     
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  18. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    from the parents zoom

     
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  19. Desperado

    Desperado 1,000+ Posts

    The binder was fired too, wasn’t it? If not shred, burn and/or destroy immediately.
     
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  20. 4th_floor

    4th_floor Dude, where's my laptop?

    No, we should keep the binder and do the opposite.
     
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  21. 4th_floor

    4th_floor Dude, where's my laptop?

    You know, I just realized that Tom Herman is George Costanza.
     
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  22. mchammer

    mchammer 10,000+ Posts

    Tom ****** the cleaning crew lady and then asked CDC if that was wrong when caught.
     
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  23. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    A little bit? That is like saying Spindletop was just a 12-inch hole in the ground.
     
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  24. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    We still have talent -- 247 had us at #5 going into 2020

    No. 5 Texas Longhorns (892.91)
    Yep, Texas is back. At least back among the most talented teams in the country. The Longhorns ranked just 13th in the Team Talent Composite during Tom Herman’s debut season in 2017. That team had a single five-star player and 35-four-star recruits. Three top eight classes later – including back-to-back No. 3 efforts in 2018 and 2019 – Texas can now claim four five-star players and 49-four stars. Their average player rating has jumped from 88.88 to 90.39.

    Herman had all of the pieces he needed to make a run. He can't blame talent on Texas' 2-2 start to the season.
    The 10 most talented CFB teams for the 2020 season
     
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  25. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    [​IMG]
     
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  26. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Coach PK radio interview --

    "I think it was a combination of getting that itch to do something different, and the University of Texas is an outstanding university in the Big 12. It'll be fun to go out there and try to defend those high powered offenses."
     
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  27. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    Man I must be getting old.
     
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  28. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    Looking forward to seeing where we stand when 2021 is released.
     
  29. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    Didnt know where to put this.
    I alluded to some of this the other day when talking about defense and where it now fits relative to offense in winning championships. It is an NFL piece...but relevant to the game as a whole right now.
    Worth a read if you like football...

    The Bucs’ Defense Dares Opposing Offenses To Pass. So They Do.
     
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  30. X Misn Tx

    X Misn Tx 2,500+ Posts

    we lost a lot. On offense, we lost Sam, Cosmi, Eagles, and Black. On defense we lost Ossai and Graham, Sterns, Brown. We lost others, but lost 4 heavy hitters on each side of the ball.
     
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