First of all, I must say that the worm seems to be turning again in our favor Hornfans. Texas is totally dominating OU in recruiting with a 12 -1 advantage in the 2013 class! Wow, I wonder what Stoopsie must be thinking? The fan base and sportscasters are utterly erh...sshhh....quiet... uh silent on this matter. The number of upside down Longhorn stickers is at a all time low from my everyday driving in this the Tulsa area. Must be a little tough to have to root for the Thunder when there are not one but TWO Longhorns on the roster and one of them will go down in history as one of the all time NBA greats. Now lets go over the positions and progress or the need thereof; A. Offensive Line We finally have the understanding and philosophy to bring in Juco's and we got a dandy in Donald Hawkins. For the first time since '05 when we had Blalock, Hills and Scott, do we have OT's ( Cochran and Hawkins) that can handle the great DE's like the ones we have. Go look at the photo of Cochran knocking Reeds helmet and hairband off. Cochran has his forearm under Reeds forehead and the hairband and helmet are in mid air! I was pleased when I saw that comment that said that Coach Searles throws his hat when a guy takes the wrong first step. Kudos! NO MORE LOAFING B. Wide Recievers So great to know that Mike Davis is back in a big way, mentally and physically. Seeing him in that photo skying for the ball with Vacarro and winning the battle was so encouraging. So the big guys are Davis, Shipley, the speedster Goodwin and John Harris coming back among so many other contenders to numerous to mention. Here's to Coach Wyatt and his ability to teach timing, route running, and down field blocking. C. Running Backs What a stable of backs with a variety of speed and weights. The big guy BRUISER Bergeron at 243 lbs. then Malcolm Brown at 217 lbs. as a all around back, then the speed guys in DJ and soon next fall Jonathan Gray. This coupled with great line play, will most definitely free up the passing game. D. Tight Ends Again we have that rare combo of size and speed with DJ Grant and McFarland . For blocking we have Luke Poehlman and Greg Daniels. This will become a safety blanket for the quarterbacks and get us out of jams on short yardage. Double tights and or heavy jumbo-- Should be no problem! E. Quarterbacks We got it right with Ash #1 and McCoy #2. And I have a lot of faith in the ever increasing moxie of McCoy. See the 25 yd run against aggie. They will get bigger, stronger with Bennie Wylie on off season and a lot of 7 on 7 drills. Ash will be the best arm we got. Footwork will improve with better line play. Things will get much better with a year to get the Harsin offense into their collective heads. F. Defensive Tackles The aquisition and recruitment of Brandon Moore was a MASTERPIECE and a built in difference maker on this team. Look for this guy to single handedly force many three and outs. He is basically unblockable playing one down and still serviceable on multiple downs. He makes the loss of Randle nearly mute. Then add Dorsey, the MONSTER Jackson, Whaley etc. and you know we can dominate the middle. G. Defensive Ends Need I say more. Texas has the best set of BOOKENDS not only in the Big 12 but the nation as per Bleacher Report. Add that to what we have at DT and turnovers and TFLS should come in spades. Okafor, Jeffcoat, Reed and Wilson OH MY!! H. Linebackers Its all about the 254 lbs Edmonds that runs like a Gazelle teamed up with Hicks and we have two nailed down. We have to figure what happens at OLB. Is it gonna be Cobbs from Tulsa who I love but is a little injury prone, or Kendall Thompson/ Tevin Jackson?? I think Thompson might be the guy. What about Ceds cousin Aaron Bensen? I. Secondary Are you kidding?? Akina and his gang ----SELF EXPLANATORY J. Kicking Game Gotta replace Tucker. This is a work in progress and one minute I hear we are okay and can kick it outta the endzone with Will Russ. Then I hear we got problems at field goal. Can the Jordan guy be the savior hear. This is the one area we got ?????. Please fill us in out there. Ashs punt duties should mirror Colt McCoys. In closing I want to say that I believe that the coaches are forcing the issue with performance and production using video and parent coach meetings. "The tale of the tape" is Macks way of forcing the player to realize its perform or step aside. Forget his retirement crap. He is 100% hands on and his energy, attitude and hunger are spilling over to the entire program. He will be here a long while and I am so happy! When talking about the upcoming season, local sportscasters seem to have one common negative comment when it come to the upcoming season and that's the quarterback position. That pretty much seems to be all they know. They seem to think that the eight wins, including a bowl win, and one complete year in the system will have little or no positive effect on David Ash's and the offenses performance. Remember, Bryan Harsin and four other coaches came in on a cold 2011 winter not knowing the other staff, the players or even where and when team meetings would be held. When GG is replaced at halftime of the second game (BYU) all he has to work with is a guy that was in High School a few scant months before and Case McCoy who had almost no real reps in practice or game time since GG had it all since the 1st QTR. NC game. How Harsin was able to muster eight wins ( might have been 10 if Bergeron did not hurt the hammy) should be considered a near coaching miracle when you take all of that adversity into the picture. Its another year and the Horns kitchen and dinner table are many times more organized. The disease of " entitlement " has been cured and it seems like our biggest rival now might have the infection. Mack has done a great job of ridding us from this disease. The word "blocking" is constantly being used and all offensive personal are being asked to develop their talents and abilities in this area. It is a MAJOR criteria when be considered for getting on the field. THE BEST IS YET TO COME
My guess is that OU will come in with a strong class as usual. UT is filling up with a lot of great talent, but once full, there will be a lot of late bloomers and out of state studs who will be looking for a good program in January and UT will be able to offer only a couple.
Horns have the talent, coaching, and experience to win every game next season. I'm not saying that they will, but it's nice to see that it is in the realm of possibility.
Its hard not to get enthusiastic. I still think they are a year away from making a big run at it, but what the hell do I know. ( I also thought 2009 was going to be a great year. ) This bunch does seem special, no matter what happens they will play with pride and be a pleasure to watch. Even if they lose some, it will be a fun season.
Everything meshing together or not, Texas should be favored in all but one game - OU. In other words, everything does not have to be perfect for Texas to experience a perfect season. On the other hand, you never, ever know. Probably a crappy example but ATM was Preseason Top 10 last year and look how that turned out.
Here are some of my favorite photos TFMB website. Most are of line drills/play. March 7, Photos 10 of 38 a CLASSIC Cochran battles Reed Headgear and band fly My favorite of all of them 14 of 38 Steve Edmonds 26 of 38 Alex Okafor with Chris Canty type face mask 37 of 38 reggie Wilson tangles with Donald Hawkins March 5 Photos 9 of 32 Brandon Moore with Mason Walters 16 of 32 Reggie Wilson and Donald Hawkins 17 of 32 Josh Cochran 20 of 32 Cochran and Cedric Reed The old saying goes " Its not the size of the dog in the fight but the amount of fight in the dog". These guys have got the size of the dog and they got the F-I-G-H-T Yes we will be very good in the trenches this year!
Last year, I mentioned the key to happiness is low expectations for 2011. Now, I think we can think big. With a year under the new coaches done and everyone knows everyone, its go time. What happened in 2010 and 2011 happens to the best of programs. But I think Mack has another run in him before he decides to set his bucket down.
