Fall Camp 2016

Well, I've been holding back, fearful of the wrath of negativity that may be unleashed upon me but, well, I really liked those "beautiful" orange, black and white jerseys. Please don't tell me that I am the Lone Ranger...

 

Sorry, but I think you are:

 

We spoke to several of our sources, who shared some great nuggets on this past weekend's scrimmage.Here's the latest on what we have.

• Charlie Strong made news when he said he might not announce his starter prior to Notre Dame, but we were told that Shane Buechele is still the favorite to win the job. Buechele shows the abililty to make the throws and has a nice command of the offense. His biggest issue right now are freshman mistakes throwing the ball, but even with that he’s still on par if not better than Swoopes at this point. For Tyrone, he’s having good practices as he’s done in the past, but we are told he’s still a bit too tentative with the ball. We will see what unfolds in the next two weeks, but we still expect Shane Buechele to be named starter.
  
• While Charlie Strong announced they expect Zach Shackelford back for Notre Dame, things sound worse behind the scenes. We did some more checking, and the ankle is better off than we originally heard, there is still a feeling that it could drag on into the first few games.
  
• If Shackelford could make it back for Notre Dame that would obviously be the best scenario. Backup center Jake McMillon is having a tough time with the job, and Texas might explore other alternatives like Patrick Vahe or other freshmen.
  
• D’Andre Christmas (No Giles anymore) is really coming on at the defensive tackle position. Christmas was arguably the most skilled defensive tackle signed in the spring, and he’s certainly playing like it. The Louisiana native is using his athleticism well, and he’s creating havoc in the backfield. All hands will be needed once the season rolls around, but Christmas has some potentially plus ability.
  
• We were told that Jason Hall and Dylan Haines still have a hold on the starting safety positions, but Hall has a fight on his hands with DeShon Elliott.
  
• Look for Lil’Jordan Humphrey to make an early impact this year. Humphrey has the ability to play both inside and outside. Humphrey is making plays early in camp, and he’s surprising everyone with his natural fluidity.
  
• We’ve heard Trent Domingue is starting to settle in and looking more reliable at kicker.

[HS]

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It is true that D'Andre has dropped the hyphonated Giles in his last name. He is now Christmas all year long.

 

E$PN has published a list of the top 5 Beg12 defensive ends:

5. Naashon Hughes, Texas: Hughes is a key player for the Longhorns' front seven, manning the Fox hybrid slot and helping against the run and the pass. Hughes has plenty of talent around him. But he is the seasoned veteran of the group.

They've also posted their Beg12 Power Rankings

5. Texas: New offensive scheme plus a new plan at quarterback plus four tough foes in their first five games makes this Texas team a volatile one to predict. How the Longhorns show up in their Sunday night opener against Notre Dame will set the tone, that's for sure. They'll lean on a powerful run to take pressure off the quarterback duo of Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes, but their young defense must keep improving.

 

Wahhooooo! We gonna win, we gonna win!!!

 

with very poor defensive play.

 

No offense but it's the same thing every year, getting overhyped by some sportswriter. Wasn't it Fill Steel that said we were going shock the nation and win the B12 last year? I don't know why we can't temper our enthusiasm at least until we see what the team looks like in a real game.

There's just too many unknowns to expect us to win the B12 this year. Sure, all those unknowns could hit, but statistically speaking the odds are against it.

 

I still have to see the O-line do something. A freshman center (and now maybe his backup) is not a good start. I'm concerned he's just not going to hold up against quality tackles - which was basically what happened with Raulerson a couple of years ago. And the fact of the matter is that even if Bueschele is the answer eventually, he's still a true freshman that isn't going to come in playing at anything more than an average to slightly-above-average level. And we have a whole bunch of skill people getting hyped that I've never seen make an actual play in burnt orange yet.

It's all too familiar.

 

I guess you missed my invisible "/sarc" inclusion.

 

You alone with this, Kemosahbe.

 

Dallas Police Chief

 

Can't really tell how long Heard had to stand there before the ball arrived; then he had to jump to catch it; then he need to land back on Earth before he could turn and head upfield.

Either S Brandon Jones or QB Matthew Merrick (same number) was extremely late and out of position to make the play. Had to be Merrick.

 

We should probably pull all of their ships. Including Merrick for having the same number as the guy who didn't make the play!

 

Erick Fowler meets the #1 lineman in the country, Greg Little.

 

Update on DeShon Elliott

Elliott has gotten some work with the No. 1 defense throughout camp thus far, but if the season started today it sounds like Jason Hall would still be the starter. That might not be what a lot of folks want to hear at this point but there’s a couple of things at play.

One is that Clay Jennings, Vance Bedford and the defensive staff have made it a point to say this preseason they’re not going to ask the starters to play upwards of 80 snaps per game on average. The backups will play, so even if Elliott isn’t starting he’s going to see the field.

The second thing is that Jennings and Bedford have both talked about Elliott needing to be a guy who can play better assignment-sound football and needs to keep working on grasping the nuances of the defense before they put him on the field in a bigger role.

Furthermore, everybody is focused on the defensive line and linebackers when talking about improving a run defense that gave up 219.2 yards per game in 2015. It starts with those guys, but the safeties have to be better tacklers and make more secure plays to prevent decent gains from becoming those that will allow the opponent to strike up the band.

Elliott (6-foot-1, 202) had a great spring, he’s listed 13 pounds lighter than he was last fall and he’s got a spring practice where took a lot of reps with the ones under his belt. He’s come a long way and even if he’s not on the field with the No. 1 group against Notre Dame he’s put himself in a position to play a lot if Hall (6-foot-3, 219), who the coaches are asking to take a big step as a junior, struggles.

[247]

 

That one gif means a hell of a lot more than anything else on the highlight films from HS (where he rarely seemed to have anyone trying to block him).

 

Truth!

I did see the full video where he and Little had 6 back-to-back encounters and Little decisively won 2 of them. Overall, I'd say it was an even split; but that's still high praise for Erick.

 

DLine Depth Warmly Welcomed

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Naashon Hughes and the rest of the Longhorn returnees up front might have felt offended that the staff went out and landed eight defensive linemen in the 2016 recruiting cycle.

But offense quickly gave way to relief when the newcomers arrived. As Hughes put it, the more reinforcements the Longhorns can have the trenches the better they’ll be the in fourth quarter.

That would be a nice change of pace compared to 2015 when the Texas stoppers had to try and step up with their tongues hanging out of their mouths late in games.

“We know we can’t play every snap of the game,” Hughes said. “Coach Haley just instills in us that while you’re out there to go as hard as you can go.”

That’s where the challenge resides for Haley. He’s got to get the rookies ready as the Longhorns look to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 record.

Haley looks at fresh faces in one of two ways. First, Haley will try to see if he’s got a complete player on his hands, which is obviously the best-case scenario. If a player isn’t quite ready for taking on that big of a role, Haley then looks at how much he might be able to get out of the player based on skill set and what situations are more conducive to that player succeeding.

To figure out how his talented freshmen might best fit into the mix, Haley grades every practice and charts to see if players are trending in the right direction or not. Playing time in Haley’s group is earned and while he’s not a fan of redshirting freshmen unless it’s necessary, Haley wants the newcomers to get in the habit of learning what it takes every day to become a consistent player.

“If you grade out a little bit better today then you might move up to that next spot,” Haley said. “What we’re looking for is for those guys to become consistent and grade out well every practice.”

There was nothing consistent about the Texas defensive line last season other than that the group was wildly inconsistent. If Haley is able to have a couple of the true freshmen provide some level of consistency the Longhorns could be a much improved line simply based on having more quality bodies to throw at their problems.

[247]

 

Fowler looks so little no pun intended but he handled business

 

Dude, sorry but your the Lone Ranger on that one....

 

Will the linemen be able to understand his signals? That Pollykneeshin is a tough language.

 

Anyone know if played some Center in HS? I would have to guess he did if they are using him as a backup.

 

Wow, pretty damn impressive push to knock down that OT at the end. He is shorter but he may have shorter but powerful legs to give him more leverage with bigger players... just a guess.

 

Per this post on the previous page:

There hasn't been definite word of anyone else cross-training at the spot, but in his post-scrimmage presser Strong metioned Patrick Vahe and Denzel Okafor as guys who have at least some prior experience snapping the ball. You'd hate to lose Vahe's ability to be a hammer on the pull and Okafor would mean thrusting ANOTHER true freshman (albeit a mean and powerful one) into a tough and cerebral position when he's more of a natural G/T.​

 

Folks saying Reggie Hemphill and Armanti Foreman went down with injuries and foremans may be serious. Looks like heard will get a good luck at wr after all

 

OrangeBloods is reporting that junior offensive tackle Tristan Nickelson suffered an ankle injury at Tuesday's practice and will be out a while.

What the hell is going on!!! We have a patchwork o-line as it is. 2 of 5 starters out is bad bad news.

 

I really love that pic of all four NFL players....

 

TFB is confirming that Armanti Foreman has rolled his ankle and will prolly miss 3 weeks; but he's determined to come back sooner.

"Sources indicate that Foreman has had a fantastic camp. And while most of the attention has been on guys like Duvernay and Burt, I’ve been told that outside of Burt, Foreman has had the best camp of all the receivers."