With the loss of Zach Shackleford to the NFL, a huge hole in the Texas Offensive Line needs to be filled. For the most part #56 did a good job at the position. A few less motion penalties would have been nice. His performance against Neville Gallimore in last years Shoot Out with OU was not to the standard we needed. Neville gave him fits. I don't know if that's where his chance at a Rimmington Award went out the window. But it made it hard for Texas to get its ground game moving. Luckily for our beloved Longhorns, Senior Derek Kerkstetter is waiting in the wings to takeover this most important position of the Offensive Line THIS YEAR. BUT... Who will back him up this season and who will be next years Starter and Backup when he is gone? It seems as if Rafiti Ghirmai is the obvious next man up. Maintaining no less than Two experienced centers is a MUST at a program like TEXAS! And we need ones that can DOMINATE the man in front of them. Making line calls, holding a steady stance, making the snap and then making the solid block on a DT is no small order. Here's hoping Herb Hand can find AND DEVELOPE the personnel to make it happen. And pray we land that certain recruit/s whose name begins with a B, somewhere around June 12, WHO WILL MAKE HIS DAD AND TEXAS FANS EVERYWHERE PROUD!
Good post. Kerkstetter is a Senior with lot's of experience and the skills to execute as well if not better than Shack. He like all Centers is the QB of the line and will be key to a successful season on offense. I'm really not concerned about him at this point but I am very concerned about his backup if "something" happens and he misses a game or more. Rafiti Ghirmai was at a minimum very shaky last spring and unfortunately, I don't think he got many game time snaps last fall. Perhaps Ghirmai has improved, gained some experience, gotten some good coaching since spring 2019 and can be counted on to step up & in without a big drop off. He has to.
Very shaky is an understatement. Last spring, I recall watching his repeatedly soft, slow, wobbly snaps and thinking, WTF?!?, that looks like some **** you'd see from the second string center of a 7th grade team. How the heck is that the second string center for the Texas Longhorns? As you state, hopefully he's improved (vastly), but I'm not as hopeful. If he had, shouldn't/wouldn't he be competing for the starting job? I'm betting on one of the incoming Freshman to quickly displace Ghirmai.
Yes, I was kind in my remarks about Ghirmai. I too thought he was HORRIBLE during the spring game 2019. We have to be optimistic he will have improved a great deal from spring 2019. I feel sure he dedicated himself to improve his skills and technique since that spring game. Guess we will see.... On a side note, I like to think of myself as a decent judge of quality Centers and I do watch them with binoculars on some plays during the game. I started as a Center in HS and also snapped for punts, PAT's and FG's. In those days we didn't have "specialist." FWIW I botched a couple snaps to the QB under center my Jr. year (that he recovered) but none my Sr. year and I never snapped a bad punt, PAT or FG attempt my Jr. or Sr. year. I am not bragging as I was not our best OL.
Man, you guys have it out for Ghirmai. I don't think he played enough to necessarily warrant a ton of conversation, but based on the summer workout stuff we've seen/heard, a lot of people want Hookfin, Jones, or Johnson to supplant him. It's hard to tell in practices whether that's the right move, but Hand has his job cut out for him with everyone not named Cosmi this year. Traskismo on YouTube has some great breakdowns of the OL for the 2019 games, and the one who stood out the most as the weak link, especially on passing downs, was Parker Braun. Ghirmai had his share of "oopsies" but Braun never lost his job or moved around even when he was getting penalties and flailing madly in between a DE and a DT.
Nah, I honestly hope Ghirmai turns out to be a stud. I guess it was just so shocking to see such poor snaps from a guy that's supposedly your second string center.
As of right now Texas has going into this season 3 centers on the roster. Kerstetter Ghirmai Jake Majors. Jake was a 4'star and the #5 ranked center in his class in the nation. Right no position comes close to DE and Linebacker. If I had to pick a 3rd it would be the offensive line but completely across the board not just center. We need to sign no less than 5 this cycle. The only reason people are down on Ghirmai is because he had huge issues getting the ball to the QB in the 2019 spring game. Don't know if he fixed that issue, but if worse comes to worse then he could be moved to guard where he can show off his blocking skills.
I sat behind Majors at a Frisco Lone Star playoff game after Prosper had been eliminated. Two observations: * Majors at least has the body of a center and seemed to be the leader of the group; * 3 of the group (obviously backs) had some sort of ou garb on
Did Jim ever play center? He was recruited as a linebacker and switched to OL after two years on campus. Make no mistake, Jim is as fine a human being as I’ve ever known and would be an outstanding mentor to any young person regardless of his position. I’m not sure his health would allow for it presently.
