Entering the 8th Season Since the Alabama Game and We...

Still do not have any depth. The first team offense and defense looked decent/good on Saturday. However, the drop-off to the second team is glaring. It is amazing how thin this roster is behind the starters. Bad recruiting? Bad players? If a significant starter (think Shane B., Chris Warren, anyone on the offensive line) goes down, this season could get ugly very quickly.

 

We may be entering the 1st season since the Alabama game that we have had leadership prepared to address this. I hope so.

 

Until proven otherwise it is a matter of when Warren goes down not if. Best case he makes it to the ou game. That will give the others a chance for some playing time.

The other concern are the DB's. I am not convinced there are 4 real starters. In all probability of is going to be another fire drill back there during Conference games.

On the plus side there seems to be enough talent at the other positions to give starters breathers without much fall off (substituting individuals not full units).

 

It's a sobering thought when a coach comes in and tells you that after three years where we allegedly recruited quite well in the secondary, we only have three cornerbacks that he trusts to play in a game. That's either shockingly bad evaluation by the previous staff or shockingly poor player development.

The o-line and d-line issues have been kicked down the curb for years and shouldn't surprise anyone. Those are the positions where it takes the longest to build depth, and right now we've got too many young guys to think that enough would step up to fill a two-deep with starter-level talent. It sounds like that's being addressed, but I guess we'll see. We simply haven't recruited many impact players there who were legitimately expected to step right in and start. So they haven't.

 

Too early to tell anything

 

Nostradamus' all up in here.

 

you think we would have signed more players in 8 years. 8 years and we only have 22 players who are good?

 

^^^^THIS!!

 

I tend to believe the latter. Strong & Co. could recruit, but didn't know how to develop that talent into players so we could rotate guys in without the drop off in execution we saw the past few seasons.

 

Player non-development started after the Alabama game and contributed to Brown's and Strong's dismissals for sure. However I am not sold on Strong's ability to evaluate potential recruits. Yes he recruited Williams, Jefferson, Boo and Shackelford, a bunch of receivers and a bunch of DB's. Williams, Boo and Shackelford have developed; Jefferson has regressed; and we are still waiting for his LB and DB recruits to show they can play at this level. We will have an idea of Herman's group of coaches as player developers by November.

 

This brings up a lot of painful and frustrating memories but the Alabama game is a good benchmark for some things.

In my opinion, our slide to irrelevancy began with the offensive line. Bad evaluation / poor development by MB and staff, I don't know... but the decline was already evident even the year we played Alabama for all the marbles. From there it only got worse and we're creeping up on a decade, now, without having an offensive lineman drafted to the NFL. That speaks volumes. So, to whiff for years on the unit that probably takes the longest to develop... it's put this program in a hole that obviously we still haven't recovered from.

The problems on the O-Line don't explain everything in terms of our recent years in the wilderness. I chalk that up, I guess, to Mack Brown losing his recruiting edge and mailing it in at the end of his tenure and a general inability of both Brown and Strong to develop players. We were better than our record under Strong. It's going to take time and COMPETENT coaching to get this straightened out and develop the kind of 2-deep roster that will get us back to the big game again. Herman has the high school relationships and sure seems like the guy to do it but for now I'm afraid all we can do is wait-and-see.

 

UT men's sports slide into irrelevance consides with the inception of the Longhorn Network. Not saying it was the cause, but can't stand to watch at present. Hopeful for the future.

 

I find myself tuning into LHN less and less since men's basketball and baseball are blah, about the only sport I watch is Volleyball and an occasional special presentation of some sort.

 

Herman will turn this around and it will help out the other sports too. He's in his prime and the real deal.

 

just because i'd like to be clear, we have the 11th ranked recruiting 5-year average before Coach Herman's 1st class in February...
http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...ge-football-recruiting-improvement-tcu-baylor

and Coach Herman's 1st recruiting class is the lowest ranking class ever...
http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo.../texas-2017-recruiting-class-worst-class-ever

When it comes to depth right now, the issue is Mack's last class and Herman's first class, not Charlie's classes.

But I also think Herman is a coach who wins, so I think it gets fixed. I think this thread isn't relevant as a "trend since 2008." Only that Mack's last class and Herman's first class are evident in the 2017 depth chart.

 

Mack embraced the LHN; Strong despised it; and it looks like Herman knows it is the best recruiting communication system there is - there is no dead period and it is on 24/7/365.

 

Agreed, I think Herman will maximize use of every tool at his disposal.

 

A recruiting class is only as good as its record. We just need the right 25,every year.
I think our depth is actually pretty good.

 

Looking back I think DL issues were just as much a culprit of the decline as OL issues. You have to remember Jones and Humphrey were to future of the DL. Joseph led Jones into criminality which ultimately turned into tragedy for Jones. Humphrey had a career ending disease. We then were horrible at stopping the run so the defense couldn't get off the field to even give the offense a chance. And then poor offensive scheme and playcalling meant too many 3 n outs. It was the downhill snowball effect.

So not only was it poor development and Mack getting lazy recruiting, but there was simply some bad luck to go along with it. The perfect storm.

The LHN certainly could be a good recruiting tool but it almost seems like it's been a jinx. I'd happily give it up to once again be at the top in the 3 major men's sports.

 

Plus Mack deciding to run a less spread like offense, wanted to immulate Bama. That didn't work so scrapped it. Offense was never the same after that.

 

My impression has been that Strong was good at recruiting and player evaluation. Weaknesses were setting consistent standards while staying organized and focused. The Big 12 was too competitive for a coach who left a duck or two (offensive situational preparedness, defensive adjustments, special teams) out of line most games.

 

Great; can we count on you to provide the missing $5 million per year if the LHN goes away?

The LHN didn't hire Patterson and Strong. Smart screwed up his recruiting but has acknowledged that with his commitments so far reflecting improvement. Pierce was left with a team that could not hit and, worse of all, quit during the past two seasons. Their hitting as improved slightly, but they seem to have a better understanding of what they are supposed to do while at the plate. Also they have shown a fight until their last out.

 

The issue I think was more that he didn't really do either. He was in no-man's land because he wanted a more pro-style running attack but didn't have the people for it, and I think he was impatient with that to the point where he ended up being really wishy-washy and that team never really had an identity.

Exhibit A was the Nebraska game: that year we went down there heavy underdogs, but we decided we were going to stick with the plan. Run the ball, control the clock, be physical and not beat ourselves. It worked, and we got the win. Everyone was talking about a turning point, maybe this will kick-start things, finally starting to see some of the toughness Mack wanted.

ONE WEEK LATER... We come out against Iowa State in 5-wide set, try to throw the ball over the field, and end up getting beat in what at the time was the most embarrassing loss in UT history. (Was it worse than losing to Kansas on the road? Depends on how bad you think Kansas was and how big a deal it is to lose at home to Iowa State.)

Ultimately he didn't have the personnel to make a seamless transition to the new concepts, didn't have the patience (or probably the defense) to believe he could win with underpowered offensive performances, and so we got a big jumbled mess of an offense.

 

Agreed. As exhibit A I offer Malcolm Roach, a so-called 3 star out of HS.

 

As defense Exhibit B which DB has shown to be the caliber to be effective in the Big XII (even more elementary which DB has shown that he knows where to line up on 75% of his plays?) As Exhibit C where was Jefferson last season?

 

There were many miscues in player evaluation and recruiting by both Mack and Charlie. To me one position, quarterback, is the prime example. Post Alabama our cupboard has been relatively bare in this, the most important position on the field, until now when Boo seems like he may be in the top half of B12 QB's.

After Colt none of our QB's would have come close to starting at any of the top five programs in the B12. This includes Ash, Case, Heard, gilbert, Swoopes, etc. Not one would have started for any program in the top half of our conference. QB is, as stated above, the most important position on the field. then O line--don't get me started, omg.

 

Agree with the above except for Ash. If he would have stayed healthy he would have been a national upper echelon QB by the time his 4 years were over.

 

This topics of Mack's end and Charlie's time have gotten old and stale, even to me. Mack produced winning seasons, bowl wins and a top 25 ranking 3 of his last 4 years, but never reached the ten win mark. Charlie never had a winning season. Texas football has not been as good as we would like.

I will note the 2012 and 2013 teams were better than the 2010 and 2011 teams so it was not one steady decline. That narrative does not even fit the most basic record test. While Mack's Big 12 record improved every year from 2010-13, Charlie's got worse every year from 2014-17.

We have hit the reset button again. Hopefully we close out the 2010s with multiple 10+ win seasons.

 

Think of it as the internet sports bulletin board equivalent of a bunch of old guys sitting around complaining about prostates and milennials.

 

That's awesome

So far, I have never gotten tired of complaining about Mack Brown or Millennials whenever the opportunity presents itself. I feel this will even improve with age