Fall Camp 2016

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Hope you enjoyed the May/June/July Football thread because August has arrived and it's finally time for Fall Camp.

Camp kickoff is set for Saturday the 6th. I should be getting my pass to attend all the practices any day now. I love eBay!

In the meantime, here are more articles from people who don't know as much as they pretend to know, along with speculations, insights, and opinions from our very own HornFans members. (I hope.)

Papa Johnson's fired up:


Until we get some actual camp news, let's look at some stuff related to our opening opponent. As ol' Sunny Tzuy said, "Know thy enemy, know thy self. Fourteen battles, a national championship."

 

Ketch's Thoughts

Not since the Longhorns took on child abuse enabler Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions in State College back in 1990 in what would turn out to be the “Shock The Nation” campaign has the Texas program played in a season-opening game of this magnitude and with this much on the line. Just like Charlie Strong, former Texas head coach David McWilliams entered the season with his job hanging in the balance after posting a 16-18 record in his first three seasons as coach and the result of that season-opener against Paterno and Co. would either serve as a springboard or a hangman’s noose.

Of course, the Longhorns won that game, had a historically memorable season and then watched McWilliams give all of the goodwill away in his final season a year later when the Longhorns went 5-6. Who knows? Maybe history will show that the importance of this game was overplayed, but there’s no questioning the optics of this game entering the season.

Only once in the last two decades has Texas even played a ranked team to open the season and that was last season’s disaster in South Bend, so it’s not like there’s a crowded competition in this discussion. Yet, more than the ranked opponent are the stakes involved in this one.

While Strong might not be coaching for his job this season, he is coaching for the right to control the narrative moving forward. If he skates by with another .500ish record this season, he’ll return for another year because of the $10 million left on his contract as much as any other reason and every recruit in the nation will know that he’s walking on thin ice.

All of the recruiting momentum Strong and his staff have cultivated in the last 18 months has a chance to turn sideways if real progress on the field isn’t made this season and that starts with the game against the Irish. With games in Stillwater against Oklahoma State and in Dallas against Oklahoma lurking in the next four games, it’s critically important that Texas gets off to a good start this season so the negative narratives stay grounded in the dungeons from which they come.

With the Marvin Wilsons of the world watching intently, Strong’s program has a chance to shoot itself into the stratosphere with a win. Win that game, win one of two against the Oklahoma schools and a 4-1 record in the first five games of the season would likely see Strong’s rear end removed from the hot seat.

In a 12-game season, some games matter more than others and I can make the case that the Notre Dame game ranks as the most important game of Strong's coaching career to date. On paper, he’ll have a team that should be able to stand toe to toe with the Irish in a way that it never could a season ago.

With [five] weeks to go until kickoff, the size of the stakes involved seem to get bigger with every passing day. The program might be stocked with some of the best young talent that it has seen in its history and Strong deserves an immense amount of credit for that truth, but at some point the apologies have to stop and the program-lifting wins into the stratosphere have to begin.

[Per another poster]

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First of all, we WILL beat notta dame and go 13-0 for the season. That's a given.

Why not 14-0? Because our margins of victories will be low enough for the panel of College Football Playoff genii to exclude us from the playoffs. Plus, they'll have to fit a 2-loss bammy team in there against some patsy.

Second of all, I disagree that we have to beat the domers to save our recruiting. A close loss – say, a TD or less – will still allow Charlie and Company to tell recruits that they can help turn a game like that into a "W." Naturally, we would still need a 9-10 win season to continue to make that a plausible pitch.

 

For those who want to do a little scouting (I said, "a little"), here's the notta dame 2016 Spring Game....

 

Here's my 2016 Notre Dame scouting report...

 

We got talent, but man o' man we are young.

 

For me, the season's countdown should always be for the beginning of fall camp. This is when football season starts, August 6th. Now is when a lot of meaningful story lines start playing out. What of the true freshmen? Will Fowler make it in? What of the new OC and system? What of the QB, DT's, OL's? As of Saturday, football season is finally here.

 

Fall Camp....things are about to get real!!

 

Progression of the offense is key. Unfortunately defensive progress cannot be measured until the hitting is in anger.

 

Know notta dame

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Names to know: QB DeShone Kizer, QB Malik Zaire, RB Josh Adams, RB Tarean Folston, WR Torii Hunter Jr., OT Mike McGlinchey, DE Isaac Rochell, LB Nyles Morgan, CB Cole Luke.

Offseason storyline: One heck of a quarterback battle. The old “if you have two quarterbacks, you really have none” line certainly does not apply to Notre Dame.

Texas fans know all about the special talents of Zaire after he diced up their defense for 313 yards on 86 percent (!) passing. What Texas fans probably missed last season was the brilliance of Kizer, who stepped in after Zaire’s season-ending injury and led the Irish to a 10-win season and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

Brian Kelly and his staff have a tough decision to make in August. If it’s Kizer, we shall see how Zaire fits into their game plan for the opener and beyond. As Ohio State reminded us last season, being fortunate enough to have two elite options can be tricky to manage.

On the other side of the ball, it’s an important year for defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. The Irish haven’t been great on defense in his first two seasons there, and now they must replace NFL draft picks Jaylon Smith, KeiVarae Russell and Sheldon Day. It’s a youthful unit that must make strides in 2016.

[E$PN]

If you read the full article, have a towel handy. The domer slober-fest will leave you soaked.

 

WE'RE READY!!

 

I was born ready.

 

fired up about seeing buechele, warren, omenihu. They are going to play a big role in leading this team back to respectability. just sayin....and btw our o-line will be one of the best in the country pretty soon...looking forward to see them dominate.

 

It's likely that Texas will start three true freshmen on offense for the Notre Dame game.

• Collin Johnson
• Shane Buechele
• Zach Shackelford

I think Pat Hudson and Denzel Okafor will push Brandon Hodges at left guard, so the number could end up being four. It's possible Devin Duvernay pushes for a starting role at inside receiver, too (so maybe even five).

I've looked at the depth charts at every other Power 5 conference school and I couldn't find another roster that is already expected to have two true freshmen start, much less three or even perhaps four or five.

And I'm talking about an entire team, not just one side of the ball.

So if Texas somehow ends up with four true freshmen starters on offense, I think it goes to show a) just how young this offense is, b) how talented the newcomers are and c) how little upper class talent returns on the roster.

[Per another poster]

 

Buechele at QB and Shackelford at Center are true Freshman at THE two key positions on the entire Offense. A lot of responsibility lies on their shoulders.

So goes them, largely so goes the Offense this fall.

 

“Kyle vs. Kirk” will determine Porter’s redshirt outlook

There’s been a lot of talk about redshirt[ing] freshman RB Kyle Porter, and it’s understandable after seeing him again at Under the Lights camp. He’s an impressive-looking athlete and always has been.

However, Kirk Johnson is a player who people close to the program say the players call a “beast” and a “freak.” Some people with inside knowledge feel like the Texas Tech/Chris Warren monster in the absence of D’Onta Foreman and Johnathan Gray was all set up to be the Kirk Johnson monster had Johnson not gotten injured early on.

The indication I’ve gotten in a conversation this week is that it’s going to be tough to come in and slice into much if any real playing time on offense when you have to account for the touches of Foreman, Warren and a healthy Johnson. If you have a potentially special future runner in Porter, why burn a year of his eligibility to play in garbage time?

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“If Shane is starting versus Notre Dame, it’ll be because he beat out Ty”

Some of the things sources say about this football team might be called epic trolling by the board’s standards, but this is a real quote. Whether the world of Orangebloods can understand it or not, there are people very close to the program who still believe that there truly is a competition at quarterback between Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes.

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“Watch out for Jeffery McCulloch”

We hadn’t heard a ton of news about freshman LB Jeffery McCulloch over the course of the summer, but in speaking to one person this week, he’s the number one player to watch out for. “If anyone can take (Anthony Wheeler’s) job it’s McCulloch,” the person said. Apparently, the team will look at McCulloch at the weak-side linebacker to start if his competition for immediate snaps is indeed Wheeler.

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Donovan Duvernay wasn't prepared for Moorer

One person said that recent Baylor transfer and true-freshman DB Donovan Dunvernay was “struggling bad” in his first few workouts at Texas. “He wasn’t ready for (strength coach Pat) Moorer.”

I don’t know if he fell out or puked or what, but it seems clear he wasn’t very comfortable at first with the intensity of the workouts versus what he likely expected might come at Baylor.

It’s more of an illustration of how tough Moorer’s workouts are than an indictment on Duvernay. The source acted like this was certainly not a new phenomenon for some guys to have a little trouble adjusting to a Moorer workout routine at first.

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Patrick Hudson momentum picking up

He’s one guy who, by all accounts, has had no problem keeping up. Hudson’s hype around the program and in the fanbase is picking up at a rate that may lead to disappointment, but what a pleasant surprise it would be if it didn’t.

We’d been told how strong the freshman OL was — and about his being so impressive in the weight room — but then to see the player in person at Under the Lights camp was just extremely eye-opening.

He’ll have every chance to earn a spot on the starting offensive line, most likely at left guard.

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“Closest Team” in a long time

I asked one person if anything felt different coming into this fall camp versus the last few years. “It’s the closest team in a long time,” the source said.

I know it sounds like every offseason for every team about the ‘newfound energy’ and the ‘multiple’ nature of the offense and coachspeak-this and coachspeak-that because we’re all undefeated. However, it’s not hard to see how this team should truly be the “closest” in recent memory for a lot of reasons.

They’ve had to spend summers in dorms together with the coaches going on three years. They’ve gone through the hellish experience that is a Moorer workout together near-daily through that time and they generally continue to coexist in what is a fairly strict and disciplined Charlie Strong world. In short, the “culture change” is over. The team is devoid of senior leaders for the most part, but the new, uniting heartbeat of the group through the freshman, sophomore and junior classes makes up for it.

This is the kind of intangible that is hard to account for, but somehow generally ends up leading to a few random bounces going the right way for the good guys.

Lord knows the Horns would love to have a bounce or two actually go their way this season.

They’re certainly due.

[Per another poster]

 

I wonder how much of this has to do with Malik Jefferson. He seems to be a very influential personality and positive role model.

 

We are starting Freshmen at QB and center, but it's relevant to point out why there's a lack of experienced talent at those positions and Freshmen are needed to start.

We had Raulerson slated to start this year before wrongly being deprived of any preparation snaps last year and deciding to play for another staff.

Strong added three new young QB's (Heard, Locksley, and Merrick) and bypassed adding any JUCO's or transfers since he took over. They weren't good enough to win the job.

We had a talented passer locked up with Gentry before Watson's incompetent offense pushed him to Harbaugh who already had 5 older QB's on his roster.

We likely wouldn't be in this position with Raulerson and Gentry on the team.

As for Johnson and Duvernay, they're supremely talented skill players naturally gifted for the positions they play. I assume they'd get early playing time on most any team.

 

Yea, Gentry could be playing TE for us like he is at Michigan.
And maybe Strong thought Mack's 4 star recruit was going to be the guy.
Heard was Mack's recruit.
Can we place a little on Mack's recruiting?
And maybe Raulerson just wasn't as good as expected.
Or had an attitude problem.
You have no idea what went on behind the scenes.
You notice how many recruits just left Baylor with the coaching change?
I think Strong did well to keep most of Mack's.
Can we just enjoy what we have and support the team?

 

Heard is a RS Soph and I believe Merrick is still a RS Freshman. Little soon to write them off. I get your point that we needed more immediate help but who were the Juco or transfer QBs that Strong decided to pass on?
Also, isn't Gentry moved to TE? Not defending the decision to experiment with the "Watson HUNH in name only offense", but the decision to move toward that sort of offense was still the right move and what I believe drove Gentry to play elsewhere. I doubt Gentry would be the savior here.
Sucks about Raulerson, though. Wickline must have really soured Jake on playing here any further, but Strong should have been able to keep hi in the fold.

 

Useful Seniority​

Everyone knows the 2016 Texas Longhorns football team is young – 60 of our 85 scholarship athletes are underclassmen.

2016 Big 12 senior starters (Phil Steele's 2016 College Football preview):

• West Virginia – 13
• Oklahoma St – 10
• Kansas St – 9
• Kansas – 9
• Texas Tech – 8
• Baylor – 7
• Iowa State – 7
• Oklahoma – 6
• TCU – 6
• Texas – 3

Texas would also be dead last in the Pac 12, ACC, SEC and 2nd to last in the Big Ten.

The key word in useful seniority is "useful." A bad 23 year old 5th year senior just isn't that helpful. But when seniority and a baseline level of talent are in confluence, unsexy teams win games. These teams make fewer mistakes, execute from muscle memory, have maximized physical and mental potential and are well suited to handle adversity.

Dylan Haines is a former walk-on, this is Paul Boyette's first year as a starter, Bluiett is a role player and Perkins is likely to be playing out of position at RT. In terms of useful seniority, not exactly [stellar].

TCU is light on senior starters (6), but they have eleven projected junior starters. Half of them are 4th year juniors.

You'll hear [the word "talent"] thrown around a lot when Texas flashes brilliance (leading to delusional over-enthusiasm – Jerrod Heard, Cal) or in distraught overreaction when we lose to a "less talented" team.

The truth is that folks who opine about talent in the absence of its relationship to a defined system or its interplay with experience don't deserve an opinion. But you'll hear those opinions anyway.

A 7 month old Great Dane will lose a wrestling match with an adult labrador, even though the Dane is bigger and faster. More "talented." But he's a pup – with all the goofy, lovable awkwardness that entails.

So bet on the confident, focused labrador retriever.

And put the freaking house on the Great Dane a year later.

[BC]

 

We’re only few days away from the start of fall camp. We’ve got a few final summer notes to pass along…

Devin Duvernay: Am told with his speed he can certainly go deep and is great in screens and sweeps but needs to develop his route tree.

Brandon Jones: I mentioned Jones earlier this summer as someone who has been standing out. Had another source corroborate that notion saying. “Brandon Jones is going to push for a lot of time. He just gets it. He picks up things quick.”

Deshon Elliott: Was told Elliot has dropped weight and “it’s helped his coverage and being quicker overall.” Was also told that even when Elliot is back home in the Dallas area he has been training. It’s pretty clear he’s hungry to get on the field.

Dylan Haines: Was told that the staff still likes Dylan Haines but they are aware that there are some excellent athletes right behind him. “He’s that hard nosed player everyone likes on their team; the athetlicism of Jones and Elliot may be too much to keep them off the field as the season goes on.”

Kyle Porter: I’m told Porter should be ready. Source said, “If Warren or Foreman go down they won’t hesitate to play him.” Source also noted that, “he’s big but he can catch really well (out of the backfield).” Also was told that the staff is still looking for that “change of pace back.” I was told they may use Devin Duvernay in that capacity.

Curtis and Joe: Was told that Davion Curtis and Lorenzo Joe are both playing inside and outside. “They both know the offense so they can move them around.”

[TFB]

The part about Porter conflicts with what was said in the first paragraph of this post above. Hmmmmm.

 

Gentry is at TE because there is an abundance of older QB's on the roster (including 2 SR, JR, and SO) and he's so gifted of an athlete they want him on the field now.

You see Harbaugh was a QB and knows how to find quality play by stocking the position. He inherited guys, added O'Korn as a transfer, and recruited Gentry and their new 4 star.

His 2015 team was stacked with 6 QB's. In 2016, he still has a plethora to choose from...4 upperclassmen, Gentry, and true Freshman (6th ranked pro-style QB).

So while the uninformed can assume Gentry's lacking QB skills led to the switch, feel free to read why they tinkered with him at TE during bowl practice and use him there...

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2016/03/michigan_encouraged_by_zach_ge.html

Mich coaches rave about his "dominant traits" which shouldn't be wasted waiting for his turn behind upperclassmen QB's with real talent unlike Texas' erratic arms above Shane.

Look I love Shane as our guy and have 100% confidence in him next year and beyond. So much so that Sam will have to wait his turn.

After watching film I preached before he ever arrived (when most others doubted) that he'd be our starter this year. Past posts can prove that.

Buechele is a special player/person with rare intangibles and will excel his very first year.

Point I'm making is Gentry is a much better passer and all-around QB than anyone on this team before Shane arrived. His situation in Michigan revolves around coaches not wanting to waste his versatile skills while legit talent upperclassmen had their turn.

 

OK point taken, Gentry could have helped us immediately.
The decision to go to a HUNH spread offense was still the right thing to do and there was no sense delaying that decision for one player. (even if asking Watson to run that offense was a joke)

 

I agree with this.
We will see what the future holds for Gentry.
But the change in offensive systems was needed and I'm sure Strong would have loved to have Gentry lead it.
Nothing he could do about Gentry leaving.

 

Point of Parliamentary Order!

Has it always been called Fall Camp? Fall isn't in August.

That's all.

 

Academic calendar.

 

I know, but they don't call the Spring stuff Fall stuff. I'm just bored and throwing it out there. i get it's for a sport that is primarily played in Fall. The camp isn't in Fall, though. We must endeavor to change this. Or not.

 

Yes. Yes it has. So keep your P-of-PO to yourself.

 

No idea what that means. Never really caught on to the fact it was called that. Anyway, looking forward to the reports.