Articles
The Kool-Aid Index
Posted by ChrisApplewhite on June 2nd, 2008 under Uncategorized
In order for me to avoid thoughts of suicide over the summer I have to talk myself into certain aspects of the Longhorn football team. Usually it’s some version of “Greg Davis will learn from his mistakes finally,” and it never seems to happen. But that + trampolines + water sprinklers makes for a happy summer and that’s the goal.
Major Applewhite – 80% Kool-Aid
This year’s version of “Greg Davis will learn from his mistakes finally.” The past two seasons have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we have a high school level OC that will never, ever get it. There is just no potential to improve. He is a remedial student in an advanced class and he’s having trouble with the material.
“This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath/May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.”
Romeo is comparing his love to a flower, see? He’s saying that their love will bloom and grow. You have to read into it, Greg.
This is where the golden child comes in. Early reviews have drawn raves even from this staunch pro-Chris Simms crowd. It’s important for coaches to “get it,” and Major certainly seems to. He knows what our problems are and he knows how to fix them. He is also still adorable. The question is how much his influence will be felt on the field. I know I’d let him feel me on the field.
In the spring game we showed more variety in the run game than we have . . . well, ever. We showed a few new wrinkles (that could have just been young players screwing up), including a new way to attack the defense with a zone read. Our passing game has never been complicated or varied (nobody wanted to hear it when the ESPN experts were going on and on about Vince’s simple offense, but they were right) but it doesn’t really have to be if we can run. We need to be able to do it and I am on board with Teh Major.
Rashad Bobino and Sergio Kindle – 5% Kool-Aid
My hopes with Bobino are that a good coach could recognize his strengths and work with them. He is fast to diagnose plays and quick to attack the line of scrimmage on runs. He knows his gap and is usually there. The problem is that he’s so lousy and shedding blockers and tackling that it often doesn’t matter if he’s in the right place – you can beat him anyway.
He’s only played in single gap systems so far that don’t offer him a whole lot of protection. In order for him to do anything he needs to get the Zach Thomas treatment, meaning the entire defense is structured to keep him free and roam. He hasn’t really shown any great ability to be the kind of player that can do that, though, plus anytime Bobino is moving laterally, it’s good for the offense.
It wouldn’t be a problem if Kindle could stay healthy and out of the doghouse, but there isn’t much evidence of that, either. He made enormous strides under MacDuff to the point that you can see an All-American in there, but he needs to actually play to earn any honors. I know there is a possibility that this works out well but I’ll need to see it before I believe it.
Secondary – 110%
My pitcher is actually overflowing with powder. It’s all over the place. Some fell in my shoes, but I don’t care. There is no water needed, I’m snorting it straight. We are going to have a badass group of DBs even with all the youth. Deon Beasley is the shut down corner we’ve become accustomed to having. Chykie Brown, if he plays, is the same. Ben Wells is the best hybrid of cover corner and hard hitting safety we’ve had since Quentin Jammer played back there. He may not be Michael Huff good but he has a chance to reach the elite status. Earl Thomas is a little fire plug who can also make plays in both run and pass, and really bring the wood for a small player. I see him ending up as a rich man’s Ahmad Brooks.
Depth is a bit of an issue. Ryan Palmer is still a mediocre cover guy with awful size, but he still might start if Chykie can’t pick up the scheme (how hard is it to tell him to cover the guy in front of him?). Our third safety at this point seems to be Blake Gideon, which is not good news.
Still, we have Curtis Brown, Aaron Williams, and Ron McKelvey – who has shown great maturity so far – so it’s not like we can’t develop that depth. I cannot wait to see this group in action. There will be rookie mistakes, but it’s the most excited I’ve been about our secondary since the 2005 group left.
William F. Muschamp – 95% Kool-Aid
I mean come on, the guy has champ right there in his name. Slightly wary because of our last Auburn coordinator.
The F stands for F’in.
Colt – 30% Kool-Aid
His freshman season was sensational. He was exactly what we needed; someone to drive the bus and distribute the ball. We didn’t need him to make plays and he succeeded in that role.
Then he caught a case of happy feet and turned into a street baller. I have no idea if it’s him, or if we just didn’t have people open, but when you scramble and throw on the run 70% of the time, you are going to throw a lot of INTs. It led to our only big plays through the air, too, so it’s not all bad. Still, you won’t see instructional videos teaching QBs to underthrow 40 yard passes off of one foot while on the move.
Scrambling so often that it practically becomes standard operating procedure is a huge worry that needs to be solved. Since Colt was nice and calm in 2006 I can hope that he returns to form, but he might have caught permanent scramblitis and we have no cowbell to cure him.
He also gets lazy on his reads, or desperate if he is on the run, and throws into traffic with alarming regularity. Getting good, efficient QB play has never been a Greg Davis staple, so we’ll have to count on the run game to take pressure off Colt this year. He’s already proven he can’t carry the load on his own.
It would be easy to blame Davis for this, since defenses have never had problems stopping his passing game without a run threat to go with it. But it doesn’t really matter whose fault it is, only that the outcome is that Colt is not effective. I know he can do it, but my lack of faith in Davis leaves me pessimistic.
Beating OU – 50% Kool-Aid
Last year was the worst Texas football team Mack Brown has produced, and we were still a fumble and a missed tackle away from beating a good OU squad. There, that is the only good thing I can say about last year’s game.
Beating OU is not about how good they are, but about you achieving a minimum competency at attacking their weaknesses, which are pretty much the same every year. OU is a measuring stick. If you can beat them, you’re elite. If you can’t, you suck and need to go back to the drawing board. They haven’t been a real title contender in years, although they’ve had good seasons propelled by a weak Big 12. But they put the same team out year after year and straddling that line between really good and good.
So the question is, are we good, or really good? We have to be able to hit big plays through the air, we have to be able to protect the passer, we have to be able to run at least a little bit, we have to stop their run game, and we have to disrupt the QB. The 2007 Texas squad was good at exactly none of those.
This year we should have at least a few covered. Our OL will be better, and hopefully that will spread to other parts of the team. Our skill players are questionable, but you don’t really need great talent to beat them, just a good game plan and proper execution.
Our defense will be much better, and it has to be. Sam Bradford is the best QB in the conference, and there are plenty of weapons available to him even without Malcolm Kelly. If we can stop the run we can beat them, and if everyone stays healthy we can stop the run. We can win, but we’ve shown a great ability to yank defeat from the jaws of victory (but not an ability to yank chicken mcnuggets from the jaws of Maddog).
If I trusted our passing game it would be easier to drink the Kool-Aid. As it is, I just have to hope we pull it together on defense.
Recruiting – 100% Kool-Aid
Lots of folks were worried last year after OU got the 2 best players in the state (Aaron Williams disagrees) and we passed on several good prospects who didn’t meet our stringent GPA standards that we impose on ourselves to take Blake Gideon and Hey Maybe He Can Be Our Wes Welker, Jr.
I wasn’t worried. Not because those weren’t questionable moves, because they were. But I wanted to wait to see if it was a long term shift in philosophy. Well, it wasn’t. We are right back to dominant. We fudged up the Russell Shepard thing, but we could’ve had him easily so it’s easier to get the Kool-Aid down.
The best news is that OU and A&M were absolutely obliterated in state. We are at our best when we lock OU out, so the good news is that we ate up the top 10 in the state quickly and the leftovers will probably end up at LSU’s wallet.
There are going to be big losses every year, but we’ve definitely proven that we are not going to target short white kids because they are honor roll students as a habit. We should’ve done whatever it took to get Shepard, but it’s not like there was an inherent problem here that made him stay away. We are just idiots.
Oddly, that makes me feel a little better.
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You know who’s bitter and angry as fuck? This guy —> ME.
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ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition 12 hours, 25 minutes ago
Wow. Wake won’t break 50. Not surprising really — we should have beaten Wake and they are not a very good team.
doog said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:19 am
RE: stopping the OU run game.
It looks like that part will be much more difficult this year than last. Returning OLine, plus DeMarco Murray wont be splitting carries with mediocre runners. Do you have any reads on Jermie Calhoun’s development?
ChrisApplewhite said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:21 am
Jermie Calhoun has to develop the ability to read.
Barry Switzer said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:31 am
No he don’t. We just tell him which side of the field to run it to.
echeese said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 am
Coach Davis inplanted a KoolAid I.V. in my arm during the offseason.
Orangeblood said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
As Tech and West Virginia showed, all you have to do to beat OU is get past the line of scrimmage and tap Sam Bradford. He goes cross-eyed and you have your win. Let’s hope our boys can do it.
SausageFest said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:39 am
“(but not an ability to yank chicken mcnuggets from the jaws of Maddog).”
I believe the correct word you were looking for here is “jowls”. An understandable and forgivable error…
Nice write-up, BTW.
Shumbeckler said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
The unquestioned key to this team is defensive depth up the middle. When you look at DT, MLB, and S, the only proven star on the A-team (no offense to Bobino) is Miller. When you look at the B-team, um nevermind. OU should scrip the first 90 plays as 34-Belly, FB Dive, 35-Belly, FB-dive, TE Post, and so on.
dedfischer said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
I haven’t quite understood the fascination with Bradford. Yeah, he put up great numbers as a freshman. But, it seemed every game I watched he made a living off 3 yard slants, bubble screens and go routes from playaction. Any time you made him hold onto the ball and read coverage, he folded like a cheap tent. He’s still pretty good, but he’s not as good as Daniel.
ChrisApplewhite said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 am
He never folded like a cheap tent. I kept waiting for him to but he never did. He was worse under pressure, but outside of guys like Vince there aren’t a whole lot of QBs who aren’t.
It’s not easy making a living off of slants and go routes, and it’s even harder to throw them as precisely as he does.
Kelly and Gresham were good but they aren’t great adjusting to the ball. They never had to.
Bradford is legit.
RichUT said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Did you leave out Christian Scott as our 3rd safety on purpose? I keep hearing rumors of grade issues there, but I’m still holding out hope that he gets to play this year.
jc25 said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
“I have no idea if it’s him, or if we just didn’t have people open, but when you scramble and throw on the run 70% of the time, you are going to throw a lot of INTs.”
He subscribes to the Brian Fantana school of thought: 60 percent of the time, it works every time.
kchorn04 said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I am at 200% on the Muschamp Kool-Aid.
I am discounting Chizik because previous to Auburn his resume was not extremely impressive. Muschamp has been a top flight defensive coach under some great defensive minds. And his fire is what this team is lacking. At the end of the day, the 2005 NC had an attitude that has been seriously lacking since Tomey and Robinson left.
Parlin Hall said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
“He is a remedial student in an advanced class and he’s having trouble with the material.”
Umm . . Isn’t it Juliet’s line, not Romeo’s, that you’re quoting in the next sentence?
ChrisApplewhite said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
The Cliff’s Notes doesn’t say.
Sasha_Is_A_Longhorn_Dog said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Yes. That is Juliet’s line. From the balcony scene. Sigh.
I’m about 70% on next year’s team overall. I’ll be really impressed if Colt settles down. I think he can. It seems to me he just put way too much pressure on himself to make plays but he didn’t really have the o-line with which to do that.
Chooky said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I’m 666% sure that Colt and Major have bonded in religious practice.
Facebook User said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I think it’s apropos that Parlin Hall makes the call here, where words are not scarce yet often spent in vain.
Enjoyed this, CA. Good grist for June.
Chooky said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
The lady doth protest too much. What up with that bitch?
Scipio Tex said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Good stuff, CA.
Also from R+J, appropriate three months from football season:
“Ay me. Sad hours seem long.”
Scipio Tex said:
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
A fat dog from the house of Madden moves me.
Ransom Stoddard said:
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 am
I can’t get past the indisputable truth that Davis is incompetent.
WhoooTex said:
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
“No he don’t. We just tell him which side of the field to run it to”
So there’s a good chance that Calhoun will be able to contribute by TX-OU. I think the OU staff can teach him “left” and “right” by that time.
TaylorTRoom said:
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Two big concerns this year:
1. The QB’s durability. McCoy has been knocked out of three games in two years, and we have lost each of them. What do we do to protect him? What do we concede (keeping receivers in as blockers) to protect him? What do we do if he gets hurt?
2. Muschamp’s staff. It must be weird to have your predecessor on staff as your subordinate. How does Akina respond (hopefully he doesn’t walk around explaining “how we do it here”)? How do the other assistants respond in conflicts, knowing Muschamp may be gone in a year or two, but Akina may be here for several years? Hopefully the chemistry is good.
longhornmatt said:
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I thought last season might have actually been Greg Davis’s best year as an OC at Texas (it was impossible to fuck up the 2005 offense). We had a spotty offensive line that was suffered key injuries and exactly one playmaker at any skill position after Sweed was injured. Despite the lack of talent, we still had one of the top ranked offenses in the nation.
Then again, we also came out throwing all over the place for 3 quarters against Nebraska and their unbelievably bad run defense, we scored 21 points and nearly went to OT against Arkansas State, and our running game was crap for 2/3 of the season until we rediscovered the zone read by a complete accident when Colt got dinged up.
So … maybe I am more sad than encouraged by last season being possibly the best job Davis has done since he’s been here. If our running game isn’t well above average, which it may not be with McGee getting carries instead of Charles, then we could be in big trouble on offense.
However, I am legitimately optimistic about the defense. We are loaded with raw talent at every position except the DT opposite Miller, and Lamarr Houston and/or Jarvis Humphrey both have the potential to step up there. I still wish Houston had stayed at DE, though. That guy was way too athletic at DE to beef up and spin down, but I guess we had to do something to address the need at DT.
Also, it’s impossible to underestimate how retarded Duane Akina was last season. On most 3rd and longs, we were in the 4-3 with Derry and Killebrew “covering” slot receivers. Any DC who hasn’t been lobotomized would be an upgrade over that bullshit, and the DC we did bring in is actually really good by all accounts. Whatever drop off we experience on the offensive side from last season should be outweighed by the fact that our defense won’t be hemorrhaging 350 yards through the air to scrubs like Stephen McGee every week.
Scipio Tex said:
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Matt:
Very good thoughts as always, but I beg to differ on Houston and the DE spindowns. I found that to be one of the most encouraging things about Muschamp’s Spring and a sign that he gets the Big 12 offenses. Our staff and fanbase needs to change our conception of what a DT looks like at Texas. We’re playing against the spread every week; I don’t see a veer team on the schedule. The days of 6-5 330 pound run stuffers are – thankfully – over. I’m all for one (reasonably) big body inside playing a gap nose, but he needs to be paired with a quick mother looking to sprint through a 3 gap and get quick pressure up the middle.
Coach Boom wants a front 7 of greyhounds and if Mad Dog won’t make our DT’s obey the scale, then he’ll keep snatching big DEs and sending them inside.
TaylorTRoom said:
June 4th, 2008 at 3:28 am
One more thought- no Kool-Aid from the head coach? Mack brown’s best coaching performances have come when he has had his seemingly worst situations- the mess he inherited in ‘98, and the cluster that ended the ‘03 season. In both cases, he responded with measured changes, didn’t over-react, and took the program to new heights.
Is he doing it again?
ChrisApplewhite said:
June 4th, 2008 at 4:59 am
I should’ve added Brown. He’s kind of a known quantity at this point, though.
“I thought last season might have actually been Greg Davis’s best year as an OC at Texas”
Totally disagree. 80% of our passing yardage was improvised, our running game was basically all Jamaal. Unless Davis designed the offense for Fran Tarkenton and told Jamaal to just outrun the 3 guys in your way, you can’t say he did a good job. He was much better in 98. You’re right that the 2005 offense was Davis proofed.
Just because it worked sometimes doesn’t mean it was good.
Hookah Horns said:
June 17th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Dunno about Fitzhenry, but there is nothing to mock about Blake Gideon. He will be first team All-Big XII before he leaves. Write it down.