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Practice 2/28: Bubble Edition

Posted by ChrisApplewhite on February 28th, 2009 under Football

Showed up while they were still doing the punting stuff. About 5 minutes in — and I filed this under “What am I missing?” — the players started filing into the bubble, followed by the fans.

That’s right, we got to watch the practice in the hollowed football cave. It just felt mystical.

At first the non-conformist in me was outraged that I was expected to waddle into an enormous group and wait my turn for the priviledge of seeing the damn thing. But because I know my place as slave labor for Sailor Ripley’s demented ambitions, I swallowed my pride and marched in with the plebes. Let this be remembered at the next BC tailgate so that I will be rewarded with the finest in alcohols and meats.

Anyway, the bubble was cool, but any novelty quickly wore off when I started watching Alex Okafor. I want to make this very clear right now:

Alex Okafor will be the best football player to ever play at Texas. And I never, ever use hyberbole.

He is a couple inches taller than Kindle, and is filled out enough to start today. He would if Kindle went pro. His first step is great, but it’s his phenomenal second, third and fourth steps and make him. He is the kind of guy that can run down a back on a zone read, or be at the QB in under 3 seconds. He’s long in the right spots, quick, and has the frame to add 15-20 and keep his speed, and has the big rear end that holds a lot of power.

There is no way to know exactly how good he’ll be until he sees actual game action, but that will be this year. He isn’t redshirting. I can tell you right now that you are going to love him.

The bubble had kind of limited room, so I had to choose between the linemen and the skill players. The skill players are way more fun to watch, but not only do we basically know what we have there, but I never get a chance to watch the linemen up close.

Kindle, Acho, and Okafor are going to really good by season’s end. Anyone else would be gravy.

Kheeston Randall started with Lamarr Houston. I don’t recall anything about him except for that he’s tall. Nothing stood out.

Tyrell Higgins looked good again. I think he’s too small to play with Houston, but as a backup he’ll be just fine. Ben Alexander had a great day, but everytime he did anything it was against a weaker lineman. I honestly have no idea what you do at NT this year. Houston is too small to play a 3 man front, Jarvis Humphrey has feline HIV or something, and nobody else is good or big enough. I would just teach everyone to take up space and put whoever does it best on the field. We can’t hope for a playmaker with this group.

Emmanual Acho lined up at DE some.

Russell Carter is still raw. Needs to find the feel for the position.

Tariq Allen and Marcus Davis were the other true fish that got significant run. Allen looks the part. I thought Davis was that walkon that wears #24 (Ford?) so I ignored him. It wasn’t until Akina yelled for his by name that I realized who he was.

DeSean Hales fits into what we do perfectly. If he can catch he is going to be dynamite.

Goat-turned-underdog John Chiles had a few nice plays today. The team and fans really got behind him. As that continues, he’ll get more into his new role and we’ll see what he can do. The spring game will be interesting for him.

DJ Grant is in that tweener area still. I only saw him when he was flexed out and he just looked like a big receiver. Didn’t get a chance to watch him block.

None of the freshman OL will play, if today is any indication. Yeesh.

Talent in the secondary and WR core is not an issue whatsoever. This might be the most talent we’ve had at WR, top to bottom, in the Mack Brown era. The problem is going to be consistency. Anyone one guy can do it for any one play, but can he do it for 70?

Charlie Tanner was impressive in pass protection, just flat out stonewalling guys. Michael Huey, Kyle Hix, Adam Ulatoski, and Audre McGaskey were the other 4 best protectors today.

Greg Smith is at center, and got abused the one play I saw him.

Tre Allen isn’t a tackle. He has no feel for the position, and displays no awareness or anticipation whatsoever. Anything Kindle tried worked. Had one play towards the end of practice been live, Kindle might have manslaughtered Colt. There would’ve been a trial. I’d make McGaskey the #3 and move Allen inside.

All the other TEs outside of Grant and Irby can’t catch. It’s kind of sad.

Sherrod Harris could start for us. Both he and Colt showed off a bit today, throwing a lot of deep balls, but he is a natural. He could transfer to A&M and start today.

Mack was being even more gregarious than usual, casually addressing the group of fans and keeping us in the loop. It was unusual, and I wonder if he was on drugs this morning.

Tolley loves his job.

If anyone has any other questions I will try to answer them best I can. And if anyone else was there, please contribute.

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32 Responses

  1. Nero said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 10:23 am

    You’re getting me wet. Stop it.

  2. ed said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Thanks for the reports. Those of us hundreds of miles away have a lifeline, tnx to you.

  3. Petey said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am

    Does Kyle Hix look any bigger?

  4. Bubble Boy said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 11:37 am

    CA:
    “Alex Okafor will be the best football player to ever play at Texas”
    Keep writing things like this and I’ll keep writing that I love you.

    Nero: Go ahead, flick it. Nobody’s watching..

    Petey: I’m no expert, but Hix does look like he may have put on another inch and added some girth. Or he could’ve just been a little excited, getting back on the field and all..

  5. bigdukesix said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    Jarvis Humphrey has feline HIV or something

    Another reason to hate cats.

  6. LonghornScott said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    On DJ Grant: I think he’s plenty big for what we want. He’s at least as big as David Thomas was as a freshman… question is if he has Thomas’ type of focus and body control.

  7. Justaguy said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    If every defensive tackle aside from Lamarr Houston really didn’t show much in practice wouldn’t it be expected that a fifth year senior to be at guard would more than hold his own?

  8. workinghorn said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    Two practices in (I know, ridiculously early with no sample set), do you think this team is better than last years?

  9. M said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    So do they spin an OL to nose tackle? Sounds like they have a little time, but not many options…unless they want to play walkons.

    Seems like the major concern for 2009.

  10. Capt. Insano said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    Maybe they could spin Chris Hall to DT.

  11. Scipio Tex said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    Applewhite:

    Thanks for posting. Good to see you back. As for Greg Smith, are you sure he was at Center? He’s got a number in 80s and he was exclusively getting TE snaps. He also lost about 25 pounds from last year.

    M –

    No, man. You can’t do that.

  12. Beaten dead horse said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Horrible! Fuck the mullet haters. Luke Poehlmann is shorn as sure as Sampson.

  13. CrazyJoeDavola said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    “He could transfer to A&M and start today.”

    Big deal, so could I.

  14. Uncle Rico said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    “He could transfer to A&M and start today.”

    “Big deal, so could I.”

    CJD:
    Damnit, you beat me to it..

  15. sinless1 said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    “…and has the big rear end that holds a lot of power.”

    I wish I had weapons like that..

  16. Uncle Rico (Case) said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    “…and has the big rear end that holds a lot of power.”

    sinless1:
    Ask Mangino’s wife how great that weapon is when she’s on Saturday morning toilet detail..

  17. SizzleChest said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    I hope Jarvis doesn’t have the diabeetus.

  18. Horncasting said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    “He could transfer to A&M and start today.”

    Apparently somebody missed the memo that A&M has a roster full of QB’s that could start at any Big 12 school.

  19. DBH said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    “None of the freshman OL will play, if today is any indication. Yeesh.”

    CA,

    Does that include Mason Walters? I saw a post at OB where the poster was all wooded up over Walters, claiming he would crack the two-deep by the end of spring. All based on how much he loves his body, of course.

  20. Austin180 said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    Jarvis Humphrey has feline HIV or something,
    So it’s an infection and not an injury?

  21. FTS said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 9:38 pm

    They aren’t even in full pads. How the hell do you judge anything to do with either line? Nothing more than glorified flag football at this point.

  22. closetojumping said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 9:41 pm

    I personally love M’s idea of spinning down an OL to fill the hole at NT. Scipio doesn’t take that one seriously enough.

    Thanks for the report, CA.

  23. 71 Texasgrad said:

    February 28th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

    Right on FTS. They are just dancing with each other. It’s all footwork and timing right now.

  24. beowulf said:

    March 1st, 2009 at 4:55 am

    “Kindle, Acho, and Okafor are going to really good by season’s end. Anyone else would be gravy.”

    I would say that October 17 is the deadline for this.

  25. horn7 said:

    March 1st, 2009 at 7:14 am

    I thought Tyrell Higgins was no longer on the team.

  26. ChrisApplewhite said:

    March 1st, 2009 at 7:35 am

    Justaguy: It’s comparing him to his colleagues. He was outperforming the other guards against the same DTs.

    DBH: Walters wasn’t that great. But it doesn’t matter. OL, other than QB, is the hardest position to come in as a true freshman and look competent. These guys will be judged two years from now, and they’ll be fine.

    horn7: Higgins is back, just not on scholarship I think.

    FTS: Of course you’re right, but they were going full speed a lot more yesterday than they normally do.

  27. ChrisApplewhite said:

    March 1st, 2009 at 7:43 am

    Skip: I am fairly certain it was him. It might have misread Snow, but I remember thinking “wow, Greg Smith at center?”

    I also remember thinking “damn that Texas Angel is hot” so I was distracted.

  28. The Tortilla Retort » Blog Archive » Pumping Iron: Offensive Line said:

    March 1st, 2009 at 8:29 am

    [...] due to the lack of edge rushers left on this side with Orakpo graduating.  Unless it’s Alex Okafor or RJ Washington.  I see Carter struggling with Frank Alexander and Auston English to some extent, [...]

  29. Bullhorn said:

    March 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    Greg Smith was wearing #83 and playing a lot of tight end. He caught some balls. I’m not necessarily declaring this to be a good thing yet.

  30. Capt. Insano said:

    March 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 am

    I thought Walters looked good. It was his second practice and just a reminder, he should still be in High School. The dude will not Redshirt.

    Kyle Hix does look bigger, but not fat. So does Huey. Hall on the other hand, looks like he’s been working at Krispy Kreme and has a future as the next “Jerod” from Subway. Geez.

    Carter, Okafor, Kindle, K. Robinson, all looked good as potential pass rushers.

  31. Vasherized said:

    March 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am

    Chris,

    Sherrod looked well below average on Friday. from 1-on-1’s to 11-on-11’s. Underthrows, overthrows, not much zip or spiral. I know his reps will increase significantly, but I’m curious what you saw in the bubble that made you think he could start for us and succeed if Colt goes down?

    In talking to somebody that knows Sherrod well, he said Harris was excited about the Chiles switch to WR for all of 3 minutes. He’s the ultimate team guy but I’m not sure his aspirations were ever to be the starter.

    Greg Smith played TE exclusively on Friday. Buchanan did take some snaps at 2nd team Center. Hadn’t seen that before.

  32. ChrisApplewhite said:

    March 2nd, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    I didn’t watch him at all on Saturday.

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