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Posted by Trips Right on June 12th, 2009 under Football
I was given a handsome budget to cover the NBA finals and this is all I could come up with.
Sorry Sailor, the shit’s unwatchable. So, with Damion James and Texas Basketball in limbo, and college football guru Scipio rehearsing a reenactment of the 2nd Punic War with other aspiring San Franciscan thespians, I figured I’d pick up the gambler’s bible and do some work in the tank.
If you’re not familiar with Steele’s rag, it’s pretty much the most information packed magazine on the market. Pick a subject, it doesn’t matter. Dude doesn’t use paragraphs and devotes an entire half page to abbreviations so he can squeeze even more information into his preview. Here are some of my favorites. VHT=very highly touted. OFY=out for the year. B2B=back to back. DC=Draft Choice. BF=body fat. DPW=defensive player of the week. IFS=in for spring. MIT=most improved teams. You get my drift.
Among the more interesting things in the mag are Steele’s rankings by position and rankings by unit. These two areas are where Steele sometimes misses the mark and gets blinded by his own methodology. Phil places way too much creedence in returning starters, especially when those returning starters suck. This is a cat that had Texas A&M winning the Big 12 two years ago based on what they returned. But for the most part his information is pretty good, especially when you can validate it via team blogs like BC. We’ll start with positions on offense and then move on to the defense. The third part will focus on ranking the various units nationally.
Sam Bradford OU
Tim Tebow FL
Colt McCoy Texas
Dan LeFevour CMU
Jevan Snead Ole Miss
Colin Kaepernick Nevada
Ryan Mallet Arkansas
Max Hall BYU
Zac Robinson OSU
Jimmy Clausen UND
*Jerrod Johnson at 28 * Todd Reesing at 32*Taylor Pots at 34
Not a bunch to nit pick about. I’d put McCoy over Tebow because he has more rushing and passing yards, but Tebow circumcises Jews and Gentiles alike. He’s got skins on the wall. I don’t understand how Mallet cracks the top 10 over proven players like Robinson, Hall, Juice Williams, and Case Keenum. But all and all, not a bad list.
CJ Spiller Clemson
Jonathan Dwyer GA tech
DeMarco Murray OU
Jahvid Best Cal
Charles Scott LSU
Chris “WTF” Brown OU
Darren Evans Va Tech
Joe McKnight USC
Evan Royster Penn State
Noel Devine WVA
*Kendall Hunter Ok State at 20 *Washington Mizzu at 35
i’m not sure I’d take an injury plagued Murray over any player in the top 10. Chris Brown ahead of guys like Noel Devine, Damion Fletcher, and James Stark is just dumb. Hell, I’d take Cody Johnson over Chris Brown and Johnson doesn’t even crack the list. Steele misses the mark here.
Gresham OU
Gronkowski AZ
Williams Arkansas
Pitta BYU
Graham Wisconsin
Ed Dickson Oregon
Hernandez Florida
Richard Dickson LSU
Nate Bynum PITT
*Jerod Mastrud KSU at 12 *Blaine Irby at 21 *Geer CU at 31 *McNeil Nebraska at 37
Not much to quibble with here. Blaine Irby will need to learn to run option routes in his Lark.
Aurelious Benn
Dez Bryant
Brandon LaFell
Erick Decker
Dezmond Briscoe
Golden Tate
Mardy Gilyard
Jordan Shipley
Kerry Meier “WTF”
Demaryius Thomas
*David Gettis Baylor at 26 *Ryan Broyles 39 *Detron Lewis Tech at 50 *Ryan Tannehill at 53 *Edward Britton at 59 *Danario Alexander Mizzu at 60 *Niles Paul Nebraska 71
Kerry Meier in the top 10 has to be a joke. Malcolm Williams is a glaring omission. I take him over every Big 12 receiver with the exception of Briscoe, Shipley, and Bryant. Mal is going to wreck shit this year. Tannehill can’t hold Collin’s or Kirkendoll’s jock.
Meh. USC has two in the top 5. OU’s Matt Chlamydia and his faggoty long hair come in at 10.
O’Dowd USC
McNeil Tennessee
Chris Hall Texas
Maurkice Pouncey
John Estes Hawaii
Wisniewski Penn State
McMahon FSU
Alfred Wash St.
Cook UNM
Moffitt Wisconsin
*Hickman NU at 12*Byrnes Tech at 18 *Walton Baylor at 32 *
Chris Hall is an example of Steele’s over reliance on classification and number of starts. I like Chris Hall, but I’m not sure he’s even the best center on the team and certainly not one of the 3 best in the country. OU’s center doesn’t crack the top 50 which should be a concern for the Sooners.
Render Va Tech
Byers USC
Carter Texas Tech
Austin Clemson
Hudson FSU
Johnson Alabama
Schilling Michigan
Thomas Pitt
Gregory Mizzu
Boren tOSU
*Miller CU comes in at 12. *Shumard TAMU at 17. *Tanner of Texas at 27.
Ciron Black LSU
Okung OSU
Bulaga Iowa
Young Notre Dame
Davis Rutgers
Jerry Ole Miss
Trent Williams OU
Ulatoski Texas
Brown USC
Sturdivant Georgia
*Tray Allen at 24 *Kyle Hix at 28 *Marlon Winn at 31 *Burkes of NU at 47 *Lee Grimes of TAMU at 52
Tough to take Steele seriously when he lists Tray Allen, who’s now playing guard, as one of the top 25 tackles in the nation. You gotta love Texas’ bookends though.
I’ll get to the defense this weekend.
Bettin', Big XII South, College Football, Scipio is the Barking Anthony Robbins, SEC, Texas, Texas Longhorns
Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Another game vs. Kansas, another loss 34 minutes ago
honga. Forget it. It’s Chinatown. Fuck it, let’s go bowling.
Kansas is going to win it all. They have their shit toegther.
Great columns.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 1 hour, 12 minutes ago
Oh, and most importantly, fuck bandwagon Spike Lee. When does 30: Reggie Miller vs. NY Knicks come out?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Kevin – That’s a great article and a great game.
I felt like the refs let a lot go. Love to see your Tourney officiating Primer. Who it helps and who it hurts in terms of teams and leagues.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Metoyer Commits to OU and a Brief Commentary on Life 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
Baby Heupel. Fantastic. No more excuses about your writing output!
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admin commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Are you alluding to the Burlington thing or something else?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Is this the Burlington thing or something else?
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admin commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Are you alluding to the Burlington thing or something else?
And what’s with these Oregon fuck sticks? Dudes, Uncle Phil will take care of you. Just pick up the Duck Phone.
Masoli had a bad history here in the Bay Area. Shaking kids down at Serra, I think.
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admin commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Are you alluding to the Burlington thing or something else?
And what’s with these Oregon fuck sticks? Dudes, Uncle Phil will take care of you. Just pick up the Duck Phone.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Trey Metoyer to OU 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Jesus. Echoes of combinology. He plays college. First. He doesn’t need to be Usain Bolt. Or even Teddy Lehman. Kid’s a player.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post The FanTake network guest lecture series 1 hour, 47 minutes ago
If the bloggers aren’t smart enough to figure it out, only Dez knows.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 2 hours, 43 minutes ago
Are you correcting yourself when you properly spell words with properly spelled words?
Sweet Jesus.
Been to the hot gates. F Ephialtes.
Ibas water bottle commented on the blog post The FanTake network guest lecture series 3 hours, 10 minutes ago
Whiskey as soon as I figure out what the flip cards are for you’ll be the first to know. Until then our opponents have to take an extra ten minutes trying to figure them out, Every minute they spend not working on stopping Kendal Hunter is a net gain for OSU.
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whiskey commented on the blog post The FanTake network guest lecture series 3 hours, 15 minutes ago
Good stuff Ibas. I think Gundy might be able to kick it up to the next level in short order if he plays his cards right. At some point you have to tell me what’s up with those crazy tic tac toe boards he uses to call offensive plays. I still have
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Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Trey Metoyer to OU 3 hours, 16 minutes ago
I’m not backing down from that comment. He doesn’t have the kind of top end speed you hope for, but his ball skills are insane. Watching his film, I don’t see him outrunning anyone. But no one is taking the ball from him.
He’s not actually “slow” per se, his speed
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Luke wrote a new blog post: Another game vs. Kansas, another loss 4 hours, 16 minutes ago
I’m not going to sit here and say Kansas State would have won tonight if Jacob Pullen would have been his usual self, but it sure would have been nice to find out.
Instead, Pullen scored just 13 and shot 5-17 from the field, including just 1 of 8 on threes, a few of which were
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Basketball Bets 3/12 4 hours, 21 minutes ago
Dick, we’ll see, but I’m not encouraged by OSU’s path to get to this point.
Diego, that’s great, glad you made some money.
Anyone have anything for tomorrow? I’m looking at Duke over again, and the Ohio State over. Not sure if I’m going to play anything. I may just sweat my
Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 4 hours, 26 minutes ago
Bob Huggins doesn’t recruit basketball players he recruits tough guys who happen to play basketball. He did the same thing at Cincinnati with hard-nosed players like Danny Fortson and Steve Logan and he’s doing it for the West Virginia Mountaineers if tonight’s rough and tumble play was any indication.
In the
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Baylor: Post-Mortem, kinda 4 hours, 30 minutes ago
Roostrman, that’s great stuff.
Watch any game for crying out loud and it’s going to be better, crisper basketball than what we play. New Mexico State and Utah state looked like they’d run us out of the gym.
bigdukesix commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 4 hours, 38 minutes ago
He said in an interview somewhere that he grew up a Miami fan and that Miami was his current favorite. I imagine that after he visits some other schools Miami’s lead will dissipate though.
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Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 4 hours, 38 minutes ago
fuck, disarray
Mark Otto commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 4 hours, 40 minutes ago
Nickel, good stuff. Keep it coming.
I think Texas is in such disarray that we could lose to a juco team. But we do match up well with FSU and Cuse especially if Onuaku is out. Those two teams really don’t have the blow-by type guards that have plagued us recently.
Also, Sienna is
Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 4 hours, 40 minutes ago
Nickel, good stuff. Keep it coming.
I think Texas is in such dissaray that we could lose to a juco team. But we do match up well with FSU and Cuse especially if Onuaku is out. Those two teams really don’t have the blow-by type guards that have plagued us recently.
Also, Sienna is
dick commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 4 hours, 42 minutes ago
why the hell is it rumored that Miami leads for him?
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dick commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 4 hours, 42 minutes ago
I wonder why the hell is it rumored that Miami leads for him. I guess their name still resonates in places like Milwood.
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bigdukesix commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 4 hours, 57 minutes ago
I wish Miami would return to power and circle off south Florida and keep those guys away from UF.
As I hope to layout some time in the near future, I think it’s much more likely that Florida State becomes the program that really challenges UF in in-state recruiting. They already beat UF on
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bigdukesix commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 4 hours, 57 minutes ago
I wish Miami would return to power and circle off south Florida and keep those guys away from UF.
As I hope to lay some time in the near future, I think it’s much more likely that Florida State becomes the program that really challenges UF in in-state recruiting. They already beat UF on
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bigdukesix commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 4 hours, 57 minutes ago
I wish Miami would return to power and circle off south Florida and keep those guys away from UF.
As I hope to lay some time in the near future, I think it’s much more likely that Florida State becomes the program that really challenges UF in in-state recruiting. They already beat UF on
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dick commented on the blog post Class of 2010 News : Latwan Anderson to Miami 5 hours, 22 minutes ago
Latwan was committed to WVU most of the year I believe.
I wonder if this could affect the Turner situation somehow. Hopefully he recognizes the downward spiral in Coral Gables.
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Nickel Rover wrote a new blog post: Damion…prepare for glory 5 hours, 49 minutes ago
Basketball:
The Baylor game pretty well sapped me of any hope of this bunch beating a legitimately good team. They’re gonna go down like Leonidas vs. a hail of 3 pointers.
For much of the season Texas was ahead in the Ken Pomeroy efficiency ratings based on their defense. Now we’ve seen that defense crumble and the
Darius Pourceau wrote a new blog post: 3 Point Weapon Rotnei Clarke To Transfer From The Arkansas Razorbacks? 6 hours, 51 minutes ago
Brandon Marcello at WholeHogSports is reporting that Rotnei Clarke is “strongly considering a transfer from Arkansas.”
If the rumor is true, it would be yet another dagger in the hearts of Arkansas Razorback basketball fans, who have been through two tumultuous off-seasons involving extraordinary turnovers already.
Rotnei Clarke started the season hot, scoring 51 points in Arkansas’
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© 2009 Fantake. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
RansomStoddard said:
June 12th, 2009 at 8:46 am
You lost me when you said Malcolm Williams belongs on the list of receivers. I would say “based on what”? You must agree as your next line says that MW “will” be tremendous this year [paraphrasing]. i.e., he hasn’t done anything yet. I, for one, am dubious.
Otherwise, good read to help fill in the time while waiting for the NBA to grind to a merciful and boring end.
Nordberg said:
June 12th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Pace yourself, it’s a long summer. Put down the mags until after the CWS.
Stuck in MN said:
June 12th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Based on the Tech game alone, I’d put Malcolm in the top 10 for this year. Of course I have to admit I haven’t really watched about half of the players on that top 10 list so I’m probably just full of shit.
BrickHorn said:
June 12th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Any tight end ranking that doesn’t include Kim Kardashian, Vida Guerra and Alexis Texas is pure garbage. Or maybe they should be on the fullback list.
intellectual type said:
June 12th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I see what you did there.
wisconsinhornybadger said:
June 12th, 2009 at 11:07 am
alexis is more of a SE
Steve Nebraska said:
June 12th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Kardashian would be on the Wide Receiver list
Mike TV said:
June 12th, 2009 at 11:40 am
The commercial does not make me want to drink Gatorade-at all.
Trips Right said:
June 12th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Mal Williams is going to go down as the best receiver to ever play at Texas if he stays through his senior year.
Art Vandelay said:
June 12th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
BrickHorn spends his nights hosting Dancing Bear parties.
Capt. Insano said:
June 12th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I agree with Brickhorn.
PatronSaint said:
June 12th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
The unnecessary switch to the left hand that Jordon does in that one highlight always annoyed me.
owen said:
June 12th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I like Malcolm Williams but like Parcells said “let’s not bring out the annointing oil yet”. He had a good half against TTU and a nice jumpball against Mizzou…thats pretty much it. Maybe more passes will come his way without Cosby, but lets not overhype the guy…
ponderos said:
June 12th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
You have a point with Murray’s injuries. Sounds like you didn’t even see Chris Brown.
The General said:
June 12th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
but like Parcells said “let’s not bring out the annointing oil yet”.
I prefer Winston Wolf’s “Let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks just yet.”
ponderos,
Everytime I saw chris brown run I thought, “Wow, they’d really be kicking ass if they had Demarco Murray healthy.”
ponderos said:
June 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
General. If numbers don’t lie, then 1,200 yards and 20 TDs while splitting carries speak for themselves. His and Murray’s two different styles complement each other very well, too.
Fecal McBee said:
June 12th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Congratulations, Trips.
You’ve supplanted Robert Heard as the most obsessed Whorn ever.
Kafka said:
June 12th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Malcolm is amazing but to reach his full potential they have to throw passes at him. If they would throw Malcolm lots of short passes, it would open space for the long throws. Malcolm plays on Sundays in 2010.
It would be huge if Blaine Irby returns to his pre-injury form in 2009, but I have my doubts.
At what position will Whaley play in 2009 and will he play a lot or a little? There aren’t that many 6′2″ 220 pounders who can run a 4.45 40.
Is anybody surprised that the Baylor QB isn’t ranked higher?
Demarco always impressed me much more than Chris Brown. Brown is solid but Demarco is special.
I’ve enjoyed the NBA finals except for Orlando sometimes choking at the end of games. After LA wins the title, MMA is the only sport that interests me much until college football starts.
What impact is the hurry up offense going to have on horns in 2009? It was huge for OU in 2008. One thing I like about the hurry up is that it really requires multi-purpose players who can do well in both the passing attack and the running attack (for example, big TEs who can run block, pass block, and catch passes well). Anybody can run the spread but you need a lot of talent to run the hurry up effectively (for both passing and running attacks).
BatesHorn said:
June 13th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Those glass gatorade bottles were sweet.
Craig Ehlo said:
June 13th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Fuck you.
Newy25 said:
June 13th, 2009 at 8:08 am
The hype around Malcolm Williams is typical Internet anti-Davis fodder. We did not have much to complain about last year so now we invent reasons to criticize our passing attack (see M. Williams not getting the ball throw to enough). If Williams were a more developed player than Collins or Kirkendoll he would have seen more touches. It is a simple equation.
The one game he played the flanker position in against Tech he played for an injured Cosby and played well. How many people here would have said we should have thrown fewer balls to Cosby and let Williams play flanker more?
I though so.
Let’s see how he does this year at full time duty at that position.
RRR said:
June 13th, 2009 at 8:24 am
If Irby makes it back strong, that’s a bonus. But UT will be fine rolling with Williams, Ship, Collins and Kirkendoll. And Colt McCoy on the trigger? Kind of sick, if you asked me.
Any team that can’t get pressure rushing four against UT will experience pain. Um, that’s like everybody. Tech will try to do this, so September 19 will be fun. Maybe not for me.
I’m curious to see just how good this experienced UT line is going to be. Agree with Trips, ‘returning starter’ doesn’t mean much if you suck.
Newy25 said:
June 13th, 2009 at 9:43 am
“Any team that can’t get pressure rushing four against UT will experience pain. Um, that’s like everybody. Tech will try to do this, so September 19 will be fun. Maybe not for me.”
We need to tweak certain schemes in our running game but overall we will be pretty salty on offense. Heck we rolled through everyone last year without a tight end so anything DJ Grant or a late season Blaine Irby can give us is gravy. Everything is in place for Colt to have a special year.
Stuck in MN said:
June 13th, 2009 at 11:26 am
“How many people here would have said we should have thrown fewer balls to Cosby and let Williams play flanker more?”
Of course, there is a big difference between claiming a young player should displace one of the most productive and clutch wide receivers in Texas football history, and the young player, with a year extra of development, could be one of the top 10 receivers in the nation. I certainly see no inconsistency in the claims.
the Bobs said:
June 13th, 2009 at 11:53 am
his RB list is kind of a head-scratcher…
If you had trades in CFB, and you had a Murray for Best, or for McKnight, the California teams would demand a DL or something to make that trade.
Of course, OU and USC would have to work to make the salaries match up……..
Newy25 said:
June 13th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
“Malcolm is amazing but to reach his full potential they have to throw passes at him. If they would throw Malcolm lots of short passes, it would open space for the long throws. Malcolm plays on Sundays in 2010.”
The obvious implication in this outrageous statement is Texas coaches are holding Malcolm Williams back.
And of course he will play on Sundays simply because he is big and fast. Well, if Al Davis is still in charge of the Raider’s draft he may in fact have a point….
Shaggy Aggie said:
June 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
“Demarco is special”
Don’t see how this is the case. He’s got some quicks for a man his size, but he takes those short, choppy steps that too often seem to go nowhere. He seems to go down way too easy for a man his size, and his best games seem to be against crap D’s. Look at how easily UT controlled him in the last RRS. Admittedly, Murray looks more impressive than Brown running the ball stylewise, but, in terms of results, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two.
The above RB list doesn’t seem to be too bad. We have to remember that he has to appeal to the general public opinion out there on a national basis in order to sell his rag and to avoid looking like a fool. Javid Best is probably the best back in the land, followed by CJ Spiller and Noel Devine.
Kafka said:
June 13th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
“The hype around Malcolm Williams is typical Internet anti-Davis fodder”
So, just because we say that we are really impressed with Malcolm Williams (i.e. that we hype him), that means we are really anti Greg Davis? Truly a stupid idea.
Let’s say you agree with 99% of somebody’s decisions but 1% of the time you disagree. Does the fact that you disagree with somebody 1% of the time mean that you are against him? Mack and GD are human and thus make mistakes. There are no infallible people on this planet.
Colt didn’t throw the ball to Malcolm a lot in 2008. Maybe part of the reason that Colt threw the ball more to Kirk and Collins is that he had a better rapport with them. Who knows? I just think that more passes should have gone Malcolm’s way in 2008.
The one half of a game where Malcolm got a chance to show what he can do was the 2nd half of the Tech game. He was flat out brilliant at Tech.
Nobody suggested that Cosby should get fewer touches so that Malcolm got more touches.
Will said:
June 14th, 2009 at 12:03 am
I think Malc will be great here at Texas. I think he’ll have a great season this year.
Still, any discussion about Texas receivers other than Shipley needs to start first at Collins and then at Kirkendoll.
Both of those guys were brilliant in MULTIPLE games last season. Collins especially. He was clutch in that final drive against tOSU.
I was worried about losing Quan and having teams focus in solely on Jordan, but now I’m not worried in the least. Collins is Quan-Redux and Kirkendoll is no slouch himself. Both those guys run good routes, are quick, and have sure hands.
That last thing is something Malcolm lacked last season or he’d have had more of an impact. I love Malcolm’s big play potential, his size, speed, etc., but this is the Texas offense and you’ve got to run precise routes, position yourself correctly, and have sure hands. Just running down the sidelines and going for jump balls isn’t going to bump you to the top of the pile.
Fortunately, from all accounts Malcolm has been working hard on improving his hands and whatnot. Hopefully that pays off and he can see significant playing time and be a real impact player this season.
Still, I think it’s a bit of stretch to be claiming he’s better than all but three Big 12 receivers, Trips. I think maybe you, like most of us, are suffering from Greg Davis syndrome. This isn’t a knock on Greg, but his offense doesn’t revolve around throwing the deep ball. So I think a lot of us get really excited when we see an athletic kid in the true NFL receiver mold streaking down the sideline and catching 91-yard TD passes instead of the same ol’ 5 yard slant/hitch/bubble screens.
Newy25 said:
June 14th, 2009 at 6:58 am
“Let’s say you agree with 99% of somebody’s decisions but 1% of the time you disagree. Does the fact that you disagree with somebody 1% of the time mean that you are against him? Mack and GD are human and thus make mistakes. There are no infallible people on this planet.”
Do you honestly feel – seriously that people are disagreeing with Mack and Greg Davis on offensive matters 1% of the time? Really?
Newy25 said:
June 14th, 2009 at 6:59 am
“The one half of a game where Malcolm got a chance to show what he can do was the 2nd half of the Tech game. He was flat out brilliant at Tech.”
The one game Malcolm had balls thrown to him instead of Collins, Shipley and Kirkendoll we also lost.
Newy25 said:
June 14th, 2009 at 7:01 am
“Nobody suggested that Cosby should get fewer touches so that Malcolm got more touches.”
Malcolm played flanker as Cosby’s backup. He got the most work against Tech because Cosby was hurt. His touchdown catch against Mizz came when Cosby was on the sideline catching his breath. Suggesting Malcolm getting more catches is the same thing as suggesting Cosby or Shipley getting fewer catches. Malcolm is not a slot or sub-B receiver.
jj barea said:
June 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Nobody has mentioned yet that Malcolm also did toast Malcolm Jenkins in the OSU game on a play that would have been a game sealing TD in the 3rd quarter of the fiesta bowl. Colt just threw it to him out of bounds. That was one of the better DB’s in all the land last year.
I realize this is just one play but that seems to be where this thread is heading..
Kafka said:
June 14th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
“Do you honestly feel – seriously that people are disagreeing with Mack and Greg Davis on offensive matters 1% of the time? Really?”
Disagreeing with GD on a specific point does not mean that you are anti GD. GD is not right all the time just because he is the coach and the coach always knows best.
“Suggesting Malcolm getting more catches is the same thing as suggesting Cosby or Shipley getting fewer catches.”
No, it isn’t. They can line Malcolm up wherever they want. The idea that players fit like cogs into an offense or they don’t play is stupid. A coach has to get his great players on the field and make whatever tweaks to the offense necessary to make this happen.
“The one game Malcolm had balls thrown to him instead of Collins, Shipley and Kirkendoll we also lost.”
What is your point? Malcolm played brilliantly. The horns came back in the second half while Malcolm was in, in large part because of Malcolm’s performance.
Kafka said:
June 14th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
“The obvious implication in this outrageous statement is Texas coaches are holding Malcolm Williams back.”
Reminds me of the old joke about who is the only coach who ever figured out how to contain Michael Jordan? Answer: Mike’s college coach, Dean Smith (who is in the hall of fame).
I think the number of passes thrown Malcolm’s way is a function of the coach’s evaluation of Malcolm, the coach’s intelligence/creativity in working around Malcolm’s limitations, Malcolm’s actual performance/attitude, and Colt’s rapport with Malcolm.
Newy25 said:
June 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
“No, it isn’t. They can line Malcolm up wherever they want. The idea that players fit like cogs into an offense or they don’t play is stupid. A coach has to get his great players on the field and make whatever tweaks to the offense necessary to make this happen.”
The attributes that make him “great” (IMO yet to be determined although you seem ready to have him declare early for the NFL draft) make him ideal for playing on the outside at flanker where the defense is forced to play 2 deep or man him up. His attributes are not suited for the inside slot position. There Collins and Kirkendoll would produce far better on the field. So it would be a poor coaching job to force him inside just to say they played him more.
It is also the same line of thinking that says you do not play Mason Walters at center/guard this year just to have him on the field.
Compton said:
June 14th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Why do people reply when Newy tries to put words in people’s mouths and then argue with himself? Doesn’t seem very productive.
Kafka said:
June 15th, 2009 at 9:29 am
“Why do people reply when Newy tries to put words in people’s mouths and then argue with himself? Doesn’t seem very productive.”
I actually agree with Newy most of the time. I’m surprised that he seems to lump me in with the Greg Davis haters.
“The attributes that make him “great” make him ideal for playing on the outside at flanker where the defense is forced to play 2 deep or man him up. His attributes are not suited for the inside slot position. There Collins and Kirkendoll would produce far better on the field.”
If Malcolm plays the inside WR, he can more easily go across the middle for short possession passes. He is way better suited for this than Collins or Kirk since he is much taller, heavier, stronger, and elevates higher than those guys. If you have Collins or Kirk go across the middle much, they are likely to get hurt or cough up the football.
As an inside WR, Malcolm is well positioned to block an LB on an outside run to his side. Malcolm is big enough to block an LB, Kirk and Collins are not. I have my doubts about Collins or Kirk blocking the typical physical OU safety. The vast majority of plays require that a WR block somebody. If you are going to run well, you need to be good at blocking LBs and safeties, Malcolm is far superior to Collins and Kirk in that area.
From the inside WR, Malcolm can even move to the inside and help double team block a defensive linemen. Collins or Kirk can’t do this.
Of the 4 receivers, I want at least two big guys (Malcolm and a healthy Blaine are fine). I don’t want to see 4 little WRs because little WRs have limitations blocking and going across the middle and on 50-50 balls.
If you want to run the hurry up offense effectively, you needs players that are multiple (i.e. that support both the running and passing games). Kirk and Collins are specialized for the passing game and are not much help in the running game as blockers.
Kafka said:
June 15th, 2009 at 9:47 am
“It is also the same line of thinking that says you do not play Mason Walters at center/guard this year just to have him on the field.”
I haven’t see Mason Walters play yet so I can’t comment on that. If he is great (which I do not know), he will probably see plenty of playing time as a sub (especially if we are playing a lot of hurry up).
When I was a kid, I played a lot of sports competitively (i.e. in refereed leagues). I played basketball, football, baseball, soccer, rugby, swam, track and field, and lots of non league sports (biking, boxing, wrestling, canoeing, climbing, rappelling, you name it).
My experience is that football takes less skill than baseball or football. If you are bigger, stronger, faster, and more aggressive than the other players, a resourceful coach can probably figure out how to use you (even if you don’t know all the terminology). For example, coach Boom figured out how to best use Sergio Kindle by making him a rushing specialist.
Kafka said:
June 15th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I meant to say:
“In my experience football takes less skill than baseball or basketball”.
I wish we could edit these comments ex post facto.