Mack Brown had a press conference today. Some pretty good information about the team that is taking shape.
He talked about playing Tray Allen on both sides of the line, and he mentioned some players who played more than one position at Texas. Now it’s not that hard to be a defensive tackle and also be our short yardage fullback. It’s just not. And then he mentioned something surprising.
Henry Melton played two places until we really found the place that he fit the best, and that was defensive end more than running back because it just didn’t fit him as well.
Wait. You’re telling us that Henry Melton was playing running back and defensive end at the same time? I’m not sure that is true. And if so, it’s no credit to our coaches that it took them two years to figure out that he was better on defense.
But guys like Ryan Roberson, Dravanti Johnson and Dominique Jones are truly playing two positions that require different skill sets.
D.J. Monroe is getting some looks at both wide receiver and running back. They’re trying to get the ball in his hands. Cynical HJ says they want to get some touchdowns out of him before he flunks out.
Said he feels good about either playing with a fifth defensive back or a third linebacker, and that Christian Scott is a hard hitter. I think Scott can play either of those positions in certain packages so he gives them some flexibility. Dude can fill.
Dan Buckner is helping out at tight end, mostly flexed out in passing downs like Jordan Shipley last year. Barrett Mathews can play tight or be flexed. Buckner is also in the mix at receiver with Shipley, Malcolm Williams, James Kirkendoll, Brandon Collins and John Chiles.
Have the injuries at tight end forced them to change anything offensively?
No, what we’d like to do is still be able to run the ball from the I-formation, we’d still be able to run the ball from one-back and we’d like to be able to run similar plays from multiple sets. That’s what we want to do. We’re being stubborn right now; we’re trying to continue to do what we’re going to do.
Antwan Cobb and Cody Johnson are playing well at fullback so it’s conceivable that the I could work, and I’d like for them to be able to run the same play out of multiple sets. We’ll see. I rewatched the Oklahoma State game the other night, and the Cowboys got a final chance to win because we couldn’t punch it in on four tries inside the ten.
Three man rotation at defensive tackle right now, and it sounds like Kheeston Randall will be starting alongside Lamarr Houston.
Right know you would have Kheeston (Randall), who’s playing great. He has had an outstanding camp. We’re excited. He’s made one of the biggest jumps on our team.
Great to hear because we need someone who can stop the run as well as rush the passer from that position. Ben Alexander is very one dimensional. Calvin Howell will play before Derek Johnson because he’s in better shape.
Sherrod Harris strained one of the muscles in his ribcage so Garrett Gilbert is the second team quarterback right now.
Brown says they have five linebackers who could be in the rotation, and Dustin Earnest has lost weight and is playing well.
So what are the concerns?
We’d like to get to five defensive tackles. That’d be really important for us to make sure that we’ve got five who can play. In this league there are so many passes and we’re continuing to work on defensive ends in pass situations if the tackles need to come out to save their legs. So what is the package of defensive ends that go in? Trying to get more depth at defensive tackle, and the same thing at tight end (are the main questions). Who are we now at tight end? What can we do and how will that affect us in who we feature and what we do going through the season? Those are probably the biggest unanswered questions.
Howell will probably end up in the rotation, but if he wants a fifth player it has to come from either an end or Johnson or Allen.
Pictures. Derek Johnson is huge.
Brown has now corrected the spelling of Joe Greene’s last name on his blog.
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Trips Right said:
August 20th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
If Mack doesn’t have Too Tall Jones speak at practice, I’ll move to cut the Barking Carnival Longhorn Foundation donation in half.
whoopspat said:
August 20th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Thomas Ashcraft has the hugest ass on the team.
Or should I call it his “base?”
Woody Bombay said:
August 20th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
How successful would Buckner be at TE?
UT said:
August 21st, 2009 at 1:07 am
Re the second tag, that just never gets old does it.
Buckner at TE – not very.
hphorn said:
August 21st, 2009 at 2:30 am
How about Buckner in the slot? Not at base TE, but in the slot where Shipley played last year? I like that.
HenryJames said:
August 21st, 2009 at 5:40 am
It sounds like he’s flexed like Shipley last year so he only has to worry about blocking defensive backs and possibly the occasional linebacker in space.
StatsAreForLosers said:
August 21st, 2009 at 5:50 am
15 days until season opener and still no previews from Scipio Tex.
Art Vandelay said:
August 21st, 2009 at 5:50 am
“I rewatched the Oklahoma State game the other night, and the Cowboys got a final chance to win because we couldn’t punch it in on four tries inside the ten.”
On two of those plays an OSU DT was blatantly offside, and Cody Johnson scored a touchdown but the refs missed it. (the whistle hadn’t blown and Cody reached across the goal line with the ball). Just sayin…
Mockingbird said:
August 21st, 2009 at 5:52 am
I actually found a successful switch from O-Line to D-line last night.
Because I live in BIG 10 country I get their network and will sometimes get my fix by watching replays of their games.
They had the Florida v Michigan game on last night.
The Gators had a kid who had been switched after his Freshman year from gaurd to DT. He was a starter and was one of the leading tacklers on that 07 Gator team.
Terrance Young said:
August 21st, 2009 at 5:53 am
“Thomas Ashcraft has the hugest ass on the team.”
Please. That shit is amateur compared to my time on the 40.
Dr. Venkman said:
August 21st, 2009 at 6:29 am
Who is “Cynical HJ”????
Some sort of hip-hop alter ego sock-puppet? BC’s long awaited answer to lil’ Penny?
I’m creeping myself out, here…
Horncasting said:
August 21st, 2009 at 6:30 am
From the picture, Higgins looks like he’s gotten alot bigger. Maybe he can take some snaps as well.
houstonearlers said:
August 21st, 2009 at 6:39 am
“On two of those plays an OSU DT was blatantly offside, and Cody Johnson scored a touchdown but the refs missed it. (the whistle hadn’t blown and Cody reached across the goal line with the ball). Just sayin…”
Johnson was clearly broke the plane on the third down run. It was not even close — the ball was laying on the goal line and it wasn’t one of those deals where he was down and then stretched the ball out.
As close as the voting was last year, one of the things that was held against us was only beating Okie Lite 28-24 when OU beat them worse. 35-24 sounds a lot better.
Newy25 said:
August 21st, 2009 at 6:48 am
I love the idea of the staff trying to get their best players on the field. If we are going to play for the MNC we need to maximize Chiles, Monroe and anyone else who can contribute.
EDSBS » Archive » CURIOUS INDEX, 8/21/2009 said:
August 21st, 2009 at 7:02 am
[...] out for season, scrofula of the cerebellum. Texas has been losing tight ends like so many dying flies, but as Ivan Maisel and the statsheet point out, Texas really didn’t really bother using one [...]
HenryJames said:
August 21st, 2009 at 7:51 am
Video is up.
http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=tex&media=133424
Kafka said:
August 21st, 2009 at 9:00 am
It is a big deal that GG is now second string QB and has separated from Sherrod. So now GG will get the mop up time in the early season slaughters. This should speed up GG’s development.
Mack said this about the TEs: “…Greg Smith and …Ahmard Howard who are competing and improving each day… Barrett Matthews who’s really stepping up and making some plays because he can be flexed or tight, and then you’ve also got Dan Buckner playing in there some. He made a fantastic catch yesterday. It was a one-hand diving catch down the middle. He’s moved in now and helped us there (TE) as well.”
It sounds like Buckner is going to be 1st string flex TE and will also be an option at TE. When Buckner is playing flex TE, it will probably be against nickel and dime defenses. The implication is that when he blocks a guy playing LB, the LB is probably a safety playing LB. Given the quickness of safeties, Buckner may have an advantage over a bigger true TE when blocking a safety in space (or, for that matter, a true LB in space).
Mack said that Chiles weighs 208 and still runs a 4.4 40 and is dangerous when he gets a pass behind the LOS. I am happy that Chiles has worked himself into the WR rotation.
It is interesting that the idea for playing Tray Allen both at O line and DT came from Mack.
glenn said:
August 21st, 2009 at 9:36 am
agree, kafka, on the gilbert news. i gather we have been prepared for either to fuzz out or either to come on. for them to declare gg second string on the basis of sh’s injury indicates they think he is doing well enough to count on for backup this year, i believe, or they would have seen this as a pause in the competition. i’m betting garret is growing leapsish and boundsish, and, as you say, early season should accelerate the growth.
i hope the light is coming on for buckner. he could be ideal for that position.
also, good to hear chiles is beginning to stir.
he’s alive! he’s A L I V E !
not sure whether the news that it was mack who requested the tray allen development pleases me or not.
SizzleChest said:
August 21st, 2009 at 10:12 am
Cynical HJ is a redundant term.
glenn said:
August 21st, 2009 at 10:15 am
thinking about sherrod.
i love how he’s been fighting for that job. i hope he comes back from the injury by picking back up where he left off and giving garret a run for it.
Magnus Bleuveigner said:
August 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I said Buckner could play TE four seconds after Grant went down and got laughed off of here. We don’t need him man handling DE’s to be effective, he just needs to draw defenders to open things up for others.
I just read the All OU Garbage Team. WOW!
WB_Heaven said:
August 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
“Cynical HJ is a redundant term.”
I prefer my handjobs to involve a more enthusiastic/optimistic flavor, but the recent economy has drenched my expectations toward a realist’s proposition.
BillyRay BillyBob, All American said:
August 21st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Cynical Hand Job sounds like a Woody Allen movie
98 said:
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 am
Allen, a 6-foot-4-inch, 315-pound offensive tackle, desperately wanted to extend the trip so that the doctors could treat more people. The doctors treated up to 3,000 people in the 10 days, Sonny Acho said, but had to turn away another 7,000.
“Tray Allen was crying like a baby when he had to leave,” Sonny Acho said. “He’s like a big ol’ teddy bear.”
http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/2009/08/22/0822texfoot.html
that is half the problem with our current group of OL. not one with a mean streak. mason and snow hopefully change that.
archduke of smack said:
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 am
disagree. Personal lives and on the field behavior are different.
Would you light up with optimism if the story read that he was undedectedly punching people in the stomach, twisting ankles and gauging eyes?
98 said:
August 22nd, 2009 at 4:56 am
that is the most stupidest line of reasoning. Take most of our successful OL of recent past they had no articles about them choking a bitch but there never were articles calling them big ol’ teddy bears.
dick said:
August 22nd, 2009 at 5:16 am
Wasn’t Leonard Davis called a dancing bear?
Kafka said:
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
At the Mack Brown site, there is an article from yesterday where Muschamp and GD make some comments:
http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082209aac.html
GD:
Biggest (favorable) surprises so far: Barrett Matthews, Garrett Gilbert, Mason Walters, Tre Newton, and Antwan Cobb.
TE: Barrett Matthews is the only TE who plays both the detached (aka flex) TE and the attached TE. Yesterday Mack said that Dan Buckner was in the attached TE mix but maybe not.
Muschamp:
Top 3 DTs are: Houston, Kheeston Randall, and Ben Alexander.
Pleasant surprises: Kheeston Randall, Sam Acho, and Eddie Jones.
glenn said:
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:06 am
yeah, i saw that.
was extremely pleased to hear the development of randall. didn’t we all have a strong hunch that blood and co. would find someone to seize that role?
i have a list of 20 questions or concerns regarding personnel in this summer camp, and that update touched at least a little on all but three. i wish x receiver, and backup offensive and defensive tackle positions had some glowing comments from yesterday’s report.
flamingmonkeyass said:
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
“Would you light up with optimism if the story read that he was undedectedly punching people in the stomach, twisting ankles and gauging eyes?” – No I would just expect to be followed by something along the lines of “transfering to OU.”