EngineerHorn
No todo alli
Howdy Buckeyes
Football season is over. Dammit. But we have 8 months to talk about the best non-conference matchup next year between UT and tOSU. GameDay will almost certainly be there. I'm already making my travel plans.
Anyway, I've browsed a few threads and saw a few requests for some Longhorn input. So I registered.
First let me say y'all deserve a top 5 ranking next year. Outside of USC, I don't think anyone finished the year as well. Ted Ginn is a scary dude. And based on how bad Breaston made us look in the Rose Bowl, I hope we don't kick to him. Ginn>>Breaston. Speaking of the Rose, that was fun! :) Awesome atmosphere. I'm jealous that the Big 10 has the tie-in and not the Big 12. Great stadium and great tailgating, even if it was in the middle of a bunch of Californians. I know you won't agree with me here, but I thought the Meeeechigan fans were great for the most part.
Other than Ginn, I don't know much about your squad next year though. Is Smith coming back? Defense should be a top 5 unit as usual, correct? As long as Tressel is your coach, I guess it'd have to be. The one thing I DO know is y'all are very young and have been recruiting VERY well. So once again, a top 5-10 ranking is deserved in my opinion.
I'm sure some of you may already know some about our team, and I'm sure you'll read a whole bunch between now and September, but I'll go ahead and be the first.
OFFENSE
Offensive Coordinator: Greg Davis. You will not find a single Longhorn alive that likes this guy. Sure, some find him passable, but most despise him. He is unimaginative and stubborn. Watching our offense against OU is beyond frustrating. He goes too conservative and climbs into a shell. Some blame him for Vince Young's lack of development as a passer (he's also our QB coach). To his credit though, he did put in some plays that played to VY's strengths this year and last. Just not until after the OU game.
QB: Vince Young. Probably saw him in the Rose Bowl. If he plays like that all of next season, he wins the Heisman running away. But that's the problem. He doesn't always play like that. See the OU, CU, and Mizzou games. He was just off and made a bunch of stupid mistakes during those games. Greg Davis can take some of the blame for this though, especially against OU, when all of a sudden he tried to make Vince a pocket quarterback. You know about his running skills (1000 rushing yards two years ago, 1100 last year). You probably question his passing skills, and I can't blame y'all for that. His delivery is, well, ugly. But it gets the job done. I expect a huge improvement next year as we won't be quite as one dimensional. Bottom line: my prediction is he'll be in NY for the Heisman ceremony, but won't win it.
RB: whoa boy. We lost a good one. We'll probably use 3-4 running backs next year. Combined though, they won't be as good as Cedric Benson was by himself. We've still got some good ones though. Selvin Young will be the starter. He's more of speed back than Benson was but not as powerful or durable. But I expect him to get 1000+ next year. Blue chip recruit Jamaal Charles will get some carries as well.
WR: Very little production last year. Our leading wideout only had 400 receiving yards as the tight ends took most of the receptions. The WR corp is talented, but unproven and very young. SO Limas Sweed will be the go-to guy. Loads of potential and showed flashes of greatness last year. The other guys are all sophomores and redshirt freshman (we're in on the #1 receiving prospect in the country right now, but that's no guarantee). Needless to say, this position is still a big question mark, but I expect production will be much higher.
TE: David Thomas is an excellent receiver and good blocker. Should earn All-Conference honors next season. We'll still throw to the TE's a bunch.
OL: Big, talented, veteran group. Several pro prospects. This is our strength. 4 of 5 starters return.
We'll still run a bunch of shotgun, but I definitely wouldn't call the UT offense a spread. I'm hoping to see some 2-back sets, but I don't think Greg Davis has the mental capacity for that. We'll run a bunch of I-formation and 2TE Ace sets as well. We'll still primarily be a run-oriented offense ( probably a 65-35 run-pass distribution) with lots of option (zone read, speed option out of the gun, power option out of the I, QB draws out of every formation) Look for a bunch of play action and bootlegs.
DEFENSE
Defensive Coordinator: Gene Chizik. He was Auburn's DC last year, and I'm VERY excited to get him. Other than the fact that he won the Broyles Award last year, I don't know much about him. I have no idea what type of defense to expect. Hell, neither does Gene Chizik. He's barely had a chance to meet the players. But I think it's safe to say our D will be pretty damn good next year.
DL: Probably will be the strength of the defense. Our starting DT's, Rod Wright and Larry Dibbles, both flirted with going pro early. Their backups are young, but very talented. Ends Crowder, Robison, and Williams are solid to good.
LB's: It is never a good thing to lose the Butkus winner. Derrick Johnson was beyond awesome last year. As a unit, they probably won't be quite as good, but there's another probable Butkus candidate returning, MLB Aaron Harris.
Secondary: This unit at times was our weakness last year. I don't know if that had to do with coaching or what. We lost our free safety from last year, but returned everyone else on the two-deep. SS Michael Huff is the star of the group.
Even with the loss of DJ, I fully expect this defense to be a top 10 unit by year's end.
Head Coach: Mack Brown. I'm sure his reputation is well known to you folks. To some extent, it's deserved. But I definitely wouldn't go so far as to call him a bad coach. Bad coaches don't win 91 games over a 9 year span (70-19 in 7 years at UT). Head to head, I'd probably give Tressel the nod as a game day coach, but not by much.
Horribly early prediction: 21-20 Horns. Yeah, I'm a homer, and I'm well aware of your record against non-conference teams at home. But I do guarantee this game will be close.
Fire Away!
Football season is over. Dammit. But we have 8 months to talk about the best non-conference matchup next year between UT and tOSU. GameDay will almost certainly be there. I'm already making my travel plans.
Anyway, I've browsed a few threads and saw a few requests for some Longhorn input. So I registered.
First let me say y'all deserve a top 5 ranking next year. Outside of USC, I don't think anyone finished the year as well. Ted Ginn is a scary dude. And based on how bad Breaston made us look in the Rose Bowl, I hope we don't kick to him. Ginn>>Breaston. Speaking of the Rose, that was fun! :) Awesome atmosphere. I'm jealous that the Big 10 has the tie-in and not the Big 12. Great stadium and great tailgating, even if it was in the middle of a bunch of Californians. I know you won't agree with me here, but I thought the Meeeechigan fans were great for the most part.
Other than Ginn, I don't know much about your squad next year though. Is Smith coming back? Defense should be a top 5 unit as usual, correct? As long as Tressel is your coach, I guess it'd have to be. The one thing I DO know is y'all are very young and have been recruiting VERY well. So once again, a top 5-10 ranking is deserved in my opinion.
I'm sure some of you may already know some about our team, and I'm sure you'll read a whole bunch between now and September, but I'll go ahead and be the first.
OFFENSE
Offensive Coordinator: Greg Davis. You will not find a single Longhorn alive that likes this guy. Sure, some find him passable, but most despise him. He is unimaginative and stubborn. Watching our offense against OU is beyond frustrating. He goes too conservative and climbs into a shell. Some blame him for Vince Young's lack of development as a passer (he's also our QB coach). To his credit though, he did put in some plays that played to VY's strengths this year and last. Just not until after the OU game.
QB: Vince Young. Probably saw him in the Rose Bowl. If he plays like that all of next season, he wins the Heisman running away. But that's the problem. He doesn't always play like that. See the OU, CU, and Mizzou games. He was just off and made a bunch of stupid mistakes during those games. Greg Davis can take some of the blame for this though, especially against OU, when all of a sudden he tried to make Vince a pocket quarterback. You know about his running skills (1000 rushing yards two years ago, 1100 last year). You probably question his passing skills, and I can't blame y'all for that. His delivery is, well, ugly. But it gets the job done. I expect a huge improvement next year as we won't be quite as one dimensional. Bottom line: my prediction is he'll be in NY for the Heisman ceremony, but won't win it.
RB: whoa boy. We lost a good one. We'll probably use 3-4 running backs next year. Combined though, they won't be as good as Cedric Benson was by himself. We've still got some good ones though. Selvin Young will be the starter. He's more of speed back than Benson was but not as powerful or durable. But I expect him to get 1000+ next year. Blue chip recruit Jamaal Charles will get some carries as well.
WR: Very little production last year. Our leading wideout only had 400 receiving yards as the tight ends took most of the receptions. The WR corp is talented, but unproven and very young. SO Limas Sweed will be the go-to guy. Loads of potential and showed flashes of greatness last year. The other guys are all sophomores and redshirt freshman (we're in on the #1 receiving prospect in the country right now, but that's no guarantee). Needless to say, this position is still a big question mark, but I expect production will be much higher.
TE: David Thomas is an excellent receiver and good blocker. Should earn All-Conference honors next season. We'll still throw to the TE's a bunch.
OL: Big, talented, veteran group. Several pro prospects. This is our strength. 4 of 5 starters return.
We'll still run a bunch of shotgun, but I definitely wouldn't call the UT offense a spread. I'm hoping to see some 2-back sets, but I don't think Greg Davis has the mental capacity for that. We'll run a bunch of I-formation and 2TE Ace sets as well. We'll still primarily be a run-oriented offense ( probably a 65-35 run-pass distribution) with lots of option (zone read, speed option out of the gun, power option out of the I, QB draws out of every formation) Look for a bunch of play action and bootlegs.
DEFENSE
Defensive Coordinator: Gene Chizik. He was Auburn's DC last year, and I'm VERY excited to get him. Other than the fact that he won the Broyles Award last year, I don't know much about him. I have no idea what type of defense to expect. Hell, neither does Gene Chizik. He's barely had a chance to meet the players. But I think it's safe to say our D will be pretty damn good next year.
DL: Probably will be the strength of the defense. Our starting DT's, Rod Wright and Larry Dibbles, both flirted with going pro early. Their backups are young, but very talented. Ends Crowder, Robison, and Williams are solid to good.
LB's: It is never a good thing to lose the Butkus winner. Derrick Johnson was beyond awesome last year. As a unit, they probably won't be quite as good, but there's another probable Butkus candidate returning, MLB Aaron Harris.
Secondary: This unit at times was our weakness last year. I don't know if that had to do with coaching or what. We lost our free safety from last year, but returned everyone else on the two-deep. SS Michael Huff is the star of the group.
Even with the loss of DJ, I fully expect this defense to be a top 10 unit by year's end.
Head Coach: Mack Brown. I'm sure his reputation is well known to you folks. To some extent, it's deserved. But I definitely wouldn't go so far as to call him a bad coach. Bad coaches don't win 91 games over a 9 year span (70-19 in 7 years at UT). Head to head, I'd probably give Tressel the nod as a game day coach, but not by much.
Horribly early prediction: 21-20 Horns. Yeah, I'm a homer, and I'm well aware of your record against non-conference teams at home. But I do guarantee this game will be close.
Fire Away!