Fun With Phil Steele's College Football Preview: The Offense

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.

Pace yourself, it’s a long summer. Put down the mags until after the CWS.

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.

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.

I see what you did there.

alexis is more of a SE

Kardashian would be on the Wide Receiver list

The commercial does not make me want to drink Gatorade-at all.

Mal Williams is going to go down as the best receiver to ever play at Texas if he stays through his senior year.

BrickHorn spends his nights hosting Dancing Bear parties.

I agree with Brickhorn.

The unnecessary switch to the left hand that Jordon does in that one highlight always annoyed me.

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…

You have a point with Murray’s injuries. Sounds like you didn’t even see Chris Brown.

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.”

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.

Congratulations, Trips.

You’ve supplanted Robert Heard as the most obsessed Whorn ever.

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).

Those glass gatorade bottles were sweet.

Fuck you.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.

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……..

“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….

“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.

“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.

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.

“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?

“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.

“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.

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..

“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.

“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.

“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.

Why do people reply when Newy tries to put words in people’s mouths and then argue with himself? Doesn’t seem very productive.

“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.

“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.

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.

go to CNET downloads. They have lots of free stuff and they check the programs for spyware and trojans before they offer them to the public.