Texas Spring Football: Muschamp Drinks Mead From Viking Skull

Who is the huge dude who mud wrestles all 3 interior offensive linemen while his teammates do various types of damage to the ball carrier(s)? I don’t see a name jumping up this year, and that might signal problems.

“We’ll be strong overall a DB, LB, DE. DT will work itself out. Overall team speed will be elite and we’ll be sound schematically in all phases.”

This works for me. Seems like we were saying similar things a year ago and it worked out pretty well last fall.

You make the point with humor but it is hard to believe that our coordinators coach in the same program.

After suffering through 2nd half of Chizik 2.0 and the Desert Swarm Redux suck-fest, I still get a buzz when I read quotes like the ones above from Muschamp and realize we have a guy who gets it on defense. I couldn’t be more excited to see what form of schematic kick assness Muschamp unleashes this year. When is the last time we saw a 3rd straight year of players under a coach of this caliber?

I’m interested to see if the Sacho move inside sticks or if it lights a fire on the younger guys who were recruited to play inside. At the open open practice it was clear Sacho is the voice of the team so I can see him doing whatever is needed. He’ll make us proud.

Hopeful,

You’re right, last year we were wondering who was going to fill the void left by Roy Miller inside. We knew Houston was solid but didn’t know he would have the kind of dominate year he did. We also didn’t know who besides him we could depend on.

This year we may or may not have someone as dominate as Lamar but I believe our depth inside is better overall with Randall, Mims, Howell, Johnson, SAcho, Higgins, and possibly some young guys getting snaps too like Bible. I think Dorsey will probably redshirt.

Overall that’s some depth that we haven’t had on the interior D-Line in 2 seasons.

The greatest (and most overlooked) improvement that WM has brought to the defense is the ability of the linebackers to meet their responsibilities in coverage. This year we will have elite DB play along with linebackers that can ALL cover. This allows us to cover up our shortcomings inside by moving people around and blitzing from all positions. Our team speed in the back 7 does not allow an offense to motion into a mismatch.

WM is a really good defensive coordinator, but his contributions in actually turning the linebackers into a productive unit has been the real turning point on the defensive side.

A 3- or 7-point D woody beats a 56- or 63-point O woody everytime. And a 0-point D woody?… That’s blue steel, baby—harder than Chinese arithmetic!

“…didn’t know he would have the kind of dominate year he did”
“…may or may not have someone as dominate as Lamar”

Dominant?

Kenny Vaccaro, he aint black, he aint white, and he aint mexican

He’s our Vaccaro

Vaccarro may be Randy Luan-Juarez from Semi-Tough.

Yes, dominant. On the conference’s best defense, Houston led the team in tackles for loss, had 7 sacks, and was 2nd in QB pressures. He had more tackles than any of our DL except Kindle, who was allowed more latitude to freelance. In almost any other year, Houston would be all Big 12.

On Vaccaro:
Kenny – “They killed Kenny! You bastards!”
Kenneth – Everyone’s not-so-bright uncle.
Ken – Asexual doll.
K-Vac – Ruined by K-Fed.
The Cleaner – Harvey Keitel = badass.

“Seriously, I’ve never seen a more talented ulna.”

genuis as usual. It’s made my daily Dallas commute bearable this morning. I think our opponents and espically our rivlas underestimate Coach Boom’s impact on this team. I see great things for years to come with will in charge of the D and then the program.

We’re no longer a “soft” team and I willing to bet you a shiney nickel nobody will work harder or be more nastier out on that field than our boys. Seems like in the past we we’re the one’s getting hit instead of hitting.

No more. And it’s only getting nastier.

Like Starr Jones before the stomach staples

greatness

Much better write-up Scipio.

I work with a crew of roughnecks from Brownwood and Early who went to school with Kenny. They said he was quite the asshole in H.S. Not that that is a bad thing for a safety. On the field anyway.

It sounds like Muschamp isn’t wearing his “Big 12 Champion” t-shirt around. Last year was one of the top 15 seasons in UT history, and he’s PO’ed about how it ended.

When Davis starts mentioning how players are dropping in the depth chart, it means you’ll never see them again. When Muschamp mentions players as “just guys”, it means you will see them come in relief in the 2nd quarter and get a chance to show something in meaningful snaps.

I feel like we’re on borrowed time with Vaccaro. Any day now he’s going to go out LaGarrette Blount-style.

If his only suspension comes from a post-game sucker punch, I’ll consider us lucky.

Who doesn’t drink mead from a Viking skull?

Speaking of ill tempered aggressors, when Vaccaro, not if Vaccaro, does something stupid, it will be about as surprising as a GDGD wide reciever screen.

A bitter, motivated, Tasmanian devil for a coach! It is about time!!!!

What’s the worst that could happen? He gets kicked off the team and we insert Blake Gideon back in the lineup? I say let him play. I am intrigued by someone who considers football one of his “Mixed” Martial Arts.

Has the potential to be the best defense trotting around the 40 in some time….God, please let Georgia and LSU meet in the SEC Championship. Need Muschamp to stick around…

Maduro -
 
Kheeston Randall is your best hope for a dominant DT, if that hope exists at all. We’re probably going to need a concede a lower quality of play inside overall. Bad luck and knucklehead recruits have really hurt us here and Muschamp can’t wave a wand.
 
BOW -
 
Acho Ocho Uno will do whatever is asked of him. He’ll hold for extra points if he thinks it will help us win. That guy is headed for big things in life, with or without football.
 
Navy –
 
You speak truly. Sometimes you don’t notice LB play until its absent. Particularly when you’re having to tweak everything you do in coverage or on your defensive front to compensate for it. Good LBs let your DL and secondary focus on their knitting.
 
Taylor -
 
I think Muschamp is very good at creating specific roles for a player based on his skills. He knows the player may not be able to do X and Y, but if he can do Z on 3rd and 9, Muschamp can ride him to some success. By contrast on offense, how many times have we seen a fairly talented but narrowly focused player get buried because “he’s not complete.”
 
Patrick –
 
If we become a great defense, it will be because guys like Scott, Curtis Brown, E Acho, Eddie Jones all take their games to the next level. Aaron Williams is already there, IMO. Kheeston Randall may be the most crucial guy of all of them. We need someone inside that causes O worry.

-" It’s not enough to be identifiably male, Tevin and Alex. You’ve got to press forward. Grow a third ball. Infiltrate Al Queda. Fight in an underground Fight Club. Something. "

Guffaws ensued. They most definitely did ensue.

Kheeston Randall is your best hope for a dominant DT, if that hope exists at all. We’re probably going to need a concede a lower quality of play inside overall. Bad luck and knucklehead recruits have really hurt us here and Muschamp can’t wave a wand.

Scip,

See my post early in the comments (and please ignore the fact that I wrote “dominate” when I meant “dominant”). I conceded that we may not have a force inside like we had with Houston, although Randall could emerge this year like Lamar last year, but that regardless in my opinion there is better overall depth than we have had in a couple of years. Do you disagree with that?

t1 -
 
I don’t really define depth as “number of bodies.” See our WR position.
 
If a couple of these guys make the jump in performance, we’re good to go. In any event, I know Tolly and Muschamp will coach the shit out of them and they’ll play hard. As a fan, I can’t really ask for much else when we’ve had Acts of God afflict DT.

I think folks forget about how nervous we were last year coming into last year around our DT depth. We had just lost 3 starters on the DL, including Roy, who was nasty his senior year. Lamar was all that was coming back and while he was solid, certainly couldn’t be considered a star coming back. Howell had health issues. We hoped Randall could get it, but if he didn’t then we had Ben Alexander behind him.

The year before that, much the same thing. Lamar was making a position change and undersized, we had Roy and Aaron Lewis as a swing guy. We’ve been fortunate not to have injury at the position but we’ve held up very well and Muschamp has done a great job of getting production in places we were unsure about.

My point is that this is the most comfortable I’ve felt along the DL, specifically DT in several years and certainly since Will came on board. Randall will be going on his 2nd year as a starter and as Scipio noted has the chance to be dominant. Personally, I see Sacho as someone that if he can get in the 280-85 lbs area that can be really good as a penetrator like Lamar. Like all-conference good. Put Howell, Wilcoxon, the Big Moose Johnson, and maybe a freshman and I like our situation a lot better. Knock on wood, I hope our luck continues with avoiding the injury bug….

depending on how much he has had to drink, I give Felini….er Pelini….5-3 odds over Muschamp in a cage fight.

Please, Dear God, let Muschamp be our head coach before somebody else steals him.

Please, Dear God, let Muschamp be our head coach before somebody else steals him.

Blues – You are in a boat and you have the future of the program at stake, and you must pick one. Who do you kick overboard, Mack or Will, and why (assuming they are the same age)?

Walk the plank yourself Blues……..

I would.

Put Howell, Wilcoxon, the Big Moose Johnson, and maybe a freshman and I like our situation a lot better.

Wilcoxon is gone but it wasn’t helping your point anyway

I do agree with you about about feeling pretty good about our DT situation.

Blues – You are in a boat and you have the future of the program at stake, and you must pick one. Who do you kick overboard, Mack or Will, and why (assuming they are the same age)?

I kick Mack overboard and it’s not even close. Will is a better Xs and Os football coach, he coaches with passion and intensity, he’s not soft, and he understands that great defense wins championships and dominates OU.

Now, I say that completely grateful that Mack has built the program to this point and has had a chance to tutor Will on the political realities of coaching at Texas. But we need to take the next step. They aren’t the same age and we run the risk of losing the guy with the talent and ability to lead us well into the future if Mack hangs around too long padding his millions.