Garrett Gilbert’s Confidence

Thats pretty damning. Not surprised at all however. I also think we can see GG starting next year from a mile away and it will not be b/c he won the job. What a shame. For all the changes Mack has self proclaimed he really hasn’t changed at all. He was forced to change his staff but the core issues still remain the same. The BS Mack spewed about entitlement was a complete crock and it happens every year because he fosters it. I like how 10 win seasons have become our new goal since we fail at Big 12 championships, ect.

The starting QB does not have to be the team leader. Just ask Von Miller.

As we all have seen for the past 13 years, MB can fuck up QBs bigger than Dallas on a pretty regular basis.

As for GG’s confidence, what a laffer. The biggest laffer is GG as a QB at this level.

I wouldn’t be the least surprised if the Sherrod Harris story is true.

And Mack wonders why he lost the team last year.

This is about to get uglier than vasherized’s shorts.

I read the Harris story. Most of it is pretty standard recruiting fare. Everybody tells you that you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread when you’re being recruited but then become just another number once you hit campus. Given the game GG was having against Alabama they probaby should have given Harris a shot but no one really thinks it would have changed anything.

Hilarious pot shot at Simms. Can’t stop laughing. Unfortunately for the joke, Simms did actually lead his offensive teammates and they genuinely had his back.

But carry on.

But do GG’s teammates genuinely have his back?

i love shaggy. it’s like one of those magnetic oil plugs to catch the shit before it can do any real harm. if it weren’t for the shag, those people could be anywhere.

Did anyone anywhere have Sherrod Harris’ back? Except apparently for Laken Litman?

The entire story reads like a guy who was never as good as he thought he was and is searching for somebody else, anybody else to blame for the fact that he never succeeded at college football. If Sherrod Harris wanted to play at UT, it would probably have helped if he had ever shown any ability to move the team. Fans had very little opportunity to see him, basically a few practices every year and spring games. Does anyone ever recall him doing anything in those appearances that would have indicated that he deserved playing time? Perhaps Sherrod was completely scintillating in all the practices we didn’t get to see and that is why he is bitter about his lack of playing time. I doubt that is the way the smart money is betting, however.

I don’t understand the backlash against Litman for writing a supposedly private profile piece about a friend. But whatever. The Internet is a vile place.

As for the essay itself, the only damning thing in there was the fact that Mack told Harris he was going to start the second half of the NC, only to renege once they got back out on the field. I assume that if Mack did indeed tell Sherrod that, it was a heat of the moment thing, and once the second half was about to kickoff, Mack realized that going with Gilbert gave him his best chance to win. I don’t think he was wrong in that decision, given that Gilbert did end up bringing them closer (and further, the first half score would have been a lot closer if his receivers didn’t have stone hands).

As for all the other fluff about being a high school phenom wonder that would star in college, being promised the second string job, etc., etc., those things are earned, not given. As good a guy as Harris was off the field, he didn’t do enough to earn the right on the field. I don’t think it gets any more complicated than that.

Now whether Gilbert’s being given artificial confidence boosts in the present, well, that’s a whole ’nother discussion.

That paper suggests that Harris was the clear #2 behind Colt in the summer of 2009, got hurt, and was then bumped behind GG. That was not the case. The only time Harris was the clear #2 he quit the team.

I’m wondering if Sherrod’s memory is playing tricks on him in some spots.

Well the author cites two other instances so if it is sour grapes I’m not exactly following

The discussion should be and is about GG inflated confidence

And the article overinflates what was thought of Harris in south Arlington.

Much like John Chiles, he was yet another kid who was the best athlete at his school and the coaches put him at QB so the ball would be in his hands on every play. He was s threat to score on every play.

And a such, he was another kid (just like John) that, if he really wanted to play QB in college, would have benefitted from going to a smaller school where he would have been guarenteed plenty of playing time right from the get go. You gotta get playing time, and it doesn’t matter if it’s at Texas or Iowa State. The NFL scouts will find you if you get PT.

ITS DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL! ITS THE BIG 12! GO PLAY INTRAMURALS BROTHER!

If the story is true, could it have been handled better? Yes. But given the circumstances—a national championship on the line-I don’t fault Mack one damn bit for being a bit abrupt with Harris.

As far as entitlement goes, Gilbert played pretty damn well in the second half of that game. So I would argue that sending another player in who hasn’t played at all would just compound the problem. At least Gilbert had a chance to settle in.

I can’t forgive keeping Gilbert in the K-State game though, that was a disaster.

Little known fact: Huckleberry was the limo driver.

Did anyone anywhere have Sherrod Harris’ back? Except apparently for Laken Litman?

Do these guys count even if they are not teammates?

“"And VY was like, ‘That’s complete bullshit, coach. Why would you even tell him he’s going to start.’ And he walked away.

"Then Aaron Ross was like, ‘I can’t even watch this anymore.’

"Coach Brown was standing right there and all those players leave."

Huckleberry, why would you even broach that topic. You know what it does to the Longhorn interwebs.

Plus you know you are wrong.

Loved this paper. Shows that a lot of guys do not get a fair shake from the coaches and nobody ever hears about it. I was at the Colt v. Snead duel for starting QB and thought Sherrod was the 2nd best QB out there that day. But he was never considered an option by the coaches.

The way the coaches handed GG the back-up spot behind Colt was a complete joke. Mack Brown talking about he was sorry Sherrod missed two days of practice and how it forced him to make GG back-up for the entire season. Sherrod NEVER HAD A CHANCE IN THAT BATTLE. No one can even plausibly deny that.

Coaches have to make difficult decisions and I appreciate that. Someone is always going to feel like they got the short end. But I watched Sherrod ever since that Colt v. Snead duel because I saw some real talent. Too bad the coaches decided before he ever got on campus that he would never be the starter.

Enough about Harris. Start a new post to babble about Harris, if that’s somehow useful. This is titled “Garrett Gilbert’s Confidence”, yeah?

From here, it doesn’t look like GG has a hell of a lot of confidence, and it also looks like there’s good reason for him not to have it. So far, in 13 games (12 starts, one nearly complete), he has a grand total of one (1) game in which he was a prominent reason for a win. True, it was one of the most satisfying wins ever, but it was the only one. Other than that, he has shown no real spark, has made far too many bad throws and bad decisions. Sure, he’s shown a lot of courage and taken some lumps, and good on him for that… and sure, GDGD was partly to blame, no doubt about that, but…

If GG turns out to show competence in the HarsinWhite O, I’m going to be as gruntled as any of you… but if not, I want him riding the pine immediately, while the others get their shots. Hell, maybe he really is as good as we’ve got, but if Mack keeps up this bullshit about his confidence and other QBs not being warmed up, and keeps GG in the game for whatever mysterious reasons he may have… I may not be leading the lynch mob, but I’ll bring the coffee and doughnuts.

I see the question as not being a matter of building GG’s confidence, but rather why they would cater to him.

Is it because they really think he’s a star and they don’t want him to transfer? Was there some commitment made to GG or his father that they feel like they can’t compromise?

I thought GG was going to be much better last season than he turned out to be. He did very little as the starting quarterback last season to make me think he should be designated the starter.

If he won the the job, it would be so much better for everybody. That would be true regardless of who won the competition.

Read it via Texags. Think MB has done enough in his time to be allowed to coach the national title game how he wants.

Agree that his life may have turned out different at a small school – touted redshirt and 4 year starter is a very different story. Shame he wanted to be on billboards more than scoreboards.

Backup QB is dispensable – not the sort of role that allows you to issue ultimatums.

“Do these guys count even if they are not teammates?”

Are you under the impression that those quotes came from a conversation between the writer and Young/Ross? Because they didn’t. They came from Sherrod Harris. I think that is clear from the excerpt above, but by all means read the entire article.

Quote from paper: “The frontrunners were LSU and Texas. Miles had taken the head coaching job in Louisiana and was targeting Harris over Tim Tebow, Matthew Stafford, Sam Bradford and Jevan Snead”

Really? The why did Miles not even offer Harris (a 3 star recruit )? He did offer Tebow, Stafford, and Snead (all national top-50 blue chips).

I’m sure that’s the only part of the paper its author exaggerated.

I, and possibly a number of other folks, may have missed the time GG demonstrated some confidence in his ability. But, since I don’t recall it, I can only question that he ever did and now question how his confidence could be hurt? You simply can hurt something you don’t seem to have.

Disappointing, but not surprising.

I’ve seen nothing from Garrett Gilbert to give me any confidence that he can be a capable D1-level quarterback. I see a profound lack of confidence and questionable decision-making skills, both of which are deal-breakers for the job that he’s been given. I’d love to be proven wrong on that assessment, but I don’t think he has it in him.

“If a dog will bite, he’ll bite as a pup.” I don’t see much bite in him, and he’s a junior now.

I find it very odd that those players would have made those comments to Mack Brown. I’ll believe it happened when Littman shows some proof other than hearsay directly from Sherrod, who he is defending.

I realize it’s the offseason, but we have a new staff, and there was not nearly enough time in spring drills to have a clear cut starter while installing probably about 20% of a totally new offense. I suppose it would be fruitless to suggest that we wait and see what happens in August before everyone shits their pants over an article written by a guy who is a friend of the guy he’s defending. Also, someone has to be the “wink and a nod” leader of the 7 on 7 drills between now and 2 a days since technically the coaches can’t be involved. If that’s Gilbert, it doesn’t bother me. OBTW, Rak and Miller were the real leaders of the 2008 team and Houston and Kindle were the real leaders of the 2009 team. Colt was a great player who made great plays, but he was never all that vocal.

Frankly, my biggest concern is that we probably don’t have a QB on campus who can completely carry a team on his back like the last two we had so we are going to have to have an offense that is truly balanced and well schemed no matter who wins the job. My expectations are that we will if Mack stays the hell out of the way, not only in the QB stuff but in the play calling as well. If not, don’t expect much from that side of the ball next season and hope the kid from Arizona is a future star.

If this article is exclusively about GG’s confidence, then it is truly an article about nothing.

I’m left wondering how much learning of Coach Brown’s momentary lack of faith and afterward (apparently) having some team members turn cold to him (in solidarity with Harris) ended up being the real killer of Gilbert’s confidence come fall.

This fall, Gilbert either comes back with a mantra of Fuck ‘em all. Le’s play foo’ball! or, if he keeps playing Hill Country Hamlet, we see the rise of one of the three in the wings.

I find the people on this thread who willingly accept a college paper for a features writing class as absolute gospel absolutely laughable.

I can’t wait for the Fall. I’m looking forward to it almost as much as the 2012 election.

As always, people should pay attention to what srr50 is saying.

“I find the people on this thread who willingly accept a college paper for a features writing class as absolute gospel absolutely laughable.”

Women were romancing each other.

Per a close friend of Sherrod’s, he never wanted to be the starter at UT. It scared him shitless. The stage was too big. He was quite content in a backup role during the majority of his time on the 40 acres, leaving him plenty time to attend to academics, charity stuff, and off the field musings. No doubt he’ll have a successful life after football.

And I think he would have fared worse than Gilbert against Alabama’s defense.

Re: "If true, that was the first of three notable instances where the coaches’ desire to keep Garrett Gilbert’s confidence buoyed has risen above team-wide considerations. The second one came against Kansas State in November. Gilbert was having a horrific game: five interceptions through three and a half quarters.

[snip]

I’m not sure what was worse: Gilbert’s performance or our coaching staff’s cover up job."

I think you’re touching on something that consistently gets overlooked in these discussions about Gilbert – the staff’s cover up job. Specifically, the cover-up job for the ineptitude of the offensive coaching staff, and Greg Davis’ failure to prepare in particular.

I could be wrong mind you, but I have a gut feeling that Gilbert was scapegoated by Davis to some degree due to Davis’ own failure to prepare a bench and back-up plans for when autopilot failed. Autopilot failure was Colt’s injury in the RB. KSU was evidence that the airport control tower had long been evacuated.

Coaches not adapting while saying you fear you’ll hurt a single person’s confidence effectively means shifting blame under the guise of caring. But it’s not caring. Coaches caring means being accountable. Being accountable means preparing back-ups to perform and having alternate plans, and acting on that preparation when needed. Greg Davis failed to prepare adequately for adversity and as a result I think much of the characterization of Gilbert’s status is undeserved.

The extent to which what I suggest above is accurate will be revealed by the presence or absence of contrast in preparation and midstream coaching decisions next fall. I suspect the difference between Davis and HarsinWhite will be striking. I also think Gilbert will be emotionally healthy regardless if he gets beat out for PT or not.

Regardless if the article is true, we know what is true thus far about Garrett Gilbert – he is an inept quaterback that shows no leadership.

I still have nightmares of his fumble on the 7 yard line when we were up 7-0 on aggy.

"If a dog will bite, he’ll bite as a pup." I don’t see much bite in him, and he’s a junior now.

He had his best performance as a passer, or his “bite”, if you will, relative to opponent and circumstance, during the 3rd quarter of his freshman season, leading many to predict greatness. Obviously, greatness has not yet ensued , so your analogy kind of devours itself. much like Ammit, the ancient Egyptian funerary deity.

Great post triplehorn. I want to see what he looks like in the fall before motherfucking him to death like 95% of our fan base. I don’t think there are many QB’s that would have succeeded in the offensive shitstorm that was last year.

Of course on the other hand it’s possible that he’s just not very good.

Our offensive MVP of the 2010 season scored two touchdowns. Seriously, that happened.
It’s not really all that relevant, but it’s something so ridiculous that I like to put it out there every now and then.

I predict we’ll be hearing more from Ms. Litman in the future.

Here’s another little-known fact. To further boost Gilbert’s confidence after the Rose Bowl loss, Mack took him out for a snowcone and handed him this:

Really, this whole idea that Mack Brown would risk a 4 million dollar a year job on the fragile confidence of a sophomore quarterback is complete crap.

If there is a concern here at all, it’s not about GG’s, confidence or lack thereof. The two words Mack Brown dreads hearing more than any other in the English language are:

Quarterback Controversy.

That is why GG wasn’t pulled against K-State or at any point last year.

Levander sez:
I’ve seen nothing from Garrett Gilbert to give me any confidence that he can be a capable D1-level quarterback. I see a profound lack of confidence and questionable decision-making skills, both of which are deal-breakers for the job that he’s been given. I’d love to be proven wrong on that assessment, but I don’t think he has it in him.

Agree. What worries me is his apparent (obvious?) anointment by Mack coupled with the absence of anything contradictory by HarsinWhite.

We’ve gone from “the job’s wide open” to “this is the One” – again.

The real question is “have the coaches seen something that ‘we’ haven’t seen, and if so, what is it and why won’t they tell ‘us’ what it is?”

If not, then what’s the purpose of the anointment and how the fuck can HarsinWhite go along with it? Conspiracy theorists seem to think there’s a promise of some sort behind it.

Maybe it’s just that we’re not certain that he’s a bust, and we want to let him have some time to give it his best shot with a good coaching crew supporting him, so we’re going to keep him on campus for the coming season, and we want him to feel confident that he really is the One, at least until he either simply can’t beat out all of the other QBs in preseason, or just fucks up in the first game or three… in the meantime, let him think he’s got it sewn up. Maybe he was talking about xferring to Fort Worth to room with his brother, and telling him he’s the starter keeps him here… who knows?

Whatever it is, I’m not happy about it at this point. As I’ve said before, I’ll be gruntled as fuck just to see improved effort and competence at every position, including the coaching staff. I sincerely hope we really do find out that it was GDGD – and the resulting friction with Boom – all along, and we wind up with 11 or 12 wins before the Bowls. I hope, but… what we saw this spring gives some hope, but it ain’t a sure thing by any measure (not one this side of College Station, any road).

More wins than losses is what I expect – that’s sad for a Texas fan to settle for, but that’s where we are. I’d bet we’re between 7-5 and 9-3 after the Baylor game, but I ain’t puttin’ any money down until after 0u – reserve the right to adjust that up or down.

How many days is it ’til kickoff?

“Agree. What worries me is his apparent (obvious?) anointment by Mack coupled with the absence of anything contradictory by HarsinWhite.

We’ve gone from "the job’s wide open" to "this is the One" – again."

Tex, you are aware that Mack went on record in a presser after the AAS piece saying that it wasn’t true and that the position was still wide open, right?

Frank, that is a good point. MB has never lied to us before so why would he start now?

Rebecca Black went to UT?

TexLong, should I be reading all of your posts with an English accent in my head?

Wow. A journalism paper. And it has quotation marks in it. Just has to be true. I seem to remember another journalism paper penned by Jamarcus McFarland. I think he got an A+ also. Just because it is written, doesn’t make it all true.

BackupQBitis is the most commonly diagnosed disorder in college football fans. If those darn stupid full-time professional coaches would just quit being so biased/stupid/fill in the blank, they’d realize the next coming of VY/Colt McCoy is sitting right there on the bench. We should know based on our numerous hours of watching games through our alcoholic haze. Trust me, I grew up in a family of coaches. They’re not always right but they’re right a heck of a lot more often than even the hardcore fan.

As another of the “I won’t let my lack of knowledge prevent me from expressing my opinion” posters, if the defense would have lived up to half of the Muschamp hype, we would have been at least 7-5 or 8-4 during the season and this conversation might have been different. Plenty of blame to be handed out….

Tex, you are aware that Mack went on record in a presser after the AAS piece saying that it wasn’t true and that the position was still wide open, right?

No. Frank, I’m not. I live in the Big Bend, and I don’t have TV, just the interwebs. I don’t “watch” any interwebs newscasts, so I didn’t see Mack’s “presser”, or read about it. I don’t spend much time poring over forums – mainly just this one and hornfans. I saw references to the Bohls piece when it came out, and I’ve seen a lot of moaning and groaning about Gilbert, and I haven’t seen any headlines like “Mack says QB Job Open!!!”, so it didn’t occur to me that he wasn’t “the One”. Not sayin’ there haven’t been references thereto, just that I hadn’t seen them.

Assuming this is true, it takes away a certain foreboding sensation, and I can relax and simply anticipate the season.

Thanks for the info.

If anyone’s got a link to the presser, I’d like to take a look at it. Yes, I’m too lazy to find it for myself, but being lazy doesn’t mean I’m unappreciative.

Ease up,

Is there a real possibility that the back-ups are not as good or better than GG? I find that too discouraging to contemplate.

TexLong, should I be reading all of your posts with an English accent in my head?

Aw, hell, son, I don’t give a shit one way or another? Whatever gruntles your gonads, old dog.

Two most interesting storylines to start in September:

1. Will Harsin and Applewhite have free reign to run their offense without Mack imposing his desires? This should be evident by how different game managment decisions making are compared to last year. If we get too much Deja Vu, then Mack’s probably being a control freak.

2. If Gilbert starts, will he be pulled after his second interception in a game?

Is there a real possibility that the back-ups are not as good or better than GG? I find that too discouraging to contemplate.

This is probably the foundation of all our fears in this matter. I had the same thought – I’m sure most of us did – and I admit to trying my best to suppress such thoughts. Unfortunately that leads to blaming Mack and angst over HarsinWhite’s abilities.

I’m hoping that what really is going on is that HarsinWhite sees a lot of damage done to Gilbert by GDGD, and believes the damage can be undone, although not in a single spring session.

“Aw, hell, son, I don’t give a shit one way or another?”

Well, I got Sherriff in a Western movie out of that. I don’t know what to think any more.

“As another of the "I won’t let my lack of knowledge prevent me from expressing my opinion" posters, if the defense would have lived up to half of the Muschamp hype, we would have been at least 7-5 or 8-4 during the season and this conversation might have been different.”

Yeah, if the defense had been other-worldly while the offense remained hammered dog shit, we might have gone 7-5! Damn stupid defense.

Tex, please don’t mistake 50 Years for a Texas fan.

Yeah, if the defense had been other-worldly while the offense remained hammered dog shit, we might have gone 7-5! Damn stupid defense.
Depends on what you mean by “other-worldly”. If it had done only as well as the preceding season (not a lot of complaints, as I recall) while the O flailed about as it did, it would have made ZERO DIFFERENCE – still 5-7. 2010’s D and 2009’s O, and we’re 9-3. Both at 2009 level, and it was 11-1. I don’t think you can make it O versus D, so I just looked at points scored versus points allowed – remember, Special Teams went to shit, too.

Good point 50.
Gilbert was basically the offense last year (got us the win at Nebraska with his feet). Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he can carry an offense on his back like Colt and VY. But, in fairness, those guys were also surrounded by some outstanding playmakers. Gilbert was not blessed with that talent level. I just want to see him with a running back (Brown?), a tight end, and a couple of decent receivers. He might be closer to the QB from the second half of the Alabama game and the guy tearing it up in high school if he doesn’t have to shoulder the whole load.

I think I’m gonna give Gilbert another chance (as if I had a choice). The kid played pretty well in the second half of the Rose Bowl. He stuck his nose in there a competed in one of the toughest situations he could have been put into. I want to see him in a situation where he has a competent Oline, which he might have this year, which will give him some time and also maybe a half-assed running game. That kid was shell shocked last year and his coaching staff for the most part quit on him. He’s not Vince or Colt but I’m not convinced he’s as bad as he looked last year.

Norberg-
Don’t be purposefully stupid. The point was there was plenty of blame to go around and if we had been 8-4, the tenor of the discussion about the QB might be different.
Tex Long-
Appreciate how you did your calculation. But, we score 21 against Iowa State, at home, and lose. We’re up 2 scores on Baylor and give up a ton of big plays. I don’t want to make it O vs D but there was a lot more to this disaster of a season than a QB. Just sayin…

Tex, please don’t mistake 50 Years for a Texas fan.

No, but that doesn’t make him wrong about everything. Did you not find yourself wondering whether WoodAsh really looked much good – couldn’t tell much from the Springage… and Case? Dunno – he wasn’t Colt, but Colt when he was a frosh wasn’t all that, either. Tell you what – if that turns out to be the way it is – i.e., Gilbert doesn’t improve, but he’s the best we have – we’re in seriously deep shit – dramatically improved line play and breakout running would be the only saving grace…

Ease Up, had we gone 8-4 because the defense gave up 5 ppg, or whatever ridiculous stat that would have been necessary to secure such a record, people would hate poor Giblet just as much then as now, because he would have been just as putrid in either reality.

Your point is fucking stupid.

The whole “there’s enough blame to go around” shit doesn’t sit real well with me, because if the offense had been comparable in quality to the defense, we go 10-2. So, no, I’m going to leave 95% of the blame with Davis, McWhorter, the line, and all of those shitty seniors we kept trotting out there.

Clapper-
The fact that you are unable to get the point, doesn’t make the point stupid. Keep hating. It’ll make the season real enjoyable for you and those unfortunate enough to sit by you.

You made my point. There were a lot of other problems than just the QB. To include, Davis, McWhorter, the line, the shitty seniors, and don’t forget the S/C coach. Plenty of blame to go around.

Tex, I’ll see if I can find a link, but I really don’t know if I can. I can tell you with 100% certainty that it happened and it was discussed on the webs at great length. Mack even made a point of letting Bohls know he was addressing the piece. As I recall, the term misinformation may have been used

50 Years of Watching, you can believe what you want to believe. But if you’d believe Kirk Bohls over the character Jon Lovitz played on SNL, much less Mack Brown, then you’re even more fucked up than your posts indicate.

I don’t want to make it O vs D but there was a lot more to this disaster of a season than a QB. Just sayin…

The difference on offense was, no Colt, no Shipley. Not because GG was bad, but he wasn’t Colt and he sure as hell wasn’t Vince.- and that’s what it took to turn the GDGD sow’s ear of an offense into a silk purse. While Mike Davis may achieve comparison to Shipley in time, he only showed flashes of it last year.

The difference on defense was, no Earl, no Lamarr.

The difference on ST was no Shipley runbacks… and I have no idea WTF happened to kick coverage.

We scored 17 points less per game and gave up 7 points more.

There was a huge rift between Muschamp on one hand and MackDavis on the other, which of course filtered down to the position coaches and the players… and that was the ultimate cause of the meltdown – dissension and lack of effort.

Now, I think most of us are fairly well convinced that HarsinWhite and Diaz and all the other new coaches are going to cure the bulk of those problems and the coaches and players will all be on the same page again.

If Garrett Gilbert shows he can make good decisions in the new offense and can throw accurately and with touch AND be better at it than the others, then he’s the one I want to see on the field.

I’m not crazy about it but Gilbert looks to me to be the best of a flawed set of choices at this point. I’m OK with starting GG provided there is a quick hook (probably in favor of Wood) if he shows more 2010 form. Agree with the OP that all of the talk about protecting a player’s confidence probably does the opposite.

Keep bringing the banal inanities. Don’t leave the “Gilbert gave it his all, he was the only one who cared” card off the table.

“So, no, I’m going to leave 95% of the blame with Davis, McWhorter, the line, and all of those shitty seniors we kept trotting out there”

 I appreciate the sentiment, but our special teams were so bad—we literally couldn’t catch a punt— you need to lay at least 20% of the blame on them. 5% of the blame on the defense seems about right though. After all, they did give up some points, and you can’t lose a game if you don’t give up any points.

That leaves about 74% of the blame on the offense.

The other 1% we can blame on Cleve Bryant or whatever other inane excuses the paid media is rolling out.

Ok, ok…

79% offense
13% ST
7% defense
1% Cleve

Do we have a deal?

The interesting thing to is the point touched on by a few in this thread and multiple times on this site. How do we truly evaluate GG based upon last year when the year was nothing short of a complete failure in so many areas.

The talent it can be argued was indeed the worst at every position in Mack’s time in Austin.
Name one area that was anything, but average and no one tell me the recruiting rankings as a way to defend the level of talent. Those have been about as accurate as the GAO’s read on inflation.

Scheme wise there really wasn’t much of any which had worked in the past when Texas had better talent, but in 2010 that wasn’t the case and what talent was on hand was not put in positions to get the maximum results.

GG played fairly well against OU considering the game at stake and the quality of the defense and then executed well the first quarter versus NU. Aside from that time he did play average to terrible. The question is though was it his play, the lack of talent, or the ineptitude of Davis to not find the offense’s identity in 2010.

How the hell does this offense gain 400 plus against OU, run the ball it did against Nebraska, and then look like complete and total shit against ISU?

GD showed he had no handle on his offense by mid-season by the failure to create any type of game plan against ISU.

I don’t love what I saw from GG, but I am not ready to lay all of last year at his feet in light of the fact it wasn’t his job to recruit the talent, develop it, or game plan for the opponents.

For a while there, this thread started to resemble a ESPN Big 12 blog thread and that scared the shit out of me. BC is supposed to be just miles above that sort of low brow, “your f-ing stupid” / “no, yur 2 effing stupid to get my point” back and forth bullshit.

The offense put up better stats in games where there was a lot of garbage time and where opposing teams’ defenses went soft in order to prevent big plays (OU).

We had one legitimately competent offensive performance (NU), where we still didn’t score very much or pile up a lot of yards, especially in the air. However, we didn’t slit our defense’s throat by turning the ball over 12 times or refusing to score before the 4th quarter.

Gilbert can hit strikes if a defense goes into a shell and refuses to put pressure on him. His pocket presence is hilariously bad so if you can get pressure he’ll either: (a) throw a pick, (b) take a sack, and/or © fumble. This was made obvious during the MNC where Gilbert’s only success came when they stopped bring pressure, when they did it was insta-TO.

It’s tough to judge pocket presence from a kid who plays QB at LT, so I guess I can see why everyone whiffed on him as a prospect.

Sherrod’s tweetort on the article:

@TheBigPrice @1Ameezy the paper had more of a serious tone than the actual discussion. It’s “fiction” when read in its entirety.
4 hours ago

TheBigPrice @1Ameezy in order to spread it across 12 pages she had to fluff it but there are some very real things in it.
4 hours ago

@geofflou his confidence is fine. More issues than the qb position last year. Don’t get your information from a message board/school paper.
4 hours ago

I’m assuming @geofflou is nordberg’s twitter account.

I had never seen an assignment of that magnitude.

Frank, you are aware that last season Mack told us all jobs were open and he was fixing the entitlement issues. Then we played K-State and a tiny part of the world farted

Gilbert isn’t Vince or Colt. We know that.
And his season was last year was really bad, but so was nearly everyone else’s.
In the spring the system was still new.
If these sound like excuses, then sorry, but I still think Gilbert can be a good QB.
I also do not believe that he has been “annointed.” He will have to earn the job. That’s not to say he won’t earn it by default, if no one else takes it from him, because, after all, he IS the most experienced QB we have and that alone counts for a lot.
I just don’t believe that Mack, after having essentially nuked the staff and then rebuilt it with top quality components, and after having his program dissected and examined minutely for its flaws by people he trusts, has nevertheless decided to just keep on with the old ways. If Harsin and Applewhite tell him that the walkon one-legged dwarf from Tierra del Fuego is the best guy we have for the job, he’ll take their recommendation.
We’ll find out rather quickly when the season starts.

Harris quit.
That’s all I need to know.

Clapper,

Very interesting point about GG at LT. A friend of mine who is a college coach absolutely hates evaluating high school players in spread offenses. He doesn’t blame high school coaches for using the scheme and the school he coaches for uses the spread.

Basis is very simple. Most high schools don’t have 4 quality defensive backs, most high school defenses can’t implement sophisticated blitz schemes, don’t have the ability to run combo schemes in their secondaries, or effectively hide coverages. Add in that holding as a form of blocking and Texas has gone from being the land of the power running or option based offenses to basically year round flag football.

I would bet that more times than not GG had a pretty good idea before the snap at LT where he wanted to go with the football based upon match-ups. Line play was solid, he trusted his receivers, and he wasn’t in an offense that required a great deal of decisions after the snap.

That wasn’t the case last year, after the loss of Mike Davis he didn’t have a receiver he could trust to get open , line play was spotty, and he seems to struggle with how much smaller the field plays in college compared to high school.

Davey,

Exactly. LT played a 1-2 read offense under Gilbert. And he had a stellar coaching staff to implement it and enough talent to make it all work. Thus the continued success after Gilbert left.

But your post before that poses the real question. We still have no fucking idea what we have with this kid. Too many other compensating factors to know whether he was neutered by Greg Davis or whether a lack of skill position players just let him down. It’s a combination of both but it’s hard to weight properly because the team basically quit halfway through the season.

McCoy had pretty good success as a 1-2 read passer, but he always had a great receiver (Sweed, Quan, Shipley, etc) … The receivers last year were relatively terrible — how many big plays were dropped? How many blocks were totally ignored or whiffed? I hope Jaxon is as good as we’ve heard.

Are we sure this story about Mack in the Rose Bowl is true?

It strongly implies that Mack conceeded the national championship game in order to build for the future, which would have been a preposterous decision I’m hesitant to attribute to Mack.

Also, the players who take Harris’ side in this story…all the heroes of Mack’s other national championship team…rather convenient isn’t it? They were all there to witness this injustice and sided with Sherrod Harris? Really? That’s the exact truth?

sherrod harris didn’t play in that game because sherrod harris isn’t a good quarterback. he had 4 years to show it and he never showed a fucking thing.

but if everyone wants to hate on gilbert and will listen to anything to confirm their preconceived notions, well, then carry on…

Nordberg,

I have had season tickets on the fifty in the upper deck since before you were born.

As for GG, its not our fault he is easy to hate on. However, time will tell.

I do know that when Harsinwhite fails next season, the great minds on this blog will tell us that it is not talent, it is coaching. And that it is not Harsinwhite, it is Mack Brown. Hide and watch.

“Nordberg,

I have had season tickets on the fifty in the upper deck since before you were born."

What a lovely view of Kyle Field that must offer you.

50 Years;

With such a miserable attitude why do you even bother with your season tickets on the fifty in the upper deck since before Nordberg was conceived in the back of a Plymouth Valiant?

50 years represents everything that is reprehensible about a very significant segment of our fans. Would love to run into him sometime as I enter or exit my 50 yard line seats way below him on row 34 of the west side lower deck.

What a POS.

srr50,

Engineering degrees at Texas and football fandom are not exclusive domains of sunshine pumpers, ostriches and eternal optimists or even assorted Mack Brown Haters and/or Coach Swoon idolizers.

I think the thread wavers from GG’s confidence because it’s all a guessing game about what is going on in anyone’s mind. In the case of watching a football players, it’s a rank guess at best.

Here we have a statement by an unhappy ex-player that purports to give us insight into both Gilbert’s confidence level and Mack Brown’s decision-making. The statement was made to a writer unlikely to ever publish the article. I think the conversation about GG’s confidence and Mack is stunted because of the unreliability of what we’re reading.

I completely agree with those saying that Mack would hardly have chosen a lesser QB in the Rose Bowl in hopes of bolstering that QB’s confidence for future, less-important games.

If there is confidence problem, the problem is that Brown did not have confidence in Harris. If there is a problem with Mack’s decision making, look back to the regular season that year and Mack and Davis’ annual failure to develop the second team QB. Maybe Gilbert would have been more ready or maybe Sherrod could have proved himself in Gilbert’s stead had Gilbert done poorly in on-field performance.

Now that I think of it, that season was filled with needlessly close games largely due to a terrible OC. This limited opportunities for the back up to play. Blame the offensive decision-makers.

I have no idea where GG’s confidence is. I can only really judge performance. I’m disappointed so far, but I haven’t given up on him. He may yet be a very good QB for us. Or he may not. May the best man win.

Here’s the thing; this can’t possible have really happened the way that it is reported. It’s hyperbole. But it captures the frustration that everyone had last year with watching untalented players underperform in a bad system. So certain folks want to believe it, because it sure is easier to think there was talent hidden somewhere than it is to accept that we were essentially UTEP last year.

A couple of new coaches is a good thing, but more important than that is the new approach to recruiting. I hope to never again see such an untalented group of players at Texas. That was evidence of failure after lazy failure in evaluating and recruiting.

For the record, I don’t accept the referenced article as gospel. But if MB sticks with GG, it would not be the first nor would it be the last time a HC stuck with a QB against all the outwardly observable evidence.

The list at Texas is long, but my all time favorite is Morenz against Rice on a Sunday night in Houston.

Here’s my guess: MB said, “Jerrod, get loose, we may need you second half.” Jerrod heard, “this is your day — go be the man.”

“Now what he said was ‘Chopper, sic’em.’ But what I heard was, ‘Chopper, sic’ balls.”

What RomaVicta said

I’m not sold on Garrett Gilbert as a QB, but the kid took an absolute pounding physically and mentally week in and week out and NEVER quit. No phantom intercostal injury to keep him out of games, no Reggie McNeil vagina luging to avoid contact. The kid brought it every week and that’s more than you can say about virtually every other player on that squad. Did he suck? Sure. But to hammer Gilbert based on the incoherent ramblings of a willing career backup like Sherrod Harris is weak.

Vasherized,

Exactly. As mentioned multiple times in these discussions Colt had the benefit early on of playing with a NFL running back with true world class speed, a NFL tight end, 2 NFL offensive tackles, and 3 receivers who either were or are in the NFL. GG did not have comparable talent at one position let alone those 4 components of the offense.

What also gets overlooked is the Colt we saw as a junior (I still think his place in the Heisman balloting that year was a great injustice that VY in terms of the amount of offense he accounted for and the amount of talent he had surrounding him.) was in his fourth year in the program and by the time Colt was a senior he had played in multiple bowl games, faced multiple quality defenses, and knew who he could trust and what he could do on the field.

I really think Texas missed Brandon Collins last year and when Mike Davis got hurt GG did not have a receiver who just knew how to get open and wasn’t afraid to run those inside routes. I don’t think it was an accident that Malcolm had the season he did as a freshman with Quan and Jordan running the inside routes. It was no coincidence the game he did versus Tech when they looked to take away those two. Kirkendoll, Goodwin, and Chiles never provided a credible threat underneath and with no running game the deep threat was never there and Malcolm was negated in the GD passing shrub (Branches out more laterally than up.).

A healthy Mike Davis will be a blessing to who ever is the quarterback and I do think we will see improvement under Drake.

Just curious but is GG’s confidence anything like him: weak, awkward, unathletic and with a bizarre throwing motion?

Jesus,

I agree with you that GG did not quit. Some people have told me that the entire team quit last year. I disagree. The games we lost were not blow outs. There was nothing like the melt-downs we saw in the final seasons of the three previous HCs. The team played hard for themselves and their coaches. We were simply out-manned and out-coached.

I hope to GAWD we are not out coached this year, but I know we will be out-manned in more than half our games.

Triplehorn – Nice job of distilling what I was thinking about in this piece: Whether the coaches’ stated concern for GG’s confidence was a really a mask to hide the staff’s lack of accountability. I’m not particularly down on GG (or down with GG, for that matter). I’m hoping the change of offense does him good. If the season started tomorrow, he’d be the starter and I’d be OK with that.

Burntorangejuice – Agree on those September storylines, especially with No. 1: How much freedom does HarsinWhite get on offense? Can they repair the damage done by GDGD?

The people that take Gilbert’s shitty year so personally probably suck at a lot more than just contributing to this board.

Mack’s doing what countless GM’s before him have done: sticking by his evaluation as long as he possibly can despite the fact that eval might be wrong.

I hope Gilbert does well for the team and for himself, but also to give a huge fuck you to some of the pieces of shit in our fanbase.

“Just curious but is GG’s confidence anything like him: weak, awkward, unathletic and with a bizarre throwing motion?”

Yeah, I’m guessing GG would beat you in pretty much any athletic contest you can dream up and it wouldn’t even be close.

Your whole statement is just wrong.

“I hope Gilbert does well for the team and for himself, but also to give a huge fuck you to some of the pieces of shit in our fanbase.”

This is where I am as well. I also think that it would be the best thing for our program going forward for Gilbert to win the job, and (obviously) do well.

nice writing.

oh and whoever said colt wasnt a vocal leader is full of it

GESIS. If the discourse is this coarse right now, I can just imagine how its going to be when all the POSs are back here in October saying I told you so. LMAO at so many santimonious self appointed perfect fans concentrated in one place. Not at all unlike the old 360 days. reesetex where are you?

Golly, you really do sound like a real Texas fan! I’m sold.

Now that I think of it, that season was filled with needlessly close games largely due to a terrible OC. This limited opportunities for the back up to play.

By my count, there were 7 blowouts that season. I remember thinking, “Why the hell won’t the coaches put in the backup QB earlier, so he’ll get some experience under his belt?”

But after a few games of the same-old, same-old, I realized that Mack kept Colt in longer than he should have in a vain attempt to get Colt the Heisman. I think many would agree w/ me.

I guess I haven’t been following BC very closely, but why does everyone think 50 Years Watching is an aggy?

Gilbert sucked out loud last year. So did pretty much everyone who took an offensive snap. I don’t know what to expect of him this year. His first pass of the Spring game was something less than encouraging.

Having said that, it will be interesting to see how he and his team mates react to intentionally being put in advantageous positions and plays rather than falling into it by shear happenstance. GG’s failing is that he’s not Colt, VY, or even Simms. He lacks the athleticism of all three, the improvisational ability of two, and has the least amount of offensive tools to work with save perhaps our 09 squad. What he does have is a two headed offensive coordinating monster who will not ask him to succeed in the same system as his predecessors given those shortcomings, but who will find what strengths he and his cohorts do have and emphasize them.

Whether it’s Gilbert, Wood or Ash, we need to realize that the biggest anchor on this program and the group of kedges that served him are gone. Next year will have some rough moments, but 2012 looks like a return what is expected of this program.

I can see this happening about mid-season:
Reporter: “Mack, Garrett Gilbert looked like a different QB today, what do you think was the difference?”
Mack: “Well, [holly or whatever], me and Major and Brian sat down and looked at some of the film from last year and earlier games this year and we noticed Garrett doing a lot of squinting, which got us thinking, well, heck, maybe we need to get his eyes checked. So, we sent him to the best optometrist in town and wouldn’t you know, he didn’t have such good vision. So, they set him up with some contacts and now he can see the signals from the sideline and can see downfield just fine. I wish we had noticed that a long time ago.”

(All over the country, Longhorn fans’ heads explode)

Mack’s doing what countless GM’s before him have done: sticking by his evaluation as long as he possibly can despite the fact that eval might be wrong.

Moreover, based on 2009, we have evidence that he has done this — that’s one of the reasonable interpretations of “bled for the program” in coachspeak. And Mack certainly does not want a QB controversy.

Put those things together, along with the idea that if Gilbert is to be anything like they thought he could be as a senior - on the kind of team that Mack, admins, boosters and fans expect, even if this year is six to eight-win bummer — he sure has to play as a junior.

I also think that it would be the best thing for our program going forward for Gilbert to win the job, and (obviously) do well.

Mostly agree. I’m fine with Gilbert winning the job AND doing well. I’m fine with whoever wins the job AND doing well.

I am not fine with whoever wins the job squinting at the sidelines, staring down receivers, flinging bullets to receivers five yards away, throwing multiple tipped balls every game… and all the rest of the shit that went on last year.

GDGD and Mack’s handling of him, and Muschamp’s responses looked to me to be the genesis of the problems. GDGD and Muschamp are both gone, and like most of you, I expect tremendous improvement this season – not all the way to the top, mind you, but significant improvement with an upward trend. If it doesn’t happen… well, I’m guessing the guy with the $100 grand a week paycheck is going to be looking a little haggard.

Cinch ‘em up, boys, it’s gonna be a helluva ride, one way or another…

I will never understand why we NEVER tried McCoy in any game last year. I had great expectations for GG when last season started. I had none when it ended. If GG gets the starting job this year he had better be greatly improved or pulled immediately or UT will lose one of its oldest fans quickly. (UT Law, 1957)

When I read that article I was all like “really?”!

Then I was like “wait, what?”!!

I’m surprised if the Sherrod Harris thing is true, that Mack would let himself get caught up in that kind of quarterback controversy. Maybe I shouldn’t be, though. Here at UT, Mack seemed to be coddling Chris Simms by starting him over Major, after Major had proven himself on the field and went down with an injury. If memory serves, Mack had made the point several times that a starter shouldn’t lose his job due to injury.

Mack spent a long time trying to figure out how to use the most freakishly-talented quarterback, maybe even athlete, UT’s ever had. Finally, the light went on and UT went to the zone read so that Vince could be Vince and do what he does best, win.

Even before his UT days, Mack got caught up in quarterback controversies at North Carolina more than once.

What’s interesting in all of this is that Barry Switzer once called Mack Brown the smartest assistant coach he ever hired up in Norman. IF Mack Brown was that good of an offensive assistant coach, it seems he would have learned early on that the quarterback position is too important to be mishandled…that teams with two quarterbacks in essence don’t have one dependable starter.

There’s some history that you wish would quit repeating itself.

No offense to Mack, but I dunno if Barry Switzers’ estimation of intelligence is worth much.

Switzer’s record, and the way his teams wore UT out for the better part of a decade indicate to me that he knew something about winning, and talent. Hey, I didn’t like him any better than any other Horn fan, but Switzer was foxy enough to take advantage of just about everyone who underestimated him. He made a good living off of being “The Bootlegger’s Boy”. I’ll give Mack some credit too…he got out of Norman after just a year.

Actually, coolhorn, Mack never said that a starter didn’t lose his job to injury. Never (Tom Landry is famous for having that policy). There was no conspiracy to hold Major down, nor to elevate Simms unfairly. I guess you could wish one into being, if your favorite player wasn’t playing.

Really, how does one have a policy of the injured starter always getting his job back? What if the new starter is definitively better? What if the returning injured player can play, but has lost a step? Blaine Irby is coming back this year. Should he be automatically starting? How would such a policy work?

Waiting for a post like this. Part of the issue is Mack’s complacency of accepting effort versus execution. GG has been doing the same “three step drop eyes fixated on WR while the D reads me and intercepts” look. YouTube it. View it. Throwing to the defenders inside shoulder. Look at stats. He did the same thing in the spring game. No change in gg’s execution. No change from Mack. Same song and dance. Meaning “kids are having fun, we are working hard” . We all heard this all year last year. they come up short per game and end up, with a losing record. If the dog don’t hunt get another. What about “kids are playing smart and trying to win” for a change. I waited all year for a change…tired of waiting. Want another year to find out?

I have no idea if GG is good or bad. I think he has a rifle arm and could be good, but without an OLine and receivers dropping passes left and right I don’t have a clue. The problems with last year’s team was so much more than GG.

Greg Davis was railroaded, despite the fact that he’s produced UT’s top offenses ever with both top talents and afterthoughts at QB. The fact that the offense failed with this particular top talent can be partially blamed on GD, but should be largely blamed on the talent, as that’s the major difference here.

Oh, and the shittiest line I’ve seen at Texas in forever.

That could certainly explain why the offense didn’t support Garrett during the championship game….so many passes dropped that were on the money. It’s not Garrett’s fault Mack Brown chose to make that decision. Garrett is an excellent football player … I saw him grow up practicing and playing. Rival.com 5 star athlete, Gatorade national male athlete award winner, Lake Travis football state championship titles, State and high school records as quarterback, etc. There’s something wrong with the chemistry of the team and coaching….nothing wrong with this athlete.

Well, Zelda this ain’t high school. GG is being coddle by MB and will still be coddle this year. Why??? Sometimes you get what you ask for and we can see what MB is asking for: GG. Don’t have anymore QB’s ready no matter what. GG he’s our man if he can’t do it nobody can. LOL.

I also believe everything that Sherrod Harris said. Sounds just like something MB would do. I also heard MB say the same thing when someone ask him why he didn’t pull GG in another game. He said he didn’t want to shake GG’s confidence. So instead of upsetting GG lets get rid of some coaches instead. Yeah that’s the ticket. Shaking GG’s confidence is much worse than someone losing their job. Geez.