Texas Football 2011 Preseason Position by Position: Offensive Line

hey, how come buchanan didn’t get a grade classification? i’m pretty sure that’s racist, but i’ll have to check with that bomani guy. he’s the final arbiter on matters of that, if i have it right.

That was Gatorade Gaskamp was drinking? He did have a nice senior year.

Two great reads in one day. Bravo! I couldn’t agree more about Tray, I hope this is the season.

How long do you think it will take for the OL to gel into a somewhat cohesive unit? It seems when you are putting new guys in together it takes 5-6 games to all get on the same page.

So who do you think will start at left OT, Allen or Kelley?

Kilgore -
 
If it does, we may be 2-4 or 3-3 at that point. The honest answer is I don’t know, but I suspect injury will dictate a lot of this too. If we have a solidified starting 5 by mid-August, it’s not unreasonable to think that they can get it together and minimize busts by UCLA.
 
Mano Comuda -
 
Not to dodge your question but I don’t think it will work that cleanly. I think we have several guys competing for several different jobs and the coaches are trying to figure out how to get the best players and the best unit on the field.
 
In other words, the answer to your question could be Trey Hopkins. Or both Allen and Kelley could be starters and it’s just a question of who is more comfortable on which side.
 
Chris Whaley may be 310 by then and he moves well.

agree with scip and roma. really pulling for tray to have his day.

Thanks for these. I’m now cautiously sipping the koolaid.

I don’t remember the Hopkins’ recruitment. More frustrating than Diggs’?

Thanks and that certainly makes sense. Hopefully this group can avoid injury.

Also, thanks for all of the quality posts today. A lot of good information and analysis coming out.

H -
 
In the same range. Though I laughed out loud after watching Quandre’s tape and heard that only Applewhite was going to bat for him.
 
Trey was literally the perfect Texas recruit. Highly rated academically (he’d get into Texas without a football scholarship), great player, can play five OL positions – which is basically unheard of. Great kid. We slow played him with general disinterest until he drove himself to a camp uninvited and crashed the party. He then dominated everyone so thoroughly he forced us to offer.
 
I’ll defend our coaches all day when they miss on the Jacquizz Rogers types or skip out on a guy like LaMichael James who is a thug, but that sort of laziness in evaluation is exactly how you can go 5-7 at Texas.
 
Garrett Greenlea’s recruitment was not dissimilar.
 
That’s all water under the bridge. Moving on…

Mano -
 
Thanks for reading. The season is getting closer and you’re going to see our content reflect that.

Scip, in 2008 we had no left tackle and Jerrod Johnson spent most of the season running for his life. I realize you can do some scheming around things, but with both OT’s being questionable for you that means you might be keeping a TE in to help chip the DE’s or other moves that limit your offensive options.

Thanks, as always, for the terrific write-ups.

Thought I saw a note from JS’ asset reports (#2) on the ’Cosm about Ashcraft coming on enough at guard to enable Walters to get some work at RT where he looked very good. Your thoughts?

As you note, the situation in the OL is fluid WRT depth charts, positions and all permutations.

Scipio – the year Hopkins “recruited Texas” was also the year that it was rumored that the Texas coaches didn’t feel they needed to take any OL.

Imagine having to write that article without Hopkins or Espinosa. Ouch.

I know almost nothing about OL play, but it does seem like most OL come on in their 3rd year. 5 players all coming into their 3rd years gives me some optimism. Of course that assumes the current OC, OL coach and S&C overcome their counterparts from the last 2 years.

Kilgore,

You seem to assume a static pre-snap set for the offense. I get the impression from Longhorn Scott that there may be many different ways to move people prior to the snap in such a way that they could assist the LT. At least, that’s my limited-knowledge response.

Scipio I think you need to start writing for a living. Think Michael Lewis.

Great stuff, Scip. The entire series. Loved your breakdown on the running backs (the predicted usage), and we’re on the same page regarding the offensive line. A few thoughts:

1. Because this is a new scheme with new coaches, what we’ve seen — or not seen — the last couple of seasons is pretty much meaningless now.

2. We’re inexperienced on the O-line . . . we’re NOT young. As others have pointed out, we have four sophomores who are in their third season, plus two seniors and two juniors (BTW, Poehlmann’s a fourth-year junior, though he missed almost a year).

3. I’m not into the concept of looking ahead. But the staff may be and, if so, it might make sense to start lining up players now where the coaches expect them to be playing next summer. If Allen wins the left tackle job, we’ll have to find a replacement after 2011. Same with Snow. So, if Hopkins is to be the left tackle in 2012, maybe he ought to become the LT now. If Espinosa is the center of the future, that frees Porter for guard duty — further making the shift of Hopkins, even Walters, to tackle a possibility.

4. I read recently that an insider felt we had two NFL prospects on the offensive line, Hopkins and (susprise) Ashcraft. I’d imagine Walters plays his way into that discussion. If this is accurate, Ashcraft should be good enough to start; he’s been on campus since June ’09, and healthy the whole time.

5. The evaluation Stacy Searels should have made in March on Poehlmann, Kriegel and Espinosa has to be done now, since those players were sidelined for spring training. That further slows the development process.

6. I’m thinking we redshirt all five freshmen, though Flowers might be capable enough to see the field this season. Greenlea needs weight room and practice field time, and the other three are long-term projects. Very long, I fear.

Hopkins is not a big person. Maybe 6’1", but definitely not more than 6’2" and not really that big. But yes he can play. He’s kind of cut in the Dan Neil / Doug Dawson mold.

This unit will surprise and shock the hell out of everyone.

Scip, thank your for the entire series, great reading.

Here’s the obligatory post mentioning that the offensive line is about working as a unit and that they will take time to “gel”. #buzzwords

Whereas I agree that OL has to “gel” on some level, what an OLineman really has to do is learn his personal responsibility on every play. You have 8 do that and they can work together pretty quickly.

I am excited about angle blocking, trapping, and pulling guards. This should be fun.

I do have one question for Scipio. You wrote an article about Boise St. coaches not doing well outside of Boise, ID. I don’t remember the reasons but you listed why you though that was so. How does Texas avoid the type of let down that Dan Hawkins and Dirk Koetter had in their moves?

Throw in that Trey is a model student and citizen and recognize that he basically had to self-recruit to Texas and you have some hint about how just how broken our evaluation system was.

That’s interesting. I haven’t followed football recruiting for the last few years, but apparently neither has the coaching staff.

Scipio,

You bring up an important point about recruiting OL and one that should be expanded a bit as it relates to Jake Matthews. Especially, since it has become Longhorn internet “legend” based upon one of your observations that Bruce Matthews was laughing at Texas’ spring practice (which was twisted by internetdom into the fact that he was laughing at Texas’ OL schemes).

This is not true. The main reason Texas lost that recruiting battle was the same reason you mentioned above, Texas didn’t recruit him…at all…until the last 3-4 months before he made his decision. Going into that spring he told his HS coach that he wanted to look at Texas. Within minutes, Texas was contacted and surprised because they had him as a lock to…USC…even though his older brother played at A&M.

It’s been a little frustrating to keep hearing the growing “legend” about Bruce laughing at Texas’ schemes, when in reality, it was much worse, Texas was simply lazy.

mona, while we wait to hear from scip, i might mention that the two coaches you reference were head coaches, not coordinators. that’s a big difference. also neither went to a powerhouse program. hawkins to a moribund colorado and koetter to ariz state.

i submit we just have to wait to see how our transition works and not make predictions based on essentially dissimilar situations. nice of you to bring up another possible negative connotation, however.

I really hope Snow is spending extra time with Harsin. His ability to make the right reads at the LOS will go a long ways to determining the success the offense has in the first 4-5 games.

DS is one of the most critical players that fans should put up on the please-God-don’t-get-injured list right behind Randall.

yeh, you’re welcome. Trying not to disappoint you.

Hey Scip, I posted about this on the Cosm but would really appreciate your insight on this. Typically your best O lineman is put at LT. By all accounts Mason Walters is a stud and, per recent reports, speed rushers have not been able to get past him. Yet the only talk I’ve heard about LT is Allen/Hopkins/Kelley. Thoughts on why Walters is apparently not being considered at LT??

realmccoy -
 
In a good way?
 
HookemUp -
 
Thanks for reading, bud.
 
Monahorns -
 
Boise head coaches. The idea is that Boise headmen are often the beneficiary of an entire program culture as well as very talented coordinators. They can’t just transport those things to Arizona St or Colorado. I’m not worried about taking a coordinator – I know what Harsin brings.
 
spider -
 
We got a little complacent in some areas. That’s gone. Stacy Searels will fly to Bumfuck, Alaska if he thinks there’s a player there.
 
Bosco -
 
I don’t think we recruited Jake in earnest until late in the game, which is odd, but it’s also undeniably true that Dad found our schemes puzzling.
 
it’s me again -
 
Did you read the first sentence in my breakdown of Walters?
 
Best OL and best OT aren’t always the same thing. You could have an amazingly dominant center or guard who would get schooled at LT simply because they don’t have the tools to compete out there.
 
By the way, Searels is trying every combination at tackle possible. I think he was a little surprised that we didn’t try to be more stubborn in making Walters into a tackle earlier in his career. It would certainly increase Mason’s earning potential substantially.
 
If Mason Walters were able to be our starting LT, it’s really good news for this football team.

Thanks for the answer Scipio. I feel confident about the Texas program culture sans 2010 anomaly. And Harsin is himself a good coordinator. So no worries! Let’s go whip some ass!

Who pays taxes?! Ha ha ha ha!

H,

If you want screwed up evaluation in the offensive line look no farther than Greenlea’s and if anyone has any doubt how lazy and poor player evaluation had gotten at UT in certain areas I hope the stories of Hopkins and GG make it crystal.

Garrett played primarily tight end on the varsity his sophomore year which really isn’t that shocking for a run based and remember that JB Schugart at Klein played TE during his senior season in high school and I think he has turned into a decent OT at THE Ohio State University.

Spring of GG’s sophomore season a Texas coach comes by during the spring and then proceeds to tell the Klein Collins staff that GG is not a “Texas worthy offensive line prospect”. I am not sure what that exactly means, kid was raw, a bit gangly but how many 6’6" 16 years have the footwork of a ballroom dancer and we are talking TWO YEARS out when they have made a decision on this kid.

Come Fall and his junior season and GG’s first test is against Klein Oak and Nathan Hughes. Hughes is one of 4 D-1 signees that were part of that Oak front compared to the KC line which was GG, a kid who signed to play at Dartmouth, Molly McCage’s (for the one UT volleyball fan on this site) much shorter and squartier older brother, and I think two guys who played ultimate with our son. My point is that Greenlea is going to have to handle Hughes man on man and KC’s offense is a fun first, run second, and if it is third and less than six run again offense. The result is that GG makes Hughes his bitch for 48 mintues. Ass beating was bad enough that last year the Oak coaches rarely lined Hughes up over him.

Texas coaches response? Nada, nil, zip. …………. despite having some good film against some very good fronts including Klein Forest and John Tyler. A 6’6’, 280 lb offensive tackle on a team that went 12-1 could not draw jack shit of attention from the Texas staff.

Understand KC has some decent football players and it isn’t anti UT. Dicharry, Stafford, and Marsh off the baseball team are from KC and KC could have 4 UT baseball commits playing for them next year. Molly McCage is a national level volleyball talent and they sent a tennis player a couple of years back. We aren’t talking Aldine ISD here in any stretch.

I won’t go into who or won’t finally got the staff off their collective asses, but this is one they truly almost blew due to arrogance and making judgements on kids two fucking years before they could even sign.

Davey,

That story combined with lackluster approach to Matthews are enough to make me truly question how we it took so long to have the kind of season we did last year. I know a lot of people questioned the Searles hire, but I have been really impressed at his approach to recruiting. I think it helps that he probably knows this is his chance to redeem himself given the knocks he took at UGA the last few years. Seems like he is hungry to rebuild his rep.

Scipio: I don’t think we recruited Jake in earnest until late in the game, which is odd, but it’s also undeniably true that Dad found our schemes puzzling.

First hand knowledge, Dad didn’t find the schemes any more puzzling than anyone who watched them play. The reason for us not getting him was simply the fact that we did not recruit him until the very end, period. Too bad, great family.

Along with what Davie O’Brien points out in his case study it seems that there was a pattern of ineptitude and laziness.

Davey—

You said some shit that needed saying

I could be misremembering but I thought Hopkins was our first commit that year.

I am actually pretty excited to see how much of our problems were scheme and how much were personnel related.

He was our first commit.