August Camp Thoughts From The Big Cigar

To paraphrase a fantastic cinematic quote, in order to describe the cumulative reaction of the burnt orange faithful to this news:

“Would you say we have a plethora of BONERS? "

Hope springs eternal….from my pants. FANTASTIC news, JS!

Awesome, JS. Thanks again for all the work you do to get us this info. This site and the ’Cosm will make my final year of law school bearable.

damn, The rice game cannot get here soon enough…
I am so excited… hearing that our OLine is being run by a mean SOB that is getting them to play harder everyday is sheer music. I am ready. Tired of all the folks at my work telling me how we are going to stink (mostly aggies and pokes).

I hope

Well this should be interesting.

So Marcus Hutchins is the ‘power’ wildcat QB. Interesting.

Tell the big man he needs to switch over to Romeo y Julieta.

terrific report. many thanks.

“yeah, he (searels) may be our most important hire”

had you made all the wagers you could find, right after stacy was hired, that a program cognoscenti would make this statement right now, what would your retirement look like?

“They’re not totally reliant on game film.”

you mean, no more ‘they didn’t do what they were supposed to do’?

more and more reason to be anxious to get this ball rolling. this two-year 2011/2012 recruiting era looks to be truly historic.

Re: “The offensive staff believes they can score a lot of points if they get solid QB play and that wasn’t the case last spring.”

As an extension of Scip’s post below on the coordinators, and what Harsin said in particular, what we need for success at QB is probably the same as what Harsin said about playing frosh RB’s – know your assignments and don’t turn the ball over. The old system demanded the QB be a hero, which for Gilbert probably led to making a lot of errors. It would be ironic if the key to success at the QB position is to lower the bar of expectations relative to the old system. Take away that pressure by focusing on playing within your assignments and not turning the ball over and see what happens.

Funny that the Searels hire had many beyond ticked off when the news broke. Even before seeing a single offensive snap this year, I already liked what he was doing from a recruiting stand point. I think we will see a big improvement this year, but in coming years our OL will be a position of strength. That will coincide nicely with hopefully having a potent backfield of Brown-Bergeron-Gray.

It’s Happy Hour, 2 for 1 punch bowl shooters at the Rev. Jim Jones Bar, and I’m buying!

I’m trying not to get too excited, but the reports trickling out definitely feel warm and fuzzy.

much obliged – I’m like a methhead are my dealers. Can’t wait for the next hit.

The Wild Horn is back ! Kidding aside, Harsin is going to throw some wild stuff at opposing defenses. I don’t see opposing DC’s catching up until late in the season, and when they catch up Harsin can just install more of his playbook. Live, in game adjustments on offense, you’re kidding me right? Texas hasn’t had that in a long, long time.

So, I guess this means that we are still at 99.9% for David Ash taking the first snap against Rice, so says Jesus and el Cohiba Grande.

Thanks!

*and yall are my dealers. Whoops.

I’m going to laugh my ass off when Ash doesn’t see the field this year. And then I will get mad at Mack.

More

“The tight ends are playing at a high level which wasn’t expected.”
That quote made my day. That’s huge for this offense.

Thanks, JS… great info across the board. It’s nice when intel matches intuition.

More great stuff from the Jesus and his cigars. The wealth of information has been nothing short of spectacular.

I think the home run hires angle has gotten pub but hasn’t been hyped nearly enough. Mack did a fantastic job of rebooting his staff. Sounds like attitude has changed, and results are forthcoming. F’in fantastic.

Thanks for the great work you guys do Jesus. I hope you guys are making a bunch of cash for your efforts.

“Big Cigar: I have. They want to get real time, in game tendencies, and then attack. They’re not totally reliant on game film.”

You had me at attack.

yea, searles was an interesting hired at the time … not the biggest or flashly name in the business. but, Mack wanted a drill sergeant for the oline and i think we got him.

Remember when dipshit Greg Davis would quote the percentage time that a team like Wyomng would blitz then be surprised after the game when they brought the house?

A real offensive system. We are going to be spoiled.

"Would you say we have a plethora of BONERS? "
Classic!

Can’t wait for Sept 3. Do have to wonder how much is improvement and/or the other side of the ball not being as good as we assume.

I love this foreign idea of building plays off of plays, and utilizing information during the game!! I can’t wait to see it!

Anybody who followed the early 90s Cowboys saw what happens when you have
1. solid o-line
2. hard hitting RB
3. solid TE
4. QB who can get the ball where it needs to be
5. dangerous outside receiver

With Dallas, all of those positions were great, not just solid.

With this Texas team, what we are hearing about the improved o-line, the greatly improved TE play, and the effectiveness of the RBs is very encouraging. I’m not saying they are going to be the 90s Cowboys. But with some competent QB play and a non-TE receiver who steps up, they can be really good.

"The tight ends are playing at a high level which wasn’t expected."

yes, this does suggest what we were saying was correct when we puzzled about not going after a tight end, at least nominally, in the 2012 class. our speculation was that the staff must be comfortable with the tight ends we have. great to hear that they are apparently exceeding whatever expectations they had.

big cigar is right that my biggest surprise the last couple of reports about the o-line is how happy searels is with hutchins. did not see that coming.

"Would you say we have a plethora of BONERS? "

Classic!

“Siff peckers, all. Good lads.”

Stiff dammit. No edit. No stiff pecker for you.

First it was the LHN. Now you all will be exploiting more of your roster, employing coherent offensive schemes and building plays off of plays, and then to top it off using info during games in real time. WTF?!

I’m not going to miss all of the “…we took what the defense gave us…” lines.

Thanks for all the great info.

cant find a time machine on craigslist anywhere… longest 2 weeks ever…

Larry, I got mine on eBay.

Calihorn – how much did your unit cost?

AND..

how does our record look going into conference play?

Hey, just got back… okay here’s the deal: going into OSU, we’re 2-1.

The loss was to Rice, and when Mack announced at the post-gamer that he really wanted to put Ash and McCoy in – or even Connors – they just couldn’t get warmed up, he was struck dead on the spot by a gigantic bolt from the Electrical Closet.

Interim Head Coach Applewhite made his first act giving full control of the Offense to Coach Harsin and vowing that he will never second-guess or overrule the OC – or any other coaches, for that matter.

BYU and UCLA are profoundly unhappy at the turn of events.

Bragg sent me instructions to build an Interociter so I could travel through time. Rice was promising. Lets not talk about UCLA…

I think the love for Searles is also very indicative of what we had in Macwhorter. I’m not sure he ever checked back in after the title run in 2005.

I chuckled at the comment about needing to manufacture points through gadgets. Easy to imagine Harsin mentioning in some staff meeting, “I can probably get us 14 with trick plays against BYU and UCLA, if we need it.”

10-2

BCS bowl win. I posted this in March.

If you have the best front 7 in the Conference and they got run over in the Scrimmage then you must have the best O-line/running game in the Conference too. 11-1?? 12-0??

I’ll sell you a time machine, however it only has one mode: forward at regular speed.

A football team! Not a bunch of guys waiting around for a star because your only good plays are busted ones and you need a star for those. Imagine that.

We here a lot of bitching about our QBs but at least 3 of them are better than Alabama had when they won the national championship. We will do just fine.

“If you have the best front 7 in the Conference and they got run over in the Scrimmage then you must have the best O-line/running game in the Conference too. 11-1?? 12-0??”

probably

nordberg has officially become nordbergeron. This is a great day for Texas.

“The offensive staff believes they can score a lot of points if they get solid QB play and that wasn’t the case last spring.”

JS,

I recall you stating previously that the coaches were expecting around 8 wins prior to fall camp, after the spring evaluation period. With these new developments, would you say that’s still the expectation?

Have your expectations/optimism changed any since the start of fall camp?

Hey JS … good stuff
I’m sticking with my predicton of 3 weeks ago

• Gilbert starts
• lots of runs the first two possessions to set up play action
• Texas. 55. Rice. 10

I like where you head is at Genius! Mack gets ring number 2 Babeeeeeee

Genius,

Our first team offense has had trouble running against our first team defense, but they faced our 2nd team D in the scrimmage. Nice try, though. Step up the trolling skills, bro.

Nice try bro, but it was 1st team offense vs 1st team defense in the scrimmage. Go back and read the report. You guys are just that good that you have the best 7 man front in the Conference AND the best running game/O-line in the Conference.

genius

i just dropped in to say… eat a dick, post haste.

“When he first got here he was surprised at the talent level, but Harsin/Applewhite’s scheme have helped make up for it.”

That made me cringe.

“Our running game is no longer reliant on feats of athletic ability like an undersized center reach blocking an athletic DT a gap over. The scheme creates a level of uncertainty in the defense that makes it easier on guys to carry out their assignments.”

Boner currently at Corundum level and trending toward Diamond.

pretty interesting article up on 247 right now from an interview with Tim Brewster – basically says after watching a practice (not sure how many he saw), that Gilbert is the starter without a doubt and that he looked good when he saw him. thinks he will do very well in Harsin’s system. he also said that people should temper their expectations on Mal Brown, that he looked like a freshman who still has a lot to learn.

thought his Gilbert take was interesting, given that he has a solid eye for talent and i am sure he hears plenty of the inside scoop from Nolan.

Genius actually raises a totally valid question with a very simple response.

From what I could gather we run a ton of base defense in the second scrimmage and that probably gives an inflated sense their effectiveness versus our D in the run and a deflated impression of the first team’s run D. In game, sitting in base D will be a tough ride for a defense against this offense… fronts are going to have to stay active. Boise State showed a surprising ability to take an initially active front and force it into read and react over the course of the game last year. It will be interesting to see if Harsin’s able to do the same in this conference and with this team. It’s not a given and it is a compelling storyline.

Ralph The Wonder Llama: “I’m not going to miss all of the "…we took what the defense gave us…" lines.”

They may not use that exact line, but will still be taking what the defense allows. However, the intent will be to take miles rather than inches.

I feel it’s a little counterintuitive to say Searels’ might be the most important hire after saying Harsin’s impact has made it significantly easier for him. I don’t particularly care how the credit is divided if the group effort succeeds though. Just thinking aloud.

Speaking of group efforts, another tip of the hat on the reports, gentlemen.

Is anyone else worried that there’s a better than 50 percent chance that five or more players take a snap from under center this year?

Collin Smith,

Think Wildcat on at least 2 of those.

Except for the fact that in the transcript from mb-tf.com Manny Diaz said, They’ve had a hard time running against our 1’s". And stated very clearly that the big runs in the scrimmage were against the 2nd team D.

burntorange, they showed a twenty yard run by Bergeron on our ones. As well as a nifty run from Brown of about 12 on our ones.

A lot of positives to be taken from that interview. Good stuff.

You guys understand that OL coaches don’t devise the schemes, correct?
 
They just execute them.
 
Any OL coach on the planet would struggle under the requirements of last year’s running game.

JS,

I guess the Aggie troll troll is right then. Good on him.

Live, in game adjustments on offense, you’re kidding me right? Texas hasn’t had that in a long, long time.

What, the random musings of GD’s Magic 8-Ball didn’t count as"live, in game adjustments"?!?

For the record, I wasn’t espousing skepticism regarding our running game. I was just committing the cardinal sin of arguing with a troll. Jesus, will you forgive me.

I’m actually feeling good enough about our running game to regret the fact that I’m wearing scrubs.

I would be happy if the only hightlight runs our 1st team D gives up in a game are a 20 and a 12 yarder. That might constitute ‘shredding’ a run defense for Greg Davis, but I am not sure it is enough evidence that our 1st team O was effective running against our 1st team D. We don’t have any stats so unless those were two of only a handful of plays matching 1s v 1s, its hard to say anything regarding either line’s performance except for the generalities provided by our fine-tobacco connoisseur.

Ugh…I wish it were September already!

burntorange, no worries at all. I think it’s important to note that while our ones probably struggled against the run game, the Asset said they were playing base defense without much movement for the most part. As Longhornscott has stated, you have to use an active front to disrupt Boise’s running scheme.

What, the random musings of GD’s Magic 8-Ball didn’t count as"live, in game adjustments"?!?

Thanks Orange Marrow. It is good to laugh at what once was sooooo painful.

’Preciate the info, JS.

What is the ideal DT type to start next to Kheeston? Would we like to have a run-stuffer eating up 2 blocks next to Kheeston? Gap shooter? Speed guy? Power guy?

Thanks, JS, for this huge nugget of a report. I am just amazed at the following quote:

“They want to get real time, in game tendencies, and then attack. They’re not totally reliant on game film."

This is just light years ahead of any game planning that GD did at anyone time in the past 13 years without relying on super-talented Vince Young or gutsy, mobile, and all-heart Colt McCoy. I am hopeful that this season is the start of some great Texas football for years to come.

However, I am still with Jesus and hoping for 8 wins any extra are just icing on the cake. Sept. 3 cannot get here soon enough. Hook ’em.

Sploop, it sounds like it’s going to be Howell and then Dorsey with Daniels getting snaps as well. Jackson may play a bunch on obvious passing downs. DJ is cat quick with a ferocious motor.

Not sure how any best front seven talk can be justified seeing as we still don’t have a MLB or 2nd DT. Not saying we can’t and won’t do better, but after the beating we took up the middle last year, and the reports that we are still weak in those same areas, I want to see some evidence. Boom was a great DC. He had trouble stopping the run with the gaps we had. I hope Diaz has some new ideas, or the young guys really step up.

I am excited to see a real running offense though.

ethorn -
 
Every team in the Big 12 is looking for answers in their front 7.
 
Best doesn’t mean perfect.

I’m not saying I don’t like everything we have been hearing – I am stoked. I just don’t think we need to be getting ahead of ourselves again. I’d rather go in with some semblance of reasonable expectations for the team and be encorgaed and excited to see them get better. I really want to be rocking by the time we get to A&M. Just in case it’s our last game.

I was wondering how the other teams looked as soon as i sent that. In that case.

Supposedly Missouri, even with the loss of the skinniest DE draft pick ever in Aldon Smith, has a salty front 7.

I have always been a supporter of better non conference games. I hate playing cupcakes. I believe it was our weaker non-conf schedule in 2008 that cost us the points in the BCS polls and the tie breaker. But I was also used to us winning in spite of a bumbleass of an OC. Now, I sure wish we had a few more cupcakes this year. Why the hell did we sign up BYU and UCLA damnit.

Genius, being a genius, understands that two very good units can never get the best of each other because then they would not be very good units. So therefore every play must be a stalemate, which means the D is better. Wait, every play must be a long run, which means the O is better. Wait. I mean. Um, Genius, could you please explain how the two very good units can never get the best of each other in a scrimmage? Thanks.

We provide Genius way too much trolling satisfaction.

Great Cigar update JS – Soooo, is this now the home of the cigar updates? What drove the move to have the practice & cigar updates on the “mothership?” Wider readership?

Good sh*t regardless!

ou guys understand that OL coaches don’t devise the schemes, correct?

They just execute them.

Any OL coach on the planet would struggle under the requirements of last year’s running game.

Absolutely right Scip. Though I wasn’t necessarily a big fan of McWhorter, it’s for this reason that I always felt he was getting a bad rap the last several years as the run game faltered. GDGD was squarely responsible for the atrocious run game we’ve had and the horrible blocking schemes. McWhorter was just teaching the schemes he was told to teach.

DC Horn -
 
If Cigar talks about the current team, it’s here. If he talks recruits, it’s Cosm.

Makes sense to me Scip…Thanks for the info. Hook ’em!

Thanks, Jesus and all the gang at the Cosm and BC. The updates here have been fun to read. They give me hope that this will be a fun season to watch (or listen, in my case, as I don’t get too many on the tube.) A special thanks to Longhorn Scott. His reports, plus reading that the schemes are actually being put into the offense, are the primary reason for my optimism.

Just read Doc Saturday’s blurb. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/BlogPoll-Countdown-21-25-The-Outsiders?urn=ncaaf-wp5312#remaining-content

He picks us #21, which may be a little high, but seems reasonable. As a national writer, he doesn’t get the info you guys do, but this line resonated with me. “If former five-stars Alex Okafor (back at end after playing out of position at defensive tackle as a sophomore), Jackson Jeffcoat and Eddie Hicks come around, the front seven is going to be nasty enough to keep every game within reach, as long as the offense doesn’t insist on giving them all away again.”

That was pretty much my feeling after the spring game, before reading the updates here. Now I feel much better about the offense going into the season. Watching UT football is supposed to be fun. If we get that back, the new coaches will have earned their money.

“This is just light years ahead of any game planning that GD did at anyone time in the past 13 years”

13 years from now the sheer brilliance of the “me on 2” play will be recognized as a brilliant move. Without GDGD’s inspired playcalling, Vince would not have been Vince.

What position is Hutchins working at? With his lack of size I would think center.

While MacWhorter was given a chicken shit scheme to implement with his lines it should be noted that his lines were woeful in some areas that he very much had control over and we saw repeated issues.

Things such as the failure to execute basic fundamentals, a drop in the talent, and a lack in any type of attitude. How many times did we see Colt take a late shot and the offensive linemen do nothing, but run back and help Colt up off the ground?

Maybe I am way off base on this, but I really have a tough time believing a guy like say Brockermeyer, Babb, Thomas, or Neil would have been so benign in that type of situation.

TxPride, I’m thinking 9 wins is likely and possibly more if GG gets it going. I also think this bunch will be a rolling ball of butcher knives come November and beyond.

Nevin, their playing him up and down the line is what I was told. Kid needs to get a little bigger but he’s got GREAT feet.

Is it safe to say Wood is gone? BC didn’t mention his name even once.

So…Watercooler will no longer be a part of our receiving group? Thanks as usual for making my day.

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