Mad Dog Says: Bigger is Better
Not sure I agree. Looking for sacks & explosive plays? Consider looking at these numbers.
From the 2007 roster to the 2008 roster quite a few changes took place.
+37 Greg Smith
+25 Tyrell Higgins, Josh Marshall
+22 Ahmard Howard
+20 Ian Harris
+15 Sam Acho, Cody Johnson
+12 Dustin Earnest
+10 Tray Allen, Rashad Bobino, John Chiles, Michael Huey, Blaine Irby, GJ Kinne, Aundre McGaskey, Brian Orakpo, Keenan Robinson, Luke Tiemann, Adam Ulatoski, Michael Wilcoxon, and Malcolm Williams
+7 Antwan Cobb, Jordan Shipley
+6 Jared Norton
+5 Ryan Bailey, Buck Burnette, Russell Carter, Quan Cosby, Trevor Gerland, Chris Hall, Eddie Jones, Colt McCoy, Roy Miller, Ishie Oduegwu, Charlie Tanner, Foswhitt Whittaker
+4 Steve Moore, Montre Webber, Ben Wells
+3 Philip Payne, Christian Scott
+1 Sherrod Harris
0 Ben Alexander, Deon Beasley, Chykie Brown, Curtis Brown, Brandon Collins, Cedric Dockery, Brian Ellis, Lamarr Houston, Sergio Kindle, James Kirkendoll, Hunter Lawrence, Aaron Lewis, Vondrell McGee, Britt Mitchell, Roddrick Muckelroy, Chris Ogbonnaya, Ryan Palmer, Nic Redwine, Earl Thomas, Peter Ullman
-25 Henry Melton
That’s correct–one guy lost weight, and he lost 25 pounds.
From their freshman year roster until now:
3 players lost weight (Aaron Lewis -10, Henry Melton -5, Cedric Dockery -5)
7 stayed the same weight
Here are the big gainers (if two positions are listed, the first is what they came in as):
TE/OL Britt Mitchell, 2006 entry, +50
TE/OL Greg Smith, 2006 entry, +47
DE Brian Orakpo, 2004 entry, +40
DE/DT Brian Ellis, 2006 entry, +37
WR/TE Josh Marshall, 2006 entry, +35
TE Peter Ullman, 2004 entry, +30
LB/FB Luke Tiemann, 2004 entry, +26
DT Tyrell Higgins, 2007 entry, +25
K Ryan Bailey, 2005 entry, +25
OL Buck Burnette, 2006 entry, +25
OL Steve Moore, 2006 entry, +25
RB Vondrell McGee, 2006 entry, +25
TE Ahmard Howard, 2007 entry, +22
TE Ian Harris, 2007 entry, +20
OL Adam Ulatoski, 2005 entry, +20
OL Chris Hall, 2005 entry, +20
DE Eddie Jones, 2006 entry, +20
OL Charlie Tanner, 2005 entry, +20
WR Montre Webber, 2006 entry, +20
WR/RB Chris Ogbonnaya, 2004 entry, +20
LB/DE Lamarr Houston, 2006 entry, +18
LB/RB/FB Antwan Cobb, 2006 entry, +17
LB Dustin Earnest, 2006 entry, +16
DE Sam Acho, 2007 entry, +15
RB Cody Johnson, 2007 entry, +15 (this from a kid who came in 15+ too high)
QB Colt McCoy, 2005 entry, +15
S Ishie Oduegwu, 2005 entry, +15
LB/DE/FB Nic Redwine, 2004 entry, +15
LB Sergio Kindle, 2006 entry, +14
DT Ben Alexander, 2006 entry, +12 (just what he needed….)
WR Jordan Shipley, 2004 entry, +11
21 others put on 3-10 pounds, but I’m bored. Worth mentioning is Rashad Bobino–was an extra 10 pounds this offseason what was holding him back? And Quan’s 5 pounds this off-season will make him more explosive?
Thoughts?
February 8, 2008 at 7:01 am
Don’t all programs have this kind of growth? TCU’s DEs (Ortiz and Blake) both went from 225# HS RBs to 270# DEs in two years. Joe Jon Finley (OU TE) was a 210# QB at Arlington HS, and is now a 270# blocking TE. If they get bigger and slower, there’s a problem, but do we know they did that?
February 8, 2008 at 7:04 am
The thoughts are that this kind of makes me sick to my stomach. I’m all about building muscle and strength at this level, but is it really necessary for our WRs to put on 20 lbs? Josh Marshall? Good Greif.
February 8, 2008 at 7:58 am
Some of it’s good weight, or needed (Marshall, Mitchell, Greg Smith) and some isn’t (Cody Johnson). Seriously, he’s GAINED weight? I guess they’re trying to Javorskie him.
February 8, 2008 at 8:32 am
You can look at MadDog and see his philosophy about eating. Why he is still employed is another Mack Brown mystery.
February 8, 2008 at 8:56 am
It’s good to see Ryan Bailey bulking up.
February 8, 2008 at 8:57 am
The puff piece on Mad Dog from the AAS a few years ago was one of the must unintentionally funny things I’ve ever read. It was about how he was laying on his couch watching Oprah, and she had some nutritionist on talking about the importance of eating right. A light bulb went on in Mad Dog’s head, and he decided to start monitoring what our players ate.
I read it, and read it again, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
February 8, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Josh Marshall is a tight end now, so he needed to gain weight. Tyrell Higgins was a 255 pound DT, so he needed to gain weight. Greg Smith was a 248 pound OL so he needed to gain weight. Both Ahmard Howard and Ian Harris were undersized so they needed to gain weight. Sam Acho needed to gain weight. The list goes on. What is wrong with this?
February 8, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Mack knows best
February 8, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The REAL question is: Who’s Mad Dog’s tailor these days?
Dude can make the Dog look Mangino-like!
February 8, 2008 at 3:58 pm
bighorn32:
I agree. There are number of these guys that needed to gain weight and that’s part and parcel of playing D-I football. No one is debating that. Josh Marshall needs to weigh 240.
My issue is with the complete lack of planning and oversight with respect to each individual. It’s as if Brian Orakpo is on the same fitness regimen as Chris Hall. It shouldn’t be so. Our basketball program has a very distinct vision for every single one of our players and very specific means to achieving that end tailored to each in precise, excruciating detail. Our football program has nothing like that.
Look at these guys currently in the program:
Quan Cosby - he’s not explosive over 200 pounds and it is written all over his play. He’s visibly chunky. At 190, he’s a different guy.
Brian Orakpo - Even before the injuries he had a slower first step, less motor, and looked nothing like the 250 pound Orakpo.
Eddie Jones - see Orakpo. He’s a greyhound at 245-250. He’s on his way to 265+ without intervention. Just like…
Lamarr Houston - he carries weight really well, but I wonder if he’s the best DE he can be at 275 and growing. We’re not facing the Power I this year, folks.
Cody Johnson - 255?
We play in a spread offense conference, in case our staff hasn’t noticed. Perhaps we should recruit and develop talent with that in mind.
Perhaps we should start engineering a team with an end in mind based on the environment we operate in and not allow a clinically obese, hands-off ne’er do well throw our kids into an amazing facility and an all-you-can-eat dining room and hope for the best. That’s when he’s not shaking down former Longhorns who want to work out here in preparation for the combine or in between NFL seasons.
February 8, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Other than Sizzlechest, do any former Longhorns in the NFL use Madden as a trainer?
Do any other trainers recommend bacon for wristbands?
I think you guys are being too harsh on Manatee Dog.
I like my db’s to be sleek like bull walruses and my de’s to explode like bologna in a microwave.
February 8, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Our players never put on good weight. All you need to figure this out is a set of eyeballs and a standard cable package. Watch any set of games on the weekend and you will see defensive ends and linebackers who have muscles on top of muscles. We have 5th year seniors who are slower than when they got to campus and do not even look like football players. Those 5 great O-linemen that we signed last year were looking like tubs of goo on the sideline by the end of the year.
We are also horrible at teaching lifting technique. We took a step in the right direction by getting Chuck Faucette back on the staff, but it’s not enough. No program has the number of shoulder injuries that we do. It is a direct result of malpractice in the weight room.
That’s just half of the bad joke.
MadDog is in charge of keeping the players in line. They are supposed to be able to look to him as an example of how to do things. How can a kid respect a guy who is telling him to have self control, when he can’t even push himself away from the dinner table? Where was Maddog when half our defense was getting thrown in jail?
February 8, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I agree that Maddog is mostly useless but some of those numbers arent a bad thing.