Texas had a single practice on Tuesday. I talked to a source within the program, and he indicated that the practice was either in the morning or the evening. Or possibly in the afternoon.
Mack Brown informs us that it's pretty fucking hot in Austin on his blog.
Kenny Boyd, the head athletic trainer for football, apparently gives Brown lots of random facts that Brown finds interesting.
He said the guys typically take between 10 to 14 days to get acclimated to practices in this heat...
He said the highest heat index during the past week was recorded on our practice field at 115 degrees.
Kenny told me during a typical practice in this heat, the guys need to replace about 24 ounces of fluid per hour.
Earl Thomas:
On the biggest difference for him between 2008 and this season: After that one year, the game slowed down a lot. We’re real comfortable as a whole in the secondary with our coverages. We give the quarterback different looks, different schemes, try to help the defensive line out.
On how the secondary will have improved this season: This year we just know the defense better. We’re comfortable out there. You can disguise more. You can play ball now, you don’t have to worry about messing up. You just go out there and play now.
On what has changed: Disguising coverages, last year I was worried about getting my job done, and finishing plays. I had a lot of opportunities last year to catch balls and I dropped them. This summer as a collective group of defensive backs we practiced real hard on finishing plays and just trying to make plays for the defense.
Our secondary is going to pretty fucking good this year.
John Chiles:
On if he talked to anyone during his position switch: I did talk to Quan. I talk to Quan a lot. Quan was my mentor when I came here, my freshman year. So we had a close bond from my freshman year, from when I was recruited. I talked to him about it. He was saying that being at The University of Texas, that wouldn’t be a bad move for me.
On how much it helped coming from quarterback and knowing all of the routes: It helps a lot. Going out, I can look at the defenses just from me telling, they’re in Cover 3, Cover 2, different things like that; where I’m supposed to be, who’s Colt going to be reading, stuff like that. It helps a lot.
Blake Gideon:
On how the secondary is doing since camp started: I think we’re excited about where we are. I think we’re coming out and we’re competing every day. A difference from last year is we have an idea of what direction to run in. When you have an idea of where you fit into the scheme, it’s all just playing football then. We’re coming out and getting better every day.
On differences between his first and second year: I’ve said before, "We’re not freshmen anymore." That really stopped after the first game last year. We don’t have that excuse anymore. It’s not acceptable for coverage busts this time around. We believe that we should be one of the strengths of the defense, and that we’ve been there together. We’re excited about where we are. Like I said, we are all a year older, and we know where we fit in now. We know how the system works. So it’s all about us getting better every day. When you’re done improving, you’re done. You’re not staying the same every day.
Last year was the third defensive coordinator Texas had in the last three years. You can't really underestimate how much improvement a defense will make in its second year under the same coordinator.
Emmanuel Acho:
On what is most improved about the defense so far: We’re just all really coming together. In Coach Muschamp’s second year, we’re having less mental errors, less mistakes, less mental mistakes, giving up less big plays, so we’re starting to see the concepts come together. We’re seeing how good we can be if we do things right.
Hey, I just said that.
Uh oh. Muschamp is wearing a visor.
Derek Johnson is running away with a tackling dummy. He's a big boy.
Malcolm Williams is a Maori.
Blake Gideon makes plays. In practice. Too soon?
Emmanuel Acho talks like a white dude so I'm no longer afraid of him.
Chiles calls a reporter 'man.'
James Kirkendoll is getting some local press from both KXAN and KVUE.
Discuss amongst yourselves. There will be a test on this shit in the morning.