OTF Premium Reshuffling on the OL (Monday 1:50 p.m.)

[GoHorns1]

OL development takes a couple of years in weight room and teaching techniques, K. Banks was a rarity and must starter as freshman. Bama, Georgia, tOSU seldom start freshmen or sophomores.

[Bunk Moreland]

9 minutes ago, LonghornFan4Ever said:

For me, I just want to see if the OL that they trot out there is improved in run blocking, especially at LG-C-RG.  Part of what made Robinson and Johnson so special at Texas was their ability to create their own running lanes.  However there were several times they had to shed a tackle right away to gain positive yards.  Same thing with Brooks before he got hurt a couple of years ago.  To be fair, the OL has shown glimpses of what it could be in run blocking (2022 Baylor game, end of the 2023 Bama game, OU, Kentucky, A&M, and Clemson last season) but just want to see more consistency in that regard.  Eventually you want them to resemble the OLs of the early to mid 2000s.

The pass pro has improved every year Flood has been here, and that seems to be the strength of his coaching, but the run blocking has not progressed at the same rate imo.  Maybe with the last few players from the Herb Hand era gone and all of Flood’s guys there, you’ll see his unit become great at both.  Hopefully, they’ll start to see the fruits of their labor this season.

I agree wholeheartedly. If this line, which should be full of maulers on the interior, doesn’t improve its run blocking, to me suggests there are issues with Flood’s scheme. I guess we won’t know until they actually start playing the games!

[BWizzle2145]

I don’t comment much, but man this topic was explosive and entertaining! My guy really hold up the name tag…closetojumping…That being said; I get where he’s coming from on the surface. The timing is definitely odd. On the other side, I can also see why you at the least take a look at it. One of the first things it tells me, is the staff likes Baker and Brooks on the right side and doesn’t want to tinker with that dynamic

[GoHorns1]

23 minutes ago, Assistant Regional Manager said:

The guy Ohio State took from Rice that was considered one of the best in the portal looks like he isn’t even going to win a starting job.

It is a tough way to make a living. Might be the hardest position to recruit in the portal.

Proofs my point that solid OT’s aren’t a dime a dozen in the portal. Flood prefers high school development route.

Edited 14 hours ago by GoHorns1

[Texasborn91]

1 hour ago, Immamac said:

My favorite Burnt Ends story ever is when Ja'Tavion Sanders was answering questions about NIL deals he had and he was like yeah a few but the biggest one is this BBQ place Burnt Ends. 

This is after homeboy had been on the payroll for over a full season, had met me and a lot of the donors and had gone through orientation twice. 

Wait, what are we talking about here? I hear the ledge is quite nice... Maybe join me there? 

 

Surly changing the world!

[closetojumping]

1 hour ago, pinkman_90 said:

Remember, the guy saying we’re all idiots while also calling out CJ is the one who brought us gold like this:

“Banks and Sarkisian are basically trying to run the entire show when it comes to recruiting, to the point of limiting access for position coaches with their position targets. Sounds really ****** weird.

Harris has provided consistently dated and/or clueless intel from the recruits’ camp side and is just basically an order taker otherwise.

Texas lost a talented scout that they haven’t replaced and they lost a talented roster management/personnel guy that they arrogantly decided to not really replace by instead promoting an unqualified yes man.

This predicament is entirely of Sarkisian’s making. He’s going to have to fix it soon as there is more bad news looming.”

Just to be clear, do you think I was wrong here?  Or uninformed?

[Huskie1]

5 hours ago, closetojumping said:

You think that's what this is? Moving the starting LG and C to new spots because the starting LT is "hurt for a few days" is "manufacturing depth" to you? Okay then. 

They have Nick Brooks as a flex Tackle. Omeozulu hasn't taken reps at Tackle in 3 years. Now he's the fill-in LT if Goosby is down for awhile? 

The only reason this move, right now, makes any sense is because someone is more seriously injured than the staff is letting on to the public. There is no other rationalization that makes any sense and "manufacturing depth" certainly isn't one. 

I trust Flood more than you on matters of offensive line. 

[whereiend]

5 minutes ago, Huskie1 said:

I trust Flood more than you on matters of offensive line. 

Where did he say that Flood was wrong?

CTJ's point is that there might be more to the story as far as *why* Flood is doing it, not that Flood is an idiot.

Though I think Bobby's explanation (Robertson is OL #6 and we need to prepare for what that means) does make sense.

Edited 13 hours ago by whereiend

[Texus]

5 hours ago, closetojumping said:

This doesn't make much sense if Goosby is really going to be back shortly. It's bizarre.

Searching for a contingency plan in the event of be a real Goosby injury?  That’s due diligence. That’s smart.  They believe Goosby is a known quantity. No reason not to take this time to address what I think we all can agree (including Sark) is the one area of concern on the team.  Backup OL - tackle in particular.  I’d be concerned if they weren’t actively working on that issue.  

[Thanos72]

What’d I miss?

[Bobby Burton]

Fighting against one another feels counter-productive.

**

“closetojumping” helped Texas at a time of immense need, at a time when too many Texas boosters sat on the sidelines either waiting to see exactly how NIL would play out or too many didn’t know or understand that there were serious obstacles to athletic success, football in particular, building.

The inaction or lack of understanding was resulting in Texas ceding ground in every way possible to Texas A&M in football. The Aggies had embraced NIL before it was legal IMO.

That all seems like a distant memory now. But it felt like -and was IMO - an existential crisis then.

In what remains one of the most classic Aggie things of all time, Jimbo truly screwed up a 20-mile lead in a marathon.

Back to my point:

CTJ, alongside others, was fundamental into the formation of what eventually would become the Texas One Fund.

He put his butt on the line (and his money) for virtually no reward other than the desire to see Texas win. He did that long before most folks started chipping in. He also leveraged more than just his financial acumen to do that. I know this because I saw it and witnessed it first hand.

**

So when I see one of CTJ’s posts and he takes on me, or CJ, Rod, Jeff or Gerry, I don’t really flinch. I accept it, think about it and then move on. He’s coming from a place where he cares about Texas football as much as any of us.

[AceHorn23]

6 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Super insightful.

My point is that I don't trust Vogel's reporting on this. There's an injury issue here, so don't tell your readership that there's nothing to see here. 

🤬

[drag worm]

6 hours ago, Bobby Burton said:

I think Connor Robertson is your sixth best OL right now. That’s what it tells me.

It could also mean that Chatman nor Brooks is truly ready.

I hate to walk in to the middle of a compete street fight of a thread and ask a question but what exactly was the plan at OT if Brooks hadn’t presented as a ready option on this line? The staff has known Baker has had a slow development curve on campus. Had Brooks not been ready (which he still might not be) was it all in on Cojoe as the third option swing tackle? 

[CQuast]

This topic is intriguing to say the least, but this era of blocking someone or ignoring someone’s opinions as a whole just because you think they are being negative or disagree with the point is just pitiful. There are easily solid points made on both sides but my God I pray we can get past this culture of putting our hands over our ears when things don’t go our way or someone isn’t being nice to us…

[Bobby Burton]

6 minutes ago, drag worm said:

I hate to walk in to the middle of a compete street fight of a thread and ask a question but what exactly was the plan at OT if Brooks hadn’t presented as a ready option on this line? The staff has known Baker has had a slow development curve on campus. Had Brooks not been ready (which he still might not be) was it all in on Cojoe as the third option swing tackle? 

Hmm. Couple of factors here.

- I think the staff has been happier with Baker’s work this spring and summer than some might recognize. Some believe he is the hardest worker on the OL. Not sure on the supposition that he’s been on a slow development curve. He’s literally a redshirt freshman and preparing to start this year.

- Brooks was tackle no. 3 leaving spring. Then he got the DUI. Mentally, that will set a player back in the mind of a coach. And that occurred after the portal closed. In other words, they left spring thinking Brooks would be there for them.

- Cojoe was not going to be a swing tackle. The pre-camp idea was for Brooks to groom at left tackle and Cojoe to push Baker.

- In retrospect, they could have used another tackle in the portal IMO.

 

 

[Hashtag]

56 minutes ago, Bobby Burton said:

Fighting against one another feels counter-productive.

**

“closetojumping” helped Texas at a time of immense need, at a time when too many Texas boosters sat on the sidelines either waiting to see exactly how NIL would play out or too many didn’t know or understand that there were serious obstacles to athletic success, football in particular, building.

The inaction or lack of understanding was resulting in Texas ceding ground in every way possible to Texas A&M in football. The Aggies had embraced NIL before it was legal IMO.

That all seems like a distant memory now. But it felt like -and was IMO - an existential crisis then.

In what remains one of the most classic Aggie things of all time, Jimbo truly screwed up a 20-mile lead in a marathon.

Back to my point:

CTJ, alongside others, was fundamental into the formation of what eventually would become the Texas One Fund.

He put his butt on the line (and his money) for virtually no reward other than the desire to see Texas win. He did that long before most folks started chipping in. He also leveraged more than just his financial acumen to do that. I know this because I saw it and witnessed it first hand.

**

So when I see one of CTJ’s posts and he takes on me, or CJ, Rod, Jeff or Gerry, I don’t really flinch. I accept it, think about it and then move on. He’s coming from a place where he cares about Texas football as much as any of us.

You know he’s serious when he challenges you to a 40 yard dash. 

[Jay Kennedy]

13 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I get it, dude, you've been told that there is nothing to see here, so, hey, nothing to see here.

You have no clue whether Omeozulu makes any sense at Tackle whatsoever. He's rarely played Guard and was allegedly being pressed there. Now he's the next best option at LT after not repping there since HS? I guess, maybe, but what's happening here is removing gelling reps from 3 different positions because one has an injury that appears more serious than anyone is letting on. It's a bizarre move. The situation you reference last year was one made out of desperation. That's fine if that's the case here as well, but your initial post doesn't indicate that there's anything of concern. 

Anyone not looking at this and thinking, "huh, this is weird and probably raises some red flags" isn't actually thinking. 

User name checks out

[AusMOJO]

I know people will hit the panic button, but I do like that the staff is extra careful with injuries. No reason to risk these guys in practices if we don't need to. 

As for the OL reshuffling, it's nothing new. Literally everyone does. Hell, even Ohio State has been doing it this fall camp. Texas did it last year, too. 

I like that they're trying new ways to see how the line looks, etc. Goosby will be back and ready to rumble against Ohio State. 

[AusMOJO]

13 hours ago, Bunk Moreland said:

I completely agree with this. I can’t believe Sark allowed it to come to this. Flood’s recruiting and development since that 2022 class have simply not been good enough. 

 

Be interesting to see a thread started on this and get peoples thoughts on Flood and the recruitment/development of the OL. No bigger task than getting this OL ready this year.

Who is even better than Flood? It wouldn't be just replacing an OL coach but also your OC.

[Hashtag]

30 minutes ago, AusMOJO said:

 

Be interesting to see a thread started on this and get peoples thoughts on Flood and the recruitment/development of the OL. No bigger task than getting this OL ready this year.

Who is even better than Flood? It wouldn't be just replacing an OL coach but also your OC.

Our HC is the OC. Flood has that designation in name only for pay purposes

[Thanos72]

6 hours ago, AceHorn23 said:

🤬

I don’t know CTJ but I appreciate the passion if not the delivery.

Objectively, CJ has a long way to go in his reporting. It’s rarely nuanced and imo he blurs his opinion and sourced information in his delivery. At times, conflating the two. This is observational not critical. It’s impressive that he’s done so well this early into his career but his style strikes me as someone that thinks they’ve arrived versus being on the curve. He also seems selective with whom he responds but that again comes with experience. Interacting effectively with an audience can be as important as the information being delivered. I hope behind the scenes he is absorbing all he can from the eclectic group he is with because there’s a ton of wisdom to be gained.

All CJ had to do was what Bobby, leading by example, did and include a plausible option as to why the changes took place in the initial post. This is not for any one poster’s sake but we all gain from a thoughtful or thorough article. Again, experience matters. Not dumping on the dude and I believe he has the talent to get there if he has the willingness to learn/grow. 

I do think CJT took the article way too literally and since he is apparently well connected, knows there is a limitation as to what is known but also to what “can” be shared. I absolutely get his frustration with the canned phrases and asleep at the wheel replies. He was seeking clarity and got magic 8 ball replies. It has to be frustrating having real skin in the game when most only have skin on a keyboard. 

Kudos to Bobby for the context and perspective. I really like him giving CJT is due without selling out team or being defensive as most other site mods(people?) would. We all benefit when we listen to understand vs waiting to respond. And, 💯 on 🎯 about counterproductive.
 

TL;DR 🤘🏽

[Joe Zura]

All I see when I see this thread 

[UTexas]

2 minutes ago, Joe Zura said:

All I see when I see this thread 

There was a lot of that yesterday. 

[AusMOJO]

11 minutes ago, Hashtag said:

Our HC is the OC. Flood has that designation in name only for pay purposes

Sure maybe. I think Sark is the playcaller, but Flood definitely runs things when it comes to outside of playcalling. It's impossible for Sark to run the team as the HC and be the OC at the same time. 

I'm not sure it's just a title for pay purposes. But if it is, then I'm happy to be wrong on that. 

[Thanos72]

21 minutes ago, Joe Zura said:

All I see when I see this thread 

🦆🦆🦆