Speed…

[pinkman_90]

where is it on offense?  We are slow compared to other top teams.  I am much less worried about Arch than I am about not having many playmakers around him in a league that requires it to win a championship.  
 

- Our RBs are tough but nothing dangerous.  

- WR?  Nobody to keep you up at night.  Wingo is supposed to be fast but he’s more theoretical than real until he shows it.  

- Return game?  I think we had our two slower RBs returning kicks and Niblett for punts who’s supposed to be fast but that needs to show on the field.  

[LonghornFan4Ever]

1 minute ago, pinkman_90 said:

where is it on offense?  We are slow compared to other top teams.  I am much less worried about Arch than I am about not having many playmakers around him in a league that requires it to win a championship.  
 

- Our RBs are tough but nothing dangerous.  

- WR?  Nobody to keep you up at night.  Wingo is supposed to be fast but he’s more theoretical than real until he shows it.  

- Return game?  I think we had our two slower RBs returning kicks and Niblett for punts who’s supposed to be fast but that needs to show on the field.  

I get what you’re saying, but who on 2023 Michigan’s offense had game breaking speed?

[DanielOnorato]

I don't think Texas speed is the problem, its getting guys the ball on time in stride so they can make a play after the catch to utilize it. Arch inaccuracy many times cost playmakers their ability to run in space. I cant recall one player getting a ball in stride to run after the catch in space. 

Wingo and Livingstone can fly and Endries showed good speed and burst on his sideline downfield grab. Deandre Moore has good wheels also. Its more the lack of utilization of speed in week 1 that was concerning.  If they were dropping in cover 3 zones I wouldn't have been against a few more reverses for Wingo or screens. However, even the screen pass from Arch was a skipping rock unfortunately.

Edited Sunday at 11:13 PM by DanielOnorato

[pinkman_90]

14 minutes ago, LonghornFan4Ever said:

I get what you’re saying, but who on 2023 Michigan’s offense had game breaking speed?

[pinkman_90]

6 minutes ago, DanielOnorato said:

I don't think Texas speed is the problem, its getting guys the ball on time in stride so they can make a play after the catch to utilize it. Arch inaccuracy many times cost playmakers their ability to run in space. I cant recall one player getting a ball in stride to run after the catch in space. 

Wingo and Livingstone can fly and Endries showed good speed and burst on his sideline downfield grab. Deandre Moore has good wheels also. It’s more the lack of utilization of speed in week 1 that was concerning.  If they were dropping in cover 3 zones I wouldn't have been against a few more reverses for Wingo or screens. However, even the screen pass from Arch was a skipping rock unfortunately.

Wasn’t just a concern from week 1.  A lot of us had this concern all offseason and wanted another playmaker or two to be brought in via the portal.  We got Mosley but who knows if he’ll ever play and he’s more a possession guy.  

[DanielOnorato]

4 minutes ago, pinkman_90 said:

Wasn’t just a concern from week 1.  A lot of us had this concern all offseason and wanted another playmaker or two to be brought in via the portal.  We got Mosley but who knows if he’ll ever play and he’s more a possession guy.  

I'm not convinced Ohio State has a faster offense than Texas, and if they do its a small advantage at best. 

I'd put Texas speed towards the top of the entire country. Wingo, Moore, Livingstone, Butler all most likely in 4.4 range. Arch has some tremendous wheels as does Nick Townsend. In my opinion its more frustrating that we didn't see the speed because of lack of execution. Against zone coverages a lot is sitting down and finding gaps. Wingo and Arch need to figure it out by Gainesville.

Not sure of Wisners top end speed but he doesn't look slow to me and Baxter should get faster and faster. Pre injury he had some jets. 

I'd have loved Zechariah Branch but hopefully some of the freshman step up. It hurts to say it, but a head on straight Johntay Cook would be getting some big playing time this season.

[HDub1995]

I’ve been asking this question. I don’t think there are game changers on this offense. I will wait for it to play out but I don’t believe a trio of Wingo, Moore, and Livingstone is going to be good enough (add Mosley to that if he gets healthy).
 

Always disagreed with the decision to go after guys who had more size and less speed this year. Get why we did it, but personally didn’t like it when there were so many explosive options in the portal. We’ll see how it goes. 

[NothinButDaHorns34]

2 minutes ago, DanielOnorato said:

I'm not convinced Ohio State has a faster offense than Texas, and if they do its a small advantage at best. 

I'd put Texas speed towards the top of the entire country. Wingo, Moore, Livingstone, Butler all most likely in 4.4 range. Arch has some tremendous wheels as does Nick Townsend. In my opinion its more frustrating that we didn't see the speed because of lack of execution. Against zone coverages a lot is sitting down and finding gaps. Wingo and Arch need to figure it out by Gainesville.

Not sure of Wisners top end speed but he doesn't look slow to me and Baxter should get faster and faster. Pre injury he had some jets. 

I'd have loved Zechariah Branch but hopefully some of the freshman step up. It hurts to say it, but a head on straight Johntay Cook would be getting some big playing time this season.

I think missing out on Eric Singleton to auburn hurt. Johntay isn’t a burner and zachariah is more of a gimmick player. Jet sweeps, screens, special teams and so on. Not really a complete wide receiver who’ll make a difference. 

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

Wingo looked pretty fast 

[drag worm]

Definitely agree on kick and punt returner. That’s the best a program with Texas and its NIL war chest can do at those positions? We should have Peter Warwick 2.0 out there. 

[Sundancekid]

Our defense played pretty damn well.

[marathon]

2 hours ago, pinkman_90 said:

Wasn’t just a concern from week 1.  A lot of us had this concern all offseason and wanted another playmaker or two to be brought in via the portal.  We got Mosley but who knows if he’ll ever play and he’s more a possession guy.  

Agree, we have no one that can what Blue did on this run.

 

 

[Ace_Rothstein]

2 hours ago, pinkman_90 said:

Wasn’t just a concern from week 1.  A lot of us had this concern all offseason and wanted another playmaker or two to be brought in via the portal.  We got Mosley but who knows if he’ll ever play and he’s more a possession guy.  

Texas has one of the fastest teams in the country. 
 

We have at least 6-7 skill players on offense that will run sub 4.5 when they eventually hit the combine over the next 2-3 draft cycles 

 

[Hookem72]

The problem is our offense doesnt look or feel explosive.  Tommy Castleanos looked like he was shot outta a cannon in his game against Bama.  The Miami players all look electric in this game against ND.   We may have some players who can run fast 40 times, but it doesnt seem like they show up in big games against UGA.   If I was a 5 star receiver I just dont know if I would pick Texas.  

[Traves]

I agree…I wasn’t overly impressed with the speed/game breaking ability of our offense. I wish we would go break the bank for Jalen Lott because he is the type of prospect we are missing.

[Hashtag]

3 minutes ago, Traves said:

I agree…I wasn’t overly impressed with the speed/game breaking ability of our offense. I wish we would go break the bank for Jalen Lott because he is the type of prospect we are missing.

Nah....he's not that type of receiver IMO. 

[GQ03]

8 hours ago, Hookem72 said:

The problem is our offense doesnt look or feel explosive.  Tommy Castleanos looked like he was shot outta a cannon in his game against Bama.  The Miami players all look electric in this game against ND.   We may have some players who can run fast 40 times, but it doesnt seem like they show up in big games against UGA.   If I was a 5 star receiver I just dont know if I would pick Texas.  

This is what we call an overreaction. How quickly do we forget what Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Matthew Golden, and a healthy Isaiah Bond looked like in this offense.

[Hashtag]

1 hour ago, GQ03 said:

This is what we call an overreaction. How quickly do we forget what Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Matthew Golden, and a healthy Isaiah Bond looked like in this offense.

Of those guys only Worthy and in limited snaps before injury bond looked explosive. No one expected AD or Golden to be as fast as they were at combine because they didn’t look explosive. 

[ClubWhatever]

Not having a gadget back who runs a 4.4 is an issue.  We’ve had Blue or Robinson to get explosives and we don’t have that this year.  We have one receiver who can strike fear in people because of his speed.  But that guy doesn’t seem to get open deep very much.   Who on this offense scares a DC?  Who do you have to gameplan for?

[GQ03]

On 9/1/2025 at 6:15 AM, Hashtag said:

Of those guys only Worthy and in limited snaps before injury bond looked explosive. No one expected AD or Golden to be as fast as they were at combine because they didn’t look explosive. 

The guy said if he was a 5 star WR he doesn't know that he'd pick Texas. That was the overreaction to Saturday. Outside of Ohio State and probably LSU I'm not sure there's another team in the country that's done better with their WRs than Texas under Sark. Bond before injury looked more explosive here than he ever looked at Bama. Mitchell made many explosive plays here even if he didn't look like a 4.35 guy at the time. We also took Golden who was more known as a Kickoff return guy and turned him into a complete WR and 1st round pick. Don't get me wrong I would LOVE to have a Dakorien Moore or Ryan Williams type but we've been pretty dang good at developing the talent at the position since Sark arrived. 

[AusMOJO]

Our guys are fast, did we miss them getting open against an elite secondary? Hell even Endries is fast and Townsend/Washington are good athletes at TE. I agree right now we don't have a speed guy at RB, Baxter still working his way back from injury but he's not that type of guy and Wisner isn't either. I've no idea if Clark could be but he didn't see any action. Plus Manning has some legs.

I'm not concerned overall but I did think they could've done better in the portal at WR with what was available but t hey were also in the midst of a playoff run, so it's hard to split your focus like this. 

[Hookem72]

My point is that the scheme does not make fast receivers look fast—not the game we’ve seen this year or any games last year.  That is just not the scheme Sark seems to run.   Our guys who got drafted high goy drafted high because they ended up running faster at the combine than people thought they would—AD Mitchell and Golden, exhibits A and B.  Those guys were really fast but they didnt ever really look like it in Sark’s offense.  I’m talking about 4.3 guys.

[Glass Joe]

I think we lack the short area quickness, burst, “make a guy miss” element but not necessarily the straight-line speed element.

There is no J.Blue acceleration on the current team.  There is no S.Bolden zero-to-top speed in a blink guy either.  Nor is there a guy with the speed / cuts of route running that we had in Bond or Golden.  That is how you get open most of the time.

D.Moore may have 10.6 speed, but he doesn’t have great quickness in and out of routes, nor great deceleration (stop-n-start).  He’s a straight line guy.

Wingo has elite straight line speed (10.5), and has great burst / acceleration, but he runs upright and kinda stiff.  He is a guy who can win in wide space, but not short area space.

I would not call the 2025 team a bunch of plodders, but they are not a team of guys who win with quickness / burst, not make you miss elusiveness.

 

[A-10HORN]

2 hours ago, Glass Joe said:

I think we lack the short area quickness, burst, “make a guy miss” element but not necessarily the straight-line speed element.

There is no J.Blue acceleration on the current team.  There is no S.Bolden zero-to-top speed in a blink guy either.  Nor is there a guy with the speed / cuts of route running that we had in Bond or Golden.  That is how you get open most of the time.

D.Moore may have 10.6 speed, but he doesn’t have great quickness in and out of routes, nor great deceleration (stop-n-start).  He’s a straight line guy.

Wingo has elite straight line speed (10.5), and has great burst / acceleration, but he runs upright and kinda stiff.  He is a guy who can win in wide space, but not short area space.

I would not call the 2025 team a bunch of plodders, but they are not a team of guys who win with quickness / burst, not make you miss elusiveness.

 

Exactly. 
 

Butler is probably that guy but he’s struggling to be consistent to catch the ball. 
 

hopefully Clark will have some of that juice in the sense of quickness to make people miss 

[FootLaw]

Let them work the bugs out for a few games. Opening the season against another top 3 team on the road has a way of making a team look worse than they are. We have the speed, but the processing/timing needs to get there with Arch. Several times we had a TE or WR open, but Arch didn't find them. Hopefully this stopped all the Arch to the draft talk for a while. I agree on returners. Weird choices there.

Sark understands he's going to need to lean on his defense while the offense figures out who it is under Arch. We'll probably see what Clark and Mosley bring on Saturday.