Morning Coffee

by Peter Bean on Jan 21, 2008 9:27 AM CST in Quick Hits Comment 9 comments

Kirk Bohls' has a column on Connor Atchley's value to Texas this season, which is both an obvious but perhaps underappreciated point. It was certainly nice seeing Atchley play against Colorado with the same effectiveness with which he started the season. With that said, though Connor's been exceptionally effective against teams which lose track of him 12-18 feet from the basket, he's disappeared against teams which do not.

The team as a whole has struggled against teams which have shut down our perimeter game, and it's here that I'd like to see Connor take his next step forward. He's not quite strong enough to be an elite post scorer, but he's a savvy and skilled enough player that we can run half court sets through him against teams which are extending their perimeter defense. Especially with Gary Johnson still struggling to get his feet underneath him, Connor's got to help out in this regard.

AW will have the game preview for tonight's road trip to Oklahoma State, but as Mark Rosner notes, Justin Mason will return to the starting lineup. Mason's value as an energy-defense guy has never been in question, but it's impossible to deny that he's utterly lost on offense right now.

Most critically, it's in his head; if you've ever played basketball, you know what it feels like not to believe you're going to make your shots. It effects the way you dribble, the way you pass, the way you do everything offensively. He's a much better player than he's shown the last six weeks, but it's not going to get better until he quits thinking and starts playing.

Barking Carnival tackles the Gilbert-Shephard question, coming to the same conclusion I did: Shephard's the one to want. That's no knock on Gilbert, it's just a policy choice:

To me it boils down to two things. One, he is already closer than Gilbert to being a big time QB because he’s already demonstrated the hard part about being a deadly running QB. Second, there is no downside. Worst case scenario we get DeSean Hales two years in a row.

Bingo.

--PB--

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Shepard

DO WANTS!

Growing up, I only fed Jared Norton paper. That's why he eats plays.

by Horn Brain on Jan 21, 2008 10:17 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Gilbert & Who?

Come on PB, haven't we been over this?

by mikey 4 on Jan 21, 2008 10:22 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Connor's Hook

Should not be underrated. With AJ and DJ pulling so much attention, its easy to feed Connor for a couple hooks down low, so far he has been money on that shot every time he gets it.

Connors a great player to have that we need to get some more good looks his way, both behind the arc and down low, or on pick and roll backdoors.

I dont have a lot of faith on us to feed the post very effectively (*cough*Lamarcus*cough*), but forcing people to respect Connor more is key to our offense running smoothly, especially if one of our top three offensive threats gets in foul trouble early like we have been doing as of recent.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Jan 21, 2008 10:30 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

My two cents on Gilbert and Shepard

After watching the YouTube clips on both QB's from BC's links, here's my thoughts

Gilbert:

Tall and sees the field well and does a reasonable job of reading the coverage and throwing to the open or single-covered receiver

Release is not slow, but not quick either

Not quick in the pocket, but has a pocket presence that keeps him alive when rushed.

Great presence under pressure and throws a good (but not great) rollout pass

Arm strength not great - I thought I was watching McCoy throw

Consistently throws behind his receivers. Many of his completions occurred because his receivers knew how to look for the ball and outplay the DB for it.

Shuffles his feet too much in the pocket, which reduces the zip on his throws

I just didn't go, wow, how'd he do that. He seems well-schooled (like your classic football camp product) and knows how to control the offense and what's going on on the field. He seems athletically unimpressive.

Shepard:

Best field vision and use of blockers in any runner (QB or otherwise) that I've seen. In fact sometimes he just seems to be toying with the defenders in seeing how many times he can cut back He reminds me of how Ladainian Tomlinson might have looked as a QB.

Has so much more confidence in his running than his passing, it's hard to see how well he can really pass. Many times he had receivers open but didn't wait and took off running. It may also be that he doesn't read the field very well yet.

Seems small on the field, but based on the number of broken tackles, he is clearly stronger than LB's and DB's in his class. Not sure how his size affects his field vision.

Great burst of speed. Several times he simply outran LB's to the gap and got into the secondary.

I've never seen a running QB use the middle of the field as well as he does. Not sure what coach will let him run in the middle like that in college, but he is fearless.

He has a stronger arm and quicker release than Gilbert, and his mechanics are just as good. In fact, his mechanics are better than VY's are now.

In watching both, I tried to imagine the fate of plays if the defenders were just a little bit faster, quicker or stronger. Gilbert would have been sacked in his tracks on many plays, and suffered incompletions or even interceptions on others. Shepard wouldn't have broken as many long runs, but he would have only one or two negative plays

I'd have to go with PB and BC's assessment both from the risk standpoint (Shepard can run, no matter what) but also because Shepard really does have a much bigger upside. Gilbert is just uninspiring, while I wanted to suit up and go block for Shepard (at 180 lbs). Shepard reminds me a lot of Antwan Randle-El, who dominated the Big Ten for two years at Indiana. At a school like Texas with talent to go around him,....

by burnt in ny on Jan 21, 2008 11:24 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

Shepard looked like he was playing with the D on all but a few really impressive runs. He has great field vision when running, IMO, and knows exactly where the gaps will be and how to use his blockers. At the high school level, that's what makes those "well anyone could have done that, there was no one there" runs. Not just anyone could have done those. I don't care if he can pass a flip. He'll learn.

How big is he, though? The biggest problem with these quarterbacks is that they are very rarely light defensive ends that run 4.4s and make you scream "TRUCK STICK!" on the goal line against USC. They're mostly little, shifty guys that run around you. My point is best made by Barking Carnival:

Because Pat White and Dennis Dixon also have a ways to go, to be kind, in the passing game, and they were a thumb and a knee away from playing each other in the MNC game.

What CA is saying is that these offenses are ridiculously dangerous, but what I also read is that they are at much greater risk of having their season derailed by injury than more traditional offenses. I'm not saying that they are too QB-dependent, (most offenses will collapse without their starting QB) just that they put their QB at greater risk than most offenses, and he better be able to take the beating he's going to get against defenses that don't let him waltz freely amongst them like trees in an orchard. I hope this kid has some bigness.

Growing up, I only fed Jared Norton paper. That's why he eats plays.

by Horn Brain on Jan 21, 2008 12:28 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

on bigness

If I had to guess, Shepard looked to be about six feet tall. He was at least a couple inches shorter than most of his linemen, maybe more, and in high school most of those are 6'2" or so. But most of all he looked strong - he broke a lot of ankle tackles and slipped sideways out of several, which takes a lot of strength in the lower body. With work in the weight room, he maybe could be 6 feet and 210 or so without losing his speed. He has what I call choppy speed, or speed based on a high frequency of steps, rather than long strides, like Jamal Charles runs. This allows him to change direction suddenly and gives him more power. If he can get more powerful without losing his speed, he could be durable enough to survive what might be a 14-game national championship season. If he learns to pass better than Pat White, he also will have less chance of getting injured because that will be just fewer times he has to take on a LB. Certainly, his injury chances will be less than a slow, stiff QB like Gilbert who would just be a tree for a "logging" DE.

by burnt in ny on Jan 21, 2008 3:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Agree... sorta....

Certainly, his injury chances will be less than a slow, stiff QB like Gilbert who would just be a tree for a "logging" DE.

I agree that a QB is more likely to get hurt behind the line trying to pass than on the run (See Colt McCoy against K-State). On a per-hit basis, sacks are much more dangerous than open field tackles that you see coming. The difference is, GG will get sacked/hit-while-throwing less than 5-8 times per game (hopefully), while RS will get tackled most of the time he runs the ball, say 10 times, plus 2-5 sacks/hits in the pocket as a passer. The extra chances he has to get hurt, I think, make him more of an injury concern than GG. Remember both Dixon and White went down in one season, and that the injury doesn't have to be a torn ACL, it can just be an awkward landing on a thumb or a sprained ankle at the wrong time of the season.

I'm certainly not advocating taking Gilbert over Shepard. I think Shepard will be a freak, and we want him. I just hope he is a tough, gritty freak that can take a hit.

Growing up, I only fed Jared Norton paper. That's why he eats plays.

by Horn Brain on Jan 21, 2008 4:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Damion Jones??

With Damion Jones planted on the bench after two early fouls, Texas needed Atchley more than ever and told him so.

Doesn't anyone read Kirk's copy before it's published?

Life is an Occasion. Rise to it.

by patienthornsfan on Jan 21, 2008 1:09 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Deion James?

I don't understand why commentators always get Damion James' name wrong. It's either "Deion James" or "Damion Jones". I'm still waiting for a "Deion Jones" though.

--always Texas--

by longhorn00 on Jan 21, 2008 4:19 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs