Morning Coffee Thinks Vince Young Should Be The Haltime Show

by Peter Bean on Aug 27, 2008 3:58 AM CDT in Quick Hits Comment 12 comments

Impossible to screw up. Imagine you're in charge of coordinating Vince Young's Saturday night jersey retirement at DKR. As you sit down with your staff to brainstorm the final plan, you know wiggling around and through various set-in-stone game elements is unavoidable, of course, so you decide to launch the conversation into orbit via a perfectly safe starting point: "So long as we don't have the ceremony before kickoff, this will be hard to mess up."

Naturally, the actual celebration Saturday night will be at 5:35 p.m., a half hour before kickoff. Because I'm in too good a mood to go on and on about this, I'll quietly hope that it was Vince's schedule which required the early time slot.

Can we at least make sure he's in the locker room before kickoff?

Related: The athletic department is issuing new programs for this year's games, going so far as to re-brand them the Texas Football Playbook, featuring "rosters, depth charts, standings, player features, color photographs and much more." The first cover will commemorate Vince Young and the first 30,000 through the gates Saturday will receive a free copy.

Crack for Longhorn fans. The Statesman's Alan Trubow has a feature on Will Muschamp which contains absolutely nothing you and I don't already know about him. The Muschamp feature story is always the same boilerplate; the only real difference in most of these stories is the quotes...

Which is precisely why we read them! Your Muschamp-related quotes of the day:

"I didn't think I was going to respect him," [Dolphins linebacker Zach] Thomas said. "I mean, he was about the same age as me and never had coached in the NFL. I was really surprised, because I would have run through a brick wall for him after about a week. He's got this infectious personality. He's intense, but he's also honest and sincere, and you just don't want to disappoint him."

"You see a difference in the defense," Texas quarterback Colt McCoy said. "There is an intensity there that's hard to describe, but it's there because of Muschamp."

"I didn't have as much experience as the other coaches I was going against, but I knew I could outwork everybody," Muschamp said. "I just figured that coaching was all about working hard, preparing and relating to people. That's really what this business is about: relating to your players."

I made a gentleman's wager with Orson on the radio last night that Texas would beat FAU by 21+ points. Though I remain tentative about this offense, my confidence in this Muschamp-led defense really couldn't be higher. Texas, 45-17. The defense scores one.

Pay-per-view details announced. Partner cable companies carrying Texas' season opener on pay-per-view have been announced:

Fau_cable_list_medium

A shrinking violet? The much ballyhooed--here and elsewhere--18 returning starters from Florida Atlantic's strong 2007 season is down to 13. The Palm Beach Post breaks it down, including confirmation that center Nick Paris (foot), tight end Jason Harmon (knee), and defensive end Robert St. Clair (knee) will all miss Saturday's game against the Longhorns.

As is clear from my game prediction above, I feel great about this game three days before kickoff, in part because it feels like Florida Atlantic managed to peak sometime early this month. The closer we get to game day, the worse things seem to be getting for FAU: Injuries are sidelining key players while Howard Schnellenberger's aggressive remarks to the press have shifted media attention and, remarkably, even pressure, the Owls' way.

Not good for the road team.

Mack looking for 10th season opening win over non-BCS foe. This will be Texas' 11th home opener during the Mack Brown era, during which the Longhorns have gone 9-1 to kickoff the year. The 'Horns' only season-opening loss the past decade came in 1999, when Texas played NC State, its only BCS-conference opponent. Mack Brown's nine week one victims have been Arkansas State (2007), North Texas ('06, '04, '02), Louisiana-Lafayette ('05, '00), and New Mexico State ('03, '01, '98).

Florida Atlantic joined Division 1 in 2004 and won two of their four season openers. In 2004, their inaugural Division 1 season, the Owls upset Hawaii on the road in overtime 35-28. Schnellenberger's squad then lost to a pair of BCS opponents in 2005 (Kansas) and '06 (Clemson), before winning last season's opener 27-14 over Middle Tennessee State.

Malcolm Williams hitting a wall? Both Chip Brown and Greg Carlton report that Malcolm Williams closed out camp struggling a bit, including missed blocking assignments and a few dropped balls. Greg Davis suggested the staff may have pushed Williams too hard after he started fall practices so strong. "We've seen something that really has caught our attention. But we're looking for consistency. Malcolm really started off well. We may have put too much on him early cross-training him."

I began singing Williams' praises before fall workouts even began, but his end-of-camp struggles highlight why--even for the most talented of freshmen (redshirt or otherwise)--it's an uncertain bet to expect greatness on a consistent basis. Football at this level requires both skill and repetition; few can perform at a consistently great level right from the get-go.

What's important is that the coaches let the most talented play on the field, pick up reps, and make their mistakes. On multiple occasions during his freshman and sophomore seasons Deon Beasley had his ankles broken in the ugliest of fashions, but he's ready now because of it. Malcolm Williams will need to be pushed and tested, as well, including especially when he makes mistakes.

1 recs | Comment 12 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Maybe the jersey presentation is before the game.

And the rap session has been saved for halftime? The only other reason I can think besides Vince’s schedule, is if Vince wanted to addres the team at halftime?

by billb on Aug 27, 2008 9:26 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

'Come early'

Maybe they are doing the presentation before the game so fans will show up early and the stadium will be full by kickoff.

by R00T4UT on Aug 27, 2008 2:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

WR recruiting/development

Does this concern anyone else? It seems like 1/4 of our roster is composed of WR’s and yet we can’t seem to find a 3rd receiver? I know that that the majority of those roster spots are filled with true or redshirt freshman, but you also have a number of players that played (or a least used a year of eligibility) last year.

From signing years 2004-2008, we signed a total of 18 WR’s. 11 are still on the team and still listed at WR (excluding M. Hardy). 7 of those 11 played last year. Where are the playmakers in that group?

Remember in 2005 and to some extent 2006 when the buzz was that, outside of Limas, none of our receivers really had the ability to make big plays, stretch the field, etc.? Our current situation has the exact same feel.

by Horncasting on Aug 27, 2008 10:22 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think theres a fair amount of buzz around Williams and Buckner

Very rarely do freshman WR get a ton of attention though.

Im looking for these two to get some good PT in this year, and contribute. Then when Ship and Cosby are gone, to step up and be the men. Right now, Im fine with having some uncertainty at the third spot, if Ship can stay healthy, we have a rock solid 1 and 2.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Aug 27, 2008 10:25 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think you're looking at it the wrong way

If the only WR’s we had on the team were Shipley, Cosby, Malcolm Williams and a bunch of scrubs, then we’d already have our #3 receiver set in stone. Yay! But would that really be a better option than what we have now? The only reason no one has completely taken over the #3 WR spot is that there are so many talented players vying for it. I just went through the entire roster and there are only two WRs that are upperclassmen outside of scout teamers and walk-ons: Shipley and Cosby. There is 1 redshirt sophomore, 2 true sophomores, 1 redshirt freshman and 5 true freshmen. These are nine young kids competing for one open spot. This isn’t exactly a case of bad player development; it’s a case of too much talent.

by billyzane on Aug 27, 2008 10:49 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

#3 WR

The only reason no one has completely taken over the #3 WR spot is that there are so many talented players vying for it.

This may be completely accurate, but it’s definitely not he vibe I got from the summer reports, which was that none of the receivers outside of Shipley and Cosby had taken the next step. Also, it’s a concern that neither of the 2006 WR’s, both RS soph. Payne and Webber, even seem to be in the mix for this.

Correction to my original post – the WR numbers should actuallys be 19 and 12. I forgot Fitzhenry.

by Horncasting on Aug 27, 2008 11:03 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

A little circuitous reasoning.

That really can’t take the new step until they get on the field at game time. Nothing else really counts, not spring practice, o-w game, no summer or fall practice, nada, even if one or two had put daylight between themselves and their competitiors, which Williams and Buckner have done.

Greg’s comments are perhaps a little misconstrued. Once it was clear Williams and Buckner represented the cream of the WR crop (as opposed to slot/flanker), the coaches wanted to push them until they dropped to see precisely where they would make mistakes. If they’re doing everything perfectly, you can’t teach them a damn thing. So, with cross-training, Davis wore them down to a point where they did make mistakes: missed catches, missed blocking assignments.

You prefer this process to occur in practice, not in the fourth quarter of early games. First, you accurately pick up the signs that a player’s judgment is diminished somewhat, a very valuable piece of intelligence for both the coaches and the player; it knocks the edge off the players confidence but also immunizes against over-confidence; it points the coaches toward the player’s mechanics they need to improve, the ones he makes when he is dog-tired and his attention span is nada. And it pushes the player to a higher level in the long run, where he makes those plays regardless, which is the consistency Davis is aiming for. No, they won’t get it immediately, but it will come and it will come with a solid, irreducible state of confidence.

This is a great luxury to be able to do this prior to the season with key players. They are now rebuilding and with the rest coming prior to the game, Williams and Buckner should be just fine except for the anxiety all the players who have never set foot in a game will have. They have four games to find the groove, to go from thought to instinct, from hopes and dreams to TDs.

Davis said he will play six receivers; by the second quarter or so all the pre-game butterflies will be gone. So, they’ll make some mistakes. As long as they’re not critical, so what? Having watched coaches break down every mistake in the game makes you realize just how many there are early in the season. It’s trial and error learning and there’s no way around it. FAU, UTEP, Arkansas and Rice will all be making a ton of mistakes, too.

Frankly, horncasting, you’re fishing in dead water. It will come out okay. We’re gonna have to cut down your Boom Motherfucker allowance if you get too down in the mouth.

by whills on Aug 27, 2008 12:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

what's more

Seems to me that (barring injuries of course) Texas can live for a couple of games without transcendent play at the #3 receiving slot, reasons being: 1) Rock-solid reliability from Quan and Ship; 2) We have the physical tools to dominate the LOS against FAU and UTEP, so we should be able to run the ball solidly. If not, our problems are bigger than anyone feared…

The young secondary, on the other hand, will be tested almost immediately. The same anxiety will be a factor, and hopefully it won’t be magnified if a couple of big plays are given up early on. Nevertheless, Muschamp has confidence and therefore so do I.

hook ’em

by longhornglory on Aug 27, 2008 1:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, I like that.

Muschamp has confidence and therefore so do I.

So do I. Sometimes you gotta go with it and let it bring what it may.

Let those secondary guys make their mistakes, get it out of their system. The Horns can cover their mistakes in these first two games. Let ’em learn and grow, the sooner the better.

by whills on Aug 27, 2008 5:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

goosebumps..

…through my entire body as i watched that video…vince i love you!

hopefully billb is right and he speaks to the guys at halftime, if he’s not doing any pregame talk.

Texas, 45-17. The defense scores one.

I want to get used to us being OOC opponents like that again…while you’re at it…why settle for ONE?

by vy til i die on Aug 27, 2008 10:31 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

No kidding on the goosebumps. Still get those when I see the 4th and 5 play or that picture of him standing in the confetti. Talk about priceless. Vince, the memories won’t fade and neither do the goosebumps. Big ups, man.

by GhostofBigRoy on Aug 27, 2008 11:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs