I think they are just adding new things to the package. I’m sure Major will offer some thoughts on it.

to keep Chiles at QB. And the reason is very basic: If Chiles were to become a full-time WR and, heaven forbid, McCoy went down, you have Harris as the lone trained QB in the program. Anyone else old enough to remember the first half of the 1977 OU game, when Texas lost two QBs (for the season) in a span of about a dozen plays?

We can speculate that JC is about to play a big role as a slasher and read into Mack’s comments more than what is actually there or flat out believe that once again Mack is trying divert our attention from the truth. One thing that Mack and GD suck at is deception. Maybe they’re just too good at heart. Besides an occassion fake punt, when was the last time any of us were genuinely faked out by anything they’ve ever said or done?

Unfortunately we hope that they’ve got something up their sleeve - this is a mistake that Horn’s fans have made repeatedly in the past about the roles of a host of players – Chiles last year, Jermicheal Finley every year, any I-formation sighting or mention, Henry Melton, the mention of “disguised blitzes” in the past etc. Honestly as fans, we kept expecting the unexpected from the same cast of characters (Mack, GD, Akina) who generally don’t stray too far from the conventional.

Will this year be different? Defensively, Muschamp has enough of a track record to suggest that the scheme will be different.

Offensively, we can’t say the same thing just because a guy named Major is on the staff. Remember, Major is supposed to be coaching RBs, not QBs, not WRs, and not QB/WRs for that matter. Thus, I’m fairly pessimistic that the Chiles express will run out this year for a number of reasons.

First off, Mack is forced to keep Chiles at QB because unfortunately Mack doesn’t have leverage out of the QB position. There is no other back-up QB on the team that has had more meaningful practice time under center. Plus, with the departure of Kinne, there is no one with the dropback style that Mack could elevate to #2 QB simply based on keeping the offense consistent.

So, unless Sherrod develops you really have to save Chiles in case Colt gets hurt. And expect Chiles’ role to stay the same, and don’t expect him to be used more effectively. With the arrival of Garret Gilbert next year, we should expect this year to be Chile’s last.

Furthermore, GD doesn’t have a track record of creativity. You want the guy on the field though, so what do you do? Enter to Colt-Chiles “package”. The problem is Greg Davis is more a “throw a bunch of shit on wall and see what sticks guy” than a schemer. Throwing out the guantlet that both guys need to be on field and be effective probably makes GD squirm at night. He’s been called into question when he tries to not stick a square peg in a round hole (VY circa early 2004) and instead seems more successful when just lets the players do their thing (VY vs Michigan Rose Bowl). Again last year he gave Colt audibles and the green light to tuck-and-run and simply handed the ball to Jamaal as a way to avoid having to scheme.

One could argue that this is the tortured life of an Offensive Coordinator—when things aren’t working you must be trying to do too much, and when things are working its to the players (and not the coaches) credit. However In 2007 when both Colt and Chiles were on the field the offense seemed to grind to a halt. There was hesitation, and it generally flowed like molasses. This, to me, was a reflection on Greg Davis’ unease and lack of “intelligent design”. The effect was predictability when the two of them were on the field together, or when Chiles was there alone.

There are plenty of creative ways to employ the Colt-Chiles package, but they start with figuring out how they can both be successful and then using the predisposition of defenses against them. That means creating schemes and employing decoys - something neither Mack nor GD is good at.

Perhaps I’m underestimating Major’s impact on the scheme—but I don’t think it makes any sense to expect any grandious changes until the team actually starts playing. At this point, I’ve come to the conclusions that speculating as to offensive scheme is pointless and the direction the team will take is based on GD’s “do whatever is working” mentality.

What the hell is it with Mack and thinking you can get a 2-qb system to work. Unless Mack and Co really think he will supplant Colt as the starter this year./blockquote>
Probably watching the last 2 national champions use 2 quarterbacks influenced them some.
It’s all about utilizing your best athletes. If we can find ways to utilize the talents of Chiles and mcCoy we’re better than if just one is utilized. It’s not like Simms vs. Applewhite when both were pocket passers.

starting with the word “probably” that was me commenting, not a quote.

Are NOT the same situation as a Junior and a Sophomore.

I’ve also not seen Urban or Miles claim that Leak or Flynn were two of the best players they had.

I’ve never seen Wade Phillips claim Tony Romo is not one of the Cowboys best players. Clearly he must not be.
There’s a lot we can do with Chiles on the field at the same time as Colt without facing “10 on 11” circumstances. We could run some Meyer-Utah spread option, we can throw laterals to Chiles for deep passes or screens, we can run reverses, direct snaps, zone reads. I don’t see anything wrong with Colt going for a deep pass every once in a while either. The point is, Chiles has a skill set as an explosive player in space that neccessitates his use on the field as did Tebow and perriloux. We don’t have to use him like a QB when he’s on the field with McCoy, the point is to maximize his talent.

I think we can do some good things with Chiles with the zone-read, but I’d also like to see him on the field more often than just a handful of series. Plus, when he comes in, it’s not a big secret what we’re going to do… then again, everyone knew Tebow was going to run when he came in for Leak, and that guy still always seemed to get 5-6 yards all the time.

I was leaning towards moving Chiles to receiver in the summer, but while we lack overall experience, I think we have a good amount of talent already there. I don’t think Chiles should be a runningback, and he can really give us a nice change of pace playing QB. So I don’t know.

The only thing I’d ask of GD is if Colt and Chiles are on the field at the same time, please don’t put Colt in motion out wide. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Colt is actually a lot better athlete than people give him credit for (multi-sport star in high school), but I don’t think opposing defenses will worry themselves that Colt is going to fly down the sideline and Chiles will loft a beautiful deep pass to him. I was always confused why they did that last year, as it seems a lot more logical to send Chiles in motion instead.

They have to be careful with this and make sure this works. Rhythm is important for offenses, and they have to get Chiles in without disrupting the overall flow of the offense (unless it’s been awful… then it needs to be disrupted). And if Chiles is going to play QB, he’s going to have to present SOME threat he can throw. At least, something better than Tebow’s little awkward jump-throw he graced the nation with his freshman year.

10 for 12, 200 yds and 2 TDs came against Western Carolina.

And Perriloux had been in school for 2 years already.

Senior rotating with freshman = breaking in the new shoes just slightly before the old shoes need to be retired.

Junior rotating with sophomore = QB controversy.

This always seems like a good problem to have, but it’s not when it comes to recruiting and preventing a transfer. I really feel bad for Harris, because I think the guy has a skill set that is exactly between those of Chiles and McCoy, and the guy could really do some damage. Throwing him out of consideration is a tragedy, but every report seems to make it sound like he’s getting nothing more than token consideration, and that the playing time will be split between 1a and 1b.

If these three guys all show some stuff this fall, Texas will have a problem, whether it ends up being transfers by the odd man/men out or a logjam that discourages recruits like Gilbert from actually signing.

Then again, UT could be to QBs what USC has been to RBs lately…if so, I’m crossing my fingers they don’t drop like flies and play like crap like most of those four- and five-star USC backs.

Matt Flynn was drafted and both he and Leak won MNC’s so clearly they weren’t too terrible.
The fear seems to be that if we use Chiles a lot with Colt, he can’t be the backup. Why not? “What if he gets hurt” is a smaller concern than “what if we waste his athleticism?”. He could definitely take lots of snaps with Colt and still be the back-up. Plenty of teams have been doing this. If your argument is “greg davis won’t use him that way” than that’s another matter entirely. But so far, it looks like Davis is interested in using him that way so there’s nothing wrong with hope and there’s nothing wrong with the strategy. Especially with Sherrod back there, however inexperienced.