2010 Texas Longhorns Season: The Things I Must Know

And anything to do with defense. The definition of the phrase “embarrassment of riches” currently is “University of Texas football – defense”.

I’m of course worried about running the ball, but I expect Davis can (and maybe too readily will?) revert to Gilbert’s comfort with the spread if things don’t pan out with the backs.

Receivers are still a big huge question. I think Marquis is pretty undersized for a receiver and doesn’t have the beef to withstand being the go-to receiver. I think Williams realizes the need to step it up – and even if he remains inconsistent, his value in blocking will be hugely important to help bust open some second level holes for the running backs.

I’m mostly excited/nervous to see the new backs get a crack, as well as the new receivers get some playing time.

Like last year, I’ll probably take the most pleasure in watching the Goon Squad & co rip opponents apart.

offensive line, i’m not worried about defense much at all, but on offense having a beast mode offensive line can make all the difference in the world. open up big holes for even a mediocre running back to pop through for 5 to 8 yards a pop, give a green QB time to go through his progressions without fear of being blind sided, etc.

and I’ll try to be objective. Defense in the middle looks to be the concern. Hard to replace Houston I think, especially early. Lots of talent on the edges and muschamp will cover up any weaknesses. The secondary looks solid. O-line will be the main concern with the changing of positions and new personnel. Will the power running game develop in time to be effective against OU & Neb. Also will they protect the RS-FR QB well enough to prevent the inevitable mistakes that come with inexperience. The success of this team will depend on them.

Is O-line.

Having said that, I am also a bit nervous about our receiving corps. It’s not that we don’t have a ton of talent there, but there is definitely a lack of consistency (see Williams, Kirkendoll).

I do think MW will prove the doubters (me included) wrong this year and develop a set of hands. He seems to have the right attitude, at least from what I’ve heard.

most of us still buy into the concept that the running game failures are the fault of the running backs. OK. I accept that point of view.

I just don’t believe it.

Do we have a running back who can get the job done? Yes, probably about three of them. Same three we had last year. Or wsa it four? And is it 5-6 now? Whatever. If Mack and GD and Applewhite had gone to Colt in March of ‘09 and told him he was primarily an under-center QB and the H-back was being added (with the intent of using it most of the time), we’d have run the ball effectively last fall. And passed it less often, and less effectively. And maybe opened the season 13-0.

So how’d I vote? Receiver is the area I most question. We know the freshmen, or Coach Boom, have to step up to solve defensive tackle. We know the O-line will be inexperienced early. I have no idea who the go-to receiver will be. And whether we continue to go 3- and 4-wide most of the time — or pack it in and try to stake our claim the area between the offensive tackles and the strong safety. I don’t know whether Goodwin is a speedy flash or the next big thing, whether Malcolm will ever get consistent and play as big as he measures, whether John Chiles is an athlete without a position trying to play WR, whether Kirkendoll can come up big as a senior, whether one of the touted freshmen (including Timmons) is ready to play, whether Hales is a home run or a strikeout.

Other than those questions, I’m pretty confortable at receiver.

Could have been AJ White jerseys…

I think it’s WR for the reasons edsp listed above. Don’t have a clue of what’s going to happen there. My hope is that by season’s end Malcolm and Goodwin have proven themselves to be dependable playmakers and someone (anyone) else can step up from time to time a la Brandon Collins in 2008.

There is no way that QB is not the biggest question mark heading into the fall. Yes, Garrett Gilbert had flashes of brilliance in the National Championship Game. Yes, none of us will ever forget those picture perfect TD passes he threw to Jordan Shipley. Yes, we will never forget than with 3 minutes left and on the back of a freshman QB, the Horns had a chance to win the MNC. What we have forgotten, however, is that QB’s not named Vince or Colt have had a turbulent tenure as the starter at Texas.

Sure, Garrett has talent, but does he have the mental make-up to lead this program, with these expectations on day 1? Has he gelled with his receivers? Will he be able to read coverages? Adjust to blitzes? and most importantly, can he stay healthy?

Over the past three seasons we felt pretty comfortable that we knew what there was to know about Colt McCoy based on his performance in prior years. As seasons passed, our confidence in Colt grew. However, we can’t answer any of the above questions in the affirmative based soley on Garrett Gilbert’s performance at the Rose Bowl. QB is the most important position on the field, and Garrett has yet to start a game.

I think you have to be most concerned about QB/WR. This is not to say that I don’t have confidence that GG can step up and be the man, but if you’re looking at this question purely from the standpoint of where the biggest drop off is going to be, you have to think that the departure of “The Roommates” is going to be the biggest difference this year.

On OL, we have three returning starters in Snow, Huey and Hix, all of which have indicated that the new blocking scheme suits them much better than zone blocking. The RBs are all the same we had last year when we went to the championship game (man I hope we get more productivity out of them this year…a subject for another post).

As for the defense, it’s true that you can’t replace Lamarr Houston and The Predator along the line, but I think that Acho and Randall plus newcomers will certainly be able to pick up where we left off, at least at the beginning of the season and get the new guys some reps. At LB, you lose Muckleroy, but from all accounts Dustin Earnest has been lights out in the spring. Put in guys like Acho II and (possibly) Jordan HIcks, and I feel pretty good about the LBs, at least in the sense they should be able to put it together before the RRR and (shudder) Nebraska in Lincoln. No point in talking about the DBs…everyone knows how solid that group is.

Apologies for the long post, but I was trying to avoid being lampooned as a GG hater before the kid even gets a shot. I have faith in the kid, maybe even more faith than I did in McCoy when he took over as a freshman. GG inherits a similar type of team Colt did in 2006, mainly in the sense that both teams are loaded with returning starters (7 on each side of the ball if my count is right) who are coming off of an undefeated regular season and appearance in the championship game. If GG can establish good report with his WRs, I think this season could be every bit as good as 2009.

GG is the son of a QB that played 8 years in the NFL. Why is anyone worried about what he can do? Did you watch how he handled the ball in the spring game? How he threw? He was 76.9% in completions and he faked the ball better than I’ve seen in a long time. He just needs to stay healthy and he is a big, tough kid. I think he will.

We have another new weapon this year — a TE! Haven’t seen one of those in a while.

We have running backs. Several proven ones and it is too early to lump Whaley with Henry Melton. We also added Traylon Shead. Go watch his videos.

The OL is showing some improvement. Give them a chance. I think we are going to have a great year.

but 10 wins = 2 losses. Pretty tough to win a CC that way. I’m not sure with the conference schedule OU has they would loose two games and I don’t think UT will loose any of their OOC games. Not trying to be argumentative, I just think more than 1 conference loss puts a team out of the conference race.