Texas Quarterbacks: McAsh Resurrected

If Ash can figure it all out he’s the man. Work with the guy who has the physical tools to get the job done, not one who’s arm isn’t as good as most JV qb’s

Makes my week… McCoy is better than ash and the coaches know it… Ash turns the ball over too much… We won’t beat anybody but Kansas if ash keeps throwing it to the other team and fumbling…. McCoy doesn’t have a big arm but that’s overrated. The team rallies around McCoy. With ash they just wait for the next turnover

he’s a punk. he should be suspended even longer and have to earn his PT back. i’m sure most people played sports in HS. if one person pulled a stunt like that, how would that make you feel as a teammate?

that would piss me off. his attitude screams prima donna.

I asked #davidash why he’s so weird and he replied the real question is why isn’t everyone else like me o__O lmaoo

I don’t think it would matter who was taking the snaps if the O-line could pass block consistently. Up in Boise, Kellen Moore has alllllll day to throw the ball, even against an SEC defense who, by any SEC estimation should not lose outside of their conference. When a freshman and sophomore QB have to rush the decision making, turnovers happen. It won’t matter who is under center if they can’t preserve the pocket long enough for the routes to develop down field.

The OU game was a debacle and bad for everyone. It’s somewhat understandable given the youth of this team that all kinds of rumor and innuendo come out of a loss like that; but the fans are not doing this team any favors either by (a) repeating the rumor over and over or (b) alleging that the rumor was started by “Ash supporters.” Discussing specific plays is one thing, but the rest is nonsense. We have an almost entirely new coaching staff this year, and it seems perfectly appropriate, even necessary, for the fans to give the staff the benefit of the doubt when it comes to running their locker room.

With that all said, I think the grossly short pass to a wide-open Davis in the OU game is what is giving most of us pause as to McCoy’s footwork and/or arm strength. Arm strength is not a theoretical thing, and it’s not “overrated” when it keeps the QB from completing a TD throw.

The two OU plays that I found much more concerning than arm strength or footwork were (1) the reverse-pass with MO with a wide-open receiver downfield, which goes for a TD if McCoy blocks the lineman in the backfield; and (2) the slide a full 3 yards ahead of the first-down marker. Both of those made me question (and continue to make me question) whether he has the heart to be out on the field.

I saw the ISU thing too; It affected my view of him too; and it’s a perfectly fair thing to raise. I’d still argue it’s worse in your biggest rivalry game to watch a defensive lineman run right past you and slide ahead of the marker because you don’t want to get hit; but otherwise totally agree.

“in a time where we have so many selfish players and parents”

KU is a big game because it is the most winnable game left on the schedule. Forget future development, vs KU Mack will play whoever gives him the best chance to win this Saturday. Texas really needs to get to 7 wins to guarantee a bowl game. 6 wins is enough to qualify for a bowl but does not guarantee that you will be selected for a bowl. Playing a bowl game is huge for such a young team because of the extra practice required to prepare for the bowl game.

To win 7 games, the horns definitely need to beat KU. Ash is the future but if Mack thinks Case gives him a better chance vs KU, Case is going to play.

I find it funny how all the anti-Ash people bring up the turnovers against OSU. I seem to remember McCoy laying the ball on the ground twice against OU and once againt Iowa St. I also remember him getting away w/ one against UCLA and grossly underthrew an open receiver against OU. Not to bag on Case, but other than UCLA, he hasn’t exactly lit up the skies.

Truth be told, they would both benefit from a good TE and a receiver not named Shipley stepping up and making some plays.

Texas football in 2011 is staring a major identity crisis right in its face. Who and what these guys inside Moncrief-Neuhaus are is unknown to everyone. Players, coaches, media and fans, all of us have no clue if the kids playing are winners and can play ball – together, as a team. And we wonder if the coaches who’ve been here awhile still have it and if the new ones are as advertised.

How quickly this disarray hit the Forty Acres is the most flabbergasting aspect of it all. From one play in the National Championship game in January, 2010 that snuffed out a return to 2005-level elation and pride to a disastrous 5-7 non-bowl season in 2010 to a 2011 where we’ve seen two QB’s leave the team and a thorough dismantling by OU reminiscent of the debacles suffered in the early 2000’s – but without the bounceback win to begin the task of salvaging a 10-win season.

It’s baffling to us all. Mack self-admittedly had no clue about the team last year or what to do about it. He came into 2011 with almost an entirely new coaching staff and was feeling “rejuvenated” and the “most excited” he’s been about coaching in years. But unless he’s got a handle on things in a way that we’re oblivious to I suspect he’s still searching for a clue about what’s happening in his locker room.

The Gilbert thing surely threw him off-kilter all the way around last year. He’s an established coach, he had developed a system that worked better than no other program for a decade (in terms of W-L’s, not # of championships), players came and went and they all performed well, plug and play just worked. Gilbert showed promise in emergency duty in the Rose Bowl, why wouldn’t he come around like his predecessors?

But the wheels came off against UCLA, and aside from an improbably win in Lincoln the team tanked, Gilbert blew chunks and he had a QB controversy staring him in the face. When the K State 5-INT game was in progress I’m sure he knew he wasn’t going to be able to avert the gaze of an unsettled fan base, players on the bench eager to play and parents eager to have their kids showcased for prospective NFL employers. Even the area of the team MB thought was going to be its strength under Coach Boom’s tutelage mentally threw in the towel, getting scorched by lesser opponents.

I view last year’s KSU game as the most pivotal game of this season, and possibly the next few. McCoy was on the sidelines, available to play, the outcome of that game was settled, GG was simply lousy, yet MB fearing another Simms-Applewhite controversy stuck with his starter. It’s no secret that following the game Dad McCoy and Coach Brown had heated, sharp words outside the team bus. MB was contrite, Dad was nuclear, assurances were made. But when GG continued to start and the outcome of the “open” training camp in 2011 being named starter the stage was set for another dysfunctional season.

The problem with GG centered on his confidence. Coaches were constantly trying to tell him and us how good he was, despite the evidence to the contrary during games. No doubt he was the best on the practice field. But his internal game clock and decision making under pressure never synched. Yet this was the horse MB hitched his cart to and refused to unhitch it from until two games into a new season that was looking a lot like the old one.

MB’s loyalty to his players and scars from the QB controversy of the early 2000’s has framed this entire stretch following the departure of Colt, his last reliable leader pulling the trigger for the team. His “system” of plug and play has been unplugged every since then. And try as he may to switch outlets, change the fuse, bring in some new fixtures hasn’t worked the way he thought it should. I honestly believe at this point he’s putting on a smoke and mirror show for all of us, but going home and hoping and praying that one of his players is going to stand up and take the job of Texas Longhorn starting QB before we all figure out he’s just winging it.

In the mean time, he’s coaching to the best of his ability, trying to figure out how to keep the rest of his “system” intact while the most important component gets figured out. He sees new blood and new talent in the pipeline. He’s hopeful he can develop what he currently has here, and a coach as proud and successful as MB has been surely has to be most focused on that now. And he honestly cares about each kid as if they were his own, he wants what’s best for them, too.

The drama that was/is/willbe GG/Wood/Case/Ash/Brewer continues to unfold. The bad decision he made in choosing to stay too long with GG last season is one he’s paying for over and over and over again. His mistake is his Achilles heal, falling in love with an arm and physical gifts in the QB position over inspired leadership from a fiery competitor with less athleticism.

MB doesn’t emote fire and passion for his teams, and it shows when he’s missing a field general with those traits. Simply bringing in an assistant (like Boom) with it isn’t the same as a HC or team leader with it. These are 3-4-5 star players, all with HS backgrounds where they were the best guys in their locker rooms. Weak leadership from peers is not respected in that kind of elite circle. The QB who emerges from this year’s game-by-game competition demonstrating the type of fire, passion, and ability to make plays that leave his teammates amazed and impressed is the one who gets my nod, not the one who necessarily has the best arm. And if that QB isn’t on campus now we should all be praying one is coming in next season.

MB’s system is not designed for a player with those traits at another position to impact the team like a Suh did for Nebraska. And that means that MB’s future success depends on his ability to land and put the right QB into the starting slot. Maybe McCoy or Ash will show us which one has it over these next six games and we’re all surprised by some spark that turns on the power in MB’s system that finishes with 8-9 wins, in fact that’s my fondest wish for the program. And unless MB is willing to scrap his entire system of coaching he’s developed over all the decades he’s been in the game for some new approach not reliant upon an emotional QB leader then his days are numbered, and it started ticking against K State last year.

Great BurntHorns article that says exactly what I’ve been saying since preseason. Face it – McCoy wouldn’t even get a scholarship at the top Big 12 schools. Remember Mack poached him from Abiline Christian.
Focus on Ash. Get him up to game speed but giving him all the snaps.
Continue with the run game – it’s actually doing fairly well.
Save the gimmick plays for no more than once/game. They’re not very cute and won’t work against any but the weakest opponents.
D is in great shape. Byndom is a beast at Corner.