2018 Roster

Joe Fan said:
From the AAS --

" .... The team’s leading rusher last year was a player who started six games and played in only nine — and was a quarterback. Sam Ehlinger rushed for a team-high 385 yards. The third-best rusher, Chris Warren III, got moved to tight end during the season. Warren was so angry at the coaching staff, he left school early for the NFL.

Spring practice wasn’t much better. Herman was so frustrated by the running backs’ production in late March, he said, “Right now, there are open tryouts at that position.” The coaches pulled a linebacker over to the offensive side to see if he would hold onto the ball. ...."​

Here’s a look at the seven running backs on the Texas roster this year:
  • Tre Watson, graduate transfer: Watson was actively pursued by multiple schools this offseason after his graduation from California. He averaged 8.1 yards per carry in four seasons. But it’s unclear how effective he can be after a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury last season.
  • Kyle Porter, junior: The most experienced athlete in the room based on games played, Porter was a textbook downhill runner in high school. But that doesn’t exactly translate to the college game. He’s averaged 3.7 yards on 118 attempts in 22 games.
  • Kirk Johnson, junior: The brother of receiver Collin Johnson, Kirk Johnson played in six games in 2015 before missing time due to injury. Then, he missed the entire 2016 season with a knee injury. He got back on the field last year in a special teams role.
  • Tristian Houston, junior: Houston was considered the 65th-best prospect in Texas coming out of Galena Park North Shore. He’s had a hard time moving up the depth chart. Houston, who redshirted in 2015, has played in only two games.
  • Toniel Carter, sophomore: Born in New Orleans and raised in Houston, Carter started against Iowa State and Oklahoma State last season. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry on 53 attempts last season. But he’s got to secure the ball better.
  • Daniel Young, sophomore: Another Houston product, Young started the last five games and showed real promise. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry and caught 13 passes for 153 yards. He had to get stronger this offseason to be an every-down candidate.
  • Keaontay Ingram, freshman: Ingram had back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons at Carthage and played in the Under Armour All-America game. He also set the school record with 76 touchdowns. Texas coach Tom Herman has already said Ingram has “wow” in him.
Star search: Seven Longhorns are vying to win the starting job as Texas running back | Hookem.com
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Ingram will be there this year or next....count on it
 
Todd Orlando speaks ...

On Caden Sterns and the other EEs--

"That's a lot of thinking back there at that position and just a lot of communication, and when you're a young guy coming into it, especially with vets that have played in the system, you can be a little hesitant. But he's (Sterns) taken over. He's got big speed and big range. We're very, very fortunate to have him. And he's a real good ball player."

"The guys that got here in January, they got a legitimate chance. They're gonna play some type of role, whether it's on defense or with Craig (Naivar) on special teams. They're gonna be on the field."​

On the LBs --

"Right now we're thin, but we have options off of that. We have a way to kind of mix and match people to add some more depth to it. And I think eventually we'll get some of these guys back too."​

On Gary Johnson --

"Well yeah. To me this system runs through the two inside linebackers. Both those guys got to play well. And Gary's a unique athlete just because he's so fast. But in my opinion he's another guy that's grown. I think last year, if there was landmines, he probably has stepped on every one of them. Now he's able to kind of dance around them and understand, OK, this is the way this program's run. So when he goes on the football field there's no clutter in his brain.

He can play fast. He's matured a lot. He's a big voice in our locker room. He's a great example of energy and juice to go along with athletic talent. Not only does he have to play big, but he's gotta be one of those vocal leaders for us on defense."​

Three takeaways from Texas' second scrimmage: Todd Orlando talks impressive freshman class, depth concerns at LB
 
Saw that one coming last year. Quite honestly, I wouldn't mind trading a WR for couple of big uglies or a LB at this point.
 
Run Pincher said:
Saw that one coming last year. Quite honestly, I wouldn't mind trading a WR for couple of big uglies or a LB at this point.
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That entire 2016 class of Charlie's looks a lot different now
The class size was 28 total
It was #7 overall per the 247 Composite (#10 per ESPN and #11 per Rivals)
And #1 in the Big 12

But many from the class, who should now be starting or close to starting, are already gone --
Erick Fowler (high 4-star)
Jean Delance (high 4-star)
Jordan Elliott (high 4-star)
Chris Daniels (4-star)
Eric Cuffee (4-star)
Marcel Southall (4-star)
Reggie Hemphill-Mapps
Davion Curtis
Demarco Boyd
Peyton Aucoin
Total = 11 players

Another 6 appear buried on the depth chart, some of whom have to also be considered transfer possibilities at this point --
Andrew Fitzgerald (4-star)
D'Andre Christmas (4-star)
JP Urquidez (4-star)
Kyle Porter (4-star)
Chris Brown
Donovan Duvernay

Another 6 from that are at least playing but are not starting, and definitely not stars at this point --
Patrick Hudson (high 4-star we landed only thanks to Baylor implosion)
Jeffrey McCullough (high 4-star)
Shane Buechele (4-star)
Denzel Okafor (4-star)
Gerald Wilbon
Tope Imade

That leaves 6 players from that class of 28 total who have been starters and have sometimes played very well --
Devin Duvernay (high 4-star we landed only thanks to Baylor implosion)
Brandon Jones (high 4-star)
Collin Johnson (4-star)
Lil'Jordan Humphrey
Malcolm Roach
Zach Shackleford

This is a poor hit rate and does not paint a rosy picture for the next couple seasons.
 
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Joe Fan said:
The Foreman dad is still obsessed

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True but he's right!...but then again I think and really believe that Chris held back probably to save his body for the NFL. We all know his dad was in the NFL so he probably told his son just do enough to get through college. Alright so I am speculating but I believe it.
 
Pomspoms said:
True but he's right!...but then again I think and really believe that Chris held back probably to save his body for the NFL. We all know his dad was in the NFL so he probably told his son just do enough to get through college. Alright so I am speculating but I believe it.
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He also had some classroom issues
 
Joe Fan said:
The Foreman dad is still obsessed

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Obsessed or not, this is one time he happens to be right. The SJSU game last year was the turning point. It's the only game where CW and KP got an equal number of carries under nearly identical circumstances. CW averaged 10.4 ypc, KP averaged 4.5. Yet because TH values personality over a quite guy that just gets the job done, CW got relegated to nothing but a short yardage back from that point forward. Despite that in critical situations TH thought it would be cool to let SE throw the ball to the other team rather than just give it to CW and win games.

Texas could've easily won 2-3 more games last season giving the ball to CW in critical situations. He never fumbled. He plowed his way for 2 yrds against a brick wall. Can you imagine the recruiting had Texas won 10 games last year? It woulda been like Mack. TH's second class woulda been #1 and we'd be sitting around 3-4 this year, much like what Mack did.

It seems like everyone is complaining about the recruits lost to aggy. No way that happens with 10 wins and it can all be traced back to poor coaching decisions at critical times.
 
Pomspoms said:
True but he's right!...but then again I think and really believe that Chris held back probably to save his body for the NFL. We all know his dad was in the NFL so he probably told his son just do enough to get through college. Alright so I am speculating but I believe it.
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For some reason, Warren REFUSED to lower his pads and ran so upright that the smallest DB on the field could knock him down. Only Chris could tell why this was.
 
Run Pincher said:
Obsessed or not, this is one time he happens to be right. The SJSU game last year was the turning point. It's the only game where CW and KP got an equal number of carries under nearly identical circumstances. CW averaged 10.4 ypc, KP averaged 4.5.
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I wouldn't judge anyone based on the SJSU defense. They gave up 285 ypg rushing despite a pretty soft schedule. CW only averaged 4.4 ypc for the season. Take out the SJSU game and it's even lower. No reason to feed him the ball like we did Foreman. That didn't get us 10 wins, or even a victory over an historically bad KU team.
 
4th_floor said:
I wouldn't judge anyone based on the SJSU defense. They gave up 285 ypg rushing despite a pretty soft schedule. CW only averaged 4.4 ypc for the season. Take out the SJSU game and it's even lower. No reason to feed him the ball like we did Foreman. That didn't get us 10 wins, or even a victory over an historically bad KU team.
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It's still a valid comparison when the variables were about equal and the only time they were about equal. The 4.4 ypc was about equal to Carter and Young despite the fact most of CW's carries after the SJSU game were in short yardage situations. It was also better than Carter and Young against that same SJSU defense.

There was absolutely no reason for Porter to get more carries than CW unless he was a cancer in the locker room and from everything I heard it was exactly the opposite. It was simply due to TH's prejudice and stubbornness. I don't know if Ricky or Earl woulda done much better than 4.4 ypc with the OL we had last year.
 
rick mueller said:
For some reason, Warren REFUSED to lower his pads and ran so upright that the smallest DB on the field could knock him down. Only Chris could tell why this was.
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That's on the coach, but I don't remember any small DB's knocking him down. Although I do remember a lot of them that looked like Pee Wee Herman knocking KP down.
 
I don't understand this debate. Play all the numbers games you want, the fact remains that the kid was a big back with talent and great potential, but like DKR said, "potential means you ain't done it yet".

Well guess what, for whatever reason, he NEVER did do it at The Forty Acres. He ran soft! No ifs. ands, buts about it, HE RAN SOFT! Won't say he ran scared, but he went down the first time anyone breathed heavy in his direction. That is not what we saw originally from Chris Warren, but that's what we wound up with. I have no idea why, but my belief is that there was some kind of conflict with the staff resulting in a "I'm not risking injury for these clowns" mentality.

I wish him all the best, and hope he has huge success in the NFL, BUT give me a back that tries and puts forth total effort any day over a player that goes halfassed on the plays.
 
CW's ypc was 2.69 outside of the SJSU game. The revisionists will have you believe that he was looking like he is now in the NFL preseason. He wasn't. Sure, a lot of that is OL-related as well.

A friend who knew a couple coaches at Rockwall said that he still had lingering effects from his 2016 injury and when the new coaching staff tried to ramp up his rehab, he responded by pouting. So they pulled his position out from under him. If true, I don't think I could blame them.

I think we might have beat Tech if he was given the chances in the red zone instead of Young and Ehlinger keepers. I don't think any other outcome changes, especially because he was given chances against USC and we would have been blown out by TCU no matter who played on offense that day. Honestly, one of the reasons we were in the OU game was his emergence at TE, so you can see that he had the ability to make it work as an H-back or gadget.
 
SabreHorn said:
I don't understand this debate. Play all the numbers games you want, the fact remains that the kid was a big back with talent and great potential, but like DKR said, "potential means you ain't done it yet".

Well guess what, for whatever reason, he NEVER did do it at The Forty Acres. He ran soft! No ifs. ands, buts about it, HE RAN SOFT! Won't say he ran scared, but he went down the first time anyone breathed heavy in his direction. That is not what we saw originally from Chris Warren, but that's what we wound up with. I have no idea why, but my belief is that there was some kind of conflict with the staff resulting in a "I'm not risking injury for these clowns" mentality.

I wish him all the best, and hope he has huge success in the NFL, BUT give me a back that tries and puts forth total effort any day over a player that goes halfassed on the plays.
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I know you have never liked CW so we'll just have to disagree on this one. Constantly being hit in the backfield and carrying 4 guys forward for a 2-3 yard gain is not being soft. When KP was hit in the backfield he went even further backward.

I'm not saying he's Ricky, Earl or even Foreman, but he was still often the best option with what we had last year and I think we would won 2-3 more games if he had been used properly.

KP is simply the worst starting back I've ever seen on the 40 acres in the 45+ years I've been watching Texas football. I'll take Brett Robin far ahead of KP.
 
Run Pincher said:
I know you have never liked CW
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I have never "disliked" the kid, just don't care for his half-hearted attempts to play football. You either love the game and go all out, or quit because it is not a fun sport to play, and definitely not for anyone that doesn't love the sport.
 
What other games would Warren have made the difference? I already stated that he is what kept us in the OU game through his good TE play... so would switching him back to running back manage to be the difference? He played more at running back than other positions against OK State, a game in which Porter didn't touch the ball, so it can't be that one.

Maybe we beat Tech and maybe we don't, but that's the ONLY game anyone can say with any authority that we win if Warren plays more RB.
 
Horns11 said:
I think we might have beat Tech if he was given the chances in the red zone instead of Young and Ehlinger keepers. I don't think any other outcome changes, especially because he was given chances against USC and we would have been blown out by TCU no matter who played on.
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Warren had 4 carries for 15 yards against USC. I'll repeat what I posted at the time
Why did he even make the trip?
 
Chris Warren was a player that my old coach would say looked like Tarzan and played like Jane.

He lost all his speed he displayed as a freshmen. He easily could have fixed this by losing some weight, but he never did.

If he is rushing for big yards in the NFL, then I'm betting he finally got his speed back.
 
I am of the belief that Herman didn't give the ball to Warren more because he couldn't get the head of steam his running style requires behind the oline we fielded. TH thought we needed someone quicker out of the backfield. I personally would have given Warren more attempts but hey...did it make or break our season? No. Did it make or break Chris Warren? Apparently not.
So why is anyone still talking about this?
Oh yeah...Derrick Foreman just likes to hear himself talk and has wet dreams about being LaVar Ball...
 
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SabreHorn said:
I don't understand this debate. Play all the numbers games you want, the fact remains that the kid was a big back with talent and great potential, but like DKR said, "potential means you ain't done it yet".

Well guess what, for whatever reason, he NEVER did do it at The Forty Acres. He ran soft! No ifs. ands, buts about it, HE RAN SOFT! Won't say he ran scared, but he went down the first time anyone breathed heavy in his direction. That is not what we saw originally from Chris Warren, but that's what we wound up with. I have no idea why, but my belief is that there was some kind of conflict with the staff resulting in a "I'm not risking injury for these clowns" mentality.

I wish him all the best, and hope he has huge success in the NFL, BUT give me a back that tries and puts forth total effort any day over a player that goes halfassed on the plays.
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Xactly, Sabre
 
Chris Warren reminds me of John Chiles. Based on what I saw on the field, I never understood the “should starts” love. I think recruiting rankings and such often get overvalued over what the player is actually doing when they play. See Malik Jefferson as well.
 
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