This is a team with as much talent as the 2009 team that played for the MNC, the only thing it really doesn't have is a Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley.
Oh, and it doesn't have a coach...
Wait....whhuuuttt? Holy cow, that 2009 team had a senior qb with TWO receivers that were 30 years old! That's an exaggeration but I don't know how many times Cosby and Shipley were there for Colt. I can't go player for player but must strongly disagree and say in two years you'll see a team that has a senior qb and closer to as much talent as the 2009 team. You'd be close r to right if Malik and Conner had stayed along with Hill and that other db can't recollect that shouldn't have come out but did....
Shipley was our only good receiver in 2009. Quan was gone.
OL - Our oline now is better than that group.
LB - Our linebackers now are better, I'd rather have guys like Gary Johnson over Keenan Robinson.
DBs - No Earl Thomas for that group it was basically Chyke Brown and Aaron Williams. We have Boyd Jones and a lot of very young talent now. Cade Sterns will be the next truly great DB at Texas.
DL - here is where that team was better than we are now, Michael Houston was hands down better than anyone Texas has right now. Kindle was good but not better than Hagar, Omenahu, and Roach.
WR - all that team had was Shipley, granted he had a crazy special bond with Colt, but I'd still take all the talent Texas has right now over what that group as a unit.
TE - so far neither has proven to have a great unit.
RB - Another push, they didn't have anyone special and as of right now neither does this team.
QB - This is the true difference between playing for a national title and being 1-1 with a loss to Maryland.
looking now....Kennan Robinson, Sergio Kindle, Fozzy, Kenny Vaccaro, Aaron Williams, Justin Tucker, Jared Norton, Earl Thomas, Lamarr Houston, Roddrick Muckelroy, Sam Acho, Marquise Goodwin, DJ Monroe (before Mack hated him) and MY BEST FRIEND Blake Gideon (not). All players that either were huge contributors and/or headed for the NFL. This team is not that team, bro.....
See my post above. Did you just add Fozzy to that list? Serious?
I think it will be fun to revisit this in November
Agreed.
Here is a snippet of the IT position on 'team unrest'
" ..... There is a lot of unrest and frustration in program after the win over Tulsa. Tom Herman likes to say winning is hard and they're going to celebrate wins regardless of who they are over. Nobody wanted to celebrate that one. The team went back to work on Sunday, again working on the little things. Last week the team knew it needed to tackle better and that aspect was given priority. We saw improvement in that regard.
I asked about the lack of pressure on the quarterback. That is something the staff was working on yesterday. It was told to me they aren't blitzing enough to make life easier on the Breckyn Hager and Charles Omenihu. I asked where the four-man fronts were? "A lot of people are wondering that." Lining Hager and Omenihu up wide would make getting to the quarterback much easier.
Texas has three defenders who are not in the position they will be looked at for the NFL. Malcolm Roach is one of them, "they need to put him at defensive end and leave him there." That would put Jeff McCulloch on the field at B-backer. He has more range and is also a good pass rusher. I asked for any other personnel decisions that could be made to improve the team. "Anthony Cook should be playing ahead of Kobe Boyce. Josh Thompson at nickel should be permanent. They can't do it now, but Shane Buechele should be given some game time."...."
What if it isn't the coach, or the players, but the culture surrounding the program? That is what we should really be concerned about...that would be a much harder fix.
In my lifetime of watching Texas football there were four major culture changing events that affected this team.
1. 1990 - Shock the world tour. It was Initiated by the players They got away from all the luxury of all the things given to them and went old school. Working out in what amounted to a dungeon where it was hot and sweaty. It was their version of Rocky III getting back to basics. The results were a very good year.
2. John Machovic- His first team meeting with the players, he walked in looked at everyone and walked out. What he saw? All the black players on one side of the room, and all the while players on the other. He refused to walk back in until that changed. If he did nothing else for Texas athletics he changed that one aspect of Texas football and helped to create a team bond.
3. Ricky Williams - Ricky set the tone for Texas athletics in 1997 when he skipped being the #1 draft pick and chose to come back for his senior year. In doing so he set an example that was followed by every great Texas player until it was broken by Vince Young in 2005. Without that example, there might not have been a Championship in 2005.
4. Vince Young 2004 - When he stood up and told the team that whoever wants to beat Ohio State meet here (for off-season workouts). Was one of the defining moments in the culture of the program. It created a level of expectation that lasted until 2010.
Every other culture shift has been trying to get back to that. Notice that the biggest ones were all initiated by the players not by the coaches. This is what this program is missing more than anything else. real leadership from a difference maker player.
