Travis Stewart's Texas Football Blog
2007-04-10
Travis Stewart is a managing editor for Texas Football magazine. Click here to send him an e-mail.
So, in case you haven't heard, the UT Recruiting bug has struck again.
Over the past few years, every time a notable high school recruit has turned down the University of Texas in dramatic fashion, the results haven't been pretty. Consider Rhett Bomar, who had to close his career at Sam Houston. Ryan Perrilloux also tore out UT's heart, only to have his football days end in shambles. DeMarcus Granger never lived up to expectations at Oklahoma and has officially run out of eligibility. Phew -- that's a tough string of luck to argue against. If you get offered a scholarship from UT, take it. It just looks like a good business decision.
After all, that curse has claimed its next victim -- Colorado running back Darrell Scott, who just announced that he's transferring to UCLA. But it would be inaccurate to say that the curse claimed him ... he's the one that showed up overweight, out of shape and lacking in motivation two years in a row. He also said that there wasn't much else on his mind, except "Sorry to Buff nation."
Well, for starters, he could explain why he never seemed to care all that much. Who knows -- sometimes the transfer can be a good thing. It made a star (and future NFL draftee) out of Tashard Choice! And it's helping Ryan Mallett tremendously. But both of those situations involved extenuating circumstances (Adrian Peterson and the departure of Lloyd Carr). This is just a player not living up to snuff. I have a sneaky suspicious CU isn't broken-hearted, and I think it wouldn't matter if they were -- odds are, you're going to see a new staff in place this time next season.
Also, SA Fox Tech announced this week that football is likely not in the school's plans -- you can read more about it on the SA Express News' website, and we'll elaborate on this story later in the week.
So did you watch the Texas-Oklahoma State game this past weekend? If you did, you saw a strong performance by Texas, and mistake-filled one by the Cowboys and an even worse one by the referees. There were several questionable calls in that one, and while it certainly didn't win Texas the game (dropped passes for touchdowns don't fall on the zebras), it didn't exactly help Oklahoma State either. But one call that was made drew the ire of fans almost instantaneously, and I found myself surprised -- I thought it was a good call.
Early in the first quarter, Okie State defender Lucien Antoine hit Texas TE Dan Buckner with a shot that surely rattled some marbles loose. Looking to snare a deep post route, Bucker went airborne but watched the inaccurate pass sail far over his head. It was never catchable, and the three defenders around him at the time knew it just the same as he did. But with the ball 10 feet above and five yards past a gliding Buckner, Antoine lowered his shoulder and powered up into a shoulder-first hit that dropped Buckner to the dirt instantaneously. By the rule, that used to not be a penalty -- now it is, and honestly, it should be. If you hit a guy like that with the ball, so be it -- that's a live player. But when the play is as dead as that one was, that should be a flag every single time. And I don't want to hear any of that "can't make a defender stop being a defender" mess. Antoine knew that ball was out of reach, and his only intent was to harm. There's no place for that. And even if all that wasn't true, and he thought he was just trying to break up a completed pass, it was still a penalty -- you can't hit a player in the head or shoulder area while he's defenseless.
I like hard hits -- I grew up taking them, albeit rarely offering them. But there's a difference between hard hits (Jamar Wall on Jake Sharp, anyone?) and needlessly violent ones. Antoine's was the latter, and he was punished accordingly.
First of all, if you somehow managed to get to my blog without clicking on the 50th anniversary story on the front page of the website, go back -- it's worth the time and effort.
Secondly, I've gotten an overwhelming amount of feedback from readers this week on the 4A top 25 rankings. Although a few lonely souls have asked about Kerrville Tivy (which toppled Cibolo Steele last weekend), the answer there was more or less simple: Great team, and if it wins against Alamo Heights this weekend, then it’s in for sure. But the other omission is far tougher to explain: Port Neches-Groves, 8-0 and easily in line for a district title.
#1 - "What exactly does Port Neches Groves have to do to get the ranking that thousands of "Indian Fans" feel that they deserve? I believe that their success is being overlooked."
#2 - Port Neches Groves is a top 10 team in the AP poll as well as a top 10 to 15 team in numerous web based polls. They have crushed the current 19-4A leader, another 19-4A playoff qualifier, your own magazines 20-4A pick to win district in Vidor, as well as Texas City. They have a top ten defense ranking statewide. They are 8-0 on the year but cannot crack the DCTF top 25. What gives?
#3 - I am lately perplexed by the absence of the PN-G squad from your 4A statewide rankings. The team is 8-0 and very likely to be 9-0 entering into its game for the district title. The offense is balanced and productive and the defense is superb. Other ranking systems have seen the strength of the squad. DCTF still ranks other squads ahead of the Indians even though they have two and three losses. Do you guys have a bias for rolling up the score on hapless teams? After reviewing your 4A playoff assessments over the weekend, it seems that your preseason predictions have had the least accuracy in Region III.
That's just a smattering. All pretty fair criticism, truth be told. Like I told all of them, Port Neches-Groves, regardless of where I put it, is a pretty good football team. There's no doubting that. But my reasoning for their current status (somewhere between Nos. 26 - 30) is twofold: starting point and schedule.
Simply put, PN-G started way, way down in the poll -- by PigSkinPrep's rankings, No. 118. In his rankings, it's now up to 46. That a massive leap anyways, and it's just a bunch of teams to leapfrog. That means as other teams that started ranked ahead of it succeed, they move up to. We could call it the Ball State 2008 Syndrome.
The other part of the reasoning is schedule. Yes, PN-G topped Texas City and Vidor, comfortably. But we whiffed on Texas City -- another down year for the Stingarees, I guess -- and Vidor isn't even in the state's top 50. Truth be told, Groves has just one win against a top 50 team all season -- Crosby, which has turned out to be a great victory. But that kind of schedule hurts you a little bit.
But like I said, there's no way I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that the Indians aren't one of the top 25 teams in Class 4A, and if they win this week in convincing fashion, they probably will be. It's been a long time in coming, but fans are probably right -- PN-G is due.
One other issue worth tackling is the UIL's major changes to the 2010 season, as announced Monday. Central site championship games is what it is. Same with the 2A division split. But one thing that seems to have everyone up in arms is the augmented process for referee registration. Yesterday, I said that the UIL migrating all officials over to its control (and taken from TASO) wouldn't necessarily effect the on-field product. Well, that may not be accurate. That comment prompted a good deal of feedback, and while I'm reticent to post messages in their entirety here (no reason to put someone's angst on display), let's just say there's going to be some long-time zebras who won't be throwing flags in 2010. That means replacement refs. I have no idea how many and I have no idea for how long -- but long-tenured officials are not happy with what was done to TASO. It won't be a "strike", per say, but it could be something along those lines.
One more thing before I find some breakfast -- we're back in line for the bogus scenario in which Allen (4,800+ students) would be headed to the Division II bracket of the 5A playoffs. Plano East and Plano both look like they're going to qualify, and if that's the case, the reigning DI champs would be plying their trade against schools less than half of its size. If Allen (the fourth biggest school in Texas) were to go DII, then its likely title game opponent would be Katy ... which is 2,100 students smaller. And 8-5A's other DII representative? Plano West, the eighth-largest school in the state.
We have three choices to solve this. A) Break up this district in realignment. That would be easy. B) Create a Class 6A. C) Make your postseason divisions regardless of district -- so take the 64 largest schools in the playoffs and put them in DI, regardless of district, and then put the smaller 64 in DII.
I'll let you be the judge.
I've been asked what's wrong with Colt McCoy quite a bit so far this year. That seems to be the question on everybody's tongues; sorrowfully delivered from Longhorn fans and joyously so from detractors.
Though McCoy's offense is averaging more than 40 points per game, the question has merit -- numbers don't tell the whole story, and the truth is that he hasn't looked as good as last season. I have a theory as to why. Up until the Oklahoma game this past weekend, McCoy's running was down substantially from last year's pace. He was trying to stay put a bit more often and face a blitz rather than avoid it. Noble, but possible foolish -- the result was him getting tossed around, beaten up and forced into some pretty poor interceptions.
So why was he running less? The second he started scrambling more (against OU), Texas essentially had its best ground game of the year. I think that McCoy may have already been thinking ahead to the draft -- after all, running quarterbacks are often not favored in the NFL, and guys that stand tall in the pocket and find those open receivers are. I'm insinuating that Colt was looking past the 2009 season -- I'm suggesting he was shaping his game to prove to scouts that he could do what was required to play in the pros. Just a thought.
Here's a quick mention for two youngsters on playoff-bound teams: Wimberley's Brennan Blakemore, a sophomore, and Cy Creek's Darrus Harper, a junior. Both are making impacts on the defensive end -- Blakemore returned a fumble and a pick for scores against Canyon Lake a few weeks back, and Harper has, for the most part, shut down every wide receiver he's been matched up with. Brennan is not to be confused with brother Brooks -- although Brennan did step in for his injured brother at QB earlier this year. Watch both of these kids through the playoffs this season and into next year.
And while we're on the topic of shoutouts, there's been at least two teams this season that have kind of gotten the raw end of the deal in the rankings -- 3A Caldwell (5-1; 3-0) and 2A Henrietta (7-0; 2-0). Caldwell probably should have gotten in with its win over Navasota two weeks ago, but none of the bottom-ranked teams have dropped out in the past few weeks. Same with Henrietta -- after it topped Jacksboro a few weeks back (the same Jacksboro that disposed of Holliday), they should have been in the mix. But, like in 3A, the standings have held firm for several weeks in a row. Now Caldwell and Henrietta have to do something even tougher than just win -- win consistently. You're almost there ...
I'm hearing a lot of people say that Allen should be the No. 1 team in 5A, ahead of Cedar Hill, Dallas Skyline, The Woodlands, and a few others. Considering its the reigning DI champ and its only loss this year is to Longview -- a game it led comfortably at one point -- that claim has merit. But here's the bottom line -- unless those other teams lose a game, Allen stays put. There's no way to definitively tell me that Allen is better than Cedar Hill, and since there's no way to be sure, my tiebreaker goes to the undefeated team. That's only fair.
One last thing to think about, and it's something we talked about on this week's radio show -- quarterback injuries. There's been a lot this year -- especially in the college ranks -- and it seems the number is merely growing. What's the cause? Unlike what referees think, it's not late hits. It's just getting hit in general; defenses know now that the best way to beat the spread offense is to pressure the quarterback, and pressure usually leads to contact. Signal-callers aren't just turning and handing off to backs in the I anymore -- when you take 50 shotgun snaps in one game, that's a lot of chances to get walloped.
A week ago, in our weekly newsletter (available only to Extreme Access subscribers), I made mention of 4A McKinney, and how its defense has been struggling mightily all season -- and really for two years in a row. Before this past weekend, the Lions were giving up more than 64 points per game. Wow.
But they earned a shutout against Frisco in Week 6, 35-0. This befuddled me greatly. But one helpful reader chimed in with a little feedback on how McKinney got back on track:
Maybe I can help at least partially explain how the Lions were able to shutout a Frisco team that scored 35 the week before. Number one, the Lions went to their ground game -- they've got a good one -- with DFW's leading 4A rusher Damian Willis and used up a lot of the clock. Zach Lee only threw the ball 15 times, completing 12. Wide receiver Matt Lipka was inserted at safety on passing downs and broke up a few Frisco passes -- at least one of which was a touchdown.
Sounds about right. Two-way players in the big school ranks are becoming rarer and rarer, especially in suburb schools, but the explosive and versatile Lipka is one guy that I could certainly see as a candidate for such a role. He's a great receiver and a pretty darn good baseball player ... I wouldn't be surprised to learn he's a strong (no pun intended) safety, too.
Another good mail-in from a reader who follows 4A Montgomery:
Just a quick note ... Montgomery High school is playing some great ball, have a running back with 1,400+ yards rushing and a QB that has not thrown an interception all year ...
... And a defense that's allowing just more than 10 points per game. With those elements in place, Montgomery is out to a 5-1 start (2-1 in district) and looks like a safe bet for the postseason. With Tyler Bolfing (that highly accurate QB) and Leroy Dobbins (the 1,400+ yard rusher) on offense, this group could be 2009's La Porte. And we picked them fourth in the preseason! At least we had them in the playoff picture.
Saw this stat recently, too -- it's a college one, but it's very interesting. Bob Stoops (Oklahoma's coach) is 4-8 in his OU tenure in games decided by three points or less. Pete Carroll, at USC, is 5-8. And Mack Brown at Texas? He's 17-4. So take that how you will. Either Brown is a much better tight-game coach, or he's letting a bunch of crummy teams hang around until late in the game. If anyone looks into this, holler.
This is a slightly belated email, but it needs mention nonetheless:
I was wondering if you knew of this type of record that occurred this past Friday night in Houston. We, Houston Northbrook High School, scored 21 points on defense on 3 consecutive offensive plays. The offense fumbled on three consecutive plays and we ran them back each time for a total of over 160 yards.
I know I've never heard of such a thing, but have you? Email us and let us know. Same goes for Amarillo Palo Duro having two 300-yard rushers in the same game this past weekend. Those are both obscure stats to chart, but if you have, we'd like to know.
Also, one bit of happy news -- at the Southlake Carroll/Coppell game last week (which I live blogged), Coppell DL Naveed Amirhekmat was carted off the field after a pileup near the goal line. The good news is that he's OK -- the move was strictly precautionary, and he had full mobility that evening.
But then one bit of sad news -- the high school football community lost one of its own about a week ago, as Matthew Martinek, a former player at 1A Bartlett, was mortally wounded in the line of duty in Paktika province. He graduated in 2007, and was just 20 years old. God speed.
I just got sent a story that Luling head coach Robert Dean has unexpectedly passed away -- nothing has really been confirmed yet, but we'll certainly pass along word once we hear something. Things like this happen only very rarely -- Austin McCallum's Pat Honeycutt immediately jumps to mind -- but when it does, it casts a pall over an entire season. Obviously, best wishes to his family, the team and his staff. A tragic day in Texas football, to be sure.
I know you've heard this from me before, but we're publishing a magazine this week -- hence the delayed blogging.
But hey, it's true. We're sending pages to the printer today for our special edition 50th Anniversary book -- and this thing is a piece of beauty. Compiled by our staff here at Texas Football and most of the state's foremost writers and experts, our collector's edition book offers everything from rankings lists to all-college teams to old covers to a story from the man himself -- Dave Campbell.
The copy is great, but the photos are what's really breathtaking. Earl Campbell -- as a Lion -- is in there. Warren McVea in his old Brackenridge days, too. And don't forget Tommy Nobis, Mike Singletary, Tommy Kramer, Richard Ritchie ... the list goes on and on. It's 168 pages of pure nostalgia, and wives -- if any wives read my blog, which I doubt, sadly -- this is a perfect gift for a husband. I would love my fiance to get me one ... if, you know, I didn't get one for free.
Anyways, be looking for that, and we'll run a few more items on the website leading up to its release -- all in all, it's going to be quite a party. Should hit the shelves the beginning of November.
I have tons of material to blog about, but I'll save most of it for tomorrow. Today's let's talk about Dez Bryant, since it's the most important thing of the week. He's clearly been suspended for the rest of the season, but there's always a chance he could come back, based on how the appeals go from Oklahoma State (which the NCAA claims its heard nothing about -- not a good sign).
Here's the question I have, and it may have an obvious answer that I'm just missing (if so, email me): Why exactly is this a violation? Bryant went and met Deion Sanders at his house, drove his cars, jogged a little ... sounds like a hell of a time. I just don't see the harm in that. I mean, when I was in college, I got to meet Bob Scheiffer, have a nice conversation ... there was no problem there. What's the difference?
Like I said, there could be an obvious problem that I'm just overlooking. Or maybe the NCAA just doesn't want any impressionable kid meeting with Deion. That would be understandable. But in a way, this just looks like overzealous action. If Bryant hadn't lied about the interaction, I don't think we would be seeing this kind of hammer-blow.
So what does it do for the Big 12 South race? Sadly, it just puts more distance between Texas and the rest of the pack. Baylor had already lost its best player. Now Oklahoma State. The Longhorns have already beaten Tech. That just leaves A&M and Oklahoma -- obviously, the Sooners are a bit of an x-factor, but the Aggies aren't scaring anyone (now). What was supposed to be one of the great races in college football has turned into a one-horse show.
I awoke to two very different feature stories this morning. One put a smile on my face, and one did not.
Kate Hairopoulos' story on SMU's Youri Yenga in the Dallas Morning News today was just great. Charming, touching and insipriing, I felt like it challenged readers to find their own motivation, and to realize that, despite how bad your day is, things can always be a lot worse. As an undersized defensive end, Yenga was always my favorite underdog to root for. That has only been reinforced.
And then I found John Lopez's story on Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson. It's not that I hated it -- far from -- but if you're going to read it (which I encourage), skip straight to the second page. That made me breathe easier. But the football portion of the piece gave me a headache. First of all, I've never heard anyone compare Johnson to Vince Young, and especially JaMarcus Russell -- Lopez claims the opposite, and dismisses it. But then he goes on to detail Johnson's size -- 6-6 and 245 -- and his long, powerful, deceptive running stride. Well, in the Longhorns' championship year, Young was 6-5, 230, and his long, powerful, deceptive running stride made him a national legend and sneaked him inside the Rose Bowl pylon. Of course Johnson is a better passer ... but there's clearly a similarity there.
And comparing the stats for Johnson to Tebows and McCoys and Malletts and such is just a twisting of the numbers. McCoy's opponents haven't been great, but he has played Texas Tech. Tebow has played Tennessee. Mallett had to deal with Arkansas. Potts faced Texas. Max Hall played Oklahoma and Florida State. Who has Johnson faced this year? Utah State, UAB and New Mexico, possibly the worst team in FBS football. I'm not saying Johnson isn't legit -- but just wait until conference schedule until we start calling him a Heisman finalist. He sounds like an awesome kid, and I love that. But it's too early to grind up the hype machine yet. And if his personal life is supposed to be the crux, lead with that. A quarterback throwing for a lot of yards and no interceptions is the furthest thing from a new story, which the title suggests. Growing up with countless foster siblings is.
By the way -- did anyone notice how bad the injury bug bit the football world this week? The carnage was remarkable. A season-ending injury to Baylor's Robert Griffin (and teammate Mikail Baker) was the most marquee. But Houston lost LB Matt Nicholson for the year, and Pflugerville High lost RB Storm Woods, too. Ennis' Kyle Guinyard is gone. Westlake's Louie Swope will probably miss most of the season. Even the professional ranks took a knife to the heart -- Chad Pennington, the Miami Dolphins' QB, is headed to the IR after he tore his shoulder. And let's not get started on Tim Tebow. That's what happens when you leave a kid in, I guess.
Oh -- that could be one more reason Johnson's numbers are so good. Despite two blowout finishes, Johnson has thrown every pass this season for A&M except for four. Again, just saying.
Depending on who you root for on Saturdays, today's college football environment is either your land of hope or hopelessly screwed up.
I got a great email the other day from former Rice Owl Dan Malin, who played back in the '60s, when Rice was still the conference equal of big schools like Texas and A&M. I won't show you all of it, but here's the gist:
"Why am I writing you at this time? Partly because I have grown weary over the years with the lack of respect Rice football has gotten. It is understandable but still galling as most people have no appreciation of the inherent difficulties of recruiting good athletes to a school where education is first and football second. At Rice athletes must be student-athletes. Looking at graduation rates for athletes at BCS schools is pretty sad as it says a lot about priorities in this part of the country and elsewhere. Many of these kids are no more college students than the family cat. I believe the word is exploitation, right?"
Well, it's tough to argue with him. Rice is kind of a rarity at the collegiate level -- a school founded on exceptional athletics that doesn't even get the pull of a BCS conference backing it. Stanford, Northwestern and Duke are all exceptional schools -- but has a legit chance of making a BCS bowl or national championship every year. Rice has no such illusions. There may not be a tougher recruiting job in all of America.
There's a couple statistical performances I want to draw attention way out West, as well. Firstly, San Angelo Lake View piced together a big win over Midland Greenwood last week, but the main story was QB Paxton Martin and WR Dominic Manuel -- Martin threw for 448 yards and seven touchdowns, and Manuel had 13 catches for 291 yards and five touchdowns. That may eventually be the receiving performance of the season!
But as impressive as that was, Alpine Dominic Scott has just dropped my jaw so far this year. The Fightin' Bucks, down in 4-2A, are 4-0 on the season, but that's just the tip of the iceberg -- Alpine has already downed three teams from 4-3A this season (Fabens, Pecos and Clint), and in doing so, Scott has racked up more than 1,500 passing yards and 19 touchdowns ... with just one interception. And he's also the team's leading rusher! Ladies and gentlemen -- your new darkhorse in the race for the single-season touchdown pass record.
And check this out -- one of the smallest towns in Texas is getting recognition the biggest can only dream at. The New York Times has written a very flattering, very un-Friday Night Lights style piece on tiny Canadian, winner of two straight state titles and arguably the modern standard bearer for small-school football excellence. Former managing editor Jake Shaw raved about this place, complimenting both the beauty of the town and the caliber of the people. Looks like he wasn't messing around. Looks like I need to book a plane ticket.
At the end of last season, I talked about a youngster named Steve Edmond. A backup LB/DE for Daingerfield, Edmond couldn't break into the lineup until the first week of the postseason -- and even then, only an injury to a starter earned him his break. The end result? Edmond finished with double-digit TFL in just six weeks of play, and now he's already one of the top defenders in 2A football. How times change.
Well, how about another junior name to throw out there. Why not Landon Rackley, a DT out at 2A cooper? At 6-4, 260, he's already bigger than most everyone on the field, and with 10 tackles in just three games, he's on track for about (including playoffs) 40 or so, which is pretty good for an interior lineman. He's not playing both ways yet, but he might next year -- that would increase his recruiting exposure, to be sure. 6-foot-4 guys don't grow on trees. Keep an eye on him.
From small school to big school -- I got word that Mesquite Horn RB Travis Brewster has been dismissed from the team. That hurts Horn quite a bit -- behind star QB Emory Miller, Brewster was the team's leading rusher, and though Miller is capable of carrying the offense on his own, having a reliable second option would keep defenses from focusing on him for an entire game. You have to start wondering about Miller's fatigue level if he's getting pounded on for 60 snaps every single game. We'll have to see how his backup fares.
A word on rankings, too. They're a tricky thing, and much harder than people think. For example -- how would you handle an unranked 1-2 squad upsetting a top-ten 3-0 team? Does that mean the winner has to jump all the way above the loser? Would it make a difference if the teams were 1-8 and 8-1, instead? Does home field advantage factor into it? What about weather? And god forbid there's an injury involved. We hear a lot that rankings seem too subjective, that there's not a set of hard-and-fast rules to rely on in all situation. Well, that's because there's too many situations to account for. Not all wins are created equal, unfortunately. Neither are all 4-0 records. And neither are all 0-4 records. Sure, it's subjective. It pretty much has to be.
Oh, and by the way -- last week, I wrote that coaches that punt on fourth-and-short in their opponent's territory give me a headache. Well, guess what -- I watched Nebraska's Bo Pelini send one away on fourth and one with just under two minutes to play, leading by five, to Virginia Tech. I turned to my fiance and said, "They will lose this game." The first play from scrimmage, Virginia Tech completed a pass down to the two-yard line. Three plays later, Hokie QB Tyrod Taylor threw a touchdown, and Nebraska lost. If you ever have the ball in your own hands with a chance to win, why on earth would you give it back to someone else?
I always get bothered by coaches who punt in fourth-and-short situations; unless you're inside your own 20 or are leading by a sizeable margin (say, 15+), why not just go for it? Odds are, you'll make it, and if you don't think your guys can get a yard or two when absolutely necessary, you might have more problems than suddenly giving up the field position battle. Conservative coaching is one thing, but coaches who are just trying to avoid play calls that could make them look bad give me a headache.
But I wasn't quite advocating this.
Out in Little Rock, coach Kevin Kelley doesn't even list a punter on his Pulaski Academy roster, and his Bruins haven't punted once since 2007. He says he'll never punt again -- I 'll let him defend his own statistics in the article, but one thing he says makes a tremendous amount of sense: Knowing you have four downs to play drastically changes play-calling. In three-down football, a short or negative run on first down usually means a passing play on second down. But in four-down football, you can still run the ball on second-and-ten -- that gives your RBs a better chance to get in a rhythm, it wears down the defense more, and you can still get yourself into a third-and-short. Obviously, ditching the punter in high school, where a lot of punters aren't very good, is one thing; I don't advocate this in the NFL or even college ball. But in high school, why not?
I also saw that David Jason Stinson, a former high school football coach in Kentucky, was acquitted of the charges he faced in the death of sophomore offensive lineman Max Gilpin, who died following his collapse in a particularly taxing practice. I wasn't out their running sprints, but the reports say that Stinson ordered his players to sprint until someone quit. I have to admit --that's a little much for high schoolers. I've heard of this before -- the "Miracle" approach ("Again!", "Again!", "Again!" -- and while that may be acceptable for collegiate and pro hockey players, it may be a bit too strong of approach for 14- or 15-year olds.
But this is a small piece of a larger problem: How much is too much? How does a coach truly know when he’s pushing a kid's physical limitations too far? And how can he tell the difference between kids in physical danger and kids who just don’t want to run?
In short, we’re asking coaches to walk a hazy line, to live within a paradoxical double standard of our own making. We expect wins – wins at all costs – but when tragedy strikes, and a young player either dies or is horribly injured, we want the man in charge thrown in jail. In our minds, two things should get a coach fired: Pushing kids too hard and not pushing them enough.
Lastly, it looks like we're making progress again, and now, for the first time ever, we're going to have a female official in a SWAC football game. I'll let you peruse the details, but good for Yvonda Lewis -- hopefully that's a name we'll remember.
A year ago, we saw Denton Ryan's Scotty Young and Muleshoe's Wes Wood dual for the state's single-season passing touchdown record. Both looked to be on target, until Young bowed out of the playoffs in the regional semis and Wood cooled off down the stretch. The final tallies? Young, 65; Wood 64. And Graham Harrell's record, 67, stood strong.
Or just delayed the inevitable.
One of the characters is the same, but the '09 season again offers us an intriguing drama to follow -- Young, now a senior, and Birdville's Josh Dorman are once again tracking Harrell's number. And Young, at the very least, is on pace to completely shatter it.
The Texas Tech pledge has now thrown for 20 touchdowns in just three games, meaning he's on pace to throw just more than 66 touchdowns in the regular season alone. Obviously he won't have too many eight-TD performances like he did against McKinney in Week 2, but even one night like that every once in a while is a powerful weapon in this arms race. And Dorman, the younger brother of A&M signee Tommy Dorman, has throw for 16. At that pace, he'd have to play three rounds deep into the postseason to break just Harrell's number -- much less whatever Young my hit. Still, just something to watch for.
Just a quick hit on North Texas, which surely should have won against Ohio a week ago. Two things suddenly have me worried about the Mean Green's 2009 season. First, the team that UNT dispatched in Week 1, Ball State, lost to New Hampshire this weekend. Don't recognize the school? Because it's not an FBS one. That doesn't bode well for UNT's resume. And with Alabama looming on the schedule, I'm afraid these UNT kids are about to take a confidence blow that they may not recover from. I know North Texas gets quite a pay day from these games ... but please, please stop scheduling them. You're hurting the players, whether you realize it or not.
And if you're at a Mesquite game, and you're looking for Brad Smithey, an ATH/WR, you won't find him. He's transferred out to Dallas Christian, where he should play this week. His Skeeter days are over, which is just more bad news for a team that's already 0-3.
As the Labor Day weekend passed (far too quickly), I watched the Sam Bradford fiasco play out with a heavy heart. It's not that I root for OU, but I do root for excellence, and Bradford has never done anything but impress me, both on and off the field. In my head, I had to wonder ... what next for Oklahoma?
And then I let my mind wander a little bit, and I realized something -- what next for anyone in that situation? If the Longhorns lost Colt McCoy, thought I, then the state's most recognizable face would be abruptly snatched from the radar. And that's the question I pose to you -- after McCoy, who is the state's most recognizable face?
This is something you'll be able to hear on our radio program this week, as Brad Hilliard and Dennis Hall and I go round and round with a number of names that deserve first place status. But as for now, I'd like to hear from you a little bit. Let me know who you're thinking, and I'll give you some feedback. Be inventive!
I had a good email roll in from Michael, a frequent Aggie and Brownwood reader who made some good points about the Lions' nifty 2-0 start. Unfortunately, he's right when he says that my picks charted them at 0-2. Can't win 'em all:
I noticed you put Brownwood under the radar two weeks in a row and had them losing two weeks in a row. I do not blame you with how they played last year. The defense really gave up so much. I have gone to the first two games this year and I have been really impressed. First, we came back to beat Burnet. That spoke volumes of clawing back and wanting to win. This week, we got to payback a team that dominated us last year in the 2nd half on the run. Our run defense was great. They broke a couple of long ones, but other than that, we were stout with plugging the gaps and stopping that run. -- Michael
I also got another email worth sharing, this one from coach Jason Lovvorn out of First Baptist Academy in Dallas. His guy had a big night, and though he didn't make the cut for a Player of the Week candidate,he certainly deserves mention here:
I would like to nominate Jake Valdez, safety and quarterback at Dallas First Baptist Academy, for player of the week for his performance in a 41-21 victory against Colleyville Covenant. Jake had 22 total tackles, 6 unassisted tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, and 1 interception on defense. He rushed 18 times for 146 yards and 3 touchdowns and was 18 for 29 with 170 yards passing and 3 passing touchdowns. -- Coach Lovvorn
Well, it doesn't get much better than that, does it? That just goes to show you how tough the competition was this week. But odds are, he'll be back, and you'llsee his name on a ballot before season's end.
Got a random thought, complaint or point? Email me, and I'll post it here. I always love to hear from my readers.
In case you didn't, North Texas escaped with a 20-10 victory over '08 sensation Ball State, seemingly living in a state of flux between trying to win the game and trying to lose it. By the early second half, I counted at least 27 points that the Mean Green left on the field -- a wide open touchdown pass that Riley Dodge just missed, an interception return for a touchdown nullified by a knucklehead penalty, an open man in the end zone that Dodge couldn't find and, instead, got picked off, and two missed field goals. That's a lot of scoring to pass up!
But that's being particularly harsh. I found myself rooting for Dodge and the Mean Green from snap one, and I'm glad the beleaguered UNT program was about to win its season opener (just its second in its last 12 chances). This, of course, matches last year's win total, and though Ball State didn't look particularly good, it still bodes well for the rest of the season. And Riley Dodge? Some freshman mistakes (noted above), but he actually played pretty well. The final line: 23-33-216-1, 1 TD passing, and 12-73 rushing. Not bad.
Speaking of 2006 QB sensations, I saw that G.J. Kinne will start at Tulsa. This is another feel good story, even if he'll be torching Texas teams all season long. A superstar at Gilmer and one of the best passers in state history, Kinne spurned Baylor for Texas, where it soon became clear that he would never play with Colt McCoy in the starting spot. So he transferred out to Tulsa, and hard work in camp has netted him one of the most envious jobs in college sports -- playing QB for Todd Graham. Tulsa opens the season tonight against Tulane on ESPN, 7 p.m.
I know this one is old news, but the now-legendary Cedar Hill-DeSoto game that aired last weekend on ESPN2 has been sitting in my DVR for days, and I finally got a chance to sit down and watch it. And one thing immediately struck me: Cedar Hill QB Driphus Jackson is much better than last season. I went to the Cedar Hill-Irving game a year ago, and came away very impressed with RB Ben Malena. Jackson seemed average. But in that game against DeSoto, he looked like college material. His footwork was exceptional, and his throwing motion was quick and accurate. I don't know if he'll ever be big enough for big-time football, but he certainly has talent. He deserves looks.
I'm pretty disappointed about the Garland-Duncanville rainout last night, and even more so that it won't be rescheduled. I know these games mean nothing, but I would have really liked to see that one. It would have been a great measuring stick match for both programs. Now there's just puddles in my backyard. Stupid rain.
And one last heads up: Altair Rice's game vs. Edna has been cancelled due to health problems for Edna. Altair Rice will instead play Freer in Victoria tonight at 7:30 pm.
But I didn't come back empty-handed, and here's a few of my observations from the five games I settled in and watched.
- Brown is fantastic: If you've heard the hype about Cibolo Steele RB Malcolm Brown, it's all true. He's just a junior, but he'll certainly be amongst the top players in the country next year. Just to put this in perspective, he ran against a RB rated as a five-star by Rivals.com, SA East Central's Chris Johnson, a senior. And as well as Johnson played, Brown still looked better. And his team as a whole? Sensational in a 35-14 win, and DT Marquis Anderson, also a junior, looked really good.
- Duncanville rising: Shortly before my live blog of the game, I said that unranked Duncanville would beat No. 6 Odessa Permian. But I didn't know it would win like that! Permian looked disjointed most of the afternoon, and Duncanville's big and fast defense really closed up passing lanes en route to a 33-14 win. We knew that coach Jeff Dicus would eventually make that program successful. But this soon, in this fashion? You have to be a little surprised by that.
- Brenham better than you think: I'm not sure I want to start predicting state title games, but Brenham did look extremely good in dispatching 5A Katy Mayde Creek on Saturday morning. The linebackers were extremely athletic and aggressive, and the front seven as a whole will be the equal of any time in 4A football. At the start of the season, I was a bit lukewarm on Brenham. Now, after watching them play, I'm red-hot.
I also saw the NCAA Clearinghouse finally cleared UH recruits George Bamfo and A.J. Dugat. Bamfo, a linebacker from Rockwall-Heath, is a solid signee and adds some depth to the defense. But Dugat was the critical piece to the Cougars' 2009 haul; without him, it's a pie with no filling. An Air Pie. A Parade All American, Dugat's 113 catches last season rank fourth in state history, and his 232 career catches are fifth all-time. That's tough to beat! Months ago, I would have said he would make an immediate impact at receiver. Now, he has a lot of catching up to do. But don't be surprised if he finds a way to get on the field after all.
If you didn't get a chance to see the Katy vs. North Shore game this weekend, you didn't miss much scoring. But there were still plenty of marquee moments, including this clip of new Katy RB Donovonn Young, a junior transfer from Humble hurdling a North Shore defender, a la Sam McGuffie a few years back. It's quite a thing, and it just goes to show that Katy has the talent for another state championship. Be ready!
Last thing: Here's a schedule of some televised high school games this season. TXA 21 is My21 in the Metroplex area. When I get the full slate of FSN, I'll post it here.
Sept. 3 Amarillo Tascosa at Lubbock Monterrey FSN
Sept. 4 SLC vs. Arlington TXA 21
Sept. 7 Kirk Herbstreit Classic
Sept. 10 Alto at Arp FSN
Sept. 11 Highland Park vs. Coppell TXA 21
Sept. 18 Allen at Trinity TXA 21
Sept. 18 Aldine Eisenhower at Bmt. West Brook FSN
Sept. 24 The Colony at Denton Guyer TXA 21
Sept. 25 Bryan Rudder at Navasota FSN
Oct. 1 South Garland vs. N. Mesquite TXA 21
Oct. 1 Corsicana at Waco Midway FSN
Oct. 8 Allen at McKinney Boyd TXA 21
Oct. 15 Rowlett at Garland TXA 21
Oct. 22 Bell at Keller TXA 21
Oct. 29 Dumas at Amarillo Palo Duro FSN
Oct. 29 Frisco at McKinney North TXA 21
Oct. 29 Belton at Temple ESPN
Nov. 5 Aledo at Birdville TXA 21
Nov. 6 Alamo Heights at Cibolo Steele FSN
It looks like the Morton Ranch saga may finally be coming to some sort of a resolution. The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Katy ISD has hired a new coach to take over after the dismissal of head coach Scott Svendsen and two assistants -- and the new head man is a name you'll probably recognize: Dave Meadows.
With an overall coaching record of 271-99, Meadows currently ranks 14th on the all-time coaching wins list. His last stop was at DeSoto, where he was somewhat forced out under allegations of forcing injured players to take the field. But he's been around the game for decades, and there's not a whole lot he hasn't seen during that time frame. If you're looking for a senior statesmen to come in a settle down a bad situation, he's not a bad place to start. He won't have the AD duties, though -- those will stay with interim director Todd McVey. With a new coach and the program back to moving forward, there's a good chance some of the details from this mess will never surface. And as for transfer QB Sam Carter, who came to Morton Ranch from Houston Sharpstown, well, he's about to hit his third venue of the summer: Alief Hastings. Whether or not he'll be eligible for the upcoming season is still in question.
Speaking of eligibility, two very important '09 signees have recently passed their classes as well. A&M's Coryell Judie, an excellent JUCO DB, has been granted eligibility by the Clearinghouse. That's big news in College Station -- he'll push for starting time immediately at a thin position. And LSU has finally welcomed Craig Loston, the Aldine Eisenhower standout who's been waiting on a summer course to clear before he could join his new teammates. He got on the field on Monday, the first day of classes. Loston, lest we forget, was one of (if not the) top defensive backs in the country last season.
If you want reasoning, I can provide it. We're not Longhorn homers. That's just not true. My sister is, but I am not. First of all, we here at DCTF said from the beginning that we wanted our preseason poll to reflect where we think the teams will finish -- not where they should start. Only one of those rankings mean anything. Hint: It's the finish part. And why shouldn't Texas be allowed to win a national championship? They were better than Oklahoma last season, and the last time they played for a title, I believe it was also against a Heisman Trophy winner playing for a "team of the century". I like my odds there.
And, I might add, the AP poll has been around for 60 years. In that time span, only ten preseason No. 1s have won the national championship. And if everyone is saying Florida is the preseason No. 1 ... well, then it would seem us saying Texas will FINISH No. 1 doesn't look all that absurd. Bottom line: Everything you can say about '08-'09 Florida you can say about Texas, except the fact that the Gators won a national title. And that was decided by a computer system that didn't watch a single game.
I also saw that Nebraska's Quentin Castille has made his exit from the program, leaving the door open for Superman -- Plano's Rex Burkhead. The former Metroplex star is shooting up the depth chart, and it would only be fitting with the rest of his story were he to make a profound impact as a true freshman. The minute the Huskers signed this kid, I just knew we would hear from him sooner rather than later, and it appears Castille's misfortune could be Burkhead's big break.
I also had a reader named Stephen make some good points on my recruiting blog, regarding the pledge of Southlake Carroll QB David Piland to UH. I said the Coogs could have a hard time holding him if he nets "bigger and better offers". For clarification's sake, that's not a knock on UH. That's just saying that if he explodes for typical Southlake numbers and gets offered by someone like Florida or USC, it would be a tough sell to keep him. That's all. Trust me -- I want UH to hold onto him. I like it when kids stay in state.
Texas' four top 25 teams is best in the country. Top amongst the chosen ones? Katy, which clocks in at a heavy-hitting No. 3. Do I now feel foolish for saying North Shore could beat them in Week 0? Possibly. Defending 5A DI champ Allen is ranked No. 12, Round Rock Stony Point weighs in at No. 15 (I don't think USA Today quite realizes how momentous that occasion is), and powerful Cedar Hill brings up the rear at No. 17. Not too bad, USA Today. Not too bad.
And speaking of rankings, reader Larry -- a long-time 1A source of info -- compiled a comparison of the upper-echelon 1A teams for my review. I was intrigued by the differences (especially Wellington), so I stuck them here. Enjoy!
AP Poll:
1. Cayuga
2. Albany
3. Quinlan Boles
4. Alto
5. Wellington
6. Canadian
7. Stratford
8. Seymour
9. Goldthwaite
10. Ganado
TXHSFootball.com:
1. Cayuga
2. Canadian
3. Albany
4. Alto
5. Stratford
6. Goldthwaite
7. Seymour
8. Wellington
9. Quinlan Boles
10. Ganado
Padilla Poll/TexasFootball.com:
1. Cayuga
2. Wellington
3. Quinlan Boles
4. Albany
5. Seymour
6. Alto
7. Ganado
8. Canadian
9. Falls City
10. New Deal
MaxPreps:
1. Stratford
2. Quinlan Boles
3. Cayuga
4. Canadian
5. Albany
6. Roscoe
7. Wellington
8. Shiner
9. Archer City
10. New Deal
Massey Ratings:
1. Canadian
2. Stratford
3. Roscoe
4. Mart
5. Archer City
6. Shiner
7. Albany
8. Cayuga
9. Sundown
10. Maud
California Preps:
1. Stratford
2. Quinlan Boles
3. Cayuga
4. Canadian
5. Albany
6. Roscoe
7. Wellington
8. Shiner
9. Archer City
10. New Deal
I woke up this morning to another wave of the two sports story lines I am most disgusted by these days: Brett Favre and features/columns on Tony Romo.
Is that blasphemy? Sometimes I feel like it is. Surely there must be some grand importance that I'm missing if every one else is so riveted to these rehashed, recycled and regurgitated draw-in-your-Average-Joe sports topics. Or maybe we're all sick of them. I dunno.
The Favre thing is what it is. Whatever, I can avoid it. The Romo thing is far more frustrating, because I feel like the ad nauseum coverage he gets comes at the exclusion of real information about the team. It's almost just a stop gap -- hey, we need a Cowboys story, someone slap together a column about Romo and Cabo and maturity. Geez. Give me a break.
In high school news, here's something that happened a ways back that I was slow in reporting (writing a Romo column, perhaps): Waco Midway QB Corey Holmes, listed in the DCTF magazine that came out in June, will miss most of the season with an elbow injury. If he's cleared by team doctors at all this year, he'll likely just punt. Ryan Smith is the new projected starter. Though Midway returns the pieces of a great defense, it has now lost its '08 RB (John Hubert, KSU), its entire offensive line, its quarterback and its tight end (Trey Graham, UT). Whew. That's tough sledding, even for coach Kent Bachtel.
And, just for the record, Texas A&M is putting together a wonderful recruiting class. I really sat down and looked at it yesterday, and the Aggies are securing the pieces for what could be an exceptional running game. With the signing of Christine Michael back in February, the Ags are just a few road graders away from a powerful (if not throwback) offense. Well, pledges from Jake Matthews (FB Elkins), Garrett Gramling (Denton Ryan), Luke Joeckel (Arlington), Shep Klinke (Katy) and Cedric Ogbuehi (Allen) has made A&M's 2010 class exceptional. Every one of those guys is on one of our preseason Super Teams. That's very, very good work by Mike Sherman and his staff. Still think he's getting fired at the end of the year? Not me. If his AD takes a look at the work he's done on the trail the past two years, he'll be impressed. And the kids he inked in '08 played well last season. Settle in, Ag fans. Sherman is here to stay.
I also saw on a blog site that ESPN has essentially married SEC football. This report is a bit overdramatic, but it carries some truth to it. It won't augment recruiting near as much as this suggests -- the SEC is already the hottest place in the country for high schoolers -- but I could see it messing with the polls. After all, if you see every game of, say, South Carolina's 8-4 season and none of Texas A&M's 8-4, you know where your vote would go. All this does is make the richer a bit richer. And it will irritate all of us on Saturday.
The mess at Katy Morton Ranch might have bitten its third victim -- Michael Venson, a '09 TCU signee, has been declared academically ineligible. There's no way to tell if the investigation at Morton Ranch (looking into, among several things, academic eligibility violations) is correlated with Venson's ban, but it certainly doesn't look good. Especially when it comes on the heels of another grad, Joe Mitchell, being sent home from Oklahoma State until the investigation is finished. And for a quick update on other eligibility issues: TCU's Dwight Smith is still in limbo, and Texas A&M's Coryell Judie is about "75 percent" of the way there, according to Mike Sherman.
I also saw a post on an On-Demand program in Central Texas for Time Warner uses. I've posted the game line up here. Kind of looks like the Austin Westlake channel, huh? It'll be on Channel 1400. Enjoy! (And tell me how the game is).
Aug. 28 • Cedar Park vs. Westlake
Aug. 29: Anderson vs. McCallum
Sept. 4: Lake Travis vs. Westlake
Sept. 4: Round Rock McNeil vs. Belton
Sept. 4: Temple vs. Cedar Park
Sept. 4: Austin High vs. McCallum
Sept. 11: Westlake vs. A&M Consolidated
Sept. 12: Georgetown vs. Anderson
Sept. 19: Hays vs. McCallum
Sept. 25: Killeen vs. Lake Travis
Sept. 25: Westwood vs. Stony Point
Sept. 25: Westlake vs. Bowie
Sept. 26: Connally vs. Austin
Oct. 2: Leander vs. Stony Point
Oct. 2: Pflugerville vs. Westlake
Oct. 3: Lanier vs. McCallum
Oct. 9: Hutto vs. Dripping Springs
Oct. 9: Round Rock vs. Cedar Park
Oct. 9: Westlake vs. Bastrop
Oct. 10: Bowie vs. Austin High
Oct. 16: Westlake vs. Connally
Oct. 17: LBJ vs. McCallum
Oct. 23: Anderson vs. Westlake
Oct. 23: Cedar Park vs. Stony Point
Oct. 23: Westlake vs. Anderson
Oct. 30: Westlake vs. Austin High
Oct. 30: Westwood vs. Cedar Park
Oct. 31: Connally vs. Anderson
Nov. 5: Akins vs. Westlake
Nov. 6: Stony Point vs. Round Rock
Nov. 7: Anderson vs. Austin High
- Conner Wehr at Giddings: Giddings has filled the quarterback slot vacated by '08 starter Trey Masek, who is quitting to focus on baseball. The answer? Conner Wehr, a transfer from Magnolia. Wehr sports a lot of the tools that Giddings' quarterbacks have not always enjoyed: a strong, accurate arm, etc. Traditionally, the Buffaloes have been a run-first, pass-never squad. Does Wehr change that dynamic? I don't know. But he has to have coach Fitzhenry thinking.
- Joe Mitchell sent home: Former Morton Ranch star Joe Mitchell, an Oklahoma State signee, has been sent home by the Cowboys while the investigation of Morton Ranch's football team progresses. Missed the memo? Head coach Scott Svendsen and two assistants have been placed on administrative leave under allegations of misusing department funds, tampering with student records and student eligibility inconsistencies. Oklahoma State's opinion on the matter? Appropriately vague. I hope this messy situation doesn't cost a kid a scholarship.
- D.J. Grant injured: My boss always says that nothing good happens in September -- I'm forced to agree. D.J. Grant, a freshman tight end for the Longhorns, is out for the season with damaged ligaments in his knee. This incident of course follows the gruesome injury to Blaine Irby last year -- dislocated knee cap, I think? -- that could end the guy's career. Once upon a time, playing quarterback at Dayton High was the ultimate curse. But now? I think I'll swing the hex over to Austin.
- Speaking of Dayton ...: A.J. Dugat, a record-setting receiver last season, isn't on UH's campus yet. Is that reason for concern? Kevin Sumlin has pooh-poohed the issue so far. But Dugat (and two other signees) not being there can't be a good thing. He would be a significant loss if he's declared ineligible. The Coogs don't sign Parade All-Americans every day.
Giddings, ranked No. 6 in class 3A, will be without two stars for the upcoming season -- QB Trey Masek and RB/S Rush Plumlee. Both are skipping football to focus on their baseball careers, which took them to the 3A championship game last season. Where does this leave the Buffaloes? Well, hurting, obviously. Masek rushed for 700 yards and 6 TDs last season and was a safe bet for the starting gig under center (which, at Giddings, means few passing plays). And Plumlee? He rushed for 1,000 yards and excelled at the Rover position on defense. Coach Derek Fitzhenry has other stars to rely on -- Eric Rimes, Corey Brite, etc. -- but the lost of two key starters will be tough to overcome, especially in a very difficult 25-3A.
Trouble is also brewing out in the Houston area, where Katy Morton Ranch is finding itself in hot water. Head coach Scott Svendson and two assistants have been placed on administrative leave following allegations of misusing district funds and violations regarding student records and athletic eligibility. Once the UIL was sent documents suggesting the violations, Katy ISD was notified and the coaches were put on leave during the investigation. There is no exact timetable for the investigation, but the seriousness of the allegations suggests two weeks or longer. At the end, Morton Ranch may face punishment; as for Sam Carter the transfer QB from Houston Sharpstown who is pledged to TCU, his future is now in doubt. The coaching staff is unsure if he will play for Morton Ranch this year.
Lastly, Matt Lipka, a standout WR from McKinney, has verbally pledged to Alabama -- but for baseball. An all-state pick as a sophomore, Lipka likely would have received more notice from postseason polls last year had he not focused so much on baseball. But clearly that choice worked out! His teammate, Super Team QB Zach Lee, has pledged to LSU but is also considering baseball.
With my long hiatus from blogging now at an end (translation: two magazines in one summer being finished), there's some high school news I'll throw your way. There's been some transfers and class changes that are worth knowing before the season kicks off.
- Evant drops down: Sad, but true. The 25-1A school, facing declining numbers and a very tough district, is going the six-man route. I say "sad" not because it's an insult to play six-man ball, but because you just never know how long a small city has before the school eventually runs dry. Nothing hurts worse than seeing a program drop its football team, and this move may put Evant, one of many small Texas cities shrinking in size, one step closer to that end. But on the brighter side, this is a great move for the kids. The school hadn't made the playoffs in 55 years, and with so many young and small players on the roster, someone getting hurt (perhaps badly) was a matter of "when", not "if". Best of luck to Evant, for sure.
- Thor Long transfers: The Callisburg star, our preseason pick for the 10-2A offensive MVP, has transferred to 4A Sherman. Yes, the move will help his visibility as a FBS prospect, but the reasoning listed on his website is far less football-motivated: his mother has been diagnosed with lymphoma, and apparently the new location will offer an improvement in her health. This is a bad blow for Callisburg -- Long was 2A's leading returning passer (3,075 yards), and it could push his former team out of the playoff race. As for Sherman, the Bearcats are already sporting Madison Carter under center, but the offseason coaching change could offer Long so hope of playing immediately.
- David Durham transfers: Wait, the Austin Westlake LB/DE that was pledged to Ohio State? Yup, the same. But he's not staying in state -- one of the earliest kids to offer a verbal this year is headed out to North Carolina, his native state. This is a significant blow for the Chaps -- Durham would have almost certainly been their best defensive player (he was our pick for 25-5A's preseason defensive POY) and would have been a big step towards replacing the talent and leadership lost with the graduation of RB Ryan Swope, who signed with Texas A&M. QB Tanner Price is still there, as is Swope's younger brother, Louie, but the loss of Durham will still be tough to overcome.
- Sam Carter transfers: Old news? Maybe. It's been a few months since Sharpstown dual-threat Sam Carter made his move to Katy Morton Ranch, but if you're one of those guys that completely check out of the football scene during the summer, this is earth-shattering stuff. Sharpstown has now lost its coach and star QB in one offseason -- ouch. But the defensive talent for the Apollos is still readily apparent. This could be great news for Morton Ranch, however. Carter is a pretty good quarterback -- TCU, where he has pledged, is apparently considering using him there one day -- but he can also play safety. Morton Ranch is in a tough district with a returning state champ -- it'll take all the help it can get.
- Donovonn Young transfers: As David McNabb of the TheOldCoach.com said, "is this the rich getting richer?" Well, yeah. Humble running back Donovonn Young, still just a junior, is making the move to Katy High. If you're a running back, transferring to the Tigers is a dream come true. Katy runs the ball – a lot-- and has a history of producing FBS signees in high numbers. Already a state champion last season, Katy will add Young to a backfield already sporting William Jeffery and an offense that will once again be one of 5A's most efficient.
My first good laugh came with this one: "Just doing pitch and catch right now but (John) Chiles has handled every throw that's come his way." I mean ... yeah, I'd hope so. I know he's a converted quarterback, but ... c'mon. If you can't handle a pitch and catch session, then you should be playing tetherball. And yes, I've played pitch and catch with a DI quarterback, and yes, they throw hard. But you'd have to coat the football in fire ants for 90% of humanity not to catch pitch and catch throws.
Less than one minute later: "Fitzhenry w/ a nice one handed grab." Look, if your quarterbacks are throwing balls that you can only reach with one hand in pitch-and-catch ... well, are you sure Chiles isn't still under center? Not as funny as the first one-liner -- that one completely made my day -- but still good.
What's my point? The point is ... I don't even know. There's just something wrong with that picture. Live-chatting with a sports writer taking questions is one thing, reading a live game blog still another. But live-blogging a practice? I would seriously rather read a live-blog on baking carrot cake, because then at least I would hopefully be able to make carrot cake by the end of it. Moving on.
A word on blogging as a whole: I'm working on constantly updating this blog, but I'll admit I'm struggling with it a little bit. I don't ever read bloggers (besides our own) and I've never gotten than much into the whole phenomenon. But that doesn't mean they don't have value, and that doesn't mean readers don't like reading them. All I'm saying is that even though I disappear from time to time, well ... sorry! I'm trying to do better, but sometimes it's pretty easy to get wrapped up writing front-page content. Bottom line: I'm doubling my effort. Just so you know. By the way, if you get a chance, drop me a line and tell me what you'd like to see in this space. I'm a people pleaser.
Lastly, I had a reader email me about a certain 3A school and how his family left the Metroplex suburbs to move to the small city that shares the school's name. This intrigued me, as I grew up in suburbs myself; I've spent more than my share of time in the small-town life, but where you grow up is where you grow up. In any case, I'm asking for your feedback -- you tell me which is better to grow up in and why. I'm totally open to opinion. I'm all ears.
These are all the Texas kids who either signed with out-of-state FCS schools, or out-of-state DII schools that share conferences with in-state schools; Grandview's Reid Golson is in here, as in Euless Trinity's Denarius McGhee (and Earnest Norman), and even Muleshoe greats Lane and Wes Wood. Did I forget someone? Holler at me.
| Dominique Allen | 6-3, 248 | TE/C | Houston Madison | |
| Nathan Dick | 6-4, 218 | QB | Arkansas/Allen (transfer) | |
| LaMarquis King | 6-4, 207 | TE | Aldine Nimitz | |
| Nate Richards | 6-4, 272 | C | Keller | |
| Justin Williams | 6-3, 252 | DE | Galveston Ball | |
| Aaron Young | 6-2, 205 | WR | Keller | |
| Hayden Dobbs | 6-0, 217 | LB | Cy Woods | |
| Chris Loveless | 6-5, 220 | DE | South Houston | |
| Brian Ritell | 6-2, 275 | DT | La Marque | |
| Shawn Sullivan | 5-10, 195 | CB | Nebraska/Brenham (transfer) | |
| Harold Turnage | 6-5, 220 | TE | Texas A&M/Houston Chavez (transfer) | |
| Michael Ware Jr. | 6-1, 280 | DT | Houston Madison | |
| Davion Marshall | 6-1, 230 | LB | Blinn CC | |
| Edet Udoh | 6-1, 310 | DT | Fort Bend Bush | |
| Quinn Anthony | 6-2, 275 | DL | Rusk | |
| Richard Bradley | 6-4, 230 | DL | Arp | |
| Trevor Eickman | 6-3, 225 | TE | Garland | |
| Anthony Gilbert | 6-3, 230 | DE | Lancaster | |
| Phillip Harvey III | 5-9, 160 | WR | Lancaster | |
| D.J. Hawkins | 6-5, 250 | DL | Westfield | |
| Destry Hesskew | 6-3, 270 | DL | Canton | |
| Jimmy Proctor | 6-0, 185 | WR | Dallas Smith | |
| Ryan Smith | 5-8, 185 | RB | Everman | |
| Tyler Smith | 5-11, 200 | LB | Cedar Hill | |
| Justin Wheat | 6-5, 220 | TE | Westfield | |
| Jamaal White | 6-0, 200 | S | South Garland | |
| LaJarvis Williams | 6-5, 303 | OL | Lake Highlands | |
| Geremy Wilson | 6-3, 295 | OL | Galveston Ball | |
| Isaiah Blackshear | 6-2, 225 | DE | Saginaw | |
| Joey Fowler | 6-4, 250 | DE | Texas Tech (transfer) | |
| Victor Cooper | 6-0, 185 | DB | Red Oak | |
| Terrance Crumley | 6-3, 190 | WR | North Crowley | |
| Curtis Fortenberry | 6-0, 215 | LB | North Crowley | |
| Tobyn Large | 6-3, 305 | OL | Montgomery | |
| Colby Ogletree | 6-2, 215 | ATH | Montgomery | |
| Phillip Pawelek | 6-2, 175 | ATH | Pleasanton | |
| Adrian Williams | 5-11, 230 | LB/DE | Freeport Brazosport | |
| Wesley Wood | 6-2, 165 | QB | Muleshoe | |
| Kendall Roberson | 5-8, 180 | RB | Lubbock Coronado | |
| Cody Bullard | 6-3, 200 | WR | Early | |
| Ryan Rumbaugh | 5-10, 165 | WR | odessa Permian | |
| Melvis Hawkins | 6-0, 195 | RB | Hale Center | |
| Marco Aaron Acuna | 6-5, 315 | OT | Corpus Christi Calallen | |
| Trace Schouerman | 6-1, 250 | OL | Houston Clear Lake | |
| Ian Ogando | 6-0, 315 | DT | La Porte | |
| Cyle Jones | 6-2, 230 | DE/TE | Smithville | |
| Bracy McCoy | 6-3, 250 | DE/TE | Freeport Brazosport | |
| Alex Adewunmi | 6-1, 219 | LB | Duncanville | |
| Saufeni Fuahala | 5-11, 195 | LB | Irving MacArthur | |
| Peyton Whitlock | 5-11, 170 | ATH | Denton Ryan | |
| Lane Wood | 5-11, 190 | LB | Muleshoe | |
| Joey Mendez | 6-0, 190 | LB | Odessa Permian | |
| Chris Redmond | 5-10, 175 | DB | Houston Westside | |
| Keith Davis | 5-10, 175 | DB | Houston Westside | |
| Aston Hughes | 5-11, 170 | DB | Denison | |
| Kirk Wilson | 5-11, 270 | OL | Callisburg | |
| Matt McDougald | 5-11, 175 | WR/LB | Kingwood | |
| John Stelly | 5-10 | LB/FB | Hardin | |
| Mike Yoder | 6-5, 280 | OL | Kingwood | |
| William "Beau" Beane | 6-0, 275 | OL | Round Rock McNeil | |
| Victor Williams | 5-9, 170 | DB | The Colony | |
| John Turner | 5-10 | WR | Trintity Valley CC | |
| Patrick Cook | 6-0, 195 | QB | Trinity Valley CC | |
| La’Ron Elmer | 5-7, 185 | RB | Kilgore JC | |
| Chris Davis | 5-7, 225 | RB | Tyler JC | |
| Edward Victorian | 5-8, 160 | WR | Kilgore JC | |
| Delvin Herndon | 6-1, 295 | OL | Kilgore JC | |
| William Pittman | 5-10, 230 | FB | Trinity Valley CC | |
| LeQuantum McDonald | 6-4, 240 | DE/TE | Baylor (transfer) | |
| Brian Johnson | 5-8, 165 | DB | Trinity Valley CC | |
| Billy Allen | 6-3, 180 | WR | Lake Highlands | |
| Troncais Banks | 6-1, 180 | WR | Garland Sachse | |
| Jercolby Bradley | 6-0, 185 | QB | Irving | |
| Kezie Camp | 6-0, 200 | WR | Forney | |
| Le’Derian Cockrane | 5-10 165 | WR | Cedar Hill | |
| Evan Conder | 6-4, 210 | DL | Irving | |
| Eric Cleere | 5-11, 170 | RB | Paris Chisum | |
| Izzy Eziakor | 5-11, 190 | DB | Wylie | |
| Curtis Frye | 6-3, 260 | OL | North Richland Hills | |
| Reid Golson | 6-0, 185 | QB | Grandview | |
| David Hernandez | 6-1, 276 | OL | Carrollton Newman Smith | |
| Cameron Hickey | 6-3, 275 | OL | Flower Mound Marcus | |
| Josh Higgins | 6-3, 280 | OL | Sherman | |
| Roman Hurndon | 6-0, 160 | WR | Mount Pleasant | |
| Mitch Lawdermilk | 5-11, 170 | DB | Collinsville | |
| Colby Long | 6-3, 230 | DL | Frisco Centennial | |
| Kyle Marley | 6-4, 290 | OL | Edgewood | |
| Vincent McDaniel | 5-8, 150 | CB | South Grand Prairie | |
| Hunter McPherson | 5-11, 170 | RB | Redwater | |
| Pharron Minniefield | 6-1, 215 | DL | Texarkana Texas | |
| Carl Perryman | 5-10, 170 | CB | Rowlett | |
| Coby Ragsdale | 6-3, 210 | TE | Collinsville | |
| Dexter Richmond | 5-9, 165 | WR | Irving Nimitz | |
| LaChristian Shepherd | 5-9, 170 | RB | Garland Sachse | |
| Jordan Smith | 6-2, 275 | OL | Aledo | |
| Andrew Brooks | 6-2, 260 | OL | Freeport Brazosport | |
| Jesse Wright | 6-2, 200 | DB | Aledo | |
| Everett Gilbert | 5-9, 176 | RB | Rockwall-Heath | |
| Denarius McGhee | 6-0, 188 | QB | Euless Trinity | |
| Keitrell Anderson | 5-9, 170 | WR | Aldine | |
| Thomas Robertson | 6-3, 255 | OL | Westfield | |
| Denzel Davis | 5-9, 170 | CB | South Garland | |
| Michael Williams | 5-9, 165 | CB | Aldine | |
| Nathan Snow | 5-11, 190 | DB | Houston Clear Lake | |
| Earnest Norman | 5-11, 220 | LB | Euless Trinity | |
| Scott Hernandez | 6-6, 322 | OL | Arlington Seguin | |
| Dominique Bennett | 6-1, 200 | LB | DeSoto | |
| Cameron Morgan | 6-2, 180 | WR | Uvalde | |
| Steven McCormack | 5-10, 161 | WR | Katy Seven Lakes | |
| Bobby Schneider | 6-0, 205 | LB | Colleyville Heritage | |
| Scott Lopano | 6-2, 170 | P | Southlake Carroll | |
| Raymondrick Brown | 6-1, 215 | LB | Texarkana Texas High | |
| Ryan Callender | 6-1, 210, | LB | Dallas Hillcrest | |
| Mike Sigers | 5-9, 165 | RB | Houston North Forest | |
| Justin Rideau | 6-3, 190 | WR | Blinn CC | |
| Mon Williams | 6-2, 210 | RB | Florida/Mesquite Horn (transfer) | |
| Eddie Morgan | 6-0, 185 | DB | Duke/McKinney (transfer) | |
| Derek Douglas | 6-1, 241 | DE | Garland Sachse | |
| Mark Nyainda | 6-1, 185 | DB | Mansfield Timberview | |
| Donte Parker | 5-11, 175 | ATH | Mansfield Timberview | |
| Bobby Tatum | 6-3, 250 | OL | Forney | |
| Kevaughn Williams | 6-1, 280 | DL | Dallas Adamson | |
| Parker Taylor | 6-4, 191 | WR | Brownwood | |
| James Holloway | 6-3, 180 | DB | Houston Washington | |
| Ameer Townes | 6-1, 300 | OL | Converse Judson | |
| Antonio Brame | 6-1, 170 | CB | Euless Trinity | |
| Kristian Graves | 6-3, 310 | OL | Dallas Samuel | |
| Eric Killman | 6-3, 310 | OL | Dallas Samuel | |
| Anthony Lee | 6-2, 200 | ATH | Beaumont Ozen | |
I'll admit it's a bit belated, but here's a pseudo-dictionary to pair along with your recruitment readings on TexasFootball.com. Just for the record -- these are all from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, for those who like to cite things.
1. Blue-chipDictionary definition: One that is outstanding; outstandingly worthwhile or valuable property or asset; an athlete rated as excellent or as an excellent prospect.My definition: Somehow the term blue-chip got phased out of the common vernacular a ways back, only to be replaced by Rivals.com and Scout.com's "star" rankings; five-star, four-star, etc. Being as I'm not a Rivals.com writer, I try and stay away from the SRM -- Star-Ranking Method -- and keep to terms that have been around a little longer. Sometimes I mess up and fall back into SRM, but Rome wasn't built in a day, so ... sorry.
In any case, I've always viewed "blue-chip" recruits as a national Top 100 guy OR a guy ranked in the top three at his position nationwide (that's to take care of kickers and punters, since they rarely crack the national Top 100 lists). By the way, I understand the hypocrisy here -- I have to use Rivals and Scout to look at these lists. That's why I always take every list I can find and try to "average" a player's ranking. That way I feel better about myself. For guys I've seen play in person, I just go with my eyes. That seems safer.
So for example, blue-chip QB recruits this year would have been names like Matt Barkley, Russell Shepard, Tyrik Rollison and Garrett Gilbert. Outside of that, you're pretty dang good. Just not a blue-chip.
2. WorkhorseDictionary definition: A person who performs most of the work of a group task; a hardworking person; something that is markedly useful, durable, or dependable.My definition: Workhorse has, in a way, almost totally lost its meaning these days due to the advent of the spread offense. Some people would consider Jason Bird, the 2007 Lake Travis WR who set the state record with 151 receptions in a single season, a workhorse. I suppose there's some validity to that. But I rarely use the term workhorse to describe anything but a running back or (maybe) an offensive lineman. And when I think "workhorse running back", I'm thinking someone who can give me 40 carries without batting an eye.
A team's leading rusher is not always a workhorse; once upon a time that was almost always the case, but now, with the rise of spread offenses and the decline of the Power-I, a team's leading rusher could have just 150 rush attempts on a season (Texas Tech, etc.) Splitting carries between two or three backs -- also a common practice nowadays -- has further culled true workhorses from the DI ranks. If you're going to be my workhorse, you're going to carry the ball upwards of 250 times per season. Think Kevin Smith (UCF) thoughts.
Now, that's not to say that non-workhorse running backs can't be great. I'm not sure I'd consider UH's Bryce Beall to be a workhorse, but he's still pretty darn good. It's just a different style. It's like saying the color yellow is better or worse than green.
3. SleeperDictionary definition: Someone or something unpromising or unnoticed that suddenly attains prominence or value.My definition: When I think sleeper, I'm not thinking a kid that has an offer from a good BCS school. I'm not even thinking a kid that has an offer from a good mid-major school. I'm talking about a kid that many recruiters don't even know about.
True sleepers are becoming rarer and rarer these days as the Age of Endless Information continues to find new ways to immediately beam us data, but down in the TAPPS, Six-man, 1A, 2A and (sometimes) 3A ranks, there are still kids that can contribute to a college program looking for just one chance. Call me an idealist, but I'd like to think a sleeper is someone that makes other coaches say "Who the heck is that kid?" as he streaks his way to the end zone. Again, guys like these are almost nonexistent these days. But once upon a time, they were everywhere.
4. ProjectDictionary definition: A planned undertaking.My definition: The dictionary is pretty much useless here, considering "project player" is more of a slang term, but I think "project" guys in football are much like "projects" you were assigned in middle school -- things you could very well screw up. A project player is exactly what it sounds like -- a long term investment in an unfinished product to try and mold it into something useful. Not all project players work out, but when they do, it's obviously pretty gratifying. The best example of a project player this year would probably be Baylor signee Rico Forbes -- he hasn't played football all that long, he's very raw and he still has to adapt after moving to America from the Bahamas.
But is this really what the Cowboys need right now?
I understand the show will be filmed, produced and packaged long before the team reports to camp in San Antonio. I understand that it won't be an "invasive" process, like Hard Knocks was. I understand players like Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and DeMarcus Ware won't ever have to worry about this offseason sideshow. But even if it isn't going to be a distraction, it just seems like one more media spotlight that Jerry Jones' squad doesn't need.
What you are about to hear may astonish you. I beg indulgence.
For once, the Cowboys need to be a little more like the Texans.
When was the last time you read a story about the Texans? When was the last time Yahoo! Sports ran photos of Matt Schaub as front page news? When was the last time ESPN's Texans beat reporter -- and I don't even know who that would be -- painted the locker room as a chaotic scene characterized by perpetual tardiness and middle-school drama? Those kind of things just don't happen down in Houston. Most Dallas enthusiasts would point to the Texans' less-than-stellar record since its inception in 2002; readers tend to forget the forgetful. In turn, I present to you Dallas' combined playoff record during that same time span. Clearly popularity is not directly proportional to win-loss records.
Win or lose, it's time for the Cowboys to take a step back for a little bit.
I'm not sure any team can succeed while saddled with the ridiculous media hype that follows the Cowboys from stadium to stadium -- you might say it worked in the '90s, but this isn't the '90s. The internet -- and news outlets' formidable command of it -- has changed many things, and sports fans are far more jaded than ever. You just can't get away with as much anymore (and that's probably a good thing). In short, media hype back then is not what it is now.
This strategy, this win-at-all-costs and buy-whoever-we-want mantra, just isn't working anymore. And I don't feel like me saying so is a knee-jerk reaction to this season's unfortunate ending; yes, last year the team was very good for 16 games, but in the end it still couldn't win a postseason contest. The fact that we've already forgotten Panthers QB Jake Delhomme's five INTs two weeks ago but we're STILL talking about stupid ole' Cabo shows there's something wrong with this dynamic: the Cowboys are just too front-and-center to win. There's a reason why the front line soldiers usually get hit with the first bullets.
Part of it is our fault, sure. We love the drama the Cowboys offer. We love Jerry Jones and his glitz-and-glam and his money. We eat that stuff up. The media loves to hang out in folding chairs by the locker room door, praying that the Days of Our Lives saga that lives within will peek it's pretty head out. But Jerry Jones knows what he's doing, and he all but drags this team to the forefront every season for a reason. He likes the exposure -- shame on us for gorging ourselves on his team's larger-than-life existence, but shame on him for continually force-feeding it to us.
Here's some suggestions: Cut Terrell Owens, regardless of financial ramifications. Abandon the notion of further courting Adam Jones. Don't offer Tank Johnson a penny. Fire Wade Phillips and bring in someone that the media respects, or at least fears. Lower your ticket prices at the new stadium. Jerry Jones, take a step back for a while and hide from the spotlight. Trade off WR Roy Williams (if you can) for a few draft picks and use them on some character guys with strong locker room presence. Bring in a backup to help Tony Romo that can actually push him to be better -- Brad Johnson would not be my suggestion. Name Marion Barber a team captain. Re-sign Zach Thomas and make him one, too. Use your third "C" patch on DeMarcus Ware and re-sign him no matter the cost -- even if you have to trade off high-priced guys to make room. Put gag orders on guys like Terence Newman and Patrick Crayton and fine players for dragging dirty laundry into the press conference room.
It's time to remake this franchise, or at least rebuild it. Once upon a time, this was America's Team. It can still be that ... it just needs to start exemplifying the blue-collar attitude that makes up so much of America instead of the high-priced atmosphere that's currently strangling our economy. It needs a little more New Salem, North Dakota and a little less New York City. It needs ...
It just needs to shut up and play football.
Texas A&M:The headliners: RB Christine Michael (Beaumont West Brook), DB Coryell Judie (Fort Scott CC; Kansas), Clint Naron OL (Klein Oak), ATH Kenric McNeal (Spring)Thoughts: The late addition of Michael completely changes the complexion of this class. Before Michael gave his verbal to the Aggies, Mike Sherman's first full recruiting class was solid, but not spectacular. Now, the blue-chip prospect gives A&M a true nationally-known talent with the ability to be the face of a struggling program. If his work ethic is even half that of what it's rumored to be, he could have this entire College Station outfit whipped into shape in no time. Judie should provide an instant impact in the secondary and offer a little experience towards a unit that was very, very young by the end of the 2008 season. Naron has been part of an excellent Klein Oak line for the past two years and will provide some quality depth in the trenches. With 27 total kids committed, A&M may make up for any deficiencies in quality with pure quantity.
TCU:The headliners: QB Casey Pachall (Brownwood), RB Waymon James (Sherman), ATH Jurell Thompson (WF Rider), ATH Matthew Tucker (Tyler Chapel Hill) Thoughts: Is there any program that makes more liberal use of athletes and position changes than TCU? Both Thompson and Tucker, versatile talents who could play a variety of positions, should fit into that mold and may end up in unorthodox places before coach Gary Patterson is done with them. Though QB Andy Dalton seems entrenched as a starter for the next two years, Pachall may be his heir apparent in 2011, and James, a shifty back with breakaway speed, may join him in the backfield. It's not often that TCU's recruiting classes are built on offensive talents, but the 2009 version seems to predicate its star power on scoring points instead of preventing them.
Rice:The headliners: RB Sam McGuffie (Michigan transfer), ATH Charles Ross (Schertz Clemens), OL Bobby Janisch (Jersey Village), OL/DL Alex Lowry (Caddo Mills)Thoughts: Whether or not you count McGuffie, a former Cy Fair standout, as a member of Rice's 2009 "recruiting" class, his move to the Owls is very significant. Though he won't see the field until 2010 per NCAA transfer rules, his impact on the offense as a whole could be profound if he lives up to his billing. Fast, powerful and athletic, McGuffie could give Rice its best tailback since ... well, a long time. In the meantime, Ross can provide some versatile athleticism in the backfield, and Janisch and Lowry will add a little beef in the trenches. Lowry could technically be used at either OG or DT, and it'll be up to coach David Bailiff to decide where he needs the former all-state pick more. The Owls cleary targeted defensive backs in this class, and with how bad the secondary was for Rice last year, that seems to be a pretty good move.
UTEP:The headliners: QB Andy McCloud (The Woodlands), TE Craig Wenrick (Flower Mound), OT Jerel Watkins (Channelview), DB James Davidson (Huntsville)Thoughts: It's pretty tough to pick out true headliners when a class has just eight members, but it's rumored UTEP has received two more verbal commitments that haven't been made public yet. Watkins may be the most intriguing of the talents the Miners have collected so far, considering his position change from defense to offense has put him a bit behind the growth of other prospects. When he fully develops, he may emerge as a talent befitting greater recruiting attention than he received. The same may be true with McCloud, who only had one season as a varsity starter under his belt before he graduated -- had he two years to play like many DI prospect do, he also might have collected more offers. Wenrick should be a quality pass-catcher and Davidson looks like a good fit for the "Miner" position -- a hybrid DB/LB role unique to UTEP's scheme. The thing UTEP is still searching for is a running back -- the Miners need at least one more name to fill out their backfield or at least offer a little depth to an underwhelming unit.
Baylor:The headliners: OL Danny Watkins (Butte CC; Oroville, Calif.), Ivory Wade (Dickinson), ATH Glasco Martin (RR Stony Point), ATH Chance CaseyThoughts: Watkins and Wade became important members of Art Briles' recruiting class when incumbent starting tackles Jason Smith and Dan Gay both graduated -- Watkins may not end up being a potential top ten NFL Draft pick like Smith is projected to be, but he should provide at least serviceable starting talent to fill the gap Smith leaves behind. Wade, a former A&M commit that dropped the Aggies in favor of Baylor, could be the next in this growing lineage of talented lineman that the Bears are enjoying. Martin and Casey are both similar talents -- each played running back in high school but should end up as wide receivers in college; their open-field running ability and fluid speed makes them better fits split out wide than lined up in the backfield. Briles has put together one of the best classes in recent memory -- if it turns out as well as fans are hoping for, Baylor's lengthy stretch without a postseason bowl may be in danger.
It seemed like one day I was loving the high school playoffs and eagerly following the race to the ever-nearing NFL postseason, and then BAM! -- Signing Day sat in front of me, just two weeks away and looming large on my blog radar.
So with that in mind, I thought I'd talk a little bit about each Texas school's recruiting class so far -- I'll do five today and five tomorrow. Considering the biggest news of the day -- perhaps nation-wide -- came out of Lubbock, we'll start right there, as coach Mike Leach has quietly assembled arguably the top class of the past of his tenure (dare we say Tech history?)
Texas Tech:The headliners: WR Eric Ward (WF Rider), RB Eric Stephens (Mansfield Timberview), OL Kyle Clark (Denton Guyer), S Will Ford (Abilene Cooper)Thoughts: If there is one thing that's defined Texas Tech's 2009 recruiting class, it's been ... well ... robbery! Three of Tech's top four committed recruits were originally slated to go somewhere else, as Ward (Oklahoma), Stephens (Minnesota) and Ford (also Oklahoma) all chose out-of-state destinations before eventually settling on the Red Raiders. I love the balance in this class -- Tech got a QB (Jacob Karam, Friendswood), a RB (Stephens), three WRs, three OL, three DL, one LB, five DBs and one athlete. That's a pretty good haul, and right now I'd rank it third to just Texas and A&M, and it's rapidly closing in on surpassing one of the two.
SMU:The headliners: DB Ryan Clark (Navarro JC), WR Darius Johnson (FB Hightower), QB Kyle Padron (Southlake Carroll), Christian Miller (Aledo)Thoughts: SMU did its homework early and really benefitted from a handful of situations where a talented kid fell through the recruiting cracks -- Padron and Miller both missed significant time to injury either last year or this one, and had they both been healthy, either could've drawn considerably more interest from BCS-type programs. Johnson flew underneath the radar for much of the season, and many scouts didn't realize just how good he was until the 5A DI championship game, in which he was sensational. Now South Grand Prairie WR Dewayne Peace, a Michigan commit originally, has dropped the Wolverines and is reportedly looking hard at SMU. If that proves to be true and he makes No. 21 in June Jones' second recruiting class on the Hilltop, it could significantly brighten the somewhat dismal outlook for the 2009 season.
North Texas:The headliners: OL Jeremy Bean (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M), WR Jamaal Jackson (Southwest Mississippi CC), WR Mike Outlaw (East Mississippi CC), DB Ira Smith (Gulf Coast CC)Thoughts: Notice that the headliners here are all the ones that have already signed letters of intent and are now locked into their future with the Mean Green. That's not intended to be a slight against UNT, but when a situation looks bad -- and it's hard to defend a 1-11 season in which one of your top receivers quit and your two-year starting QB left after the final week -- making sure you lock up what you want is very important. But the fact that these are JUCO kids makes an even bigger difference than that -- all four of these players will likely step right onto the field and play right away, and their JUCO tenures should have them more prepared than the average high schooler. That said, Daniel Mayberry (WR, Dallas Smith) might be a pretty good sleeper for a Mean Green team that needs athletic help at almost every position.
Texas:The headliners: QB Garrett Gilbert (Lake Travis), RB Chris Whaley (Madisonville), DE Alex Okafor (Pflugerville), OL Mason Walters (Wolfforth Frenship)Thoughts: As usual, Texas' '09 recruiting class is sensational. Even picking out headliners is a little difficult, just because every single one of the kids on the Longhorns' list would likely be in the top five recruits for UTEP, UNT, Rice and a number of others colleges nation-wide. Odds are this group will eventually be judged on the successes of Gilbert, who has now broken almost every significant passing record in Texas high school history and has long-since been anointed the next great Longhorn passer. It's likely the expectations piled upon him are far too great to ever live up to, but if the rest of this class pans out as hoped -- especially Whaley and Okafor -- Mack Brown has assembled a nucleus worthy of 2012-13 nation title talk. The only downside? Texas hasn't added a new name in a very long time -- signing 19 or 20 kids certainly isn't bad, but odds are the Longhorns' coaching staff would prefer two or three more kids (like RR Stony Point's Tevin Mims) to round things out.
Houston:The headliners: ATH A.J. Dugat (Dayton), OL Roy Watts (Navarro JC), DB Thomas Bates (Baytown Lee), LB Phillip Steward (Hightower)Thoughts: The first thought off my head -- did I really here Houston is considering putting Dugat at safety? Yes, his speed is something sorely needed on the Cougars' defensive side of the ball, but his open-field ability is just far to great to neglect. I'm not a coach -- nor a talent scout -- but I have a very hard time believing this kid should be anywhere but at wide receiver. He would redefine the term bubble screen. Watts has a chance to a be true impact player right away for Houston, which needs the bodies to replace a few all-conference picks that graduate in a few months. Both Bates and Steward could see time early as well. All in all, Sumlin did a very good job putting together his first full recruiting class, and if his under-the-radar picks turn out as well as Bryce Beall (Tatum) last season, he might be celebrating a 10-win season this time next year.
- LoAna, Lake Travis: My husband and I (LOOOONG-time football player/fan/watcher) can-NOT figure out the division of I and II in the 4A category. We live in Lake Travis ISD (reigning 4A Div II) and have a nephew at Midway (Waco), now playing in the Div I bracket. And according to your site's brackets, so is LT this year. What is the deal? How are these divided? Enrollment doesn't seem to be the obvious answer because Waxahachie is Div II with a slightly higher enrollment than Lake Travis. PLEASE HELP!
- Sid, Fort Worth: After reading your take on Brownwood being out of the playoffs ... you guys nailed it. An excellent offense from day one but just kept losing high-scoring, important games by a heart beat over and over. A fitting end for a team that forgot to work on its defense.
- Anjelique, Houston: Clear Brook High School’s win of the 24-5A district title is a first in the school’s history since moving up to the 5A division. The school has only won a district title once, back in 1997 as a member of the 4A division. It has been done on a five-game winning streak! Now that's pretty special!
- Jim, Houston: Most people at Cy Creek recall that you guys picked us to be last in our district this year (as many others did). FYI -- Creek ended up sweeping district, going 7-0 to capture the 15-5A crown. Boasting one of the most prolific offenses in Texas, Cy Creek averaged over 500 yards per game and had the No. 1 defense in district 15-5A. Hopefully, our success will continue this week against a tough Cedar Park team!
- Larry, Richardson: Wellington? Wellington! You have got to explain that one to me ... why you think it can get by Canadian. Yes, it is better than it has been in a long time, but both it and Clarendon haven't played very many teams with winning records. Canadian has faced good defenses before and done well. The one exception is Stratford this year, but I still think they let the Elks get into their heads that game and played way too tight.
Lastly, a reader emailed this to me just today -- it's two excerpts from A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne's weekly newsletter, one following 2003's loss to OU and then this week's one, which also followed a defeat by the Sooners. If I were an Aggie fan ... this would deflate me.
- Nov. 12, 2003: We have the right leadership and staff in place to build a successful football program, and to create the same blueprint for success in building champions throughout our athletic department. We didn’t get to where we are today overnight, and it won’t be fully repaired overnight. But many people are working late at night on these repairs every night.
Nov. 12, 2008: One of the questions I’m asked most is how we got to this position. There are no easy answers and most answers I could offer would be perceived by some as excuses. I’m not going to make excuses. With that said, we did not get in this position overnight, and we won’t be able to get out of it overnight either. But, under the leadership of Coach Mike Sherman, we are taking steps in the right direction and I’m confident in the future of our program.
OK, we get that nothing's going to happen overnight. But shouldn't something happen over five years? Whether or not anyone wants to admit it, A&M being a successful program is good for the state of Texas and good for the Big 12. It's time we got back to that.
Perhaps it's just the proximity of the high school playoffs, but readers have been sending in their feedback at a record clip for about a week now. Unfortunately, there's far too much of it for me to ever properly cover, but my trusty blog gives me a chance to touch on far more topics than a standard office day should allow. I'll get to your comments first.
- Neil, Grandview: "Just to let you know Reid Golson's stats through game nine ... Grandview is 9-0; 92 completions on 130 attempts, 22 TDs, 97 carries for 981 yards and 11 TDs."
- Ruben, Beeville: "I'd like to say that I think TexasFootball.com has done well in recognizing Beeville Jones QB Eric Soza for the outstanding player he is -- and has been over the past few years. I thought you might want to run a story on a rare feat he accomplished this past weekend -- a drop kick. The kick came late in the game vs. Rockport-Fulton (his final home game). Eric has played well this year -- to date, Eric has just about the same production in passing as last year, and nearly triple his rushing performance (should get near 1,000 yards this year by season's end). The drop kick has made this year that much more special this year."
- Dedric: "Travis, you don't think Lufkin over The Woodlands on Saturday at The Woodlands with district implications on the line is not big? Then what is? Yeah, you have a legit case with those other games you have, but this game should have been mentioned."
- Gary, Troup: "Oops. I guess Troup messed things up!"
I think that's about all I'll be able to get to today, but I'll try and add some more tomorrow. Oh my, playoff time is so busy.
There may be no more happier college in the country than Louisiana-Monroe. The Warhawks scored early in the recruiting season with Bullard ATH Charlie Moore, a somewhat under-recruited talent who was stuck with a team several readers have described as "not that good." I won't comment on the Panthers as a whole, but Bullard's contributions are literally impossible to ignore. Check out some of his crazy weeks so far this season:
- All of 2007: 1,252 yards, 8 TDs passing; 746 yards, 15 TDs rushing; 63 tackles, 5 INTs
- Week 0: 214, 2 TDs passing; 148, 1 TD rushing
- Week 2: 175, 4 TDs passing; 193, 4 TDs rushing
- Week 3: 175, 4 TDs passing; 215, 4 TDs rushing
- Week 4: 4 TDs passing; 4 TDs rushing
- Week 5: 163, 2 TDs passing; 2 TDs rushing
- Week 7: 189, 3 TDs passing; 307, 4 TDs rushing; 17 tackles
The Houston Chronicle ran this little piece earlier in the week, and it's tough argue with how impressive Omar Amin's accomplishments are. After the offseason departure of Clements' coach, quarterback, running back and tight end, the Rangers were supposed to be amongst the cellar-dwellers of 23-5A; they're still struggling, but four-touchdown efforts like the one Amin had against rival FB Elkins in Week 7 are the kind of emotional pick me up 17-year olds recovering from leukemia aren't supposed to be providing. Amin says he wants to play college football. With his size and his team's struggles, it would seem like a long shot ... but would you bet against this kid? Me neither.
The Old Coach forum is reporting that Wichita Falls Rider QB Shavodrick Beaver is going to miss several months because of his injury, and that may be the straw that broke the camel's back for the Raiders. The season started off slowly before Rider ripped off four straight district wins, but you'd have to think losing the man in the middle of one of the state's top offenses is going to derail any sort of momentum Scott Ponder's squad has recently generated. Then again, this may show us just how good RB Jurrell Thompson and WR Eric Ward really are. Rider should still make the playoffs, but the preseason hopes for a state title may have officially faded.
While I was putting together the website's Texas Football Central last week, I came across a surprising discovery: the nation's sack leader wears purple. That's right -- the junior from Sugar Land is rapidly becoming one of the country's most consistent producers along the defensive line. Along with his eleven sacks -- four of which came against former-No. 9 BYU -- Hughes has two interceptions and a number of forced fumbles to claim credit to in 2008. Essentially, the first-year starter has condensed an average NCAA career into about, say, eight games.
One of my co-workers came in today talking about an ESPN football expert's top NFL prospects, including draft-eligible underclassmen. The top dog on the list? None other than Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford. My colleague expressed surprise, but I really wasn't blown away (actually, I guessed it!) Why wouldn't he be? He's 6-foot-4, 218 pounds with an above-average arm and uncanny accuracy. He may not be the greatest athlete in the draft, but neither were guys like Carson Palmer and Peyton Manning. Last time I checked, both of them turned out OK.
One last thing before I close up shop -- George West QB Chayson Holt, my preseason 2A breakout player of the year pick, tore his ACL at the beginning of the season and looked to have lost his final chance at stardom to another cruel twist of fate. Well, now the resilient Holt has rehabbed his way back onto the football field sooner than expected and just this weekend scores the game's opening touchdown. You want to talk about toughness? This kid has been through the ringer, and still he keeps on coming. Gotta love that in a player.
Wes Underwood, one of DCTF's most consistent contributors and Texas' most learned high school historians, passed away Monday.
We still don't know all the details, so I can't be any more specific than that, but I can be very specific in what the man meant to our organization. Since I begun my time as an intern with Dave Campbell's, Wes was here. Even after I left for almost two years and came back as a full-time writer, Wes was still here. Our online video database? That was done by Wes. Every outside event we ran and staffed? Wes helped. The DCTF Historian blog on the website? His, too. Even the Collier Sharp, one of high school football's most useful tools, was his doing.
Yet you never would've known all that from talking to him. Wes was pure sports -- he loved to talk about anything sports related, be it football, baseball ... anything. He loved his Port Lavaca Calhoun Sand Crabs (his high school alma mater), and no one winked with that "told-you-so" smile more than he after Calhoun romped Mercedes in the season opener at the Texas Football Classic. He was there helping us hang signs and mix Gatorade, just like always.
Wes was only 47.
Sometimes you can't even fully wrap your mind around something if it hits you unexpectedly ... this is one of those times. I remember a few months ago I was razzing Jake over lunch about his high school football knowledge -- half teasing, half serious, I asked him if he considered himself amongst the state's top 50 most learned high school football experts. He decisively said no -- I disagreed with him, as did Wes. I found that interesting, for if there was anyone that I knew that I would rank above Jake, it would be Wes.
I'll be the first to admit that Wes was a little bit of an odd duck, but that was part of what made him special. I asked him once why he lived all the way out in Port Lavaca instead of in high school football havens like Dallas or Houston. Slightly taken aback, Wes' answer was astonishingly simple: "I once got stuck in traffic, and so from then on out I decided I would never live somewhere where I could get stuck in traffic. So I picked up and moved."
Of course.
I remember fighting with Wes once over the merits of Galena Park North Shore -- he claimed their postseason successes failed to match their regular season dominance, and I disagreed. I cited the now 70-plus game regular season win streak, he said it translated to nothing, I said they went to the state semis, he said they should've won a title, so on and so such. It wasn't angry, just intense; yet, not five minutes later, Wes had sleepily subsided and was content to sit and watch TV. Just like that, the potential for an uncomfortable situation was averted. He was in many ways a different individual ... but he was also a fascinating mine of knowledge and history.
And he was also a great person. He'll be missed. God speed, Wes.
I got a call from a reader early this week who was loving the work 2A Harleton had done so far this season. I've reviewed the numbers, and I'm not yet convinced. So far, the Wildcats best win was a 14-13 overtime win against Elysian Fields, a 2007 state finalist that has since slipped out of the Top 25 rankings. Other wins include close affairs with 1-5 Linden Kildaire and 2-4 Gladewater Sabine. Combined, the five teams Harleton have beaten are just 10-19, but the Wildcats' average margin of victory is just over six points. The defense has been fantastic, but the offense is what's hurting right now -- its already been shut out once (albeit against 6-0 West Rusk), only scored 14 points twice and managed more than 23 just once. The two things that have been most impressive so far? Harleton's ability to win the close game and the Week 6 comeback against Gladewater Sabine -- with Greg Beham at the forefront, the Wildcats came back from 21 points down in the fourth quarter to eek out the 28-24 victory. This team is close to the rankings, but it still has a long way to go, and a win over currently undefeated Winona in Week 8 would be another step in the right direction.
I also saw a story that was only half football related, but still well worth the attention of the masses: an Aledo girl with down syndrome being named homecoming queen. I'm not really sure how common such occurrences are, but I know it didn't happen at my school and I've never heard of it until now -- there may be tons of other stories just like this statewide, but since this is the only one that's come to me, it's the only one getting praised. I think this is a pretty cool thing for the student body to have done; yes, looking back on the day you won homecoming king or queen would be a magical lifelong memory, but it's also something special to give that same sensation to someone else. Congratulations goes out to Aledo, its student body, its faculty and, of course, Kristin Pass herself.
Last week I whined and moaned that I didn't know what a Brahma was -- I confusedly stumbled through some bovine-related explanations before reader Ryan Bellows stepped in and saved me: Here is the answer to your question as to what a “Brahma†is. It is a breed of cattle. You have probably seen them. They are the cattle with the large hump around their shoulder area. Hope this helps. Also remember they are not the only breed of cattle as a mascot. Hereford is the name of a town and a cattle breed. Whitefaces describes the breed’s look. Hope this helps. That actually does help, and yes, I have seen them. I learn something new everyday. Thanks Ryan!
As usual, we've had some questions shot our way recently over the Top 25 rankings -- this is understandable. Just to clear up some issues, I thought I'd take a quick second to help everyone understand the process. First of all, this year is a bit unusual, as Hurricane Ike came through and derailed most of the Houston area, making ranked teams like 3-0 Beaumont Westbrook possible. It's important to remember that even though a team hasn't played as many games, they can still be better than a team that's played a full schedule. This might be taking it to an extreme, but if Euless Trinity had only played three games so far this year, they would still be No. 1, because in all likelihood they are the most talented team. It's also important to note that our rankings are not idly conceived late Sunday night -- we do quantify our decisions, and strength of schedule is included. We are not the AP -- we are Texas Football, and some times, like in last week's Bukburnett/Bridgeport game, our oft-different rankings prove to be correct. Let's be honest -- rankings really don't mean anything. If a team is the best, it will prove it on the field. That's what matters.
I'll also briefly dip into NFL injury notes for both the Cowboys and Texans -- apparently Cowboys' QB Tony Romo is considering giving it a go, despite his broken pinkie. In my opinion, as long as it's not going to get any worse, he should play. I understand that's not a popular stance, but his return to the lineup could charge this team with the sort of emotional energy that it seems to be sorely lacking. Sometimes the best way to motivate your peers is to prove your man enough to lead -- this could be that chance. For the Texans, CB Dunta Robinson practiced yesterday for the first time in a LONG time after destroying his knee, ankle and leg last year in a gruesome injury. It's good to see him back on the field, and not just for the Texans' secondary -- he's one of the most beloved players on the team, and his youthful injury seems to brighten everyone else's mood.
This was also sent my way, and I have to admit, this might be a bit overboard. Yes, Mike Sherman's opening campaign in Aggieland has been less than stellar, but it might be a bit too soon to start calling for heads to roll. Citing poor attendance as a reason to fire a coach sounds more like an indictment of the fan base than anything else, and I also find it interesting that this is really the first stop in his coaching career that has the masses up in arms. I think this team is underperforming, but I also think that the talent base in College Station also isn't quite as good as what Aggie fans think. If this report is true, and the Dallas Morning News and Houston Chronicle are both pulling beat writers, then I can assure you those reporters will be returned to their posts the very minute A&M makes moves in the positive direction. I'm not saying Sherman has performed splendidly, and I'm not saying he was the right hire for the job, but I AM saying that now that he's here, he deserves a much better shot than the one impatient Aggie fans seem to be allowing him.
I think I'll take a page out of Jake Shaw's book this week and hit a variety of topics in today's blog -- my mind is all jumbled up from things NCAA to high school to pro ball, and I didn't want to try and pick just one.
First off, Jake sent me an interesting article on Oklahoma State wide receiver -- and former Lufkin star -- Dez Bryant, who might be the most under-hyped superstar in the Big 12. Is Bryant a Heisman candidate? This paragraph from Tulsa World writer Matt Doyle might sum up the argument best: "Nine of the OSU sophomore's 27 receptions have gone for touchdowns. His 110-yard average per game receiving is just 2.5 yards off Crabtree's league-leading 112.5-yard average. Bryant has returned two punts for touchdowns this year. His 23.5-yard average leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth nationally." That's all pretty good, and even though numbers alone can't define the jaw-dropping catches Bryant is know to make look pedestrian, he has an almost impossible route to navigate into Heisman history -- the surplus of other qualified Big 12 candidates will split most of the votes his regional supporters would offer. Even if he somehow clearly set himself apart from Missouri's Chase Daniel (and etc., etc.), wide receivers don't win the Heisman very often in this day and age.
I got an interesting email from reader Jim Poynter, who has done his homework on Arlington Lamar RB Ja'Terian Douglas and astutely pointed out that "JT" is lighting up the Metroplex to the tune of 1,435 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns in just six games. A Week 5 DSG Player of the Week Candidate, Douglas has been really laying the wood to opposing defenses the past two weeks, scoring 11 times in his last two games. As Poynter put it, "he has almost 37% more yards than his next closest competitor in the area!" Well, yes, I suppose he does. Poynt taken.
Out in the NFL, the Dallas-area seems to be split in opinion over the talented Dallas Cowboys, America's Team but the Metroplex media's favorite squad to hate. Things were running smoothly before the Cowboys' loss to Washington two weeks ago, but that upset, combined with last week's ugly win over Cincinnati, has local sports reporters in a tizzy. This blogger proposes that the Cowboys, who were being hailed as the NFL's top team, are the third-best team in their division. Considering the Giants are undefeated and looking like title contenders (and that Washington walked out of Dallas with a win), I guess that's a defendable claim. But if you had to guess, could you really say the Cowboys will be playoff duds again with a straight face? I'm not sure I can.
I took a little glance at UNT today and came up with some startling information -- since coach Todd Dodge took over in Denton, the Mean Green has only allowed less than 30 points twice: once against Western Kentucky (26) and once against Louisiana-Monroe (21), both in 2007. That defense coordinator was fired, but UNT has now gone through five games in 2008 without allowing less than forty -- against Tulsa (56) and LSU (41), that might be understandable. But games against Rice (77), Kansas State (45) and formerly-winless Florida International (42) yielded points far our of proportion to the opposing offense's previous production levels. Being a Mean Green supporter has to be frustrating these days.
There might have been a dramatic change in the power structure of 1A football after No. 5 Quinlan Boles lost leading rusher and star defender Joe Gilliard to a broken arm. Word is that Gilliard will miss the rest of the regular season and at least one game of the playoffs. Boles is still a good enough team to reach the postseason, but since it'll be going DI, a first-round matchup with Collinsville might be looming, and that could be a difficult game without Gilliard. You would think the offense would be the biggest issue without him, but reader Jawny Cannon disagrees: "The defense will be hurt more than offense will, as weird as that sounds." Want more injury news? Head up to Wichita Falls, where Rider QB and Michigan pledge Shavodrick Beaver will miss four- to six-weeks with a shoulder injury. Unlike Boles, that loss could potentially knock Rider out of the playoff chase in 5-4A. Wouldn't that be something -- Rider, a trendy preseason champion pick, missing the playoffs.
You'd be wrong.
I broke down all ten teams that took home the final hardware in 2007 and found just three that have a reasonable chance of winning back-to-back titles. Here they are, in no particular order:
- Liberty Hill, 2007 3A DI Champions: The Panthers entered the 2008 season as 3A's top-ranked team, and five weeks later, they still look like the team to beat. A murderous early schedule and the graduation of 2,000-yard rusher Dustin Gonzalez and 1,900-yard rusher Doug Allman dimmed the chances of a 2008 state title at first, but the way Liberty Hill has beaten teams like Brownwood and Abilene Wylie shows that Jerry Vance's squad isn't going to back down from anybody. The power running game, a long-time staple of the Panthers' offense, has adjusted to the loss of Gonzalez and Allman through the efforts of newcomers Dusty Turner, Ryan Fickel and Cody Lattimore -- all of whom have at least five rushing touchdowns already -- and has been chewing up and spitting out opponents just like usual. Both Jake Shaw and I have Liberty Hill winning the 3A DII title, except Jake seems them beating Gilmer (again) and I've got them facing West Orange-Stark.
- Euless Trinity, 2007 5A DI Champions: The Trojans are still the top team in the country -- at least according to USA Today -- and you don’t earn such recognition without having the talent to back it up. As always, Euless Trinity is just loaded with DI talent, and perhaps the injury to Nebraska-bound RB Tray Robinson in 2007 turned out to be a blessing in disguise -- the Trojans still won a title and it forced QB Denarius McGhee to step up and take reigns of the offense. Now, Robinson is battling injuries again, but McGhee has been there before, and despite close games against Allen and Keller, Trinity doesn't look like it has a game left on the schedule that it will lose. Anything can happen in the playoffs, but the best way to beat good teams is with strong defense and a powerful running game, and Trinity pretty much wrote the book on both of those. Sitting at 4-0 as district play heats up, expect the Haka to be in full swing come the season's end -- at least according to me. I have them topping San Antonio Madison for the title, but Jake sees them bowing out to high-powered Plano in the Region I finals.
- Lake Travis, 2007 4A DII Champions: As long as quarterback Garrett Gilbert, an early Mr. Texas Football Candidate, is guiding the Cavaliers' offense, Lake Travis is the team to beat in 4A competition. But the gap might be closing soon, and with the way Longview has played over the first five weeks of the season, it's not unthinkable that the Lobos could dethrone the reigning champs by the end of 2008. As a matter of fact, both Jake and I have predicted exactly that. But the Cavaliers' offense is still a mismatch for any team in the state, and with the way WR Cade McCrary has played during non-district competition, it appears there isn't going to be much drop off from the team that took the class by storm in 2007. Gilbert has already thrown for almost 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns, but if his running ability (131 yards and four scores) continues to develop, that'll be one more aspect of his game that will have defenses cringing. This is the only team out of the three that I actually don't think will serve as repeat champions -- but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they did, either.
As for the other seven champions from last year? Flawed, and here's why.
- Katy: Inexperience at the skill positions has hurt this team badly on offense -- the Tigers' region is weak, but not weak enough to put them in a state final.
- Lamar Consolidated: Did you see what Jacquizz Rodgers did to USC last week? That's why L-C won't be repeating.
- Celina: Maybe, but everyone has to get healthy almost immediately, especially running back Charley Waldrep. This team is close, but not close enough to earn my blessing.
- Farmersville: The move up to 3A and the loss of the head coach and top two skills players have put this team in an impossible situation; specifically, 1-4.
- Canadian: Well, the team dropped to 1A, making a 2A repeat impossible. A 1A championship is very much in reach, however.
- Alto: Still a very good team, but Alto is no longer the class of 1A. That mantle belongs to Maud and Canadian.
- Munday: Munday's run to the DII title last year was magical, but repeating in 1A is so tough with so few players. Graduation hurts.
Have you heard about the fire burning down in Bosqueville?
The Bulldogs weren't supposed to be terribly competitive this year, considering they were just 5-5 in 2007 and would have to adjust to a new coach throughout the 2008 season. To make matters worse, district 25-1A would be one of the classification's toughest, so nothing less than a stellar effort would have them on track for the playoffs.
Luckily for them, the fire -- QB Blaze Blackburn -- has been providing exactly that.
Blackburn currently sits atop most of Central Texas' passing leader boards -- through four games, the senior quarterback has thrown for 994 yards and 14 touchdowns, and his completion percentage is hovering around a Chase Daniel-esque 73 percent. He's only thrown one pick, and his highly efficient play has gotten the Bulldogs off to a 4-0 start.
In other words, through just four games, Bosqueville has almost equaled 2007's win total and its quarterback has already matched the number of touchdown passes he threw in the six games he started in last year. At this rate, coach Clint Zander's squad could be reaching for never-before-seen heights.
But nothing has tested the Bulldogs like Axtell did last weekend. Up nine at the half and by as much as 15 in the third quarter, Bosqueville appeared to be on pace for another blowout victory -- like its last two W's -- before the Longhorns abruptly turned the game around and got themselves within one as the fourth quarter ticked away. Blackburn and the Bulldogs had every reason to be rattled. The two-score lead was gone. Blackburn had already thrown his first interception of the season earlier in the third quarter. Axtell was probably about to get the ball back and start driving for a potential game-winning field goal.
But Blackburn converted a 4th-and-long to keep the Longhorns' offense off the field and then bulled his way into the endzone on the next play to ice the game for the still undefeated Bulldogs. After that heart-stopping 36-28 victory, Bosqueville has been blessed with a bye week before facing Waco Reicher in Week 5 and then opening district play in Week 6. After this fleeting respite, the road is going to get much, much tougher. Blackburn will be seeing very good defenses in Chilton, Goldthwaite and Meridian and an equally talented quarterback in Evant's Aaron Doyle.
Right now, the fire down in Bosqueville is burning brightly, indeed. What will the rest of the season bring?
Every Monday, I look back and shake my head.
How, I always ask myself, did I not go to this game? To that game? To these games? How did I miss such good chances? Ugh -- every week I read game stories from all over the state that speak of heroic efforts and once-in-a-lifetime achievements, and I wasn't there to see it. Hindsight is 20/20, but this is one time where it can be an eyesore, too.
But before I get to Week 1, there's a bit of Week 0 business I've woefully neglected -- a certain Laredo Nixon vs. Laredo Martin game that saw Martin upend the rival Brahmas for the first time in nine years. This annual matchup is one of many that came close to making the cut for our summer rivalry series, and perhaps it should have, considering this year's contest was a good one -- Nixon jumped out to an early 13-0 lead before Martin's running game put up 19 unanswered points to seal the come-back, upset victory. A great game, and one I wish I could've been there to see.
But now back to the present. It sounds like Garland vs. Duncanville was a wild one, especially when the final margin was sealed by Garland QB Jared Barnett. Trapped in his own end zone and facing a heavy pass rush, Barnett literally eludes three or four tacklers before heaving up a hail mary on third-and-22. WR Adrian Phillips was the answer -- after winning an incredible jump ball, Phillips turns and sprints for the end zone for a 91-yard touchdown catch and a game-of-the-year type of play. Duncanville, on the other hand, has to be feeling a bit frustrated. After losing a tough one to Odessa Permian in Week 0, the Panthers are now 0-2 courtesy of that Metroplex Miracle. Jeff Dicus' squad is more competitive than it has been in the past, but L's are still L's.
I'm not sure I've ever seen something like this -- up 28-20 on Dripping Springs with under two minutes to go, Wimberley opted to put the ball in the air and paid for it, not once, but twice. On the first late-game pass attempt, Hayden Fowlkes picked off the wayward pass and took it back 58 yards for a touchdown, and after the two-point conversion, the score was suddenly tied with little time left. But Wimberley wasn't shaken and decided to throw again on the ensuing possession ... and again, it was picked off and returned for a score. This time it was Matt Erekson, this time it was for the win, and this time, this heated rivalry game is going to remembered for a good long time.
Kyle Lehman stared defeat in the eye this weekend and pushed it back at the goal line; now, the Lobos start the season 2-0 for the first time ever. Up 49-48 in double overtime, Lehman's defense somehow stopped Reagan QB JaQuarius Daniels on a potentially game-winning two-point conversion attempt at the goal line, and once everyone finally had a chance to stop and smell the roses, it was obvious something magical could be happening -- the fifth-year school has already recorded half as many wins this season as it previously had in its four year history and has almost doubled the amount of points it scored in all of 2007.
But maybe the best game of the week was out in Irving, where Fort Worth Paschal knocked off Irving Nimitz in dramatic fashion to give itself back-to-wins on the heels of a debilitating multi-season losing streak. Down 37-32 after Nimitz QB J.J. Gaines found the end zone with just 13 seconds left, Paschal QB Brian Gallagher heaved a bomb to Emmanuel Smith, who hauled it in for a 63-yard touchdown catch and unforgettable ending: two lead changes in 14 seconds. Breathtaking stuff.
I'd be a liar if I say I wasn't surprised at what happened to Texas A&M. As a matter of fact, if anyone says they saw that coming, then they're probably fibbing. Arkansas State? Please.
But as stunning as that was, it wasn't a blowout, and realistic fans and writers knew Sherman's transformation of College Station wouldn't happen overnight. It's one of those things that seemed inconceivable at the time, but looking back on it, it's really not that earth-shattering.
No, that award goes to another game, a game I'm still struggling to wrap my mind around: how in the world did UTEP lose to Buffalo, 42-17?
I'm not saying that the Aggies' loss wasn't an upset -- it clearly was. But the Miners' debacle wasn't even an upset. It was just a disappointment. I'm not shocked at the fact UTEP loss, I'm shocked at how they lost. Had A&M lost to ASU 42-17, I'd feel the same way. Losing a close game can happen to anyone, anywhere -- even players at the smallest and lowliest DI schools are good football players, and on any given Saturday ... blah blah blah. But a blowout loss -- a 42-17 sort of loss -- means you just plain didn't show up. It means you weren't only not as good as the opponent, you weren't even close.
How could UTEP not even be close to Buffalo?
The Miners' pass defense was horrendous. My gut instinct was to give them a free pass because of all the injuries at the safety spot, but allowing four touchdown passes on only 16 attempts -- and 10 completions -- is inexcusable. Buffalo WR Naaman Roosevelt had 154 receiving yards and two touchdowns on just four catches. You just can't let that happen.
I'm sure the Aggie fan base would disagree with me, but as an objective observer with no ties to either program, I found the UTEP loss infinitely more disappointing. I refuse to believe -- even though the evidence is staring me straight in the face -- that UTEP is that much worse than Buffalo. I emphatically reject the notion. The kids out in El Paso, like QB Trevor Vittatoe, can play. They just didn't.
And that's a far greater disappointment than losing by four to Arkansas State, any day of the week.
Well, at least we can safely say the opening night of the 2008 Texas high school football season didn't disappoint.
There were five games decided by a single point and another pair by two. A handful were separated by just a possession and still more weren't out of hand until late in the fourth quarter. Out of the 46 games on the docket last night, the majority were worth watching.
It sure sounds like Navasota vs. Henderson was a wild one, and perhaps my comments on Rattler WR Brandal Jackson in my recruiting blog weren't so far off. With two BCS-caliber offensive players, I think Navasota is going to be one of those teams you just have to see this year.
Sunray and coach Bryan Wood showed some grit in their 42-41 win over Nazareth, and it paid off in spades. We knew all along that Sunray was going to be a bit overshadowed by the big dogs in its district -- Canadian and Stratford -- but if the Bobcats keep doing things like this, they'll be the talk of 1A football in no time.
Then again, that sort of strategy doesn't always work, as Birdville proved in its 35-34 loss to FW Arlington Heights. Most experts saw Birdville taking a step back in 2008 without graduated QB and A&M-signee Tommy Dorman, but not many saw Arlington Heights making the kinds of necessary second-half adjustments to bring the Hawks' spread attack to a screeching halt.
Only in high school football can a team win a game while only attempting one pass ... and having it be incomplete. Corpus Christi King upended Gregory-Portland 14-13 last night despite King QB Aron Alexander's aerial stat line looking something like this: 0-1-0-0-0. This one looked like it could be a rare ground-game shootout early on, but then the defenses stiffened up in the second half and the scoring grinded to a halt.
Midland Greenwood had an interesting night as well, topping Fort Stockton, 18-14, on a play that has Rangers coach Steve Taylor about ready to strangle FB Blake McColloch. I'm telling you -- and you all doubted! -- that McColloch would be, in his own way, a strong candidate for a 3A MVP award. Last night, all he did was give his team 70 rushing yards, a touchdown and a memory to look back and laugh on.
On a night where San Antonio Southwest couldn't find any consistent running room, it was SA Clark who made the plays in the ground game to knock off Churchill and post a 20-16 Gucci Bowl victory. One of the liveliest rivalries in the San Antonio area, this one might have been tinged with unfortunate circumstance if Churchill QB Daniel Brunner's foot is as badly injured as it seems to be.
One game that ended up surprisingly close was Pasadena and Goose Creek Memorial -- Memorial, in its first ever varsity game, almost snatched a comeback victory before falling 27-20 to the Eagles. That would've been quite an opening performance -- knocking off a 5A team in front of your home crowd after trailing big in the first half!
I'm getting cranky!
The football season is close -- so much so that I can almost reach out and touch it, yet I'm stuck with things like preseason NFL games and breathless training camp reports on so-and-so's injury and what's-his-mug's stat line and other such trivialities.
In order to ease my restless anxiety, I've put together a list of things I'm looking forward to the most for the 2008 season, from high school to the pros and everything in between. If you don't read this, I probably won't even be insulted -- I think this might be just for my peace of mind.
- Michael Crabtree: I cant think of anything that has me praying more for the next week to just evaporate than Crabtree. His freshman campaign, like the commercials say about Olympian Michael Phelps' 8 gold medals, can't be described in pre-existing terms. Every media outlet -- and I do mean every -- is swearing that he'll be even better in 2008. Even he's promised it! But that's going to be next to impossible, but then again, if you had told me last August that Crabtree was about to catch 134 passes for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns, I would have told you that would be impossible, too. Nothing in football has me on the edge of my seat like the approaching dawn of his encore performance.
- Galena Park North Shore @ Southlake Carroll, Sept. 27th: A 70+ game regular-season win streak versus one of the top teams in recent history. Phew! On paper alone, this is arguably the best matchup of the entire season in any classification. The atmosphere will be electric. The teams should be just hitting their stride. The talent level will be through the roof. There could be more scouts at this game than fans. If it turns out to be a stinker, I'm going to be pretty bent out of shape ... but I'm betting that won't happen.
- Mario Williams: Last year, Texans DE Mario Williams proved he's -- at least right now -- one of the NFL's elite pass rushers. He finished the year with 14 sacks, tied for third (with the Cowboys' DeMarcus Ware) and behind only KC/Minnesota's Jared Allen (15.5) and Seattle's Patrick Kearney (14.5). When you consider how hampered he was in 2006 -- his rookie campaign -- with plantar fasciitis, it's possible that we could be watching the evolution of the NFL's top true defensive end right before our very eyes. Or we could not. Dunno. It's hard to tell. That's why I'm excited.
- Redemption: For Bobby Reid (Texas Southern) and Rhett Bomar (Sam Houston), the past few years have not been kind. I'll be the last to try and claim that they didn't bring some of it upon themselves, but I'll be the first to argue that both deserve a second chance to right their wrongs and rebuild their reputation. Obviously both are exceptionally talented, but talent alone can't always take you where you want to go, and 2008 will quickly show us whether or not these two young men have learned the lessons that the past few years have offered them.
- Houston Jones: The miracle that coach Ronald Hooker worked at 4A Jones last year sounds like a Disney story -- after an 0-10 2006 and a 2007 season-opening three-game losing streak, Hooker took over and promptly reeled off five wins in just seven games, good enough for a playoff berth. Was Jones' turn-around a one-shot wonder? Or will the Falcons stride forward with their new-found confidence and shake up the Region III landscape? It's been tinkering around in the back of my mind all off-season. I guess I'm just a sap for a feel-good story.
- Michael Goodson: The state's other Mike. Much has been said about how his latent greatness and innate running ability have been severely hampered by abysmal play-calling by former A&M coach Dennis Franchione. Now, under new coach Mike Sherman, people are talking about 1,500+ yard seasons! After his freshman campaign (847 yards on just 127 carries), that seems reasonable. After his sophomore season (711 yards on 153 carries), it seems grossly over-exaggerated. So what's it going to be? The electric speedster that was supposed to set the Big 12 on fire, or the disappointing talent that epitomizes A&M's recent under-achieving ways?
- Milestones: As we reported earlier in the year -- and then amended -- two programs and two coaches are standing on the precipice of incredible milestones. If all the chips fall in the right places, 2008 could be a confluence of historical achivements the likes of which we haven't seen in a long, long time -- maybe ever. I can't wait to be the first to call and congratulate all involved.
Anyone else the smallest bit surprised at the news out of SMU yesterday?
The talk has been circulating for weeks and, to a certain extent, the writing was already on the wall that something along these lines would happen. SMU coach June Jones is not the type to play mind tricks or shadow games, so if he said the race was wide open, then media types like myself should have accepted that at face value. I can only speak for myself, but I'd be willing to bet I wasn't alone in thinking that Willis was never going to be anything but the starter and this whole process was just meant to send a message to a player whose priorities had perhaps gotten a bit out of whack.
Clearly, that was not the case.
Now the starting job is going to fall to one of two true freshmen, Katy's Bo Levi Mitchell, whom Jones hand-picked to come to Hawaii before moving to the Hilltop, and Rockwall's Braden Smith. The safe bet would probably be Mitchell; if Jones liked him enough to bring him out to the islands last year, than he'll probably like him enough to start here. As for Smith, well, he was an underdog to even get to this point, so I'm not going to run around counting him out any more.
If this result stands, it would mark the beginning of the end for Willis' once promising career, or at least his career in comparison to what it has been like the past two years. One minute, he's a junior-to-be who already has the school record for both career and single-season touchdown passes, and the next, he's backing up two guys who have never even thrown a collegiate pass.
Sometimes, certain kids and certain schemes just don't mesh. I'm surprised that's the case here, but it appears that's the point we've reached: Willis, while talented, just isn't as good a fit as Smith and Mitchell for what Jones wants to do. I'll probably always remain skeptical of that, but I don't get paid to make those kinds of decisions, and Jones does. And, as his reputation denotes, he's been quite successful making those decisions.
But if Mitchell or Smith come out of the gates flat and play like the true freshman they'll be, then the questions are going to start flying fast and furious. I bet Pony fans are thinking one thing right now -- can Willis, the school's most decorated passer ever, really be that much worse than a pair of true freshmen? Is he so hopelessly lost in the new system that his considerable experience can't even balance out with the young guns' better understanding of the offense? Apparently ... yes.
I'd actually like to hear from you SMU fans on this. If you get a chance, email me. I'm curious to what you're thinking these days.
It's been a while since I dug into the seemingly never-ending stack of highlight videos I have haphazardly assembled in my office, so I figured I'd break my embarrassingly long stretch of poor blog maintenance with some recruiting talk. We've got a good mix of talent and positions in this bunch, and several kids who either already accepted a DI scholarship or surely will come the season's end. Remember, all these videos are part of our online video database, along with more than 230 others, from TAPPS to 5A and everything in between.
Dillon Hess, QB, Colleyville Covenant: His video had everything you'd expect out of a quarterback who threw for more than 3,000 yards and ran for another 1,000 in 2007. At 6-4, Hess is a big body in the pocket and shows the willingness to hang in there under pressure to get the right pass off, but he's also a terrific open field runner with great bursts of acceleration and an uncanny knack for reading his blockers. One thing some quarterbacks struggle with is "leading" their receiver, where they throw into an open space and allow their wideout to move into that space and catch the ball on the run; not Hess, because on some of his slant patterns, you couldn't even see the receiver when he let it go, and it had just the right amount of touch to sit in between defenders long enough for the receiver to snare it. The senior has already begun generating DI recruiting interest, and as long as he stays at this level (or higher!) of production in 2008, he should sign a letter of intent amongst their ranks.
Chance Casey, RB, Crosby: This kid is breathtaking. We know that some of the 40 times that come our way might be a little bit exaggerated, but Casey's 4.4 posting is as legitimate as they come. His lateral moves are unbelievable, and he gets up to his top speed almost immediately. Obviously he's a very dangerous running back, but he's also a weapon in the slot, where he can run fly patterns up the seam and literally leave everyone in his dust. Once he's in the open field, either on a run or a catch, he waits until the very last second to cut off of his blockers, making it primarily a guessing game for defenders to try and wrap him up. Like, former Copperas Cove and Baylor signee QB Robert Griffin, Casey is one of the nation's premier hurdlers (third-fastest time in the 300 and fifth-fastest time in the 110), and his athleticism is apparent almost every single time he touches the ball. Like Hess, he has been garnering DI interest for some time now, and according to Scout.com, he already has offers from in-state schools like SMU, TCU, Houston and Baylor. Whoever lands Chance is sure to feel very lucky.
Hunter Nix, QB, Prosper: On his first throw, his primary target got pressed at the line of scrimmage and had a hard time getting any separation -- at the most, the receiver was able to get a half step on his man, and that's if you disregard the safety coming over the top and the sideline riding his left shoulder. When Nix let it go, I winced, because that was going to be a pretty difficult throw ... and When the kid caught it, I laughed, because he made it look so easy. Nix's ability to put the ball into a small -- like, really small -- area is stunning, and his willingness to take chances is a bit refreshing considering most of the videos we get in to watch. His "sling it in there" attitude (11 INTs in 2007) will burn him from time to time, sure, but if he can learn to balance out his uncanny accuracy with his greedy eyes, he's going to be playing a good long time. I'm going to go ahead and give him a "DCTF Favorite" stamp.
Austin Moss, LB, Rockwall-Heath: Moss has to have Rockwall-Heath fans just jumping for joy now that he's transferred there from South Garland. The aggressive, speedy linebacker, who's already committed to Arkansas, is every bit as good as his second-team Super Team status delineates and just seems to live in the opponent's backfield. His combination of strength, quickness and technique make him next to impossible to block, and when he hits you, he doesn't just "hit" you, he detonates you. Arkansas has a reputation for good defensive players, and Moss should fit right into that equation.
Ever met those guys that think they can play football?
You know you've met them -- those really misguided souls who say little things like, "Oh, I could definitely play DI-AA if I wanted," or "Dude, even I could QB a JUCO team." That so? Heck, maybe you're one of them. Tell you what -- I've got time right now. Let's head out to Texas Southern. Think you can beat out Bobby Reid? I doubt it. But I'll go ahead and give you a second chance, and we'll swing north for about an hour and a half. Head to Huntsville, and see if you can top SFA's Rhett Bomar. I think that's going to end in frustration as well. Third time's a charm? Let's sleep on that one and wait for ex-Ennis star Clark Harrell to decide which DI-AA school he wants to transfer to. I doubt you'll want to go through the skeleton with the brother of one of the greatest NCAA passers ever.
People will snicker at those names. Yes, Bobby Reid's career at Oklahoma State was a well-documented disaster, but he is still the same guy who was one of the top four or five players in the state of Texas when he graduated in 2004. He's still an exceptional open-field runner, and he can still wing the ball around with the best of 'em. He's got the talent, there's no question about that. As for Rhett Bomar? If it wasn't for a car dealership incident, we'd have no idea who Sam Bradford is. You could argue he's more talented than Reid. And the younger Harrell? Obviously he has yet to do anything at the college level, but his family lineage suggests that success lies in his future. These three have taken different paths to reach where they are now, but the end result is the same.
There is some serious QB talent at the DI-AA level.
A quick word about A&M's recruiting efforts, since I've beginning to notice a trend in what the Aggies are doing for their 2009 class. I think you can take all of the state's recruits and sort of lump them into broad genres; you have the upper-echelon, which are guys that are so talented that it wouldn't matter if they were in a Pee-Wee league -- you offer them regardless of classification (Adrian Peterson, Ryan Mallett, etc.) The second-tier would be players that have been highly successful at the 5A/4A level. But what's the next level? Guys who have been moderately successful at the 5A/4A level, or guys who have been highly successful at the 3A-1A level? TCU, for example, targets players who have been superstars at the lower levels and sometimes bypass higher classification players with fewer accolades. A&M seems to be doing the opposite.
With the exception of Hutson Prioleau -- arguably the top private school player in the state -- Rico Forbes (TAPPS), Brandal Jackson (3A) and Coryell Judie (JUCO), all of A&M's verbals have come from either 5A or 4A players. Some of them (Clint Naron, Ivory Wade) are very well known and their recruitment came as no surprise. Others caught me a bit more off guard. There's no point in naming names. They could turn out to be quite successful, and I certainly hope they do. But I can't help but wonder if A&M's new regime is turning a blind eye to highly successful small school talents in favor of picking up names from bigger, more well-known schools.
Level of competition is very important, I'll agree with that. But 3A, 2A and 1A players aren't exactly playing against tree stumps and door jams, either. Perhaps the Aggies have been offering small-school names and just aren't getting verbals, but I doubt that, and I think Michael Brown's situation exemplifies it. Brown, a Super Team OL from 2A Lexington, was originally committed to A&M, but when the new coaching staff took over, they pulled his offer. Now, Michael Brown could play anywhere, and I mean anywhere, in this state. Perhaps he didn't fit A&M's new style -- I don't know. But it just seems weird.
I hope this class works out for A&M. I really do. But I've got a funny feeling some of these guys won't make it in College Station.
And that there are some other guys who could and won't get the chance.
Anybody a nerd like me?
Don't try and hide it! You know who you are. You've been counting the days. You've been plotting your strategy. Saving your money. You know what today is.
Today, EA Sports' NCAA 2009 hit the shelves.
The most recent installment in the brand's wildly successful line of video games, NCAA '09 is this year's attempt at perfectly recreating the wide world of college football and bringing it to the average couch potato. Every year a new version comes out, and every year millions of Americans flock to stores across the country to buy it. Why is this relevant? Well, during last night's Home Run Derby (Josh Hamilton, anyone?), EA aired its new commercial for the game, a series of short animated clips depicting some of the biggest names in the sports doing what they do best -- playing football.
The Texas ties were numerous and, actually, a lot of fun to find. I probably missed a few, as my flash player could only give me a grainy reproduction of the commercial, which makes ID'ing little tiny animated logos nearly impossible. But I tried! Here's what I found.
First up was, interestingly, a Texas-bred player at an out of state school: Cody Glenn, who wears 34 with Nebraska. It shows him standing in front of a raucous Husker crowd, with a big banner that says "The Power of Red" on it. Glenn was an interesting choice here -- despite setting every significant rushing record at Rusk High School, where he graduated from in 2004, he's been hampered by injuries at NU and really hasn't played much over the past three years. But now he's healthy, and maybe his new-found fame will help put him on the right track.
Next up was actually another Texas kid playing out-of-state, and he got quite a deal -- he has arguably the coolest segment of the whole commercial! It's Oklahoma State TE Brandon Pettigrew (Tyler Lee), who's shown celebrating a touchdown catch with a sweet animation of him and the Cowboys' mascot doing a "quick draw" at each other. Pettigrew, a first-team all conference pick at TE, is more along the lines of what I was thinking when I thought "2008 season preview commercial."
After a few little miscellaneous clips (one of which is Missouri's Jeremy Maclin getting smacked on a post route), we get to the shot that has Longhorn fans jumping for joy everywhere -- what will now be known as the Crabtree Fumble Clip. After a short UT cheerleader shot, the commercial shows Tech WR Michael Crabtree going up for a beautifully thrown ball, then getting absolutely crushed by UT DB Ryan Palmer and fumbling. Trust me when I say Longhorn fans are hitting the message boards pretty hard this morning. Texas makes another brief appearance when DE Aaron Lewis is shown trying to get off a block and tackle an Arkansas running back.
Baylor even made it in! In a great head-on camera shot, the Bears' David Gettis makes a catch and then puts on a sweet spin move to lose a defender and take it up field. Baylor is typically one of the worst BCS teams in this game, so this new found love should come as a welcome surprise to Bears supporters. And if Gettis can do that move in real life, all the better.
The last Texas tie-in is a rivalry-born one: TCU's Aaron Brown cutting up field and running smack into SMU FS Tyler Jones, who puts the Horned Frog senior on his backside in violent fashion. Every team in the game has rivals and rivalry games, and it goes without saying that TCU and SMU have long been represented as hated rivals and eager participants in the annual Battle for the Iron Skillet.
If that game is half as good as the commercial, I'm going to have to take some extended vacation time! After all, I'm a nerd. But it's OK -- if you've read till this point, than so are you!
Want to put your day in perspective? Think critically about the work you do. Remove your profession from society -- will the world keep on turning?
Brain surgeons, this thought experiment is clearly not for you.
This office had a pleasant reality check yesterday when Rivals.com released its new Top 100 player rankings for the state of Texas, something nerds such as ourselves can't help but read and analyze and squabble about. But as we were reaching the mid-twenties and still dissecting players like lab frogs, the reality of the situation slowly sunk in.
What do these even mean, anyways?
What's the difference between a No. 18-ranked player and a No. 23? When a kid from the middle of nowhere leapfrogs another kid from the middle of nowhere in the standings -- without even playing a snap -- what exactly does that signify? Has he been eating his Wheaties? Should a player be honored to move from No. 81 all the way to, say, 45? In reality, what's the difference? He's not any better on July 8th than he was on July 7th.
As much as we snobby sports journalists like to disparage the wide world of pseudo sciences, is that not essentially what we're practicing? We've been asked to measure the immeasurable, and so we tackle that impossible task with meaningless formulas and oft-inflated 40 times in the name of Knowledge and Analysis. Boo on us.
Things like a Top 100 list can be very helpful when used in the right context, obviously. It's a great tool to use as a broad lens to analyze the state; if a player is mentioned in one, he's probably very good, but if he's not, it certainly doesn't mean he's bad. Does that make sense? In other words, being ranked No. 33 is impressive and worthy of great praise -- if you're in the conversation for Top 100, you're doing quite well -- but NOT seeing your name isn't necessarily an indictment. You could be No. 5,432 or No. 101. You just don't know.
The point here is that we can't get too hot and bothered with these silly things, especially as fans of college institutions. If a guy committed to Institution of A gets suddenly moved below a guy headed to XYZ College, that really doesn't mean much of anything at all. A week ago, he was better, yet now he's not? Curious. Besides, once you get out of the Top 25 or so, players that accept BCS-school scholarships start appearing out of nowhere -- I won't name any names, but some of the people on the new Top 100 are only there because a recruiting analyst got panicky when he realized he had never heard of a kid that some big-name school had offered. Where I'm from, we call that a knee-jerk reaction.
Good players don't have to go to good schools, you know. It's not destiny. Nor do good schools have to offer good players. As it turns out, a lot of times they don't, which is exactly why we're finding so many flameouts in our LB High series -- kids that aren't "Top 100 quality" get a BCS offer for whatever reason, their recruiting hype grows exponentially and then, as should only be expected, their true talent doesn't live up to the monstrous expectations placed upon it. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Still, it is what it is. We live in an age that celebrates comparison and expert analysis, so, as consumers, we can both recognize the hypocrisy of lists like these yet still eagerly await their arrival. It's how we form off-season bragging rights, how we shape our hopes and dreams for the future and how we treat our well-documented addiction to, in all honesty, the most trivial of pursuits.
It's ok. I didn't want to be a brain surgeon anyways.
Have you ever seen the movie Dogma?
It has Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, even George Carlin. In many ways it's a silly, insignificant and highly inappropriate movie, as some would say it trivializes polarizing issues such as religion and race (and pretty much anything else you can think of). This is not by any means a personal recommendation to go rent it.
But it does put one concept in perfect perspective: The differentiation between an idea and a belief. A belief, as Chris Rock tells us, is chiseled into stone. It's inflexible. Even when exposed to proper rationale and logical examination, it remains implacably intact. Beliefs lie at the core of some of our greatest triumphs, yes, but also some of our most terrific failures.
An idea, you see, is different. An idea is everything a belief is not. It can be shaped, augmented, remodeled and restored. If found to be baseless, they can be discarded and replaced with new, more accurate ones. In short, a belief is the foundation of subjectivity, whereas ideas are the foundation of objectivity.
And it would appear that when it comes to Texas Tech, most people have beliefs.
A belief that the Red Raiders will never surpass 8-4. A belief that they'll never play defense. A belief that the incomprehensible offensive numbers they've put up have been nothing more than smoke and mirrors, a gimmick offense with gimmick stats and gimmick results. A belief that these stereotypes aren't just what Tech is now, but what they always have been and always will be. That it's an immutable law that the North Plains cannot play host to a BCS contender.
Oh yeah? Pop open the rule book. Show me that clause. I'll wait.
Tell me why Tech can't have a defense. Because they haven't had one before? That's a terrible reason, and you know it. Why is it that both Texas and A&M fans are so excited about their own new defensive coordinators, yet so blatantly dimissive about Tech's? These are not the same players as in past years. It's not the same scheme. How than could you possibly expect the same results? We expect them because we believe them to be the only reasonable outcome. Why are Tech's stat sheets so dismissible? Yes, I'll agree they're a little inflated, but if you're going to tell me Michael Crabtree is overrated, than you either haven't watched him or have no conception how difficult it is to pick up 20, 30 or 40 yards after a catch. The fact that Texas Tech wears red and black to every game is not cause in itself to dismiss them. I understand the value of history, but I also am acutely aware of how often it has shown itself to be, at best, unreliable. History can repeat itself, but it can also differ widely from year to year. Football (see: Kansas) should be no exception.
There's a lot of sports fans in this state that need to warm up to the idea of Tech being a legitimate title contender, of this oft-forgotten baby brother now having the grown man muscle to rearrange some of its siblings' features. Of course, that's assuming its in-state rivals even have a leg to stand on. Last time I checked, since the turn of the century, a Texas team has made the Big 12 championship game just twice. Both times it was UT, and once they lost. It would appear the only schools with mocking rights in this division would be Oklahoma and UT. Everyone else needs to put up or shut up.
Your history, your walls of fame and laundry lists of traditions are magnificent in their own right. They're great for evening reading and deep study, something to teach kids about and wear old jerseys for. But come game time, when you put Team A's talent against Team B's talent, it means quite little. I can almost assure you that when Darcel McBath lines up at safety, he doesn't give two cents about your Hook' Em. When Louis Vasquez comes out of his stance, he isn't thinking about your Gig' Em. The only thing these players are thinking about is winning, again and again and again. And now, when they finally have the confluence of ability and leadership to do it, we instead choose to place them within an outdated historical context that some of these players had no part in.
I'm not saying Tech is now the best there ever has been or ever will be; who knows, if Mike Leach leaves this whole thing could crumble back into obscurity. What I am saying is that, right now, at this moment, in this season, they are the best.
It's time to discard the beliefs. You can remain a fan of another team, yet still view football through the lens of open mindedness. Some of the comments I've seen, some of the things I've read, are beyond absurd. They're borderline ravings, and such can be the results of a challenged belief. So, like Tech seems poised to do, make this season a memorable one. Lay down the belief.
Now here's an idea: Tech is tops in Texas in 2008.
I'm looking at a copy of our new magazine right now.
I'm proud of it. There's things about it that irk me, a few tweaks that I would make if I had the chance, and yes, even a couple of mistakes that will remain a secret. But I'm proud of it.
After all, it's my first one. Sure, I worked on the 2006 book as an intern, but that's different; I just did what I was told and tried to not completely bungle it (which I think I did anyways.) Yes, I was on the payroll for the 2008 Winter Book (our first one in 20 years), but that's not the Summer Book. The June edition of Dave Campbell's is a completely different animal, 270 pages longer and shrouded in almost 50 years of history and tradition. Everything that carries our now-famous Dave Campbell's Texas Football letterhead is held to a certain standard of excellence, yes, but there's just something about that 350-odd page magazine that still resonates within its readers. Kids still kick off their shoes and flop onto beds to spend a hot afternoon thumbing through its pages, hoping to see their name somewhere. Grown men still earmark their college's preview section and harrumph to their coworkers over Johnny Strongarm's potential as the season grows nearer. Coaches still carry it on road trips and sportswriters still pull them seemingly from nowhere in press boxes all across the state.
It's still the Bible of Texas Football.
Looking at that book and remembering the confluence of efforts that produced it is a feeling like none other. It's not really a chill, but it's in that vein, and knowing how many readers have all but stood outside of stores over the years in anticipation of it hitting the racks is beyond intimidating. Sometimes it feels like we're not putting out a new magazine every year, but just another chapter in an ever-expanding almanac of the state's formidable football history.
Few things impact the landscape of Texas football fans more than our cover. Some have been controversial, and some have not. Some have since become iconic, and some have not. A select few have even managed to so flawlessly capture the ideal of Texas football that you can close your eyes and effortlessly assemble them in the mind's eye. Even now you'd be hard-pressed to find a long-time fan that couldn't sketch you the 1963 cover, even down to the angle of Darrell Royal's arm, the looks of focused determination on both his and Scott Appleton's face. Ten years later, A&M's Brad Dusek happened to look up and outwards from where he stood on the sideline and, just like that, was immortalized by photographer John Van Beekum on the 1972 cover; we may never see another close-up quite like that one, with the hair all matted down with sweat and the eye black just starting to run. It's incredible. Then came Cedric Benson in 2000, so confidently striding forward as the ball rests so casually in his hand; in that photo, he looks nigh invincible. No cover (with a possible exception to Spyke Dykes' in 1990) has ever rendered a featured individual as perfectly as that one.
And yet, every year, we try to live up to legacies such as these.
We're not the oldest magazine in the country. We don't have the largest circulation. Whichever way you define the term "best", we're probably not any of them. But there's something unique about Texas Football, some sort of signature mystique that drives men and children to write us letters from (and I flip through them as I type these) Eagle Pass ... Dallas ... Bartlett ... Springfield, Missouri. That's just today's batch alone.
I'm not sure what exactly it is that put us where we are today. If I had to guess, I'd say it's Dave Campbell himself, the pioneer who somehow saw it all 50 years ago and had both the talent and determination to see those visions come to fruition. Two weeks ago, as Jake Shaw and I sat in our offices and watched the clock hands tick far past midnight, Jake shook his head and voiced the one thing both of us were thinking.
"How did Dave do all this by himself?"
I have no way of answering that. Only one man does, and if you haven't heard, he's out of the business now. Everyone has dreams and everyone has talents, but few can combine those and the resiliency needed to reconcile them. Dave is one of those people. Even now, well into his 80's, he could write circles around the best the sports journalism world has to offer. He has a gift, and its one of those rare ones that exists less as a gift and more as an individual; you see, Dave's gift is simply ... being Dave. He remembers everything and everyone. He listens -- truly listens -- far more than he talks. There's something about his writing that feels more like home cookin' and less like the sterilized hospital food that you get from national media outlets. Reading old copies of Texas Football demands an arm chair and an imagination.
And yet, every year, we try to live up to legacies such as these.
Working here at Texas Football, walking past the pictures of Dave in the hallway, the framed 1960 cover of Jack Collins and the rows of chronologically ordered magazines is a constant reminder of our past and the homage we owe to it. Every square foot of this office is a small piece of the cross-section of eras that our product represents, and every year we add another part to its grand design. Being here transcends the phrase "an honor" to the point of absurdity. There is nothing else quite like it and there most likely never will be again. It is truly one of a kind.
After all, it's the Bible of Texas Football.
So I was at the track and field state championships this weekend, and, as expected, a significant portion of the state's football upper crust was in attendance -- names like Jamarkus McFarland (Lufkin), Craig Loston (Aldine Eisenhower), Knile Davis (FB Marshall), John Heffley (Sundown) and Ryan Swope (Westlake) were all in the weekend's mix.
As much fun as it was to watch McFarland throw the discus (he got sixth) and Heffley and teammate Wade King guide the Roughnecks to the medal stand, the player that I came away impressed with the most was speedy FB Hightower WR (and '08 UH signee) Isaiah Sweeney, who took home the gold in the 100-meter dash and did something that might be even more incredible just hours afterward.
He finished a race.
Sweeney and his teammates were right in the middle of a very competitive 800-meter relay when Sweeney, running the third leg for the Hurricanes, rounded the corner a bit slower than his usual pace, than abruptly jerked upright and grabbed his hamstring, obviously in pain. He could've stopped, and, considering the fact that even that much of a flinch is enough to take you off the medal stand, probably should've stopped. Heck, no one would have blamed him. Sure, his teammates and the paying fans would be disappointed, but no one would think him a wuss. At least not anyone who I trust to judge wussy-ness.
But, incredibly, he didn't. The resilient Sweeney started hopping -- hopping! -- to the final exchange, in clear agony but unwilling to stop. He didn't even drop all the way to eighth ... he actually limped in fast enough to be moderately competitive. The fans went nuts, and a long-time track enthusiast (and current Texas Tech scholarship runner) standing next to me shook his head as he told me that he'd never seen anything like that before. Neither had I.
Hightower ended up being disqualified, as the handoff between Sweeney and the Hurricanes' anchor was forced out of the lane as Sweeney stumbled toward the outstretched hand. Buuutttt I don't really care. That's still pretty impressive, and anyone who's had a hamstring cramp up like that knows barely moving is a trial, much less sprinting against the best high school runners in the state. Not to overstate the matter, but unless you were there, it's hard to understand how heroic it looked under the lights.
I was lucky enough to be in the interview tent afterwards, and the media was all over him like ants on a picnic. One girl at the 1A level won a team championship by herself (which is crazy enough as is) and didn't even get that much attention. He was well-spoken, composed and, more importantly, honest. You could see the disappointment etched in his weary face as he talked about refusing to quit for his teammates. He didn't dodge topics and politely fielded the same questions from reporter after reporter ... and they weren't even talking about his gold in the 100. It was about his cramp in the relay.
Still, he stood their stoically as everyone probed the reasons behind his failure, not his success.
In a word, it was toughness. It was toughness to finish a race that was lost before he came out of the turn. It was toughness to keep upbeat after he knew his three teammates would come home with a big DQ next to their names. And it was toughness to cordially handle the prying inquiry of stupid people like me when all he wanted to do was say hi to his family.
It was toughness, indeed. In Sweeney, the Houston Cougars have found a good one.
Heard about this new recruiting rule the NCAA has passed?
If you haven't, that's pretty believable. But if you haven't heard the pained screaming and yelping of some of the coaches its affecting, then that's a little less plausible.
Essentially, the rule prohibits head coaches from visiting high school campuses during the spring evaluation period (April 15 -- May 31), an attempt to keep them from speaking "in person" to recruits during that time frame (which is also illegal). Makes sense, especially when Texas coach Mack Brown puts it in perspective; according to Brown, when a coach of his public stature (which is sizeable here, obviously) pops up at a high school in Texas, kids of all shapes and sizes are going to show up, too, and most of them are going to want a hand shake, or autograph ... or scholarship. There's almost no possible way Brown could hold an event like that and not break rules right and left. If I was a football player, and Brown walked through the doors of my school, you better believe I'd be in his grill in a heartbeat. Is that Brown's fault? Of course not. But is it still a violation? Yes, hence the new ruling.
Well, apparently this is just a big annoyance for coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban and USC's Pete Carroll, both of whom have been quite outspoken in their displeasure with the new rule. Carroll says it benefits "lazy" coaches. Well, Mack says he has no problem with the ruling, and he's done pretty well for himself. I may not like every little thing Mack does, but the last word I'd use for him would be lazy.
Mack says he hasn't been out to a high school during spring evaluations this decade, and UT has yet to suffer. If that's true, I'd applaud him for going the extra mile to meet all the NCAA's regulations, which are numerous and complicated. Come to think, I'd be more inclined to call guys like Saban and Carroll lazy, because I have a sneaky suspicion they've toed this specific regulatory line through pure neglect over the past few years. The Birmingham News has even said that Saban recently chatted with a prospect via web-cam during the off-limits period. Granted, it's not an in-person meeting, so it's technically legal (all electronic correspondences are considered a phone call) ... but give me a break. It doesn't take an Einstein to see what's wrong with that picture. That's a blatant circumventing of the law, and I can almost promise you that it will be illegal by this time next year. He says he goes out to schools to gauge a kid's character (which is admirable), and now he can't talk to principals and teachers in person. Well, why don't you cam-chat with them?
The big picture here is that these rules are put in place for many reasons, but three stand out: to protect the kids, to protect the coaches and to balance the playing field. Do you hear any small-school coaches complaining about the new restrictions? Of course not, because it enables them to at least have a fighting chance against the massive staffs and funds of BCS programs. And keeping highly-touted coaches out of a kid's face for a few days might just help them make a better decision about their future. And as for guys like Saban or USC's Pete Carroll?
It might just keep them out of big, big trouble.
On Tuesday we talked a bit about the Cowboys and their draft needs (which don't include Darren McFadden!), and I promised we would do the same for the Houston Texans on Thursday. Let's do it.
First off, the Texans aren't in as enviable a position in this Saturday's NFL Draft as the Cowboys are -- they have one first round pick (#18) as opposed to Dallas' two, they don't have a second rounder (for the second year in row) due to 2007's deal for QB Matt Schaub and they don't have a sixth rounder because they used it to acquire Broncos center Chris Meyers about a month ago.
When you've only got five draft picks, you darn well better guess right.
Luckily, the Texans' needs are pretty clear cut. Quarterback, fullback, linebacker and defensive tackle, while probably less than ideal, are OK. The most glaring need is probably at corner, where fan favorite Dunta Robinson is still battling back from a catastrophic leg injury. If he is able to return this season, it wouldn't be until about halfway through, meaning Houston desperately needs a playmaker to line up alongside Fred Bennett (a second-year player) and Jacque Reeves (also a second-year player.) Like Dallas, Houston can pick from the quadruplet of Troy's Leodis McKelvin, Tennessee State's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, South Florida's Mike Jenkins and Kansas' Aqib Talib -- while any of those would do just fine, I think Talib is probably the best bet. He's played against the best competition out of all four and his aggressive, gambling style is a sure fit in a league that gives more liberty to CBs every year (Al Harris and Charles Woodson, anyone?) Houston has done a poor job of drafting local guys, i.e. Vince Young, so the Texas-bred Talib would be a nice change of pace.
Incredibly enough, the Texans still need a defensive lineman, despite drafting Jason Babin in the first round in 2004, taking Travis Johnson in the first round in 2005, picking Mario Williams first overall in 2006 (and adding Anthony Weaver that offseason) and drafting Amobi Okoye at No. 10 in 2007. As sad as that sounds, the pass rush is finally starting to come together, and Houston has made no secrets that it's looking for another guy to pair with Williams to finish this project once and for all. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of true defensive end-type guys in this year's draft that will be good values in the middle rounds ... except for Virginia Tech DE Chris Ellis, who would probably be a higher pick if not for a torn labrum and an off-field issue. He's big enough to play as an NFL DE (6-4, 263), and should be available when the Texans pick in Round 3 (#79) -- he's a very vocal leader, but a bit of a hot-head ... Houston brass would have to hope he would become another DeMeco Ryans and not a Travis Johnson.
The last round the Texans have a chance of drafting anything more than a crapshoot would be the fourth, and they'll have a choice to make -- running back or offensive lineman? The O-Line has been a bit of 5-sided Rubik's Cube for Houston over the years, and with Pitt OT Charles Spencer's future still undecided (another catastrophic knee injury), the left tackle spot is still up for grabs. Then again, the Texans' run game has never been the same since Domanick Davis (Williams?) completely fell off the face of the earth, and the Ahman Green Project has been an early bust. In all honesty, it's probably more of a cursed-if-you-do, cursed-if-you-don't situation, but I think it's more likely Kubiak and Co. looks for the answer along the line. Texas OT Tony Hill would be a nice pickup, but he's not near mean enough for new coach Alex Gibbs system, so the next best available bet would probably be Toledo's John Greco, who, while undersized a bit (6'4), played LT for three years in college has exactly the sort of mentality Gibbs and the running game is looking: beat you into submission. He won't be a Hall of Famer, but a year behind incumbent starter Ephraim Salaam would give him some time to develop some of his weaker aspects (like getting called for holding quite a bit) and perhaps develop into The Guy for Houston.
With the NFL Draft right around the corner (and high school 7-on-7 tournaments growing ever nearer), I suppose now is as good a time as any to delve into a little pro-league talk -- especially in light of the mock draft the Dallas Morning News put out this morning.
I'm not going to try and predict picks, or what kind of trades the Baltimore Ravens or Arizona Cardinals might be cooking up -- I just want to take a look at what players could be good fits with our local teams (i.e., Cowboys and Texans.), and, of course, I've adjusted for availability, so you won't hear anything about a top-five kind of guy in this post (sort of). We'll do Dallas today and the Texans later in the week ... probably Thursday.
Something to note before we get too deep into Dallas talk: Jerry Jones is probably not going to trade up to get Darren McFadden. That's a nice thought, maybe even a possible one in a perfect world, but this year it is fiscally impossible. In 2007, the Cowboys were about $2 million under the cap ($107 million), and while the 2008 cap has been moved up to $116.7 million, the retention of Marion Barber and Chris Canty, plus the addition of the other draft picks this weekend, will put Dallas in a situation where it probably couldn't afford the roughly $3 million cap hit a guy like McFadden will cause.
That said, at least one trade from owner Jerry Jones isn't out of the question -- in fact, it could be likely. Last year's move with the Eagles and 2004's trade that should have been Steven Jackson are evidence that the Cowboys' brass is anything but afraid to move around resources. With the surprising amount of negative press the draft has gotten this year -- and with how much its fiscal shortcomings have been paraded in the news -- teams may not be looking for another first-rounder, which Dallas has to offer. But don't put it past Jerry.
So which kind of players could fit Cowboys' bill? Well, the running back situation has been well-documented, and most Dallas outlets are calling for a speedy change-of-pace back to complement bruiser Marion Barber (kind of like what Julius Jones was supposed to be like): Oregon's Jonathan Stewart, a shifty but oft-injured back, Arkansas' Felix Jones, a runner with elite speed, and ex-Longhorn Jamaal Charles are all pretty good options. Stewart will probably be off the board by the time Dallas picks at 22, but Jones and Charles (in a later round, of course) are probably better fits for what Dallas needs anyways. The biggest knock on Jones is his durability, since he's never carried a full load in college. Perfect! Dallas would want him to split carries anyways. Even WVU's Steve Slaton (2006 version, not 2007) or East Carolina's Chris Johnson could be good options in later rounds.
But Dallas is also looking for a cornerback too, and even though a running back would be a sexier pick, the Cowboys would like to improve on a passing defense that finished the 2007 regular season 13th in the league. Dallas fans like to tease the now-departed Jacque Reeves, but the fact is that he ate up a bunch of snaps last year (due to injuries), and even though Terance Newman and Anthony Henry are a pretty good 1-2 option as the starters, Alan Ball and Evan Oglesby aren't as good at the nickel. That said, there's a lot of guys that could Dallas could pick up, and one or more of Troy's Leodis McKelvin, Tennessee State's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, South Florida's Mike Jenkins or Kansas' Aqib Talib could fall into the Cowboys' lap. But I have to admit, if Dallas passes all four up and uses a later pick on Virginia Tech's Brandon Flowers, they could be finding a bargain. Flowers is every bit as good as the top four, just a little shorter (5'9), and if he was their size, he'd be a first-round lock. He plays a lot like Texans CB Dunta Robinson, and would be a great option to cover slot receivers for Dallas in 2008.
Dallas has numerous other needs -- several spots on the offensive line, and even a backup QB wouldn't hurt -- but in the interest of time we'll look at the last remaining pressing need, which is wide receiver. Drafting wideouts is a well-documented crap shoot -- for every success story, there's another Charles Rogers or Mike Williams lurking -- but every year it seems like less and less star veterans are on the free agent market, so to the draft we must go. Unfortunately, there's some issues about most of the guys that Dallas could find in the first round. Texas ex Limas Sweed? He's got a nagging wrist injury. Oklahoma's Malcolm Kelly? He's been hurt AND running his mouth. Cal's DeSean Jackson? He's been hurt, he's likely to be hurt again and his 2007 season was a little underwhelming. Michigan's Mario Manningham? He's has some recent issues involving marijuana. That leaves Michigan State's Devin Thomas, who will likely be gone before the 22nd pick. My advice?
Pick a wide receiver later in the draft.
I noticed today that one of my favorite Texas-college players that's off to the NFL Draft this year is starting to get a little love. Do you know who it is? Here, we'll play a game, and you CAN'T cheat. Promise? I'll give hints, one at a time, and you see how long it takes before you can get it. It'll be fun.
- Hint 1: He hasn't missed a single game in four years.
One thing NFL scouts love is durability -- who wants to shell out a couple million for a guy to ride the pine? -- and our masked man has typified that term during his five-year career. Aside from his redshirt freshman year, he has appeared in every single game since his first one back in 2004. Football is not the kind of sport where you should be able to do it. I know what you're thinking, and no, he's not lucky. He's tough. He actually has the record for most games played in a season for his school (sort of Hint 1A, I guess.)
- Hint 2: He'll be the first player at his position drafted from his school in 16 years.
Which is pretty unbelievable, when you hear the final answer. This has been a team that has put up big numbers with startling regularity, especially at this position ... yet not a one of them has heard his name called by the commissioner since 1992 (2A). That will definitely end this year, as not only will this guy get drafted, but some reports say he's moved up as many as two rounds since the season ended. Isn't it awesome what workouts can do?
- Hint 3: He was a second-team selection in DCTF's All-Texas College team.
And would likely be a first-teamer if it wasn't for a freshman sensation (Hint 3A), a walk-on sensation (Hint 3B) and the center-point for an offense that spent most of '07 breaking its own records (Hint 3C). Football feels like it's opening up more and more every year, and if we were to hit the time machine to, say, 2000, this guy would unquestionably be a top-team pick. By the way, I just realized (and this was totally an accident) that 2000's All-College Team incidently sported a first-team player from the same school at the same position (3D) as the guy we're talking about. Weird.
- Hint 4: He ran a low of 4.32 in the 40-yard dash.
This guy is an absolute blazer. I've seen him in person several times, and it's incredible how fast he is over short or long distances. What makes him so dangerous is how little space he needs to get up to top speed -- if there's any throwback Mario Kart fans here, he's like Luigi, because it seems like he's barely out of the gate before he's at Mach 3. This ties back into that whole "moving up the NFL Draft Board" stuff.
- Hint 5 (last one!): His offensive teammate (5A), another speedster, will also be getting drafted.
Part of what made his team's offense so effective in 2007 was the terrific speed employed in both the passing and the running game. His coach, an offensive whiz (5B), was a mastermind at creating open spaces to get players the ball and then let them work. In his 2007 bowl appearance (5C), his team nearly came back to steal a win as the clock ran down. Our masked man is a big reason why, especially on the last possession. He finished with 10 catches for 120 yards.
Well, by now you should know it, but if not, I'll put you out of your misery: it's Houston WR Donnie Avery. A long-time favorite of mine, Avery was originally projected as a third-round pick in the NFL Draft yet has put himself into first-round consideration with his incredible workout times. There are plenty of teams that will be looking for a dynamite wide receiver with the ability to stretch the field or go over the middle. Avery fits that to a T.
Here's the answers to the sub-hints, in case you were wondering:
- 1A: 14 games, 2007; 2A: John Brown, III; 3A: Michael Crabtree, TTU; 3B: Casey Fitzgerald, UNT; 3C: Jarrett Dillard, Rice; 3D: Orlando Iglesias; 5A: Anthony Alridge, RB; 5B: Art Briles; 5C: Texas Bowl (vs. TCU).
So I made a pretty significant website faux pas this weekend and left town on a business trip without updating the TexasFootball.com poll question. Sounds harmless enough, but that meant that particular question was up there for like a week and a half, 5 to 6 days longer than the norm.
Well, guess what? People ate it up. In case you missed it, we had asked which 2007 sub-.500 program had the best chance of turning things around in 2008 -- Baylor (3-9), Rice (3-9), SMU (1-11), UTEP (4-8) or UNT (2-10)? We here at the DCTF offices had assumed that someone like Baylor or SMU would win it based on the pedigrees of the new coaches in town (Art Briles for Baylor and June Jones for SMU), and at first, those expectations held true.
But by the time we got back from San Antonio on Tuesday, the last program I expected to see top the charts had surged to the front -- the North Texas Mean Green had garnered more than 760 votes from readers, more than twice as many as the next closest school (Baylor, 299). That simultaneously taught our office a lesson and got us thinking ... what does UNT have coming in that could right the ship in 2008? For the matter, what do the other four programs in question have?
Don't worry -- we've got you covered.
North Texas (2-10)Coach: Todd Dodge (second year, 2-10 career at UNT)Returning stud: WR Casey Fitzgerald (111-1,322-12 TDs)Incoming stud: QB Riley Dodge, Southlake CarrollDeparting stud: RB Jamario ThomasWhat broke 'em in 2007: A defense that ranked last in the nation in scoring What could make 'em in 2008: Well, the obvious thing would be that superstar head coach Todd Dodge is about to begin his second season as the top dog at UNT. His wide-open offensive system is innovative but complicated, and it should have been expected that the first year of his tenure would be marked with more frustration than elation. His son's arrival (after originally committing to Texas) gives him an immediate playmaker on offense -- and one he's quite familiar with -- but the defense, which was beyond poor in 2007, will have to make immense strides to keep pace in 2008. New defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach should help, and if he does, this team should play much better in the upcoming season.
Rice (3-9)Coach: David Bailiff (second year, 3-9 career at Rice)Returning stud: QB Chase Clement (300-508, 3,377-29-16 passing; 144-535-8 TDs rushing)Incoming stud: RB Shane Turner, Cy FallsDeparting stud: DTs Jonathan Cary and George ChukwuWhat broke 'em in 2007: The nation's second-to-worst defenseWhat could make 'em in 2008: Rice has a chance to blossom into a complete offensive juggernaut in 2008. Junior QB Chase Clement, who set a number of offensive records last season, is back to pair with WR Jarrett Dillard, one of the best pass-catchers in the state and the finest wide receiver I've seen in person in a long, long time. An incredible 15 freshmen played last season for Bailiff, meaning there's going to be a bunch of young but experienced talent to chose from as the year develops. Like UNT, the offense should hold it's own, but the defense, also one of the NCAA's worst, has to find a way to get stops. A repeat of 2006's bowl game appearance might be a bit much to ask for, but the Owls should chalk up more than just three wins.
Baylor (3-9)Coach: Art Briles (first year at Baylor) Returning stud: DB Jordan Lake (120 tkls, 2 INTs) Incoming stud: QB Robert Griffin, Copperas CoveDeparting stud: LB Nick MooreWhat broke 'em in 2007: One of the country's worst running gamesWhat could make 'em in 2008: So just how much of an effect will new coach Art Briles have on a Baylor team that has been the punching bag of the Big 12 south for years? Well, right off the bat Briles lured Cove's Griffin to the Bears from Houston (where Briles coached previously) and surrounded the superior athlete with a host of other strong incoming freshmen to build the nucleus of the Bears of the Future. That said, the innovative and offensive-minded Briles could have a lot of fun with some of the pieces already in place, especially defensive weapons like Lake and LB Joe Pawelek, and should help stimulate a running game that averaged less than 80 yards per game in 2007. Briles is certainly a proven coach, but the Big 12 and its meat-grinder of a schedule waits for no one. As many as six wins is very possible.
UTEP (4-8)Coach: Mike Price (fifth year, 25-23 career at UTEP)Returning stud: QB Trevor Vittatoe (224-407, 3,101-25-7) Incoming stud: DB Clarence Ward, Florida State/Texas Tech/Santa Rosa CC (Calif.)Departing stud: DB Quintin DempsWhat broke 'em in 2007: The nation's third-worst defense What could make 'em in 2008: UTEP has been the definition of up-and-down since coach Price arrived in El Paso four years ago. After bowl appearances in both 2004 and 2005, the Miners flopped back to 5-7 in 2006, then somehow finished even worse in 2007 after starting the year 4-2. What will 2008 bring? Well, Vittatoe, a freshman in 2007, now has a year of experience under his belt and should continue to grow with an offense that looks like it could develop into a C-USA powerhouse. But, just like UNT and Rice, UTEP's defense needs works badly, and until it's able to obtain playmakers or develop them, the Miners will struggle to reach postseason play. Out of all five of these programs, I think UTEP is most likely to be advancing via baby steps instead of big ones.
SMU (1-11)Coach: June Jones (first year at SMU)Returning stud: WR Emmanuel Sanders (74-889-9 TDs) Incoming stud: S Victor Jones, Richland Departing stud: QB Justin Willis ... maybe (indefinite suspension)What broke 'em in 2007: A terrible defense and a tendency to lose close gamesWhat could make 'em in 2008: June Jones stands at a bit of a crossroads with this struggling SMU program. The level of excitement on campus when he was officially announced as coach hasn't been seen since before the Death Penalty, but this isn't the sort of situation that lends itself to a quick fix. What does Jones have going for him? Well, he worked similar wonders with WAC cellar-dweller Hawaii in his first year on campus, and the Mustangs certainly seem willing to offer him the resources he needs to revitalize a program that's essentially been comatose for two decades. Jones probably has the least to work with out of the five schools discussed here, but he arguably had even less with the Rainbow Warriors years ago. Can he be worth an extra four or five wins? Heck, why not?
About a month ago, I posted a blog talking about some of the best highlight tapes for '09 recruits that DCTF had seen so far. We broke them down into Surprises, As Expecteds and Disappointments; after another several weeks of review, I've got some more to add to the list:
Justin Isadore LB, Beaumont OzenSurprise! We had actually poked and prodded Ozen on info for massive WR Willie Jefferson, a 6-6 pass-catcher with great hands and awesome leaping ability (see how I worked another name in here?) But he sent us a laundry list of names in addition to the giant Panther, one of which included Isadore, a 6-0, 205-lb. linebacker who had my attention about 10 seconds into his tape. He's fast -- very fast, especially if he somehow gets the ball in his hands -- and he hits like a meteorite from space. I'd love for him to make his reads a split-second faster, but his pursuit skills can make up for that for the time being, and with his 2007 stats in mind (4 INTs, 4 FFs, 4 FRs and 2 def. TDs), Isadore could soon be on everyone's -- and I mean everyone's -- radar.
Will Ford S, Abilene Cooper Surprise! The DCTF office LOVED everything about Cooper's Ford. He primarily lines up at safety for the Cougars, but he also handles the ball a little bit as a skill player and can even return kicks if needed. His versatility is attractive, but his speed and awareness is what immediately catches the eye. Ford makes really good reads not only on the ball, but on the quarterback, and while his size (6-0, 191) might point to safety, his quickness (4.4) could easily land him at corner. This guy is quickly becoming a coveted "DCTF Favorite". And yes, I just made that up on the spot.
James Dunbar DE, MaudAs Expected. I had heard quite a bit of talk about Dunbar over the past few days/weeks, and about how great his skill set was when you consider how few 1A players go on to the DI level. Well, after watching his tape, I can say I agree. He's big, and he still looks like he could use a little more work to chisel that frame down, but he's got uncanny athleticism and body control for someone of his size and, like former TCU DE Tommy Blake, he even totes the ball once in a while. He didn't blow my socks off, but he's certainly a great player and unquestionably lives up to his reputation.
Steven Campbell DB, Jersey VillageSurprise! This is turning into a pretty defense-oriented blog post, huh? Campbell impressed me based on two main factors: speed and hitting power. It's not uncommon for him to make plays along the sideline after lining up at the opposite safety spot, and his pursuit speed is good enough to catch most wide receivers, even if it looks like they're gone. He can certainly land the big hit, and while such a thing can make you a fan favorite, I'd like to see him wrap up a little more to prove his true tackling ability. Nonetheless, Campbell is a very solid player who isn't getting much hype.
Tom Wort LB, New BraunfelsSurprise! I didn't think I was going to find another linebacker who could play like the aforementioned Isadore until much later in the offseason, and then Unicorns coach Chuck Caniford dropped this little gem in my lap. Wort, who hails from across the pond in England, is a total stud on both the defensive side of the ball and as a blocker. Even though he's surrounded by some pretty good talent, Wort still shines out above the rest as a linebacker, and has the violent explosion necessary to push a blocker back on his heels and get into the backfield. He is as powerful a hitter as you're going to find in high school football, which translates directly into his blocking ability. We're not talking about lining him up at guard or tight end -- most of Wort's highlights come on kick returns and punt returns, where he just seeks out a body and completely flattens them. You almost feel guilty watching it.
Well, that's enough for this time around. Keep your eyes peeled -- we'll look at some more film when we're not working on the new magazine.
Well, the big series is finally over -- and now it's time do face the music!
Just a few days after I finally finished ranking the top ten high school football rivalries in the state, the feedback started to flood in, and as expected, some was positive and some was negative. I could ramble on about the rationale I used to either pick some games or leave out others, but instead I'll just post a smattering of the emails I've gotten from fans statewide.
The game that got the most positive feedback was, surprisingly, Lufkin vs. Nacogdoches. I kind of thought I was going to get killed for this one -- and maybe people state-wide are saying horrible things about me and I just don't know it -- but here's what reader Tim Krause had to say:
"Great job on the Lufkin-Nac series. You captured the essence of it. Harper is a good coach and he has them playing much better than the previous group. They almost killed the Nac program. Last great team they had was '92 (took a Phil Dawson field goal to beat them in the playoffs). We are down a little so they will be playing with more confidence (we are still real good, though)."
I agree with that assessment of Harper -- sometimes when a reporter talks to a coach, we just get a good feeling about what they're saying or how they're saying it. We're not always right, but sometimes you can tell a successful coach right off the bat. That's the exact feeling I got from Harper. Here's more Lufkin-Nacogdoches talk from a Longview fan:
"Travis, the Lobos finally beat Lufkin in 2007 (after 11 straight losses!), so even having Lufkin-Nacogdoches in the top 10 couldn't hurt my feelings."
Interesting point, and one that I think reinforces Longview/Marshall's placement in the No. 1 spot -- it's a representation of the strength and depth of East Texas football. But not everything can be a happy review, and the one thing that people seemed most up in arms about, especially reader John Laviola, is my choice to omit this game:
"I think you might of left out Bay City vs El Campo as a top 10 rivalry. It's like the oldest rivalry in Texas football history ..."
John wasn't the only one to make that point -- another reader named Jerry has also called in with similar feedback. Well, in my defense ... I don't really have one! Yes, I knew about the game, which has been played 101 times since 1911, and yes, I considered it strongly, but the end I probably wrongly left it off -- if I had a do-over, I'd put it in there somewhere.
There was a few other matchups that people mentioned that also just missed the cut, most notably several cross-district games between the Tyler schools (more East Texas material!), and I even had one reader call in from way out in Laredo, where Nixon and Martin have had a good one brewing for some time. So what's the point here? Well, I knew when I started putting this together that there were going to be some disagreements involved, but that's what makes high school football so great! If you have more games or matchups that you feel should have been represented, shoot me an email and fill me in.
I'll close this blog with an unrelated but nonetheless important reader response from Sandy, who didn't like the angle of my blog post about recently-suspended SMU quarterback Justin Willis:
"You make it sound like Willis did nothing wrong! The benefit of the doubt should go to Jones, who is a proven top-quality coach trying to instill some discipline and life lessons to a couple of talented but misdirected young men. Instead of getting to the substance of the matter, you chose to split hairs over the words Jones used. Your story didn't indicate or convince me that you did any investigation. I think JW has a lot of talent and he is definitely a playmaker at times, but he has failed to be a leader by letting his teammates and coaches down once again! I would hope that JW and Hudman learn that they have to follow rules in sports just as they will when they enter the real world after college (or suffer the consequences). If they do, then I hope JJ will give them another chance."
As I told Sandy, we're actually in agreement -- I too am hoping that Willis is able to find the right path under Jones, not for the sake of his playing career, but his future as a whole. In fairness, I did fail to significantly mention safety Bryce Hudman, who has also been indefinitely suspended -- my intent was not to disregard the importance of one individual as opposed to another because of the position they play, but I realize it can come across that way. Believe me, I wish as happy a turn-around for Hudman as I do for young Willis.
That's the whole and sum of it -- we've had more videos come into the office, so I may make another post later in the week with some of the Surprises and such like I did earlier in the month. As always, thanks for all your comments!
Leave it to a Leap Day to produce something this unusual.
SMU quarterback Justin Willis, arguably the best young signal-caller the Mustangs have ever had, has been indefinitely suspended from the team and will not be participating in spring drills, a penalty that severely hinders his bid to be the opening day starter in new coach June Jones' inaugural season. I won't even try and theorize on why Jones made the move -- I have yet to see any information that comes from a named source or doesn't sound like pure rumor -- but I can look ahead and wonder how much damage the young Willis has done to himself.
Just yesterday I was driving when someone asked me who would be a viable choice for the 2009 DCTF summer book cover, and I half-jokingly suggested Justin Willis. Why not? He's already tattooed his name into the SMU record-book after just two years, and he was soon to be paired with the perhaps the nation's brightest pass-oriented coach. If Jones could do what he did with Colt Brennan (who surely would have been a Dave Campbell's Hawaii Football cover boy), imagine what he could have done with Willis!
But it appears that what could have been is rapidly becoming what-never-will-be, especially when outlets like the Dallas Morning News say "Jones didn't rule out the possibility of (Willis and teammate Bryce Hudman) rejoining the team in the future." What?! That sounds worse, doesn't it? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable if coach had said he hadn't ruled out the possibility of them not returning to the team? Maybe this is just splitting hairs, but the latter implies that you're a heck of a lot closer to being on the team than off it. But the way it's been reported makes it sound like Willis is clearly off the team (and with his name already off the website, that sounds accurate) with a chance he could still earn his way back on ... and that sounds a lot worse.
The other thing that has to make Willis sweat is that he wouldn't be the first guy on a Jones' team to find himself riding the pine, as the former Hawaii coach has either kicked off or suspended players previously in his career. Perhaps sports writers like me had just sort of penciled Willis into the 2008 starting lineup because of the pedigree he had built over the past two years, while simultaneously ignoring Junes' signs that the position would be open to the best player. Well, now we may never know the answer to that question, because if Willis doesn't make it back onto the field, then the spot will go to either a sophomore (Logan Turner) or one of five freshmen (some of which redshirted last year.) One of those freshmen is Katy's Bo Levi Mitchell, a Jones commit during his Hawaii tenure. I'll let you think that one over.
The only bright spot for Willis here is that his new coach has a recruiting philosophy that's pretty much predicated on the concept of a second chance -- he had signees at Hawaii with dubious or questionable pasts, and even star quarterback Colt Brennan came to the school after a disturbing incident at the University of Colorado. Jones has even said that he's recruited some of his best players "from jail." Then again, Jones obviously didn't recruit Willis, so who knows how he'll deal with him.
So is this blog jumping the gun? I don't think so -- obviously Willis could come back, and for his sake I hope he does, but as of right now, he's not an SMU Mustang, and as coaches are so fond of telling me, you have to go forward with whoever you have on the roster, not who you don't have. Well, OK then. Let's go forward.
And hope Willis doesn't get left behind.
But even my uncle can't resist the lure of Thanksgiving Day football.
It's not quite the same, is it? Not to say your average day of football isn't something to cherish -- let's not be silly -- but games on Thanksgiving, a format UT versus A&M has now reverted to, have a completely different texture to them. I live for holiday games. As distracting as family can be ("Wait, what does 'Holding' mean again?") and as tough as it is to stay awake after 37 turkey legs ("Will you just give me the remote?! I am NOT falling asle ... zzzzzzz"), there's something about the combination of relatives and the food and fun we share with them that brings football to life.
Perhaps it's because we take the sport to seriously. How many times have you sat white-knuckle on your recliner, literally bargaining with God himself for that last-second Hail Mary to be caught? Or broken an object of technological significance when it hasn't been caught? Trust me, I'm not judging -- anyone who's ever met me knows I'm no better -- but family can help us take a step back sometimes, help us realize just how little importance these foolish little three-hour escapades really, truly carry.
Maybe that's the reason I'm so stoked for this year's UT-A&M football game -- it's combining the fun of the Lone Star Showdown with the joy of a family event. I can't remember ever looking forward to a matchup this far in advance, yet right now I just can't wait. It's like whichever angle I look at it from, it's exciting -- it'll be McCoy versus McGee (Maybe. Jerrod Johnson, anyone?), the new kid on the block (Mike Sherman) versus the grizzled veteran (Mack Brown), the pain of two-straight losses versus the ever-growing momentum of the Aggies' win streak. Can't ask for much more than that!
Is there a possible conflict with the Cowboys game that day? I mean, not time-wise -- somehow I think they've worked out the particulars of that one -- but I guess there's an argument to be made that adding a game with the significance of a Texas-A&M matchup to an already crowded Thanksgiving football lineup just makes the whole day difficult to plan or follow or whatever. Again, I think that most of us will figure it out somehow.
Now, this DOES hurt for the volunteers that are going to be expected to be out there to help host the event, the athletes that have to play and the journalists that have to cover them. That's unfortunate. I'd criticize the administration for both schools for doing such a thing, buuuttttt I think they'll be there, too, so they're likely making sacrifices of their own.
Nonetheless, I expect this move is going to be a good one. I think the viewership is going to be high -- really high -- and that both schools' athletics directors will be filtering through more positive response than negative over the next few days. I for one shall cast my vote: Thanksgiving Day Football '08.
Now I just have to work on that uncle of mine ...
Kasey Carrier RB, PearlandSurprise! This kid is the real deal. He's not a Rivals 100 guy (give it time), but he is in most state-wide Top 100's, and with very good reason. Pearland coach Tony Heath talked about Carrier in glowing terms when we spoke with him a few weeks ago, and when the video came across my desk, I didn't find much to disagree with. This kid has incredible feet -- they're constantly churning forward -- and his small, quick strides get him through tight spots in the trenches. He can easily turn a standard dive play into a 10- or even 15-yard gain just by pushing the pile or wiggling his way through tacklers. He runs with creativity -- that's a weird way of describing it, I know -- but when you watch him, you find yourself thinking, "Well, I dunno how he's going to get himself out of that one." He almost always finds a way.
Mason Walters OL, Wolfforth FrenshipAs Expected. If you were wondering how this guy got to the top of the state's OL rankings, allow me to assure you: he's every bit as good as advertised. First of all, he's huge, and second of all, he has incredible power coming off of the line. Defenders of all varieties look plain overmatched against Walters, and it'd be more rare to see him err than to watch him plow through a defensive tackle ... then a linebacker ... and then, if he's silly enough to get in the way, a safety. From what I saw on the tape, this Tiger plays with a rare combination of ferocity and grace: he hits you hard, but he does it clean.
Kenneth Cluley/Ross Rasner Waco ReicherAs Expected/Surprise! We knew we were getting stuff in for Cluley, but Rasner's material came as a bit of a surprise, and both were impressive. Cluley, a QB/DB, has a cannon for an arm and plays with an attitude -- a very visable one. He can fit the ball into tiny spaces on those slant and post routes but can air it out 60 yards downfield as well; if he wants to keep it on the ground, he can scoot a little, too. He's almost as good defensively as offensively -- it seems like every clip is him picking off a pass or at least putting a solid lick on somebody. Rasner, a RB/LB, doesn't have the breakaway speed of most of the state's greats, but he certainly knows how to run and reads his blockers very well. He's good for a broken tackle on almost every touch, and looks to be a great option for a team that's looking for someone to move the chains.
Carson Meger QB, PlanoSurprise! Plano? Haven't we heard enough about them already? Maybe from WR Kris Lott and ATH Rex Burkhead you have, but not from Wildcat QB Carson Meger, who broke almost all the school's passing records in 2007 and took his team to the semifinals (where he lost to eventual state champ Euless Trinity in 2OT.) I'll admit that I actually enjoyed Meger's tape -- I didn't attempt to discect it or try to break down all his fundamentals or anything. I just enjoyed it. He was fun to watch, and while the interceptions he throws (not on the tape, but I know they exist) are a bit frusturating, he does have a strong arm and is elusive in the open field. He had a great team around him last season -- and he'll have another good one in 2008 -- but it'll be interesting to see how he matures over the offseason and how he develops throughout his senior season.
Jay Catlin RB/QB, Denton RyanSurprise! Catlin's another guy who wasn't on our radar at all, and let this be a lesson to ye' coaches -- the more tapes you send, the more exposure your kids get! His tape wasn't very long, and his 2007 stats aren't overwhelmingly impressive (139-909, 7 TDs rushing), but he's got the raw open-field ability and running determination to hold your attention, and if he can pick up the 125 carries or so that went to the team's next three leading rushers, he could be on the DI bubble a year from now.
For example, I know that I'd be hesistant as either a coach, caretaker or friend to send anybody off to play under UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel after his suspicous tenure at Washington several years ago. He claims he's turned a new leaf and has learned from some of the mistakes he made with the Huskies, but when you read reports (well-written reports, I might add) like this, this and this, I'd say those aren't accidents - that's a leadership style, and from my vantage point, it's not a good one. Granted, most of those transgressions took place almost seven years ago, and I'm hardly the arbiter needed to judge the validity of Neuheisel's new-found morality. But his past certainly illustrates the point in question -- how much emphasis do we -- or should we -- put on a coach's reputation?
I'll be the first to admit that I've never been on the recieving end of a coach's recruiting pitch. I never will be. I can build myself a mental picture based on descriptions from coaches and players involved in the proccess, but I will never sit in either of their sets of shoes. I'm sure the pressure -- for both parties -- is enormous. For the player, it must be like a sales call that you can't say "Sorry, wrong number" in the middle of. For the coach, well ... it could be your job on the line. As a player, can you ask tough questions that could result in you losing an offer? If you were a UCLA recruit, could you build up the nerve to ask: "Coach, explain to me everything behind Jeremy Stevens' rape case at Washington and how you'll prevent things like this from happening again"? Then, as a coach, can you answer that question honestly if you know it could lose you a 5-star athlete?
That's the most distressing part about this problem -- whether or not a shady coach has changed his ways, he will always say he has. If I'm a coach with a less than sterling past, and I've suddenly decided to crack down on my athletes to keep them out of trouble, I will make a point of saying so at my press conferences. Then again, if I continue to allow my players to do whatever they want without fear of consequence, the last thing I would do is admit it. Does this mean all coaches are malicious? Of course not -- I've known good ones and bad ones, as have most people in this line of work. In all fairness, most of them are good guys with good intentions who want nothing more than to help their kids grow and mature and, hopefully, win some ball games along the way. What this does mean is that some coaches are bad, and its up to both kids and their supporters to find out which ones they are.
It appears then that the burden of fact-finding is more on the kids than the coaches, a truth that flies in the very face of the 40-times and bench presses that have so strongly typified the recruiting proccess over the past 20 years or so. No coach should ever outwork his targeted individual -- for every tape a coach pops in, for every workout he observes, so should the athlete be ever more firm in his questioning.
Instead of asking, "How much will I throw the ball?" or "How soon will I start?", we should be asking "How will I mature as a growing youth under your supervision?" or "How prepared will I be for the real world when I graduate from your program?" Instead of worrying what our kids can do for them, we should be more concerned with what they can do for our kids.
Isn't that the point?
North Shore has challengers: Galena Park North Shore has truly found the recipe to success, something to the tune of 70 straight regular season victories - 70! That's an incredible number, and while it's just a Gambler's Fallacy to assume the longer it gets the more likely it is to fall, this season will be a stiff test for the Mustangs, who will have to beat new riavls Port Arthur Memorial, Beaumont West Brook and Baytown Lee just to win a district title -- much less keep the streak alive.
Copperas Cove moves up: The Cove, fresh off its second consecutive state title game loss down in 4A, has moved back up to 5A - except without its best two players. Cove was a successful team in the state's highest class two years ago, but moving back up to that level without the services of QB Robert Griffin (Baylor), RB Troy Vital (Idaho) and DT Steven Welch (undecided) sounds like a stomach ache. However, the Bulldawgs ARE up in 12-5A, a district that now lacks a dominant power -- we'll see how that goes.
Sorry, Tyrik: Sulphur Springs was probably feeling pretty good about itself heading into this morning - the Wildcats posted a great 2007, were returning senior-to-be QB Tyrik Rollison and looked like a team that could make a deep playoff run ... only to have 5A castoff Longview dropped not only into its class, not only into its region, but into its very district (13-4A). Ouch. Actually, upon further review, 13 is a pretty good little district ... taking four playoff teams out of that group is going to be fuuunnnnnnnn.
The district of lost superstars: 23-4A would have been far more interesting LAST year instead of this one: instead of a Jacquizz Rodgers (4A DI champions Lamar Consolidated) vs. Andrew Luck (5A drop-down Stratford) matchup, we're going to see two teams that have a long way to go to emulate their 2007 success. Speaking of teams from the district formerly known as 24-4A, realignment was VERY tough on Katy Seven Lakes, which only has one win in its first two years of existence yet is now moving up to 5A to play in the same district as USA Today's national No. 1 team - Katy.
Broken up rivalry: It's a shame that not only are China Spring and Waco La Vega no longer district mates, but that they're not even in the same region anymore. Those two had a GREAT playoff game last year, and I was hoping that kind of thing could be the start of a new rivalry in 3A. Instead, the two probably won't see each other until a state semifinal game. Bummer. Speaking of semifinals, at least two teams that went through their respective regions in 2007, Aledo (now in 6-4A) and Converse Judson (now in 27-5A), have great chances to be back at that level in the upcoming season with their realignment draws.
I'm not even sure Vince Lombardi would recognize today's game of football if he saw it. Man, can't you imagine his stare from underneath the brim of his gray hat, those sharp eyes critically scanning the 5-wide and spread sets that every team utilizes these days? Somehow the light crust of snow on his broad jacket, the winter sun gleaming off of his glasses and the cloud of cigar smoke doesn't lend itself to the run'and' shoot. Lord, the man would have an absolute conniption fit.
It was a different game back then, of course. The football of today is predicated on speed, agility, strategy, misdirection and distraction; sometimes it almost feels like we took all the iron out of the skillet and left ourselves little more than a flashy utensil. You can have your spread offense - I'll take a Liberty Hill game plan any day of the week: line 'em up and hit 'em. Then, if they move, hit 'em again. Nothing smells better than the proverbial cloud of dust after a 3-yard run. It's football.
But it's funny how the game evolves, isn't it? Do you remember back when Mouse Davis was singing his swan song in the NFL all those years ago? Crooning about how an offense that adapts on a second-by-second basis could change football? We all laughed ... silly Mouse. Football is a big man sport; anything that relied on delicate game planning would shatter like china in a hurricane. You can play that sort of ballerina pigskin if you want, but we're gonna' leave it right here on the ground and keep on running it into your gut.
Well, now times have changed. Texas Tech and head coach Mike Leach, one of the country's biggest supporters and practitioners of the spread offense (which is different from the run'and'shoot, but we'll talk about that another time) will be ranked in the Top 15 at the start of next season. June Jones, a Mouse protege, was the summer's second hottest coaching commodity. Who was first? Rich Rodriguez, who invented a new spread style that turned West Virginia into a national title contender. Don't even get me started on high school these days.
But I'm keeping the faith. Football (and life in general, for that matter) runs in cycles. In the next ten years, defenses will have adapted to the spread, and this high flying decade we're in will become a memory. Teams lining up with 5 wide receivers will be as much an anachronism as the 40's Bears would be in the modern NFL. I think power football will make a comeback (fullbacks, rejoice!) Then again, maybe we'll see something completely new; had you asked Lombardi to predict the ways in which football would evolve over the years, I don't think this is the mural he would've painted for us (but he WOULD have put his cigar out on your arm. Just because.) Back then, something like the run'and'shoot would've been unusual to the point of absurdity. But then again, Leach is getting 6 inches closer every year to having a lineman for each wide receiver on the field! Or imagine how weird football would be if someone developed an offensive system devoted entirely to the "swinging gate" play?
Here's the deal: someone, somewhere, is sitting in a dark basement, crouched over a poorly lit desk covered with crumpled papers and coffee stains, slowly putting together the pieces of football's future. That's as far as my foresight reaches - I can't tell you what it's going to look like or how long it will take to see it. But it's coming. Sure as a sunrise, it'll be at your doorstep before you know it.
Will you answer that doorbell? Personally, I'll look through the peephole and ask if it’s the Wing T.
There's not a lot of ways to make a Monday worse than it inherently is, but the Cowboys certainly gave us one, didn't they?
At the sake of sounding melodramatic, isn't it tough to just wrap your mind around what happened yesterday? The fog of dissapointment hanging over the Metroplex is as palpable as a punch in the face. You walk outside and you can just feel it settling into your skin like a damp blanket. Blech.
If a Monday wasn't bad enough already.
I'm not a big finger pointer ... not really my style. And you won't hear anything here about Wade Phillips' job or Jessica Simpson's influence. This is football, not General Hospital. But there are a couple of obvious issues that we can look at.
- The offensive line: What had looked like a varsity squad for most of the season abruptly switched in its jerseys for JV ones as the Cowboys headed into the fourth quarter. We all knew that DE's Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora were going to be tough to stop, yet Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo had actually held their own through the majority of the game. But in the final 15 minutes, Strahan and Umenyiora were unstoppable, and both were in on the plays in the backfield that kept hampering Dallas' desperation drive; Adams even got beat inside - the biggest no-no in football! - by Umenyiora in the fourth. The Cowboys had done some great work running the ball in the first half - and Marion Barber was just sensational - but couldn't seem to get a ball-carrier past the front four after halftime. When the run game isn't working, you usually look at the O-line. Yesterday was one of those days.
- The play-calling: Was anybody else just dying for a screen pass yesterday? Maybe it was just me, but as the fourth quarter kept ticking away, I found myself wondering how many more plays it would take for Garrett to take advantage of the Giants' aggresive front seven. Romo dropped back almost 40 times yesterday, and you could practically see the excitement on Strahan's and Pierce's faces everytime. New York's defense was pretty disciplined (except for the late penalties) Sunday, but the overpursuit in crunchtime could've been exploited. Then again, I'm not a writer, not a playcaller. And there's a reason for that.
- Patrick Crayton: He had the dropsies, plain and simple. Happens. Unfortunate, but it happens. He woke up this morning and was still alive, and so were all of us, so let's not make a pariah out of him.
- The Patriots: Just because.
- All of us: For believing it all. For getting caught up in the hype. For fueling the viscous cycle of Mexico, Wade, and TO. For writing off Eli Manning as a playoff failure. For teasing Strahan about that gap in his teeth (and you know you did it, too!) For expecting Romo to be able to carry this team at such a young age in such a pressure scenario. For already grumbling about a new coach. For all of that.
Here's to next year.
First it was Jamaal Charles. The junior Longhorn running back had just wrapped up an electrifying season at UT and seemed ready for a breakout - dare we say Hesiman? - senior year. Then, just like he did so many times during the '07 campaign, Charles stunned the burnt orange fan base with time running out.
At the end of the season, Charles took off for the NFL Draft.
Then two other prime-time collegiate athletes in the Lone Star State took off as well in TEs Jermichael Finely (UT) and Martellus Bennett (A&M). Three of the best players in Texas, gone, and two programs left scratching their heads. Where these schools go from here is another story for another time - today we're just going to look at these three guys and how they should fare in the NFL.
Jermichael Finley 6-5, 240 (Diboll, TX)45-575 yards receiving, 2 TDsFinley is the prototype athlete for the modern NFL tight end. Big, fast and sure-handed, the would-be junior could make an immediate impact for a team searching for a pass-catching tight end - the Seattle Seahawks could be a possible destination at the end of the first round. Finley is pretty similar to San Diego Chargers TE Antonio Gates - Gates is an inch shorter but 20 pounds heavier (something Finley can fix with an extra set of bench reps and some red meat), and, like Jermichael, excelled as a basketball player. The Diboll native isn't quite as fast or athletic as, say, current 49er and ex-Maryland TE Vernon Davis, but he definately has a home somewhere in the NFL if he's willing to work on his blocking a little bit.
Martellus Bennett 6-7, 255 (Alief, TX)49-587 yards receiving, 4 TDsSome media outlets put Finley and Bennett into the same genre of tight end, but I don't. Bennett is bigger by several inches, and while he is also an accomplished receiver, he's a more comparable to current Jacksonville Jaguar and ex-UCLA TE Marcedes Lewis or current Arizona Cardinal and ex-Georgia TE Leonard Pope. Both are tall and dangerous red-zone threats, but neither the Cardinals nor the Jaguars have really figured out to properly utilize that style of player. Martellus, however, is faster than both of those guys and really could be a tantalizing talent for a team that's looking for a feature tight end instead of a complimentary one. Wherever Jermichael Finley goes, expect Bennett to go a few spots prior - there's a pretty good chance he'll be the first TE taken in the draft. I see the Eagles or Buccaneers as pretty solid options (sorry, Cowboys fans!)
Jamaal Charles 6-1, 205 (Port Arthur, TX)258-1,619 yards rushing, 18 TDsThis just goes to show you how weird the world of football can be at times: Charles probably had the best year of these three guys, yet is projected to be drafted the lowest. I don't think Charles would get drafted sooner than the bottom of the second round, and faces a real possiblity of slipping into the middle ones. I know he was told he'd be higher, but I don't trust those predictions much - they told Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn much the same, and they ended up looking a little silly in the green room. Charles could be a pretty good situational back for a bunch of teams, and his speed could be a great match for teams that rely on quickness on offense. Don't write off Charles too quickly - if the Steelers' Willie Parker can find a home on the most well-known power game in the league, Charles could go anywhere. Why not the Falcons near the beginning of round three?
I'm having a really hard time understanding all this "woe-is-me" talk from Cowboys fans. Seriously - look at some of the ledes from news outlets around the area:
"I am not suggesting the Cowboys should lose their first playoff game, a defeat that would preserve Wade Phillips' failed history as a head coach in the postseason." (Doesn't merely bringing it up suggest it?)
"Wade Phillips, head coach on a hot seat, is currently dealing with his first crisis of the NFL season, making it rather remarkable it took this long, rather disturbing it's happening now, and rather fortunate he's got nothing going on, football-wise, this weekend." (13-3 and the coach is on the hot seat?)
Wow. I'm not sure what's more startling - the fact that so much public opinion surrounding the Cowboys (the NFC's top seed!) is profoundly negative or the fact that I seem to be the only one who's not having a panic attack. Yes, the Cowboys lost the season finale against Washington and didn't look good at all. But ... so what?
The game didn't matter, and every person in that locker room knew it. It's too easy to get hurt playing in the NFL as is, much alone in an inconsequential matchup like Sunday's. Dallas has lost twice more this season, once to the undefeated (and maybe best-ever) Patriots and once to the Eagles, a team that always has a great defensive scheme and never quits bringing pressure. That's not an easy out. Three losses is never something to sweat over, but these three losses are hardly what I would call shameful.
And what does "Playoff Momentum" mean? Look at it this way - out of the 12 teams that made the playoffs this season, seven of them lost last Sunday. At the very worst, Dallas fans, you're in good company. And out of the five remaining teams that didn't lose, one didn't lose all season (NE again), two HAD to win to get in (Titans and Redskins) and one lost the week before (Green Bay). Heck, even last year's Super Bowl champs (Indy) lost three of its last five regular season games. Again, not generating much panic for me.
I look at the Cowboys and I see a complete team. Tony Romo is A Stud, Terrell Owens is A Stud, and Jason Witten might be the best TE in the league. The offensive line is fantastic (as long as Flozell isn't jumping the gun every two snaps), and the running backs are pretty good (a quick note: Dallas may hate Juilus Jones, but there's a bunch of NFL teams that would pick him up in a heartbeat).
The Cowboys are blessed on defense - DeMarcus Ware is one of the best hybrid linebackers in the game and Canty and Spears aren't too shabby themselves. When healthy, Newman is a shut-down corner and Anthony Henry is a pretty solid option at the other CB. Safeties ... well, maybe that one's a lost cause. I can't help you there.
I'm not a Cowboys fan - I truly don't care whether they win or lose. I am, however, an objective observer, and where most seem to see the negatives, I'm definitely seeing this glass as half full.
We've been working on some stuff for our upcoming winter magazine - that's right, there's one coming out pretty soon! - and I've been badgered by an issue in my writings that I'm looking for feedback on. I'll toss the question out, offer a little context, and I'd love to hear back from you ... I'll try and post as much as I can of your responses.
What exactly is an MVP?
It sounds so simple, doesn't it? It's one of those questions we immediately dismiss as common knowledge material until we are unexpectedly confronted with defining it. There's a ton of different answers here - and there's no right or wrong - and countless situations to back up whichever stance you take.
For example (and these numbers are purely hypothetical), let's say you have a kid that's rushed for 2,000 yards, 30 TDs and has carried the ball 300 times - obviously great numbers. Let's say you have another kid that's rushed for 1,200 yards, 14 TDs and has carried the ball 200 times. Good stuff, but not even in the same ball park as the other guy. Alright, let's say Kid A (the stat-sheet stuffer) busts out in the first round of the playoffs and Kid B takes him team to the finals. Who was the MVP here?
Kid A was clearly the better player ... his numbers alone prove that. But it's arguable that Kid B was vastly more valuable; after all, his squad went to a state final. And that's assuming all MVP's are easily quantifiable - I'm sure you'll find plenty of teams in this state that would give their MVP to offensive lineman.
I hear quite a bit that the MVP is always the best player on the best team, a stance I disagree with strongly. You can be the star player on the top team and still be an MVP, but that doesn't mean you always are. They're not mutually inclusive. My own mother referenced the great Earl Campbell just yesterday, saying that just because he wasn't winning championships doesn't mean he wasn't the best player in the league. I agree.
I don't think there's going to be a cheap-and-easy fix for this problem, and I bet that MVP-naming will always be a subjective and controversial call. That's fine ... it's a part of the job. But still, I'd like to hear your thoughts (examples are always welcome). Check in soon for what your peers are thinking and saying!
It's been a day or two since my last post, yes, but we've been pretty busy around here gearing up for the fourth round of the playoffs this weekend, which looks to be just fantastic. Every class is loaded with great matchups, which you can check out in greater depth on the main page.
Just wanted to let all DCTF readers know that the staff will be blogging from five different games this weekend - Adam Hochfelder will be out at tomorrow's Abilene vs. Lewisville Hebron game (1:00 @ Texas Stadium), and I'll be working a quadruple-header at the Alamodome, starting with tonight's Lake Travis vs. Beeville Jones matchup.
Keep checking in during the games for score updates, and inbetween matchups I'll try and pump out a halfway-decent game story for a full recap. Should be some good stuff. Before we jump into a hectic weekend, here's what I'm looking for out of the four games I'll be at. These aren't as much predictions (again, check the main page) as they are general thoughts and observations.
Friday, 7:30 pm4A-Div. II, Region IV Finals: Lake Travis (12-1) vs. Beeville Jones (11-2)
- I've already talked a little bit about LT QB Garrett Gilbert, so I won't carry on too much, but this kid is really good. He throws accurately from the pocket and on the run, he knows when to give up and throw the ball away and he can get away from the rush with his speed. He's got good size (6-4), so he can see over the top of his linemen and find the throwing lanes. A good bet for game MVP.
- Let's not forget about Jones' QB, Eric Soza - Gilbert is going to get a lot of the attention coming into tonight, but Soza has started since he was a freshman, threw for 20 TDs and almost 2,000 yards as a sophomore and has now taken his team to a regional final. Clearly he's doing something right. I love the way the Trojans controlled the ball last week against Cibolo Steele, and it's going to be really interesting to see who is able to dictate the flow of this football game.
Saturday, 12:00 pm5A-Div. II, Region IV Finals: Madison (12-1) vs. Smithson Valley (12-1)
- It's a shame that we have this matchup without two of the top players on the squads: Madison's Devin Thomas and Valley's Alex Rios. Both these teams have got plenty of talent behind those guys, but still, you never like to see a postseason matchup where neither team is full strength.
- I've said it in some of my other posts, but I still can't get enough of district matchups in the playoffs. They just feel different. It's like chocolate and vanilla ica cream ... yes vanilla is still ice cream and it is undeniably tasty, but chocolate is in a stratosphere all it's own. Valley's loss to Madison earlier this year was tough, and if Madison's defensive unit can match that level again, it's going to be rough going once again.
- Love the numbers for Valley QB David Pawelek. DCTF editor Jake Shaw noted it in his predictions, but a 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception is fantastic: I'm far more impressed by that number than any yardage total. If Pawelek keeps staying away from turnovers, this could be a big day for Smithson Valley.
Saturday, 4:00 pm5A-Div. I, Region IV Finals: Converse Judson (9-4) vs. San Antonio Reagan (11-2)
- I can't help but wonder what Reagan's win over Judson earlier this season does to the Rockets' psyche. Converse was up by 10 at the break and the game got away from them (36-22), but that was a month ago and the Rockets have now won three straight playoff games. Still, does that creep into your head? How many times have we seen the, "Oh no, here we go again" factor if a team looking for revenge loses momentum? I'm not saying that's the case - it depends on the kind of players you have - but it's definately something to look for.
- Reagan RB Marcus Wright is really something else, isn't he? After rushing for over 2,500 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2006, he has returned in full form this year ... and is knocking on the door of the city's rushing record. There's been some pretty good ball players in San Antonio's history, so that's not just some ho-hum achievement.
Saturday, 8:00 pm3A-Div. I, State Semifinals: Liberty Hill (12-0) vs. Pleasanton (11-2)
- Keep your eyes peeled for LH back Dustin Gonzales, who was The Man last week against Navasota (351 yards, 5 TDs) ... while he was sick with the flu. Give me a break. The Liberty Hill ground game has been nothing short of marvelous all season long, but the defense has been playing some serious football, and the Panthers have allowed only 14 points in each of their three playoff games. Good stuff.
- Pleasanton's OT win over Gonzales last week might be more important than you think - sometimes when a team cruises for three games (Liberty Hill), they can lose focus a litte bit. I promise you Pleasanton's nailbiter last week has had this team wired all week long. Win or lose, this team is going to be ready.
It's only been like 30 minutes, but I'm back for more blogging because something was just brought to my attention. How about a little love for both Houston St. Pius x and Halletsville Sacred Heart?
You're doing a little mental searching, I bet.
Let me help you out. Pius and Sacred, both private schools, just won their respective state championships on Saturday, the Panthers taking the TAPPS 11-Man D-I title and the Indians bringing home the D-IV hardware. Here's a quick recap:
Houston St. Pius X 38, Fort Worth Nolan 14
- The game: As was par for the course in the playoffs, the defense was sharp - Nolan's 14 was the most by any of Pius' playoff opponents. The best word for the offense? Consistent. After an opening round 24, the Panthers posted 38 points in their final two games. That's how a defending state champion gets it done.
- The Man: Landon Johnson. The senior was absolutely ridiculous in his final game at Pius, chalking up four touchdowns, one on a 94-yard kick return and the other three through the air. Johnson, a transfer student, was named the game's MVP, but let's not forget his quarterback, Billy Noonan - he threw for over 200 yards and four scores.
- Stat to remember: Pius' back to back titles are the program's first in over 20 years.
Halletsville Sacred Heart 39, Fort Worth Calvary 8
- The game: Don't take Sacred's 8-point defensive effort lightly - the Indians ate up Calvary on that side of the ball, holding it to 200 offensive yards less than its average. Sacred's players came out of the gates like someone was chasing them, scoring 14 points in the first three minutes and securing an insurmountable 21-0 halftime lead.
- The Man: QB Marshall Sevcik. Sevcik was preeeetttyyy much everywhere, throwing for two touchdowns and almost 100 yards, rushing for 50 and a score and returning a pick for another. Talk about a performance. RB Clayton Mikes should also get some votes for MVP - he rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns and also caught one of those Sevcik scoring passes.
- Stat to remember: This championship is the school's 11th title and the first since 2002.
About a year and a half ago, I was just a gangly, awkward intern here at DCTF, trying to get as much done as I could without, ya' know, messing everything up. I copyedited, published, stapled and neatly folded everything in sight, never knowing what would turn out to be the critical skill that would catapult me into the hallowed halls of Sports Illustrated lore.
Fast forward to the present, where I am now a gangly, awkward employee here at DCTF, trying to get as much done as I can without, ya' know, messing everything up. But if there's one thing I remember from my intern days, it's that I was lucky enough to pick up a story assignment on Lamar Consolidated's Rodgers brothers, RB Jacquizz and now Oregon State Beaver James.
I sat on speaker phone as the two boys and coach Lydell Wilson passed around credit until I was fit to go mad, then marveled at how the pair guided their squad all the way to the state semifinals (which Lamar just reached again). Can we stop and just look at these two for a second? James is already playing in the Pac-10, and scored the winning touchdown in last week's game - as a freshman - in double overtime. Jacquizz is still ho-humming around at Lamar, racking up yards and touchdowns like they're going out of style.
I mean, are we really serious here?
I know we live in the TTE (trash-Talking Era), where it's impossible to even think about respecting an opponent, but this week, regardless of what happens in all of the playoff games, take a quick second to reflect on how lucky we were to get to see these two play - you never know how long it'll be before we see something like it again.
Here's my story from Cisco and Gunter's third-round playoff matchup out in Birdville:
What a difference an inch can make.
That's all it took to keep Gunter out of the endzone when the Tigers were seemingly about to make an improbable comeback, rallying from a 15-0 deficit to tie their third-round matchup vs. Cisco in the fourth quarter. Gunter, down 21-14 in the final frame, were in the midst of a terrific 98 yard drive and threatening on the Cisco goalline when the Loboes held on first down ... and second down ... and then forced a fumble that may have ultimately sealed the game.
Gunter quarterback Jared Watson turned to toss to RB Daniel Castorena, but the ball got loose somewhere in the exchange, and Cisco recovered on its own 3-yard line.
"Turnovers are always the key point of any game," Gunter coach Jake Fieszel said. "Unfortunately we had one at an inopportune time."
But even then, Gunter had a few more chances.
Following the fumble, Gunter forced a Cisco three-and-out and the Tigers took over from the Lobo 46 with just over six minutes left. Three plays into the potential game-tying drive, Gunter turned it over again, this time a deflected interception to DB Jory Hernandez - if Watson's pass had been an inch further in front of the receiver, it would have been a catch and not a tip-turned-interception. It was Watson's second interception of the day and the Tigers' fifth turnover of the game.
But even then, Gunter still had one more shot.
The Tigers managed to get the ball back at their own 7-yard line with 1:52 on the clock and one timeout left. The offense responded quickly, driving the ball all the way to the Cisco 48 before that nagging inch struck again - this time Watson's pass was overthrown by about that much, and DB Cory Pippen snatched the ball out of Gunter TE Nick Rogers' hands for the game sealing interception.
Despite Gunter's numerous chances in the second half, Cisco coach Brent West said the goal line fumble was the big play.
"We tell our defense to find a way to give us a chance," West said. "(The fumble) really broke their backs."
As strange as it sounds, it looked like Gunter was never going to have a chance early on. Cisco opened the scoring at the start of the second quarter off of a little play action pass to RB Robert Medina (16-67; 2-25-1), who shuffled in from 14 yards out. The PAT was a fake, and Cisco converted for two and an 8-0 lead.
Gunter didn't respond well, fumbling on its next possession and giving the ball right back to Cisco. The Loboes drove to the Gunter 26, then called a timeout, setting up one of the best plays of the game, a sweep-style flea flicker that QB Josh Bridges coverted into a 26-yard scoring strike to a wide open Kody Ingram.
"When we see any sort of goal line (defense) or man-to-man (coverage)," West said, "we felt like that play could have a lot of success against them."
With the score now 15-0, Gunter needed a big play and got one from KR Jake Arrington, who took the resulting kickoff 86 yards for the touchdown. Cisco got the ball back with 2:50 left, and after a 75-yard drive, Bridges scored from the 1-yard line with only two seconds left on the clock to give Cisco the 21-7 halftime lead.
The second half was a totally different affair, and it was almost as if the two teams switched jerseys at the break. Gunter completely dominated the ball offensively, and took the opening possession 59 yards in just over five minutes to bring the score to 21-14. Tigers RB Daniel Castorena pushed it in from 7 yards out for the score, adding a TD to his already impressive day's work (29-152).
But that's when the trouble started, as Gunter's defense forced a three-and-out only to see Cisco down the resulting punt on the 1-yard line. Gunter's offense, which had looked so bad in the first half, stepped up to the challenge and started that fateful 98-yard drive.
Too bad it ended up one inch short.
There's a debate raging around me.
A ferocious one, in fact. Opinions are whirling around my office like leaves in a hurricane, so I'll offer my two cents here instead of out there ... I feel a bit safer right now behind the keyboard than the double-barreled shotgun of beliefs outside my door.
It's tough to point the finger at the crux of the argument. On the surface, it looks like it's about TCU's possible matchup against Houston in the Texas Bowl, about a lack of excitement in regards to TCU having a C-USA opponent (talk about forgetting your roots, eh?) in a bowl game. I guess that's understandable. Everyone wants to play a power conference team in the postseason. It's a good measuring stick.
I think, however, that the real issue here is fanhood. No one gets mad over bowl game matchups, but people get real riled up over devotion. It's not as much about who you play, I suppose, as much as it is that you go out and show your support. Fanhood isn't easy in the long run. It can be easy for a season, or a two-year stretch, or in the case of teams like USC, Florida or the like, as much as a decade.
But supporting your team in those stretches really doesn't mean much, does it? That's easy. It's simple to wear the foam finger and paint your chest when you're romping teams by 40. It's a totally different matter when you're getting romped by 40. The general populace views a dude wearing a Cowboys jersey at the opera substantially different than if it were a Texans jersey.
Here's the point: it doesn't matter who you play, or when or where you play them. It doesn't matter if you went 10-1 or 1-10 this season, and it doesn't matter if your opponent has the best offense in the league or the worst in history. It's your team. Your team.
Go act like it.
Coaching college football in the state of Texas is about as secure a career as shark wrestling. We’re one week – one week! – into the 2007 postseason, and it looks like five out of the state’s 10 FBS football programs will be changing head coaches, and out of the five that (we think) won’t be, two of them just finished up their first year under new leadership.
Shall we recap?
It certainly didn’t take A&M coach Dennis Franchione a week to take his leave from the Aggies – I didn’t time it, but it may not have taken 20 minutes after the final whistle blew on his season ending victory over Texas for him to log off. He even had consecutive wins over those darn Longhorns …
… who are coached by Mack Brown. Mack has been successfully patrolling the sidelines of DKR since 1998. He looks pretty secure after the 2006 Rose Bowl, I agree, but with the way the state’s coaching lineup has become a firing squad, how many lost years like 2007 does it take for Mack to become …
… Phil Bennett (SMU) or Guy Morriss (BU)? Both were hired within the last six years, both helped build their programs, and both caught the axe anyways. In just 2006, Bennett led the Mustangs to six wins last year (the most in a decade), and Morriss gave the Bears three wins in the ultra-competitive Big 12. Instead, maybe both should’ve gone to …
…TCU, where coach Gary Patterson is once again reading the morning headlines with piqued interest. He’s given the Frogs four 10-win seasons in seven years, a feat worthy of power conference interest. Last year his name was linked via rumor to Miami. Might he leave this year to the swan song of a team like …
… Washington State? Nope, wait, that’s UTEP’s Mike Price, who just today was put squarely in the limelight with the El Paso Times’ column on his odds at moving onto the now coach-less Washington State Cougars. A good fit? You never know. If he does leave, maybe he’ll look for an in-state gig like …
… Houston’s Art Briles. Talk about quick. Briles got the OK from UH to interview for the Baylor job, and less than 24 hours later media outlets were talking about a 10-year deal being in place. Regardless of that situation, Briles is taking the Cougars to their third straight bowl, which is more than we can say for …
… Rice’s David Bailiff and UNT’s Todd Dodge, both of whom couldn’t earn a bowl game berth in their first years. Neither were walking into easy situations, granted, but I’d bet Rice (3-9) and UNT (currently 2-9) were hoping for a little more. Let’s hope they get more leniency than Tyrone Willingham. That leaves us with …
…Texas Tech’s Mike Leach. Seems pretty settled. But then again, it’s Leach, and you never know when he just might … pass.
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