OU_Sooners75
4/4/2011, 05:59 PM
Stating something we already knew!
AUSTIN — As part of an effort to draw families to its spring football festivities, Texas promised a screening of "Toy Story 3" on the giant scoreboard at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Sunday. But following an orange-white scrimmage in which old, familiar plots developed for a team that went 5-7 last year, fewer than 50 fans stayed for the duration of the movie.
Despite Mack Brown's best intentions, it seems fantasies about inanimate objects suddenly coming to life remain as hard of a sell at UT as ever.
The optimistic viewpoint of Sunday's scrimmage — played in front of an announced crowd of 45,000 in which at least a third of those people apparently will be later digitally added by Pixar — was that the Longhorns have some excellent walk-ons and backups to rely upon. The more realistic outlook was that UT is not yet close to ridding itself of the issues that plagued the team last fall.
With coordinators on both sides of the ball using identical "work in progress" explanations and head coach Mack Brown's most emphatic statement coming when he gushed about how "it's great to be undefeated," no one was ready to declare the Longhorns' program saved.
"There's still a lot of things we can work on," offensive co-coordinator Bryan Harsin said.
And among those things is still the task of finding a quarterback. UT staffers continue to say the competition for the starter's job is wide open between junior Garrett Gilbert, sophomore Case McCoy, redshirt freshman Connor Wood and freshman David Ash. But the only passer who impressed at all on Sunday was McCoy, the younger brother of former UT standout Colt McCoy.
Playing on a unit comprised of backups and walk-ons, Case McCoy led a 40-yard touchdown drive against UT's defensive starters and finished the day 9 of 11 for 124 yards.
"He showed a lot of mental toughness," safety Blake Gideon said of McCoy. None of the quarterbacks were allowed to talk to the media.
Neither of McCoy's two longest completions — an underthrown 24-yard lob on which receiver Darius White made a great leaping catch and a 30-yard seam route in which no defender was within shouting distance of receiver Mike Davis — were things of beauty. But at least McCoy made the plays, which is more than his competition could say about themselves for the most part.
Gilbert, a junior who struggled mightily while throwing 17 interceptions and just 10 touchdowns in his first season as a starter, clearly was placed in a situation Sunday in which the coaches wanted to see him succeed. All of his first-half possessions came with the first-string offense against the defensive backups, and his plays came with the wind at his back.
Even given all of those advantages, his results were poor. His 8-for-15, 76-yard day included an ugly interception in which he threw into double coverage and still missed his receiver by 5 yards, and he failed to get his team into the end zone on two other trips inside the 30-yard line.
Ash and Wood played primarily with backups and didn't have much of a chance to impress. But Brown insisted all four are still in the running for a job that might not be claimed until late August.
"We're not going to walk out of here tomorrow morning and say, 'This guy is going to be the starting quarterback,'" Brown said. "You think we are. We're not. Because we really don't think anybody is ready to take over at this point."
Mixed bag for defense: Despite some strong performances from converted tackle Alex Okafor (a new starter at defensive end), and youngsters Reggie Wilson (at end), Demarco Cobbs (at linebacker) and Quandre Diggs (at cornerback), defensive coordinator Manny Diaz admitted he didn't like a lot of what he saw from his unit.
"We're a defense that has to do everything right to be successful," Diaz said. "We still have very little margin for error. ... If we come back in August at this same level, we're in trouble."
No depth chart yet: Although Brown said the team won't have official starters at any position until August at the earliest, it was obvious some players have the edge in making first string.
Among the more intriguing players getting first-team looks: redshirt freshman wide receiver John Harris (who started alongside Davis), sophomore defensive tackle Ashton Dorsey, and sophomore cornerbacks Adrian Phillips and Carrington Byndom.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/longhorns/article/Longhorns-unimpressive-in-spring-game-1320924.php
AUSTIN — As part of an effort to draw families to its spring football festivities, Texas promised a screening of "Toy Story 3" on the giant scoreboard at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Sunday. But following an orange-white scrimmage in which old, familiar plots developed for a team that went 5-7 last year, fewer than 50 fans stayed for the duration of the movie.
Despite Mack Brown's best intentions, it seems fantasies about inanimate objects suddenly coming to life remain as hard of a sell at UT as ever.
The optimistic viewpoint of Sunday's scrimmage — played in front of an announced crowd of 45,000 in which at least a third of those people apparently will be later digitally added by Pixar — was that the Longhorns have some excellent walk-ons and backups to rely upon. The more realistic outlook was that UT is not yet close to ridding itself of the issues that plagued the team last fall.
With coordinators on both sides of the ball using identical "work in progress" explanations and head coach Mack Brown's most emphatic statement coming when he gushed about how "it's great to be undefeated," no one was ready to declare the Longhorns' program saved.
"There's still a lot of things we can work on," offensive co-coordinator Bryan Harsin said.
And among those things is still the task of finding a quarterback. UT staffers continue to say the competition for the starter's job is wide open between junior Garrett Gilbert, sophomore Case McCoy, redshirt freshman Connor Wood and freshman David Ash. But the only passer who impressed at all on Sunday was McCoy, the younger brother of former UT standout Colt McCoy.
Playing on a unit comprised of backups and walk-ons, Case McCoy led a 40-yard touchdown drive against UT's defensive starters and finished the day 9 of 11 for 124 yards.
"He showed a lot of mental toughness," safety Blake Gideon said of McCoy. None of the quarterbacks were allowed to talk to the media.
Neither of McCoy's two longest completions — an underthrown 24-yard lob on which receiver Darius White made a great leaping catch and a 30-yard seam route in which no defender was within shouting distance of receiver Mike Davis — were things of beauty. But at least McCoy made the plays, which is more than his competition could say about themselves for the most part.
Gilbert, a junior who struggled mightily while throwing 17 interceptions and just 10 touchdowns in his first season as a starter, clearly was placed in a situation Sunday in which the coaches wanted to see him succeed. All of his first-half possessions came with the first-string offense against the defensive backups, and his plays came with the wind at his back.
Even given all of those advantages, his results were poor. His 8-for-15, 76-yard day included an ugly interception in which he threw into double coverage and still missed his receiver by 5 yards, and he failed to get his team into the end zone on two other trips inside the 30-yard line.
Ash and Wood played primarily with backups and didn't have much of a chance to impress. But Brown insisted all four are still in the running for a job that might not be claimed until late August.
"We're not going to walk out of here tomorrow morning and say, 'This guy is going to be the starting quarterback,'" Brown said. "You think we are. We're not. Because we really don't think anybody is ready to take over at this point."
Mixed bag for defense: Despite some strong performances from converted tackle Alex Okafor (a new starter at defensive end), and youngsters Reggie Wilson (at end), Demarco Cobbs (at linebacker) and Quandre Diggs (at cornerback), defensive coordinator Manny Diaz admitted he didn't like a lot of what he saw from his unit.
"We're a defense that has to do everything right to be successful," Diaz said. "We still have very little margin for error. ... If we come back in August at this same level, we're in trouble."
No depth chart yet: Although Brown said the team won't have official starters at any position until August at the earliest, it was obvious some players have the edge in making first string.
Among the more intriguing players getting first-team looks: redshirt freshman wide receiver John Harris (who started alongside Davis), sophomore defensive tackle Ashton Dorsey, and sophomore cornerbacks Adrian Phillips and Carrington Byndom.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/longhorns/article/Longhorns-unimpressive-in-spring-game-1320924.php