It's going to be extremely thin next year. The best case scenario is that Elijah Rodriguez comes back and can play left tackle, Vahe is effective at guard, Shackelford lasts the full season at center, Okafor or Hudson takes the other guard position, and Cosmi is ready to go at right tackle. We will need a freshman to step up. I will bet on Sione Angilau if he doesn't go on his Mormon mission. We'll land one JUCO, who will likely only provide depth at first, and I hope we go after grad transfers.
Think you forgot about Kerstetter at RT. Rodriguez will be ready to go in our Bowl Game so it'll be interesting to see how he plays.
The 1st de-commitment has hit. These are inevitable and shouldn't be a surprise given the season that Texas had. Four-star Louisville Trinity (KY) wide receiver Rondale Moore backed out of his verbal pledge to UT on Tuesday morning. At 5-foot-8, 174 pounds, Moore is ranked as the No. 43 wide receiver in the country and No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Kentucky. There is also JP URQUIDEZ who will be a redshirt sophomore next year. IIRC, he was a late pickup by Gilbert and his O-Line coach a couple years ago along with Shackelford.
Here are some recruitment updates via EJ Holland at 247. They are all definitely worth reading. This guy is the anti-Chip Brown and all his updates are legit news. UT Going after soon to be Texas A&M de-commit Arkansas emerges as threat for DE Target Current ILB commit AYODELE ADEOYE is still a danger to de-commit and head to OU. All of the 247 reporters have predicted the kid is going to OU but I think this is one of those things where no one really knows. Those are just best guesses as oppose to other predictions which are on more solid ground. The good news is that he hasn't decommitted yet but it's possible he's waiting until he knows what he wants to do so he can de-commit and then immediately commit somewhere else. Texas badly needs this kid with Jefferson leaving. Here is a breakdown of where Texas stands with each target ahead of one of the biggest days in recruiting:
And some updates on team practice and team gossip. Chip Brown warning on the gossip. I Bolded the parts I thought were most interesting but it's hard to see bolded text in the quotes. It sounds like Chip Brown talked to a couple pissed off parents who offered a lot of heresy. There is likely some truth and some exaggeration. I don't doubt that Herman is hard but I think the extreme reaction some kids are having is indicative of how Charlie recruited them and ran the team. If people close to Shane think he is better off playing baseball then there is a bigger problem with him than how Herman runs the program.
BTW, the city staff released a preliminary report on locations for the soccer stadium. They have 5 candidates for city land for the stadium itself. Two are parkland. One is the old Home Depot which is now city property and doesn't have much going on. However, with the delay of major 35 work, I don't think it's a great option. There is a location in the same corridor as the Domain which I think might be the best candidate given the major opposition to the Butler Shores location by the council. It's on the city's train line which is good. By the time the stadium would open, the train will run every 15 minutes but that would still only be 800 people per hour. However, Burnet is in line for major roadwork and could get transit only lanes to make public transit there a better option. It already has a Metro Rapid bus Hopefully, the current transit only lanes will be extended from the downtown area to 28th St with the current bond work. That leaves the need for transit lanes on Burnet below 183 which could start work come around when the stadium would open. For those who don't know, the Domain is quickly evolving from just a retail/apartment development to a major office development as well and will likely continue to morph into a 2nd downtown. This is especially true as office space in downtown literally tops out in the next 10 years due to height restraints. St. John’s (Home Depot/Chrysler) Property Owner: Office of Real Estate Services Address: 7211 N IH35 Austin, TX 78752 Acres: 19 McKalla Lane Property (Site near domain directly on Red Line) Owner: Austin Water Utility Address: 10414 McKalla Lane Austin, Texas 78758 Acreage: 24 acres
Exposition Center Property Owner: Travis County/City of Austin Address: 7311 Decker Ln, Austin, TX 78724 Acreage: 127 acres Utilization: Tier 2 Roy G. Guerrero Park Owner: Austin Parks and Recreation Department Address: 400 Grove Blvd, Austin, TX 78741 Acreage: 339 acres Utilization: Tier 2
Toomey Road and Lamar Property (Butler Shores) Owner: Austin Parks and Recreation Department Address: 1501 Toomey Rd, Austin, TX 78704 Acreage: 16 acres Utilization: Tier 3 There is still going to be a push that the team should pay for private land but it's just not possible. They are already committing to 250 million in stadium/practice fields as well as dealing with the natural costs of moving a team. Yes, they are a private company that will make money in the city but this is also a major benefit to the public quality of life. People really like pro sports. I really don't think people appreciate how rare it is that an owner doesn't ask for any public funds to build a stadium. It's almost unheard of. This is likely Austin's last chance at a pro sports team.
I am perplexed by all the comments I've heard about Herman being disingenuous and distant with his players. I thought he earned the opposite reputation at UH? I thought he gave literally everybody a hug ( and maybe kiss) on gameday? Do y'all think this just comes out due to the stark contrast between the ways he and Strong ran the program? I think I'd be kinda butt hurt too if my own head coach didn't at least give me a head nod or a "Hi" when we walked past each other in the hallway. I mean, strangers do that in office buildings everyday! I'm afraid losing that Tech game has cast a pretty damp shadow on Herman's whole program. A bowl game win would leave a much better taste in peoples mouths. I'm sure Herman knows that too.
A lot of this is just part of the transition, especially coming from Strong's program like you said. Funny (not really) to hear kids/parents who never had a winning season, won or even went to a bowl game, got absolutely blasted by TCU for 3 straight years, and lost to freaking Kansas complain about a coach not "caring or loving" them, seems fitting though. With that said, Herman needs to adjust somewhat as no one can cannot completely control the narrative, winning certainly helps though.
Bummer. We're losing our nose tackle this year and this kid could have maybe walked in at 6-1 and 332 llbs. Here is his tweet. I guess we'll see. Texas offered a Katy DT last week. He's taller but much skinnier. He's definitely not built to be a NT. Cornerback Antony Cook is announcing tomorrow at 3. The secondary is actually our strongest area this recruiting class but this would still be huge. I don't think he had as great a senior year but hows. Seems talented no matter what.
This doesn't seem surprising to me - it's human nature to want to be treated well, and even more importantly, not be treated like crap. I think we discussed this when Herman was hired, but he's an ass. He may be a great coach - a lot of them are assholes - but he's still an ass. Winning cures all, but if he doesn't win, his crap is going to rub people the wrong way really fast. Wasn't really an issue at Houston (or Ohio State) because those teams were always winning.
Should be noted that Chip has since edited the article including the parts about Buechele and his dad.
Chip Brown's articles sometimes are spot on. This isn't one of those times. It's utter drivel. Thanks for posting though, because I do like the updates.
He may not be ready to sign now, but I really would be surprised if he didn't sign with Texas in February. His old coach is Meekins, who is currently coaching at Texas. Former Westfield players like Ed Oliver even told Coburn how much they like Oscar Giles (either 247 or IT reported that).
It'll be interesting to see how things develop nation-wide after the very 1st signing period. One of our commits mothers had an interesting tweet about teams throwing out offers at your position if you don't sign early. Obviously doesn't hurt if you're a take like Coburn but UT and teams in similar positions would be dumb not to keep recruiting a position when they may have shut things down otherwise.
As of 9AM. Early Enrollees in Bold. Let me know if I'm missing any. SIGNED Casey Thompson, QB, Moore (Okla.) Newcastle Brennan Eagles, WR, Alief Taylor Al'vonte Woodard, WR, Houston Lamar Malcolm Epps, TE, Spring Dekaney Rafiti Ghrmai, OL, Frisco Wakeland Reese Moore, OL, Seminole D'shawn Jamison, CB, Houston Lamar Caden Sterns, CB/S, Cibolo Steele DeMarvion Overshown, S, Arp BJ Foster, S, Angleton Cameron Dicker, K, Lake Travis Ryan Bujcevski, P, Melbourne (Aus.) Prokick Australia Junior Angilau, OL, Salt Lake City (Utah) East (Might delay enrollment 2 years. Mormon Stuff.) COMMITTED Cameron Rising, QB, Newbury Park (Calif.) Keaontay Ingram, RB, Carthage (Waiting until February to Sign) Keondre Coburn, DT, Spring Westfield (Waiting until February to Sign) Ayodele Adeoye, LB, St. Louis (Mo.) IMG Academy (Might be doing the hat reveal tonight. Could go to Illinois) Byron Hobbs, LB, Fort Worth Eastern Hills Jalen Green, CB, Houston Reagan
