COLUMN: Coach K's Defense and Texas finally acting like Texas...
1) Finally, Texas is acting like Texas...
Finally.
In less than three weeks, Texas, finally, did it. Texas is acting like Texas. Okay, so Texas has always, technically, acted like Texas. But you get the point. Texas is, finally, acting like the Texas you want it to be.
Many of you, perhaps for close to a decade but definitely since 2014 or so, have cried and begged for the Longhorns to flex their muscle. You’ve cried for the administration to treat the success of the football program as paramount. Generally speaking, you’ve angrily and correctly shouted about initial coaching staff shortcomings. And you’ve watched the facilities fall behind while the product on the field stagnated because of a coaching staff and recruiting success that was good but not great.
Good will get a team to the Alamo Bowl consistently. Great wins league championships. I don’t know if Texas will be great under Steve Sarkisian. I think it could be. But I’d be lying if I said I knew.
However, what I do know is on the morning of January 2nd the Longhorns said they’re going to start taking football extremely seriously. Later that same day, they said they’re going to make an educated bet, after a good but unsuccessful attempt to hire Urban Meyer, on a potentially great coach, a coach they believe excels at the three things that influence sustained winning the most in college football – recruiting, quarterback play and development, and scoring points. And over the next 17 days, they backed up their talk by flexing their financial muscle and using the totality of their unique football resources as a game-changer for the first time in a long time.
Finally, the Longhorns were stealing coaches from other top programs, money-whipping recruiting rainmakers from Alafreakingbama – it’s actually a contractual requirement now that world is included in any Orangebloods column – and putting the rest of the college football world, from coast-to-coast, on notice. This wasn’t going to be a Charlie Strong staff given a playbook, a Fathead, and eventually a Spirit Airlines ticket out of town. Because let’s be honest, a combination of Strong and Steve Patterson is definitely spending as little as possible. And this wasn’t going to be The University of Texas at Houston with a playbook, sledgehammer, and a nudge out the door to go somewhere else. Rather, this Longhorn staff is going to be different in all the ways Texas fans have been begging for.
Big-time coaches and recruiters from Alabama? Check. One of the nation’s best, and highest-paid player personnel directors? Yep. Notre Dame’s recruiting coordinator with a track record of signing top talent, including in Texas? Yeah, he’s coming too. A couple of rising stars in the industry, including one who played at Texas and has recruited it recently? Check. A defensive line coach coming from the NFL with a proven ability to recruit, Texas ties, and time spent with Nick Saban? He’s on staff and he’ll coach defensive linemen for one of the nation’s best defensive coordinators who has been a longtime stud at Washington and only knows coordinating good defenses. All that’s left is one more coach on the defensive side of the ball. And I bet he’s going to be a really good recruiter.
We’ve heard how seriously Jay Hartzell and Kevin Eltife take football. We heard how closely Chris Del Conte follows recruiting and how his relationship with Tom Herman grew as icy as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze. We heard when Steve Sarkisian was hired a big reason why was because of the staff he could assemble. Too often in the past Texas has been all hat, no cattle. This is, finally, different.
Again, I don’t know if Sarkisian and his staff are going to be great at Texas. I know the potential is great, and certainly the potential of this coaching staff is higher than any staff since at least 2014 and probably beyond. I liken this stage of Longhorn Football to the end of one of my favorite movies, Rounders.
Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), after hitting rock-bottom and losing his girlfriend, separating from his irrational best friend unable to be reformed, and shaking the cobwebs of apathy by rediscovering his winning ways at the poker table, triumphantly repays his debts. With cuts and bruises on his face, he puts his past life, complete with a search for himself and a couple big failures, in the rear-view mirror by saying goodbye to his ex-girlfriend and hopping into a cab bound for Kennedy Airport. He's a redemption story bound for greatness. At least that's what we think.
“People insist on calling it luck,” McDermott narrates as his cab heads down a bustling New York City street. “First prize at the World Series of Poker is a million bucks. Does it have my name on it? I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”
I don’t know if Texas is going to win the big prize. But because of this staff assembled and the skill set of its head coach, we’re going to truly find out for the first time in a long time.
2) What the 2-4-5 actually looks like…
Some of the immediate reaction to Texas fans reading the numbers 2-4-5 provoked painful PTSD because of recent non-Chris Ash Texas defenses. Fair. No judging. So, let’s take a look at one of Washington’s games this season to get a better picture of how the defense lines up. It’s also important to note Washington had five defensive linemen on its roster above 300 pounds.
--- First-down look includes two defensive down linemen, another linebacker with his hand down, a standup backer, two middle backers and then defensive backs spread across the field.
--- Similar look in on a second-and-long except both backers are standing up on the edge now and corners playing tight to the line of scrimmage showing man with a single high safety (out of picture)...
READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN AND DISCUSS TEXAS FOOTBALL INSIDE THE 40 ACRES (PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS)
Not an Orangebloods member? Save 50% off a new annual sub using promo code SarkStaff50.
New users: CLICK HERE
Returning users: CLICK HERE