Coach V's Grades: Texas vs. UTEP

It’s obvious we were missing a few key ingredients in our offensive arsenal but the end result was still a positive as we go forward. We played very well at spots but getting a few starters back will really help the cause. We had a chance to see how our depth would perform and it will be interesting how that stacks up in the future. Some took full advantage of their opportunity but others might have been less than impressive. It was a solid effort and a nice win.

Here are the grades:

7—Buechele—A-
5 good read keeps—bad throw curl—5 nice touch throws—NO turnovers.

18—Swoopes—A-
nice throw deep—should be rested for sunny California.

25—Warren—B
good run power—good run zone—good run zone—good pass block—5 less than aggressive tippy toes in the hole—needs a different weight program or he will outgrow the position.

21—Porter—B
looked blazing quick compared to Chris—good block jet—good run power—terrific change of pace.

1—Burt—B+
good catch and run on screen—needs blocking improvement.

2—Duvernay—B
good block screen—bad penalty but terrific catch on deep ball—quick ain’t even in it with this guy.

3—Foreman—B+
good catch on comeback—good block screen—good hands catch—good run screen—blocking still needs work.

4—Humphrey—B+
good catch and run on screen—big boy league so learn to block with intensity.

6—Oliver—A-
good hands catch—2 good blocks on screens.

8—Leonard—A-
biggest play of his career on td catch and run—good block screen—nice catch.

9—Johnson—A-
good block on power bounce—terrific diving catch—player.

11—Warrick—B+
fumbled a td on screen—good td catch—good run on screen—good catch and run on seam throw.

13—Heard—A-
good hands catch over defender for td—happy birthday td on wheel route since they allowed him to go out to practice early.

47—Beck—B+
good block power—good block screen—good block lead—great block on GL jet—missed screen block—good block on QB keep—beat pass block—beat pass block for sack—big improvement but pass blocking is sad.

44—Vasser—A-
only got a few snaps but did well—especially his down block on power.

51—Cuney—B-
played several plays in second quarter for 63—very slow off ball and wasn’t aggressive or effective—not ready yet.

56—Shackelford—A-
played two series and did well—not sure what injury but ankles appear to be the likely source of pain.

58—Hodges—B
beat inside on zone—good block QB keep—good power block—pass blocking needs work.

63—Anderson—B+
good block power—good pull block on power—-pancake on pull block—good pull block—beat pass block—had another good game.

64—McMillon—B
pancake on his first play but sad part is he was the one pancaked—good block GL—one low snap but all others were acceptable—-good block zone.

72—Rodriguez—C+
good block power—beat inside on power—beat GL—beat pass block—beat pass block for sack—holding penalty—beat run block—beat for sack—good block zone—did not have a good night.

74—DeLance—B+
played well at LT for one series—would like to have seen him during crunch time.

77—Vahe—B
BPB—missed contact on two pull blocks—had 4 good pull blocks—pass blocking is way below his run blocking—not a good game for him.

78—Oakfor—B+
played really well the last series—need to see him when the fur is flying.

The great thing about being a DC (or OC) is you have the surprise element to spring on opponents and a full week to prepare the troops. The opponent has a chalk board and maybe a little prior experience that they can relate adjustments on the run. Our staff sprung just such a surprise on old UTEP last night and it ate their lunch big time.

Our nickel became a form of the old 50 with a minimum of one edge buster screaming toward the point of attack every down. When you say “sic ’em” off the edge to a Hager you are giving him a license to steal and he lit up everything on Main Street along the way. We also took the precaution of adding a Roach to the other side and ask him to strike anything that was warm and still breathing just in case plan A didn’t upset the apple cart. We still retained the option of subbing in a true nickel once we got them behind the chains which we did on more than one whim.

Terrific thought pattern here—the who suggested doesn’t matter but the why not before now does to me.

I have a few loose thoughts before the grades if you don’t mind. Watching the last quarter is easy to fast forward thru if you aren’t careful. I’m the kind that enjoys the young guys speaking their piece—hey, I watched Johnny Tseng (senior LB—37) and Garrett Graf (OG—54) play in that last 8 minutes with youthful ambition just like our current pups displayed when they got their chance.

I saw Christmas (98) nail everything with hair on it on his way to waking the RB with a vicious stuff. He will be special. Wilbon (94) is fun to watch—we stole one here. Roach (32) is one of our best 11 defenders right now—he makes plays and the beauty of it is he makes smart football decisions along the way. Jones (19) has no idea how good he’s going to be. Shark ran edge stunts 90 mph—he may not know the how, when, or why’s yet but the bright lights aren’t slowing him down. Did I mention the offensive puppies? Did I put Elliott(55) up where he belongs—he’s the big guy that can play up or down and does it with authority.

We are going to be special different soon—book it. Here are the grades:

91—Cottrell—B+
Welcome back, sir. good tackle zone. big time tackle zone. good hustle play on coverage.

90—Omenihu—B+
good play zone. good play in pursuit. good hustle tackle on draw. good sack. good tackle zone. good tackle on QB option.

40—Hughes—B
very quiet game after last week’s flurry—missed assignment on option (QB). good tackle draw.

44—Hager—A-
big game—huge. good force play jet. sack from edge rush. good edge stunt tackle. good edge stunt hustle tackle. good tackle counter. great contain sweep. good tackle counter. big hit edge stunt.

32—Roach—A-
big time player last night. good sack. good rush flush. big hit rush. big hit tackle in coverage on crossing route. good open field tackle on screen. 44 and 32 on opposite sides could be hazardous to opponents health—just a thought.

93—Boyette—B+
good tackle zone. bad offsides penalty on GL. good hustle tackle on draw. good tackle zone.

95—Ford—B
lost contain (as a 4) on pass rush. good tackle QB on option. 15 yard celebration penalty after a big play. great read on screen with good tackle.

97—Nelson—B+
good tackle zone. good hustle play in pursuit. good tackle counter. not as active this week.

94—Wilbon—B
roughing the passer penalty with hands to helmet. hustle tackle. good pursuit play.

55—Elliott—A-
this guy amazes—damn, he has talent and attitude. good tackle screen. good tackle draw. great read draw. great hustle play.

98—Christmas—B+
WOW—this guy will be blue (chip). it’s going to be fun around here for years to come.

46—Jefferson—B
okay, here’s the deal. good tackle zone. PBU, no scrape on QB with edge stunt next to him. beat in coverage by RB on bootleg. GOFT. good tackle counter. blocked bad on draw. bad read on QB keep. MT on zone bounce. scrape too wide on sweep. MT on counter. good pursuit tackle.

Malik is not an instinctive LB and probably never will be. He’s a player but he may never grade well because it’s just not natural to him. Chasing the ball and/or dodging obstacles is his wheelhouse—he would probably be terrific in the role Hager played last night. He’s also playing more plays than he should be—he gets winded and he makes too many mistakes along with getting blocked much easier.

45—Wheeler—B
good tackle zone. MT zone. good tackle zone. good tackle QB scramble. good tackle draw. Playing too many plays.

35—Freeman—B
good tackle zone. GOFT—crossing route. GOFT. biggest problem is every tackle is too far down the field.

30—Cole—B-
good tackle zone. MT on td run—shuffled out of his gap. played sparingly.

43—Townsend—B+
GOFT in coverage.

23–Shark—B+
kickoff tackle. good edge stunt.

1—Evans—A-
PBU—solid coverage. hustle tackle. good player.

9—Davis—A-
much better this week. good contain scrape. caused a fumble with a strip tackle.

31—Hall—B+
good play screen. GOFT on QB keep. PBU.

18—Vaccaro—B+
MT on bad angle. GOFT. good edge stunt sack.

4—Elliott—B+
kickoff tackle.tough angle on td run—LB made it hard on safety to fill downhill. edge stunt sack. good tackle in coverage.

11—Locke—B+
good tackle screen. kickoff tackle. MT on draw. kickoff tackle.

19—Jones—B+
blocked punt. kickoff tackle. GOFT. good hustle play.

2—Boyd—C
three major penalties for holding—good punt down on one yard line. caused fumble on punt. kickjoff tackjle. good tackle screen. talented player—makes plays. Discipline doesn’t match talent yet.

25—Davis—B
kickoff tackle.

Sunny California your up next. let’s have fun.

My grading system is based on total points earned against number of plays played. The points are awarded individually on each and every separate play. There are five different possible grades for each play. Players may earn a plus three (3) for a five star type play—-plus two (2) for above average execution—-plus one (1) for doing their job successfully—-zero (0) for getting beat but knowing and attempting their assignment—-and minus 3 (-3) for a missed assignment.

Each player has a total number of points and a total number of his own individual plays. You divide the total number of plays into the total number of points which gives you scale. The grading scale is as follows:

Any player averaging one point per play (1.0) grades out a B which is winning football. If a player plays 60 plays with 60 total points he would earn a passing grade—each point he goes over the total number of plays raises his grade accordingly. The system is built around rewarding any player that doesn’t beat himself or his team with mental mistakes.

The system also punishes any player that knows what to do but loses too many individual battles. If a player plays 60 plays but loses 10 of those with zero special plays (60 plays—50 points) he falls below the 1.0 needed for a passing grade of B.

I use the plus/minus (A-, B+, etc,) when the numbers indicate a partial add or subtract from the grade. This system was used by my first coaching staff and I kinda carried it with me for thirty years—it’s not perfect but it gives the position coach a measuring stick for his individual players.

The only way to earn the highest grade of A is to play a perfect game. I’ve had exactly zero up to right now so great games still can be better so A- is a very popular second best. This system and my grades will always be subjective filled with agree and disagree opinions. It’s entirely fair for disagreement (without it we might not have horse races) but it’s important to remember that each play only counts once instead of allowing a big mistake to have major influence on an individual’s final grade.

Shortcuts to reduce typing overload.

BRB—beat on a run block.

BPB—beat on a pass block.

GL—goal line.

SY—short yardage.

MT—missed tackle.

MA—missed assignment.

GFT—good fill tackle.

GOFT—good open field tackle.

PBU—pass break up.

tfl—tackle for loss.

5 star—play that most can’t make.