Herman welcomes new Longhorns, addresses controversy, supplies vision

AUSTIN –.Tom Herman entered the UT head coaching job with plenty of national fanfare. The Top 10 wins, the top recruiting classes to a power five school and the grill all made Herman a huge name nationally, and even more so within the state of Texas.

But on the eve of 2017’s National Signing Day, the personality Herman seemed to create struggled to translate into a ‘splash’ and wave of momentum many Texas fans anticipated. The state’s elite, many early enrollees, said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to Texas, as to be expected following three consecutive losing seasons.

Texas ended up with a class of 18 signees for the 2017 squad with members originating from Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida. While it does not measure up in star power to the previous two classes, Herman is confident the first players to sign their name to his program will be important pieces for the Longhorns for the next several years.

“We wanted to pump the brakes on that a little bit and make sure that we were bringing in quality young men that we had relationships with, that we knew could fit our culture — our way of doing things,” Herman said. “We did extensive background research on all of these individuals and are really, really excited about where they fit in terms of the needs that we saw on this roster.”

Though the class may not rank as high as Texas fans might want, Herman made sure to note he expected these players to be able to contribute at a high level, rather than just serve as depth for the first few seasons of his tenure.

“Let’s make one thing very clear; we recruit and sign kids at the University of Texas that we think can play for, and win us, national championships,” Herman said. “That’s what each and every one of these kids was signed to do. Some may help us in the first year, some may need to be a couple of years developed, but we don’t sign backups at the University of Texas. We don’t sign role players at the University of Texas.”

The 18 member class includes nine offensive players, eight defensive players, and one specialist, Mississippi Gulf Coast CC kicker Joshua Rowland. On defense, Herman and offensive coordinator Tim Beck will have quarterback Sam Ehlinger, running backs Toneil Carter and Daniel Young, wide receivers Damion Miller and Jordan Pouncey, tight ends Cade Brewer and Reese Leitao, and offensive linemen Derek Kerstetter and Samuel Cosmi at their disposal.

Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando welcomes defensive linemen Taquon Graham, Max Cummins and Jamari Chisholm, linebackers Marqez Bimage and Gary Johnson, and defensive backs Kobe Boyce, Josh Thompson and Montrell Estell.

Without a high ranking class, fans could question if the players Herman brought in will play at the level capable of reaching his goal of a national championship. Herman made it clear he thought the newest Longhorns had what it took not only because of their on-field skill, but also because of what they brought as far as intangibles.

“What the rankings don’t do though is they don’t crack their chest open and look at their heart, they don’t look at their work ethic, they don’t look at what their coaches say about them, they don’t look at any of those things,” Herman said. “For us, that was finding there are a lot of 3 and 4 star guys that are undervalued, in my opinion, because of all those intangibles. It was our job to find some of those guys, and some of those guys we had relationships with already.”

RECRUITING FOR TEXAS

Instead of walking into rooms wearing Houston’s red and white, Herman now brings the burnt orange Longhorn logo with him. In Herman’s mind, that logo should command respect in this state.

Recent events tell a different story, one that Herman is too familiar with, and one that he intends on changing in order to improve recruiting beginning in the class of 2018.

“You’ve got to win,” Herman said. “At this point, this class of 2018 coming up, they’re 16 years old. Since they were 10 years old, they’ve seen two winning seasons of Texas football. They’ve seen four 7-loss seasons of Texas football. That’s ok. That’s where we’re at right now, but we are Texas.”

Part of his plans on changing the middling perception of Texas football is not only to win games, but to make sure that his staff is near maniacal in their effort to reach out to the current junior class.

“We are one of the strongest brands in the history of college football,” Herman said. “We’ve got to build those relationships. We’ve got to forge those foundations. We’ve got to make everything that is great about this great program and this great university and this great city of Austin known to these young men. That’s all through communication and relationships. Winning helps. It certainly does. We’ve got to show them, because the Texas that they know is much different by the Texas we know.”

Herman admitted that he did not have the relationships to build the strongest of classes with 2017 players. However, he does not plan to have that issue with the 2018 class, and is working to build relationships with the elite juniors of the state.

“It has to be our mission to keep the best players in the state of Texas in the state of Texas,” Herman said. “We’re well on our way, and our relationships with the high school coaches is phenomenal, paying great dividends. We’ve already started building really quality relationships with a bunch of the top players in the 2018 class.”

HERMAN ON THE PLAYERS

After addressing the lay of the land in recruiting, Herman was able to go into detail about several of the players that joined his first class. He relayed the tale of Gary Johnson running a 10.59 100 meter in high school without starting blocks at 215 pounds. While he would not say if Johnson would be able to move Malik Jefferson to the outside, Herman did praise Johnson’s work ethic and athletic ability.

“What a phenomenal athlete Gary Johnson is, too,” Herman said. “He’s a hammerhead. He loves to hit. You feel it when he hits you. He can fill the A and B gaps and make a ton of plays at the line of scrimmage.”

Previous head coach Charlie Strong was somewhat hesitant to dip into the junior college ranks to fill holes on the roster. Herman was not hesitant, and at times, he knew it was the best option. Herman not only grabbed Johnson from the JUCO ranks, but also Chisholm and Rowland.

Some of the most glowing praise Herman offered to a new Longhorn was Westlake’s Sam Ehlinger. Ehlinger previously committed to Texas after Shawn Watson offered him in the summer of 2015, and has stuck with, and even recruited for UT ever since.

Herman made it clear he knew he was getting a solid player in Ehlinger, but what really excited him was the personality he was getting.

“Two things stood out to me with Sam that are not on that video, and one is what he’s been through in his life and the fact that he’s had to mature at a very, very young age and grow up really fast, and he’s transitioned and translated that maturity into this really dynamic leadership quality that he has,” Herman said. “He’s an alpha male. He walks into the room and it’s like ‘whoa, Sam’s here.’ He’s a competitor and I just love that about quarterbacks.”

Herman was also impressed by Ehlinger’s tenacity throughout his senior year. After sustaining a knee injury in the first game of the season, Herman acknowledged he could have shut his season down and focused on preparing to play for Texas. Herman was impressed at the fact that Ehlinger not only refused to do that, but did it several more times during the season with other injuries nagging him. The Westlake quarterback comes into Texas healthy and ready to compete.

Ehlinger, whose father passed several years ago during an endurance race, grew up as a Longhorn fan and jumped at the opportunity to commit to his hometown and childhood favorite. Now, finally playing for the Longhorns, he could have an opportunity to play.

“Is he going to push Shane [Buechele]? I hope so,” Herman said. “I hope everybody pushes everybody. There’s no starter on this team. Zero. None. It doesn’t exist. There’s no depth chart. There’s no starters. I’ve told the team this ad nauseam, if you want to earn a place on the two deep, on the depth chart, on the ones and twos, you’re going to earn it in January and February in our winter offseason conditioning program.”

Herman would talk about two more offensive positions, tight end and running back. The combination of Carter and Young in the backfield create a varied one-two punch. Herman jumped at the chance to get Carter after he decommitted from Georgia, and acknowledged the value of his high school coaching relationships. For Young, Herman had lofty praise.

“Daniel Young is another guy that I think might be the steal of the class,” Herman said. “He might be the most underrated guy in the class if you will. It’s a guy that’s only played running back for two years.”

At tight end, Herman brought in Lake Travis’ Cade Brewer and Jenks, Oklahoma’s Reese Leitao.

Herman expects a lot from his tight ends in this offense. He said tight end could be as complex as quarterback in the pro-spread system he runs. In Herman’s mind, the tight end needs to be able to be able to play both in-line and split out. In Herman’s mind, he thinks one of the pieces he brought in can do just that.

“He’s really, really athletic,” Herman said about Brewer. “He’s undersized right now. If we had to play a game tomorrow he would not be physically ready, but tremendous ball skills, tremendous athleticism. You can see that the frame is there to carry the weight necessary.”

Herman had similar praise for Reese Leitao. He acknowledged Nebraska, his previous commitment, and their ability to evaluate tight ends, in his praise of the Oklahoma product.

HORNY ISSUE ADDRESSED

One of the major issues that Herman has received criticism for is the higher of quality control coach Casey Horny. Horny served in a similar position at Baylor under Art Briles during the time there were allegations of multiple sexual assaults by Baylor football players as well as allegations against the Baylor coaching staff saying they did not do enough in response to what players were said to have done. In mid-October, Horny signed his name to a social media post expressing support for Art Briles.

Recently, athletic director Mike Perrin released a statement in support of Horny’s hiring, and said Horny’s social media activities would not be acceptable at Texas. In his opening statement, Herman addressed the Horny issue.

“I do want to take a moment to address our special teams quality control coach, Casey Horny. I know it’s been a point of discussion for some of you. We have not typically done much publicizing of quality control coaches, but I do realize that Casey comes in under unique circumstances that drew attention to the point where Mike Perrin released a statement in support of his hiring. As mike said, he and Casey talked at length, and he was vetted by myself and several people before he joined our staff. He’s a person I’ve known for a long, long time. I know his wife. I know his daughters. He is a great person, a great football coach, and a man that I truly trust. Before he came on board, we had some very direct and hard conversations, however, and I do believe he had no knowledge of the unfortunate circumstances that were going on at Baylor. I also reviewed a letter from Mack Rhodes, the athletic director there at Baylor, and have been assured that Casey has been cleared of any involvement in the issue at Baylor. That said, he clearly understands that he shouldn’t have been involved with the social media discussion or been a part of that ill-advised tweet regarding Baylor. It was a mistake. He owns that and doesn’t support anything, certainly, that happened there. It’s an unfortunate situation all around, and I want to make everybody know that Casey and myself both have the utmost regard for the victims of those crimes. He also understands our expectations at the University of Texas, and he will do a terrific job working with our special teams and be a positive influence on our young men.”

Herman would later add on that Horny was not even interviewed by Pepper Hamilton during the course of their investigation at Baylor.

FACILITY FACELIFT

One thing that Herman carried over from his time at Houston to Texas is the knowledge that recruits enjoy the latest and greatest in facilities. Herman said he understands the need to have his facilities appeal to those he is attempting to get to join his program.

“There does need to be a wow factor,” Herman said. “Is it missing? The beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but our key constituents are 17 year old kids, too. We want to wow them. They’re priority 1A. Priority 1B is our current players. We want them to have as first-class of facilities as possible to train in and to learn in and to grow in. Beyond that, there’s no other reason to have facilities, but they have to be the best at Texas. They have to be.”

Part of what got Herman to Texas were assurances he would get the needed changes he thought the program needed in order to compete at a high level. Though he only mentioned his signature term, alignment, once during the half-hour press conference, it was clear he thought there was plenty of alignment between him and the decision makers in the Tower and in Bellmont.

“I told you guys this the last time we had a press conference, I haven’t been told no yet,” Herman said. “I think again players and coaches win games, and administrations win championships and Mike Perrin and Greg Fenves are that championship administration. They understand everything that’s needed here, and we are full-speed, mach-8 mode to get all that done, and it’s going to get done before you can blink your eyes.”

Herman said there would be changes on the first floor of Moncreif-Neuhaus mostly regarding graphics and branding. There are also plans to make several changes in order to modernize the facility and appeal to, in Herman’s words, priority 1A.

“We’re building the foundations of success in many other ways including renovations here at this very facility, including a brand new locker room which we just met on today with the administrators and architects,” Herman said. “We’re going to have a renovation of the weight room and a renovation basically of the entire first floor of this building in terms of graphics and branding. We will also attack some parts of the training room as well. I’m excited about that.”