Inside the Gameplan: Texas identity

There was actually a lot on display in the Texas Spring game besides the question of whether Swoopes or Heard outperformed the other and revealed a more promising future for the Texas offense. The defense played quite well, the team exhibited some interesting strengths and weaknesses, and our eyes got to see exactly how far things have progressed.

From the strengths on display in the game, you can start to see a picture of who this team is, or better, who they could become in 2015.

Let’s start on defense, where things were promising.

Defensive takeaways from the Spring

The play of the defensive line was the most promising revelation from the Orange and White scrimmage. After various practice notes had Paul Boyette stepping into the nose tackle role, the staff seemed to move back to the notion that the best way to attack the middle was by deploying Hassan Ridgeway at nose tackle where he had six sacks in 2014.

The strongside DE position, that’s usually deployed as a 5-tech or 4i-tech was manned by Shiro Davis who seems most comfortable mixing it up in the trenches. Ford and Boyette played the 3-tech/4i tech position and each one had moments of sheer domination. Bryce Cottrell contributed a great deal to the pass-rush from the Fox/weakside end spot on the 2nd team and will likely factor in as another strongside end with Davis, perhaps replacing him in pass-rush situations.

Given the play of Ford and Boyette at 3-tech, and the ability of Ridgeway to get to the QB regardless of where he’s lined up, it’s probable that “Green Mile” will play nose tackle again this season.

The big news here is that Texas might be able to play a Cottrell-Ridge-Ford DL against some of the Air Raid teams in the conference and get adequate pass-rush while dropping eight defenders into coverage, a tactic that made hay in the 2014 season.

The depth of this unit in 2015 means that not only can Texas mix and match which players are lined up where to best exploit opponents or shore up weaknesses behind them, but they’ll also be more immune to wearing down as they did in 2014 against BYU, Baylor, Arkansas, and other foes. Of course, the offense will have a role to play there as well.

Overall the prospects for the pass-rush look good next year as the LB corps also flashed some real potential. The staff used Naashon Hughes in a variety of different places, portending what they’ll be able to do with future talents like Derick Roberson or any of the numerous Fox prospects in the 2016 class.

Inside linebackers Malik Jefferson and Edwin Freeman were impossibly quick in this game and the suddenness and range at the LB position when they share the field with Hughes will create a nightmarish hellscape for spread passing teams in 2015 if the younger LBs can master their pass drops and keys well enough to get on the field.

Here’s a picture of a type of pre-snap look the defense can give the offense with Hughes, Malik, Freeman, and a nickel package on the field:

Who’s blitzing? What angles are they blitzing from? Who’s going to be playing coverage? Where are the weak spots in coverage to attack?

Those are all the questions the offense will be trying to answer before the snap, here’s one of the potential answers:

Based on his alignment in the box, the offense has to be concerned with the Fox linebacker as he could knife through the A or B gap and cause serious problems, but in this example the defense drop him into coverage while bringing a safety and Malik off the strongside edge, overwhelming that side of the protection and necessitating that the H-back or RB stay behind to help protect the passer.

Who’s playing coverage? Well you have a nickel or corner on all the best receivers while Hughes and Freeman are well leveraged to cover the H-back or running back out of the backfield. There’s no easy place to attack because there are so many good athletes in coverage. The offense also faces long odds of the OL quickly recognizing and blocking who’s coming or the QB quickly determining where the ball should go and geting it there when blitzers include people like Ford, Malik, and Ridgeway.

Another example from the same look:

Now you have Ridgeway long-sticking his way to the field with the Fox coming in behind him to attack the hapless center who’s inevitably turned away from him to control Ridgeway. Meanwhile, Malik’s blitz of the opposite end is totally shielded from view.

Does everyone now understand why moving Malik to inside linebacker is the way to go? Good.

Because Hughes, Malik, and Freeman are all effective on these sorts of blitz, or in coverage, the combinations are endless. The hope for Texas’ summer and fall should be that these players all come a long way in their mastery of the playbook, their keys, and the fundamentals of modern Texas LB play so that this package becomes possible.

The secondary was interesting to observe in the spring game as the best DB on the roster was held out (Duke Thomas) while younger players manned the critical positions that make all of the games diagrammed above possible.

John Bonney’s play was highly encouraging and it would seem that Texas has now found answers for two of the three coverage positions, leaving questions now about the 2nd cornerback position and the free safety.

Both Jason Hall and Adrian Colbert flashed some potential as strong safeties with each contributing as box players who could diagnose plays and make open field tackles. The question is at deep safety, where the best offenses will require that player to be a factor both in deep coverage and against the run. Dylan Haines is solid in that role, but this defense really wants a superstar there who can line up deep but possesses the effective range to clean up in the run game.

Kris Boyd, PJ Locke, DeShon Elliott, or Davante Davis might all provide answers there, we won’t really know until we see them in action in the fall. Texas will be more than fine with Haines, but this defense hits another level with a stud back there.

The 3rd corner position should be a feisty battle this fall. Antwuan Davis has flashed some and Bryson Echols had a fantastic scrimmage driving on underneath routes despite having “don’t get beat deep” instructions in the coverages that make doing so more difficult. Holton Hill and Boyd both might have more talent than either and will undoubtedly get their chances as well.

Texas will probably be pretty good on defense again in 2015 with the potential to be great in 2016.

Takeaways on offense

The emergence of Petey Warrick in the WR corps is a great thing as Texas needs a weapon in the slot and Armanti Foreman’s developmental path seems to be taking him outside at the X or Z position.

However, Warrick does not have the same explosiveness as Daje Johnson and if everyone’s former favorite athlete is not ready to break through at the slot position or at least on special teams it’s a loss for the 2015 Texas offense.

That said Foreman’s deployment in the Spring game was a major positive. The RPOs in the offense still regularly provide him a chance to catch flash screen passes and utilize his acceleration in space but he also showed off his burst in running timing routes and double-move patterns.

The timing routes are essential as Tyrone Swoopes will need targets he can trust if the junior QB and West Coast offense are still going to play a role in the offense. The double moves are important in allowing the offense to punish defenses that respond to RPOs with man coverage. Keep working on that pump fake, Ty.

In fact, Foreman flashed enough outside (albeit against walk-ons) that you had to wonder if the best lineup for Texas in 2015 would feature Foreman, Warrick, and Marcus Johnson as the three receivers.

The fourth receiver spot generally went to Alex De La Torre, Blake Whiteley, or Andrew Beck playing a hybrid TE/H-back/Fullback/flex TE position that from here on out we’ll just call the “B” back. De La Torre seems to be sitting in the catbird seat here in claiming this position because the primary role for this player is as a blocker. It’s a shame Texas doesn’t have Geoff Swaim for one more year.

What’s interesting about this position is that it’s ideal for DeAndre McNeal if he gets bigger again and learns to block and it also makes a lot of sense for DeMarco Boyd who projects as a violent fullback at the next level.

Devonaire Clarington is more likely to find a home in a double-TE spread offense in which he can line up in-line or flexed out but not have to venture into the backfield and execute kick out or lead blocks with his longer and leaner frame. His future in a spread offense operated by Jerrod Heard would be in question as he doesn’t bring the explosiveness to the Y receiver position that you’d look for in an ideal, Heard-friendly system. Of course, Clarington may not find a home at Texas at all regardless if he can’t pass the NCAA Clearinghouse.

D’Onta Foreman and Duke Catalon both flashed some abilities but the offense is clearly going to be defined by Johnathan Gray, from whom Texas needs that elusive 1k yard season in order to be a winning football team next season.

The offensive line has reached step 1, for the most part they are able to avoid penetration and negative plays unless playing across from superior talent on the defensive front. If Gray is one of the best talents on the offense, which he clearly is by virtue of his athleticism and experience, then freeing him up will require that the offensive line works at advantage whenever possible because they lack the firepower to overwhelm opponents.

That means that Texas will need the receivers and blockers listed above to help threaten the defense with explosive plays across the line of scrimmage in order to prevent opponents from being able to focus enough resources at the line of scrimmage to control Gray. It’ll also mean that Gray will need to be able to control the defenders that have eyes to quickly join the box with his cuts.

If he can beat the extra defender and allow his blockers to account for everyone else, then Texas will be in good shape against most of the defenses on the schedule. For instance, against TCU:

The two nearest DBs to the box, the strong safety and boundary corner, are controlled by the RPO options to throw the hitch or the bubble screen, so that means that the extra defender Gray will need to out-maneuver will be a safety. If Gray can consistently juke that extra defender then Texas will be able to move the ball effectively on the ground in 2015.

This assumes though that Texas successfully blocks their front, which Gray can also help the OL and B player do by threatening the cutback lane and creating hesitation for the linebackers. Given their struggles with the 2nd team Texas DL, it’s hard to believe that this OL will be able to consistently win evenly matched battles with the league’s better fronts in 2015.

Texas’ identity in 2015

UT’s overall strategy under Strong is basically to assemble as many big, fast, and raw athletes as possible in Austin, turn them into dogs, and then deploy them in simple schemes to physically overwhelm the rest of this finesse-heavy conference.

Tactics in 2015 are likely to include a variety of RPOs from spread formations on offense and different zone blitzes or max coverages on defense. These tactics are tied together at the operational level, which will define how the Longhorns perform in 2015.

At the operational level, Texas has to get Gray going and, with the depletion of the secondary, they need their young linebackers to figure things out so the defense’s identity can be built around pressure. The Spring game revealed that team’s highest upside is that of a defensive football team that can actually control the football and score enough points on offense to win games when the defense keeps an explosive opponent under 30.

If that vision is realized and all of Texas’ assets on the 2015 roster are brought to bear, than end result could be eight wins or even better if the team finds luck with the schedule as they did last year when they faced beat up Texas Tech and West Virginia teams down the stretch.

If the team can’t be united around these identities, or others that similarly leverage the team’s strengths, than the overall lack of talent could bring another losing season to Austin.