Texas notebook: Majors' task, replacing J-Whitt, Free Solo
Baylor head coach Dave Aranda is a defensive-oriented head coach, and one of the most disruptive players on the Bears’ roster is defensive tackle Siaki Ika.
Ika, a transfer from LSU, fills out his No. 62 jersey with a 6-foot-4, 350-pound frame. That’s one of the larger players Texas will face this year and larger than any player on the 2021 Texas roster.
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“62, he’s a great player,” Roschon Johnson said Tuesday. “He’s a big body that can move people and stalemate a lot of blocks. We’ve just got to do a good job of gameplanning around him.”
That task will fall on center Jake Majors this Saturday. Majors is listed at 6-foot-3, 310 pounds. Luckily for the redshirt freshman from prosper, he has experience working against large athletes like Ika.
Texas’ Keondre Coburn is officially listed at 6-foot-2, 346 pounds. He’s seen firsthand how Majors handles larger humans and has confidence Majors will be able to counter the big Bear D-lineman by using his hands and his quickness.
“I think that’s a trait to use on bigger nose guards like me when you can constantly outrun us to where we can’t really get our hands on you,” Coburn said Monday. “It’s difficult because everybody has a job to do. Jake does a good job of doing that and will be very successful.”
Finding replacement for Jordan Whittington’s production
Texas receiver Jordan Whittington was a favorite third-down target for both Hudson Card and Casey Thompson prior to injuring his clavicle against Oklahoma.
It’s not quite clear if Whittington will be able to return this season after his surgery, meaning Texas needs to find someone adept at going over the middle like the Cuero native.
Whittington tipped the scales at over 200 pounds. Neither Joshua Moore nor Xavier Worthy approach that mark, let alone 170 pounds. According to the quarterback responsible for delivering them the football, that’s okay. They can use other skills to help the Texas offense over the middle.
“I would say I’ve been impressed at how well Josh Moore and Xavier Worthy can play at such a light weight,” Casey Thompson said Monday. “Those guys, they do a really good job of just being quick and fast. I think if they just play to their strengths they’ll be fine.”
Thompson also mentioned Marcus Washington and Kelvontay Dixon as players who have made efforts to step up to replace Whittington’s production, but admitted improvement was still possible for the receiver unit.
“I think with Jordan Whittington being out, they’re all going to have to continue to step up and continue to focus on getting better,” Thompson said.
Scaling the peak
During the bye week, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian played a movie for the entire team. His selection? The 2018 documentary Free Solo.
The film tracks Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Honnold used no protective equipment to speed up his ascent or stop his fall were he to falter.
It was an effort by Sarkisian to show examples of what mental toughness and remaining focused from start to finish looked like for a team that has had its fourth-quarter struggles.
“The video just showed how to be mentally strong,” Ovie Oghoufo said Monday. “Seeing somebody climb 3200 feet with no rope, it was kind of dope. It really showed you’ve got to be all in. It’s something that’s very hard to do, and just because it’s hard to do doesn’t mean we’re not able to accomplish it.”
Oghoufo noted how Honnold was able to smile at the end of his difficult climb, and how even with just a few feet remaining Honnold could not afford a lapse in focus.
“That’s a part of the message, too,” Oghoufo said. “Being able to finish, you can smile at the end no matter how hard it is.”
