Ulatoski and Hall Q&A Chat
[caption id="attachment_27807" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Chris Hall. courtesy of TexasSports)[/caption]
We were fortunate to have former Texas Longhorn offensive linemen Chris Hall and Adam Ulatoski join us this week for a Q&A. Between the two, they started a combined 81 games during one of the school's storied runs, culminating with the national championship game appearance versus Alabama.
Both were versatile, team players who are now doing well for themselves in the real world. As you'll see, these two are sharp guys. What Joe Wickline would give to have these two on campus now.
On differing coaching personalities:
Ulatoski: I think every player responds differently, like you said. A good coach is able to read his players and adjust accordingly. Personally, the method of delivery was less important than the message itself. Tell me what I need to know so I can adjust and improve.
Hall: Not sure if there's a best personality, but the issue is being able to receive correction and learn from your mistakes. Regardless of what players have grown up with they have to learn to overcome hurt feelings and diminished pride, receive the message from their coach, and then work to get better. At some point in life they're bound to have a boss they don't like—it's good if they can learn now to respect the position (even if they don't like the person) and work in a good way with them.
Personally, I wanted to be corrected and adjusted. That's how you learn. How that was communicated usually didn't bother me (for too long) and even motivated for next time in some cases.
On practice styles, full tackle versus less physical practices:
Ulatoski: Again, I think it depends on where your team is at physically, mentally, and technically.
When our teams were REALLY talented ('05, '08, '09) it was more important to save our bodies. Players knew how to hit, know how to take a hit and were mentally tough enough to play through bangs during the season. They were also talented enough. Mack was always talking to NFL teams on how they ran practices and he implemented many of those standards at Texas. Camp was all about team building, competition, and perfecting the process and plays.
Currently, it seems like Strong is trying to separate those hungry to work and those who feel entitled from their recruiting process and twitter followers. The team is at a different stage than when Chris and I were playing at UT. They are working hard to get the program back to the standard Mack set during his tenure.
On fondest memories and a match-up that never was, Texas vs. Florida '08:
Hall: Winning the Big 12 championship was nice, but honestly a hard pill to swallow. (I think we gave up 9 sacks that game—bad memory). But playing for it all was great! With Colt we win it all in '09, and I think we win it all in '08 vs. Florida also.
Of course that's only hypothetical. We beat OU by 10, and so did Florida in the Natty. Would have been a fun one to play.
We responded by winning the Fiesta Bowl in dramatic fashion—which is one of the funniest memories I have of college ball.
On differences between when they played and what they see now:
Ulatoski: This is hard to speak to since we are not in the room currently. There are some easy to notice differences:
Stance - As a tackle in our offense, I only was in a two point stance on the goal line, and even then only when we had two tight ends. This was because protecting Colt was priority #1. This had a bigger impact on the run game than most people realize. Trying to knock a Big XII DE off the line in a two point stance, while not having inside protection on the zone scheme is a lot to ask. They have made adjustments in order to give the players a better chance for success in the run game. This coming at the price of pass protection, but I think it is a good adjustment that has been made given our current situation.
Pass Pro Scheme - They're putting the OL less on an island. This takes away some weapons/options for the QB, but for less experienced and less decisive QBs, it will help keep them upright until they get a better grasp of the offense.
On how players who want to transfer or are considering transferring are viewed:
Hall: Depends on the reason. If it's a QB buried in the depth chart everyone understands.
If somebody misses home or simply quits... Let's just say, they are not well spoken of in the locker room thereafter.
Ulatoski: Don't bitch, transfer.
On the best players they went up against and teammates' personality traits:
Hall: 3 Best: Suh, Gerald McCoy and Roy Miller
Best fight: ... can't remember. They were all usually one-sided. Funniest: Brett Valdez—no question.
Quietest: Jordan Shipley
Ulatoski: Best three: Orakpo, Von Miller, and Adam Carriker
Best Fight: Fights stay in the locker room. Funniest is hard to say. Too many to choose.
Quietest - definitely not a DB.
On what expectations should be for the 2015 offensive line:
Hall: They need time to develop—similar to our situation in '07. By the end of the season they should be playing good ball.
On who gave Texas the best chance versus Alabama, Sherrod Harris or Garrett Gilbert:
Hall: Colt.
On most respected and most despised opponent:
Hall: Most respected: OU. Most despised: OU
On UT's shocking decline from '09 to '10:
Ulatoski: Probably the question I get most often and unfortunately I don't know. If I did, I would be making a lot of money as a coach. My GUESS - I think there might have been some entitlement from players who saw the success the teams before had, but forgot the work put in to achieve it. I think the talent dropped off some. Finally, I do know there was some dissonance in the locker room from those trying to lead and those unwilling to follow. Any one of those is difficult to overcome, but one compounded on another and another was too much.
Again, my guess.
On the heavily debated (at the time, '08 and '09), zone running schemes versus gap schemes:
Hall: Mmmm, good question. Not sure it was the Xs and Os, but the Jimmys and Joes.
The fact is: we had the winningest QB in college football history—and he could sling it. We also had a corps of receivers to match him. Our offensive talent was different than the VY/Cedric Benson days. We just didn't run the ball as well as we did then. But we did pass it better.
Gap schemes may have helped though. Inside zone was our historical bread and butter as it is with so many teams.
On Uli playing both right and left tackle in his career:
For me, it was more of a transition starting at right because I played left up until college. During my redshirt year, I was able to practice the techniques at both so it was not as difficult for me. Once thing that gets a lot of players is how they learn the playbook. If you just try to memorize plays instead of understanding schemes, you are going to struggle switching back and forth. Think of learning math. If you don't learn HOW you actually get the answer, and just try to memorize the answer, when things get more complicated, you're going to be lost.
On if OU was more prepared than Texas for the big rivalry game, or if they had a "leg up":
Ulatoski: No. In fact I felt like we were more prepared. We also went 4-1, so there's that...
Hall: Leg up? No. Were they very good? Yes — always one of the best defenses in the country.
On having OU's Auston English figured out:
Ulatoski: Close. We learned from watching film he liked to time the snap when his opponents were in shotgun. Chris was getting lazy and falling into a rhythm (joke), so we made a conscious decision to hold the snaps the first couple of plays. He jumped offsides on the first two plays and then was a non-factor the rest of the game.
On the best defenses they faced:
Ulatoski: Nebraska and OU were always tough. Outside of those, I would also say Ohio State and Alabama.
Chris Hall. courtesy of TexasSports)[/caption]
We were fortunate to have former Texas Longhorn offensive linemen Chris Hall and Adam Ulatoski join us this week for a Q&A. Between the two, they started a combined 81 games during one of the school's storied runs, culminating with the national championship game appearance versus Alabama.
Both were versatile, team players who are now doing well for themselves in the real world. As you'll see, these two are sharp guys. What Joe Wickline would give to have these two on campus now.
On differing coaching personalities:
Ulatoski: I think every player responds differently, like you said. A good coach is able to read his players and adjust accordingly. Personally, the method of delivery was less important than the message itself. Tell me what I need to know so I can adjust and improve.
Hall: Not sure if there's a best personality, but the issue is being able to receive correction and learn from your mistakes. Regardless of what players have grown up with they have to learn to overcome hurt feelings and diminished pride, receive the message from their coach, and then work to get better. At some point in life they're bound to have a boss they don't like—it's good if they can learn now to respect the position (even if they don't like the person) and work in a good way with them.
Personally, I wanted to be corrected and adjusted. That's how you learn. How that was communicated usually didn't bother me (for too long) and even motivated for next time in some cases.
On practice styles, full tackle versus less physical practices:
Ulatoski: Again, I think it depends on where your team is at physically, mentally, and technically.
When our teams were REALLY talented ('05, '08, '09) it was more important to save our bodies. Players knew how to hit, know how to take a hit and were mentally tough enough to play through bangs during the season. They were also talented enough. Mack was always talking to NFL teams on how they ran practices and he implemented many of those standards at Texas. Camp was all about team building, competition, and perfecting the process and plays.
Currently, it seems like Strong is trying to separate those hungry to work and those who feel entitled from their recruiting process and twitter followers. The team is at a different stage than when Chris and I were playing at UT. They are working hard to get the program back to the standard Mack set during his tenure.
On fondest memories and a match-up that never was, Texas vs. Florida '08:
Hall: Winning the Big 12 championship was nice, but honestly a hard pill to swallow. (I think we gave up 9 sacks that game—bad memory). But playing for it all was great! With Colt we win it all in '09, and I think we win it all in '08 vs. Florida also.
Of course that's only hypothetical. We beat OU by 10, and so did Florida in the Natty. Would have been a fun one to play.
We responded by winning the Fiesta Bowl in dramatic fashion—which is one of the funniest memories I have of college ball.
On differences between when they played and what they see now:
Ulatoski: This is hard to speak to since we are not in the room currently. There are some easy to notice differences:
Stance - As a tackle in our offense, I only was in a two point stance on the goal line, and even then only when we had two tight ends. This was because protecting Colt was priority #1. This had a bigger impact on the run game than most people realize. Trying to knock a Big XII DE off the line in a two point stance, while not having inside protection on the zone scheme is a lot to ask. They have made adjustments in order to give the players a better chance for success in the run game. This coming at the price of pass protection, but I think it is a good adjustment that has been made given our current situation.
Pass Pro Scheme - They're putting the OL less on an island. This takes away some weapons/options for the QB, but for less experienced and less decisive QBs, it will help keep them upright until they get a better grasp of the offense.
On how players who want to transfer or are considering transferring are viewed:
Hall: Depends on the reason. If it's a QB buried in the depth chart everyone understands.
If somebody misses home or simply quits... Let's just say, they are not well spoken of in the locker room thereafter.
Ulatoski: Don't bitch, transfer.
On the best players they went up against and teammates' personality traits:
Hall: 3 Best: Suh, Gerald McCoy and Roy Miller
Best fight: ... can't remember. They were all usually one-sided. Funniest: Brett Valdez—no question.
Quietest: Jordan Shipley
Ulatoski: Best three: Orakpo, Von Miller, and Adam Carriker
Best Fight: Fights stay in the locker room. Funniest is hard to say. Too many to choose.
Quietest - definitely not a DB.
On what expectations should be for the 2015 offensive line:
Hall: They need time to develop—similar to our situation in '07. By the end of the season they should be playing good ball.
On who gave Texas the best chance versus Alabama, Sherrod Harris or Garrett Gilbert:
Hall: Colt.
On most respected and most despised opponent:
Hall: Most respected: OU. Most despised: OU
On UT's shocking decline from '09 to '10:
Ulatoski: Probably the question I get most often and unfortunately I don't know. If I did, I would be making a lot of money as a coach. My GUESS - I think there might have been some entitlement from players who saw the success the teams before had, but forgot the work put in to achieve it. I think the talent dropped off some. Finally, I do know there was some dissonance in the locker room from those trying to lead and those unwilling to follow. Any one of those is difficult to overcome, but one compounded on another and another was too much.
Again, my guess.
On the heavily debated (at the time, '08 and '09), zone running schemes versus gap schemes:
Hall: Mmmm, good question. Not sure it was the Xs and Os, but the Jimmys and Joes.
The fact is: we had the winningest QB in college football history—and he could sling it. We also had a corps of receivers to match him. Our offensive talent was different than the VY/Cedric Benson days. We just didn't run the ball as well as we did then. But we did pass it better.
Gap schemes may have helped though. Inside zone was our historical bread and butter as it is with so many teams.
On Uli playing both right and left tackle in his career:
For me, it was more of a transition starting at right because I played left up until college. During my redshirt year, I was able to practice the techniques at both so it was not as difficult for me. Once thing that gets a lot of players is how they learn the playbook. If you just try to memorize plays instead of understanding schemes, you are going to struggle switching back and forth. Think of learning math. If you don't learn HOW you actually get the answer, and just try to memorize the answer, when things get more complicated, you're going to be lost.
On if OU was more prepared than Texas for the big rivalry game, or if they had a "leg up":
Ulatoski: No. In fact I felt like we were more prepared. We also went 4-1, so there's that...
Hall: Leg up? No. Were they very good? Yes — always one of the best defenses in the country.
On having OU's Auston English figured out:
Ulatoski: Close. We learned from watching film he liked to time the snap when his opponents were in shotgun. Chris was getting lazy and falling into a rhythm (joke), so we made a conscious decision to hold the snaps the first couple of plays. He jumped offsides on the first two plays and then was a non-factor the rest of the game.
On the best defenses they faced:
Ulatoski: Nebraska and OU were always tough. Outside of those, I would also say Ohio State and Alabama.
