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Enron Mail |
Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange
The newsletter for the true Texas Longhorn faithful Volume 11, No. 16, April 23, 2001 True Orange Crystal Ball Shows 2001 Season Will Be Longhorns' Break-Through Year My crystal ball was a little faulty last year because it didn't show TE Bo Scaife going down for the season in the first pre-season practice. Without that important piece of data, I predicted the Longhorns would win a= t least 10 regular season games. They won nine without Scaife and I think they would have won 10 with him because the Stanford loss came before the great freshmen wide receivers became the go-to guys on the team. I'm more confident this year because the Longhorns are deeper and even more talented than they were last season, so I'm going to go way out on a limb a= nd predict the 2001 season will be remembered as the one we all will recall as the Horns' "break-through" year. By that, I mean I think they will break into the top 10 and stay there for years and years. Since the Longhorns haven't finished in the top 10 since 1982, that sounds like a tall order for this team. This will be coach Mack Brown's fourth team at Texas and it should be his best one by far. His fourth recruiting class will enroll in September, and it will be his third straight great one. that means the first group of great recruits will be starting their third years. They will be juniors or redshirt sophomores. The third year normally is one when players who have been able to play at a high level at times learn how to play at a high level consistently. This team will have some flaws, but every team has flaws. The great teams simply have enough great players to win in spite of their flaws. The Longhorns have offensive weapons that are almost off the chart. With a healthy Scaife, who is that rarity at TE =01) a swift, sure-handed guy who = can turn a six-yard pass into an 80-yard score =01) to go along with sophomores-to-be Roy Williams and B. J. Johnson, who broke every Longhorn freshman receiving record last year. When a team has an awesome tight end, and Scaife is one of those, with sophomore Brock Edwards not too far behind, it creates match-up problems fo= r any defense. Linebackers normally cover tight ends, and good tight ends, even one who aren't really fast, usually win those matchups. Fast tight ends who can cat= ch in a crowd usually draw coverage from a safety. But then Williams and Johnson create problems because Williams almost alway= s draws double coverage and Johnson is a huge threat to go all the way if one safety is worrying about Scaife and the other one is helping out on William= s. QB Chris Simms seems to be developing into the great player he was expected to be after all the recruiting services tabbed him as the No. 1 prospect in the country when he was a senior in high school. The obvious solution for a defensive coordinator would be to play five or s= ix defensive backs most of the time or to go to a zone defense. But Brown says the Horns will be a better running team than they have been since Ricky Williams departed, and a more experienced line and a bigger tailback should make that happen. Hodges Mitchell was a great little tailback, but this offense is designed primarily to pass or run between the tackles. When you want to run between the tackles, it helps to have a big, powerful tailback. The tailback this season, whether it is one of the returnees or heralded recruit Cedric Benson, will be bigger and more powerful than Mitchell. The line was a good pass-blocking unit last year, and with four of the five guys back, it should be much better this year. The only big question about the offense will be one of consistency. When Simms, who shared time with Major Applewhite last season, was at the helm, the team often had long, long dry spells. In the 43-17 victory over Texas A&M, for example, what most people remember is the Longhorns' four-touchdown explosion in the third quarter. But I remember being scared silly at the half because the offense had made only one first down in the entire half and the defense was showing signs of tiring because of all those 3-and-outs. And that was not an unusual happening. In the bowl loss to Oregon, Simms to= ok the Longhorns on long back-to-back scoring drives in the second quarter, bu= t the Horns generated little offense in the first and third quarters. I could cite other examples, because there are plenty to cite, but Simms is= a year older and wiser and so are the receivers, who performed better last season than any of us have a right to expect true freshmen to perform. A bigger, stronger tailback also will be able to pick up more of those third-and-short downs than the team did last year. Defensively, eight starters return from an outstanding unit. The Longhorns lost two great defensive tackles, but the power teams in the Southern Division of the Big 12 rely a lot more on the pass than they do on the run, and the tackles UT will play this year are quicker and might suppl= y a better pass rush. Defensive coordinator Carl Reese also made several position changes in the spring that are certain to generate a better pass rush. If you remember the Oregon game, the Ducks used quick, undersized linemen t= o harass Simms and it worked remarkably well most of the time. With former DE Maurice Gordon now a super quick DT, and former OLB O. J. McClintock now a super quick DE, look for the Longhorns to be a much better pass rushing team in 2001. I do worry a lot about the Horns' place-kicking, but the coaches are bringi= ng in several walk-ons and, hopefully, one of them can kick off into the end zone and make most of the 40-yard field goals. Even if the kicking problems aren't solved, this is a team with enough weapons, offensively and defensively, to be a top 10 team. No one in the college ranks will be better or deeper at the receiving positions, particularly when the tight ends are added to the mix, and few teams will have better defensive secondaries. The offensive line will be one of the best pass-blocking lines in the Big 1= 2, and the defensive line, despite having two new tackles, also will be one of the league's best. Here's the way I see the Big 12 South race winding up, and, briefly, why I place each team at its particular spot: 1. Texas - Too many big play guys for the other teams to stop. 2. Oklahoma - Defending national champs could do it again if they can find another great QB. 3. Texas Tech - Big passing game too tough for everyone in South but Texas and Oklahoma. 4. Texas A&M - Even R. C. Slocum says the Ags "will not dazzle anyone with talent." 5. Oklahoma State - Team has too many holes and too tough a schedule to do any better. 6. Baylor - Bears still find Big 12 a tough row to hoe with little offense and overworked defense. Nebraska should win the North, mainly because the Huskers host the big game with Kansas State. The Southern Division teams have beaten the North three times in the five championship games and I think Texas or Oklahoma will make it four this yea= r. The South is a lot stronger than the folks =01) and particularly the pundi= ts =01) in the North think, and it's getting stronger every year. 900 Number Updated Frequently I update my 900 number at least twice a week with football and football recruiting news. The number is 1-900-288-8839. It costs $1.59 a minute. You must be 18 or older to call. UT Starts Another Great Recruiting Year with First Pledge The Longhorns have three great recruiting classes in succession, and they made a good start on a fourth earlier this month when outstanding Brownwood junior OL Bret Valdez. 6-4, 310, 5.1, confirmed he has committed to the UT coaches. Valdez, one of the state's great run blockers, said he went to the UT sprin= g game March 31 and really liked what he saw. He said the Texas coaches offered him a scholarship at the spring game. "They told me I was the first offensive lineman they have offered this year= " he said, adding that he went home and talked to his parents about it and decided he wanted to be a Longhorn. He said he came to Austin the weekend after the spring game and competed i= n the Texas Relays, throwing the shot and discus. " After I was through competing," he said, "I went over to the coaches' offices and talked to coach (Mack) Brown and coaches (Tim) Nunez and (Mike) Tolleson and told them I was ready to commit. I'm really excited about bein= g a Longhorn." He said he also was being recruited by about 20 other schools including Florida State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama and Notre Dame. "The first time they can come see us is in May and Florida State, A&M, OU, Notre Dame and Alabama coaches had all told my coach they were going to com= e down and see me then." But he said they need to change their travel plans because he is firmly committed to the Longhorns and will tell any other coaches who contact him that he is a future Longhorn. "Texas has really been recruiting well every year and I think they have a great shot at winning a national championship in the next year or two," he said. "I like the way they emphasize academics, too." "I think I'll have a good chance to start after a redshirt year," he said. The Longhorns probably will sign only three offensive line prospects next February, and the coaches have not offered scholarships to any other offensive line prospects I have been talking to, so they must consider Vald= ez to be the state's top OL prospect. Brownwood went 11-2 last year, and Valdez was the team's top blocker. He ha= s thrown the shot 53 feet and discus 162-7. On tape, Valdez is a very aggressive blocker who has an explosive start tha= t allows him to make quick contact and then he simply drives his guy backward= . He has the quickest start of any of the big offensive line prospects I have seen this year. One of the best things about him is that he is only 16 and won't turn 17 until June 15, but he already benches 320 and squats 600. * * * * The Longhorns need a bumper crop of defensive linemen this year, and they stand a very good chance to get an early commitment from one of the top one= s around at their early June camp. He is Lyle Sendlein, 6-4, 260, 4.8, of Scottsdale Chaparral, a top DT who i= s the No. 1 recruit in Arizona. Sendlein is the son of former UT and NFL LB Robin Sendlein, and he is the brother of UT redshirt freshman LB Austin Sendlein. I talked to Sendlein Sunday and he told me he is coming to the June 4 Longhorn camp. I asked him if he is planning on going to any other camps this summer. "It depends on what happens at the Texas camp," he said. "I might commit. I really like Texas." He said he also is being recruited by Notre Dame, Arizona, UCLA, Arizona State, USC and "about 15 other schools. * * * * Another top DT prospect who is a strong Texas lean is Kasey Studdard, 6-2, 260, 4.8, of Highlands Ranch, Colo. He is the son of David Studdard, a former UT offensive line star who starte= d for the Denver Broncos for about 10 years after his career at Texas. Studdard told me Sunday he probably isn't going to go to any summer camps, but he said, "I really like Texas." He said other schools recruiting him include Colorado, Colorado State, Nebraska, Washington, USC and Missouri. His sister, Katie, recently accepted a basketball scholarship at Northern Colorado. * * * * DE Larry Dibbles of Lancaster, who has thrown the shot nearly 61 feet, says he is bigger and also a little bit faster than I have him listed. "I'm 6-4 1/2, 270 and I run a 4.68 40," he said. He's also an honor student who carries a 3.6 GPA on a 4.0 scale and has already made a qualifying scor= e on the SAT. "I want to take it again to try to do better, but I've already made a qualifying score," he said. When I asked him if he plans to go to any camps this summer, Dibbles said, "I'm going to the Nike camp at A&M and a Texas camp, probably in late June.= I might go to one more camp, maybe at Oklahoma." He said Oklahoma, LSU, TCU and SMU have already offered him a scholarship, and said other schools recruiting him include UT, Notre Dame, A&M, Purdue, Florida and Nebraska. When asked what he is looking for in a school, he said, "Academics has to b= e first. I want to major in something in the engineering or computer range. "I also want to know about the graduation rate for football players. The coaches are important, too, and the chance to get playing time." He said he went to the Longhorn coaches' offices after competing in the Tex= as Relays and met with head coach Mack Brown, DE coach Hardee McCrary and RB coach Bruce Chambers, who recruits the Lancaster area. "It was nice in Austin," he said. "I'm pretty interested in Texas." He also said he thinks Lancaster has a chance to make a good run in the playoffs this year. "We got to the third round last year and lost to Ennis,= " he said. "Ennis won state and we had a lot of young players, so we think we have a chance to do better this year." * * * * Some of the top football players in the state are also some of the top trac= k performers. UT CB signee Michael Huff won the District 7-5A sprints in 10.69 and 21.68 and anchored the 400-meter relay to victory in 41.32. Another Longhorn CB recruit, Cedric Griffin of San Antonio Holmes, won the District 27-5A hurdles in 13.75 and 37.76. He also placed fourth in the triple jump with a 42-3 leap. There are always a lot of regional qualifier meets between the district and regional meets and junior RB DaBryan Blanton of Forney had some great times at the one in Glen Rose Friday, running a 10.1 100 meters and 20.7 200 meters. UT WR recruit Quan Cosby of Mart was second in both races, running 10.5 and 21.18. Junior RB/CB Edorian McCullough of North Garland, who is undefeated in the dashes this year, ran 10.36 and 20.89 and anchored his 400-meter relay team to a win in 41.07 in a regional qualifer meet in Mansfield. Huff was second in the 200 in 21.54 and third in the 100 in 10.55. UT LB recruit Derrick Johnson ran a 10.79 for third place in the 100 in a regional qualifiers meet in McGregor. He has run a 10.6 this year.
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