True Orange, May 14, 2001, Part 1 ,
 Part 1 of 3 Parts

Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange
The Newsletter for the True Texas Longhorn Faithful

Volume 11, No. 17, May 14, 2001

 Brown Says Longhorns Should Be Very Good
Offensively with Chance for Stout Defense, Too

Coach Mack Brown says the Longhorns will head into the football season with
just one problem on offense and fewer than expected on defense if his young
tackles come through.
In an interview with coach Brown last week, I asked him how the Longhorns
compare with his best teams at North Carolina.
In a nutshell, he said Texas is better offensively than those North Carolina
teams, but is not quite as imposing defensively
His last two teams at North Carolina lost only to Florida State, posting the
best two-year record ever for the Tar Heels, and finishing in the top 10
twice, something Texas hasn't accomplished once in nearly two decades.
"Our offensive line is better here," he said. "We have two quarterbacks who
can play. We had that at North Carolina, too, but our upside is better here.
Our receivers at North Carolina were very good, but the ones we have now can
be the best we've had."
He said North Carolina's fullback and tight end  from his last team there are
still playing in the NFL, but he also noted that UT TE's Bo Scaife and Brock
Edwards, who are only sophomores in eligibility, have NFL potential, too.
He said one big plus offensively at UT is the depth the incoming freshmen
will provide in the line.
"We had good offensive linemen at North Carolina, but we had trouble finding
good ones in numbers," he said.
"We didn't have good numbers here and had to force some guys to play too
early," he said, "but that got them ready to play and now we have  good
experience and good numbers and we hope we can start redshirting our freshmen
offensive linemen. We need to get to that point."
Hesaid the only problem he sees offensively this season is at tailback, and
that isn't as big a problem as it seems because all five of the returnees
competing for the job are competent players and several of them have the
ability to step it up.
And if they don't step it up, there is a young fellow coming to two-a-days in
August who has everyone excited. I've written enough about Cedric Benson that
I won't go through it all again, but he is something special.
If you doubt it, just remember this: Three state championship games in Class
5A at Midland Lee, with five touchdowns in each game. No one else has ever
come close to doing that once in Class 5A much less three times.
Defensively, Brown has high expectations and that's only natural because 10
of the starters and 5 of the backups on his 1997 North Carolina team were NFL
draft picks. Three of his defensive linemen went in the first round.
But he says the Longhorns have some talent on defense and could be very good
if his young tackles come through.
The departures of two-time All-American Casey Hampton and his equally
formidable sidekick Shaun Rogers left a giant hole in the middle of the
Longhorn defense.
They were the run-stoppers deluxe who led a unit that ranked 12th nationally
in rushing defense, yielding 94 yards a game last year.
Eight starters return from a Longhorn defense that also ranked seventh in the
nation in total defense, yielding only 278.3 yards per game.
Brown also said Rogers, who missed several games with a badly sprained ankle
was never close to 100% last year after being injured early in the season.
"Shaun was one of the best players of his size I have seen at rushing the
passer," he said. "When we lost him, it really hurt our pass rush."
I have speculated in previous issues that the Longhorns probably will have a
better pass rush from their front four this season because sophomore-to-be
Marcus Tubbs got 5.5 sacks, second on the team last year, while standing in
for Rogers, and because the defensive ends are a year older and there is more
speed at tackle than before.
Brown said the coaches are counting on a better pass rush from their linemen
"Cory Redding and Kalen Thornton have the potential to be as good as anybody
at defense end," he said. "We have high expectations for them.'
At tackle, he said Tubbs "weighs 285 and he can run. He's got a great upside.
He's a young guy who has played well already and should just get better and
better. We're excited about him."
Brown also said the move of Maurice Gordon from end to tackle "looks like a
good one. He runs a 4.6 and he looked really good this spring. We just need
him to keep on working hard and he'll be a  good one. He's already a good
pass rusher, and he's working on getting stronger to stop the run.
While Gordon is a pass-rushing whiz, the likely starter at tackle opposite
Tubbs is redshirt freshman Stevie Lee if he is able to recover fully from
foot surgery.
Lee played well last year in spots as a true freshman, but was injured early
and was able to get a medical redshirt year, which means he is a freshman
again this year.
If Lee is healthy, Brown said the key for him is off-season conditioning
work. "Stevie can play at about 300 pounds, but he doesn't need to play at
330," he said.
"In this league, everybody spreads people out, forcing the front four to make
off-schedule plays. You can't just be a run stopper anymore. You've got to be
quick enough to make adjustments.
"We're emphasizing speed and quickness," he added. "That's why we made some
moves in the spring, like moving Maurice Gordon to tackle, O. J. McClintock
to end (from linebacker) and Lee Jackson to linebacker (from safety)."
Brown also said sophomore Adam Doiron, who also played well in relief last
season as a true freshman, has a bright future at tackle.
"He needs to get get stronger," Brown said. He's real smart and real tough.
He just needs to get more experience and use the off-season program to get
stronger."
He likes his secondary, saying, "I feel like we are in real good shape with
our secondary. We have guys who have the ability to cover and the speed to
make up ground. We also are two deep in the secondary for the first time
since we've been here."
The area where he wants to see the most improvement on defense is a
linebacker, where all three starters return.
"We have asked our linebackers to step it up," he said. "They have played
really well for us, but we want them to just take an extra step to get even
better."
The Longhorns had troubles with their place kicking in the spring, and Brown
said the returnees and three walk-ons will compete for the starting job when
two-a-days begin in early August.
Summing up, he said the Longhorns' strengths are at quarterback, wide
receiver, tight end, the offensive line, the defensive ends and the secondary.
He said defensive tackle will be a strong position, too, if Lee returns
healthy and all the young players continue to improve.
When asked to comment on the most pleasant surprises from spring training,
Brown said, "Bo Scaife returning and looking like he is ready to play is one.
Kyle Shanahan (a walk-on wide receiver) did some really good things. Derrick
Dockery finally being healthy again was a big positive development."
He said all of the "spin-down" moves the coaches made on defense this spring
are "looking good at this point. We wanted to improve our speed on defense,
and these moves have helped us accomplish that."
Asked about the biggest disappointment in the spring drills, he said, "It was
nobody emerging at tailback. They all played good, but, after Ricky Williams
and Hodges Mitchell, our expectations are very high."
True Orange Observations
Look for the Longhorns to use more one-back formations this season. Why? The
back-up wide receivers and tight ends are more dangerous than the fullbacks.
WR Sloan Thomas and TE Brock Edwards would start and star for many teams, but
they are backups at Texas.
Also, look for a lot more misdirection plays and other plays designed to make
the offense less predictable than it was last season.
* * * *
With coach Mack Brown's first great class of recruits heading into their
third seasons, and two other great classes following it, this is the season
the Longhorns should be able to finish in the top 10 for the first time since
1983.
For those of you who seem to get a little impatient at times, it is worth
noting that the Longhorns have finished in the top 20 just seven times since
1983 and three of those seven times were in Brown's first three years here -
15th in 1998, 21st in 1999 and 12th in 2000.
This Longhorn team probably will start out about fifth or sixth in the
country and it should be able to stay in the top 10 unless some wheels fall
off.
The great thing about the way Brown has built this program is that he and his
assistants recruit great prospects every year, and develop them.
I think this year will start a long string of years for UT  to be contending
for high national honors.
The only way you can win the highest national honor - a national championship
- is to get to the championship game.
Since only two teams get to the championship game, some very deserving teams
are left out. Miami and Washington, for example, were certainly deserving
last year, but unbeaten Oklahoma and once-beaten Florida State got the nod.
So, having an outstanding team doesn't guarantee a berth in the national
title game.
I won't predict the Longhorns will wind up in the Rose Bowl playing for the
national title this year, but I will predict that Brown will have us playing
in a national championship game very soon.
Teams in the Big 12 and SEC have the extra burden of having to play a
post-season game for their conference titles, which means they have to play
two godzillas back to back to be No. 1.
But great teams can do it and Texas will be a great team in the very near
future. It might not be this year, but it could be if things break the
Longhorns' way.


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