All is Well…Interesting
In the last ten days, Charlie Strong has changed his offensive coordinator and his starting quarterback, and he has a new boss after Steve Patterson was summarily dismissed. That seems like an entire off-season’s worth of change for one football program. Saturday’s game with California, it seems to me, is like the start of a new season.
2015 Reset
Jerrod Heard—by the way, Ahmad Brooks, that’s JERROD not Gerard—in his first game as a starter, took just 30 snaps, because Rice controlled the ball for almost 45 minutes. Though Heard got a lot accomplished in those 30 snaps, 96 yards rushing, 120 yards passing and two touchdowns on only seven attempts—that’s a phenomenal 17 yard per attempt average—the sample size is way too small to know much about how he will fare in the long-term. According to Scipio Tex, my favorite analyst at Barking Carnival, Heard audibled into, instead of away from a couple of Rice blitzes, and he made the wrong read on four or five zone read plays, unless the calls were made pre-snap by Jay Norvell. Read Scipio’s breakdown of the offense versus Rice here. Those mistakes should be easily correctable for Heard with more experience. What seems undeniable—even after one game—is that Heard is confident and a dangerous runner who adds a much needed dimension to the offense. He recognized single coverage and was decisive on his two long touchdown passes. He also made quick decisions to pull the ball down and take off from the pocket, producing key runs on two of Texas’ scoring drives. I had made a pre-snap decision not to go to the California game, but I’ve audibled in for Saturday night solely because of Jerrod Heard. I wonder how many extra tickets Heard has sold for this game.
After watching about ten minutes of Jay Norvell’s media availability this week, l almost feel bad for mildly disparaging his resume in one of my columns last week. I was impressed, and I liked him. He was earnest, substantive, and articulate for a football coach. The most interesting thing I heard him say was that Jerrod Heard needed to think about only three options on a pass play: the primary receiver, the secondary receiver, and running. And maybe running needed to be higher in the pecking order. Expect to see Heard run often from the pocket.
Although I told you before the first game that Texas’ defensive line, with Desmond Jackson and Hassan Ridgeway still not 100% healthy, might not be as good as it was touted to be, I didn’t expect it to be the biggest liability on the team. If opponents are able to pick up five yards or more on first down after first down as Rice was, then it’s not going to be much fun for Texas fans the rest of the season. I’m counting on my main man Vance Bedford to get his defense to achieve at least modest respectability, so we can watch more Jerrod Heard.
I have a final thought on the Steve Patterson affair. The University of Texas and its athletic program gouged loyal customers and displayed little regard for them long before Steve Patterson arrived. I can’t give you exact figures, but I have been a season ticket holder since 1995 and ticket prices have been increased unreasonably—in my opinion—year-to-year starting at least ten years ago. There’s no question that Patterson was abrasive, arrogant, condescending, and obtuse, and I was very put off by his public appearances and statements. But to me, an alumnus and customer, the only thing new that Patterson brought to UT was the abrasiveness. I know that the big money donors and Longhorn insiders are happy and will be happy with Patterson being gone, but I don’t expect the regular folks like my Longhorn fan friends and me to see any improvement in our relationship with UT Athletics.
Nonetheless,
HooK ‘eM Horns,
W.E.
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