Texas Longhorns

AUSTIN, Texas -- The thin, burnt-orange offensive line that has broken apart and allowed Texas to be pushed from good to bad is supposed to be fixed this time around.

Stacy Searels, who has long bemoaned the lack of talent, bodies and blocking ability of his charges along that line, has earned the praise of Texas coach Mack Brown, not only for Searels' patience but also his persistence in rebuilding that line.

"He didn't know until he got here there were only seven scholarship guys that were going through spring practice," Brown said. "He has done a tremendous job of reloading our offensive line."

Reloading might not be the right word to use there, as such a term leads one to believe the line was recently loaded. It has been several seasons since that argument could be made. Texas hasn’t produced an NFL lineman since 2008. Prior to that, Brown’s program had seven offensive linemen drafted over a nine-year span -- a healthy number and one that exceeds the production of Alabama and Oklahoma over the same time period.

So Searels has been more pouring a foundation than restocking the shelves. And now the time has come to find out if there are cracks or if Texas is ready to build on a solid base.

Heading into 2013, the offensive line has all five starters returning. Four of those players were also starters on the 2011 offensive line, while the fifth, Donald Hawkins, came in as a junior college transfer after that season. Those starters did have less-than-stellar performances throughout 2012, however, and, quite frankly, were shoved around by TCU, Oklahoma, Kansas State and a few other teams.

Texas, with its loaded backfield, averaged 3.4 rushing yards per attempt against the six ranked opponents it played in 2012. Against TCU, Oklahoma and Kansas State, the Longhorns failed to reach 100 yards rushing and averaged 3.0 rushing yards per attempt.

It's safe to assume those types of numbers have not exactly locked down a starting job for every player who started along that offensive line. To that end, Texas does have a potential new tackle waiting in the wings in the form of junior college transfer Desmond Harrison.

His arrival should signal some shifts along the line at every position, save for Josh Cochran at the opposite tackle spot.

"He [Cochran] is a tackle, so you'd leave him there," Brown said. "But the fact that Trey Hopkins has played everywhere, Donald Hawkins could play different places, guard or tackle, just gives you a lot more flexibility for depth. [Sedrick] Flowers would be a center or guard. You wouldn't move him outside. But you have flexibility and you have to look at that great freshman class coming in, too, to see if any of those guys are ready to play."

Texas signed five offensive linemen in its 2013 class and could play at least one of those. Darius James, who was ranked No. 17 in the ESPN 150, appears to be the odds-on favorite to be that player. He could fill in at the guard spot and also has some center in his background.

Since Texas wants to average about 84 plays per game, it is not unreasonable to believe that up to 10 linemen could see time in each game. To believe that Texas had that many linemen available in the past would have been a ludicrous assumption.

Even last season, Texas could barely go beyond six offensive linemen. But given the emergence of Kennedy Estelle (tackle) and Flowers (guard), plus the improved health of Camrhon Hughes (tackle), the arrival of Harrison and James makes a deeper rotation at least a plausible thought.

"I really think that we can have two-deep, and that will be the first time we have been two-deep around here in a long time," Brown said. "And I think we are -- I know we are headed in the right direction with our depth in the offensive line."

AUSTIN, Texas -- Mack Brown knows all too well it’s easy to start riding the roller coaster after a big win.

Texas’ 66-31 road victory against Ole Miss on Saturday has the program at the No. 10 spot in this week's coaches' poll and its players and fans brimming with confidence.

Perhaps then there’s no more opportune time than now for a bye week. Brown and his Longhorn coaching staff have safeguards in place this week to ensure their team doesn’t starting getting overconfident.

“It’s a younger team, so we’ll talk to them,” Brown said Tuesday. “I think the environment here is we get too high too fast and we get too low too fast. I think they pretty much understand what they’ve got ahead of them, and that’s the good thing.”

What’s ahead is a brutal three-game stretch against Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Oklahoma. Brown isn’t even touching those games during the bye week though.

This is a week for re-evaluation, for circling back and analyzing what did and didn’t work during Texas’ nonconference slate.

For example, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz will meet individually with each and every one of his defenders this week. The performance reviews will include watching film of every missed tackle or missed assignment a player has made through three games.

The goal? Find the flaws and make the fixes. The Longhorns have been good, but there's plenty to improve upon. Even the Texas offensive line, which recorded a combined 101 knockdown blocks against the Rebels, isn’t infallible.

“I think Stacy Searels will bring the offensive line back down to Earth today,” Brown said. “They’ll think they lost the game by the time we get to about 6 o’clock tonight.”

To keep the focus on self-correction, Brown said he and his coaches won’t even start talking to players about Oklahoma State until Sunday.

The staff isn’t grinding away on tape of the Cowboys’ No. 1 ranked scoring offense. Assistant coaches will spend more of this free time hitting the recruiting trail.

Texas is only worried about Texas right now.

“We will actually look at cleaning us up, and we’re going to look at what we need to do to improve,” Brown said. “We feel like, in the past, if you’re not careful you can start playing games too early. If you start on them and talk about them all week, it’s kind of old news when [players] get back for next week.

“We’re going to work on things that they do, but we will not mention Oklahoma State until next week.”

Today we continue our look across the league at few players from each team who had low profiles last year, but you'd better get to know before Saturday. They just might be household names by season's end.

More fresh faces:

• Baylor
• Iowa State
• Kansas
• Kansas State
• Oklahoma
• Oklahoma State
• TCU

Next up: Texas.

Donald Hawkins, OT: Hawkins and another guy on this list were the first juco transfers to sign with Texas since 2002, and both look like they'll have huge impacts in their first seasons on campus. Texas' offensive line is pretty stout, but Hawkins has already earned a starting spot after a spring and fall camp, trotting out as the starting left tackle ahead of freshman Kennedy Estelle. The 6-foot-5, 310-pounder came to Texas via Mississippi, and OL coach Stacy Searels will help mold him. You never know, of course, but don't be surprised if you see Hawkins' name on the All-Big 12 offensive line at season's end.

Chris Whaley and Brandon Moore, DTs: Texas is crazy deep at defensive tackle, but these two players have the oddest roads to where they are today. Whaley came to Texas as one of the nation's top running backs all the way back in 2009, but he's earned a starting spot as a 292-pound defensive tackle. He made five tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and fumble recovery last year, but made just one start. Moore, meanwhile, was the second juco transfer to sign with the 2012 class, despite Texas' aversion to the practice for the past decade. The 6-5, 320-pounder already wowed teammates in the spring, and with the kind of depth Texas has to help spell Moore, he's going to be scary when he's on the field.

Steve Edmond, LB: Edmond came to Texas as the nation's No. 4 linebacker, and he's going to be literally and figuratively a huge presence at middle linebacker for the Horns. The 6-3, 255-pounder offers some size in the middle of the defense that few Big 12 teams can duplicate. We'll see how well Edmond can cover, but Texas' scheme is unlikely to leave Edmond on islands with pass-catchers. He had two tackles for loss last year, 16 tackles and a forced fumble.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Trey Hopkins played right tackle last season.

The junior is at left guard right now. But at any moment he could go to center, a place where he has been working as a backup.

“I’ve been moved around quite a bit,” he said.

Same goes for Mason Walters. He has been a fixture at guard, but there were those days back in the spring when the junior was asked to snap a few.

“You never know where you’re going to be,” Walters said. “I could go out there and one day be at center. That’s how [offensive line coach Stacy] Searels does it.”

Searels also refuses to allow his players to only know one position. Instead as defensive ends coach Oscar Giles is apt to say, he likes to throw all the different ingredients in the pot and try and come up with the best stew.

And in 2012, Texas has all the ingredients for a solid line. Four of the five players are returning starters. The fifth, Donald Hawkins, is a junior college transfer who came in and took a starting spot in the spring.

“We have guys up front that actually know what they’re doing,” Hopkins said.

And know how to do it regardless of the position they’re playing. That’s because Searels refuses to have his linemen typecast as just a guard or just a tackle.

Just about every player is given a shot at another position at one time or another. The theory being, that if injuries hit, Searels can shuffle the deck and still come up with a flush hand.

“If anything happened we believe we’re going to have a guy that can step up and there will not be a step back,” Hopkins said.

But there is another underlying benefit as well. Searels’ method allows for each player to have a deeper understanding of not just his position but of all the positions along the line.

“You have to know not only what you’re doing as an offensive lineman but you have to know what the guy next to you is doing to work as a cohesive unit,” Hopkins said. “It makes us better if I know what my left tackle is doing because I can move within that framework and not have any miscommunication or anything like that.”

That, in turn, leads to confidence from the players about their individual play and the play of the individual next to him. A confident player is one who is inclined to be more aggressive. Aggressive is one of the first steps to becoming tougher. And ultimately toughness is what Mack Brown has been preaching about since the end of 2011.

“You go back look at our BCS games we haven't run the ball as well as we needed to in those games,” Brown said. “I thought Colt [McCoy] was so good and so accurate that we became a softer offensive football team from a running standpoint.

“We were throwing the ball on 3rd-and-4, and I wanted to bring the toughness back. I want us to get so we are a more physical football team from top to bottom.”

The downhill blocking scheme which was implemented last season by Searels and Texas co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin has started to allow the line to become more physical. So too has the depth and versatility along that line.

“We’re in a system that compliments what we have,” Hopkins said. “[Harsin] knows what he has and he knows what our strengths are and that is what we utilize.”

And Searels knows he can utilize any player in any place within that system.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Bryan Harsin knows what he faces now -- a tougher schedule, bigger stadiums, louder crowds, better athletes, more expectations and plenty of pressure.

Maybe more importantly he knows with whom he faces it -- a coach that understands the pressures of being a quarterback at Texas (Major Applewhite), a coach that delegates and does not dictate (Mack Brown), a head coach who thinks wide receivers should block first, second and third, then think about pass patterns (Darrell Wyatt), and a throwback with more grunts than glad handing (Stacy Searels). And that is just on the offensive side of the ball.

In all, six members of Texas’ staff are sophomores now. They have lived the life for a year. And, after being 8-5 together, they have lived to see another.

“Now we understand what we’re doing,” said Harsin, the co-offensive coordinator along with Applewhite. “We understand the details. We understand how each of us operates. And what the expectations of each positions are.”

"Even at our coaches' retreat a couple of weeks ago, the guys were all on the same page and it went so much smoother,” Brown said. “Last year they were talking about what are you doing in pregame warmups. They were talking about where we stay the night before the game.

“Now all of those things they know. We are so much further along than we were, and that leads to more excitement as we start the season as well.”

That progress is not just owed to those position coaches. Included among those six is strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie. The backbone of the program, Wylie is the one who has pushed the players to stand tall, and at the same time, turned the head of Brown as to what expectations a cohesive staff can put on these players.

It’s that work that has Brown talking about Texas being a tougher football team. And everybody knows a fist is much tougher to defend against than a slap. A fist is what Texas considers itself now that it has come together.

“Now we all know what is expected of everyone else,” junior offensive guard Mason Walters said.

(Read full post)