Joe and Ian see where Texas could replace its defensive tackle talent, how Michigan and OU are shaping up, and Texas' 2nd round game vs. Tennessee. Subscribe to Inside Texas to stay locked in with your favorite team every single day https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/join/
Inside Texas Football
IT Roundtable: Defensive Tackle Depth, Early Scout on Michigan/OU, Elite 11, March Madness Round 2
Welcome to the Inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by InsideTexas.com. I'm Joe Cook. I'm stepping in for LC this week as he's off in some faraway place doing faraway things. But we got another edition of the Saturday round table. We'll talk a lot about Texas football. We'll talk about Texas football opponents, Texas football recruiting, and also a little bit of Texas basketball as later tonight. The Longhorns will face old coach Rick Barnes in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Make sure you like this video. Subscribe to the channel so we can bring you a bunch of great content on a daily basis. We will go over some of Steve Sarkeesian's comments about defensive tackle, some of the latest going ons at Michigan and Oklahoma to teams on Texas 2024 schedule. Talk about the Elite 11 which is in Austin this weekend and KJ Lacey Texas commit is expected to be there. And of course then we will get to the NCAA tournament real quick. Ian what's been your takeaway from some of the things we've heard from spring football so far through two practices and there's probably one going on right now as people are watching this. Sarkees tone made it seem like this team is going to be a little more offensive than before, which is what you'd expect they have a returning quarterback. The offensive line looks like it could be like an all-time dominant line for Texas and then they got all these transfers at receiver so there's not as much drop off there. But just the way he talked about it he when he would talk about defense he's like he's offensively he sounds like very confident and very comfortable right. And then when he talked about his defense he sounded a little bit more hesitant and qualified. Am I right? We're going to figure it out or we hope to figure it out and I think that leads perfect into our first topic that they're looking at depth or they're looking for depth at defensive tackle and something you wrote a lot about last year and something that we saw with our own eyes was running up the middle whether it was from spread formations or whether it was from heavy formations where it invited a third defensive tackle in the field was just a non-starter for opposing offenses because of Tivondre Sweat because of Byron Murphy and that was kind of the second straight year that was the case when you go back to 2022 and think of Keondre Coburn and Moro Ojamo. When we entered 2023 there was a clear successor or duo of successors in Sweat and Murphy. That's not exactly the case this upcoming season as far as level of play. I think we all expect Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins to be those first two defensive tackles on the field and peak with Cowsky's 2-4-5 scheme but after that they brought in a transfer in Tia Li'i Sevea to try to shore up depth and then it's a little bit unknown so SARC talked about that the other day at his Tuesday press conference based off what we've heard on inside Texas and what we've heard from SARC what are your kind of takeaways at this juncture and could we maybe see even you know looking six months ahead a little bit change in philosophy and how they rotate at defensive tackle on the Longhorn BL. The rotations may be different the strategy may be a little different because they just don't have the big space eaters anymore right like Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins have both gained weight but is that because they're going to try trying to do it Murphy and Sweat did or just because they need to be a little stouter against the run but they still should maybe play a different style so I mean there's a question of whether they play them a little bit differently maybe a little less of a space eating philosophy and more of a movement philosophy there's like can they play Collins and broaden together or does there too much overlap and they need to both be accompanied by like maybe a stouter guy and then there's like you know could Tiwali Sivia or or Jeray Blitzso end up being one of the better tackles I think we think Collins is going to be the best tackle on the team and then I I don't know about you I'm a little less confident that Vernon Broughton will be the second best I think he might be but I think Sivia or Blitzso can also end up being the second best or maybe even Brian or S idea Mitchell with big off-season you know less likely but so I mean that's a lot of different question marks and you know they're not if they're if they're going to mix it up and do a bunch of new things they're not going to show it and make that plane to us right in the media because then we'll just we'll blab we'll blab it to everybody so there's a lot of wait and see here yeah obviously they don't take somebody at defensive tackle unless they think they need to to shore it up because even Sarkeesian himself has admitted some of the things that they use the transfer portal for is covering holes and recruiting and when one of your you sign what two defensive tackles in two years between Sadier Mitchell and also Alex January with a little bit of positional versatility with Melvin Hills yeah you're going to need that especially when you go into a league and the SEC that does have more spread concepts as you've written about often but they still have big humans on that line of scrimmage and on that offensive front so they don't take a transfer they don't unless they think A he can play and B they need him so I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of survey on the first team but you know Jeray Bledso is somebody who played meaningful snaps if you remember Anthony Hills sack of Jalen Milro the second one that was the Crimson Tide's last offensive play of the game Jeray Bledso was out there and that would that said a lot to me of course he's he's athletic he's got pass rush ability with that athleticism and that frame at least in the 2023 season but they trusted him for real snaps at that point and they're only going to trust him some more Sadier Mitchell 372 that that sounds like a space eater but what's the concern there even Steve Sarkeesian said that they may want to get him a little bit lighter so he can play more plays so aside from conditioning like what what and and also going down the depth chart looking at guys like you mentioned Aaron Bryant even someone like Zach Swanson further down Alex January who's received some positive comments like who are some other guys you could see maybe stepping up to contend for being in those first two lines the first two shifts to maybe use it in the hockey term for Texas I mean I think that Bledso brought in survey and Collins are your first two like hockey lines if they play more three down then now you need to get a Mitchell Bryant a Swanson up to snuff or maybe you go transfer portal like there was there's some court there's like the the Indiana kid Philip what's his last name Philip Bleedy I believe Bleedy um to me a guy like that there's probably going to be a few guys like that in the transfer portal they're like pretty good defensive tackles that can hold their own like troll Carter a year ago guys like that though Texas has guys like that so I don't understand why they would get more unless they needed more because they're gonna play like more three down fronts and so they needed more bodies but there's usually not a guy that's going to be like a sweat or a Murphy that's like he's going to anchor one of your lines and be a star that guy's he's just not in the transfer portal that just almost never happens um so uh yeah I think pretty much what we see is what we're going to get in the fall and they're just trying to figure out you know the summer will help in getting side dear Mitchell's weight down and it'll probably also hurt in keeping Swanson and Bledso's weight up right so they'll mess around with everything and see what they can put together in the fall yeah when I'm glad you brought that up about the portal because it's like oh go get that guy in the portal well they have to jump in there and I think what the most premium defensive tackle that we can think of who's jumped in is probably Bear Alexander right over the past couple of years who went from Georgia to USC um you know I know Trill Carter was a solid rotational piece but it's not like he was you know a first team all big 10 guy jumping in and I know there's a lot of wishful thinking surrounding Michigan and surrounding you know their situation right now but well guys still haven't jumped in yet and until they do then you're just wish casting uh hoping that like an all-american shows up but that's not what you find typically typically in the portal and if they do show up in there well you better get your uh your checkbook out because they're going to be drawing a lot of uh hypothetical salary cap percentage at that point yeah and people Michigan it's been non-stop those guys are very well situated at Michigan they have scheme continuity they're gonna start um Michigan's and IL has been more and more with it you know in the last few years I I just don't think that's gonna happen you know the other hope was that like A&M has been stockpiling defensive tackles that everybody else has wanted and uh it's like well they have a coaching change let's look for these guys maybe after spring maybe but they hung them on to them for spring and just like once you get past that initial like the longer they just stick around the more there's inertia to just stay yeah and I neglected to mention you speaking of Texas A&M defense alignment obviously Walter Nolan uh but if anything about um how those recruitments have gone and things like that uh we we see why Ole Miss was able to do well as they're going for it but let's talk a little bit about like you mentioned Michigan it's been there has been inertia uh with Sharon Moore a very familiar face up there and but at the same time there's been a lot of change they're obviously gonna lose a considerable chunk of players who helped them to a national championship this upcoming season that includes JJ McCarthy uh it includes Brock Quorum um it includes how do you say his name Mike Sanderstrill so you know those are some of the big pieces on that team even uh Roman Wilson you know a wide receiver who but you know depending on what you view the or how you view the Wolverine offense still was a big part of it uh lose Jim Harbaugh so that's a great football mind leaving the building you lose Jesse Mentor who's been uh as you've written plenty on the cutting edge of current defense and they basically replace those two so you have Sharon Moore stepping in for Harbaugh probably keeping himself as play caller uh and then you have uh Wink Martindale coming from the NFL and stepping in for Jesse Mentor who runs some things that are similar but also some things that are way different philosophically as far as pressure things like that so um let's start with I guess the the Sharon Moore aspect not necessarily as an offensive coordinator but as a a head coach the staff that he has that type of thing from an organizational structure what what have you seen from Sharon Moore uh considering you're uh you're on the ground up in uh the the lower peninsula yeah the lower uh yeah in the upper peninsula they call the people in the lower peninsula trolls because they're under the bridge you know but there's only like 10 of them so um you know when they promoted him from like tied in coach to offensive line coach I was kind of surprised because when they did that it was like a make or break year for Harbaugh it was after 2020 and when they promoted him they went back to uh more of a smash mouth power offense like Harbaugh's done before that they've been running like inside zone spread with this guy who had been at like Notre Dame and had been in Ohio State with Urban Meyer and and had been at Kansas with Mark Mangino and so they went they go back to this more power smash mouth style with this guy that had not been an offensive line coach before and I thought that that was kind of strange and risky and it went really well and it turns out that he's like an amazing position coach I really connected with his players he's been a great recruiter they he's the portal well which is hard to do in Michigan because their academic requirements for transfers is not lenient for grad transfers um and they've been remarkable at it now I would worry as a Michigan fan like so it turns out he has these like recruiting and coaching chops that had not seen the light of day previously at his previous jobs okay that was a good stroke of luck but now is he also going to prove to have like staff hiring and management skills I don't know and a lot of what he's done so far with the Michigan staff is just internal promotions like aim for continuity and promote from within and uh that's great when you have talented people around waiting in the wings and it's not great when you don't like Davos Winnie right we did that for years and then they like ran out of creative people and they like everything with the hell like in this season um so I don't know and then Wink Martindale is like another example of like what's the easiest continuity hire we could make because Wink Martindale was the guy who taught the system to their last two defensive coordinators at Baltimore and those younger guys that they hired actually ended up updating and reorganizing it making it better particularly Mike McDonald um who is now like the head coach of the Seahawks right correct um so they kind of they just bring in Wink Martindale because he's he can't hold a job in the NFL anymore and it's like hey run this system that your young guys developed beyond you you know like how's that gonna go probably okay great I don't know I don't know um so uh I'm I'm pretty mixed on things but the thing with Michigan this coming season is that they still have inertia that word we've been using a lot because they still have like uh off the top of my head like five or six NFL prospects on their defense including the two tackles and the defense is why they won the national championship last year so if Martindale can maintain like decent continuity on the defense with all these guys they're going to be really good on defense again and then it just comes down to if Sharon Moore can rebuild the offense with players that he knows because they've been in the program and I don't that's kind of up in the air but uh yeah it seems like the question to force your own more the biggest one he may have to answer this this offseason is what do you do at quarterback do you go with what is it it's Alex Orgy uh or and then there's Jack Tuttle who's like a 15th year senior and then there's guys in the recruiting class I think they pulled a very talented quarterback from the Carolinas or Florida somewhere in the southeast somewhere on the east coast who's going to compete to succeed JJ McCarthy so quarterback play is going to be something to to track and um along with that quarterback play whether they they shape reshape the offense that Sharon Moore's been running with both JJ McCarthy and under Jim Harbaugh anything else on on Michigan before you want to look a little bit north of the Red River I think the spoiler is going to be that Michigan is going to be the same only without instead of having a bigger emphasis on like Jim Harbaugh's west coast passing stuff they're going to just run a lot of power option with Orgy because he is like I don't know how well he throws I don't know if I've ever seen him even try a pass except for like a lateral bubble screen or something but he's like 6-3-2-30 and like probably better than 4-6-40 speed he's a big old freak he's like it's I think that they're going to be kind of like the mill row Alabama team that Texas played this last fall in terms of their offense and their style and they have they do have a role adjacent yeah yeah something like that well a team that has different questions at quarterback but doesn't seem like they have a battle they don't have a battle obviously is Oklahoma they have Jackson Arnold coming in the successor to Dylan Gabriel started the Alamo Bowl against Arizona and not only that Jeff Levy has taken the head coaching job at Mississippi State so they have a combination of Jo-John Finley and you're gonna have to remind me the the old North Texas coach who is also there Seth LaTrell Seth LaTrell and those guys come from slightly well LaTrell comes from an air raid background but Finley definitely comes from the Veer and Shoot Brailsian background obviously Brent Venables is there controlling that defense they hired a Jacksonville State assistant Zach Allie who had been part of Venables I think system dating back to days at Clemson so despite a lot of new faces both on the sidelines and at the quarterback position they're going to be running I feel like a lot of the same stuff but what is the as Oklahoma also like Texas goes in the first year in the SEC what are some of the things to track maybe from a let's start at quarterback let's go with Jackson Arnold especially within that LaTrell and Finley offense if you read like the optimistic Oklahoma stuff out there it is all assuming that Jackson Arnold is like nails next year it says this huge leap it is a five star stud and goes and dominates with a what is admittedly a pretty solid looking receiving core right and and some good backs too I think that that is over optimistic everyone will be shocked that I have a pessimistic view about Oklahoma the dude well first of all I think the days of freshman and underclassmen starters being awesome in college are have come and gone there's like a brief window in the 2010s where you could play like a freshman or sophomore and you could kill teams and they would be fine defenses have caught up the spread does not turn offense into easy mode in the same way it used to and I think these young quarterback struggle Arnold in particular is a guy that's like all-world throwing ability and some running ability but he he's he does his best in RPOs and in plays where it's like he knows where the ball is going and he's just got to hit his mark kind of like Queen Ewers like just like Queen Ewers it took him till last year right to really be an effective hang your hat kind of guy offensively I I would be shocked if Arnold is as good as he needs to be for them to be awesome next year and then there's the other thing with them which is that they are replacing their entire offensive line and almost their entire defensive tackle rotation so it's all new transfers and young guys at the big guy spots going into the big guy league and I think that that's like that's a that's really tough and it's not something that Oklahoma is used to because they're used to having the best offensive line in the big 12 by usually a pretty wide margin and then also having one of the better defensive lines and being one of the few teams that can consistently count on having like an NFL caliber defensive tackle and that they're gonna may or may not have either of those advantages next year in a league where the gap is they're gonna be like on the other end of they're gonna see how the other half lives basically it's hard to bet against Bill Beatenball with that that offensive line but I think at a certain point he does have to have the clay to mold and to his credit you know he recruits well like he said they usually have league best league standard when it comes to offensive line but the standard is definitely going to change and the portal was was not overly kind to them on the offensive line front especially as they lose I think they lose what's his name caden green correct to somebody on their schedule in Missouri so that that doesn't help them at all um they're defense they're still gonna have some talent on that defense and the system is not changing I think Zach Allie is there to be uh mostly a conduit from Brent Venables even if Brent Venables isn't calling plays Zach Allie's been there been with Venables for a while knows how he operates what's this the strength of that sooner defense likely to probably be in the secondary right considering some of the pieces they have coming back at linebacker and at safety so one one interesting thing about Allie actually is that he ran Venables version of the flyover at Jacksonville State so I think that he would be comfortable with the whole Venables playbook but you wonder if Oklahoma does lean back into that this year the flyover especially given how thin their defensive tackle room appears to be but actually aside from defensive tackle they and they do have one good guy there DeGentarian that's like a pretty proven solid player they have all yeah the safeties look pretty good the linebacker looks good because Stutzman came back um their best quarter gentry Williams came back they have DFW stars of the past Billy Bowman and Peyton Bowen who both could be like really coming into their own this year they're all conference good probably they have all conference potential yeah for sure they may also they may also move Woody Washington back to safety it's their corner that's like a fifth or sixth year guy now um and then they could play Bowman or Bowen at nickel it just get more talent on the field so they have like and they have all they have a lot of edges that are really good too so like any any position any of the like speed athleticism positions Venables has really restocked them and gotten a lot of like length and quickness on the field it's just those you know those big guy spots which are so already hard and then he's coming from behind Alex Granche who like did not recruit big people so they they're a mixed bag on defense it would be shocking if they were bad though right it's like Venables all these athletes they'll probably be pretty good Texas should definitely have their head on a swivel going into Dallas so uh that'll kind of seal it up for Oklahoma and Michigan talk we'll have plenty of opportunity over the course of the season heck we'll probably get with our friends over at sooner scoop uh talking about them we do have a little bit of recruiting to touch on and that is the elite 11 they have a bunch of different regionals around the country this week this Sunday it will be in Austin at Westlake High School and KJ Lacey Texas 2025 commit is scheduled to be there there are also some uh 2026 quarterbacks uh in the in the on the roster uh as far as guys they could check out one is Jake Fett uh from El Paso Del Valley uh another is I'm looking through the list right now and trying to see who jumps out Westin Nielsen who's from nearby Bastrop he's in the 2027 class going further uh Grant Smith from Grand Oaks I think in Conroe Kevin Speery who is listed from Carl Albert but he's moved to the Denton area correct um so there's going to be some quarterback talent here in in Austin obviously there's going to be some skill talent there to throw to them we will have all that info over on inside Texas but uh as it pertains to to Lacey if he shows up if he's throwing at the the home of the chaps uh what do you want to uh you know as far as you know seeing clips from him or how he performs what are things you're looking out for aside from his size which we've heard in you know recent weeks and months it's looking more and more like he's a high school sophomore and junior that is and senior that is growing as opposed to someone who's going to be stuck at Bryce Young's size for his college career I think the best things to look for in those drill deals are like arm strength and uh quickness of the release now sometimes guys can get those right and then their mechanics can break down a little bit when they're people trying to hurt them on the field but uh I would see I want I'm curious like how his arm strength develops as he gets bigger I my memory is that it was pretty good and he was a slight guy so that seems like it's it would stand a reason that it could get even better as he fills out his frame um that'd be the main thing I'd look for I I'm very wary in general of trying to make too much of those camps I would yeah no I understand that I I mean part of it for me is we've always heard he's got uh good accuracy I think he he has some mechanic things to shore up but I've always really thought that his processing uh was a step ahead of a lot of other quarterbacks in his class a lot of that processing is is made considerably easier when you can throw to Ryan Williams who's a five star who's going to be on Alabama's roster this upcoming or is on Alabama's roster right now but I've always thought that he's had that knack so I'm I too am curious to see arm strength you know if he still has that processing ability in the seven on seven aspect and then also if how is accurate he is I'm just kind of curious as well to to see how his recruitment is he's been uh saying all the right things about Texas but he's from the mobile area and when you're from the mobile area when you're a top quarterback there are two schools in that area and maybe even three within you know the about a four hour radius that are going to continue to recruit you hard that's definitely Auburn uh definitely Alabama and obviously Old Miss as well so I'm I'm real curious to see uh how that sounds um I'm also just kind of curious to see what the 2026 class is like at this point it looks I mean at least based off early offers uh they have an offer out to a kid from Nashville they have an offer out to uh someone from California from I can't remember where exactly uh and then they also just offer Dabel Raja's son uh the other day after he came in town for a spring practice and he goes to American Heritage and Fort Lauderdale I believe uh so the the 26 class is is going to be one to watch um curious if any of these guys show out enough to where I'm kind of thinking okay maybe Texas should uh look in state even though we know that uh AJ Mill we Steve Sarkeesian everybody involved when it comes to quarterbacks they they go all over the country whether that's New Orleans whether that's J Sarah in California or whether that's uh um someone who's transferring from Columbus, Ohio uh trying to come back home uh we'll end real quick with the Texas Longhorns in the NCAA tournament they won a defensive slog to say the least on on Thursday uh limiting the Colorado state Rams to a season low and points 44 I believe it was but on the other end Texas only scored 56 got double digit scoring contributions from Dylan DeSue who even though he scored 12 did not have a good game uh offensively still made an impact on defense uh Max Ace Miss only scored 12 uh and then he had Kendall Weaver at 11 I believe and and get points in his Kendall Weaver way uh the defense a lot of it was a result of of course Colorado state missing some some decent looks but a lot of it was Texas making decent looks turn into tough looks so what stood out to you about uh the the Colorado state game and then what do you want to see going forward as Texas takes on the old uh the old friend Rick Barnes with us place in the sweet 16 on the line yeah I actually I think I had Colorado state winning in my bracket and then I was I started but I hadn't watched them this year it was just based on a field for what kind of team they had and some of Paul's observations and then watching them it was like oh they're too slow and unathletic like they cannot get their shots up against Texas Texas just swarming them defensively um I think that that's every game that Texas wins in the tournament has to look that way they need a lot of Weaver a lot of defense they're not going to figure out offense tomorrow and be good like Colorado state giving them trouble is just probably just the beginning right like in a second round game maybe the prep from the opponent is a little more limited but if they beat Tennessee than the the next round that team is going to have them so well scouted they're not going to be able to score very well but they can be so good on defense and uh I I mean they'll go as far as the defense can carry them do you think do you think it can get him past Tennessee or you you know are you selling I don't know Tennessee the style play that it would take Texas to to execute perfectly to win is kind of Tennessee's home base you know they have uh and and not only that they have a first team all-american in Dalton connect we know Rick Barnes teams are always big on on defense but you know they won the SEC regular season title uh they they bowed out early to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament but uh they took pretty easy care of their 15 seed not letting that become an issue at all um you know it's the the way we saw Texas stay in front of pretty much everybody but Isaiah Stevens I don't think it's going to be the same thing uh this this upcoming or tonight uh when the Longhorns and the Vols play um you got to limit Dalton connect um and as we've seen you talked a little bit about how Texas is on offense they're offense and this is much to our friend Justin Wells chagrin their offense is pick and roll and it's pick and roll with Max Acemus and Dylan DeSue and if those guys aren't hitting shots then it's it's tough sledding for Texas they did get some uh you know defense and offense contributions and then some good first half contributions from guys like Tyrese Hunter who helped that offense go in that first 20 minutes to a point it needed to but um man you've talked about how they're an easy scout at that second week they're pretty easy scout right now I mean it all runs through DeSue and it runs through Acemus they run pick and roll they run variations off of it but they run a lot of that uh a lot of two-man game and you know if if Max Acemus isn't hitting shots at a exorbitant March Madness oil Roberts level then you got to find that scoring elsewhere aside from Dylan DeSue who has that shooting ability there aren't guys on this team maybe save for Tyrese Hunter who's been so hot or cold when it comes to shooting who can do that so uh this will be a tough one I'm curious as to what the the Vegas line will will close on on this game I could see it being right under double digits maybe something like that maybe nine uh the over under won't be very very big but there's a lot of people saying that this is Rick Barnes the best team he's had at Tennessee and he's had some quality teams makes the tournament a lot of intrigue with Terry versus Barnes teaching mentor versus people to say mentor versus assistant Barnes in his old job but uh should be an interesting one to track and uh you know if Texas wins this one it's back to bat sweet 16s uh for Rodney Terry and that's something that as for you know as long as Texas was just lacking a tournament win and someone something to be celebrated and at that point then you're you're in you're in the conversation for it you're playing for higher stakes the further and further you go and you're starting to think that maybe you can make a run but you got to get going after you got to get going on Saturday at about 7 p.m. and Charlotte for that to be part of the conversation parting thoughts on on Barnes or uh the tournament or anything like that just just that if Rodney Terry gets back to the sweet 16 he's going to be pretty well situated right like I think right now there's a little bit there was been a little bit hesitation with him because he inherited this like super old team last year from uh beard and them getting as far as they did was really exciting but it was also maybe not like super indicative of what he could do is as head coach in his own right and if he can just you know a sweet 16 in his own year first year I think that would I think that would really help him not like he needs it but it would it would really help it would probably maybe not change but alter how a lot of Texas fans view you especially in the wake in the wake of of Chris Beard for better or for worse so uh but we'll figure that out when when the ball is tipped and uh things get going on Saturday night thank you so much for watching make sure you like this video subscribe to the channel head to inside texas.com we've got a march madness special right now where you can get one month of access for one dollar you do that you will be in inside Texas all the way through the spring game and that'll put you right on the precipice of the portal window so come join us you're gonna love it at inside Texas Ian thank you so much for joining me on this Saturday roundtable and we will see you next time on the inside Texas football YouTube channel, powered by InsideTexas.com.