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Inside Texas Football
Inside the Program: Team Playoff/SEC Championship Mindset, Texas Players Hitting Their Stride
All right, everyone happy Friday before the Arkansas game. We have your team news for you. Joe was handling some personal business. Justin is about to head to Arkansas. So you're here with me, Texas Homer. And of course, we are with Eric Nauline. Chief lead publisher, master of inside Texas. What's the title? None of those, that's for sure. I think managing partner is what's on the documents, but I don't know, man. It's just a team effort. Good stuff. All right, well, we're going to talk, of course, the usual team news and all that kind of stuff of before. Make sure to like and subscribe to the channel. Your support helps us out a lot. And let's get right into it, man. So we had a quote unquote, good week of practice. What does that mean practically? And then also, let's talk about the idea of a good week of practice. It doesn't always guarantee results, right? Yeah, I mean, it's a double edged sword. And you know, Sark is pretty honest and candid with the media. They typically always have a good practice, or a good week of practice. Sometimes there are, you know, a day, it might be interspersed that didn't go nearly as well as they would have liked. You know, there's been times that they dragged ass a little bit more than Sark was hoping for. But for the most part, the weeks are good. I know fans don't like hearing that, because then if they don't play well, how could they possibly have had a good week of practice? But that happens all the time. You know, the biggest example I ever have of a bad week of practice, having the opposite result, was after they got waxed by a TCU 50 to 7, I think it was, the very next week, they came back and beat OU, which nobody was predicting. I was not predicting it. I was in Austin that week with people that tried to the staff. And they said, man, it's been a crappy week of practice. They're gonna get blasted by OU, and then they showed up in one. So that's why we watch sports. They're very unpredictable. But yeah, what's the source of saying was that, you know, you can have a good week of practice, and then, you know, the first quarter doesn't go your way. So, you know, one missed block or one missed tackle and can change the complexion of the game earlier. He referenced that fumble that you ever had was kind of a freakish play against Georgia, or the two picks came on tips against Vanderbilt. And that, you know, now all of a sudden, they're not blowing out Vanderbilt like they should. But he did say they had a really good week of practice. And he said that after I said I, you know, had a little bit of trepidation about this game. I had some flashbacks to 2021, where early in that week, I felt Texas was gonna win. And then I got a phone call that Saturday morning, and that just totally way laid my confidence. And I should have switched my prediction and didn't. And obviously, Texas didn't really show up for that game. So, I have that in the back of my mind. And then at the same time, Arkansas is a dangerous team. They have, you know, a balanced offense. They got a dual threat quarterback. And then the defense is kind of wonky. They could throw a lot of different looks at you, which means Sarkin, yours are gonna have to solve it. So, I was voicing a little bit of concern, and he laughed at me. He's like, look, they had a really, really good week of practice. When I predicted my score, he said I don't think they're gonna score that much, but we'll see. So, he was very confident. And again, good week of practice. He said Tuesday and Wednesday in particular, were really good for offense and defense. Offense was good the whole week, particularly on Thursday with a wide receivers were making a lot of plays. And he said the number one way you could tell whether or not the offense had a good week is whether or not Steve Sarkeesian is happy. And he said Steve Sarkeesian was a happy man throughout the entire week. - And what is a good week? Is a good week just, they're executing a good week as schematic elements, like they've introduced a lot of, like what is a good week? - Good week of practice is confidence in the game plan, executing the game plan, urgency, moving very fast, not a lot of assignment errors. The ball's not landing on the ground. The defense is communicating well, showing very good pursuit, all those elements, all the things that you wanna see that go into a very good game, show up in a good week of practice. - Good stuff. All right, now we're in November, which is already crunch time, but we're in actual crunch time. We can't take a loss and we're not making the SEC Championship and starts on record saying, that's the first goal, right? I get to the SEC Championship. So we gotta win out. What's the team mindset right now? What's team morale? Last year, man, when we were kind of in that sketchy zone of not making the playoffs and all that kind of stuff, we responded well. So what's the team like right now? - Yeah, I think they responded very well last week with the Florida game. Obviously Florida aided them with injuries and also a lot of assignment bus, but they played well. Yeah, the mindset is that they have to win. They don't wanna leave their fate into the playoff committee. It's not just about making the SEC Championship game. At this point, it's about making the playoffs because there's gonna be a lot of teams grouped together. And then if the playoff committee takes a harder look at strength and schedule, Texas could be in trouble just because a lot of the teams that they face have had down years. So they don't wanna leave it in anybody else's hand. They feel like they have to win out at the same time they can't look ahead either. They have to take each game like it's the SEC Championship game and they're doing that. It's a confident bunch. I would say it's a very confident bunch, but not overly confident bunch. They're hungry. They're still very hungry. They've got a lot to prove. They've got to win the SEC to win the SEC. They've got to get to the game first and to do that. They have to win the rest of their games because one more game and they're gonna suffer. They're not gonna get in and do all the tie breaks. - Is there any institutional memory of Arkansas? We probably have like what a handful of players are in that game, but it's starting to, you know, if Starks stressing that. Hey, it's a revenge game. Are they trying to take a different psychological approach? - Not really a revenge game, but there's 11 guys on the team that were there in 2021. Nine of the guys are starters. The other two play quite a bit. So there's a lot of leadership in that group, but I think, you know, they want to do that just because, you know, they did get embarrassed in 2021. But at the same time, they just, you know, get the win, get out of there, then get another one against Kentucky and then, you know, get ready for a crazy, a crazy week ahead of A&M. But first things first, they got to beat Arkansas. But again, it's confident much, but at the same time, they have a lot of respect. Arkansas has a lot of talent, a lot of talent on offense. And then again, like, you know, there's some talent on defense, good defensive line, for sure. But then, you know, they've got to be prepared for the schematics. They know it's a challenge, but, you know, again, when I said, you know, I was concerned, I like that I got laughed at. - Yeah, that is more comforting. Yeah, it's not great for the ego, but it feels good to know that you're-- - Yeah, I'll take it. (laughs) Help me sleep better. - Yeah, and when they, also, you know, I prefer them not to have two weeks. They've been able to plot on us with that bi-week, you know? So that's also going to be interesting. - Yeah, they had the bi-week and then, you know, we'll talk about it again later on another show. They had the bi-week and also, you know, a lot of teams in college football, they, you know, they have pride, they bounce back. Look at what happened with Nebraska earlier in the year. They got absolutely thumped by Indiana 51 to 6, or 56 to 7, something like that. And then the very next week, they almost knocked off Ohio State. So, I mean, you know, Arkansas is going to give it the old college charts, for sure. - Absolutely. Before we keep going, guys, let's hear a word from Andre the Lawyer. This video is brought to you by Andre the Lawyer. If you're injured, trust the team that secured millions for their clients and help thousands of Texans with their injury case. Car wrecks, slip and falls, 18-wheeler accidents on the job injuries and wrongful deaths. Don't let insurance tell you what your claim is worth. Hire Andre the Lawyer to fight for you. Principal offices in Dallas, but they serve Texans throughout the state. So don't wait and call Andre the Lawyer today at 214-444-8008. That's 214-444-8008. The contact information is in the description. - Thank you, LC. All right, good teams get better as the year goes on. So which players right now are sources telling you are kind of hitting their stride? We've seen some of it on the field, but I guess some of it on the practice field as well. - Yeah, well, I will say one that wasn't mentioned, it's just popped in my mind, it's Hayden Conner, and I should definitely show him some love because, you know, I was skeptical of him at times, especially in the run game. He's always been a good pass blocking. He's been a pretty good run blocker when he's on the move, but he's been a lot better than I anticipated. He's having a pretty good year. But the one that was mentioned was the same one I mentioned to the board when I got asked in the Q&A, was Trey Moore. You know, Trey Moore was playing pretty decent, pretty good the whole year. But, you know, a lot of fans were on him because he wasn't making plays. He started making plays. Well, now he's not playing well, he's playing good. He's playing, you know, even better. I think this is gonna be a big week. Sources mentioned that this was a big week for him because, you know, they do like to run the quarterback, but at the same time, they'll drop them back and let it throw a deep too. So he should have a very active game. We've seen him play with a lot of discipline, but also some athleticism. He got around the corner last week. It didn't count as a sack. But the source said, "Source of that, I don't care. "I'm counting that as a sack. "And once you get one, you tend to get more." So look for more of Trey Moore. And then also, Manny Muhammad. Source felt like Muhammad probably wasn't getting as much appreciation as he should because Jardee Barron's been getting a lot of the headlines, but he had a really good week. He's had a couple of really good weeks, actually. And he liked that Manny was showing up in the run game as a run defender. So those two were the guys that mentioned, he didn't mention Hayden Conner, but I feel like I should mention Hayden just because, you know, you know, got to give love to the guys, especially when we've been a little bit hard on him. I've always loved Hayden. I've known Hayden since he was in ninth grade. He's always had the ability, smart guy, great guy. He's starting to play like, you know, like a season veteran. - Yeah, and then there's one player you can never miss on the field 'cause they're huge, Kobe Black. So what's kind of the latest on Kobe? We're seeing him get a lot more reps, too. - Yeah, Kobe's one of the, one of three guys, one of the younger guys that we're seeing play a lot more. And I think we're going to see them play, you know, probably through the rest of the season. Kobe's going to get a lot of work this week as well. We saw him versus Florida. We saw him versus Vandy when, you know, under live bullets, the games, you know, that game was not in hand. We saw him with Ford, of course, you know, they had that one kind of put to bed. But we're going to see him play this week. They've got some schematic things lined up for the hogs. Yeah, Kobe, very bright future. Expect to see him play, especially, you know, depends on the looks right now. You know, we'll probably see a little bit less of them against A&M. But, you know, I think we'll see a lot. I know we'll see a lot of them tomorrow. - Yeah, he's always fun, man. He just, he just pops right off the tape and he's huge. - Yeah, he's a giant, you know, he's a giant corner. He looks, you know, he looks like a future linebacker. Kind of like Jelani McDonald's huge at safety. These guys have a lot of length and a lot of size. Texas is lucky that they can find these guys. Yeah, and the young guys are getting a lot more reps. We, of course, Gibson was able to come out and play versus Florida. That was fun. And then also, man, you've been predicting Ty Anthony Smith's future ability and he was able to get the interception versus Florida. So what's kind of the latest on those two? - Yeah, Jerick had a big bit of a coming out that he needed, got his most, most carries of the year, 100 yards. They needed that for sure. He's the, you know, downhill runner. Also, good outside runner. He's just looking to get downhill the second he can. He's definitely not looking for the sidelines. Got to protect the ball, but he could be the missing element they need going into into November and hopefully into the playoffs, into the SEC Championship game. They need that element to create more of a run pass balance. You know, I'll be curious to see how much work he gets. I expect to see him quite a bit. But, you know, Jaden Blue look like he might be turning the corner. Jaden said he's the healthiest, he's been all seasoned. So we might see more of him and then you can't forget Trey Wiesner. I think, you know, I tend to think they're gonna mix Jaden Blue in the run and pass game. Trey Wiesner more as a receiver. And then Jarrick Gibson more as a running back more of the, you know, down to down inside runner. But Jarrick Gibson expect to see more of him. And then yeah, Ty Anthony, I think he also have four tackles in addition to that interception. Yeah, the source said, hey, got his feet wet. Time to play him a little bit more. And now they still got David Benda. Maurice Blackwell is a little bit dinged up though too as well. So that could help Ty Anthony's cause to get on the field. Very bright future. If you see him run around, he's still kind of a long, longer skinny linebacker. He's gonna look a lot different next year. But you can see that the baseline ability is there. I liked how deep he got in that drop. Another tip ball from Alfred Collins, got to show him some low on that. But he was deep in his drop, made the play. And you can tell how popular he is in the locker room because the sideline went crazy. And then of course, when he got love in the, in film room, the team went crazy again. You always like to hear about those guys. There's a lot of teams, there's a lot of players that the team, that the team roots for that are more quiet. Fans don't know as much about like a guy like Juan Davis. They love it anytime. Juan Davis gets the ball in his hands. There's just some team favorites. And Ty Anthony's already become one of those. Good stuff. Culture, the culture is healing man over those years. That's always nice. And then of course, off season, the number one topic was helmet comms cause we didn't have much to talk about. So we had all these like, how is it gonna change the game? Are they still gonna sign in and all that kind of stuff? But what is it actually achieved? How has it made offenses better? What has been able to talk directly to players done for Texas? The example I was given on offense was the Michigan game, where the Michigan wanted to rotate their defensive tackles quite a bit, sort of like how Texas does, or has done more of in the past. And the number way to do that is to keep them from doing that, is to go fast. So while they're getting the call and the Quinn, he's getting them lined up. He's not having to look over the sidelines, getting signals and all that. He's barking orders to the line while he's getting the play and then actually delivering the play. So instead of doing it sort of in a step-by-step, he's able to do it all at once and do it, work a lot more quickly and a lot more efficiently. So that was said to be a big boon there. On defense, it's just sort of calming Anthony Hill down. It's a lot to take in in your first year, Mike linebacker replacing Jalen Ford, season veteran. So he's able to sort of just get every, he's calling the lines. He doesn't really have to mess with the secondary. So that helps him out quite a bit. But he's able to settle them down in the bigger environments, get them lined up. And he's sort of said, he has had very few issues with not getting the call on time or not getting the right line calls for the D line. So basically it's just settled him down, lot less mistakes than you normally see with a young Mike linebacker. - Yeah, I didn't even realize, I mean, it makes total sense, but I didn't even realize Anthony was calling the line there. Yeah, it makes sense, green dot. All right, that was fun stuff. I think the Arkansas game will be a fun game. Like you said, Arkansas is better than we think. And if they don't have turnovers, that's a different team, right? So I'm glad that your source felt that we're gonna, we're gonna have the game plan. I heard you mentioned that we might have some scheme things for him too. So that'll also be fun. Fans, thanks for hanging out with us. Make sure to like and subscribe to the channel. And as always, go to InsideTexas.com. That's where you can get all the best team news, practice reports, insider stuff, as well as good recruiting stuff. We just landed a recruit yesterday as well. So good stuff. And of course, always insightful game analysis. Ian Boyd, Paul Waddington, myself. We all kind of do breakdowns over there. So appreciate you guys. Eric, have an awesome day. Fans, hook 'em.
Texas is in the thick of the SEC race and needs to finish strong. How is the team looking with Arkansas around the bend.