Freakin' Ugly UT uniforms

[BobKerley]

Texas' practice uniforms are just freakin' ugly - fugly as it were. For the life of me, I dont understand the obsession Texas has with adding a non-Longhorn color to the uniform (black). With the brightening of the orange from burnt orange to adding black, these just look like halloween unis - yuk

Espinosa tweeted a picture of his practice jersey

2857

2859

[CenTexDave]

Black means they are just getting ready for the funeral when they finish another stellar year at 7-6.

[BobKerley]

Black means they are just getting ready for the funeral when they finish another stellar year at 7-6.

LOL

I dont know if it's a theme that NIKE is pushing but a lot of teams that NIKE sponsors are sporting a black theme. I personally dont like it.

On another note, Texas should end up with 10 or more wins this season. Even 9 wins would be a disappointing year with this group.

[cityboy]

I don't think they have a solid QB ...

[BobKerley]

I don't think they have a solid QB ...

They will... Ash is a solid QB. He may not be one of the greats of all time like Colt or Vince was but he doesnt have to be. In my opinion, neither Colt nor Vince had the abundance of offensive weapons that Ash will have. Ash doesnt need to force anything; he just needs to be a good manager of the offense.

Also, Ash's development is WAY ahead of where it was last year. Coming out of last summer workouts, Ash was 4th string and during fall practices, he didnt get any meaningful snaps being relegated to one play package. Any team rarely wins championships with a true freshman QB. The difference between high school and big time D1 football is enormous for QBs; there's just too much to learn. Ash will be the starter and McCoy will be the backup allowing highly recruited Brewer to redshirt. I wouldnt be surprised to see Overstreet running the "Wild" formation package.
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[cityboy]

I sure hope you're right. Ash certainly has the tools. I'm just not sure he has the nerves ...

[sojourner truth]

There must be an ugly uniform conspiracy going on. Like the Baylor womens Bball unis. I always thought having at least one of the schools colors in there was a given. I heard that the unis were donated if they wore what the designer sent as a promo or something. Wonder if they are made in China?

[CenTexDave]

I watched Ash twice when Belton played Cove.
I often wondered what UT saw in him. He's decent, but any Big 12 or All-American material.
Texas is always in the top 5 for recruiting. Time for Mack Brown to put up or retire.

[BobKerley]

I watched Ash twice when Belton played Cove.
I often wondered what UT saw in him. He's decent, but any Big 12 or All-American material.
Texas is always in the top 5 for recruiting. Time for Mack Brown to put up or retire.

That's a common oft repeated misconception: Texas doesnt "always in the top 5 for recruiting." It's rare to get top 5 rating in recruiting.

The next class (2013) is rated 10th by Scout.com.

2012, 2011, & 2010 were good years (#1, #3, and #3 respectively) - When Texas puts back to back top three classes, they have generally play for a national championship a few years afterwards. I suspect the Longhorns will be playing for a NC in 2013 and/or 2014, if they can keep the classes together.

2009 = #7
2008 = #16
2006 & 2007 were both #3 recruiting years and they played for NC in 2009 and should have in 2008.
2005 = #13
2004 = 10
2003 = 14
2002 = #1; and 2001 was #3 (IIRC) and those classes played for NC in 2005 and should have played for another in 2006

[BobKerley]

As far as Ash goes, he doesnt have to be an All-American QB. He just has to manage the game - Nothing more. McElroy wasnt a great QB for 'Bama in 2009 when they played Texas but he didnt need to be with the talent around him. Colt McCoy was a 3* QB from a small 2A HS and recruited mostly as a backup behind a lot of 4* and 5* talent. He was smart enough to figure it out when he was thrown in the fire as a RS freshman but he took years to develop into a good game manager. In 2007, Colt threw 18 interceptions and there were a lot of people calling for his replacement.

[onetime]

Relax people relax, the flagship is just fine. The jerseys are cool, must younger people like them and if you have ever been recruited or recruited a player that is a huge bonus if your have frills to the campus, the uniforms, and anything else that can, would, or will entice a young 14,15,16,17,18, or 19 year to commit to your school for the next 3 to 4 years. I am all for it, Oregon has all the neat uniforms and they win, if all of that stuff helps your grab one or two extra players that you normally wouldn't then I am all for it.

[CenTexDave]

And Griffin was a 3 star QB and look what he did.
Problem is, Ash hasn't shown me much at all. Neither has the young McCoy. So manage the game? Hand it off. Where are these all-world RB's we keep hearing about??

[Ludwig]

I can think of no way to make Burnt Orange pretty, except maybe burn it some more until it turns to brown (then it will match the spots on their briefs :)) ) I cannot imagine that someone in the distant past thought that this would be a great color for a Texas university.

[BobKerley]

Relax people relax, the flagship is just fine. The jerseys are cool, must younger people like them and if you have ever been recruited or recruited a player that is a huge bonus if your have frills to the campus, the uniforms, and anything else that can, would, or will entice a young 14,15,16,17,18, or 19 year to commit to your school for the next 3 to 4 years. I am all for it, Oregon has all the neat uniforms and they win, if all of that stuff helps your grab one or two extra players that you normally wouldn't then I am all for it.

yeah, apparently the players like the change.

@UT_MackBrown: Now Longhorn & college football fans don't worry. I'm a traditionalist to! We won't be wearing the practice gear in games. #HornsFBCamp

[BobKerley]

And Griffin was a 3 star QB and look what he did.
Problem is, Ash hasn't shown me much at all. Neither has the young McCoy. So manage the game? Hand it off. Where are these all-world RB's we keep hearing about??

Colt didnt show much until it finally clicked in 2008 and he was recruited in the 2005 class. Obviously he could run but Vince didnt show much as a QB the first couple of years in the Simms/Mock pro-set offense. It wasnt until half way through his third season (2004) that he finally "got it" when they changed to a zone-read offense. RG3 didnt look that impressive his freshman season either. My point is that a lot of people have unrealistic expectations and other people are just saying negative stuff hoping he fails.

I think he will be much improved this year but he will make mistakes just like other QBs make a lot of mistakes their second year. I think he will be more than adequate in 2013 and 2014. This is still a rebuilding year but they are very hungry and could do very, very well.

"Where are these all-world RB's we keep hearing about??" -- I dont know if you are being serious or not... or you're just not tracking. They could very well have the best tandem of RBs in the nation this year and the starters are all freshmen and sophomores. The question isnt going to be the running backs abilities but, rather, will they stay healthy and will the offensive line stay healthy.



.

[CenTexDave]

:))
RG3 didn't look that good his freshman year?
Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Freshman All-American team.
What do you expect, the Heisman his freshman year?
The point is, the State of Texas is a cradle of great high school quarterbacks who go on to college and play great:
RG3 - Baylor
Andrew Luck - Stanford
Matthew Stafford - Georgia
Chase Daniel - Missouri
Greg McElroy - Alabama

Why couldn't Brown land any of these guys? I think Mack Brown is an overblown, overrated coach. Texas had those great teams because of the assistant coaches he had. Of course success leads to the assistants getting a shot at being a head coach.

[BobKerley]

Why couldn't Brown land any of these guys? I think Mack Brown is an overblown, overrated coach. Texas had those great teams because of the assistant coaches he had. Of course success leads to the assistants getting a shot at being a head coach.

Why didnt Stoops land any of these guys? Why didnt Sherman? or Snyder? on and on and on. The reality is that recruiting is simply a decision and sometimes it works out but often it doesnt. A lot of times it's a numbers game and playing the odds: get the best players you can, weed through them to see which ones are legit and try to coach 'em up. For instance, Texas has a 2013 commitment from 5* Tyrone Swoopes out of Whitewright HS but personally I think they should have offered JT Barrett (Rider HS, Wichita Falls) who ended up committing to Ohio State after Texas didnt offer. We will not know for years which one will turn out to be the right choice. For the 2014 class, it looks like Texas will probably offer Jerrod Heard (Guyer HS, Denton) and I can guarantee that between Swoopes or Heard, one of the two will rise to the top.

As far as the past?

RG3 - That was just a royal screwup by Texas' coach responsible for this area (McDougal at the time IIRC) and Gregg Davis. They didnt want to offer RG3 as a QB but as an athlete and Akina was interested in him as a DB. When Mack Brown found out about this, he told McDougal to get back up to Copperas Cove and offer Griffin as a QB but by that time, Robert was irritated at McDougal and committed to Briles at Houston.

Andrew Luck - Luck wanted to come to Texas and came to the summer camp in 2007 and two junior days 2008. Texas didnt offer and Luck took a trip out to Stanford, was offered and he accepted. HUGE mistake by Texas, even more so than not taking Griffin, IMO.

2008 was a huge screwup by Texas recruiting staff and very indicative of the lazy recruiting that they fell into after the national championship. I believe that Texas didnt take a QB in the 2008 class (When Griffin & Luck were on the table; you cant take both) because they were absolutely sold on Garret Gilbert in the 2009 class - HUGE mistake and lazy recruiting decisions.

Matthew Stafford - Stafford wasnt an option that can be pinned on Texas. He was sold on UGA early on and also committed early.

Chase Daniel - OK.. in retrospect, if you are going to select a 3* backup, are you going to go with Chase Daniel or Colt McCoy? I think Texas made the right choice.

Greg McElroy - Really? Texas didnt choose 3* McElroy over 4* (#6 rated QB) Jevan Snead or 4* Sherrod Harris? McElroy would have been nothing but a backup at Texas behind Colt anyway the way Sherrod ended up being. Jevan saw this likelihood and transferred. Besides the fact that McElroy never listed Texas as a school he was interested in, Texas was never interested in McElroy in 2006 and he fell into the right situation at Alabama.

I'm not going to excuse some of the recruiting decisions and coaching from the staff between 2006 and 2010 - there's no excuse for it - they got content and lazy (entitled?) but still played for a national championship in 2009 and should have in 2008.
.

[CenTexDave]

Those were just 5 examples I mentioned. There were others, but can't remember their names. That kid who went to Kansas had guided Lake Travis to back to back state championships was one.
But you're right - Texas sat on their butts after the national championship. And those I mentioned all pretty much played at the same time. The point is, Texas is a hotbed of good high school QB's.
And two of the main reasons Griffin did not want UT is that they wanted to use him as a WR or DB and would not let him run track. Tennessee was all in favor of letting him do both. Surprised he didn't go there. Stanford also offered him, but he knew Luck was going there so he chose elsewhere. Briles promised him an exciting offense.
Probably the "best" thing that happened to RG3 was that injury during his soph year. He had to give up track because of that, and when he came back his junior year he was going to run again, but not the 400M (in which he won the Big 12 championship and the regionals where he set a record and was an All-American), but the 400M. By this time he had put on a lot of upper body muscle and just bowed out and concentrated on football. If he would have continued to run track I doubt he would have had the year he had in football. But we would be watching him on TV today at the Olympics.

[BobKerley]

yeah... and we can do this for each position. People get fixated on the QB position but this same drama plays out at each position. QB being a position wher you're only going to take one or maybe two players in any one recruiting class, one mistake combined with injuries, or academic failures, or knucklehead off field issues can screwup a position for a few years. It also happens to all the other coaches and teams as well; not just Mack Brown. Mack has just had some good back-to-back recruiting years leading to national championship type seasons... so along with that, comes a lot of criticism - that's just part of the game.

I will add that being complacent and going "all-in" as it were on Gilbert was a huge mistake at the time and obviously in retrospect. I dont think this staff that Mack has now will do that again; essentially passing on a good (proved to be great later) QBs the year before so as to promise (rumored) a starting position to a national #1 ranked player the following year. I just dont see this staff doing that again. If anything the 2009 NC game showed, it showed that you dont have to have a top QB recruit to with the NC title. Remember, Colt didnt have a good year in 2007 and Texas was already recruiting Gilbert early on.

How many aggie QBs have been proclaimed to the next big thing and heisman hopeful but never live up to expectations? Jerrod Johnson? McGee? Tannehill? to go with Fuller, Goodson, Christine Michael, on and on and on. Nobody rags on aggie like they do Mack; why is that? Has there been any major program in the country that has done less with more in the past 10 years than aTm? You'd be hard pressed to find one.

[cityboy]

How many teams have won a national championship without an excellent QB?

[onetime]

Why didnt Stoops land any of these guys? Why didnt Sherman? or Snyder? on and on and on. The reality is that recruiting is simply a decision and sometimes it works out but often it doesnt. A lot of times it's a numbers game and playing the odds: get the best players you can, weed through them to see which ones are legit and try to coach 'em up. For instance, Texas has a 2013 commitment from 5* Tyrone Swoopes out of Whitewright HS but personally I think they should have offered JT Barrett (Rider HS, Wichita Falls) who ended up committing to Ohio State after Texas didnt offer. We will not know for years which one will turn out to be the right choice. For the 2014 class, it looks like Texas will probably offer Jerrod Heard (Guyer HS, Denton) and I can guarantee that between Swoopes or Heard, one of the two will rise to the top.

As far as the past?

RG3 - That was just a royal screwup by Texas' coach responsible for this area (McDougal at the time IIRC) and Gregg Davis. They didnt want to offer RG3 as a QB but as an athlete and Akina was interested in him as a DB. When Mack Brown found out about this, he told McDougal to get back up to Copperas Cove and offer Griffin as a QB but by that time, Robert was irritated at McDougal and committed to Briles at Houston.

Andrew Luck - Luck wanted to come to Texas and came to the summer camp in 2007 and two junior days 2008. Texas didnt offer and Luck took a trip out to Stanford, was offered and he accepted. HUGE mistake by Texas, even more so than not taking Griffin, IMO.

2008 was a huge screwup by Texas recruiting staff and very indicative of the lazy recruiting that they fell into after the national championship. I believe that Texas didnt take a QB in the 2008 class (When Griffin & Luck were on the table; you cant take both) because they were absolutely sold on Garret Gilbert in the 2009 class - HUGE mistake and lazy recruiting decisions.

Matthew Stafford - Stafford wasnt an option that can be pinned on Texas. He was sold on UGA early on and also committed early.

Chase Daniel - OK.. in retrospect, if you are going to select a 3* backup, are you going to go with Chase Daniel or Colt McCoy? I think Texas made the right choice.

Greg McElroy - Really? Texas didnt choose 3* McElroy over 4* (#6 rated QB) Jevan Snead or 4* Sherrod Harris? McElroy would have been nothing but a backup at Texas behind Colt anyway the way Sherrod ended up being. Jevan saw this likelihood and transferred. Besides the fact that McElroy never listed Texas as a school he was interested in, Texas was never interested in McElroy in 2006 and he fell into the right situation at Alabama.

I'm not going to excuse some of the recruiting decisions and coaching from the staff between 2006 and 2010 - there's no excuse for it - they got content and lazy (entitled?) but still played for a national championship in 2009 and should have in 2008.
.

Great points, but the one I have to disagree with you on is the Garrett Gilbert. The guy was a flat out stud in Hs.

[BobKerley]

Great points, but the one I have to disagree with you on is the Garrett Gilbert. The guy was a flat out stud in Hs.

agree... and ANY program would have taken him. The issue I have (and had back then) is that a college program shouldnt go "all-in" on one player. Sure, he could have ended up being one of those transcendent players who just makes everyone else better but the reality is that you dont need transcendent players to win. That being the case, if they passed over the 2008 class of QBs (Luck & Griffin) to appease one player, then that has unnecessarily high risk potential, IMO.

[CenTexDave]

And who was it that was at Texas in the beginning with McCoy and they transferred - to Ole Miss I think. Can't remember his name but he was highly regarded also.

[BobKerley]

How many teams have won a national championship without an excellent QB?

Alabama being the most recent?
.

[BobKerley]

And who was it that was at Texas in the beginning with McCoy and they transferred - to Ole Miss I think. Can't remember his name but he was highly regarded also.

I think you are referring to Jevan Snead but he was in the 2006 class; whereas, Colt was in the 2005 class. In 2006, Colt was a redshirt freshman, won the job and Snead transfered.

[BobKerley]

What about top rated QBs from the state of Texas that went to other schools and flamed out? Why is it that people dont talk about that very much?

Do you realize that on some recruiting boards had Russell Shepard (cypress ridge HS) ranked ahead of Garrett Gilbert on the recruiting boards in 2009? What happened to him? He's not even playing QB - Gilbert is but hardly anyone talks about that.

Tommy Dorman was ranked 8th nationally behind Luck in 2008, what happened to him at aTm? (character is part of the evaluation process)

What about #1 national ranking QB Rhett Bomar (Grand Prairie HS) who signed with Oklahoma? (again, character is part of the evaluation process)

I could go on and on and on... the point is that people who are not Longhorn fans like to rag on Texas for not being perfect on every decision.

[CenTexDave]

Alabama being the most recent?
.
He was good, but not a great QB.

[CenTexDave]

What about top rated QBs from the state of Texas that went to other schools and flamed out? Why is it that people dont talk about that very much?

Do you realize that on some recruiting boards had Russell Shepard (cypress ridge HS) ranked ahead of Garrett Gilbert on the recruiting boards in 2009? What happened to him? He's not even playing QB - Gilbert is but hardly anyone talks about that.

Tommy Dorman was ranked 8th nationally behind Luck in 2008, what happened to him at aTm? (character is part of the evaluation process)

What about #1 national ranking QB Rhett Bomar (Grand Prairie HS) who signed with Oklahoma? (again, character is part of the evaluation process)

I could go on and on and on... the point is that people who are not Longhorn fans like to rag on Texas for not being perfect on every decision.

I can tell you all about Shepard. Kid was unreal. Cove couldn't contain him. How Cove ever beat those guys is a miracle. He plays WR at LSU now. Was mainly a running QB. But LSU hasn't had a great QB in quite a while. I would think they would have at least tried him there.
Dorman flamed. Tannehill took over and the rest, as they say, is history.
And Bomar just kept getting his butt in trouble. Guess he thought because his old man was such a prestigious coach he could do what he wanted. lol

I'm not ragging on Texas. I like the 'Horns, except when they are playing Ohio State. :)

[Grammar Rules]

What's the deal with the Longhorn Network for the UT game? We pay plenty for DirecTV, and I don't think they carry it.

[CenTexDave]

They don't. I think they want too much money.

[Grammar Rules]

You're probably right. I went to Longhorn Network on line, and there's a form to fill out and send to your provider asking for it. I really thought it would be in place by now. I wonder if UT is hurting its brand by going all gated-community exclusive.

[cityboy]

I think UT is hurting its brand. I'm a big UT football fan, but I'm not gonna pay two cents for the Longhorn Network ...

[onetime]

And who was it that was at Texas in the beginning with McCoy and they transferred - to Ole Miss I think. Can't remember his name but he was highly regarded also.

Jevan sneed

[onetime]

What about top rated QBs from the state of Texas that went to other schools and flamed out? Why is it that people dont talk about that very much?

Do you realize that on some recruiting boards had Russell Shepard (cypress ridge HS) ranked ahead of Garrett Gilbert on the recruiting boards in 2009? What happened to him? He's not even playing QB - Gilbert is but hardly anyone talks about that.

Tommy Dorman was ranked 8th nationally behind Luck in 2008, what happened to him at aTm? (character is part of the evaluation process)

What about #1 national ranking QB Rhett Bomar (Grand Prairie HS) who signed with Oklahoma? (again, character is part of the evaluation process)

I could go on and on and on... the point is that people who are not Longhorn fans like to rag on Texas for not being perfect on every decision.

Rhett bomar was a stud there, they picked the right guy, I think that's a completely different scenario then the a guy just flaming out because he can't play.

[CenTexDave]

This Longhorn Network is the main reason the Big 12 broke up. The Big 12 should have developed a Big 12 Network fashioned after the Big Ten Network. That things pays those schools something like $20M+ each year.
But no, Texas wanted it all by themselves. First Colorado and Nebraska said bye bye, then A&M and Missouri.