inside texas 2015 october

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OCTOBER 2015 INSIDETEXAS.COM

TEXAS UPSETS OU IN THE BIGGEST WIN OF THE CHARLIE STRONG ERA.

2015 HOOPS PREVIEW

FINALLY!

Shaka Smart’s First Texas Squad Looks to Make a Statement

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http://www.austinbud.com

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Publishers -- Michael Pearle, Clendon Ross | Managing Editor--Clendon Ross | Editor-- Mike Blackwell InsideTexas.com Editor -- Justin Wells | Lead Writer -- Bill Frisbie | Contributor -- Ian Boyd

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6Rock Bottom | The Longhorns get steamrolled in Fort Worth.

by Justin Wells

22

Shaka Smart 22

Hoops Preview | by tim Preston

18Pat Culpepper loved what he saw at the Cotton Bowl.Texas Fights Back | by Pat CulPePPer

12Red River Revival |What a difference a week makes.

by Justin Wells

42Win in a Deluge |Texas builds some momentum with a good win over Kansas State

by Justin Wells

The Team 28

The Schedule 26

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by JUSTIN WELLS

ROCK BOTTOM

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ROCK BOTTOM

FORT WORTH - Before the game, TCU coach Gary Patterson said he’s beaten better teams with less talking about his upcoming matchup with Texas.

Boy was he right.

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TCU signal-caller and Heisman

candidate Trevone Boykin threw four

1st half touchdowns – three to KaVontae

Turpin, Josh Doctson added two scores,

and the Texas team helped the rest of the

way as No. 4 TCU dismantled the Long-

horns, 50-7, at Amon G. Carter Stadium on

Saturday.

The first quarter was pure hell for Texas.

Three consecutive weeks of promising play

was obliterated in one period of football.

Texas coach Charlie Strong was about as

dejected as I’ve seen after the game.

“Just totally disappointed,” said Strong.

“Frustrated after how we’ve gone out and

battled and competed. Today, we just didn’t

play hard. Getting to a big game like this,

we have to play better.”

Strong mentioned this was the worst day

in his coaching career. He wants to see a

more competitive team.

“When things go wrong, they just continue

to go,” Strong added. “We don’t plug the

leak. I told the team we’re not going to give

up and we’re not going to give in. We have

to learn how to compete. We don’t know

how yet. There’s something about pride

– pride in yourself. It’s a very competitive

sport – this is a game of life. You have to

know when things aren’t going right, that

someone has to step up. That’s just not

what we’re getting right now.”

TCU (4-0) opened the scoring when WR

Daje Johnson fumbled on the first offensive

series for UT. Johnson suffered a head

injury and did not return. Boykin hit Ka-

Vontae Turpin for a 13-yard score and the

route was on.

Boykin, who broke Andy Dalton’s all-time

TD passes record at TCU today, tallied

16-of-25, 288 yards, five touchdowns. He

was as advertised, at times looking like he

was playing 7-on-7 against an outmanned

Texas defense. Turpin, freshman, finished

with 133 yards on five catches, to go along

with four touchdowns. Doctson added 129

yards on seven grabs, two scores.

After Texas (1-4) long snapper Kyle

Ashby sailed a snap over punter Michael

Dickson’s head and out the back of the end

zone, TCU added the safety for a 9-0 lead,

with over 12:00 minutes remaining in the

opening quarter.

Boykin found Doctson for a perfectly

thrown fade to the back of the end zone

again on their next series, and a 16-0 ad-

vantage. Again, still in the first quarter.

When kicker Nick Rose missed a 38-yard

field goal after UT’s 11-play drive, the

Horned Frogs responded when Boykin hit

Turpin, again, this time for a 49-yard pitch

and catch TD. 23-0, TCU….still in the first

quarter. Rose would miss two field goals

on the day, as the kicking portion of special

teams continues to dwell in the toilet.

Not to be undone, Shaun Nixon hit Doct-

son in stride for a 29-yard TD and a 30-0

lead….still in the first quarter.

When Boykin hit Turpin for the fourth time,

early in the 3rd quarter, TCU extended its

lead to 44-0. Jared Oberkrom added two

late field goals to the TCU effort.

For Texas, Jerrod Heard had his worst

outing as a Longhorn. 8-of-20 passing,

for 48 yards, adding 51 yards rushing, but

after sacks, only a net of 23. Not what we

watched from the redshirt freshman in the

previous three weeks.

Sophomore RB D’Onta Foreman was

Mr. Do It All. He finished with 114 yards,

at 6.2 per carry, and added 32 yards on

two catches. At times, he was the only

one capable of moving the chains. A late

touchdown toss from Tyrone Swoopes to

Lorenzo Joe kept this from being the first

shutout of Texas since Kansas State last

season.

Going back to Thanksgiving Day 2014,

TCU has outscored Texas 95-17. It’s also

the first time TCU has defeated Texas in

consecutive seasons since 1958-59. Since

TCU entered the Big 12, they’re 3-1 versus

the Horns.

Finding the cracks in this team isn’t dif-

ficult. Strong wants the players taking

ownership, but also wants the coaches

coaching better.

“We’re looking for more leadership,” Strong

said. “We have to do a better job of coach-

ing. We have to continue to coach hard.

We’re going to get this thing turned around.

We have to.”

- TEXAS VS TCU -

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AUSTIN — Sifting through the carnage of Saturday’s 50-7 melt-down at TCU, Texas offensive play-caller Jay Norvell was surpris-ingly positive at his Tuesday media availability.

Of course, he doesn’t really have a choice.

After all, if UT has any chance of competing Saturday against Oklahoma, Norvell knows his team must repair its tattered psyche after last week’s train wreck in Fort Worth.

Hence, positivity.

“We just have to play with more confidence, it’s that simple,” Norvell said. “We haven’t played with confidence in our last three quarters.”

Perhaps Norvell was posi-tive Tuesday because he knows what to expect after coaching at Oklahoma for seven years. Maybe he’s counting on his offense leaning on D’Onta Fore-man more after his perfor-mance against the Frogs. Or, maybe, he’s been coaching long enough to realize that a football team is never as bad, or as good, as it appears.

Mostly, he’s seen enough UT-OU battles to realize that the favorite – in 2015, that would be Oklahoma – does not always leave the Texas State Fairgrounds with a win.

“I’ve been a coach for over 28 years, I’ve coached for the national championship and in the Super Bowl, and this is by far my favorite game,” Norvell said. “It’s just unique. It’s one of the reasons why I’m at Texas. Fortunately, I got an opportunity to coach in this game again.”

The inevitable questions was asked of Norvell Tuesday: does he know why he was let go in Norman?

“You’re asking the wrong guy,” Norvell said. “I was the football coach at Oklahoma for seven years. Any other questions, you’d have to ask coach (Stoops).”

Norvell said his offense has to improve, basically, in three areas.

“We have to play better at wide receiver,” said Norvell, adding, “and Jerrod (Heard) has to see things better. And our protection has to improve…we’re nicked up there, but we’re fighting through it.”

Speaking of nicked up, Norvell said Daje Johnson was “day to day,” adding that Johnson was “not totally back” but that the Longhorns were “hopeful” he would play on Saturday, which didn’t sound too hopeful, frankly.

Norvell said he thought Foreman showed that he deserved touches, but didn’t commit to naming a starter at running back against the Soon-ers. He also said he had talked to his players about, umm, social media.

“I am the parent of a 15 year-old boy,” Norvell said. “If you’re a parent, you’ve probably had that conversation a lot. And as coaches, we’ve got a lot of kids.”

Heard also spoke to the media, and touched on a hand-ful of topics:

* On his ‘I’m sorry’ tweet – “I just felt like I needed to say it.”

* On how he found out that his teammates were trading barbs on Twitter – “Somebody told me something, and I thought, ‘Oh Lord, what did they say?’ I told them I was going to get their phones and delete their Twitter. They love it too much, but I’m going to get them off, though.”

* On whether or not there is a rift between upper and lower class-men: “There’s no conflict or beef. Everybody’s getting along.”

* On being a big underdog: “I feel like it makes us come with an edge. We know we can win the game, but we know a lot of people think OU is going to win. That makes us very dangerous.”

NORVELL AND HEARD SPEAKby Mike Blackwell

- TEXAS VS TCU -

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WHAT THEY SAID...

“Totally disappointed, frustrated after the past two weeks how we came out and battled and competed. We came out today and just didn’t play hard. Just simple, fundamental techniques...You get into a big game like this, and you have the offense, and we have to play better. We’re looking for more leadership, do a better job of coaching, and we’ve got to get this turned around. We have no choice.”

“But we have to get better. We have to improve. We are just a better football team than we showed and I just keep saying, that we just got to keep believing in it because we can’t just go out there and not execute and not complete a game.”

CHARLIE STRONG

7 - 50FIRST DOWNS

TIME OF POSSESSION

THIRD DOWNSPASSING YARDSRUSHING YARDS

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- TEXAS VS TCU -

“I feel that we have a lot of things to get done, as far

as offense. I think we got out executed... That lack of

execution hurt everyone. Another part of that is having

heart, we can’t get down. We have a big game next

week, and we’re not a team that can’t battle. We’ve

shown it before, but today was one of those games

that...it took the best of us and we lost.”

JERROD HEARD

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A RED RIVER REVIVALDALLAS — Texas and Charlie Strong needed a big win in the worst way.

Mission accomplished.

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A RED RIVER REVIVALBY JUSTIN WELLS

D’Onta Foreman busts loose for 81 yards

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Behind the legs of Jerrod Heard and D’Onta Foreman, and

backed by a defense that was determined to bend and not

break, the Texas Longhorns upset No. 10 Oklahoma, 24-17, in the

annual Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Satur-

day.

Texas (2-4, 1-2) was focused all week on running the football down

OU’s throats and proving all the critics wrong. And it worked.

The Horns out-rushed their neighbors to the north, 313-67, as

Foreman went back-to-back with 100-yard rushing games for the

first time since Malcolm Brown in 2013. Foreman and Heard com-

bined for 245 yards, none bigger than Foreman’s 81-yard scamper

on a sprint draw right before the end of the 3rd quarter.

“I talked to the Governor before the game,” Strong said,” and told

him that we were going to play well and that he would be proud of

us. This today was the University of Texas. I told the team that they

did it and now this is what we expect.”

Heard says all it took was getting mad.

“We were pissed off for greatness,” said Heard. “Being such an

angry team really got us focused. We had no choice. We knew

we had to win. Now, we just want to keep that momentum. We

practiced it more this week (rushing plays and the Swoopes pack-

ages). We actually added extra periods for those packages. So that

everything really clicked and for everyone to know their assign-

ments and roles, that was a big win for us. The short yardage was

big. We needed those extra yards.”

Texas play-caller Jay Norvell found the perfect running balance

today. And it showed.

“We wanted to get our quarterback on the perimeter,” said

Norvell. “We had several perimeter runs for Jerrod, and the sprint

draw was a perfect compliment for that. We could get the defense

running with the threat of Heard on the sprint. Then hand it off (to

Foreman). Offensive football is about complimenting. We did a

good job of that today.”

After last week’s horrific 1st quarter in Fort Worth – down 30-0 to

TCU – the Longhorns flipped the script and jumped on OU early.

Heard found Marcus Johnson on a toss, who then took it 24 yards

to pay dirt and gave Texas the 7-0 advantage, midway through the

first.

“This was huge,” said Johnson. “This should be the standard of

how we play offense and defense. I feel like we can go back and

watch film, we can learn from this and understand this is how we

- TEXAS OU -

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should play, week in and week out. I was in the training room

during coach Strong’s press conference on Monday.

Somebody asked Strong, ‘will you get a third year’. When I heard

that, it hurt me. I don’t know how many teammates saw that,

but it really made me want to go out there and practice harder.

(Strong) works so hard for us. The whole staff works so hard, so

we can’t let those guys down. We really went out and played with

heart today. And it showed.”

On the ensuing kickoff, freshman DeShon Elliott forced an Alex

Ross fumble, which was recovered by fellow frosh, Kirk John-

son. Six plays later, Tyrone Swoopes belldozed his way into the

end zone for a 14-0 margin at the 5:37 mark. Swoopes actually

fumbled on the play, but it was picked up by freshman WR Lo-

renzo Joe. Either way, Texas had the lead and all the momentum

in the 1st half.

OU answered with a 12-play, 67-yard drive culminated by an

Austin Seibert 21-yard field goal. It put the Sooners on the board,

but even better was the goal line stand by the UT defense after

Oklahoma had a 1st-and-goal from the 3. Holding the Sooners to

a field goal was a small victory.

The Texas defense was the story of the opening half. They netted

four tackles for loss and four sacks, harassing Mayfield at every

turn. Strong and Vance Bedford dialed up blitz after blitz to an

undermanned Sooners offensive line. The Horns outrushed OU,

138-40 in the 1st half.

Texas took the opening kick of the 2nd half and

drove 75 yards on 15 plays, culminating in a Nick

Rose 27-yard field goal. It gave UT the 17-3 lead

midway through the third and every ounce of

energy and momentum.

Then OU answered.

Mayfield led a 11-play drive, then hit Dimitri

Flowers on a 3rd-and-goal from the 3 for the

Sooners first touchdown of the day. It brought OU

back within a possession, 17-10.

Then D’Onta happened.

On a 2nd down from their own 7, sophomore

running back D’Onta Foreman took a sprint draw

81 yards down to the OU 10. It ended the 3rd pe-

riod and ushered in a 4th quarter that Longhorn

fans had wanted for years. After Heard carried it down to the 2,

Swoopes hit TE Caleb Bluiett for the TD toss, Bluiett’s first career

score. Not bad for a guy playing DE less than a month ago.

Then the burnt orange section of Fair Park exploded. UT took

the 24-10 lead, with 13:52 left in the final stanza.

Then OU answered again.

Samaje Perine plunged in from 1-yard out, and got OU back

within a TD, 24-17, at the 8:00 minute mark. Plucky Sooners

signal-caller Mayfield converted three 1st downs on the drive

with 3rd down scrambles.

But when Texas needed to drain the clock, they went back to its

bread and butter; running the dang ball.

Texas played without starters Kent Perkins and Daje Johnson.

They also lost Hassan Ridgeway early in the 4th. But behind Paul

Boyette, Poona Ford, and Chris Nelson, the defensive front stood

up to the challenge. Strong was high-fiving Texas beat writers as

he walked into the press conference. I can’t remember seeing

Strong so happy.

“You’ve just got to pound ‘em, pound ‘em,” said Strong. “Believe

in yourself. Believe in yourself. You’re good enough. And they

have to hear that. And eventually, if they hear it enough, it’ll start

to get to them. Today was one of those days.”

- TEXAS OU -

Caleb Bluiett (42) and Charlie Strong

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WHAT THEY SAID...

“Being such an angry team that just wanted to be great, we had no choice. We knew one of these games was going to give in and favor us. So when something like this happens, we’re just going to keep that momentum and feed it into next week.”

JERROD HEARD

“ The win, it’s really big, but like I said, we needed that win. And we have just been so close before last week, before we were blown out. But just to see that win and just get a jump-start, and now we have six more to go play...but putting on the hat, it was special because you know you won the game and it was just really special to go up and shake the governor’s hand. And even before the game started, I said, listen, we’re going to play today. I said, you’re going to be very proud of us at the end of this game.”

CHARLIE STRONG

“We didn’t get down on ourselves this whole week; we just moved forward and took practice to a whole other level. Every-body was focused, everybody was on time for everything and that’s just a stepping-stone moving forward.”

PAUL BOYETTE JR.

24 - 17FIRST DOWNS

TIME OF POSSESSION


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- TEXAS OU -

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18 insidetexas.comPeter Jinkens

19

I’ve been there before.

Standing in that tunnel that leads to the Cotton Bowl field before the Texas-Oklahoma game. Minutes before it was tackle Scott Appleton throwing up in the dress-ing room bathroom in anticipation of what was going to ensue.

In 1960 we were leading when the Sooners tried a half-back pass deep in our territory and Longhorn defensive tackle Eddie Padgett slammed into OU’s Jimmy Carpen-ter and the ball floated toward our right side. I picked it off and ran 78 yards to cap off a 24-0 Texas win.

My seat was looking down at that spot where the inter-ception occurred so many years ago and I was praying that this Texas team coming off an embarrassing loss to TCU had the same feeling we had in the 60’s and could generate enough team intensity to make this a ball game against an Oklahoma team that was undefeated and ranked top 10 nationally.

Well done, Horns.

Last week I wrote in InsideTexas that the Longhorns only chance was to get physical and slow down the game – they didn’t have the experience to go fast break and it was killing their defensive efforts. Did they ever!

With Daje Johnson sidelined with concussion symptoms after a non-called target hit at TCU, Texas OC Jay Nor-vell put wide receiver Marcus Johnson in Daje’s role of a quick motion man to stretch the Sooner defense before the snap and at 7:52 at the first quarter, Johnson made a brilliant TD run of 24 yards after a short pass from Jerrod Heard into the left flat. Johnson tight-roped right in front of where I was sitting 30 rows up for a stunning

touchdown.

Instead of the uninspired Texas efforts of one week ago in Fort Worth, this Texas team was burning on straight hot gasoline fire.

For one thing, Heard being a drop back passer was gone. This cat was back at Denton Guyer executing the give to dive back Johnathan Gray or D’Onta Foreman for a keep. No blitzes would stop this action from the outside like Oklahoma State had done. The word for the Texas offense was physical.

Those young linemen were coming off the football and I watched Patrick Vahe from Euless Trinity doing what he did so well, which was attacking Sooners – not sitting back pushing in pass protection. It’s in his DNA!

Whether Strong brought on this change of attack or Norvell makes no difference, it set a tone, which was at the heart of this Texas victory.

Of course all the Texas fans marched into the stadium with trepidation. Don’t kid yourself, at best we hoped to be competitive. There were lots of empty seats early in the Texas Longhorn North end zone – they don’t bring out a man to be hanged early. By game time whether by outside spirits or just for old time “heck with Okla-homa” attitude, the Longhorn fans and the Texas band got really loud. All of a sudden I was back in 1962 and it was 4th-and-2 from the Texas 18 yard line with us leading 9-6 and we had to stop the Sooner charge – we did just that, standing up Joe Don Looney and killing OU’s chances of winning. In that North Endzone with the Texas Band at it’s loudest and all of the Burnt Orange fans yelling (let’s do that in Austin), a different Texas team emerged.

UT Fights Back in Big Win Over Sooners

by Pat CulpepperCulpepper’s Commentary

20 insidetexas.com

- Culpepper’s Commentary -

First and most importantly this was a different Texas defense. On one of the first series of the game, I caught CB Duke Thomas blitzing off the boundary. Before this game, in five games, the Longhorns had only seven sacks – on this day in the glorious Dallas sunlight they put Sooner QB Baker Mayfield down six times.

The defensive staff did an excellent job of subbing line-man in and out of the game to keep the pressure on. Oklahoma had a total of 87 rushing yards – the Long-horns 313. There were four OU three-and-outs and seven Sooner punts. Hassan Ridgeway and Poona Ford both had to leave the game with collisions but came back with a vengeance and combined for 2.5 sacks.

At the last with Mayfield trying to find an open receiver because of a tighter Texas coverage, it was Naashon Hughes and Ford who brought Mayfield down for a 17-yard loss. It was the last time Oklahoma had the ball after its fourth down punt.

The offensive play of the game for Texas was a sprint

draw – did I say Texas played physical – to Foreman and for a brief second the Texas front cracked open a hole and the 6-0, 241-pound cannon ball from Texas City bolted for an 81-yard run that set up the 7-point margin of victory.

I loved it when Strong was waiving at Tyrone Swoopes who couldn’t get it into the end zone from the Longhorns power stacked formation in the second quarter. They were inside the 3-yard line on third down after being stopped and Swoopes was ready to come to the bench – but Strong was not in the mood to back off and he waved Swoopes back on the field.

The big man scored. In fact the last Longhorn touchdown in the fourth quarter which was set up by Foreman’s steamrolling run was a lob pass from Swoopes to Caleb Bluiett in the back of the end zone where Johnson had scored in the first quarter. It floated through the air and I was scared we would drop it. Caleb gathered it in and set off anoth-er wild celebration by all of us in section 12 and around the North end zone.

So what happened last Saturday to give Charlie Strong the biggest win so far in

his career as the Texas Longhorns head coach?

Sooner coach Bob Stoops said it well afterward, “All in all, they kicked us. There is not much else to say about it.”

Has this team finally started to grow up together? Has Texas found a method of football on offense that can turn QB Heard into a dangerous weapon – he rushed for 115 yards and most importantly crucial first downs. He only threw 11 times – two of them attempted bombs that kept the Sooner secondary back.

These players LOVE Strong and that was apparent at games end and the celebrations that followed on the

Naashon Hughes (40) and Poona Ford (95)

21insidetexas.com

field. Players like Hughes at 6-foot-4, 232, a sophomore who is coming into his best football playing days is a good example. Running backs at Oklahoma like Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon went down hard from his outside to inside jarring tackles. Freshman Malik Jefferson stayed on the outside and made a crucial sack on Mayfeild.

We, the Texas faithful, stayed in those end zone stands until the last Texas players got to that tunnel, at the North End of the Cotton Bowl. 35 minutes by my watch, Taylor Doyle came down and told the Texas Cowboys to fire the cannon one more time!

What about all those recruits at the game? Wouldn’t any-one of them love to play in such a game? Nobody else in the Big 12 has such a chance with the stadium divided and your parents able to drive to the majority of your games. Most have to go to Starkville, Mississippi, like our Aggie buddies who ran from the Big 12.

There was Peter Jinkens the Texas linebacker on his knees facedown in the Texas end zone being hugged by freshman warrior Patrick Vahe as the celebrations died down.

Where does it go from here? Your guess is as good as mine. This week a well-coached, tough Kansas State team comes to Austin. As impossible as it seems, Strong has a chance to make a difference in the Big 12. They already did to Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Since nobody in College Football has played a tougher, more demanding schedule than Texas; Notre Dame, Cali-fornia, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Oklahoma. The Long-horns have paid their dues as well as their coaching staff. Now it is time for the hard rocky road to pay off.

Kansas State almost upset TCU and the only difference was Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson of the Horned Frogs.

I hope you can’t wait to salute and cheer for the Longhorns who came from nowhere to save their coach and redeem their pride as football players.

Hook’Em,Pat

- Culpepper’s Commentary -

Caleb Bluiett

Pat Culpepper played for The University of Texas from 1960-62 and graduated from UT with a B.A. degree with honors in history. He coached college football for 12 years as an assistant at Texas, Colorado, Tulane, Baylor, and Memphis State and was head coach at Northern Illinois from 1976-79. He also spent 16 years as a high school coach in Texas at Midland, Lufkin, Galveston Ball, Westfield and his hometown of Cleburne. He was selected to the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1991. His com-

mentary appears regularly in the Inside Texas magazine and at InsideTexas.com.

22

There probably isn’t a whole lot about Shaka Smart’s story you don’t know, by now, if you’ve been interested in finding out.

The son of a single mother in Wisconsin, Shaka’s lack of a true father figure in his life has fostered his motivation to provide just that type of emotional sup-port for his players through interaction, accountability and character development.

It’s a special story. One you’ll hear a dozen times this season whilst watching Texas Basketball games on television (perhaps a few dozen times if the Long-horns end up being any good). And we can all feel good about the young, new coach at the University of Texas here to turn things around after Rick Barnes’ tenure came to an unceremonious end last spring.

Everybody smile…and…*snap*…good, now that the team picture’s been taken, let’s get down to business.

Some Tangible (and some not so tangible) Things

If there’s excitement in getting to know somebody new in your life (even if that relationship is, uh, one-sided), it often initially revolves around the palpable things that person can do.

Shaka, as a person and coach, has plenty of those things. Still, any person critiquing Coach Smart would be totally remiss if they didn’t allude to the intan-gible things he brings to the position.

Hopefully, you know all about the accolades he established at VCU - if not, please read here. These will be about things that can work for the future, both immediate and long term.

Good/Known

He has already worked extensively at adjusting his “Havoc” system to fit the existing parts Texas had in place. That flexibility and non-rigidity aren’t exactly common amongst major D1 head coaches.

Shaka has also established emotional buy-in from his players by sticking true to his promise of wanting to build relationships with them through time and direct interaction (in the dorms, during meal times, times outside of practice).

Early recruiting efforts have been promising

Smart has shown a willingness to throw his hat in the ring on the bluest of chips, because you never know. He also has a terrific eye for talent as it pertains to players who have great potential or are seeing their development take off.

SHAKA SMART GETS ROLLING

23

SHAKA SMART GETS ROLLINGby Tim Preston

Photo courtesy of UT Athletics

24 insidetexas.com

Shaka is tenacious in going after recruits targeted as main pieces and he has a very good personality for the extracurricular portion of the job (re: LHN) as well as an ability to very positively create an environ-ment that will play well for the cameras when exclusive look-ins are happening.

Building Bridges

Smart wasted no time identifying the lead-ers of this team, working towards uplifting players who felt alienated by Coach Barnes and his staff and making sure the team dynamic won’t be interrupted by a new staff.Like many successful coaches, he has

made solid inroads with former players, fans, and donors in attempts to smooth over some of the apathy towards UT Basketball.

Some of these things are similar to where Rick Barnes was. Many of them are stark contrasts.

Regardless, all of these are things that go beyond X’s and O’s to give some more insight as to how Shaka Smart is doing on the job, thus far.

Bad/Unknown

There are decidedly less of these, though

that’s to be expected.

Tevin Mack is a great get and it can’t be overstated how important it was to the pro-gram to not lose either of Roach or Davis, but, as of now, Texas has (likely) missed out on Terrance Ferguson, Marcus Bolden, Kameron McGusty and (sigh) De’Aaron Fox. Jacob Young is a gifted scorer, but he stands as all there is right now.Shaka’s staff, while blessed with bas-ketball IQ, is largely unfamiliar with both Texas and the Big 12.

Smart will need to figure out how to best incorporate three big men (Ridley, Cleare, Ibeh) who all essentially fill the same type of offensive role in a system built to incor-porate only one player of that type.

The honeymoon period is great…but what if Texas loses to Washington right out of the gates in Shanghai? Or, worse yet, falls in the opening round game to A&M? Buy-in is awesome, until you don’t have it any more. How will the players respond to Shaka’s ever present style then?

The Endgame

I happen to believe Shaka Smart is the right guy for this job (with the caveat that there were probably 8-10 others who could have been “right” for it as well). Still, he’s a college coach through and through who plays an exciting style and has a charisma to match. Tough to argue with that com-bination at a place as starved for positive energy as is Texas Basketball.

The recruiting will match the results, so I’m not so worried there. The results will match the preparation, so I’m not so wor-ried there. Now, I just hope my optimism is based on tangible things (or, at least intangible things which have a chance of playing themselves out).

- Shaka Smart -

26 insidetexas.com

Perhaps dangerous from name recognition alone, Texas’ regular season

opener (played in Shanghai…thanks, Steve…) matches the Longhorns up against the Huskies from the Pac-12. Lorenzo Romar’s team took a big hit when Nigel Williams-Goss elected to transfer to Gonzaga during the offsea-son and Robert Upshaw declared for the NBA draft. Still, Romar’s teams are always competitive and Texas will be traveling halfway across the world for their first real game under Smart.

Life without Ryan Boatright will be an adjustment for the Huskies and third year coach Kevin Ollie, but the additions of Jalen Adams and Steven

Enoch (to go along with Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis) will give Connecticut plenty of firepower when they travel to Austin right before Conference play begins. This should be an interesting matchup of teams expected to be right beneath the top spots in their respective conferences and both teams will likely view the game as significant towards their chances at an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Cardinal won a nail biter last season in Austin and the Long-horns will look to return the favor this year in Palo Alto. Helping the

Longhorns’ cause is the absence of Chas-son Randle and Anthony Brown from last season. Still, the residual effect of winning the NIT last year should have a positive impact for the Cardinal as they rebuild their backcourt.

THE DANGEROUS

THE CUPCAKESAppalachian State Texas A&M Corpus Crhisti

UT-Arlington

Samford

UT San Antonio

THE HEAVYWEIGHTSThe Longhorns will play the Aggies for the first time since A&M left for the SEC

when they meet in the first round of the Battle for Atlantis over the Thanksgiv-ing break. A&M mixes returning scorers Danuel House and Jalen Jones to a ter-rific incoming freshman class consisting of Elijah Thomas, DJ Hogg, Admon Gilder and Tyler Davis. Texas can match A&M, talent wise, but it will make a difference that it will be game three for the Longhorns and game six for the Aggies. Big game in the Bahamas.

The rest of the Battle for Atlantis field – This will obviously depend on the outcome of Texas’ game against the Aggies but, should they win, the Longhorns will have little time to lick their wounds in the one-one-one format of the tournament. Other teams in the field include top 10 Gonzaga (Texas’ likely opponent should they win their first round matchup) who will again be one of the best teams in the country; Syracuse (down, but still very good); UConn (look above) and Michigan (looking to rebound from a disappoint-ing season last year).

Perhaps the Tar Heels should be in a group by themselves. North Carolina boasts four

returning players projected to be first round draft picks next year (Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks and Justin Jackson). Under Rick Barnes, Texas had the Tar Heels’ number on more occasions than not. However, this is one of the more talented UNC groups Williams has had in Chapel Hill (which is saying a lot). The Er-win Center should be rocking when North Carolina comes to town in December.

2015 NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULEThe team belongs to Shaka Smart, but the schedule has a distinct Rick Barnes flavor to it. Meaning? Well, the non-conference slate is loaded with tough games (most away from home) and there’s only

a game or two worth watching at the Erwin Center.

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2015 BIG XII SCHEDULE

KANSAS – The Jayhawks should once again be the class of the league as they return their top three leading scorers (Ellis, Mason and Selden), have a player many around the country assume is ready to ex-plode (Mykhailiuk) and arguably the nation’s most dynamic freshman (Diallo, should he be cleared, which is a concern). Plus Self is in a class all his own in the conference, coaching wise. KU will once again be very good (with great being a distinct possibility should Diallo get his clearance)…sigh. OKLAHOMA – All signs point to Oklaho-ma having a chance to make the ascension into the elite echelon of college basketball this year. Returning are all their dynamic senior class (Hield, Cousins and Spangler) to go along with a solid point guard in Wood-ard and emerging big man in Lattin. Their depth will take a hit with the loss of Thomas, but Kruger has recruited very well and he’s got the upper tier talent to be excellent yet again. IOWA STATE – My heart wants to put the Cyclones higher. It really does. ISU may well have the two best players in the conference in Morris and Niang. They return McKay, Nader, Long and Thomas. They bring in Cooke, Babb and Ernst. It’s a team with some real talent and pieces in multiple spots. But Hoiberg was Iowa State, right? Yes, they had the players, but Hoiberg was the program. How does Prohm continue that momentum? For now, I’m putting them at

three with the chance for significant upward (or downward) movement. BAYLOR – Another year, another season where I’m not all that enamored with Scott Drew’s Baylor Bears. Yes, Gathers and Prince are big pieces to build around. And, yes, McClure, Medford and Motley can all play. But where does the playmaking come from to replace Chery? And how do they re-place the secondary playmaking of O’Neale? Those two made Baylor go given the nature of their offense. I think the learning curve will be pretty significant. WEST VIRGINIA – Life without Juwan Staten begins this fall for the Mountaineers. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Huggins has a couple of good building blocks to lean on with Williams and Carter providing young leadership for a team com-ing off the high of qualifying through to the Sweet Sixteen last year. Still, the question of where their scoring and playmaking comes from will be key for a WVU team in transi-tion. OKLAHOMA STATE – The addition of Evans will give Ford a capable backcourt mate, but the loss of Nash will be a big one for Oklahoma State (as will the loss of Cobbins). OSU will be heavily dependent upon their back court duo but will struggle to provide them the scoring relief they have in previous seasons without a player like Nash who was so good at creating offense

for himself. TCU – If the Horned Frogs can replace some of what Kyan Anderson brought them, their increased depth and experience along the front line should make for an improving team this season. Back are Shepard, Wil-liams and Washburn to add to newcomers Shreiner and Trent in the backcourt. TCU’s continued trend towards respectability might take a small hit, but they are working. KANSAS STATE – What the hell to make of the Wildcats? Gone are Williams, Gipson and Foster. Iwundwu returns, which is good. Still, the only reason K State isn’t last is because… TEXAS TECH – Williams and Gotcher are legitimate D1 players. The rest of the team… I’m a big Tubby Smith fan, but how many roster restarts will they put up with in Lubbock?

The narrative is understandable. Screw the Big 12. Screw the podunk conference with small schools from small states. Screw the powers that be who have dictated the Longhorns’ connection to institutions such as

Baylor, Iowa State, West Virginia and TCU. What do those schools share in common with a flagship university like Texas?

The narrative is understandable. However, that day is likely years (decades?) off. And, as such, we are left to deal with the Big 12 in its current place and current state.

And that’s really not so bad at all.

PREDICTIONWhile the NCAA Tournament results haven’t been particularly impressive -- last year only

WVU and OU made it to the Sweet Sixteen, KU again dropped a second round matchup to a lower seedand Baylor and ISU both were unceremoniously dropped in the first round to 14 seeds as a 3 seed --

there is no doubt that the conference, as a collective, is as strong as any other in the country.

And this year? I have it handicapped as...

1. Kansas (14-4) 2. Oklahoma (13-5) 3. Iowa State (13-5) 4. Texas (11-7) 5. Baylor (9-9) 6. West Virginia (8-10) 7. Oklahoma State (7-11) 8. TCU (7-11) 9. Kansas State (5-13)10. Texas Tech (3-15)

28 insidetexas.com

To call last year a sophomore slump for Isaiah Taylor is unfair. His point

per game numbers went up (13.1 from 12.7). His assists per game numbers went up (4.6 from 4.0). His shooting numbers, across the board, went up (40/28/84 from 39/26/75).

Taylor was a better player last year than he was as a freshman.

Still, you could forgive Texas fans for hoping for (expecting?) the transcendent. Again, unfair, but such was the hype sur-rounding Taylor and his ability level given the team he had surrounding him.

STRENGTHS

The game plan for Taylor is quite simple: you build in situations where he can beat his defender to the free throw line (prefer-ably where Taylor can be square to the basket with his hips) off the bounce.

Taylor can be electric with the ball in his hands when he’s able to generate space against containment.

There are few players in the country who can match his ball handling ability/speed combination when he’s able to find space to operate. Taylor has also proven to be an excellent free throw shooter.

A fine passer, Taylor is most successful creating for others after drawing help in the half court.

On defense, Taylor is a solid on-ball de-fender, uses his length well as a defender in the half court and has the quickness

to be a pest when his body positioning is ready early and before the catch in recovery spots.Taylor has the physical tools to be an above average defender.

WEAKNESSES

Another in a long line of Texas point guards (Ford, Ivey, Balbay, Mason, Holland) who have been reluctant shooters from range, Taylor has struggled incorporating deep shooting into his comfort level as an offen-sive player. Last season, Taylor averaged one 3-point shot every 19 minutes of court time. That’s not enough.

Taylor will need to get more comfortable going all the way to the rim or become more adept at creating spacing for interior dump offs or kick outs.

Defensively, Isaiah’s issues have often arisen because of a lack of spatial aware-ness on close outs or reversals.

When he’s cognizant of his defensive spacing, he’s just fine.

HOW HE FITS SHAKA’S SCHEME

It’s exciting, frankly.

Shaka’s offensive system is predicated on

quick ball movement and a focus towards attacking early in the shot clock. That’s ideal for someone like Isaiah who is best when he’s able to take the action to the defense before the defender is set and ready in their half prep.

Perhaps the biggest question mark will be shot selection by Taylor because in this of-fense he will be able to get shots up pretty much any time he wants, so managing his duties as a distributor will be key for him.

Defensively, he can use his quickness and agility to look for steals or slow down break down/transition opportunities. In the half court, he’ll need to be careful as he should create a number of steals, but needs to not give up easy looks, especially to spot shooters and in dribble penetration because he needs to be on the floor and not in foul trouble.

ISAIAH TAYLOR | POINT GUARD #1J 6-foot-1, 170-lb

J The Village School (Houston, TX) via Hayward, CA

J Recruited by Rob Lanier

J Ranked as a 3* recruit, nationally

J Averaged 13.1 pts, 3.2 rbs, 4.6 asts, 2.6 tos and 0.9 stls

per game on 40/28/84% shooting

2015 BASKETBALL PREVIEW

29insidetexas.com

Demarcus experienced one of the best jumps in shooting percentage a

player has had at Texas by upping each of his shooting numbers (including a dramatic 17% increase on three pointers).The rest of his game was its normal solid self (though his rebounding and steals numbers were down a decent amount).

Still, Holland’s work ethic and energy level have already made him a staff favorite and it’s likely he’ll play a significant role moving forward into this season.

STRENGTHS

Holland biggest strength on offense is in transition. Blessed with top-level quickness and body control, Holland is a solid finisher at the rim when on the break.

In the half court setting, Holland is capable in straight line drives and off of curls from down screens with the ball. He also does a good job of finding the simple pass and protecting the basketball.

And, of course, his perimeter shooting was terrific last year, particularly in catch and shoot situations.

Holland is one of the best on-ball defend-ers over the last twenty years. He’s got the quickness to deal with point guards and the long arms and explosiveness to deal with longer wings. He could stand to be a little bit taller, but aside from that, there are few things Holland can’t do as a perimeter defender, regardless of system.

WEAKNESSES

Holland has never been a great ball handler. Those same long arms that help him, defensively, give him fits while dribbling in traffic. He struggles to keep the ball under his hips and defend-ers will make him pay when he gets too loose with the ball, horizontally.

He also isn’t the most natural mover into space with or without the ball. He’s more likely to set up shop (or even back up against man), which takes away some of his effectiveness as a straight line driver or spot shooter.

Demarcus’s issues have generally been because he’s facing a special offensive talent (Andrew Wiggins as an example). Beyond that, his energy, focus and funda-mentals have made him as consistent as he is capable.


While Holland isn’t near the natural offen-sive player Taylor is, Shaka’s system fits him accordingly.

A true switch towards an uptempo scheme should accentuate Demarcus’s ability in the open court while also minimizing some

of his limitations in longer, drawn out pos-sessions.

It should also help to bring in the skill/playmaking of Eric Davis, Kerwin Roach and Tevin Mack as they all are the kind of lengthy scorers that will take some of the scoring burden off of Holland, especially in the half court. In lineups with those guys (and Taylor), Holland will get the third pe-rimeter defender from the opposing team.

If Shaka was looking to put together a prototype for an edge of the diamond de-fender, Demarcus would be about perfect.

Quick feet? Check. Flexible hips and shoulders? Check. Long arms and quick hands? Check. Body control? Check. Boundless energy? Check. Instincts? Check.

As long as his healthy stays up (no reason to believe it wouldn’t), Demarcus should flourish in this defensive system.

DEMARCUS HOLLAND | COMBO GUARD #2J 6-foot-2, 190-lb

J Naaman Forest HS (Garland, TX)

J Recruited by Chris Ogden

J Ranked as a 3* recruit, nationally

J Averaged 7.1 pts, 3.2 rbs, 2.4 asts and 0.4 stls



30 insidetexas.com

For really the first time under Rick Barnes, Javan Felix was utilized in a

role (and within a minutes per game) that fit his skill set.

So, in a way, it was a year where he was simultaneously asked to do the least but also allowed to stay inside of his comfort zone (and, largely, away from his weak-nesses) and produce to the best of his ability.

What that meant, tangibly, is that his minutes were down (along with his assists, rebounds and, most importantly, his turn-overs) and his points were up.

Now we see how Javan fits into Shaka’s frenetic, athletic style.

STRENGTHS

Felix’s skill set generally revolves around his ability to shoot the basketball and handle the ball against man pressure. He does both well, especially when he can attack in spacing and when he’s got open areas into spacing where he feels most comfortable as a scorer

*The low wing along the perimeter as a three point shooter

*Baseline short corner on pull ups

*In transition as a catch and shoot player

*Against a rotating defense where he can attack space off the dribble while going right

When Javan can be asked to fit a specific role as a scorer, he can help this team.On defense, what Javan lacks in quickness

or height, he makes up for in strength and arm length. The guy’s a bull and tough to get around because he can stay flat with his hips defending the ball but ball handlers just bounce off him when trying to turn the corner. It makes him deceptively good when guarding the ball.

WEAKNESSES

He’s not a point guard because he doesn’t have the quickness or suddenness. When he’s tasked with creating offense for himself against a set/established half court, he will shoot a low percentage because his only move is a pull up jumper as he doesn’t have the explosiveness to attack the rim against help defense.

Javan excels at making the solid, simple pass. However, he rarely creates offense for his teammates by passing them open or making the difficult pass in traffic. It’s not in his comfort zone and, so, he almost completely stays away from it.

To be clear, I don’t blame Javan for this as every perimeter player on the team func-tioned under the same principles, but when in zone, Felix was as destructive as a pe-rimeter defender could be. His positioning when weak side was awful. He was almost always shading on the far side of the free throw line from his assignment.

Most importantly, he left himself suscep-tible to three point shooting off of reversals and kick outs. Over and over and over and over again. His spatial defending is a huge weakness.


Javan doesn’t have the quickness or speed with the ball to function as a primary ball handler in Shaka’s offense. The good part about that is that, with the arrival of Davis and Roach, he shouldn’t have to.

Javan can be an asset to this team as a shooter and ball mover. Beyond that, he doesn’t have the physical skill set to be a focal point in this offense for more than 8-10 minutes per game.

Defensively, Javan has the physical strength and long arms to be capable on the edge of a diamond. It would be tough to put him at half court because of his lack of quickness and the nature of his move-ment in the open floor.

In half court, Javan should be fine when on ball, but will need to be careful when play-ing passing lanes and off the ball.

JEVAN FELIX | POINT GUARD #3J 5-foot-11, 185-lb

J St. Augustine HS (New Orleans, LA)

J Recruited by Russell Springman

J Ranked as #74 prospect, nationally

J Averaged 8.7 pts, 2.2 rbs, 2.0 asts, 1.6 tos and 0.3 stls



31insidetexas.com

Davis comes to Texas as one of the more gifted scorers and shooters

in the 2015 class. A Jordan Brand All-American, Davis’ offer list included Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State and Florida (among many others).

STRENGTHS

Davis has a tremendous skill set with the ball and as a shooter. He has good hip and shoulder preparation both in catch and shoot situations as well as on pull ups. He understands how to keep the ball under his hips as a ball handler, and is sneaky good at navigating through traffic as a penetra-tor. He even sees the floor well as a passer and does a good job of setting up spacing for dump offs or kick outs with his ability to change pace with the basketball.

Davis’ intuitive nature as a player does leak over to the defensive side as well. He sees the floor well. He moves well in space and he has a knack for rebounding, even at his size, in space.

WEAKNESSES

Eric has his issues with forcing the action as a creator and shooter. He is a guy who exudes confidence and is fearless when he attacks, but that can come with its caveats, particularly for him as a player who isn’t the natural athlete that a guy like Demar-cus Holland or Kerwin Roach are.

There are times when he can over pen-etrate if he get out of control or impatient and even his skill set with the ball can’t bail

him out. He also will struggle some to fin-ish at the rim against D1 help defenders.

All stuff he will iron out in time, but he’ll have some issues adjusting to the game as it pertains to his aggressiveness as a ball handler/creator/facilitator.

Davis is a fine athlete, but he’s not especially long, nor especially explosive. He can make up for some of that with his competitive nature and the way he understands the flow of the game. But he’s going to have issues with his rela-tive lack of athleticism, at least on occa-sion, given the nature of what Smart runs.


Davis is probably a better fit for Shaka than Shaka is for him, if that makes sense. Davis has the ability with the basketball to take pressure off of Taylor as a creator/fa-cilitator in the half court. He’s also a terrific release valve for the offense because of his ability to shoot the basketball.

As for the faster tempo and pace, it shouldn’t hinder Davis, but it’s not as if it fits his skill set precisely as it would a player like Taylor, Holland or Roach.

Intangibly, what Davis brings with him that’s huge for this team is his fearless atti-

tude as a scorer. Not since J’Covan Brown left has Texas had a player with that type of confidence/skill set combination.

Hard to understate how important that is for Shaka and this team considering the only real alpha dog, offensively, on this team is Taylor, who struggles to shoot.

In the diamond, it will depend, some, on whose on the court with him. If he’s with a combination of Roach, Holland and Taylor, Davis will likely be on one of the sides of the diamond in the role to better utilize the quickness of the other three. If he’s on the floor with Javan or Yancy, it’s more likely to see him on the bottom of the diamond in that high interceptor role where he can use his instincts in the open floor.

In the halfcourt, he’ll be tested some as a mover in traffic, laterally, but he should be fine away from the ball. It will also help that with Holland, Roach and Taylor around, Davis will rarely draw the opponent’s best perimeter player for an assignment.

ERIC DAVIS | COMBO GUARD #10J 6-foot-3, 180-lb

J Arthur Hill HS (Saginaw, MI)



J Averaged 21.5 pts, 9.9 rbs, 6.7 asts and 4 stls

per game as a HS Senior



32 insidetexas.com

Two-thirds of the way through last season, there were questions about

Kendal’s happiness.

He was the fourth guard in Texas’ rotation behind Taylor, Holland and Felix. He had scored 10 or more points only twice over the first 23 games of the season. He had taken more than 10 shots only twice as well.

Was this who he was? A role/bit player who could shoot, pass, defend and dribble but only for a few minutes per game?

Then the last 11 games of the season hap-pened. Over that final section of the year, Yancy averaged 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Including his 27 point outburst against Iowa State where he singlehandedly kept the Longhorns in it until the end.

STRENGTHS

Kendal’s biggest strength is the diversity with which he can function on offense.

He’s an above average three point shooter. He’s got the height, length and athleticism to challenge the defense in space and at the rim. He’s a solid enough ball handler and passer that defenses have to account for him as a playmaker, even if only in spots.

If not for Holland being on the team, people would probably make a bigger deal about Yancy’s defense. Kendal isn’t just deceptively athletic. He’s an excellent athlete.

And, he’s got the strength and length to be one of the better perimeter defenders in the Big 12.

Kendal does a great job of keeping his hips square to the ball and playing extended, using his long arms and lateral quickness to maintain contact and keep his man from turning the corner in penetration. He also has good timing and understands the trap well.

WEAKNESSES

For a guy who almost averaged a triple double his senior year in high school, Yancy’s biggest issues as an offensive player have largely been mental ones. I’ve had people around the program talk consistently to me about how difficult it’s been to get Kendal to be more assertive as a scorer/creator.

Tough to criticize a kid for his personality (when it’s not a destructive one, at least), but a good portion of what’s kept Kendal from breaking out has been because of his own bearing.

In opposition to his offensive struggles, Kendal’s issues on the defensive end have been because of his aggressive nature and physicality.

It’s obvious how much pride Kendal takes from his defensive assignments, but that’s

also gotten him into some trouble. In those same 11 games at the end of the year, Kendal’s forceful nature as a defender got him into foul trouble (four games with four fouls in that span and two other with three).


Yancy’s athleticism and explosiveness fit well with Shaka’s penchant to get the ball in to the open floor.

Yancy’s ability to finish at the rim fit well with Shaka’s insistence that Texas takes the action to the defense in the lane.

Yancy’s creativity with the ball, in space, make him a dangerous ball handler/cre-ator, especially in the open floor.

In the diamond, Kendal can capably func-tion in either the side interceptor or high interceptor role.

In half court looks, Yancy should flour-ish in the spatial freedom away from the ball where he can use his athleticism and instincts to ball hawk. When on the ball, Yancy’s strength and quickness should help him when forcing the ball/action to the sideline where we can look to set up traps.

KENDAL YANCY | COMBO GUARD #5J 6-foot-3, 200-lb

J Berkner HS (Richardson, TX)



J Averaged 6.3 pts, 2.8 rbs, 1.7 asts



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Barnett didn’t exactly set the world on fire in his first year on the 40 Acres.

He was the last man off the bench during the nonconference season and he was, essentially, an afterthought in Big 12 and postseason play.

While none of that’s all that surprising for any freshman, it was interesting to see Barnett struggle for minutes given the na-ture of the roster Barnes had last season (Jordan was the only natural small forward available).

So what, if anything, will change this season?

STRENGTHS

Coming to Austin as a player who was considered diverse in his skill set, Jordan’s role, last year, was generally relegated to the perimeter.

Part of that was by design and part of that was because all of Texas’ perimeter players found it difficult to find space on the interior with Ridley/Ibeh/Turner/Holmes down low.

For his part, Barnett proved himself to be an adequate outside shooter. He also showed some skill as a ball mover and facilitator, including having the lowest turn-over per minute ratio on the team (only one over every 20 minutes played).

Barnett has ideal size/athleticism/strength as a wing/combo forward defender.

He wasn’t perfect, but Jordan showed

good awareness in man and was pass-able on the low wing in zone. He was one of the better players on the team in his ability to regain con-tact in his close outs.

WEAKNESSES

When Barnett was becoming a top high school recruit in the country, it was his varied skill set that set him apart as a wing.Unfortunately, we saw almost none of that last year.

Jordan floated around the perimeter, rarely attacking the basket or getting into the lane to exploit his athleticism and length (46% of Jordan’s field goals were from three, putting him behind only Lammert and Felix).

As it can be for any lengthy wing player coming from high school to a school like Texas, Barnett struggled adjusting to guarding perimeter players with an athleti-cism/skill combination.

His quickness and body control were solid, but he often over-pursued and got into trouble when by showing big too late after his assignment’s catch, leaving him susceptible to dribble penetration.


Barnett possesses a skill set which in-

cludes body control on catches in traffic, a solid three point stroke, the ability to finish at the rim, solid vision in space and the capacity to create extra possessions with how he can rebound in open areas.

The biggest question mark will be whether he can provide rebounding/screening at a level where Shaka feels comfortable put-ting him at the four for extended minutes. If that’s possible, we could see Jordan’s minutes jump up into the 20+ range.

Defensively, Jordan can make the big-gest impact as he grows accustomed to Shaka’s system. Jordan is Texas’ most athletic, true wing player who can combine lateral quickness with the height/length to play anywhere in the diamond.

He can function as a side interceptor and should be able to stay with smaller ball handlers as he builds an understanding of early positioning in the system.

Barnett has the lateral quickness to play cover at mid court. In the half court, the big question will be whether or not Barnett can effectively check opposing power forwards.

JORDAN BARNETT | FORWARD #33J 6-foot-6, 205-lb

J Christian Brothers HS (St. Louis, MO)

J Recruited by Russell Springman


J Averaged 1.9 pts, 1.3 rbs, 0.5 asts



34 insidetexas.com

What to make of Connor Lammert?

He’s arguably the best/most natural passer on the entire team, let alone for just Texas’ big men.

Yet, he had the second lowest true shoot-ing percentage on the team last year (40 percentage points lower than Javan Felix, if you can believe that).

He’s the lone, true power forward on the entire team and can rebound and screen at a high level. Yet, he had more three point attempts (60) than free throw attempts (44).

It wasn’t a bad year for Connor last year, yet much of the promise he’s shown over the years has been just that…promise, as opposed to true production.

STRENGTHS

Lammert has been an underappreciated player, offensively, since he’s been at Texas. That’s generally been because of some of his shooting issues.

Lammert is the most natural passer on the team, arguably. He sees the floor well, and utilizes great fundamentals with his hips and shoulders. He’s also very valuable in the screen game.

On defense, what Connor lacks in pure athleticism, he makes up for in length and energy. Plus, he’s able to play with better pace and quickness than his body type might suggest..

WEAKNESSES

Connor has a nice stroke as a shooter. His hip and shoulder preparation is good. His footwork is good.

All good things.

So, why did he shoot 29% from deep and under 40%, overall, last season? Regard-less of the holistic positivity that is the rest of his game, those numbers aren’t good enough, and they loom as a negative cloud over his game.

In a classic tweener way, Connor has had his issues as a defender. He’s a fine defender, but he does have some physical limitations when asked to guard All-Con-ference combo forwards, power forwards or posts.


Connor’s ability to stretch the defense (even just with his willingness to shoot) is a key component of Shaka’s offense which looks to maximize spacing through open shooting along the perimeter. When he’s on, Connor should be more than capable of that

As a passer, Connor’s ability to create offense through his court vision fits well in Shaka’s impetus in attacking the basket early in the shot clock. Don’t be surprised if finding spacing at the top of the key for

Connor, even at the beginning of a posses-sion, is a regular part of our half court look

Connor’s ability to finish in the open floor is solid, and should be a strength if he can play with solid awareness .

On defense, considering the nature of the other big men in Texas’ lineup (Ridley, Ibeh and Cleare), it’s unlikely that Lammert will fill any other role than that of “mad man”- the forward responsible for covering the inbounds pass under the basket.

It’s a role that suits Lammert as he has the quickness to be a nuisance and the height/length/weight to disrupt the initial pass and subsequent traps.

In the half court, Lammert’s role will stay, essentially, the same as it has as the “big” forward defender. Should Texas turn to a halfcourt trap, it’s likely that Lammert would, again, play a significant role given his length/size and Texas’ need for a qual-ity help defender in the post.

CONNOR LAMMERT | FORWARD #21J 6-foot-9, 240-lb

J Churchill HS (San Antonio, TX)


J Ranked as 3* recruit, nationally

J Averaged 5.1 pts, 5.4 rbs, 1.3 asts, 0.5 blks



35insidetexas.com

In many ways, Ibeh was the odd man out last season. The introduction/emergence

of Myles Turner further limited Ibeh’s min-utes as a junior (10.6 down from 13.6 as a sophomore) and, in other ways, limited how effective Prince could be for this Texas team.

By little (if any) fault of his own, there wasn’t a whole lot that Prince could bring to the team last year that Turner and Ridley couldn’t.

I’ll go ahead and say it…that Prince was allowed (for two seasons in a row) to waste a season instead of redshirting all for 10.6 minutes per game was an injustice to him.

STRENGTHS

Prince’s role on offense can be broken down into three items…A floor runner: Prince’s long stride and explosiveness can make him a terror on the open floor as a finisher/offensive rebounder

A weakside rebounder/dump off player: Prince brings terrific value as a second chance creator with his rebounding as well as a safety valve/outlet for penetration as an alley-oop finisher.

A screener: Prince has the ability to pres-ent himself with solid size and fundamen-tals in an effort for our ball handlers to turn the corner.

There were a few games (the OT win against Baylor coming immediately to mind) where Prince literally took over a

game on the defen-sive end of the floor.

The guy’s special as a defensive player, even with some other shortcomings.

WEAKNESSES

His offensive reper-toire is limited to put backs, dunks and alley oops.

Prince won’t generate points on post feeds/entries. He will struggle with his free throws. He won’t attempt shots from five feet or out (hell, maybe two feet or out).

Sometimes a players’ biggest strengths can function, simultaneously, as his weak-ness -- Ibeh believes he can/should be able to block any shot he wants.

However, it also can make him predict-able for an offensive player as Prince is susceptible to pump fakes near the basket. Those issues can lead to some open shots or, worse, foul trouble.


With the clear understanding that Prince’s limitations on offense make him a player who isn’t, really, a great fit for any offense, the things that Prince brings to the table make Shaka’s system ideal for Ibeh.

He can move in transition. He’s got great second (even third) jumping ability. He’s a

monster around the basket as a supple-ment to penetration. He even has the defensive ability to create offense and fast break opportunities with his help defense.

Shaka wants to run pressure. Shaka wants to create a frenetic pace where the offense has to make quick decisions and get out of their comfort zone. Shaka wants to put pressure on teams with length and quick-ness early.

And, best yet, Shaka has the horses to do it.

Lammert fits as the mad man (so does Barnett) and all of Holland, Yancy, Roach, Davis, Taylor and Mack bring tangibles that should make the press work.

But, then, when you add Ibeh to the back? Shaka’s never had a defensive sweeper like this.

What a luxury for a pressure system. Prince’s ability to not only be a help defender, but to even be able to do it as a mover, laterally, is custom made for the diamond defense.

PRINCE IBEH | FORWARD #44J 6-foot-10, 260-lb

J Naaman Forest HS (Garland, TX)



J Averaged 2.1 pts, 2.5 rbs, 0.2 asts and 1.4 blks

per game on 60/38% shooting


36 insidetexas.com

After a breakout season his sopho-more year, Cameron Ridley came

back to earth last year.

Everything was down. Minutes. Points. Rebounds. Blocks. Free throw percent-age. And, while minutes being down would explain the other drops, the percentages don’t add up (16% drop in minutes as op-posed to 30% drop in points and 37% drop in rebounds, i.e.).

This begs the same question for Cameron as it does for others in the program…was this a resorting back to the mean after a great 2013-14 season, or just a program-matic blip on the radar of progress?

STRENGTHS

Cameron is comfortable creating offense over either shoulder when he gets physi-cally established in the post. He also has good fundamentals on establishing his feet and hips in the post.

He eats (sorry) space as an offensive rebounder and looks to attack the basket well for a player of his size and touch around the basket.

Ridley is valuable as a defender. He has top-level timing as a rim protector/shot blocker.

He plays with good length and extension as a hedger and rebounds well, spatially, and in traffic. He gives tremendous effort even when out of position or asked to guard on switches Shaka won’t lose much on the defensive

end with Ridley in instead of Prince, which is saying a lot for Ridley’s instincts.

WEAKNESSES

Cam is multi-faceted except where he’s not, if that’s not too back-handed of a compliment.

In three years at Texas he has attempted zero shots beyond six feet. Literally. In fact, the deepest shot I was able to find charted was his game winner against Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament his sophomore year (nice time to bring out that range, huh?).

It’s not every game, but when Ridley racks up fouls in games, they often come in bunches. Ten times last year, Ridley had four or more fouls.

How will that propensity fit in Shaka’s pres-sure system?

Also, while his effort level is high, he doesn’t have the lateral quickness (even with his length) to stay with wings/guards in spots off of breakdowns or switches.


Don’t be fooled, if the staff can manage his minutes correctly, Cameron stands to benefit from this offensive shift as much as anybody.

Regardless of size/girth, Ridley fills the secondary lane with great awareness and spacing. He hustles and has the length/ex-plosiveness to be a finisher in tempo.

As a screener, Ridley brings value be-cause of his size and patience.

Really the only spot for Ridley, in the diamond, is as a sweeper. This is good because it should limit the amount of times he’s forced to be a quick reaction/recovery defender, but if the tempo moves a lot, much will be asked of him, laterally and as a sprinter in space.

No matter how good of shape he’s in, that’s a lot to ask of a player his size. Does that mean four minute increments? Six minutes? Eight minutes?

Ridley should be more than capable as a rim protector in space and in the half court, something that should greatly benefit Shaka’s system and allow his short court-mates to attack with their speed and quickness.

CAMERON RIDLEY | CENTER #55J 6-foot-9, 285-lb

J Fort Bend Bush HS (Richmond, TX)



J Averaged 8.0 pts, 5.3 rbs, 0.4 asts, 1.8 blks, 0.3 stls



37insidetexas.com

Cleare’s arrival at Texas was with con-siderably less fanfare than when he

initially went to College Park, MD to play for Coach Turgeon and the Terrapins.

That year, he was a top 30 player in his senior class and considered an impact player.

Now, in Austin, Shaq’s impact is as just as likely to be felt as a team/role player whose attitude and work ethic will further deepen the positive atmosphere surrounding the team.

STRENGTHS

Skills wise, he’s not dissimilar to Ridley in that he’s comfortable with his back to the basket, but also wants to attack with length and explosiveness after the close range face up.

Shaq won’t hesitate to look for his jumper in the 7-10 foot range when he’s got space and it’s a shot he can knock down. For his part, he showed competence as a ball mover, though he doesn’t have the court vision of Ridley

A physical presence, Cleare will be looked to for help in creating a toughness and raw presence on defense for Texas. Like Cam, Shaq’s bodily figure undersells his ability as a mover. Especially in the half court, he’s nimble and comfortable in traffic or space.

WEAKNESSES

Shaq lacks the explosiveness to be the

kind of finisher Ridley or Ibeh are and, while he has above average hands, he struggled with finding comfort in the paint as a consis-tent offensive threat.

In his defense, per-centage wise, Shaq’s numbers were solid as a scorer and free throw shooter.

Effort will never be a problem. Lateral quickness and explosiveness, likely, will be.

How does he function, in space, as a sweeper when asked to defend smaller players on the ball? Even if it’s just as a fouler, he can be of use, but much will be asked of him in this defense and some physical limitations might come back to haunt him.


Tough to say.

Will he be able to move cleanly enough on the secondary break to be a threat down the pipe? If the answer is yes, he’ll find minutes. If not…

Will he be able to generate offense as a face up player from the 6-10 foot range? If the answer is yes, he’ll find minutes. If not…

He’s not a player without skills on offense, but the reality is that he’s not the offen-sive player Ridley is (or, at least, he’s not proven it) and he’s not the defensive player that Ibeh is.

So, unless Shaq can be effective as a power forward, it’s not clear where he fits unless neither Cam nor Prince are on the floor.

The fit on the defensive side of the ball is more natural. Cleare has the motor and size/length to be a capable sweeper in Shaka’s defensive scheme. What he lacks in lateral quickness, he can make up for in effort and…well…lack of playing time, most likely.

At this point, it should generally be ex-pected that Cleare’s minutes will come as a guy who has five fouls to give.

If he ends up being more than that, either on offense or defense, awesome. But I doubt it.

SHAQUILLE CLEARE | CENTER #32J 6-foot-8, 280-lb

J The Village School (Houston, TX)

J Transfer from Maryland


J Averaged 3.0 pts, 2.5 rbs, 0.3 stls and 0.4 blks




38 insidetexas.com

Mack was an Under Armour All Ameri-can last season as a high school

senior.

Tevin’s a unique recruit these days in that he’s equally comfortable shooting from deep, finding room and spacing off of screens into hard bounce jumpers or when taking the action into the paint. He can score in a variety of ways because of his size/length/skill combination.

STRENGTHS

Mack’s biggest strength come as a shooter/scorer. While I was unable to find his exact stats, I know that his scoring numbers were around the 30 point per game mark for his senior year. As time goes on, Mack has the court vision and awareness to be a creator/facilitator from the small forward position, but Texas will be happy with his ability to generate offense out of multiple looks as a scorer.

Has the height and length, when coupled with his awareness, to be a capable perimeter defender and the weight to be passable down low in spots. Has good body control and fundamentals with his hips and feet to make up for some of his lateral quickness issues.

WEAKNESSES

Physically, he’s more solid than explosive. He’s reliant on perimeter shooting and touch around the basket more so than an ability to attack the rim, especially in traffic.

He has a tendency to get loose with his dribble out away from his hips. As a big wing, how comfortable will he be with his dribble against smaller, quicker guards who are looking to attack a ball handler? Passing is solid, but will need to be quicker, less telegraphed than it’s been.

Same question as it is for all bigger wings in college…how does he defend, shorter, quicker players on the ball? The amount of players he covers who can match his length and size will be, relatively, few. But he’s not an explosive athlete at this point. He’s smart and has plus athleti-cism, but how well will he stay in front of penetration on rotations and recoveries? His spatial awareness is going to have to be very good.


Shaka wants shooters on the floor and Mack comes to Texas as one of the better ones in the country out of the high school ranks. For that reason alone, he’s a shot in the arm for a team that has desperately needed perimeter scoring. Schematically, Tevin is a good fit because of how complete he is, offensively. He can

score. He can dribble. He’s comfortable breaking down a player, one-on-one. He can pass well enough to keep a defense honest. The questions will come with his ability to be an attacking player, in traffic. That should be helped by the tempo Shaka wants to put up shots with, but it will bear attention as the season progresses. If Mack can attack the paint off the bounce, he’ll be difficult to keep off the court.

On defense, Tevin will slot in the side in-terceptor role nicely. His feel for ball move-ment has been praised by the staff already, and his size and length are a plus.

It’s worth considering how he could fit as the mad man, but I think it’s more likely that Smart would opt to not press when Lammert’s off the floor than he would put Mack (or Barnett) in that role, for sure early in the season, at least.

In the half court, Mack’s length and an-ticipation skills should prove suitable. The question being whether or not he can stay

TEVIN MACK | FORWARD #0J 6-foot-6, 210-lb

J Dreyer HS (Columbia, SC)

J Recruited by Mike Morrell




Roach was a first team all-state selec-tion last year as a senior.

STRENGTHS

It would be easy to assume Roach’s of-fensive strengths were simply due to his immense athleticism and, from speaking with people around the AAU circuit, that’s one of the reasons people were so late to get in on Kerwin.

But that’s selling him way short.· Roach is skilled with the ball both in traffic and, especially, in the open floor· Does a good job of keeping his head up with the dribble· Good body control on jump stops and in traffic· Solid perimeter shooter off the bounce and progressing in catch and shoot· Progressing passer as a facilitator, but good at making the right pass when it’s there· Really, really, really fast and jumpy

When he gets comfortable with defensive awareness and positioning, his athleticism and length suggest he could be a top-tier perimeter defender at the college level. He has everything you could ask for, physi-cally, to play defense.

WEAKNESSES

Kerwin’s issues will be about establishing consistency as a playmaker. He fancies himself as a point guard (Coach Smart agrees with him, for what that’s worth). As

such, his ceiling will be dependent upon his floor.

He needs to figure out how to value the basketball while simultaneously being a threat as a creator. Not the simplest of mental tasks.

He’ll have to under-stand the mental makeup of how to be a consistent defender at this level.

He’ll also need to be careful not to over contest because his athleticism can get him in trouble if he’s not under control on close outs or recoveries.


If Roach is not quite ready to shoulder lead guard responsibilities, we’ll see much of him as a weakside player with an impetus on finding him space in the open floor, at-tacking angles on skips/reversals and op-portunities for him to be aggressive when he sees openings.

Similarly, he might get a handful of reps at point, but will often be paired with either Taylor or Holland so that lead guard duties can be shared.

If Kerwin can function as a legitimate, playmaking point guard for 10-15 minutes per game, Texas is going to be difficult to

stop on offense.

This would allow Taylor to play off the ball for two or three minute stretches, as well as giving him more rest in general.

It would also create much easier opportuni-ties for a consistent rotation with Davis, Holland, Yancy, Mack and Barnett sharing the minutes at the two and three with Roach getting time at the point.

Defensively he’ll be a side interceptor for now, but high interceptor’s not out of the equation given the right scenario.

In the half court, his explosiveness and speed make him a threat in passing lanes from the tip and he should be good for one or two baskets per game from a defense-to-offense standpoint. His athleticism/lentgh makes him a fit for pretty much any defense a coach could hope to run.

KERWIN ROACH, JR | GUARD #12

J 6-foot-4, 170-lb

J North Shore HS (Houston, TX)

J Recruited by Rob Lamier


J Averaged 20.7 pts, 3.9 rbs, 3.0 stls




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TEXAS WINS IN A MONSOON

43insidetexas.com

AUSTIN - Mother Nature remains undefeated, but that didn’t stop Texas as they ran by, over, and through Kansas State for a 23-9 win on a wet day at DKR.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

by Justin WellsTEXAS WINS IN A MONSOON

by Justin Wells

44 insidetexas.com

- TEXAS vs KANSAS STATE -

Texas with heavy doses of the run mixed with rain. The Long-

horns decided to run the dang ball. They started the game with

15- and 13-play drives with the strategy of forcing the football

down Kansas State’s throat. The weather made this call an easy

one. Eric told us the major focus on offense would be the run and

was it ever.

This team has com-

mitted to the smash-

mouth style Strong

craves so dearly. It’s

become their identity.

Texas quarterback

Jerrod Heard told

Strong early in the

game that he was

having problems

gripping a ball that,

“felt like five pounds and was hard to throw.”

Strong didn’t need to hear much more. “We decided to go with the

18-wheeler (Tyrone Swoopes) down the stretch,” said Strong. I imagine it

didn’t take too much convincing.

Senior tailback Johnathan Gray slightly resembled his HS tape to the tune

of 103 yards rushing, his best game of 2015. Daje Johnson’s first two

touches were for 1st downs. Chris Warren, freshman, made an appearance

in the 3rd quarter and quickly produced a 1st down, moving the chains.

I wonder if the UW

recruiting reporter

needs quotes from

Chris’ mom after

this performance.

It was almost as if

Strong was jamming

Phil Collins before

the game. Gray (103

yards), Heard (61

yards), Foreman (43

yards), and Swoopes

(three rushing TDs) led the attack that produced 188 yards in the first half.

Running the dang ball was the mission. And this mission was accom-

plished.

Texas was up 16-0 with the ball and all the momentum

after a short kickoff was pounced on by Kevin Vaccaro…

then a poor series of play-calls and no gain on 4th down

yielded no points, and gave Snyder’s Wildcats life. KSU

would score the next nine points and threaten being within one score for

the majority of the 4th quarter. It’s something that all young teams must

face: learning how to put teams away. It’s what separates the good from

the great. Hammering that nail in the coffin. UT had that chance and

missed it. Texas is slowly building this killer mentality. They’ve got the

personalities in the locker room to pull it off. It’s all about growing up.

They took another step in that direction today.

The 18-Wheeler delivers 6s. It’s such a great story for

Texas backup QB Tyrone Swoopes to find his niche in the UT

program. He uses every bit of his 6-foot-5 frame to punish

would-be tacklers. His 600+ pound squats are stuff of legend.

Afraid of contact? He’s put that narrative to bed. His hat trick led the Texas

offensive attack, to go with 50 yards rushing. He’s a load in the open field.

Seriously. When he builds up steam going downhill, watch out. Not bad for

the junior from tiny Whitewright, Texas.

2

1

3

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Shiro Davis


The Texas defense continues to show im-

provement. Aside from the last drive of the

1st half, Texas played great defense and were

equally solid on 3rd downs, a thorn in the side

all season. Davante Davis replaced Bonney in the 3rd and

instantly made an impact. Two of the brightest spots were

the Skyline HS (Dallas) duo of Peter Jinkens and Anthony

Wheeler. One absolutely loves cereal and the other’s

nickname is ‘prison’. But both made critical plays down the

stretch to anchor the Texas defense. Hassan Ridgeway has

a gear not many can handle. He split a double team, while

getting his facemask held, and still got pressure on Huebner

and helped force an errant throw. He’s played at an All-

American, ‘we’ll see you at the NFL Draft next April’ level

since Oklahoma State.

However, they couldn’t figure out Charles Jones. His 122 yards on 18 carries were frustrating. At one point, his spin move in the 4th quarter looked like something

off of PlayStation. But on the final two KSU drives, they made a statement. The brought heat from alternating sides, with huge pressures from Ridgeway, Derick

Roberson, and Bryce Cottrell.

Dylan Haines’ interception late sealed it for UT, a much-needed boost after his coverage difficulties earlier in the contest. John Bonney had a big 3rd down sack, and

Jason Hall brought hat for most of the day. Getting small contributions from each player is essential in this defense’s growth. And so is the mental side of it.

Strong reminded the team after the OU win this week that they are still 2-4, to keep their edge, not let up, and keep working and fighting. This was an example of the

team responding to call. Now at 3-4, UT travels to ISU next weekend for a Halloween date with Iowa State. It’s never easy going to Ames. If this team continues its

trend of smash-mouth football mixed with physical, timely defense, a bowl game is looking more and more likely in 2015.

The Texas offensive line, for better or worse, is growing up.

The offensive interior for the Horns continues to show progress

in 2015. They have impressed with firing off the ball, knowing

the calls, especially on gap blocking. The sweep, sprint draw,

and counter helped these Texas ball-carriers because the o-line obviously

came to work. Another big run was nullified by a bogus holding call on Con-

nor Williams. It was the key component to UT’s 221 total yards in the 1st

half.

For as good as the line played in the 1st half, you could argue they struggled

in the 2nd half. The run-game seemed to stay consistent, but the pass protec-

tion has lapses. Kent Perkins coming off a knee ailment looked sluggish as

the game wore on. To their credit, UT completed five passes beyond the line

of scrimmage today, five others were sweeps to Daje. Heard finished 10-of-15

for 99 yards. Going through the air just wasn’t in the plans on this sloppy

Saturday.

But when they needed them most, the Texas hogmollies showed up. Powered by an 18-wheeler from Whitewright, they were the gas to the finely-tuned running ma-

chine. The Horns finished with 373 total yards, but most importantly converted on 7-of-15 3rd downs. Texas needed to play nasty to win today. It seems like a recipe

that fits the ingredients Strong and his staff are bringing to Austin. It starts up front, and for most the day, Texas won the battle in the trenches.

5

4

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WHAT THEY SAID...

“I didn’t know what kind of game it was going to be. I thought it wasn’t going to be bad because it wasn’t really raining that hard. But when we came out there it just started pouring. It ended up good, though. We utilized the running game really well and we did get some passes off. But there was a moment in the second quarter where the ball really did feel like five pounds.”

JERROD HEARD

“That’s what we want to do. We want to go out and smash mouth. When we get the run game going, we don’t have to show everything. We’ve got good backs, good quarterbacks and a great offensive line and some good wide receivers, so we’ve got the job to do anything we want to do with this offense. Guys just have to stay focus and stay mentally sound and keep loving the game of football. The sky is limit for us, and we’re going to go out and win games.”

JOHNATHAN GRAY

“I feel like if we are the most physical and tough team on the field, then it is going to be pretty hard to beat us.”

“This is exactly what we wanted to be. At the beginning of the season, things weren’t clicking like they were supposed to, but as the season has gone on, we are where want to be now.”

PETER JINKENS

23 - 9FIRST DOWNS

TIME OF POSSESSION


20

30:40

99274

15

29:20

107135



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