31-3

Hey Hey. Your humble hosts Jared and I are still recovering. We'll be here with all kinds of analysis and reaction and good ol' fashioned overreaction. Shout out to @AlamoAustin and co (Nick, Nick, Sam and Nathan) for the food and beerverages post-game. In the mean time, head over to Flickr to view our pics and those of other UTSA-ers. Enjoy! Go Runners!

Quick Links

If you haven't noticed, I have yet to post on Travis Bush' offense . Thanks to a myriad of factors preventing me from doing so, I'll just lazily link to two excellent tactics-themed sites:

Smart Football

Brophy

Enjoy!

Last Post before Kickoff

Photo courtesy of the Express News

Nine hundred eighty-nine days of anxious, sometimes painful waiting are about to end. At 1:00 pm on Saturday the first ever University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners football team will emerge from a dark tunnel at the Alamodome in front of a nearly sold out crowd. Years of preparation and planning, millions of dollars, and an unquantifiable amount of sweat and hard work have gone into building an FBS football program that San Antonio can, and should, be glad to call their own. Due to class, work, pep rally, etc. this will be my last post until after the game. As always, follow @CokerChronicles on twitter for constant updates this weekend.

For someone who has been around UTSA for awhile, this past month has been remarkable. Campus, and arguably San Antonio itself, has been revamped. I remember how shocked and disgusted I was when I stepped onto campus my freshmen year to find UTSA students wearing other colleges' garb, traveling to College Station and Austin to support a university that they never have, nor never will, attend, and failing to support an always competitive, sometimes brilliant, men's basketball team.

Enter UTSA football.

The past two weeks of school this year have been an absolute joy for me. Campus is a 30,000-deep sea of orange and blue, football talk dominates all conversation and small talk, and students are finally proud to declare themselves UTSA Roadrunners... without the "but I'll probably transfer to UT next year" suffix.

Without taking Saturday into account, my fondest UTSA football moment thus far has almost nothing to do with football. On November 11th, 2010, UTSA officially joined the Western Athletic Conference. UTSA will be the fastest school in NCAA history to transition from zero football to bowl-eligible football. The WAC will also provide increased opportunities and exposure for athletes in every sports program the University sponsors, while bringing the school and city into a national spotlight.

I will never forget the 30 minutes leading up to the WAC invitation acceptance press conference. I read on Facebook (while in class, great student I am) that UTSA would be holding a press conference in the upcoming minutes. I swiftly shoved all of my crap into my backpack and sped to find the room where the press conference was being held. I wasn't the only one. I ran into a couple of guys that I wasn't too fond of due to previous altercations. In a moment of euphoria, we put aside our petty differences and sprinted to find the press conference where we would shove our way into a room over-spilling with cheerleaders, athletes, band members, fans, boosters, administrators, and coaches-- all beaming with excitement.

This moment sums everything up for me. Football is so much more than a game. It has already provided educational opportunities to over 90 young men, while also leading to new opportunities for female student-athletes thanks to Title IX. Football gives us a higher identity; it makes us a part of something bigger than ourselves. And most importantly, it bands us together as human beings. Many say that football is a religion in the South. I wholeheartedly agree. Whether UTSA goes 0-50 the next four years or is "Still Undefeated" come bowl eligibility, the University has already been "saved" and Saturday will be our first Communion. Thank you all for reading/listening/following, and get ready for a full year of terrific content. Go Runners.

 --Jared

 *** 

It is weird. My birthday is Saturday. My present is Hometown Football. While a good portion of the Site's followers so far are alums or students, I represent the City -- perhaps only in my head but it that is just as well. I remember when the Dome was built. I wanted to believe Red McCombs would bring us the Vikes. I wanted Tom Benson to bring us the Saints, both before and after Katrina. I wanted Paul Tagliabue and then Roger Goodell to let us have pro football. There were lots of excuses from those owners and politicians and commissioners. I was too young and too naive to know how this world worked.

In my adult-college-grad form I became a lot more patient. When UTSA announced they were fielding a squad I happily read the news from my Denton apartment while telling myself to be calm.

 Settle down. It is going to take about five to ten years to get it all up and running.

 Nope.

It is weird. It was fast tracked. It is here. We have our own team. You don’t need to hold a degree from UTSA . Just need some years put in the Alamo City or Countdown City or SA-Town.

I’m excited for you if you are an alum, though. I have lots of friends who went to UTSA and had to make do with only basketball. This isn’t New York. Texas doesn’t get down with any other sport like it does for football. I love me some basketball but it doesn’t get 55,000 people in one place quite the same way that football can. College football provides is a spectacle unlike any other collegiate sport and more personal than any pro outfit can muster. Your school football team is a super-connection to your college years.  I get decked out in green & white for my alma mater and blog and tweet and obsess. I am glad that my buddies get that experience.

San Antonio isn’t just Silver and Black. It is Orange and Blue.

--Adam


Also ...

I really want to thank everyone for showing us some love. What started out as just a blog has turned into a whole lot of fun. Can't wait for Saturday.

Go Runners

UTSA Picks up a Transfer from Fresno State

Add another former San Antonio standout to the list of players to transfer back home and play for Larry Coker in the Alamodome. Erik Brown, former first team all state corner back at Converse Judson, will be transferring to UTSA. Brown received offers from Arizona, Colorado, and Utah State in 2008 before signing on with Fresno State. Erik has decent size for a corner back at 5'11, 185 lbs and was redshirted during the 2009 season. Unsure of his eligibility at this point in time. I believe Brown will be eligible as a redshirt junior next fall.

After coming within three points of a state championship with Converse Judson in 2007, Brown transferred to Saguaro HS in Arizona, where he would earn first team all state honors and lead his team to an undefeated championship season. Erik will join Cory Williams as the second former Judson Rocket in the UTSA program. All reports on Brown praise his athleticism and high ceiling.

There's your proof of Brown's athleticism.

Of course, players transfer for a reason. It seems like things weren't working out for Brown at Fresno State. In fact, I still haven't found anything saying that Brown has seen the field since high school. Here's a blog report from Fresno's fall camp last year.

As was the case last season, Erik Brown had a bit of a rough camp. He was oft-exposed by faster receivers and seems to always be a step late in reacting and closing. The potential is there for him to be a solid player down the road, but right now he's limited. Still, based on amount of reps, coaches seem to favor him slightly over fellow redshirt freshman J.B. Dock. 

DaCo on Brown: Erik Brown possesses the desired athletic ability for a corner, but over-thinks way too much on the field. When he lets himself go, you can see his potential. If he's gonna develop, he'll do it here, because the receivers he practices against are the best he'll see all year. 

So there you have it. A talented athlete, albeit a wildcard. Sound about par of course for this UTSA team? I think so.

Link Roundup 8/31/2011 Three More Days

Photo courtesy of the Express News. Love the wide angle lens. Get rowdy.

Quick hitter tonight for you guys. Northeastern uploaded a video highlight of their romp of Bacone College, who look even more miserable than I could have ever imagined.



RiverHawks Update — NSU vs Bacone Football — August 27, 2011 from Northeastern State University TV on Vimeo.

First thing of note is all of the screens and swing passes NSU ran. Very smart choice by the Riverhawks, given their advantage in speed. Taking Bacone's lack of size into consideration, I'm sure that the Warriors were blitzing linebackers and members of the secondary to compensate for their lack of a pass rush, consequently freeing up passes behind or along the line of scrimmage.

Trey McVay is the real deal. Great routes, strong hands, and seems to have good field vision. It will be a great test to see if the Roadrunners will be able to lock him down. Kenny Davis has great mechanics under center. UTSA is going to have to get into the backfield with frequency to prevent Davis from getting into a passing groove.

Bacone is every bit as bad as I had feared, which makes their game against NSU that much harder to read into.

Oddities:

A lot of cool stories and tidbits around the web concerning UTSA today. First off, have a look at this photo gallery from the Express News showing the Alamodome maintenance staff painting the turf for UTSA's season.

Nate Leonard - Photo courtesy of the Express News.

Brandon Reeves and Nate Leonard both had profiles run in the Express this week. I really love Nate's quote: "Swagger is all about your attitude,” he said. “You don't have to dress a swagger or talk a swagger. But when you walk onto the field in blue and orange, you damn well better have a swagger. Excuse my language."

That's pretty bad ass, and Nate is a rad dude. Excuse my language.

If you missed the Larry Coker radio show this evening, feel free to pursue our Twitter feed for some tidbits I found interesting. Head over to RowdyReport.com for a full .mp3 of the show.

Dan McCarney has been busting his ass all week. He recently interviewed Northeastern's head coach, Kenny Evans. Evans is a great coach who inherited a shitty situation and seems to have NSU on the right track. Evidently he and Coach Coker are friends; I found the advice Coker gave Evans after his hire at NSU fairly interesting. You can find all that in the interview link.

It's going to be tough for Northeastern to prepare for this game since they haven't a millisecond of film on UTSA.

With no game film to study, Northeastern State will try to keep things basic on Saturday.

“We’re preparing for everything,” Evans said. “Of course, we’ve looked at things their coordinators have done at past places. But we’re having to prepare more broadly, so wee’re going to have to keep things simple and try to avoid mistakes. It’s unusual. There will be things we see for the first time, and we know that. We’ll have to adjust on the run.”

And my favorite iota of the short interview..

True freshman Logan Andrews will start at outside linebacker. Evans said Andrews had never played in front of more than 500 people before last week’s 43-0 victory over Bacone, let alone the tens of thousands expected at the Alamodome.

Hopefully Andrews, and others on the Riverhawks squad, will be a bit star-struck playing in front of a nearly sold-out Alamodome.

3 days until kick off.

Northeastern State Depth Chart

Northeastern depth chart. Click to enlarge.

Found this crawl across the @CokerChronicles twitter feed. (Side note, we're on a push to reach 100 followers AT LEAST before kick off. So follow us and pass the word along.) Northeastern State has released game notes and an official depth chart for the UTSA game this Saturday. Northeastern State has some pretty big receivers on their roster, but are generally small as a team. Let's take some comparisons to our own squad.

Click to enlarge.

While there are a couple of haus on this offensive line (6'6, 270 lbs at left tackle!), it's fairly small across the board when you take the pathetic right side into account. 6'2, 255/6'0 255 is too small for 5A high school football in Texas. In fact I'm pretty sure Brandeis High's average size on the offensive line  is considerably larger. I'd imagine that NSU favors running behind the side of the line where they have size. This will allow Neathery to key in on those running lanes by blitzing a mix of Johnston and Kurfehs. Ben Beam is a monster  at 335 pounds. Obviously interior pass rushes are going to be affected by Beam's presence-- ways to play around Beam's size? A.) Loop a defensive end around through the middle to catch Beam off guard and counter his size with superior quickness. B.) Blitz a safety through the middle C.) Simply beat Beam with your first step and get into the backfield before he can get his honey hams on to you.

Click to enlarge. Yes, I know there are 12 offensive players. I didn't make the depth chart.

Feeling pretty good about the match ups here. We have our biggest lineman (Harris) on NSU's best defensive lineman (Boswell). Dirteater  is criminally small. Watch for Johnson and Glasco to pound the ball through Dirteater's running lane. Even if Dirteater manages to get through Inskeep, who has 5 inches in height and 50 pounds of weight in his favor, Dirteater is small enough that our running backs could lower their shoulders and plow through the line until they're met by linebackers. Noseguard  Te'O has good size at 6'1, 285 lbs, almost a particle-by-particle mirror of his match up, Nate Leonard. I'm going to guess that Te'O lines up as a 1 shade on the weak side since NSU only listed four defensive linemen on their depth chart. A 1-5 technique gap is quite large for the college game. If I'm Coach Bush, I come out in a pro style set, kick down on Te'O with the OG, let Leonard go after the middle backer or pull to double team the end, then throw Okotcha on the outside linebacker as a lead blocker. Speaking of which, NSU is pretty light at both outside linebacker spots. If Bush and co. are unable to establish the running game, they can easily switch or motion to a 4 WR set to pull out one of the Riverhawk's linebackers. A slot reverse with Armstrong could be killer if NSU bites on that. Pretty good size at free and strong safety for NSU. Might be tough to land corner routes against the height of Leach and Keenum.

Overall, I'm pretty encouraged by seeing this depth chart. As we all know, football is so much more than a game of size, but NSU has some pretty glaring holes that UTSA should be able to exploit. With the speed and athleticism on this young Roadrunner squad a couple of mismatches in the trenches could go a long way towards a UTSA inaugural victory. Speaking of which, tweet us your score predictions. Whoever is closest might just win a prize.

Four days until kick off.

Chris P - "I'm A Roadrunner"

A lot of schools try to do the whole football rap song thingy. It's usually done by goofy white frat guys or simply straight-up terrible. Not at UTSA, which boasts a wide array of skilled, experience rap artists. You should remember Chris P from his verse in last year's UTSA Cypher. Chris is back with "I'm A Roadrunner". Shoutouts to Babcock, Paypa kutz,  The Outpost, Reserves, and much more. UTSA SWAG. I want to be hearing this at all of the tailgate parties on Saturday. Four days until kickoff.

Check out one of UTSA's cypher videos below if you haven't already

Podcast Episode 4: Season Preview Edition

This week we had special guest Darrell from Rowdy Report to join us on a big community podcast special for the season preview edition.

This is a crazy two hour podcast. Enjoy:

1min: roster talk. Depth chart breakdown. We go position by position.

40th min: Player Interview Review and we talk mess about Mike Taylor of Ticket 760 a little.

50th min: Fearless Predictions!!

Hour+6 min: Northeastern State vs Bacone College breakdown and preview of Northeastern State.

Hour +16 min: Gameday talk, looking at Mysa Downtown Blog

Hour+25 min: Facial Hair talk with Jared. We rank the best facial/head hair styles on the squad.

Hour +32 min: Why Tx-San Antonio instead of UTSA.

Hour +43 min: Wrap up. Shout out to our twitter followers and other important info.








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8/28/2011 OFFICIAL Depth Chart

Click to view full size

It's game week and we finally have a depth chart. There are quite a few surprises and changes of note, from position changes to a few unexpected starters. Let's dive in:

- Surprise! Some guy named Brandon Freeman is your starting wide out! Okay so no one really knows who this is. A transfer freshman from New Mexico State, Freeman hails from Cameron Yoe High School. Freeman stands at 5'10 and 155 lbs. That's seriously all I have on this guy. YouTube has a few videos of him, and he looks good, but it's odd that one of UTSA's deepest position has a virtual unknown starting. Brandon must have been damn impressive this fall camp.

- It's weird. For all the talk of a lack of depth, it was strangely calming for me to see the team lined up in an official two deep chart. It definitely gives the illusion of increased depth. Especially when some of the names of UTSA's bigger recruits are no where to be found on the depth chart.

- Speaking of big name recruits nowhere to be found... Josiah Monroe's name can only be found at the Holder position. Very, very surprising given how much of a task it was for UTSA to keep their hands on Monroe while SEC and Big XII schools were calling his name last year.

- Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Brandon Armstrong this year. I was honestly anticipating Armstrong falling by the wayside this season with the additions of Josiah Monroe and Tevin Williams. Armstrong is penciled in as the starter at Slot WR, Kick Return, and Punt Return.

- Another fairly large surprise. Payton Rion (6-4, 265, Smithson Valley HS) is your starting Left Guard in Patrick Hoog's absence. I have lauded Rion's praises before on the podcast, so I'm excited he's getting a chance to shine. Rion has excellent foot work, intelligence, and work ethic. Another 30 pounds and he's an NFL prospect. Let's just hope he's prepared for Division I football at 18 years old.

- Man, UTSA has a great defensive line. There's practically zero drop off from the first and second string. The big surprise to me is to see Richard Burge (6-4, 260, Stratford HS) getting the nod over both Franky Anaya and Ashaad Mabry. Also, where is Dominique Henderson? Injured? The lack of Kristian Bryant on the two deep leads me to suspect that he's being redshirted, a move that I wholeheartedly endorse.

- Jeremy Hall is taking the backseat to Darrien Starling and Crosby Adams at cornerback. Hall is going to get plenty of burn since the CBs will be moving in and out, but this came as a small surpise to me since Hall was such a highly heralded recruit coming out of high school. I was once told that UTSA didn't "deserve" Jeremy Hall. Ha.

- True freshman Mauricio Sanchez (6'0, 180 lbs., Warren HS) is starting at Rover safety. Another player that I have spoken highly of on our podcasts, Sanchez is going to develop into a top grade player for Coach Neathery. Let's see what kind of an impression Mauricio can make before Lekenwic Haynes returns from his foot injury.

- Houston transfer Mike Sanchez has moved over to Center, backing up Nate Leonard. Good move here because before I hadn't the slightest clue who our second string Center was.

- More thoughts as they come, but be sure to check out our Mega Podcast on Tuesday. We're teaming up with Darrell from RowdyReport.com to give you an extravagant podcast worthy of commemorating UTSA's first ever football game.

NSU vs. Bacone College Recap

Before we get into things, check out the image above. Worth a million words. A.) Are Bacone's colors really hot pink or does someone suck at photoshop? B.) I'm glad Bacone has some beautiful cheerleaders for us to look forward to. C.) Bro in the gray shirt has got to be the least excited football fan ever.

Now that's out of my system, let's take a look at UTSA inaugural opponent Northeastern State's Zero Week win against homecoming opponent Bacone College. On the strength of 17 returning starters and 19 seniors, NSU steam-rolled Bacone 43-0 with 451 total yards of offense. The Bacone Warriors were only able to muster 70 yards of offense. The Warriors only moved the chains once against NSU's starters. I hate analyzing games like this. Obviously Bacone is really, really, really bad. But how good is Northeastern? The Riverhawks were unable to score in the first quarter, then proceeded to drop 21 in the second quarter. It wasn't long before it was garbage time, as NSU played 70 different players. Three different quarterbacks threw touchdown passes for NSU, including a couple of touchdowns from 4 star OkSt transfer and current second string QB Johnny Deaton. NSU played so many players that it's tough to get a good feel for their team from the numbers they put up last night. Of note: NSU was only 7 of 17 on 3rd down conversions.

So the question is-- how will Northeastern State fair against a bigger, stronger, and faster opponent? And how will the small school perform in front of a crowd of over 50,000?

Oddities


2011 opponent Minot State lost their zero week game 27-0

The Express News published several great articles on the Roadrunners today. Normally I would link to these things, but I encourage you all to go out a purchase the paper today. UTSA is the cover story of their 2011 college football preview.

Just six days until kick off. Five days until Roadrunners on the Riverwalk. Giddy as a school girl.