Coach Hoover Link: 4-2-5 Defense

This is a treasure trove of good links that will probably take up a good weekend of reading/watching. My schedule is so packed with Things To Read that I don't know when I'll be able to get to stuff like this in the near future. If you have time you should definitely jump in and learn some 4-2-5.

Some portions can be really technical and there is a lot of coach-speak. If you can fight through that you'll get some good football knowledge.

At the very least it will help you in your NCAA 12 adventures.

Enjoy.

LINK

Gameday UC DAVIS

Many apolgies for the dearth of posts this week, sports fans. It has been an interesting one to say the least.

So now let us get into the game at hand.

Quick Links:

Keys to Victory

Key matchups

UC-Davis Moving Up, Gives UTSA Model of WAC

Sacramento Bee Perspective

On Al Davis

We would be remiss if we, a football blog, didn't acknowledge the passing of a giant in the sport. Al Davis is dead at 82. After some time in the college ranks he most famously owned/coached the Raiders for the last half decade or so.

Much has been written already and I'll toss you just one more link:

Here is the great Joe Posnanski on The Last Great Villain Al Davis.

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!

TAMU to SEC: What About UTSA?

Brent Zwerneman, TAMU beat writer for the Express-News and Houston Chronicle has the latest.

Dr Saturday on the latest Aggie to Southeastern Conference with loads of links.

This is ever-changing. As Doc Sat mentioned, this story went from fairy tale, wishful thinking rumor to damn near certainty in less than 72 hours.

Here is the quick and dirty:

A&M’s regents moved up their August 22nd meeting to Monday, the15th. The House of Reps in Texas will meet on Tuesday. Also meeting is the SEC heads over the weekend.

Barring some last minute maneuvering by Dan Beebe, who is known for his last second conference-saving prowess, it is looking like the Aggies will be playing SEC football come Fall 2012.

Like last year, that means a chain reaction effecting the entire nation begins. The WAC, UTSA portion is what we are concerned about. Houston is being considered,http://blog.mysanantonio.com/aggies/2011/08/aggies-out-uh-in-for-the-big-12/ if only through the strength of a self-recommendation. http://blog.chron.com/cougars/2010/06/letter-from-houston-area-lawmakers-to-big-12-officials/

That isn’t to say they are a good fit. Dave Ubben thinks it won’t happen.

Dan Beebe has even mentioned that the Big 12 (9) will not be expanding. That is not to be taken as gospel. Dan Beebe is not the most powerful man within the conference, despite holding the title of commissioner. DeLoss Dodds is looking at 20 names:

Local sports talk host Mike Taylor summed that up thusly:

I tend to agree given Dodds' quote at face value. No doubt they are just being good conference members and doing research for a league-wide meeting *wink*. That said, twenty names is a lot and makes it extremely difficult to gauge the direction of college football.

Credentials for new members are not based solely on wins and losses, but distance, money, television markets and most likely: the Texas Legislature. As Chip Brown learned: The lawmakers in Austin are important enough to require maneuvering by the A&M Board of Regents. There are many in the state legislature that don't want this to happen and may still make it difficult. Like in 2010, all the Texas schools will undoubtedly seek to make known their desires and stakes in the matter. The two most politically powerful university systems will now square off while strategically powerful backers of Baylor, Tech, Houston and others hold key votes on the matter.

Where does that leave UTSA? Well, there are really an exhausting number of possibilities if that twenty names thing is real. Even if he is bluffing like a jilted boyfriend/girlfriend would by proclaiming "I totally have like, so many other [chicks/guys] that want to date me anyway" , it still is really up in the air.

Looking at the likely scenarios is most prudent.

Guide:
Likelihood: Why they are in the conversation
Relevant stats and info: Reasons, financial and otherwise, for adding or ignoring the rumor.

U of Houston
Likelihood: Mentioned by outgoing A&M as a good replacement.
Relevant stats and info: Seating capacity of 32,000, relatively little support for a city as large as Houston. There are a lot of former Louisianans living in Houston which may split the viewing audience between the Big 12 and SEC. The lone strength of the Houston bid may be mitigated by that one fact.

TCU
Likelihood: The favorite of media types and very obvious
Relevant stats and info: Seating capacity of 47,000 and renewed interest in the program. Despite the good news, TCU only has around 10,000 students enrolled and most detrimental, is located in Big XII country. The Dallas-Fort Worth market is already home to Big XII HQ, has a large Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor alumni base and hosts the annual clash between Texas and OU. There is precious little to be gained from adding TCU other than a tougher schedule and perhaps a slight prestige boost. TCU is not as rich (endowmently speaking) nor nearly as politically powerful as Texas A&M. They also recently committed to the Big East.

UTEP, SMU, Rice
Likelihood: Texas schools so they come up as possibilities.
Relevant stats and info: UTEP is closer California than Dallas. SMU faces the same problems as TCU. Rice faces similar problems to U of H but with a lesser team.

UNT
Likelihood: They are in Texas
Relevant stats and info: New Stadium (Apogee Stadium)! New coach, large enrollment and equally large alumni base. UNT bid suffers poor support (measly endowment) and the location. It is in the DFW area.

UTSA
Likelihood: Texas team!
Relevant stats and info: Nearly the same enrollment as UNT, large stadium, lots of pre-support. Lots of excitement. Big city from which to draw revenue. Problem here is the obvious: it is a new program. Tossing such a fledgling into the grinder that is the Big XII (9) would be program suicide.

Other Rumors:

This is where UTSA factors in. The SEC will likely add a 14th team and some say even all the way up to a mind-boggling 20 teams. The likely candidates (or the ones that are tossed around as possibilities) are Miami, Florida State -- has reportedly been in talks for months http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Florida-State-joins-Texas-A-amp-M-in-the-SEC-rum?urn=ncaaf-wp4902 -- Oklahoma and Okie State, Virginia Tech ( said they’d politely decline ). The Pac-12 might be re-interested in the Big 12 south sans Aggieland, too. Likely sticking point? The Longhorn Network.

Don’t forget about the Big Ten (12). They’ve already mentioned they’d like to expand some more. Last year the first (big) mover was Neb/Colorado. They smaller conferences made their moves after*. After A&M makes the switch, the Big East will take a stab at the remaining conference members of the ACC and vice-versa. They’ll also look to pick apart the CUSA.

*I know BYU, Boise, and Utah moved also and when.

My concern is that the WAC will be so picked over and helpless that it fails and/or turns into the Sunbelt. After the Super Conferences funnel take in an even larger portion of the pie how much will be left for the smaller conferences?

Fearless Predictions:

I’ve already started this blog out with a terrible lowball first game attendance prediction. Good news: I’m human. You needn’t fear me. Bad news: I’m still pretty awesome. You probably should fear me.

Here goes:

A&M moves to SEC. SEC makes a run at an ACC team (either Va Tech, Clemson, Fla State or Miami). Depending on how many they poach, ACC starts poaching from CUSA/Sunbelt (East Carolina, Troy, MTSU or one of the FIU/FAU). Sunbelt/WAC either merge remaining teams or some combination of the remaining organize themselves.

The BiG 10 (12) will only look at former Big 12 North teams. Texas goes independent.

There. Nice and general-like to give myself room to say I was right. Like an awesome guy would.

***


Most likely this article will be outdated and useless about halfway through Saturday. Check back for more updates and we’ll be most definitely talking about this on the podcast on Tuesday night. You can email questions and suggestions to podcast[at]cokerchronicles.com. Put “podcast” in the subject line so we know it is a question and we don’t miss it.

Link Roundup: Fall Camp 2011 Edition

Dan McCarney, the intrepid beat writer for the San Antonio Express News has an update for us. 

Most interesting part (to me):

DEFENSE
Marlon Smith, E; Dominique Henderson, T; Ferrington Macon, T; William Ritter, E; Steven Kurfehs, LB; Brandon Reeves, LB; Darrien Starling, CB; Crosby Adams, CB; Nic Johnston, S; Mark Waters, S; Shane Jones, S.
OFFENSE
Drew Phillips, LT; Scott Inskeep, LG; Nate Leonard, C; Mike Sanchez, RG; Cody Harris, RT.
Skill positions shuffled around too much to identify a particular group, but Eric Soza (obviously) was at quarterback.

Early Fearless Prediction: I think the defense will be pretty decent and may win some games. Soza is impressing people with his poise and now has two years preparation. If Travis Bush can mold the offensive squad into something that can muster up 17-21 points per game I think that is a recipe for 4-6 wins.

I really have no basis for this. Just call it a gut feeling. I may be spectacularly wrong.

The defensive starters will no doubt change as camp and the season moves along. There you have the initial camp starting squad, however. Mark it down. Tell your kids when UTSA brings home a bowl victory or two.

UTSA Tailgaters has their predictions in SA Scene.

Post practice from Dan McCarney:

Just to hammer home another point I’ve been trying to make recently, another big theme to watch during camp – and the entire season, really — will be who the Roadrunners keep on the sideline with redshirts. It’s going to be critical that they preserve enough of this year’s class to prevent them from graduating half the team when their eligibility expires in four years.

This really will be interesting. If one of those sophomores are redshirted --which undoubtedly one or two will be -- then that will be two straight years of gamelessness. That has to be tough and may be cause to leave for some.

One other thing of note: the lack of JUCOs. Without having any firsthand knowledge of the reason they didn't choose to come, I have to think they just didn't want to be part of a growing program with a limited number of years remaining. It would be "wasted" on a most-certain losing campaign. These are the problems you face when you build a program.

Coker Chronicles:

Helpful post on the Scout Board correcting our information about the school's lease at the Dome. Interesting stuff. Biggest surprise? UTSA will get no money from concessions or parking. Depending on the school's take during the next five years that may be something that comes up in negotiations. More likely is that if these games are heavily attended, we just might see a rise in ticket prices. That is all just future talk, though.

Link Roundup - 8/1/11

Picture courtesy of UTSA Athletics

Dan McCarney - The Dawn of UTSA football approaches [mySA.com]


We got our first post-WAC media day check-in from dear friend Dan McCarney over at the Express News UTSA sports blog. Dan points out the general sense of optimism from WAC officials in Las Vegas, the uphill battle administration faces in raising funds for D1 caliber football facilities, and touches on upcoming position battles afoot.

On the more practical matters, specifically UTSA’s first season, which will get underway on Sunday with the first official workout.

The Roadrunners are expecting 90 players to report on Friday. The vast majority of this year’s signing class have already been on campus with summer school, with the only absences being Madison RB Troy Williams (academics, legal issues) and Brenham DB Desmon Mathis (academics).

It’s the first of nine scheduled practices — all of which will be closed to the public and media, save the first 30 minutes — before the first game on Sept. 3, against Northeastern St.

Media day is next Tuesday, but considering how drastically the team is going to change with the influx of new players, I’m probably going to wait for a week or two before providing any significant preview material.

There are a handful of guys you can pretty safely pencil in for starting positions barring injury — players like QB Eric Soza, LB Steven Kurfehs and DB Mark Waters — but otherwise, I expect things will be fairly wide open.

As such, those position battles will even more notable than they would on a more established team. That should make for an interesting camp.

Wasn't aware that Desmon Mathis didn't qualify. Big loss from a talent perspective, but Coach Neathery has a swarm of stud secondary players to work with. Hopefully Desmon was able to get some work done in community college this summer and will be good to go for the fall. For those that hadn't heard, Troy Williams is currently facing sexual assault charges. I think the story sounds fishy so I'm going to reserve judgement until Troy has his day in court. Actually, I don't really care since it's safe to say he's DOA at UTSA. Yet again, a big loss in talent at a position the Runners are thankfully stacked at. These two hombres are case exhibit 1.0 as to why college football fans must curb their excitement when a 17 year old kids decides to play ball at your university of choice.

As far as position battles go, I've got my eye on Blake Terry vs. Brandon Reeves for the second linebacker spot. Reeves brings some valuable experience from his JUCO days in SoCal, while Blake is a high-ceiling athlete and extremely motivated. Reeves didn't do too much during this year's spring game, but it's hard to fault a guy that only had a few weeks of practice with the current regime. Some more promising battles are Josiah Monroe vs. Kam Jones at slot receiver and the two defensive end spots. I really like Jason Neill as a true freshman-- great frame and a nose for the ball. Kristian Bryant has a very high ceiling, while Marlon Smith showed great improvement throughout the past year. Ole Miss transfer Lekenwic Haynes will man one of the slots if he is not used as a Super Strong Safety™ in the 4-2-5. It's nice to have choices.

Tyler Mayforth -  The WAC's Future Salvation [San Marcos Daily Record]

Texas State and UTSA will save the Western Athletic Conference.

Think about it: What does the WAC need other than two football-playing schools?

Here’s a hint — it’s called a rivalry.

Right now, every other conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision has one.

cont.

In 335 days, the WAC will finally have two schools that are developing animosity for each other join its ranks. The Bobcats and Roadrunners can’t wait to get on the field with each other.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione said, downplaying his seething hatred for all things UTSA. “From what I watched during basketball season, this rivalry can get testy and adding football can only make it better.” 

Some good thoughts here from Texas State's resident beat writer, Tyler Mayforth. I'm glad he's starting to ditch his previously held pessimism regarding the WAC. This conference still has plenty of life and equity, despite however ugly 2012 might be. Rivalries are an excellent way to generate interest from fringe fans and instill pride in students. Ain't nothing more American than hatin' on the guy next to you. The I-35 rivalry is already a very good rivalry. I once watched Rowdy dip a bobcat doll in fake blood then rip it apart in front of the UTSA student section at a freaking volleyball game. Football is going to take this to whole new paradigms. I've already heard a lot of people with no connections to UTSA or State express interest in attending the first I-35 game in the Alamodome next year which is GREAT for both schools. I just hope ESPN picks it up.

Darrell Williams - Projected 2011 Two-Deep Roster [utsafootball.wordpress.com]

Roster projections are next to impossible for UTSA right now. So many moving parts and an infinitely small sample size to draw from. Check out Darrell's projections and let him know what you think, but don't be an anonymous ass wipe like "nobody" and bash him without offering up any alternatives, kapish? A few of my thoughts-- I have Josiah Monroe returning kicks and punts, Brandon Armstrong is definitely option #2 though. Have a feeling that Jason Neill is going to get a lot more burn this year than most are expecting. Darrell didn't even list him in his top four for D Ends. While Nielsen and Kazen are sure-fire tight ends, I think David Morgan is going to make some big catches when Coach Bush throws out a spread offense. I guess he technically wouldn't be a tight end in that situation though, huh? Charting out the offense and defense likes this really hammers home just how thin the Runners are going to be for the next two years. Keep the voodoo dolls on the shelf because injuries could decimate this team in a week's time.

UTSATailgaters - BREAKING NEWS!! UTSA vs UTEP (b-ball) [UTSATailgaters.com]
Really dig this. Always good to establish rivalries with fellow UT system schools. UTEP fans pack their stadium and it should be a great game considering how similar the two schools' seasons were last year. Thought about making the road trip but... yeah.

Oddities

I can't remember where I read this and my Google-fu is failing me, but I believe Football jerseys are being officially revealed on August 3rd. Don't quote me on that though.


Edit: Thanks Darrell, you're the man.

Episode 4 of "Birth of a Program" was the best in the series so far. Loved the music choices- Kid Cudi, Phoenix, etc. I've been really surprised at how often Fox Sports Southwest has been showing the program, ratings must be fairly decent. Incredible tool for UTSA. Can't wait to see the show continue to develop and improve with episode 5.

If you haven't heard already, UTSA landed a huge pick up in Ashaad Mabry recently. Mabry could be a game changer for the defense. Might do a full post on this at some point in time. Hat tip to Darrell at utsafootball.wordpress.com (Bookmark his site, dammit).