Travis Bush to UH

It is the nature of the business.

The move is a shock of reality about the program's position. Travis Bush wanted a better profile even if it meant taking a lesser title. Houston is hot right now. Art Briles made it respectable, Kevin Sumlin, and Dana Holgorsen made it fun and exciting. With his old boss, Tony Levine he has an opportunity to continue a trend while not waiting around for facilities to be built. It is a cut-throat profession and that is the nature of the business.

In the end, Travis Bush saw an opportunity and took it, much in the same manner he did while at Texas State. "He is a rising star in our proffesion," says Levine.

The most off-putting story to come out of this is Travis Bush's actions. They were very Todd Graham-ish.

Apparently a text was sent to the QBs alerting them about a meeting. No word if any other position was notified, other than on twitter. :

I suppose one could surmise that Bush is so focused on his career opportunities that he doesn't bother dealing with some human-type things. Again, It is the nature of the business.

Larry Coker likely has a contingency plan for these things. He did a good job luring quality coaching talent to build a program, now is his chance to maintain that level going forward. His twin challenges:

1. Find a guy who can recruit Texas. Twitter friend @broncohighway puts it: "Coker is at a disadvantage when it comes to contacts with high school coaches in TX. Needs to hire a guy who can recruit the state."

2. Find a guy to run the offense with Spring Ball looming just a few short weeks away.

There are worse situations to find yourself in. It will be interesting. Stay tuned.

Update: Intrepid reporter Dan McCarney tweets this:

Further reading: Rowdy Report, MySa Blog

Another Take on the Offense

Quarterback

I am not as high on Soza’s performance as either Dan McCarney, or Jared. It isn’t that I don’t recognize the the situation that Eric was in an expected something outstanding when an average performance would be satisfactory. No, I had no problems with his accuracy. Leadership and the ability to manage fellow freshman doesn’t have much to do with not throwing the ball into the ground. In fact -- just to be the a-hole here -- it can be argued that leading a team of peers is not as mammoth of an ordeal as commanding the respect of guys who have been to Rose Bowls and National Championships a la Colt McCoy or something. Granted, this is a totally different scenario but so is the situation in Akron and Louisiana Tech.

I don’t want to diminish the guy’s season but merely put look at it for what it was. He did an commendable job considering he had an unsettled line. Both he and the running backs would have benefited from more experience up front. That must be considered. Also, I have to give weight to Travis Bush’s comments. He knows what demands are placed on the quarterback in this system and how Eric Soza should run it. He knows what plays were called and the progressions he may or may not have missed.

Both Jared and I have been guilty of tossing out some easy Soza hate when he throws a terrible pass or coughs up a fumble at a most inopportune time. Afterwards we are both more levelheaded. That said, his turnovers were still pretty bad. I don’t have a problem with inconsistency in general as much as the timing and nature of his turnovers. I am not even talking about early season stuff against the likes of Southern Utah. The terrible throws in the Georgia State on? Those are what stand out.

Hitting the ground on a slant, swing, and screen --especially wide-open stuff is scary. That is what holds me back from giving all gold stars here. I’m hoping the wideouts and newness of the system and lack of confidence in the line is what made him short his throws but I can’t help but feel that is a bit too generous. It doesn’t matter too much, now though. Everyone has plenty of time to improve on all that stuff. Hopefully Soza isn’t so entrenched that he feels overconfident and Simmons, Polite, and Conque give him a run for his position. It’ll do everyone some good.

Running Back

I was looking forward to some magic from these guys. We did get some, but not from Chris Johnson, David Glasco, nor the other guys. Instead it was Evil Evans Okotcha. This isn’t terribly unusual in college ball. You hear about a heralded class and think you have a stable of studs when only one or two do anything if at all. There are many reasons for this ranging from guys not fitting in with the system, not adjusting, mis-evaluation of talent, or bad luck. Hell, sometimes it just takes time.

I like what we have here at the end though. This position is fickle and a handful of guys similarly talented isn’t a bad thing especially in this offense. The multiplicity means you don’t need a workhorse nor a feature guy (though Bush seems to want one). Having a two-back system a a Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown or a Reggie Bush and Lendale White. I like Evans as a power guy and Brandon Armstrong as a speedy changeup. Brandon was an awesome threat on swings and out of the spread. Oklahoma used to kill teams with those passes to Demarco Murray (among other things). I can live with Glasco, Johnson, Williams and any other guy spelling them until they figure out whatever they need to figure out in and out of the Alamodome.

I figure Bush wants a feature back so he can do everything he wants to do on offense. That means a guy that motion out to the slot and also blow someone up on a blitz. Every team in the nation wants that, too.

Wide Receiver and TEs

There isn’t much to add here. Kam Jones was beastly. Some guys had drops and there were a couple bright spots. Wideout is so dependent on the line and quarterback that it is hard to rate them objectively. As much as I like Kam, I’d like to see the ball spread around more organically than via formations and swapping roles. That is more a philosophical question that I’ll get to later.

Also, David Morgan made some nice catches.


Offensive Line

Really, we should have started with these guys as the entire operation’s success is tied to them. As mentioned, this was gigantic question mark entering the year. Travis Bush (admittedly) played it close to the vest early in the year. Short passes and safe runs saved everyone. The big guys did good and might have prevented disaster on a number of occasions. The running game struggled as they all do when manned by young, smallish lines. A better line (as these guys improve and we bring in those JUCO guys) will “solve” a lot of offensive problems. We aren’t going to find a bunch of road-pavers at this level so we need to find diamonds in the the rough, to use another terrible cliche. We need diamonds and dudes with smarts and cleverness akin to the service academies and Hawaii that PreSnapRead mentions here:

One thing that’s important to consider: Hawaii has to play things differently. The Warriors can’t play things straight, in other words, but must approach football in a similar way to the three service academies, each of which runs an offense that works on technique and precision, not speed and athleticism.

We probably don’t need to quirk it up as much but “technique and precision” are the keys to winning with less.

That brings me to the Offensive Coordinator.

He can call a really good game. He found ways to work with his personnel and got the football to Kam in a myriad of ways when it became clear that he was and is our biggest home run threat. He has gotten raves from opposing coaches and looks to go on to bigger and better things eventually.

The only thing that I wonder about is the complexity of the offense. With so many young players and especially on the offensive line, it seems odd to throw so many formations and sets at a team. It is making his quarterback look bad. It may not be totally deserved, but he has to know that no one cares.

Philosophically, I lean more toward the Air Raid stuff for a number of reasons, but also because it makes experts out of players in the tiny amount of teaching time available at this level. It also is very good at spreading the ball around. Each guy learns his position and only his position. Air Raid guys like Dana Holgorsen say “the ball finds the playmakers.” You don’t need to move them around.

Again, that is a philosophical quibble I have. Bush has brought some excitement and for whatever this program means for this town, it still is ultimately entertainment.

I can’t wait for the spring game.

One Eye on the Future: The Zach Conque Post

With a dire lack of the things to talk about, I decided now would be a good time to take a look at one of UTSA's two known recruiting commitments. A 6'5, 200+ lb. quarterback from Little Rock Catholic HS (Ark.), Zach Conque looks to be the cornerstone of the Roadrunners' future. Zach is the son of Central Arkansas coach Clint Conque who has led the Bears from a Division II non-factor to a strong competitor in the Southland Conference. It's becoming obvious that Coach Bush values kids that were born and raised in the film room, as both he and Eric Soza are coaches' sons. Zach's football IQ shines through on the field with his uncanny ability to place the ball in the perfect spot, making life easy on his receivers. Although Conque's frame causes him to be labeled as a pro-style QB, he is certainly a threat on the ground outside of the passing pocket with a reported 40 yd. dash of 4.6 seconds. He really is a carbon copy of Soza with about an extra half foot of height and a substantially better arm. That is enough to get me VERY excited for this young man's arrival into Bush's system.

I really love the above video because it gives us a great look at Zach's footwork and mechanics. His throwing motion is incredibly smooth with a high release point that comes across his chest with zip. Not only are his passes incredibly accurate, he also throws with velocity, preventing interceptions and lofty tosses that are easy to defend. Conque keeps his throws compact by holding his elbows up high and tight above his shoulders, following through with his body weight after his release. What impresses me most is Zach's footwork. On both his one and three step drop backs, he wastes no time backing away from the center with balance and rhythm. It's encouraging to see Zach nail the ten and out pass after watching Soza struggle to complete those passes all year long.

In the latest YouTube video I could find, we can see Conque's development from last year. His field vision is impeccable, finding open receivers on all sides of the field and checking down from covered primary receivers. Perhaps the most notable improvement is how much of a scrambling threat Conque has been this year. He really flashes his wheels throughout this video, picking up some huge gains on scampers. Zach does a great job of feeling out the pocket and avoiding pressure. It's easy to see why he was such a highly-sought after prospect, drawing interest from TAMU and several SEC schools (edit: I guess TAMU counts as an SEC school too now, right?) as well as scholarship offers from UCA, MTSU, and Toledo. One thing that Zach could use some work on is improving the consistency of his delivery. During a couple of plays in these videos I noticed him lowering the slot of this throwing motion or throwing a tad side-armed. While such tendencies are permissible at the high school level, Zach will run into trouble if he maintains the habit in Division I play.

All in all, UTSA landed an absolute steal in Conque, and I can't wait to see him throwing passes to Josiah Monroe and Kenny Harrison in '14.

Read about Conque's recruitment here
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