Vincent Young commits to UT.

I saw that on tv tonight as well.

I can't get your link to work, btw...I think it's subscriber only.

OS

 

What a class...

Here's the link: http://www.austin360.com/aas/horns/football/recruiting/0114texasfoot.html

 

UT must have very deep pockets.


OS

 

Even better, there are reports that Reggie Mcneal is rethinking his A&M commitment. If he ditches A&M, it will be the best Recruiting season ever for the HORNS.


HOOK 'EM

 

Congrats Horns...

VY is the best HS player I have ever seen.

I don't like UT, so I'm annoyed that you guys have the greatest recruiting class in recent history.

 

This is why you don't fire Mack Brown. Dude may not be the best coach ever but just look at the freakin' amazing recruits he pulls in. You figure something good should eventually happen just by luck. And this kind of recruiting should keep any slipping into mediocrity away for a while. Can't believe we're pulling in Vincent after everyone else.

 

According to the Chronicle, VY's uncle says redshirting VY is not a done deal. He says VY will compete for a spot whatever that means. There's no way UT goes with 4 active QB's so unless someone gets hurt (which I guess is what he meant), I don't see VY actually taking a snap. I'd like to see GD put in some VY plays into the gameplan next year - option, trick plays, draws etc. but not at the expense of losing a year.

Oh yeah, count me in as a Vincent Cultist

And if someone finds the thread in which I posted that UT could recruit well without Mack Brown, I'll post a retraction. Coaches have a lot more to do with recruiting than I gave them credit. The school and fans sold VY on UT, but without Mack I don't think we'd have a chance.

 

Horn fans:

If Mack doesn't win a national championship before Vincent Young graduates will he be considered a failure and should he be fired? (Assuming Young is healthy all 4/5 years.)


OS

 

I think Mack should have received an ultimatum to fire GD similar to what the Colts did to Mora.

I really don't know what happens to the UT offense in big games. Major put up some really big numbers vs UW, but he had 3 picks in the first half. Mistakes happen, but they happen too often in big games for UT. Is it the QB's or is it GD?

There won't be any staff changes, and there won't be any Major next season. Simms like Young was the # 1 player in the country in high school. He has been a disappointment so far - too many turnovers. I don't expect next season to be any different. Sure he's going to air it out vs. weak opponents but when it comes to @ Neb, @ KSU, and OU, I would be shocked if he didn't throw multiple picks.

 

I don't think Vincent Young should be lumped into the same class as Chris Simms. Just because one guy has been a (relative) bust doesn't mean that the next guy will be. Young is an entirely different type of quarterback, too.

The job Mack does every season in recruiting is incredible. This year he's locked up 7 of ESPN's top 75 - nobody else has more than 3. Texas sells itself, but only to a point. Did Mackovic or any other UT coach ever recruit like this?

I don't think you can call for the coach's head after a season like this. We had stagnated for a few seasons at 9 wins and never made the top 10; this year we got 11 wins, won the bowl game, and finished top 5. As long as the team doesn't slip back, the results speak for themselves. I want a national championship for UT, but I'm willing to give it some time. How long did it take Joe Paterno or Tom Osborn to win a title?

 

I'm certainly not one of the people who wants him to be fired but I've seen many people on message boards who think he sucks at coaching and might want to see him leave. Although most of it does revolve around the "fire Greg Davis" issue and not solely his coaching but there are definitely people who have brought up the issue of firing Mack. I don't think he's a top of the line game day coach but his recruiting is just so amazing it makes up for it and still produces a high quality team (which being 5th ranked speaks to). Now if we could figure out how to fix simms and davis we would be unstoppable.

 

Chris Simms has been a relative bust? Hmm... guess someone forgot to tell me. He's only had slightly more than a season of playing time to judge him fairly by, because the time when Major and Chris split time really isn't fair to judge either of them by.

In his first big game, against A&M, he was dominant. No mistakes, looked like about the best QB in the country.

In his second big game, against Oregon, he played fairly well. The four interceptions stand out, but two of them were pretty much flukes, including a hail mary. He moved the ball up and down the field all night long without much of a run game, and he put it in his receivers hands in the end zone to win it. Not his fault that they couldn't catch.

In his third big game, against Oklahoma, he made a couple of bad throws, but overall suffered from a terrible offensive coordinator. Two of the picks were against flukes... one was on the Roy Williams hit where he wasn't picked up, and another was on a desperation throw in the final minute where he had to just throw it straight down the field. Yes, I know he only passed for about 200 yards, but in the first half GD decided to run primarily on first and second, and left us in many 3rd and 11s where they knew we were going to pass. In the second half, GD went primarily 5 wide receiver, which let them know we were going to pass and also allowed them to put lots of pressure on Chris. Also, remember in that game that Chris Simms generated more offense against OU's defense than Chris Weinke did in the national championship.

In his fourth big game, against Colorado, Simms was dominant again. He made good reads, looked off receivers, and I think threw for 3 touchdowns and 0 INTs. He controlled the ball, didn't make mistakes, and made some great deep throws to his receivers. Texas wins.

In his fifth big game, against A&M, Simms wasn't phenomenal, but got the job done. In the face of a tremendous wind all day, he made no mistakes, and made the plays he had to late in the game. Again, Texas wins.

In his sixth big game, against CU, he played terrible and had three picks. So? It hurt big time, but it's one game! Major threw three picks in the first half against Washington. However, people aren't going to remember him for that because he wasn't pulled. How do you know Simms couldn't have done the same thing if he remained in the game? As doubtful as it may be to some of you, the possibility does exist that Simms could've led us back into the game as well.

Chris Simms had one terrible football half. Outside of that, as a full time starter, his numbers have been excellent, and in all other big games he's played at least average, if not exceptional. He may not be the Heisman Trophy winner yet (though he is my pick for next year), but he's been better than 95% of the QB's out there. People set unrealistic expectations for him because of his name. Everyone just expects him to step on the field and be some superstar cause of who his dad is. It's ridiculous. If you would've shown me the statistics above as Chris Simms first year production (before he came to UT), I would've been nothing less than thrilled. Simms hasn't just met my expectations, he's exceeded them. And he's still getting better.

 

TheCat, I agree with you, people (including myself) have been too negative about Simms. In hindsight it was obvious Major should have been the QB last year because he was the better develop college QB last year, but that shouldn't biase how we look at Simms as a player or his next year. After all, it was not his decision to have Major sit all year and he isn't as horrible as others have made him out, it was just Major was a smart player better able to run the offense against high-caliber defenses. But that is in the past now.

I am all for Chris Simms having a shot next year and think we are not in too bad of hands. Outside of Florida, Miami and Tenn our QB looks to be in as solids hands as any of the other elites. My main hope is he works really hard in the offseason to better read defenses and looking off defenders, I think this things can be worked on and he should be extremely motivated based on his last outing.

In sum, we are in pretty good hands in Simms next year. He certainly isn't Chris Rix (ugh) or that two headed moster they have up their in Norman. There are plenty of quality teams who would love to have our QB position, and EVERY team would love to have our RBs, WRs, and defensive personel. Things are looking good despite our dissapointing year last year.

 

Cat, you and I must have had completely different expectations for Chris Simms. When he signed with Texas 3 years ago, he was considered the best quarterback - indeed, the best offensive player - in the entire recruiting class. Maybe the best player in the class, period.

With one year left, it's clear he isn't the top quarterback in college football. In fact, he's not close.

Simms has trouble handling adversity. In fact, here's what you had to say about Chris after his last game. "If Simms can't handle adversity, he isn't ever going to be a great QB. However, after the way he got rattled last night, I'm starting to question if he can handle it. My fear is that he can't". Clearly, he has issues to clear up. You named only 2 of his 6 big games as clearly dominant performances - the rest ranged from less than dominant to just bad.

I said relative bust, because the hype on Simms was incredible. I'm not saying he's a bad player, but his performance thus far hasn't come close to his immense hype.

 

Please tell me you're kidding. How could he have possible exceeded your expectations. HOW!!!???