Strong talks injuries, discipline, Cal

Chris Warren. (Will Gallagher/IT)

AUSTIN — The most important news following Texas’ 41-7 thumping of UTEP is Monday’s injury report. Every Longhorn starter will be available (fingers crossed, knock on wood) for Saturday’s game at California.

Seven starters, including three offensive linemen, took the day off last Saturday to heal a smattering of bumps and bruises.

“All of our starters will be back for this week,” head coach Charlie Strong confirmed Monday. “They could have gone (against UTEP), but it was good to watch the other guys play. We wanted to play (backups) early just in case something happens to (the starters) somewhere down the road.”

The “road” starts Saturday.

It will be one month before Texas returns to DKR to face Iowa State. That’s why Strong wanted to build depth during last Saturday’s lopsided win; he especially wanted to see how a few, particular backups performed under the bright lights. Namely, are freshman RB Kyle Porter, freshman DE Malcolm Roach and sophomore DE Breckyn Hager ready-for-primetime players?

The answer, against an outmatched foe, was a resounding yes. Porter logged 33 yards on eight carries behind, in essence, the second team OL. Hager led the defense with eight tackles. Roach notched four stops, including a TFL, and leveled the night’s biggest hit against a Miner WR.

“The reason why I wanted to see (Roach and Hager) play on defense is because they just go. Whatever is in their way, they’re going to hit. It’s going to be a headache for someone: either them, or the other team. Each and every play, you’re going to get everything they have from those two guys.”

Texas was 1-4 on the road in 2015, but this year’s squad (cue the Pointer Sisters) has got a new attitude. It’s a transfusion forged by confidence in an offense that can score on every possession and by healthy competition at every position.

Well, every position except one.

The only place where an injury could torpedo the season is, of course, at quarterback. For the second straight week, freshman QB Shane Buechele, was named The Big 12’s Newcomer of the Week. He was 22-of-27 passing for 244 yards and four TDs against UTEP. His six TDs (against just one INT) have already tied the school record by a Longhorns’ true freshmen. The kid is unflappable and markedly accurate considering he’s just four months removed from his high school’s prom.

“He is so calm. He has that quiet confidence about him. He’s not arrogant at all. He just carries himself the right way. A lot of his teammates respect him so much. When you put him a room with his teammates, he is going to go around to every one of them and talk to them. He doesn’t care who it is or what position he plays. He’s won the team over.’

Senior QB Tyrone Swoopes, like most 18-Wheelers, is ground-bound rather than airborne. The only consolation for the strong-armed, yet wildly inaccurate, Swoopes is he now has a full kennel of Frisbee-catching dogs who can go up and snag the jumpballs.

A pleasant surprise among the receiving corps is Jerrod Heard who, in his second start at QB last year, set a UT single-game record with 527 yards of total offense against Cal. Now, the converted-WR ranks second on the team with 119 receiving yards and, apparently, is the team-leader in sheer energy.

“He really brings the energy to the whole team,” Strong said. “There’s not many guys, on the offensive side, with personalities. Jerrod has that personality about him, and guys just gravitate toward him.”

Jerrod Heard. (Will Gallagher/IT)

For the first time in Strong’s tenure, the offense is generating an up-tempo, two-dimensional attack (204 rushing ypg, 262.5 ypg passing) that’s averaging 80.5 snaps.

“We are able to run the ball, and then we can throw the ball. When we throw those vertical routes, the receivers are running by the defensive backs. So, if you want to load the box, we’re going to throw it over your head. And if you back-off on us, we’re going to turn around and run it.”

Where does Texas need to take the next step in order to make its mark in a suddenly wide-open Big 12 race? The answer is in the ‘D’ words: defense and discipline.

Texas ranks No. 119 with 21 penalties through two games. (Note: Baylor is college football’s most penalized program). Strong is taking a tougher stance against the kind of foul that DT Poona Ford incurred for (literally) taking a bow following a big play Saturday night. But, in all fairness, the flag thrown at Strong during Notre Dame’s two-point return of a blocked PAT was, potentially, the most costly of the young season. (Against the Irish, Mitchell Becker’s booming 69-yard KO to the Notre Dame 11 atoned for Strong’s miscue). Sorry, Charlie, but ‘discipline’ starts at the top.

“The penalties are really costing us,” Strong conceded, “and it’s costing us big. It’s just that they really haven’t taken part in whether we’ve won or lost. We’ve got to be a more disciplined football team. I told our coaches that (Sunday). I told our players that, if guys get a penalty in a game, you’re going to run for it.”

Defensively, the game plan against UTEP was to limit yards-after-contact against RB Aaron Jones, who entered as the nation’s leading rusher. Against Cal, the goal is to limit yards-after-catch. Bears QB Davis Webb (a Texas Tech transfer) is the nation’s second-leading passer with 963 total yards.

“We need to get pressure on the quarterback just to take some of the pressure off of the secondary. Some balls are going to be completed. We just can’t allow balls to be thrown over our head.”