Texas-ULM Post Mortem: Special teams

Special teams gets its own write up because there’s a heck of a lot of good and bad to sort through.

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Let’s start with the good. The Longhorns got on the board early after a 3 and out by the Texas defense:

Keilan Robinson takes the D’Shawn Jamison blocked punt for a scoop n’ score! pic.twitter.com/MweOSbuBaR

— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) September 4, 2022

Jeff Banks clearly saw some coaching neglect in ULM’s shield protections (as in, blocking priority begins with proximity to the football) and D’Shawn Jamison sprinted through untouched for the block while Keilan Robinson got the scoop and score. Apparently, based on their film study, Texas expected to block a punt going into the game and they expected to do it early. Not a bad tone setter. Some Texas fans are such maniacs that they were irritated that the block and score delayed our first look at Quinn Ewers. You may confess below in the comments.

That wasn’t the only Longhorn special teams highlight. Later in the game, Xavier Worthy defied one of the cardinal rules in the return game by giving ground while reversing field to line up his return with the Return Right blocking scheme. This is behavior that might be punished by a better opponent, but notice the great decision-making by Texas blockers to pull up or get their pads in front of their men as Worthy puts them in a tight spot:

A fantastic return from Xavier Worthy! pic.twitter.com/BhLZTP7STW

— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) September 4, 2022

Worthy got 21 yards out of 65 yards of running, but it’s a good example of a disciplined return unit doing their job and allowing a great athlete to try to make a play. Worthy was also very aggressive later in the game, scooping up a rolling punt in a crowd. If I had to guess, his aggression in those returns may have stemmed from regret at the 10:16 mark in Q1. ULM was attempting their second punt, Texas had return on, and Worthy fair caught with a good amount of green around him.

Now for darker news. The Texas kicking game – specifically as it pertain to the kickers – showed some cracks. Don’t say I didn’t warn you:

Isaac Pearson is said to have a kangaroo leg, but expect the typical Year 1 Aussie growing pains that come with their first live action, complete with fumbled snaps and occasional shanks. It happened to Dickson, it happened to Bujcevski, it will happen to Pearson.

Pearson mishandled a field goal snap costing Texas 3 points before the half and then dropped a perfect snap in punt formation, leading to a booming 15 yard kick. The latter is part of the expected growing pains predicted above. The former is the coaching staff probably not thinking this through particularly well. Yes, I get that you want a special teams guy holding kicks because of how practice breaks out. But execution in-game is more important than the inconvenience of losing your backup QB to some holding drills. Hudson Card needs to be holding those kicks. Not the guy who has never been in a college football game and thinks an American football is an Aussie Rules Football on a diet. Let’s limit his nerves and make Pearson’s world as small as possible. Danny Trejo came in to punt and Machete’s 40 yard average belied line drive punts that were almost blocked, begging to be housed by anyone who can set up a punt return. Both Texas punters had saucers for eyeballs. Texas needs to get Pearson up to speed as the punter quickly and exile him from holding.

As for kickoffs, Will Stone had nine kick offs and only three made it to the end zone for a touchback. Half of his short kicks didn’t have much air or hang time either. If you can’t consistently get a touchback, you want a pinned kick inside the opponent 5 yard line with plenty of hang time where the returner catches it two yards from the sideline and not much field to work with. Texas needs dramatic improvement here. On the positive side, Sideshow Bert Auburn made a 41 yard field goal when the hold went smoothly.

Texas made huge plays in special teams against ULM, but don’t let that cloud the fact that the unit showed several major issues with respect to unforced errors that showed future opponents with better coaching and more talent that there are opportunities available for game-changing plays in a bad way.

Defense is up next…