They can coach! They can recruit! Who knew?!
If you listen closely, you can hear the death rattle of the ‘Texas DB coaches can’t coach or recruit narrative’. Terry Joseph and Blake Gideon found themselves to be the punching bags after Texas’ 12-2 playoff-bound season which ended in a difficult loss to the Washington Huskies. As scapegoats, they were in good company, in space previously occupied by Pete Kwiatkowski, Jeff Choate, and sometimes even Steve Sarkisian.
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We pride ourselves on providing as much context as possible, and context offered a lot of insight on the previous punching bags. PK and Choate simply didn’t inherit the same level of talent Bo Davis did. Sark’s opening 5-7 ballad was explained by a number of factors, including roster talent and being on the ground floor of a complete rebuild.
The context for Joseph and Gideon pointed to them just needing enough time to accumulate their guys, especially Gideon. It can easily be argued Gideon’s room was the last to receive the attention it needed to remake the room in the same image as, e.g., offensive line, wide receiver, quarterback, etc.
Within the last 30 days we’ve heard Texas defensive back recruiting wasn’t pulling its weight. For some reason, the DB duo were given no grace despite compiling the most talented room in the program. Kyle Flood landing three-stars in his sleep was lauded while Joseph and Gideon scratching and clawing for elite talent was ignored, at least by some.
Let’s look at the recruits they’ve signed who are still in the program. ‘Still in the program’ is important because players who weren’t cutting it didn’t remain. That was a sign the coaches were hellbent on improving the product in the secondary.
CB Malik Muhammad, On3 Industry Ranking: 96.22
S Derek Williams, On3 IR: 95.52. Though he’s a safety, Joseph played a significant role in this recruitment.
S Jelani McDonald, On3 IR: 95.03
CB Warren Roberson, On3 IR: 90.89
CB Gavin Holmes, On3 IR: 91.00. Rating was as a portal recruit.
CB Kobe Black, On3 IR: 96.70
S Xavier Filsaime, On3 IR: 96.67
CB Wardell Mack, On3 IR: 93.12
CB Santana Wilson, On3 IR: 91.00
S Jordon Johnson-Rubell, On3 IR: 89.70
S Andrew Mukuba, On3 IR: 90.00. Eh, that’s a bad rating.
S Jonah Williams, On3 IR: 98.16
CB Caleb Chester, On3 IR: 87.33. What’s more likely, they just started recruiting average three-star cornerbacks or Chester’s rating is off?
S Zelus Hicks, On3 IR: 93.61: Not on the roster but committed today.
“Can’t croot.” Takes gone bad.
What about coaching?
To my eyes, the Texas secondary has been the best position unit on the team. They’re blanketing receivers, turning quarterbacks over, and filling against the run. Maybe they haven’t truly been tested but the competency we’re seeing certainly looks like it will scale.
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It was a fait accompli: the increase in talent through excellent recruiting + time to develop = good, and perhaps even great defensive back play.
