Three Points by Sean: QBs, IMG, and Bama

When should Texas name a starting QB?

I have laughed over the last few weeks with e-mails and calls to the radio show about when Texas should name a starting quarterback. The easy answer is that Texas should name a starting quarterback when they know who the starting quarterback is going to be.

It is asinine to even think that under the guise of some strategic mandate that the Texas Longhorns will know who their quarterback is and decide to wait until game week versus Notre Dame.

If they don’t know who the quarterback is after the spring, then it will go to the fall. But more than holding back information for opponents and keeping the competition strong at Texas, the Longhorns need to know who their quarterback is for the psyche of the team.

I remember a wide receiver telling me a couple years back, “It really doesn’t matter who the quarterback is because we have faith in both of them. Either one can step in the huddle and we will be fine.”

I understand fully why that player needed to lie. He needed to lie because it was the only way for the program to save face.

The very second that Texas knows who its quarterback is they need to make it public. Not for the fans, not for the opponents, not for the media outlets and not for the quarterback.

They need to make it public for the team so they can begin to build their faith in the guy that will be leading them on the field in Week 1 when Notre Dame comes to Austin.

Why be mad at IMG

Brenham High School head football coach Glen West, who is also president of the Texas High School Coaches Association, came out strong against Florida’s IMG Academy when he spoke of the emergence of athletics-centered private high schools, like IMG Academy, that he feels could “destroy our profession.”

IMG is selling recruiting and exposure. I have heard Texas coaches tell me to my face, “It’s not my job to work recruiting.”

They are well within their right to feel that way. It is also well within the players right to go somewhere where they will get help with the recruiting process that grows more and more arduous everyday.

Obviously, this opinion only applies to some of the coaches but maybe players having other options will help coaches take a more vested interested in the recruiting process. As I had one parent of multiple ‘Power 5’ football recruits say, “Stop holding back recruiting letters/collaterals from players and be more proactive in working with your players and families in the recruiting process.”

With the University of Tennessee offering 20 players last week at IMG from three different classes, we all understand that IMG is an all-star team. I do not understand why any team in the state of Texas would play them, assist them in playing games, or allow them to use facilities.

People think collusion is dirty work but I would have no problem if IMG Academy was ‘iced’ out of Texas. With that said, if a player and his family don’t feel they are getting the exposure, experience, and assistance they desire, then IMG Academy will and should be an option for them.

The impact is minimal because of the amount if kids, nationally, that IMG can take but in any given year, it must sting to lose an experienced starter.

Mike Locksley going to Alabama

Locksley is headed to the national champions as an offensive analyst. It should just be another piece of perspective that Alabama might be the only school really taking winning to the level of the New York Yankees.

It is no secret that Alabama cannot win the national championship every year but having won four of the last seven, Alabama seems to be the model for winning.

Locksley has been a recruiting coordinator, offensive coordinator, and head coach but is taking a job as an offensive analyst. Nick Saban has jobs so well defined that he can bring in all of these resumes and get them on the same page. When coaches move off his staff, he can simply elevate great coaches from analyst positions.

Alabama has decided that in regards to college football they are actually the New York Yankees.

They understand that they cannot save their way to success. They have to invest their way to success and Alabama is doing it.

They build a great staff, coach their coaches, use the analyst to keep the coaches accountable, and they forge ahead at 100 mph.

The crazy thing is that they do not appear to be slowing down one bit. They have the best front office in the country and just got better.