Team Notes from the Week

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First and foremost, a big win from WBB last night over No. 5 LSU at home. 

The top-5 matchup at Moody drew a sold out crowd and some familiar faces. Steve Sarkisian, Trevor Goosby and Colin Simmons were courtside for the game as well. Jonah Williams and many others were in attendance to support the team as well.

Goosby remains in a sling following offseason shoulder surgery, as expected. 

Many of the early enrollees made the short trip over as well – Yaheim Riley and Jamarion Carlton were amongst the group. 

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Couple of notes on early enrollees:

– Carlton is going to be someone the strength staff molds to their liking this winter. His body type is like wet clay at the moment, there is going to be plenty of growth ahead for him.

– Derrek Cooper looks the part in conditioning. Moves fluidly.

– The frame and physical stature of Smoke Matthews has been impressive. 

***

One week away from first pitch for Texas Baseball as well.

@Jeff Howe, @Blake Munroe and myself will have Bases Loaded filmed soon and it will be published this afternoon.

Derrek Cooper

Yaheim Riley

Hayward Howard Jr. 

Smoke Matthews

Rocky Cummings

Kaden Scherer

Raleek Brown posted today on Texas Football IG

Rasheem Biles

Cam Coleman

4 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

Smoke Matthews

He looks huge

36 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

Rasheem Biles

This dude looks like he is ready to go to war for us 🤘

48 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

Derrek Cooper

we need some more girth on those legs

I don’t know if it’s possible for a 5-star to be underrated, but I think we might be undervaluing just how much of a freak Cooper is. I’ve thought all along that he might just take over that position by the end of the season, or at least take an increasing snap share every game. I think we’ve been burned a bit by Baxter not living up to his billing, which has made us collectively a bit gunshy on the RB room. But I think Cooper breaks that pattern.

47 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

Kaden Scherer

Gonna be wild to see him in a couple years versus this pick now.  Looks so small for a lineman

1 minute ago, Bunk Moreland said:

I don’t know if it’s possible for a 5-star to be underrated, but I think we might be undervaluing just how much of a freak Cooper is. I’ve thought all along that he might just take over that position by the end of the season, or at least take an increasing snap share every game. I think we’ve been burned a bit by Baxter not living up to his billing, which has made us collectively a bit gunshy on the RB room. But I think Cooper breaks that pattern.

Hard to say we got burned by baxter when it was a horrible injury that derailed him.  He didn't just underperform for no reason.

5 minutes ago, Rocky P said:

Hard to say we got burned by baxter when it was a horrible injury that derailed him.  He didn't just underperform for no reason.

I understand that. Not saying Baxter failed or that there weren’t mitigating circumstances, but that doesn’t change the fact that I think we might be underrating Cooper and his potential impact this year. And for whatever reason, we haven’t seen Texas develop a true, game-changing, every-down back since Brooks.

58 minutes ago, Texas fan in Georgia said:

He looks huge

about to say the same.

30 minutes ago, Rocky P said:

Gonna be wild to see him in a couple years versus this pick now.  Looks so small for a lineman

Very much so. Plenty of room on that frame to fill out. 

1 hour ago, CJ Vogel said:

Smoke Matthews

Smoke looks legit. 

James Johnson

50 minutes ago, Bunk Moreland said:

I don’t know if it’s possible for a 5-star to be underrated, but I think we might be undervaluing just how much of a freak Cooper is. I’ve thought all along that he might just take over that position by the end of the season, or at least take an increasing snap share every game. I think we’ve been burned a bit by Baxter not living up to his billing, which has made us collectively a bit gunshy on the RB room. But I think Cooper breaks that pattern.

Burned? Seriously? He had a terrible injury. C'mon man be better. 

31 minutes ago, AceHorn23 said:

Burned? Seriously? He had a terrible injury. C'mon man be better. 

See my follow-up post. I was not implying that it was his fault or that he was anything other than a hard-working team player. I’m saying Texas fans have some ptsd with the RB position under Sark. But I can see how my phrasing could be interpreted as a criticism of Baxter.

2 hours ago, CJ Vogel said:

Yaheim Riley

Anderson Trojan right there!!

1 hour ago, Rocky P said:

we need some more girth on those legs

I would say upper body development more needed here.  Cooper's legs look ready to go.