Texas Longhorns Football Spring Game Wrapup Part One– Offense
On a sunny, warm afternoon at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, there were two particular takeaways from the annual Texas Longhorns Spring Game: Jeremy Hills is a Spring Game all-star, and walk-on sophomore Heath Hohmann is this year’s Patrick McNamara.
Another highlight was checking out the first-class re-creation of Ricky Williams that now graces the entrance to the south side of the stadium next to Moncrief-Neuhaus– down to the last dread it looks great.
Apart from that, little was learned.
The expectation when attending these games is that certain players will emerge and show improvement since the last formal game the previous January, and to some extent, this was true this afternoon, but only in select cases on both sides of the ball.
Offense
Several skill players on the offensive side of the ball were impressive for the Longhorns and showed some flashes of brilliance, which may, or may not be applicable, this fall. Superstar reserve D.J. Monroe had the first highlight of the game, breaking off a long touchdown run down the sideline, showing the type of breakaway speed which has been alluring but rarely a consistent benefit for the Texas offense over the course of the past few seasons.
David Ash looked every bit the starter for the Longhorns going into the 2012 season. While he didn’t have the opportunities to showcase his throwing ability like backup Case McCoy did– for whatever reason– he did take advantage of the chances presented, including a beautiful first quarter end-zone fade for a touchdown to Jaxon Shipley. Ash also did a strong job of recognizing coverages, and pulled the ball down to run when plays had broken, picking up positive yardage in almost every instance. In short, David Ash looked like the starting quarterback at the University of Texas.
The same could not be said for Case McCoy. Through three quarters of action, McCoy had two nice throws– one a 48-yard out route to emerging tight end D.J. McFarland and another a second quarter touchdown pass to Spring Game All-Star DeSean Hales– but otherwise looked uncertain and generally uncomfortable in the pocket. In short, McCoy has a long, long way to go to reach David Ash and appears to be firmly placed in the No. 2 position on the Texas quarterback depth chart.
Scottsdale, Arizona freshman Connor Brewer saw his first snaps in the second half of action and was solid overall. In spite of working against the second-team defense, Brewer had an impressive third-quarter pass to sophomore walk-on wide receiver Michael Wheeler, and another pinpoint fade pass for a touchdown to junior walk-on Cade McCrary on the same drive.
The Texas running game was anchored by a few returning performers and another that had everyone scratching their heads. Sophomore power back Malcolm Brown saw a handful of carries in the first half as did sophomore fullback/halfback Joe Bergeron, but both were conspicuously absent in the second half, deferring to the mystery man, Heath Hohmann. By my count, Hohmann carried the ball 10+ times and proceeded to pick up consistent yardage on each carry. According to Hohmann’s profile, he’s the team’s “Darren Sproles”. Well, I doubt that, but I’ll take it.
The receiving game was hard to evaluate, given there were few passes thrown, but tight ends M.J. McFarland and D.J. Grant were both strong in limited action.
The WildHorn formation with which Texas fans became familiar last season– spear-headed by Fozzy Whittaker– was not featured at all this afternoon, ostensibly because incoming freshman phenom John Gray will be the one running it when fall practice kicks off this August.
Coming later– the Texas defense and special teams performance.
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