Horns247 Board

I'm going to hold off judgement until he has some experience at key spots. I think ideally, he'd love to avoid as many trick plays as we used this past year. We used them because we weren't very good.

What concerns me the most are his passing game concepts.

Inconsistency at the o line killed us as well. When we got our o line going (tech and kansas) we were able to move the ball in the manner we wanted. But not having a wr threat in shipley and davis's drops and mental issues combined with our qb issues gave teams the advantage to stack the box and shut our run game down. Well be fine next year imo.

I'm not going to draw too many conclusions about his offense until he gets some of his players in place. I do know that we were much better this vs. the previous year.

But it's a moot point. We could bring in the love child of Bill Walsh, Mike Leach, Emory Bellard and Don Coryell to be our OC and our fans would come up with reasons to whine and complain about him.

If you're going to judge anything from 2011 you be very optimistic. He cobbled together enough offense to win eight games despite terrible QB and WR play, inconsistent OL play and injuries to his top four play makers.

His play calling probably was worth two wins at least.

Is he the answer? Who knows but he did nothing last year that should leave anyone discouraged.

I understand your concerns but if you look at how he handled offense compared to that other OC that will not be named basically with the same group of players it's night and day.

Harsin was hit by the injury bug on several key players. If Fozzy has stayed healthy who knows what the season could have been.

But that's no excuse. I would say you should look much closer at what he did. He manufactured a running game on a weak offensive line where we previously couldn't get a first down probably even with 12 men on the field. It's not just his "trick" plays. Look at how he used Marquise, DJ and Jaxon Shipley to create yards. He used previously limited players in new variety of ways to make them productive. You can't evaluate his offense fairly until he has at least one consistent QB to run it. He actually adjusted the offense as the game went on based on defensive tendencies. That was a huge difference compared to the past.

I say let's give him another season at least before the gnashing of teeth. Of course, this is Texas so it's our right to complain at the very start. I would say, if you want to complain, your legitimate gripe should be that Mack Brown, he of the $5 MILLION a year salary, let the program lapse to the point where major changes had to be done. The program should have had much better consistency year to year. Just my thoughts.

I think he did as good a job as Manny. The difference being he is redefining how Texas plays on offense. Unfortunately the talent was just not there last spring. Basically he has torn down and rebuilt everything.
This spring will be huge for the development of the offense. Across the board, not just quarterback. The wr's and o-line really need to step up, a tight end has toemerge, running backs need to get and stay healthy. The talent is getting into place for the team make big strides and be ready for August.

what makes you ask? Im scottish actually.

I don't. In fact he's mentioned having to manufacture offense with those plays because we couldn't get a whole lot going. Ideally, I don't believe OCs want to have to move the ball that way.

I agree that we need to hold off judgment for another year, but I think overall we're moving in the right direction.

Chris Peterson definitely played a large role in molding the Boise offense, and I think coming to Texas and installing his own offense was a bit of a challenge for Harsin. Boise was stacked with talent on offense, more than just Kellen at QB. Titus Young (Lions), Nanee (Panthers), and Pettis (Rams) are all contributing at WR on NFL teams, and everyone obviously remembers Ian Johnson at RB. Overall his stable of RBs was not as strong as his WRs, even though during college the RBs probably got more attention.

That ties into what we've seen year one here at Texas. He was able to resurrect a running game that really has had no consistency since Cedric Benson. Many folks want to point out that we had a great running game with Jamaal Charles, but that really wasn't the case, at least it wasn't very consistent. Greg Davis was able to manufacture a running game because of the threat of VY running at QB, but it definitely wasn't consistent. Halfway through the year everyone was wondering what the hell was wrong with our running game before Charles went off. But, even when he went off it wasn't in the form of a consistent ground game; it was a 2 yard run, 1 yard run, 80 yard run. The last couple years were even more pathetic. And that's coming offseason after offseason of Mack Brown pleading with Greg Davis to figure out a way to run the damn ball.

Fast forward to this past season and the difference in the ground game was night and day. A lot of that has to do with the drastic improvement in OL play, which can also be attributed to the hiring of Stacy Searles. But, Mack finally got what he wanted in the ground game, consistency (outside of the injuries). And now Harsin's about to have the best stable of running backs he's ever seen in his coaching career... should be fun to watch.

However, for every step forward our running game has taken, our passing game took as many steps back. Was this all Harsin's fault? No. While many want to remember our passing game as all peaches and cream, as it was in the Colt McCoy days, let's not forget what Gilbert's numbers were in his one year under Greg Davis. 59% completion %, 2744 yds, 10 TDs, 17 INTs. - Pitiful.

So Harsin is now dealt a hand that includes rotating a true freshman QB (while he came in for spring ball, it has been said he barely got any reps until fall, at which time he was splitting time with 3 other QBs), and a sophomore QB that can't throw the ball 20 yds down the field. Their combined stat line (including Gilbert): 58%, 2360 yds, 11 TDs, 12 INTs. If you throw in Shipley's passing stats it gets us over 2400 yds and 14 TDs! (ha).

So while it was not a substantial improvement, it was also not a substantial drop off. Throw in the fact that our best WR was hurt for over half the year, and it gives you a little more sympathy. And John Harris, who was said to be emerging as a consistent threat, missed the whole season. Add in Goodwin, who didn't participate in any preseason activities, and it's pretty apparent that Harsin didn't have a whole lot to work with.

I am with you though that sometimes the trick plays were a little gimmicky. I feel that it was really apparent in the OU game. I loved that play where we lined the OL out to the left and threw to Whittaker (if memory serves correctly) for a nice gain. But all those jet sweeps and WR reverses were getting eaten alive. I wish we had gone with a more downhill running attack in that game. But after that game I felt that Harsin started developing an identity on O. But then the injuries took their toll.

With all that said, I really believe we need to give him one more year. I think he's a real smart guy that is going to maximize the talents of the team. He brings a lot of ingenuity and creativity to the table, and with a little more consistency, less injuries, and more experience at QB, I really believe that good things are in store for next season.

I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised with the development of Ash from year one to year two. Add in Gray as a weapon, a deeper OL, full slate of WR's... our O is going to hold it's own. And with our D, we're talking 10 wins min. If we add in DGB... well that'll just be straight sugar!

The jury is still out...need a productive QB that Harsin doesn't have to baby...

He manufactured offense when it seemed like nothing was really there. Injuries and the offensive line killed a lot of what he wanted to do. This year, I expect dramatic improvement.

We were 5-7 for a reason. Wait to judge him until he at least has a Big 12 -average-level quarterback, stable of receivers, and offensive line.