Habe on the ‘Horns: Strong plays it cool as practice opens for crucial campaign

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — If Texas head coach Charlie Strong is feeling the heat to produce his best season in his third campaign on the 40 Acres, he didn’t show it Friday at the Longhorns’ initial press conference for 2016 fall practices.

Strong looked slim and trim and was togged in the obligatory Texas golf shirt, khaki shorts that extended past his knee and tan suede Birkenstocks as he met with reporters. He was loose and happy, even dropping a few quips into the proceedings— nothing like what might be expected from a man who is set to embark on a do-or-die season in which his team will play three teams ranked in the top 19 in the preseason Amway/USA Today Coaches Poll.

“(Strong) can be loose[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]; he can be happy because he sees something great in this football team,” defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said.

Maybe Strong knows something the rest of us don’t. Here’s hoping that’s the case.

Across campus, the Longhorns players were checking into Jester Center, their home for at least the first few weeks of fall camp. The coaches will live in the dorms, as well, in the few hours a day they aren’t working on building a winning team to help erase last season’s bowl-less 5-7 campaign.

“The whole attitude of this team is different than it was at this time last year,” Strong said. “These players have a sense of ownership. They know they are responsible for where we’ve come up short in the past and are working together to turn things around.”

The Longhorns open camp with questions aplenty, including the lack of an established starting quarterback, a thin group of experienced players on the defensive line and at linebacker, and underclassmen in the majority of the squad’s leadership roles.

“There will be a lot of talk about the younger guys as leaders, but the seniors on this team can be a huge part of the things we are doing even if they don’t start,” Strong said. “We are going to put the best players on the field regardless, even if they are freshmen.”

But the cupboard is far from bare. UT has two huge, fast and strong running backs in D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren III, breakaway speed in the outside receiver spot in John Burt, a proven (if youthful) offensive line led by two freshman All-Americas in Connor Williams and Patrick Vahe and a transcendent player in linebacker Malik Jefferson, the Big 12 Conference’s preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

Texas also has a pair of intangibles on its side: no one really knows how the Longhorns’ talent set will work with the quick-paced scheme utilized by new offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert, and this Texas team will be playing with a huge chip on its collective shoulder.

There is no doubt the Longhorns will be better, but there also is no question that the rest of the Big 12 is just as good, if not better, than it was in 2015.

The Longhorns were voted fifth in the conference in the preseason coaches’ poll, behind Oklahoma (which is ranked theird in the preseason national poll), TCU (14th), Oklahoma State (19th) and Baylor (21st).

“When we walk out on the field (Saturday) for our first fall practice, we are going to look like a good football team,” Strong said. “It’s just a matter of where we are mentally, and if we are ready.”

Also addressed in the fall season’s initial press conference:

Strong reiterated his desire to name a starting quarterback, “as soon as we can” in the fall drills. True freshman Shane Buechele already has been tabbed by many members of the media as the position winner but Strong has not handed the youngster the reins just yet, meaning senior Tyrone Swoopes and redshirt sophomore Jerrod Heard still are part of the discussion.

Strong added that Heard, who started 10 games for the Longhorns last season, would not switch positions away from quarterback if he doesn’t win the job. “We need three quarterbacks, no matter what, and Jerrod is in that mix” Strong explained.

Strong said that freshman linebacker Erick Fowler still is not on campus and is awaiting clearance of “some academic issues,” adding that he expects Fowler to be with the team by the time the fall semester begins.

Strong said the status of wide receiver DeAndre McNeal, who was suspended from the team for earlier this week for a violation of team rules, will remain under evaluation. McNeal, a teammate of Jefferson’s at Poteet High School in Mesquite, played in 10 games last season as a freshman. He did not catch a pass but contributed on special teams and rushed once for nine yards.

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