Four-Down Territory Q&A: March 31 edition

A content item named Four-Down Territory Q&A was introduced to the Inside Texas community Friday morning.

The plan is to offer up a weekly opportunity for the IT community to fire off questions for a few hours once or twice weekly. And from all those questions, four will be answered and turned into a story.

Four-Down Territory can be football, football recruiting or conference related questions. Beginning next week, a weekly 4 Out 1 In Q&A for basketball and basketball recruiting will also begin with the same format.

Inside Texas brings the first edition of Four-Down Territory.

@Bruce_Leroy

Question: Way to early prediction question. What is Sark and Co. ultimate win number next year, and who (if any) are the losses too as you see it right now (and why)?

Gerry Hamilton: Great question to start with. I was sitting on eight regular seasons wins in year two for Sarkisian and staff. The reason for that number was a three game improvement to show that Sarkisian had the program ascending. And that number and improvement was going to be key for recruiting in terms of perception. A three game improvement would keep the negative recruiting at a minimum, while also providing recruiting ammo in the classes of 2024 and 2025 in terms of Sarkisian beginning to turn a vision into a reality.

That leads to the answer for the 2023 season. The number moves to 10 regular season for me. I’m not going to the “winning is really, really hard” card by the head coach by the beach in Boca. But, I’m also not about to say 12 wins for a program that is still in the development stages at a number of positions. To me Sarkisian and staff continuing to ascend to become a program legitimately talked about as a playoff contender is the next step. This is a season that national media and future recruits can point to as turning the perception corner, and beginning to see reality in the near future.

Texas has a tremendous scheduled to get to 10 regular season wins. One could argue there will not be a better schedule to get to that number. As for games that I would have in the possible or probable loss column. While this isn’t the Nick Saban dominant teams at Alabama, it’s still a road game in Tuscaloosa. Of course, Texas wins that game and the season expectations would get adjusted. The Cotton Bowl is interesting because that will be an ultimate revenge game scenario for the Sooners. With that said, Bob Stoops early 2000’s teams aren’t walking through that tunnel. Kansas State in Austin and TCU in Fort Worth back-to-back is where you look at as a possible loss. Then there is Texas Tech heading to Austin to close out the regular season with Joey McGuire looking for the perfect send off from the Red Raiders.

@HuntFishTexan

Question: Curious about DL/DE recruiting and your opinion of it. I’m not a star gazer, however I believe there is a certain amount of pre-evaluation and projection that recruiting rankings offer. While Texas has been able to attract quality talent, the bluest of the blues, ratings-wise, tend to choose other schools for their college careers. Is there a factor or factors contributing to this? Scheme? Negative recruiting?

I feel that continued development of existing players will turn the worm and help land a Walter Nolan or Collin Simmons level blue chip player. Am curious what your thoughts are.

Hamilton: This is a great recruiting question. The reason I feel it’s a great question is because it’s the most difficult recruitments to win, considering where one has to go to win the majority of them. War daddy’s at EDGE and on the defensive line are the most coveted in college football. Sure you have to be good at quarterback, but it’s been proven you can win a lot of different ways at quarterback and with different level recruits at quarterback. On the defensive front, you have to possess a certain level of talent or ability to dominate. Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State have proven that out the last decade. And that is why the best of the best are the most coveted prospects in recruiting. The SEC has been a dominant conference on the defensive front for years. And the conference should be because the highest percentage of big bodied, fast twitch athletes with length come from the Southeast Region of the country. And that makes those recruitments to be blood baths.

With that said, there is still a developmental component to the equation. If there is one position that is toughest to get over the hump, its defensive front/line. Going into Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida to win huge battles on the line is extremely difficult. So there has to be a mix for Texas while they continue to build, and move to the SEC. Texas needs to hit one big time guy at each spot in each cycle moving forward, but the Horns aren’t going to reel in the level of talent Georgia, Alabama and Clemson have been and are in the region. The program isn’t there yet. So also taking SEC frame and athletic prospects, and developing them will be key. What also makes this difficult it the elite EDGE and DT’s in college football aren’t jumping in the portal. They are too much of a premium. So there has to be a high school developmental component to the program.

@asherwood7

Question: If you could insert any former Longhorn into this years lineup who would it be and why? One on offense and one on defense. Curious to see if you just choose best player or a position of need. Thanks

Hamilton: I’m going to leave out the unicorns. No VY, Ricky Williams, Casey Hampton, Derrick Johnson, Michael Huff, Leonard Davis, Shaun Rogers, etc… I’m also not thinking about anyone before the 2000 NFL Draft.

On offense, it’s Kasey Studdard. The downright nasty guard that grew up everything Texas Longhorns as a legacy recruit. The interior player that would take the run game to another level, and would do so bringing very high expectations and leadership to the offensive line room. Texas just hasn’t had many players like Studdard in that way over the years, and he would be about perfect to add to the OL, and push a very talented group around him and in the program.

On defense, it’s Sam Acho over Nathan Vasher. EDGE continues to be the position I look at with the most need headed into the season. Texas has some young talent to develop, but a legit NFL level pass rusher right now would certainly make this team look different on paper. Acho posted 117 tackles with 17 sacks his last two seasons in Austin. A 59 tackle and nine sack season right now with the respect of opposing offensive coordinators would be a game changer. And then there is the fit. Acho would be a great locker room fit.

Vasher would bring elite playmaking to the secondary with position versatility that can also impact the return game. A player that picked off 17 career passes, could play just about anywhere in the secondary effectively, and returned two punt for touchdowns in his career.

@Rokotosh1

Question: Texas has been wandering around in the wilderness for the past decade. Can you compare and contrast Strong, Herman, and Sark? Everything from program management, recruiting, roster building, etc.? What does Sark do differently than his predecessors that should give the fans hope that we can return to national championship-level contention under his leadership?

Hamilton: Man, great question here. Let me start by saying Charlie Strong is a very likable person. He was just not the guy to hire at Texas. He had zero experience recruiting in Texas, understanding the high school landscape, who to hire on his staff, and how to win at Texas. Even before all the issues that showed as a head coach and running a big time program; he was going to have a difficult time succeeding. The search firms remain the most overrated part of the coaching world business.

With today’s kids, you can’t fake being genuine. It will not work. You also can’t fake who you are, and try to copy a head coach and program that has totally different personality. You also can’t act arrogant in high school coaches offices, even though the coaches may not have the same command in recruiting they once did. That was an issue post Strong. That was not ideal before anything else, such as knocking out the coaching staff hires.

Steve Sarkisian is genuine. That is huge in recruiting. Now, recruiting has changed due to NIL. We all acknowledge it, and agree on it. But the genuine piece is still incredibly important. You aren’t going to trick kids and parents anymore. if there is initial trust, the door is much more open to the possibilities. Sarkisian has a fun offense. An inviting offense. And I’m not just talking about offensive players. So many of the defensive prospects are drawn to that as well. Most kids remember their first touchdown. Not their first tackle. So many kids grow up playing basketball too. They don’t remember the first defensive stop they made. They do remember their first dunk, three-pointer to win a game, etc… We are in an offensive world in sports. Rules are made for offense, in just about every sport. Entertainment. Putting an entertaining product on the field has never been as important. It also goes into filling the stands and basketball arena. Nothing beats having fun while scoring points and winning. The reality is, it’s extremely difficult to field a defense like Georgia has in the last couple of years. So while working to try and get somewhat close to that level, putting product on the field that will help attract top talent on both sides of the ball is paramount.

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