Four-down Territory Q&A: S&C, culture, winning on the road, recruiting finish
Welcome to this week’s installment of Four-down Territory where we select four questions from the Inside Texas community to answer in depth.
Today we’ll discuss Texas strength and conditioning under Torre Becton, what ‘culture’ means with regards to a football program, Texas road woes, and the potential class recruiting ranking when things are said and done.
Three offseasons in what are the current thoughts on Becton’s impact on culture, condition and toughness? Which areas for which he is responsible does the team still need to improve?
Werewolf_Bar_Mitvah
I was pretty critical of Becton after Year 1. I felt he oversteered to improve mobility by sacrificing strength. At the same time he course corrected in Year 2, he was also partially overseeing Sark’s revamped team leadership competition. These were good improvements as the team returned to emphasizing strength in more traditional, proven ways.
Team strength can still improve, especially with the O-line, but that’s largely due to where that group is in its career. Many of those players are still young. Overall I’m not worried about it. Eventually they’ll be replacing seniors with juniors there and you won’t notice the lack of interior running as much.
As far as conditioning and toughness go, watch the Bama game again. It was hot as hell and that team left it all on the field. I don’t care that wasn’t the same Bama team we’ve seen prior, it was still the same Bama culture.
The players don’t lack for conditioning or toughness. Even every DB on the team last year would hit you despite not being all that big for their position outside of Ryan Watts.
Eric, how about an article on culture fit…what does it really mean, what’s the culture at Texas, and provide a description of the cultures at other colleges that we battle for recruits every year (A&M, OU, LSU, Alabama, etc.). This might explain why and how recruits choose Texas or make a beeline for the likes of OU and LSU and not even give us a sniff. Just a thought I have when wading through recruiting articles and come across the term.
Hkemup91
It’s definitely a multilayered question. ‘Culture fit’ is shorthand for: A) Would attend the school as a student even if football wasn’t an option. Meaning, they like the campus vibrance, academics, location, networking opportunities, etc. B) Fits within the guidelines of the program. Will comply with the culture of accountability. Has at least good enough football character. Not everyone has great character, often that’s offset by talent. Texas will make that trade on occasion but not always. Some of the highest character kids in the 2023 class are also the most talented. That’s what you’re looking for.
As for other schools, you can see who hits the police blotter frequently to see what the culture is like. Another measurement can be the portal. Kids who aren’t cutting it are often cut. Texas cut a few in 2021. A&M cut a lot in 2023, while others left of their own accord which can also be a sign.
Many kids prefer smaller towns and environments like OU and A&M and that’s a tough one for UT to overcome.
Some schools are more likely to ignore character — or some coaches like Urban Meyer. I had a buddy who was at A&M with Kevin Sumlin and he said, ‘he’ll probably win a lot of games before the wheels fall off’. Culture was not strong but they did acquire talent and had a big year before he stagnated. Jimbo Fisher made the talent trade a number of times in 2022. At least one recruit went sideways because he had no interest in being in College Station to begin with.
An interesting paradox is the better your culture is the more it makes sense to take players with questionable character. As someone at Texas at the time said, ‘it makes more sense for Alabama to take Zach Evans than us.’ Of course even Bama backed off.
The NIL era makes football character and culture even more important. If you take football seriously you’re more likely to do enough in school and society to make football work. Those are the kinds of guys Texas is looking for and did an amazing job finding in 2023.
While the improvements under Sark are undeniable, I still don’t think the program has an identity yet strong enough to make them a consistent threat on the road.
But this season and the two after that will feature a stretch of some of the most interesting away games in Texas football history. (3 non conf blue bloods, last Big12 season, first visits to most SEC schools over the next two)
Do you think this team is ready to establish themselves on the road? what are the things to watch that indicate that? and whats your macro take on the impact wins or losses (especially those three killer non-conf ones the next three years) will have?
motolove
Those three games of course are at Alabama, at Michigan, and at Ohio State. I remember thinking away games at Cal and Maryland were a step up (too soon!).
I do think they’re ready to establish themselves on the road thanks to development and improving experience (especially at quarterback) coupled with increasing talent and depth. I’m a big believer in Year 2 Ewers being much more consistent throughout games rather than running amazingly hot or amazingly cold.
To watch improvement on the road, look for those four factors above to become obvious rather than theoretical. The Alabama game is a good test of each of those aspects. Texas needs to put four quarters together which has been a clear weakness throughout Sark’s tenure.
There’s no shame in losing any of those three road games but UT’s chances may come down to where it is within the quarterback roster cycle. Sark seems to need an experienced quarterback to win at a respectable level. The playoffs expanding in 2024 means road non-conference losses aren’t fatal. While I don’t think loses will be the end of the world, depending on how they come about, wins would have a major impact on the desirability of national recruits to attend Texas.
Will Texas and Sark finish with a top 5 or better recruiting class?
Bruce_Leroy
Wins are going to matter a lot this year; more than in Sark’s first two. I doubt any elite recruit deciding late, say Colin Simmons, will pick Texas if they underperform. But even still, 10 wins and a conference championship only helps Texas keep pace with other national teams recruiting at a high level. It’s going to have to be more than wins and schools are becoming increasingly aggressive in the NIL era.
I tend to think things will come together just fine, with Texas finishing around 5-7, but it could be 8-10. At this point in the cycle I’m not quite as optimistic I was in 2022 and 2023.
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