In-Depth On Depth

Steve Sarkisian has remarked both publicly and privately that one of the best attributes of the 2024 team is their depth. There are positions where the Horns legitimately go three and four deep. I certainly see spots where the 2nd or 3rd guy on the depth chart is a better football player than some of the players Texas that started perhaps two and certainly three short years ago.

If 2023 marked the ascendance of Texas football carried by front line stars – as the coming NFL draft will soon attest – 2024 will be carried by waves of above average to very good players. They differ mainly in experience, not ability level.

A few – like Kelvin Banks and Quinn Ewers – are both very talented and experienced.

In an era where playing 15 or 16 games will be necessary to win a national title, depth is indispensable.

A few thoughts:

I’ve yelled this from the soap box for years, but may not have to do so for much longer: Depth is not familiar names on a depth chart. Because Texas fans follow recruiting so intensely, they tend to associate familiar names with good or viable players. Then are left puzzled when “a deep position” as promised by Athlon or the Austin American Statesman absolutely fizzles at the first high ankle sprain.

Football programs with 85 scholarships always have names on the depth chart. How many of them are good? How many of them are playable? We’re not far from Texas rostering more receivers than offensive linemen or being forced to hit the portal for seasoned players who had effectively busted at Alabama and LSU. Or pressing true freshman OL into starting, ready or not.

Real depth is having actual dudes at the #2 and #3 spots. If I had a dollar for every crappy preview that heralded Texas positional depth because we have 13 names at receiver and 6 unplayable edges…I’d have like $62. It’s less impressive when you actually do the math. I should have said $1,000. Damn it.

Real depth is characterized by uncertain depth chart projections at multiple positions not because of a lack of talent or viable options, but because there are so many. Who starts is less about raw ability and more about best fit for a style of play and consistency of execution.

The task for the coaches is no longer building shaky foundations with straw and chaw, but finding the vague tipping point where spreading reps around to six or seven quality receivers actually becomes counterproductive to larger unit execution and passing game cohesion. You can rotate running backs and defensive linemen all day, but defensive backs, wide receivers and the offensive line are a different animal.

A big part of 2024’s results and depth retention will be in striking that balance.

Depth provides tremendous floor. Bad injury luck can be mitigated and both sides of the ball – especially the defensive line – can throw fresh bodies at the opponent for four quarters. That makes Texas a lot harder to upset and it’s much easier to close out games that go squirrelly and sideways on you. Depth is program durability.

But is it also ceiling?

To a point, yes. Certainly in the big picture over time. Depth characterizes programs, not teams. Any FBS school with some front line stars and some injury luck can have a magical year. Then the special players leave or injuries regress to the mean and the bottom drops out.

Programs are an assembly line and Next Man Up isn’t a hope, but an unsentimental reality.

I’ll leave with one observation and a question…

First, the observation.

While legitimate depth creates a solid concrete floor, it won’t shatter the ceiling in any individual year. The 11 on the field aren’t buoyed by the 18 good guys backing them up on the sideline when Texas is down by 3 to Georgia with 1:57 on the clock in the 4th quarter. The players out there have to make it happen. You hang around the Top 10 because you’ve built a program on depth, but break through with ceiling-busters. The 2024 Texas ceiling requires its likely stars (Banks, Ewers, Hill, Bond) to meet or exceed expectations and for at least a half dozen players to emerge not as solid starters, but as absolute difference makers.

Now the macro-question:

Can depth be retained in an era of limitless free agency, where even a marginal program can steal one of your impatient future stars if the money and system are right? Even with a good culture and clear communication?

That I don’t know. But I suspect that we’re about to find out.

The post In-Depth On Depth appeared first on On3.