Tag: Chris Ash

Longhorns cornerbacks coach Jay Valai is proving his worth

The Longhorns new cornerbacks coach Jay Valai is proving his worth on the recruiting trail. He has been huge in getting three players.

Before Jay Valai was hitting the recruiting trail for the Texas Longhorns and before he was training professional athletes, he was playing for Chris Ash in Wisconsin. Ash was his defensive backs coach in the final year of his collegiate career in 2010.

As a player, Valai was a four-year letter winner for the Wisconsin Badgers. During his career he accounted for 153 total tackles, four forced fumbles and two interceptions in the 48 games he played for Wisconsin. Valai was twice named second-team All-Big Ten for his efforts. Following his stint training athletes in his performance center, he would join the Georgia Bulldogs as their defensive quality control coach. That team made it to the College Football Playoffs Championship game.

He would leave to the NFL working for the Kansas City Chiefs as an assistant defensive backs coach and quality control. He would join Ash at Rutgers before coming to Texas as the cornerbacks coach. He has been instrumental for the Longhorns without them playing a game. It is hard to not love the energy and passion from Valai.

Valai has been credited with the recruitments of recent commits Jamier Johnson, J.D. Coffey and Ishmael Ibraheem. All three are four-star prospects for the 2021 class. For the 2022 class, he is hot on the trail for another California product Domani Jackson. The three commits that Valai has been getting to come to the Longhorns did so without a single visit.

Due to the NCAA’s dead period, coaches and players are prohibited from face to face visits. Given that all of their contact is done through video messaging, phone calls or texts messages Valai is proving his worth already. Even before coaching a single game, it appears as if Ash was right to bring in one of his former players to help mold this defense into his vision.

Sportsline’s simulations has Texas only winning eight games in 2020

An early simulation of the Top 25 college football team’s has Texas listed with just 8.1 wins this upcoming season.

The hype surrounding the Texas football program is oftentimes confusing. Continue reading “Sportsline’s simulations has Texas only winning eight games in 2020”

Starting linebacker for Texas will ‘sit out of all team activities’

Starting linebacker DeMarvion Overshown stated via Twitter on Thursday that he plans to sit out of all team related activities.

What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been for Texas football. Continue reading “Starting linebacker for Texas will ‘sit out of all team activities’”

247Sports names the Longhorns as tier four title contenders

Recently 247Sports laid out the title contenders for 2020. Each team put into tiers with Texas being among those in tier four.

Heading into the 2019 season, expectations were high for Tom Herman and company. The team was coming off an impressive victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. It was the first full season with then junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger at the helm but it ended in disappointment. The Longhorns faced off against their bitter rivals in the Big 12 Championship but failed to return in 2019.

The first road block in their season was a loss at home to the eventual National Champions. Even after starting out 2-0 in conference play and 4-1 overall, the lost to their hated rivals, the Sooners. They played an inferior team in Kansas and narrowly escaped. Then lost three of their final five games to close out the season. Not the season anyone expected after winning a New Years Six bowl to finish 2018.

Prior to their Valero Alamo Bowl matchup with the Utah Utes, the coordinators were dismissed. The staff was essentially wiped out following the season. Fast forward to June, there is a bit of excitement with a new offense and defense set to take the field for summer workouts. Expectations are that a better season in 2020 should be on the horizon.

The expectations should be compete for a conference championship and hopefully get an invite to the College Football Playoff. The Sooners have been the only Big 12 team to represent the conference and many Longhorns fans, players and media alike would love to see the burnt orange get their shot. In order to do that they will need to dethrone their enemy to the north.

According to 247Sports who recently put all the title contenders into tiers, they have work to do in order to get there.

Texas and Texas A&M both have an on-paper shot this year. They’re among the most experienced teams in the country with senior quarterbacks leading way.

Texas’ issue is a deeper-than-normal Big 12 and a lack of scheme continuity following an offseason of coaching staff changes. A lot must come together early for the Longhorns with a schedule that’s somewhat frontloaded. Trips to LSU and Kansas State come within the first month followed quickly by a clash with Oklahoma.

The Longhorns have a tough stretch but it isn’t an impossible task. To make a run at a title, they will need to beat teams such as Oklahoma, Clemson, Alabama or Ohio State. Those are the teams in the top two tiers. Running through the first five games unscathed will give them the confidence that they can make that deep run into December.

Texas was listed in tier four with the Aggies, Michigan Wolverines and Auburn Tigers.

  • Tier One: Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson
  • Tier 1.5: Georgia
  • Tier Two: Oklahoma
  • Tier Three:Florida, LSU, Notre Dame and Penn State
  • Tier Four; Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan and Auburn
  • Tier Five: Oregon, USC and Washington
  • Tier Six: Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Wisconsin

ESPN names most exciting player for each Top 25 team, Ehlinger absent

ESPN listed a defensive back at Texas as the most exciting player to watch this season.

Playmakers and leaders are typically what make up the most exciting players to watch in college football. Continue reading “ESPN names most exciting player for each Top 25 team, Ehlinger absent”

Locked on Longhorns Podcast: Breaking down 247Sports all-time list

The Locked on Longhorns Podcast discusses the 247Sports all-time college football players and why they are wrong about Vince Young.

The show kicks off with a discussion about 247Sports Top 50 college football players of all-time. Are the three Longhorns listed deserving of the recognition? Why is Vince Young so low on this list? Are the quarterbacks above him more deserving? Locked on Longhorns discusses the Texas Exes involved.

The National Football Foundation (NFF) released their 2021 College Football Hall of Fame ballot. The Longhorns have two potential inductees with Dan Neil and Kenneth Sims. Zach Barnett of Football Scoop recently called new defensive coordinator Chris Ash the sixth-most important hire of the offseason. Kennedy Lewis will return to the team for summer workouts. What is the outlook for the second-year receiver?

The Longhorns currently have nine of ESPN’s Top 300 recruits, all from the state of Texas. The 2021 recruiting class is really starting to take shape. The Longhorns jumped eight spots in the 247 team rankings. Is Tom Herman getting ready for yet another top 10 recruiting class? Zach Zubia is set to return in 2020 for the baseball team, what about Duke Ellis and Bryce Elder?

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Texas Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash among most important hires

New Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Chris Ash named the sixth-most important hire this offseason by Football Scoop.

Football Scoop writer Zach Barnett is writing a series of the 20 most important hires in college football. At number six he listed new defensive coordinator, Chris Ash. Head coach Tom Herman brought Chris Ash on after relieving Todd Orlando of his duties prior to the Valero Alamo Bowl against Utah. Ironically enough, Orlando made the list of most important hires at number seven.

So why is Ash so important to the success of Texas?

You never want to draw too many conclusions off of one game, particularly a game where the coach we’re talking about didn’t even coach. But let’s examine the 2019 Alamo Bowl.

As the clock (literally) wound down on the worst decade in the program’s modern history, Texas put together one of its best defensive performances of the 2010s. The ‘Horns limited Utah to 3.5 yards per rush, 5.5 yards per pass attempt, collected five sacks, racked up 21 yards in TFLs on rushing downs, won 10 of 14 third downs, permitted just 15 first downs and just generally kicked tail in a 38-10 win.

After playing off the ball all season, rising junior Joseph Ossai generated first-round hype in moving to an edge position in the ‘Horns’ new 4-down front, earning game MVP honors with nine tackles, six TFLs and three sacks.

The Longhorns were in desperate need of a change. The team made the Sugar Bowl the year prior and defeated a very talented Georgia Bulldogs team that was coming off a National Championship appearance the year prior. It was clear that Orlando had worn out his welcome. Following the season, defensive lineman Malcolm Roach claimed that the scheme under Orlando who came over with Herman from Houston actually did the team a disservice.

That style of play didn’t transfer to the NFL and the NFL didn’t understand what type of player this guy was. Or what type of player they would be getting because of the scheme we ran. I just feel 3-4 didn’t let us showcase our abilities the way we wanted to. But we understood why we were running it. I feel the 4-3 will help those guys to show their talents and more people will come out of Texas.”

We have already heard about the changes on the defense with DeMarvion Overshown moving from his safety spot to the weakside linebacker. Joseph Ossai will move from linebacker to more of an edge rusher. In the game against the Utes, Longhorns staff and fans saw just how impactful he can be when getting into the backfield.

For this reason alone, the Ash hire is extremely important. With the offenses in the Big 12, the Longhorns need to find a way to slow them down a bit. With an emphasis on getting to the quarterback this offseason, the Longhorns defense could be a huge difference maker and the man leading that charge will be Chris Ash.

Texas DB Anthony Cook deletes tweet about not playing, players react

Confusion continues to increase as Texas defensive back Anthony Cook deletes his tweet about not playing another snap.

Thursday was an eventful day for the Texas secondary. Continue reading “Texas DB Anthony Cook deletes tweet about not playing, players react”

ESPN: How Texas can become a national title contender

A four “if” plan for the Texas Longhorns to get back into the title hunt? ESPN lays it all out.

The Texas Longhorns seem to stay in the national spotlight despite the lack of consistent performances from the football team over the last decade. It has been over 10 years since their last conference championship in 2009. Before that it was 2005. For all of their success during the Mack Brown era, he only produced two conference champions despite all of those 10 win seasons. Nine consecutive to be exact. However, Texas is still viewed as top tier program according to ESPN.

According to a recent article from ESPN they laid out a plan for Texas to get back into the title hunt. A four “if” plan that could return them to prominence.

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

The first part of the plan revolves around such a young defense.

If … 2019 pain means 2020 gain for the secondary.

The stats were much more pessimistic about Texas than the eyeballs last season, and the stats were eventually proved correct. But those same numbers are quite a bit higher on the Longhorns this time around. Why? Experience. This defense had a ridiculously young spine (tackles, ILBs, safeties) last season, and the sophomore-heavy secondary suffered a run of injuries as well. The Horns now return 10 defensive backs who logged triple-digit snaps and add a new batch of blue-chippers. This unit should be both talented and experienced enough to thrive.

Todd Orlando is now gone and Chris Ash steps up to take the defensive mantle. Ash will be tasked with implementing a new scheme. Changing from a defensive scheme that many felt did the defense any favors. Just ask former Longhorn Malcolm Roach. Add in the veterans like Caden Sterns, B.J. Foster and D’Shawn Jamison among others. For Texas to take the leap, it will start on that side of the ball.

Provided Sterns and Foster can stay healthy this upcoming season, the defense on the back end should be much improved. Sterns showed so much promise as a freshman leading the team with four interceptions. Jamison picked up that mantle in 2019. Both need to be able to create more turnovers to help out the defense in 2020. They also lost a leader in Brandon Jones who finished second in interceptions.

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247Sports predicts where Texas will finish in the Big 12 this season

247Sports national reporter Brandon Marcello recently ranked where each Big 12 football program would finish this upcoming season.

According to 247Sports national reporter Brandon Marcello, the state of Oklahoma will control the Big 12 this season. Continue reading “247Sports predicts where Texas will finish in the Big 12 this season”