Practice schedule this week
Monday: 6-6:50. Coach Sumlin after.
Tuesday: 6-8:15. Coach Moorehead after.
(and, that, kids, is the LAST practice we will have access to)
They will also practice every day from Wednesday to Saturday. Press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Today (or tomorrow), you'll know
We already know who the starting QB is. It's not a coincidence that Kyle Allen was named today, which is typical for a team that just had its last competitive scrimmage. It's also not a coincidence the media is essentially barred for the rest of the season after Tuesday. The team has their starters, and hopefully we'll see enough today and tomorrow to let you know who the ones are. The only one you can be sure won't be out there is Otaro Alaka, but I'm hearing there's a pretty good chance he plays against Arizona State.
How Kyle Allen won the starting job
This isn't any slap at Kyler Murray, but this job was basically won in spring practice. Allen came in and basically got all the snaps that mattered, and played very well and with a high level of intensity. He won over the team in the process. The way things were set up this summer made it seem as if the coaches were saying "Ok, we know what YOU (Allen) can do; let's see what you guys (Murray and Jake Hubenak) can do."
What Allen did better than the other two was pretty simple, and a benefit of his extra time in the system: he made things run smoothly. The throws were faster, the tempo was better and his reads were good. Murray is no slouch, and he's extremely exciting to watch when he gets on the move, but when it came to throwing the ball Allen was well ahead. Murray, eventually, will be a VERY good quarterback; but Allen's just the better player at this point and has benefitted from the extra experience and snaps.
Players you haven't heard about, but probably should've
I'm not going to bore you with the gee, Keaton Sutherland is playing great and Erik McCoy is shocking the world. You've heard that. Here are some other guys (some starters, some reserves) who have NOT gotten much discussion and probably should.
Shaan Washington has had a very good camp. REALLY good. We said in the 30 in 30 that this system should be great for him, and it has been. People may not realize that he was the leading returning tackler from last year, but so many of those were down the field that it didn't impress. This year, he's getting up the field and doing more of what we thought he could do after he put up big numbers in a small sample size in 2013.
Jordan Davis hasn't gotten a lot of discussion, but he's come a long way from the spring. Remember, Sumlin loved pass catching tight ends at OU and early on at UH, and he's got a guy in Davis he can split out in the slot and use in that fashion. He's run a lot with the 2s, and this bears watching.
We thought it would be Frank Iheanacho or Damion Ratley backing up Josh Reynolds, but it looks like it would be Jeremy Tabuyo if we go off of the first two weeks of practice. Tabuyo gets very little hype, but he goes out there, does his job and gets open (especially deep) with his speed.
I know he's gotten mention, but I'm really impressed by the emergence of Riley Garner. He has already gotten more snaps of consequence in a fall camp than Brett Wade ever did. I don't expect him to really play much as a linebacker this year, but he's big (6'4", 235) and he may be fast enough to be an outside linebacker, not an inside guy. He's going to be a special teamer this year, but for a guy who missed an entire season and was scoffed at when he committed, he could be a real steal.
Baylor: Institutionalized bad habits
This deal with Sam Ukwuachu at Baylor is disgusting on so many levels. At first, I thought it was sad and just felt bad for the young woman he raped. But, the more that came out, the angrier I got. It's a disgrace, and the conduct of that university as a whole is appalling.
Let's start with what is certain: Baylor attempted to cover up the severity of the situation involve Ukwuachu up until the very day he was convicted, saying he was dealing with some "issues" and that he was expected to be back for the season opener. He was never once suspended from the program, prevented from working out or anything.
He raped a Baylor soccer player. That doesn't merit a suspension, even for investigative purposes? Revolting.
It gets worse.
Bethany McCraw, the associate dean for student conduct administration, cleared Ukwuachu of wrongdoing based on the "preponderance of the evidence." In her pathetic investigation, McCraw did the following:
Talked to Ukwuachu's roommate, who said he heard nothing (if she had checked his cell records, he was not in the area when the rape occurred. He lied.);
Talked to one of the victim's friends;
Looked at text messages;
Looked at lie detector results Ukwuachu's lawyer SAID HE PASSED (she was not present, and lie detector results are not admissible in court in the state of Texas).
McCraw did not:
Check the results of the rape kit;
Talk to a nurse;
Talk to anyone who saw the victim immediately after the rape took place.
It's no wonder the McClennan County DA said McCraw has "a hole in her head". She should be fired and humiliated. Such a half-assed investigation is appalling.
And then there's Art Briles.
Briles said he was not aware of any incidents at Boise State before Ukwuachu came to Baylor, and that any indication otherwise was a lie. Keep in mind, Ukwuachu was dismissed from the football team at Boise after beating up his girlfriend. Briles said that all he knew was that Ukwuachu was "depressed".
Former Boise coach Chris Peterson then lit Briles up, saying he told Briles at length of what had happened at Boise in a phone conversation. Briles, in turn, released documentation from Boise (but not Petersen) showing no information regarding Ukwuachu's dismissal. Does that clear Briles? Hell no, but he sure acted like it did.
Baylor's gameplan here is not to step back and figure out what it did wrong. It's gameplan now is to smear the coach of the University of Washington and go about its business. Not to step back and look at why the hell they let this guy, who was under a criminal indictment for sexual assault, remain part of the program; not to look at why they reduced the scholarship of the victim and eventually ran her off; not to figure out exactly what their coach knew and when he knew it. Nah. They've got a conference to win.
Baylor is the same school that tried to smear a dead man -- one of its own basketball players -- as a drug dealer after he was shot by a teammate. They suspended a star basketball player for two games after he broke his girlfriend's jaw. They had another defensive lineman convicted of rape not all that long ago. Nothing changes in Waco. They don't feel there's any need to change anything.
But don't you dare dance.
Monday: 6-6:50. Coach Sumlin after.
Tuesday: 6-8:15. Coach Moorehead after.
(and, that, kids, is the LAST practice we will have access to)
They will also practice every day from Wednesday to Saturday. Press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Today (or tomorrow), you'll know
We already know who the starting QB is. It's not a coincidence that Kyle Allen was named today, which is typical for a team that just had its last competitive scrimmage. It's also not a coincidence the media is essentially barred for the rest of the season after Tuesday. The team has their starters, and hopefully we'll see enough today and tomorrow to let you know who the ones are. The only one you can be sure won't be out there is Otaro Alaka, but I'm hearing there's a pretty good chance he plays against Arizona State.
How Kyle Allen won the starting job
This isn't any slap at Kyler Murray, but this job was basically won in spring practice. Allen came in and basically got all the snaps that mattered, and played very well and with a high level of intensity. He won over the team in the process. The way things were set up this summer made it seem as if the coaches were saying "Ok, we know what YOU (Allen) can do; let's see what you guys (Murray and Jake Hubenak) can do."
What Allen did better than the other two was pretty simple, and a benefit of his extra time in the system: he made things run smoothly. The throws were faster, the tempo was better and his reads were good. Murray is no slouch, and he's extremely exciting to watch when he gets on the move, but when it came to throwing the ball Allen was well ahead. Murray, eventually, will be a VERY good quarterback; but Allen's just the better player at this point and has benefitted from the extra experience and snaps.
Players you haven't heard about, but probably should've
I'm not going to bore you with the gee, Keaton Sutherland is playing great and Erik McCoy is shocking the world. You've heard that. Here are some other guys (some starters, some reserves) who have NOT gotten much discussion and probably should.
Shaan Washington has had a very good camp. REALLY good. We said in the 30 in 30 that this system should be great for him, and it has been. People may not realize that he was the leading returning tackler from last year, but so many of those were down the field that it didn't impress. This year, he's getting up the field and doing more of what we thought he could do after he put up big numbers in a small sample size in 2013.
Jordan Davis hasn't gotten a lot of discussion, but he's come a long way from the spring. Remember, Sumlin loved pass catching tight ends at OU and early on at UH, and he's got a guy in Davis he can split out in the slot and use in that fashion. He's run a lot with the 2s, and this bears watching.
We thought it would be Frank Iheanacho or Damion Ratley backing up Josh Reynolds, but it looks like it would be Jeremy Tabuyo if we go off of the first two weeks of practice. Tabuyo gets very little hype, but he goes out there, does his job and gets open (especially deep) with his speed.
I know he's gotten mention, but I'm really impressed by the emergence of Riley Garner. He has already gotten more snaps of consequence in a fall camp than Brett Wade ever did. I don't expect him to really play much as a linebacker this year, but he's big (6'4", 235) and he may be fast enough to be an outside linebacker, not an inside guy. He's going to be a special teamer this year, but for a guy who missed an entire season and was scoffed at when he committed, he could be a real steal.
Baylor: Institutionalized bad habits
This deal with Sam Ukwuachu at Baylor is disgusting on so many levels. At first, I thought it was sad and just felt bad for the young woman he raped. But, the more that came out, the angrier I got. It's a disgrace, and the conduct of that university as a whole is appalling.
Let's start with what is certain: Baylor attempted to cover up the severity of the situation involve Ukwuachu up until the very day he was convicted, saying he was dealing with some "issues" and that he was expected to be back for the season opener. He was never once suspended from the program, prevented from working out or anything.
He raped a Baylor soccer player. That doesn't merit a suspension, even for investigative purposes? Revolting.
It gets worse.
Bethany McCraw, the associate dean for student conduct administration, cleared Ukwuachu of wrongdoing based on the "preponderance of the evidence." In her pathetic investigation, McCraw did the following:
Talked to Ukwuachu's roommate, who said he heard nothing (if she had checked his cell records, he was not in the area when the rape occurred. He lied.);
Talked to one of the victim's friends;
Looked at text messages;
Looked at lie detector results Ukwuachu's lawyer SAID HE PASSED (she was not present, and lie detector results are not admissible in court in the state of Texas).
McCraw did not:
Check the results of the rape kit;
Talk to a nurse;
Talk to anyone who saw the victim immediately after the rape took place.
It's no wonder the McClennan County DA said McCraw has "a hole in her head". She should be fired and humiliated. Such a half-assed investigation is appalling.
And then there's Art Briles.
Briles said he was not aware of any incidents at Boise State before Ukwuachu came to Baylor, and that any indication otherwise was a lie. Keep in mind, Ukwuachu was dismissed from the football team at Boise after beating up his girlfriend. Briles said that all he knew was that Ukwuachu was "depressed".
Former Boise coach Chris Peterson then lit Briles up, saying he told Briles at length of what had happened at Boise in a phone conversation. Briles, in turn, released documentation from Boise (but not Petersen) showing no information regarding Ukwuachu's dismissal. Does that clear Briles? Hell no, but he sure acted like it did.
Baylor's gameplan here is not to step back and figure out what it did wrong. It's gameplan now is to smear the coach of the University of Washington and go about its business. Not to step back and look at why the hell they let this guy, who was under a criminal indictment for sexual assault, remain part of the program; not to look at why they reduced the scholarship of the victim and eventually ran her off; not to figure out exactly what their coach knew and when he knew it. Nah. They've got a conference to win.
Baylor is the same school that tried to smear a dead man -- one of its own basketball players -- as a drug dealer after he was shot by a teammate. They suspended a star basketball player for two games after he broke his girlfriend's jaw. They had another defensive lineman convicted of rape not all that long ago. Nothing changes in Waco. They don't feel there's any need to change anything.
But don't you dare dance.
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