Jerry Hughes & TCU's defensive end issues in the NFL

FORT WORTH, Texas - Since Gary Patterson was the TCU defensive coordinator his defenses have routinely produce quality defensive ends.

Jerry Hughes, Chase Ortiz, Braylon Broughton, Tommy Blake, Wayne Daniels, Bo Schobel, Robert Pollard, Aaron Schobel, and now Stansly Maponga and sophomore Devonte Fields.

These men produced lots of sacks, forced fumbles, and were All Americans, All Conference picks, etc. What else do all of these guys have in common? With the exception of Aaron Schobel, none of their college success translated up. They were all too short.

On Thursday at TCU Pro Day, Hughes watched Maponga and a handful of other hopefuls run through the myriad of drills in front of the many scouts and the three NFL assistant coaches who attended. 

Hughes was a first round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2010; the team thought he could be one of those smaller, but quick, defensive ends like Dwight Freeney or Robert Mathis and eventually replace one. Those two may have been the quickest defensive ends in the league in their prime.

It wasn't until last offseason when the team moved Hughes to outside linebacker did he begin to produce.

"I am very grateful (Colts owner Robert) Irsay selected me in the first round," Hughes told me Thursday. "But when I first got there I wasn't sure what they wanted. I really never did get a straight answer. ... This past season went well. I think I adjusted pretty well and I'm getting more comfortable at linebacker and playing in space."

Hughes should always have been an outside linebacker in the NFL. In '12, he played in 16 games and finished with 41 tackles and a career-best four sacks. Hughes may never be a star, but he can be pretty good and have an NFL job.

Maponga is about the same height and weight as Hughes, and he should be converted into an OLB. That's what Pittsburgh Steelers scout and former LB Joe Greene told Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram.

Here is a look at some of the big name TCU defensive linemen in the past decade or so, and how they fared after college.

Jerry Hughes 6-2, 254. 1st rd pick of Colts in '10. Now an OLB.
Chase Ortiz 6-2, 255. Never made it out of preseason.
Braylon Broughton, 6-6, 272. Currently with Saints. Keeps getting looks because he is so big.
Tommy Blake, 6-3, 252. Never made it. Such a sad story of what should have been.
Aaron Schobel, 6-4, 243. The very best; 78 sacks in nine NFL seasons.
Wayne Daniels, 6-2, 250. Never made it.
Bo Schobel, 6-5, 264. Played 29 NFL games for three NFL teams from '04-'07.
Robert Pollard, 6-2, 261. Played for two teams in three NFL seasons.

These guys were all very good on defenses that thrived in Conference USA or the Mountain West. 

In the Big 12, Patterson is going to need bigger bodies, such as sophomore-to be Devonte Fields (6-4, 240), and as a result more of these guys should have a bit more luck sticking in the pros.

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Why TCU defensive end Stansly Maponga had to leave

FORT WORTH, Texas - The name "Maponga" used to be a bit of a four-letter expression around TCU a few years ago.

When a player screwed up, TCU coach Gary Patterson would send said player - usually then freshman defensive end Stansly Maponga - to do a series of nasty conditioning drills that included rope work, pushing a heavy ball up a steep hill, etc. They were called "Mapongas".

Any time a player screws up during a TCU practice, they are often "asked" to do Mapongas.

"I'm glad that's part of my legacy here," Maponga said at TCU today after completing his Pro Day workouts for the NFL scouts and coaches. "Those were fun."

Even though Patterson tried like a dog to talk Maponga out of it, and this rookie class is heavy on defensive linemen, he is going to the NFL with one year left of college eligibility remaining.

"He did. It is what it is," Maponga said. "I appreciate everything he did for me and my family."

It's the impossible equation where the coach wants to keep the player because he knows it's going to make his team better vs. the player, who either needs to, or wants to, go.

It sounds like family is a big reason why Maponga is leaving. He said his mother is working three jobs, and Maponga himself recently became a father to a little girl, who is four months old. A handful of people around the program said they thought Maponga was also just tired of school as well.

Maponga, who is battling a recurring foot problem that may require surgery, is being talked about as a fourth round pick. At TCU's pro day, his 40-yard dash times were 4.84 and 4.85.

Coaches from three NFL teams attended the pro day - Eagles, Dolphins, Steelers - and he said he feels comfortable either as a defensive end or outside linebacker. He said he has a scheduled meeting with the Atlanta Falcons soon.

The one NFL scout I talked to liked him a lot, and thought he would be a fourth or fifth round pick. 

 

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NFL mock drafts saying Cowboys will go with this need first

Now that the Dallas Cowboys have cut Gerald Sensabaugh to create salary cap space you can officially add "Safety" as a need position. It was a need before he was released.

The team likes second-year pro Matt Johnson, but who knows if he can play. Barry Church, who missed nearly the entire '12 season to injury, should return as a starter.

The Cowboys' first round needs look to be ...
1. GM
2. O linemen. Any except left tackle.
3. Defensive tackle.
4. Safety

As the NFL draft approaches - we're still more than one month away - the mock drafts are changing pretty much daily.

In the spirit of the great information consolidator that is the Huffington Post, here is a compiled look who/what is saying the Cowboys will pick with the 18th pick in the 2013 NFL draft:

Bucky Brooks of NFL.com has the Cowboys selecting North Carolina DT Slyvester Williams.
Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com has the Cowboys selecting Missouri DT Sheldon Richardson.
Gil Brandt of NFL.com has the Cowboys selecting North Carolina OG Jonathan Cooper. 
Scout's Inc. rate Williams as the 18th pick.
Rob Rang of CBSSports.com is going with Purdue DT Kawann Short.
Dane Bruger of CBSSports.com has the Cowboys selecting Cooper.
Something called DraftTek.com is going with Sheldon Richardson.
The Sporting News says the Cowboys will select BYU DE/LB Ezekiel Ansah.
FootballsFuture.com goes with Richardson.
Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram likes Cooper at 18.
And USA Today has the Cowboys selecting Georgia DT Jonathan Jenkins.

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Myck Kabongo needs to return to Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas - University of Texas basketball coach Rick Barnes says that former Longhorns guard Cory Joseph has told him if could do it again he should have stayed in college rather than turn pro early. The same for P.J. Tucker.

Longhorns point guard Myck Kabongo would be wise to learn from Joseph and Tucker's decisions and stick around for one more year. All signs point to Kabongo leaving UT after this season for the NBA draft, but he would be so smart to give stick around a little bit longer.

Kabongo has now played three games in this his sophomore season. A stupid and pointless NCAA suspension has all but wiped out Kabongo's year, and as a result killed UT's season. Kabongo is a natural point guard with solid floor-director's skills. UT is 2-1 since he returned, and maybe can make a run at .500 now that he is back.

"Think about it - he's played three games and done pretty well," Barnes said after UT defeated TCU on Tuesday night in Fort Worth. "We were at Kansas and getting killed and I asked him if he wanted to come out of the game. He said, 'Coach, I want to play.' He told his teammates, 'We're not quitting.' That speaks volumes about him. (His team) knows there is a confidence level they feel. There is a difference with Myck out there and we see it."

Myck looks like a guy who lives to set up his teammates, and has the quickness to penetrate and kick. This is a not shoot-first point guard. But he is only 6-foot-1, and he needs to develop a consistent perimeter shot.

If you are going to be 6-1 in the NBA, you better be stupid quick and have the ability to knock down an open shot. Talent alone says he is going to get NBA money at some point, the question is how big that first check is.

If he genuinely thinks he is a top 10 pick, he has to leave. Anything other than that, he should stay. 

Under Barnes UT has had a lot of players leave early. Players like LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant made the right call. Joseph and Tucker both have told Barnes they should not have left. 

Selfishly, I hope Kabongo stays. He is fun to watch. If he does return, UT should be again be near the top of the Big 12 next season. If he doesn't, hopefully that check is a big one.

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Mack Brown's message to Rick Barnes - don't lose to TCU

This is not what we had in mind when TCU joined the Big 12 - Bad vs. Really Bad.

On Tuesday night at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, the TCU men's basketball team hosts the University of Texas in a game that still must be played. Texas is in eighth in the Big 12. TCU is 12th in a 10-team league. 

TCU has lost three straight since upsetting No. 5 Kansas 62-55 on Feb. 6.

When TCU upset the Longhorns football team on Thanksgiving, all of UT nation felt shame. That point may have been the single most uncomfortable moment for Horns' coach Mack Brown. 

It's one thing to be embarrassed (again) by Oklahoma in the Red River game in Dallas. It's quite another to lose at home against a squad of TCU freshmen, and a quarterback who was almost a running back.

Even though UT's football team was down, losing to that TCU team in Austin was a smack in the face.

Much like Mack Brown, UT men's basketball coach Rick Barnes is having his worst season in Austin since he arrived in 1998. The team can't score, there isn't enough talent, and the return of point guard Myck Kabongo from NCAA suspension is too late.

Barnes has two things going for him:

1.) His boss - DeLoss Dodds - now is an advocate of losing so the fan base can appreciate success again. Talk about a great job. Not only are you at Texas but you have the green light to lose.

2.) Barnes coaches a sport that is not football. That really helps.

The Horns have six games remaining before the Big 12 tournament. Unless they win the conference tournament (they won't) the Horns are going to miss the NCAA tourney for the first time in the Barnes era. They can still post a winning record, and likely will be invited to one of those low tier tournaments that only gamblers watch.

There are soft whispers that perhaps Dodds should violate his own rules and fire a coach who is losing. UT would be dumb to fire a man who has done so much to build that program, but if Barnes wants to make sure his detractors remain at the fringe he would be wise not to lose to TCU.

 

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1 year later - The TCU drug bust was a bust

It has been one year to the day when the world ended at TCU. A large group of TCU students, including four football players, were busted for selling drugs. The high point was the vigil held by the TCU students.

Why in the name of Stupid was a vigil necessary? This was a case of students being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic. No need to create drama when it usually falls into your lap at the worst time.

One TCU undergrad received a phone call from her grandmother in Panama, who told her she was coming to get her and that she had to leave the school immediately.

One year later we know this giant drug bust wasn't a case of 18 Pablo Escobars running TCU's campus. Nearly all of these people received little punishments - $300 for court costs. Some deferred adjudication probation.

One year later we know the once pristine football team is not immune to the problems that befall most major college football teams. 

One year later we know the only collateral from this has not been with the four football players directly involved but one who wasn't - quarterback Casey Pachall. 

One year later we know, because this was indeed an isolated incident, that the program has not turned into The 1990's University of Miami Hurricanes (although for the sake of winning that may not be the worst thing).

One year later we know this was a story only because it involved four football players - defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey, defensive back Devin Johnson, linebacker Tanner Brock and offensive tackle Ty Horn.

According to Texas State University, Yendrey has spent the previous semester at the school and practiced with the team. He will have one year of eligibility remaining to play for the Bobcats under former TCU coach Dennis Franchione.

Brock has enrolled at Sam Houston State, and will have one year of eligibility to play.

The general reaction from the TCU student body was more of embarrassment more than shock. The vast majority of students I spoke with just assumed this sort of thing happens. Maybe not the dealing, but certainly some use.
The people in and around TCU didn't much care for the news vans and the way this story was portrayed. These are the same people who would gladly consume such a story, and take a little glee, if it had happened in College Station, Waco or Lubbock.

One year later we know there was a little over-reaction to this story, but that both the school and the football team handled it the only way they could.

One year later, everybody has moved on. As they should.

 

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TCU & West Virginia - comparatively speaking in the Big 12

TCU's first season in the Big 12 Conference has gone just about as good (or bad) as many of the coaches and administrators thought it would when it made this jump. The one sport the people around the school thought could immediately "hang" begins its schedule on Feb. 15, when the baseball team travels to play Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi for a three-game series.

According to BaseballAmerica.com, TCU is ranked 14th and Ole Miss is 13th.

Looking at the two athletic deparments and the "major" sports, here is how both TCU and West Virginia's first season in the Big 12 are going, compared against how each school performed in its previous conference last year.

TCU:          '12-'13 Big 12           '11-'12 MWC 
Football:        7-6, 4-5                   11-2, 7-0
M hoops:      10-14, 1-10                18-15, 7-7
W hoops:       7-15, 0-11                16-14, 9-5
Volleyball:    15-14, 4-12               25-7, 9-5
W soccer:      7-10-4, 1-5-2            7-11-1, 1-5 

West Virginia: '12-'13 Big 12      '11-'12 Big East
Football:            7-6, 4-5                 10-3, 5-2 
M hoops:          12-11, 5-5               19-14, 9-9
W hoops:          14-9, 6-6                24-10, 11-5 
W soccer:        11-5-4, 7-0-1          17-5-0, 10-1
M soccer:         9-6-2, 4-2-1           11-8-1, 6-3-0
Volleyball:      8-22, 0-16                 7-19, 5-9

Conclusion - It gets better. Ask Baylor.

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The divide between TCU & SMU widen$

What was once going to be the best basketball conference in the nation will soon look like three day left overs, minus the mold.

The slow and sad breakup of the Big East has left a lot of good people looking at their respective places asking, "Wait, what the hell just happened?"

The NBC Sports Network is, according to ESPN (why is NBC Sports not breaking its own news?) click here for the story offering the Big East between $20 and $23 million. That roughly $20 million for the entire conference, which will number 11 members on July 1, 2015.

By comparison, the Big 12 receive roughly $20 million per school per season.

This evolution has continued to widen the considerable gap between TCU and SMU, which were once thought to be joined at the hip with an unbreakable alliance through both geography and conference affiliation.

On July 1, 2015 the Big East is scheduled to look like Central Florida, Cincy, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane.

You have to wonder how long SMU men's basketball coach Larry Brown is going to want to be a part of this. It is not for a lack of effort or spending on the part that SMU finds itself in this position.

This financial evolution and breakup of The Big East has SMU looking very much like a mid-major, while the school just to the west is very much among the majors.

 

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The truth about Big 12 (i.e. Kansas) basketball

FORT WORTH - Kansas coach Bill Self was wrong when he said his team played the worst half of basketball in the history of the program against TCU on Wednesday. Go with the worst half of basketball in the history of basketball. 

In scoring 13 first-half points, KU missed close shots. Three-pointers. Guarded shots. Free throws. Layups. Putbacks. Bunnies. Garbage.

The best that the Big 12 has ever had to offer in the way of men's basketball is good, but down. The same can be said of the entire league. It was bound to happen. As the Big 10 finally improved - Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are legit - the Big 12 finally slipped. When I say "slip" I mean Kansas is not dominant.

No team in the Top 25, let alone top 5, should have lost to that TCU team. A serious case can be made that TCU this season is the least-good team in the history of the league.

KU's embarrassing loss at TCU on Wednesday night can not be used to accurately predict the future, but there are other signs to think that this team will not be in the Elite Eight again. No Big 12 team looks like it will go beyond the Sweet 16.

The Jayhawks have nice players, but this is not a tough team. The Morris Twins, Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor gave KU at attitude over the past few seasons that other teams could not handle. Self doesn't have a point guard. Center Jeff Withey should be in the NBA forever, but he's not overpowering like Robinson. Kevin Young is active, but not skilled.

Freshman Ben McLemore is the most talented player on the floor, but he needs another year. Freshman Perry Ellis looks lost. Upperclassmen Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson are nice, veteran players but don't have the type of talent to create their own shots consistently adn take over a game.

Kansas is not bad, and historically Self's team improve as the season goes, but his team is limited in a way to suggest that the Big 12's tournament run will be short lived in 2013.

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Texas would be stupid to fire Rick Barnes

Not that anybody in Austin cares, but the University of Texas men's basketball team sucks. Maybe Jody Conradt can coach 'em up, because Rick Barnes can't do much worse. 

The Longhorns got their butt whupped at No. 18 Kansas State on Wednesday night, 83-57. The Horns are now a healthy 9-11, 1-6 in the Big 12, and yet are still good enough to kick the blank out of TCU when the teams play on Feb. 2 in Austin.

The Horns are flying high to their first losing season under Barnes since he arrived in Austin in 1998. The only way this season is salvaged is if Kevin Durant returns to lead the Horns to a Big 12 conference tournament title and they reach the NCAA tournament for a 15th consecutive season.

The suspension of Myck Kabongo for taking impermissible benefits hasn't helped, but even had he played this team is still lacking.

The only thing saving Barnes right now is that college football signing day is Feb. 6, and that day is usually when football coach Mack Brown wins another championship. Also saving Barnes' butt is that he coaches a sport that the great people in the great state a Texas routinely marginalize.

Perhaps the only thing that will put Barnes in Bevo flop is if UT manages to lose to an awful TCU team either on Feb. 2 or in Fort Worth on Feb. 19.

Even then, however, any talk that Barnes should seriously be fired is inane. The man has done more to legitimize that program than any coach in the history of Texas basketball. The only time his teams at UT failed to win 20 games was his first season when they won 19, yet still reached the NCAA tournament.

Since he arrived, Texas has been the second-best team in the Big 12 to Kansas, which is one of the top five programs in the nation. 

Barnes can recruit, and despite what his critics say, he can coach. You don't reach a Final Four and 14 consecutive NCAA tourneys because you don't know what you are doing.

This will be Texas' first losing season it finished 14-17 in 1997-'98, the last year under Tom Penders.

Barnes' teams have generally played hard, been clean, and usually win. This season has not been the norm.

The man has earned the right to have a bad year.

 

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