Long memory prepared Herman for new chapter
Mistake as grad assistant trained coach for chaos
AUSTIN—The lost timeouthas stuck with Tom Herman to this day, a reminder of the potential chaos one little break in the chain can wreak.
Eighteen years ago, Herman was a UT graduate assistant two years removed from his playing days at CaliforniaLutheran. On Aug .28, 1999, the No. 17 Longhorns welcomed North Carolina State to Royal-Memorial Stadium to begin the season.
Herman’s job during was to advise offensive coordinator Greg Davis on whether the team would kick an extra point or attempt a two-point conversion if they scored. His calculations were dependent on the game’s margin.
“What I would do is I would do the math before a series would start ,” Herman said. “Then I would put a little two or a one in front of Greg Davis so he knew (if ) this is a two-point drive or a one-point drive.”
The lost timeout
In the span of about two minutes, things got weird.
North Carolina State blocked a punt and downed UT in its end zone for a safety. On the Longhorns’ next drive, quarterback Major Applewhite connected with Victor Ike on an 80-yard touchdown to increase their lead to 16-9. Now Herman was up. “Mack Brown is calling to Greg Davis saying, ‘Is it two or one?’ He’s looking at me,” Herman said. “I just froze. We called timeout actually. So I cost us a timeout.
“Mack kind of chastised Greg a little bit, saying, ‘We can’t use a timeout, that’s unacceptable, so on and so forth.’ Greg Davis could have said, ‘Yeah, this young GA here screwed it up.’ All he said was, ‘Yes, sir, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.’ I’ll never forget that night because of that. I cost us a timeout.”
The Longhorns ended up losing 23-20. Though that loss had far more to do with special teams miscues and turnovers than a wasted first-half timeout, it remained an embarrassing, albeit important, lesson for the GA who dreamed of one day being in Brown’s position.
Herman, now 42, has his own flock of assistants all working diligently to prepare No. 23 Texas for Saturday’s season opener against Maryland.
‘Excited to see them play’
The opponent has been studied, schemes have been designed and the depth chart is mostly set.
Sophomore Shane Buechele is the starting quarterback “today.” Kyle Porter and Chris Warren are 1A and 1B at running back. Junior Garrett Gray, who never has played a snap at tight end, will start with senior Andrew Beck done for the season.
Each side of the line is gushing with talent. All-America left tackle Connor Williams anchors an experienced, versatile unit. Chris Nelson, Poona Ford and Malcolm Roach make for a formidable three-man front.
Some uncertainty still remains at right tackle as sophomore Denzel Okafor and senior Tristan Nickelson compete to replace the injured Elijah Rodriguez.
“Excitingly, I think our strength on both sides of the ball is the line, offensive and defensive lines,” Herman said. “I think we still need to find a consistent, productive right tackle. Those other four guys — maybe the national championship year at Ohio State that I was a part of, that might be the only other offensive line that could compare with these guys. So I’m excited to see them play.”
How many reliable options Herman has beyond his starters is a different story entirely. Depth has been an ongoing concern for UT’s staff for months and fall practice has done little to alleviate those fears.
“I think our starting 22 could play with anybody in the country,” Herman said. “Would we wine very game? I didn’t say that. We can play if we play to our abilities with anybody in the country.
“I’ve said this since the spring, so there’s no changing of stances. I’m concerned about our depth, I am. Whether that means we have championship or Top-25 talent, I think was the question, maybe in the starting 22. But certainly not top to bottom, as you would like.”
Time to respond
Texas should have enough depth to handle Maryland, a middling Big Ten squad that didn’t defeat a single team with a winning record in 2016. The most critical remaining question — one that can’t possibly be answered in practice or a film room — is how this team would react if everything went haywire.
“Now when the bullets fly, adversity hits, you know, that’s the one thing I don’t know right now,” Herman said. “If we have a couple three-and-out drives to start the game, how are we going to respond? If we give up an early touchdown, how are we going to respond?
“I know how they’ve been trained. I have a lot of confidence in the way that they’re trained, in the way that they’ve responded to that training, taken it to heart. But, again, putting it in practice in front of 105,000 people with a formidable opponent such as Maryland, that’s a whole ’nother ball of wax.”
Chaos will strike. Blunderswill be made. A timeout might even be squandered thanks to some green graduate assistant.
Herman survived and recovered from the mistake he made all those years ago. We’ll soon find out if these Longhorns can do the same.