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Ex-Texas OC: Garrett Gilbert didn't have strong supporting cast with Horns, 'things will work out' at SMU

Staff reports
Published: 25 June 2012 09:22 PM


The downfalls of a pair of once-celebrated members of the Texas Longhorns football team went hand-in-hand in 2010.

Greg Davis, UT's longtime offensive coordinator who helped the Horns to a national title in '05, resigned after Texas suffered through an abysmal 5-7 season in which the offense came up lame more often than not. The man who was supposed to lead Davis' attack, then-sophomore Garrett Gilbert, failed to live up to lofty expectations.

Gilbert, a former five-star recruit, was slated to follow in the footsteps of ex-Texas greats like Vince Young and Colt McCoy. Instead, Gilbert's physical skills never came together on the field, and he only slightly outlasted Davis, getting benched in the second game of Texas' season and electing to transfer to SMU.

But despite their nearly simultaneous descents in Austin, Davis still has plenty of faith in his former quarterback.

"I still think things will work out for him," Davis told Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman.

Now the offensive coordinator at Iowa, Davis said that Gilbert's lack of success at Texas was due largely to a lackluster cast of supporting players that paled in comparison to the groups that surrounded McCoy for much of his career at UT.

With two years of eligibility remaining, Gilbert is preparing to take over an SMU offense that averaged 25.8 points per game last year, the second-best mark under June Jones. But he'll have plenty of hurdles to clear, including an all-new offensive line, a receiving corps that lost two of its top three targets, and a late jump in learning the SMU playbook.

But Davis believes that a fresh start in Dallas is just what Gilbert needs.

"With the kind of young man he is and the hours he spends preparing, I still think it will turn out to be very positive for him," Davis said.

Phil Steele has him as the 1st team Conference USA QB and he hasn't even played a down for SMU.

I'm telling you we have the talent on Offense worthy of a coach like June Jones. We may have:

The Best QB in the confereence.
The Best WR in the conference.
The Best FB in the COUNTRY.

C'MON O-LINE!

If we have the best QB in the conference and he hasn't played a down for SMU...

Couldn't we also have the best O-Line in the conference?

SMULaxer wrote:If we have the best QB in the conference and he hasn't played a down for SMU...

Couldn't we also have the best O-Line in the conference?

Why not? Granted they are young, but by all accounts the physical skills are upgraded and they have a more back to fundamentals coach getting them ready. Add in the transfer from LSU and Blake for some experience and this might not be as scary as it seems at first. I fully intend to go into this season expecting all these guys to step up; I'm tired of assuming that they won't or can't. Enough talk from the school about how we belong with the big boys; time to show it or shut up.

Add former Brownwood Lion and LSU OL signee Stavion Lowe (6’5’ 320) to the mix, who will transfer in July and be eligible starting this fall … then wrap it all up around the Best "D’ in the conference and 2012 just keeps getting better every day. For those who take notes, that’s a former 4-star who had offers from BCS schools such as LSU (obviously), Alabama, ND, Texas A&M … just to recall a few.

GO "O", Go "D", and GO MUSTANGS

I see. The players Greg Davis & Mack Brown hand-cherry picked from the top 40 or so players from Texas highschools plus a few hand selected 4 & 5 star players from around the country were no good.
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Hey Greg Davis - its you that suck. Not the Texas Players.

Where are the quotes from Davis explaining his role in the mess that was the 2010 season?

He's obviously good, but I'm not ready to anoint Darius Johnson as the best WR in the conference yet. It seems to me that top WRs in the past (Emmanuel Sanders, Aldrick Robinson, Cole Beasley) have thrived in this offense when there are other viable options who step up, thereby preventing defenses from ganging up on one guy. Can the other WRs do that for Johnson? Let's hope. I'm also interested in seeing what Johnson does under Coach Phillips and with Gilbert pitching to him.

To me, it's all on the offensive line. If they step up and gel right away, the offense could be great. If they crumble because of unfamiliarity with each other and Coach Palcic's terminology, etc., the offense could stall completely.

Hoofprint wrote:He's obviously good, but I'm not ready to anoint Darius Johnson as the best WR in the conference yet. It seems to me that top WRs in the past (Emmanuel Sanders, Aldrick Robinson, Cole Beasley) have thrived in this offense when there are other viable options who step up, thereby preventing defenses from ganging up on one guy. Can the other WRs do that for Johnson? Let's hope. I'm also interested in seeing what Johnson does under Coach Phillips and with Gilbert pitching to him.

To me, it's all on the offensive line. If they step up and gel right away, the offense could be great. If they crumble because of unfamiliarity with each other and Coach Palcic's terminology, etc., the offense could stall completely.

Then who do you see as the best WR? Most of the top tier receivers in the conference graduated last year.

Fair question, and the quick answer is that I don't know. It seems to me that Houston always has a stable of track stars running downfield, although without Keenum and Sumlin (and Phillips, of course), who knows what to expect there. Tulsa lost its stud WRs. I have no idea who teams like ECU and UCF and Marshall are rolling out there. Maybe DJ is the best. All I'm saying is that I don't know yet if he is or not.

I definitely think there is a viable supporting cast for DJ among the recievers. Off the top of my head, we've got Arrius Holleman, Keenan Holman, Gerihg Dieter, Jeremy Johnson, Darius Joseph, Chayse Joubert, and Der'rikk Thompson competing for PT. Some are young. . .but they are all talented. I'm sure I'm forgetting some others. But I think we're pretty deep at WR.

GG can be very good. He has been very streaky and his last outing vs BYU was one to forget.

His upside is incredible but he has a lot of developing ahead of him. He is a better runner than anyone gives him credit for. They beat NU's two deep coverages with the QB draw repeatedly in Lincoln 2010.

Isn't Dameris Johnson at Tulsa coming back from jailhouse?* They would probably be top receivers

* Looks like he signed with Eagles

West Coast Johnny wrote:I see. The players Greg Davis & Mack Brown hand-cherry picked from the top 40 or so players from Texas highschools plus a few hand selected 4 & 5 star players from around the country were no good.
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Hey Greg Davis - its you that suck. Not the Texas Players.

As a UT Law alum, I hated watching GG play.

After McCoy left, I blamed GG for the offensive collapse. Watching McCoy II and Ash struggle in his place, I realized that UT's system/OL is the problem. They want to run, but don't commit. They try to pass, but can't hold blocks long enough to let QB throw from stable platform.

The thing I think that will help us on offense this year at QB is the fact that we have some competition. Gilbert is working hard to not only learn the offense, but both Gilbert and Conner Preston are working hard to try to win the QB job. Conner's one year head start with the offense over Garrett, and the situation creates the best QB competition we have had in years. On the offensive line with an OL transfer, maybe one of the OL freshmen coming in, and hopefully competition will produce a better OL this fall as well.