Herman gets Texas team loaded with young talent
— -- AUSTIN, Texas -- What is Tom Herman inheriting as the new coach at Texas? Well, for starters, it is a far more attractive job today than it was three years ago thanks to the recruiting and roster-building efforts of Charlie Strong and his staff. With the young talent he's leaving for Herman, this is no rebuild.
About a month ago, Strong made a claim that's worth assessing again: No matter who coaches Texas in 2017, they'll win 10 games.
Because this is Texas, it makes perfect sense to saddle the new coach with lofty and borderline unfair expectations before his first day on the job. But the next staff is taking over a team primed to play for Big 12 titles again soon.
"The cake has been baked," Strong said Friday after his final game. "The only thing you need to do now is put the icing on it and slice it."
Just look at the depth chart. Texas' underclassmen have accumulated 109 starts on offense and 112 starts on defense in the past two years. The starting lineup for the final game of Strong's tenure featured only four seniors. It's still a young team whose players didn't come close to reaching their potential during another losing season.
The consecutive top-10 recruiting classes that Strong and his staff signed make up the core of the roster going into 2017. Those 50-plus players have logged a significant number of snaps in two seasons, so the Longhorns' 2017 and 2018 teams ought to be loaded with experienced talent.
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