AUSTIN, Texas -- Sterlin Gilbert comes off as a genuinely folksy West Texas man of few words, but he can get downright philosophical when discussing his objective as the new offensive coordinator at Texas.
Discount Nike Shoes China .Its the act of knowing without knowing, Gilbert said.The high-speed offense hes building -- like so many others in the Big 12 -- doesnt achieve success simply by being taught and learned. Gilbert is trying to train what he calls basic mind-muscle memory. If a player can unconsciously perform his task, hell do so optimally. The more you do it, the more automatic it becomes.Its all built on high reps, Gilbert said. When you get it right, were gonna do it again. When you get it right again, were gonna do it again.And when it works, it looks incredibly easy. But theres nothing easy about condensing it into only 15 practices in the spring and 29 in the preseason.The Longhorns are trying to achieve the same feat that made TCU co-Big 12 champions in 2014 and sent Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff in 2015. The masterminds behind the offensive renovations at these three programs come from different backgrounds and systems, but with some things in common -- a new quarterback, a new scheme and defenses that can hold their own.And the mission is universal. Score more points. Win more games.But first it requires a successful install.TCU co-offensive coordinators Doug Meacham and Sonny Cumbie can look back on their first offseason in Fort Worth -- and their 23-3 record since -- and chuckle about the less-than-inspiring early results.We got shut out in the spring game, so that didnt go too well, Cumbie said.No points, four turnovers. The staff brought in a new quarterback, Texas A&M grad transfer Matt Joeckel, to challenge Trevone Boykin. The offense was still a work in progress in early August. The Horned Frogs didnt truly know what they had -- with their offense or with Boykin -- until their scrimmages in fall camp.When it all came together, TCU exploded: 46.5 points per game, 12 wins, a New Years Six bowl victory, a Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year at QB and an utterly stunning turnaround.Why did it all work so well? Meacham acknowledges there was some element of surprise. People didnt know exactly what TCU was planning offensively. Nor did most people see the potential of Boykin and his buddies.We just so happened to have some really good players. That helped. And it just so happened what we were doing offensively kind of fit their skill set, Meacham said. Then we tweaked a little bit here and there and fit what they were with what we were going to do.Keep in mind, Meacham and Cumbie were working with the same players who scored 8.8 first-half points per game in 2013. TCUs new offensive vision successfully unleashed those players. Six of them are in NFL training camps today. They pulled it all off in Year 1 because, ultimately, the plan wasnt complex.Its a real super ultra-simple system, Meacham said. After a year or two of being in the system, youll remember it the rest of your life.A little like that intuition idea Gilbert has. When you stay simple, Meacham says, youre letting your kids play full speed.If youre out there trying to figure out what to do, youre not very good, Meacham said. Youre not very fast and youre not very confident. If youre doing it full speed, you win more than you lose, Ill tell you that.Boykin, Josh Doctson and several more key veterans are gone, but TCUs offense has something vital now: two years of reps. For coaches, the system becomes more efficient. They know what does and doesnt work. For players, the system becomes more effortless.Its all about muscle memory and its all about repetition, and they hadnt gotten a lot of that, Cumbie said. Hopefully, you get to a point where it can run itself and guys know where to go and how to react.Oklahoma reacted to the rise of TCU and Baylor and a disappointing 8-5 season by embracing an offensive makeover after the 2014 season. New OC Lincoln Riley had a different challenge: turn a top-25 offense into a title-caliber offense that won the big games.A fresh start produced 43.5 points per game, 11 wins, a Big 12 title and a playoff bid for the Sooners in Year 1, an accomplishment that earned Riley the Broyles Award as college footballs top assistant.He was asked last week to think back on the obstacles he encountered while upgrading the Sooners offensive attack. Plenty came to mind. Guys going through experiences for the first time, Riley said. Guys getting out in competitive games, hostile environments. Maybe something is not going well, how much are you going to trust it? Guys trusting the man next to them and that they know what theyre doing in games. Being able to game plan. Understanding how some of these guys are going to react in game time -- some are better, some are worse when the lights come up.There was a ton. And there still is.Riley did inherit quality talent. He had a fiery quarterback in Baker Mayfield who possessed scheme experience and a chip on his shoulder. And OU had Samaje Perine, who did rush for 427 yards in one game. And Sterling Shepard, the best receiver in school history. Thats a decent start.For the Sooners, the challenge proved to be locking down their identity. They were still working toward that in the first half of the season. The 24-17 loss to Texas turned up the pressure and forced changes. The offensive line received the wake-up call it needed. OU pivoted to a run game that averaged 300 yards per game over the ensuing seven-game win streak. Mayfield settled in and completed 70 percent of his passes.?We played better as we went on, Riley said. Part of that was it was Year 1 and there was a progression about it. We knew what our identity was. We just werent great at it. Around midseason we started playing better and got some confidence, and we were able to take off from there.??Plus, as Riley pointed out during his Broyles Award speech last December: Its a hell of a lot easier calling plays when youre pretty darn good on defense, too. Oklahoma had the No. 1 defense in the Big 12 last season, just as TCU did in 2014.The obstacles Texas faces in catching up to its conference foes are well documented. Theres more pressure when the head coach is on the hot seat. Theres more to teach if the quarterback is a true freshman. Texas hasnt produced a first-team All-Big 12 player on offense since 2009. Gilbert is the programs fifth offensive play-caller in five years. How does he sell his plan to his players?You just tell them were going to go fast, probably faster than theyve ever done, he said.What Gilbert does have is extensive experience with these Year 1 installations. He has gone through them at Eastern Illinois in 2012, Bowling Green in 2014 and last year at Tulsa. In one season, the Golden Hurricane made the jump from 24.7 points per game (91st in FBS) to 37.1 (21st).Gilbert says he believes Texas install is right on schedule. Every day of fall camp counts. He comes from the Art Briles coaching tree but says hell put his own spin on the concepts that won Baylor two Big 12 titles.He might have a different vision, but what hes trying to accomplish is no different than what TCU and Oklahoma did. Mastering these offenses requires years of reps and experience. Texas is trying to get there in one eight-month offseason, because it has worked before.Guys have to have a complete understanding of how to do it fast and in a hurry, Gilbert said, and then do it at a high level.
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http://www.discountshoesnike.com/ .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Match factsJuly 14-18, 2016 Start time 11am local (1000 GMT)Big PictureHow big do you like your pictures? It took Michelangelo four years, from 1508 to 1512, to paint one of the biggest of the lot, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - with its depictions of the rise and fall of man, and all that malarky. Well, its been six years and counting since Mohammad Amir succumbed to temptation at Lords in 2010, and tomorrow, he launches his bid for redemption at the scene of his original sin, with the full backing of a Pakistan team that has rarely seemed more focussed or united than they do at this potentially epochal moment of their history. This is a big picture, all right. One of the biggest that Test cricket could ever have conceived.All eyes will be on Amir, and rightly so, as he marches back out through the Long Room and down the pavilion steps to relaunch his Test career after the highest-profile hiatus imaginable - and memories of that abject August Sunday are sure to be recalled in gory detail as the contest begins to take shape. Nevertheless, the focus of both teams will be very much on the here-and-now - out of respect for the challenge in store, and doubtless for the sanity of the competitors as well.Pakistan have spoken at length about how they intend to close ranks around Amir and block out the noise that will surround his return to the fray, but England also have plenty of reasons to treat this occasion as ordinarily as possible. From Jake Ball, inked in for his Test debut at the age of 25, to Gary Ballance - back in the team after a year of exile and introspection - there will be enough emotion doing the rounds without getting caught up in the whys and where-fors in the opposition ranks.Besides, after a low-key start to Englands international summer, in which a rebuilding Sri Lanka team was put firmly in its place across all three formats, there is a distinct sense of occasion surrounding the arrival of Pakistan. They may not have won a Test series in England since 1996, but they have more regenerative properties than the T-3000, and under the leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq, they have gelled into one of the most consistent opponents in the world game.This is, as Misbah acknowledged last week, the ultimate challenge for a team that he has coaxed back to prominence over the past six years. All roads since the ignominy of the 2010 tour have led straight back to where it all began, and the diligence of their preparations - from their training camp in Lahore, to their acclimatisation at the Ageas Bowl, to the discipline of their practice sessions under the focussed eye of the new coach, Mickey Arthur - underlines the sense that they want this shot at redemption more than they have wanted any other challenge in recent times.We are about to find out whether Misbahs men are ready and able to emulate the great Pakistan teams of the 1980s and 1990s. But, as with their forebears, theres nothing like an underlying sense of grievance to galvanise one of world sports most naturally talented outfits. Whatever the size of the picture, it promises to be a spectacle.Form guideEngland: DWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first) ? Pakistan: WWDWLIn the spotlightErr ... have a guess. Still, if we take it as read that Amir will hog every inch of the limelight in this contest, then the way is clear for his less conspicuous team-mates to thrive in his slip-stream. Not least his fellow left-armer, Wahab Riaz, who proved to be the single most significant difference between the teams in the recent series in the UAE. His searing pace on unforgiving surfaces returned little in the way of eye-catching figures - his best return of 4 for 66 came in the second Test at Dubai, but that included the prime scalps of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in a ferocious nine-over spell. No-one in Englands ranks can rival his out-and-out pace.Joe Roots promotion to No.3 is the most eye-catching statement of intent from an England line-up that has had more than its fair share of top-order wobbles in recent times, but the recall of Gary Ballance at No.5 is the surprise move from the selectors. His technique has been put through the wringer since his glut of failings against New Zealand and Australia last year, but showing a commendable streak of stubbornness of which his captain, Alastair Cook, would no doubt approve, Ballance has resolved not to deconstruct his methods, but simply to apply them better.
Cheap Nike Shoes Wholesale China. He returns to the fray with a proven track record, including four Test hundreds and an average of 47.76. Hes done it before, and can do it again.Team newsThe Nottinghamshire debutant, Jake Ball, has been confirmed as James Andersons replacement, after Alastair Cook revealed his hand on the eve of the contest - he edges out the Lords local, Toby Roland-Jones, for the final spot in the XI. Anderson himself is said by Cook (somewhat euphemistically, you suspect) to be disappointed not to be playing. Joe Root steps up to the hot seat at No.3, following Nick Comptons failure to cement his place against Sri Lanka, while Ballance is back at No. 5, a full year after his last Test appearance on this same ground against Australia. Chris Woakes (illness) and Steven Finn (knee) have come through their respective niggles and will be fit for Thursday morning.England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 James Vince, 5 Gary Ballance, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jake Ball, 11 Steven Finn.Pakistan can put forward an imposing and settled line-up, one that will be very familiar to England following their 2-0 loss in the UAE last winter, and one that has been significantly bolstered by the return of You Know Who. With Wahab and Yasir Shah ready to resume their leading roles, Rahat Ali and Imran Khan seem to be in a shoot-out for their fourth bowling slot. Imran might just have the edge, seeing as three left-armers might be overdoing it.Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Shan Masood, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Rahat Ali / Imran Khan, 11 Yasir Shah.Pitch and conditionsStuart Broad has already expressed his fears about the state of the Lords wicket - a surface on which no side has yet managed to claim 20 wickets this season. Middlesexs most recent fixture at Lords, against Lancashire two weeks ago, resulted in a mercy killing on the final day; rain washed out the contest with the scores entrenched on a towering 513 v 419 for 5. There is, at present, a green tinge to the surface, and the weather promises to be dry but overcast, which may offer some assistance to the quicks on either side. But Pakistan, with all their experience in the UAE and their traditional pace-and-legspin combination, may fancy their chances if the carry is as slow and low as anticipated.Stats and triviaPakistan have won three and lost five of their previous 14 Tests at Lords - including two crushing defeats on their last tour in 2010. One, of course, came in the aftermath of the spot-fixing saga, but the other - less-well-remembered - contest came earlier that summer, against Australia in the first neutral Test at the venue since 1912.Auspiciously for Pakistan, however, both of their last two wins at the venue came in their most recent series victories in England - in the heyday of Wasim and Waqar in 1992 and 1996. The 1992 victory, by two wickets, was one of the most thrilling in Lords illustrious history.At the age of 42 years and 47 days, Misbah-ul-Haq will be playing his first Test in England. With 20 wins in 42 Tests as captain, he is already Pakistans most successful captain, ahead of Imran Khan and Javed Miandad (both 14).Stuart Broad, in his 95th Test, needs five more wickets to become the 22nd bowler to take 350 Test wickets.QuotesUnfortunately Jimmys missed out, it gives a great opportunity for Jake, one hes really looking forward to. Hes had a great year with Notts and looks a fine bowler. Alastair Cook confirms that Ball is set to make his Test debut in place of Englands leading wicket-taker.Its an advantage if one of the main bowlers is missing. We feel ready. Preparation has been good. Everyone is ready to go. Misbah-ul-Haq believes James Andersons absence will play to Pakistans advantage. ' ' '