Desmond Howard calls Texas ‘mentally fragile,’ as College GameDay crew questions Longhorns slide
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Texas Longhorns are 7-5 after a big win against Texas Tech on Friday night, but that’s hardly where the Longhorns thought they’d be this year.
Texas entered the season as a top-10 team, so finishing with 5 losses is embarrassing for coach Tom Herman and his staff.
On Saturday morning’s College GameDay, analyst Desmond Howard questioned whether Herman was the right man for the job (via 247Sports):
“They’re going to have to re-calibrate this whole program,” Howard said. “They have the facilities. They can recruit. Texas is a great destination for high school football players. But the problem is the disconnect between Herman and his staff and his players. When I watch them play and you’re losing games against TCU, Iowa State and Baylor, it’s not because they have better facilities or better players, there’s a disconnect between staff and those players.
“They don’t have the leadership you’re looking for and they’re mentally fragile. That’s the biggest difference between Texas today and some of these teams they lose against.”
Kirk Herbstreit agreed, saying he doesn’t know if players these days still have the same level of respect for the Texas program:
“I just think you take yourself back at where Texas football is, the burnt orange, I don’t know if it still resonates with the 17, 18-year-old kid,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t know if kids today still look at Texas with that same level of respect in that state and I think that’s a concern. They’ve got to attack that.”
What does the future hold for the Texas program? There are some important questions that need to be asked over the coming weeks.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
