Texas Football: Charlie Strong's Summer Check List for 2015

How tough was Charlie Strong's first year at Texas? There's already hot-seat chatter about Strong if 2015 is just as bad. 

Of course, such talk is premature at best. Strong may be a member of the $5 million a year club, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve time to turn things around. "Obviously it's important for Strong to show progress in Year 2," Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports writes, "but that doesn't necessarily have to be a vastly improved record." 

Another possibility is that things could get worse before they get better. As Max Olson of ESPN.com noted this month, the Longhorns lose six senior leaders off of last year's defense—a group that played a pivotal role in getting to a bowl game. Strong and his coaching staff have recruited some outstanding young defensive talent over the past year, but there's a lot of inexperience on that side of the ball now.

No matter how you look at it, Strong has yet another year with his work cut out for him. In an interview with Matt Hayes of the Sporting News, Strong said “We can’t fail here. There are too many people counting on us.”

There's a lot to do, even though we've hit the gap between spring practices and preseason camp. What does Strong's summer check list look like? We take a look at a few key areas below:

Keep the Quarterback Competition Flame Burning on High 

The key to Texas' offensive improvement in 2015 begins at the quarterback spot. Certainly, there are other questionable areas; offensive line was hit especially hard by attrition last year. However, it's clear the Horns have to get more out of the quarterback spot. 

Tyrone Swoopes, the incumbent starter, and Jerrod Heard have battled hard over the course of the spring. Heard has "closed the gap" on Swoopes, but the junior remains the No. 1 guy for now. Hopefully, the competition has benefited both players in that it's raised their level of play. That way, regardless of who starts this season, the overall performance is better.

There are a few things both players have to work on. Swoopes has a big arm, but he has to improve on his accuracy and the speed with which he makes decisions. For Heard, it's about mastering the art of reading defenses. The redshirt freshman is a tremendous athlete who can hurt defenses with his legs, but he becomes a truly dangerous weapon once he develops as a passer. 

From the way Strong and quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson talked about Heard in April, it sounds like he's making strides. It sounds like things are starting to click for him. If he can carry that momentum through the summer, the competition should be even more impressive in preseason camp. 

Get Du'Vonta Lampkin on Campus

Technically, Strong doesn't have control over this. Still, getting 3-star defensive tackle Du'Vonta Lampkin onto campus this summer would be significant. 

The short story is this: An issue about Lampkin's eligibility arose because Texas requires a foreign language requirement for admission purposes. According to Olson, Lampkin is taking a correspondence course for that requirement. 

While Lampkin was planning to arrive in Austin at the end of May, it appears he's more likely to arrive later this summer, perhaps in August (if he arrives at all). Lampkin is the only defensive tackle from Texas' 2015 class, so getting him eligible and on campus is important—not so much for 2015, but for '16 and beyond. 

It's Lampkin's responsibility to take care of the course work, but Strong would breathe a huge sigh of relief if everything works out. 

Lay the Foundation for the 2016 Recruiting Class

It's difficult to compare recruiting classes side by side this time of year. Take Texas' 2016 class, for example. The Horns have five verbal commits and are ranked 38th nationally, according to 247Sports composite rankings. However, how can you compare that to, say, Miami's class, which is ranked No. 3 nationally and has 21 verbal commits?

The reality is, you can't. Quantity and quality are two completely different terms nine months out from national signing day. What Texas does have, though, is a nice foundation on which it can build. Three offensive skill players—quarterback Shane Buechele and receivers Collin Johnson and Reggie Hemphill-Mapps are blue-chip prospects who rank among the top 50 in-state players. 

As Jeremy Crabtree of ESPN.com writes, "Charlie Strong favors an approach that allows the Longhorns to build a good foundation but still leave plenty of room to chase high-profile recruits during recruiting’s home stretch." 

Summer is a critical time to develop the relationships that will carry over into the fall, winter and, eventually, the final stretch before signing day. It's not a huge concern that Texas' class is small right now; this is a different regime from the one run by former head coach Mack Brown, who usually put a recruiting class together early. 

Strong's approach is about going 100 percent all the way until pen meets paper on a national letter of intent. 

Still, if Strong can start picking up a few more commits over the next few months—perhaps he can get on a hot streak—that would ease some anxiousness among the Longhorn faithful. There are plenty of top in-state kids that Texas would love to get. For example: Christian Wallace, a 4-star athlete, is already heavily leaning toward Texas.  

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand.