This week I'm Scattershooting while thinking about the anatomy of the offensive shift at Texas.

The buck stops with Watson on offense and he'll either be praised or ridiculed for how the Texas offensive change works in 2015.

The Longhorns are attempting to do what TCU did in 2014, what Auburn did in 2013 and what Ohio State and Texas A&M in did 2012 -- switch to an offensive style defined by spread principles to fuel a massive turnaround.

The Buckeyes and Aggies went from 6-7 and 7-6 in 2011, respectively, to 12-0 and 11-2 the following season. Urban Meyer brought his power spread to Columbus and Kevin Sumlin made an almost seamless transition from Houston to College Station with Johnny Manziel pulling the trigger.

Auburn was woeful in 2012, finishing 3-9 overall and resulting in Gene Chizik getting fired after the season. Gus Malzahn modified his spread to fit the skill set of Nick Marshall upon arrival, and the Tigers saw a dream season fall just short of a national title in 2013.

Then there's the Horned Frogs. Gary Patterson succumbed to the same reality after a 4-8 season in 2013 as Charlie Strong has done after a 6-7 finish in 2014 – defense wins championships, but points win the Big 12.

But therein lies the problem for Texas. The programs I just mentioned, with the exception of TCU, hired offensive-minded coaches to take over. On the other hand, Strong is trying to do what Patterson did and just step out of his comfort zone to make the switch.

Patterson hired Sonny Cumbie, a Mike Leach disciple who's roots on the college level are in the Air Raid offense. He also brought in Doug Meacham – a long-time assistant for Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, who worked closely with Dana Holgorsen (who worked for Gundy and Sumlin) – who spent 2013 as the co-offensive coordinator at Houston.

Cumbie's knowledge of the Air Raid and Meacham understanding how to be physical from the spread (the Pokes recorded an average finish of 25th nationally in rushing during Meacham's final six seasons as a staff member) allowed TCU to soar to a 12-1 record and a Peach Bowl rout of Ole Miss.

With all of that said, how do the backgrounds of Strong's assistants fit together?

Watson feels he's got two capable quarterbacks in Swoopes and Jerrod Heard and the offense will be built around them first and foremost.

A power spread similar to Ohio State or Auburn is what various team sources have said the Longhorns want their offense to look like. But Shawn Watson said while that’s close to the truth, it’s not necessaryly reality.

“There's a lot of it that looks and would be similar, yes. Some of it's different,” Watson said. “It's really just our backgrounds coming together.”

It's going to be a hodgepodge of different styles trying to form what will ultimately be the Texas offense. But just about every coach in the meeting room does have experience with the elements needed to put an effective product on the field.

Watson's roots are in the West Coast offense, but he said all of the right things when camp began about being willing to move to the spread. Texas’ assistant head coach for offense feels like Tyrone Swoopes is in a good place, and he said recently Jerrod Heard is ready to play.

Many in the coaching industry feel like Watson is a good developer of quarterbacks, and where his quarterbacks end up will likely be the ultimate determinant of just how well the offensive shift works.

“We always start with the quarterback first,” Watson said. “Who do we have at quarterback? What can they do in terms of the home run? How are we built? Then we plug in the skill pieces around them. Then the offensive line, what can they do?”

Offensive line coach Joe Wickline said he starts every season assuming he's starting from behind, which is why he's been known to work his linemen to the bone. But his madness might produce results in 2015.

“I'm under the pretense that a zone play is a zone play whether you're under center and you've got three backs or no backs,” Wickline said. “The gap play is the gap play, I know that the iso is the iso, the trap is the trap and a draw is a draw. Up front we have certain blocking schemes and certain categories – five in the box, six in the box. It's pretty much the same football.”

One of two new staff hires, Traylor implemented the spread at Gilmer many years ago and used to win his third state title last fall.

Like Meacham, Wickline was a long-time Gundy assistant. While the Cowboys were helping set the trend of spread teams being capable of pounding the rock, Oklahoma's offense was the first to truly crank up the tempo that's commonplace today. In Texas wide receiver coach Jay Norvell's first year on the Oklahoma staff in 2008, the Sooners led the nation in scoring offense (51.1 points per game) and snapped the ball every 22.4 seconds,

Norvell has been in the NFL, and he's called plays in the West Coast offense. But he was brought to Texas in large part because of his familiarity with tempo offenses.

“We have structure to play fast and as we continue to rep these concepts I think we'll play faster and play fast when we want to,” Norvell said. “Playing fast isn't a catch-all to everything. You've got to play good.”

Jeff Traylor made a habit at Gilmer of playing fast and excelling. The Buckeyes used a spread offense to get after opponents to the tune of 59.4 points per game during a 16-game season in 2014, a campaign that culminated with Traylor's third state title.

Between Watson's ability to figure out quarterbacks, Wickline's history producing a strong run game within the confines of a spread offense, Norvell's experience with tempo and Traylor brining fresh ideas into the meeting room the Longhorns should eventually be able to put their own twist on the spread offense.

Sure, there's not a Malzahn, a Meyer, a Sumlin or even a duo like Cumbie and Meacham with a quarterback that fits the system walking through the door. It’s also unrealistic that the offensive change will result in a team that can reach the College Football Playoff.

But the end offensive result for Texas in 2015 should be better than what it endured last season. Norvell's notion that it's on the coaches to produce a plan the players are able to execute needs to come to fruition for the shift to work.

A plan that can’t be executed can be demoralizing for a group of young offensive players. Coming up with something the players can ultimately build confidence with should supersede everything else.

Catalon has a tremendous amount of talent, but he likely needed to head elsewhere to attempt to maximize it.

“Confidence is everything in sports and when players have confidence they can play at a high level,” Norvell said. “We've seen it in this conference; people turn around quickly and it's because their kids get confidence. They believe in what they're doing in a short amount of time.”

*****

Duke Catalon could've helped the Texas offense, but he and Cecil Cherry both decided this week to continue their college careers elsewhere. But it’s not as if the two players weren’t capable of helping Texas had they just waited.

Running backs Tommie Robinson recruited Catalon during his brief at USC. He felt if Catalon stayed healthy, then everyone watching Texas would be in for a nice surprise this season.

“Donald is a real quiet, laid back guy,” Robinson said. “He'll give you the sense that he's not paying attention but he really is. He's a strong runner and extremely deceiving. He has deceptive speed, he has unbelievable power for his size, and the kid has natural running ability. He may be one of the best natural runners on the team.”

Catalon's transfer had been rumored for some time. After talking with a few different folks close the situation, it sounds like he was simply looking for a change of scenery. Even before he abruptly left practice Monday it had become clear Catalon would not maximize his talent on the Forty Acres.

At least Catalon lasted an entire season and 15 spring practices before deciding to move on, which is a whole lot longer than Cherry's career as a Longhorn lasted. For a defensive staff that prides itself on the fundamentals and playing smash-mouth football, Brian Jean-Mary tabbed the Frostproof, Fla. native as a perfect fit.

“He moves well for a kid his size,” Jean-Mary said. “He did most of his work at inside linebacker. He was a state champion in Florida, so he comes from a good program, a tradition-rich area where he comes from in Polk County. The thing we liked about him was he's a throwback kid. He doesn't mind sticking his nose in the piles and playing a physical brand of football and that's what we want to be here at Texas.”

Jefferson 'doesn't know what he doesn't know' according to Bedford.

Strong didn't seem at all pleased with Cherry's departure. His comments about how everything in the Texas program will be earned lends truth to the talk of the dynamic between the two parties completely changing once the tough coaching began and by the time the talk of a possible redshirt was brought to the surface.

*****

Defensive coordinator Vance Bedford helped recruit Cherry to Texas, but with the four-star linebacker gone he has to turn his attention to the players still on campus. He's scheduled to meet with the media today and before he steps to the mic, I decided to pull some of his best offerings from the team's on-campus media day last week.

-- Bedford remains high on Malik Jefferson but cautions everyone to remember he's just a freshman.

“Again, he's playing a position he really didn't play in high school at inside linebacker,” Bedford said. “He doesn't know that he doesn't know. But what he does, he does have some ability. When he figures it out he's going to be a pretty good football player.”

-- Last season Bedford said many times the Longhorns weren't building a straw house, and it was going to take time to build the program. So how much work has the staff done in the past year?

“I think the foundation has gone in strong when you look at this recruiting class. That's where it starts. It starts with players,” Bedford said. “For every great coach out there, he had great talent. I love when guys walk around saying, 'Look what I did!' No you didn't. Look at the players you had to put you in the position to what you accomplished.”

-- He likes Duke Thomas a lot as a player, but Bedford might like the senior cornerback even more as a person.

It's always an adventure and a treat for the media whenever Bedford step up to the mic.

“Duke is the type of guy that I trust him,” Bedford said. “I could bring him into my home and leave the house. He's that type of young man. He has outstanding character.”

-- Paul Boyette got married in the offseason. Bedford was asked if he thinks that will settle Boyette down and help make him a more reliable, responsible player.

“I'm glad my wife isn't here. I can't answer that question about being settled just because you're married now,” Bedford said. “Some of you gentlemen in here know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you've got to sleep on the couch, so I don't know if you'll be settled or not.”

-- He wishes the NCAA would change the recruiting rules to give coaches an extended dead period during the offseason as opposed to being forced to be on social media connecting with recruits during vacation time. Bedford hates the strain recruiting can put on families, but he admits he's quite fond of being on Twitter.

“I like Twitter because you guys make me like Twitter,” he said. “I just put a piece of cake on there the other day and people ask, 'Where'd you go?' I can't tell you where I'm eating at otherwise people in the North End Zone get mad at me.”

-- Is there another defensive back like himself currently in the pipeline at Texas?

“I hope not, because I wasn't very good,” Bedford said. “I hope they've got guys who were a lot better than I was when I came out. If that's the case we have a chance. If they've got people like me out there we're in a world of hurt.”

-- When the coaches met with players during offseason meetings Bedford said he gave Swoopes the most honest assessment he could.

“You're big, you're strong, you're fast, then go play that way. Go play how you look,” Bedford said. “When people see you walk out there and you're running downhill, a DB does not want to hit you. A linebacker might question if he wants to hit you. If you go play that way you'll have an outstanding season for us and lead us to a lot of victories.”

-- And, last but certainly not least, Bedford talked about the highlight of his summer vacation:

“I was in Colorado with the grandkids and we went hiking. The altitude kind of hit me a little bit. They live in Colorado, so they're going real fast while I'm back in the back. My wife is going fast, granddaughter is going fast, and I'm in the back and I'm doing two things – I'm trying to catch my breath and, like my wife will tell you, I'm looking around for mountain lions and bears. You're out there in no man's land and they're used to it. I said, 'Babe, I've been watching this TV show called Zoo and anything can jump out and snatch us.' That was the highlight of my time off.”