Lost water bottle shows Herman’s attention to detail

Months earlier Texas head coach Tom Herman called junior safety P.J. Locke’s parents to thank them for how they raised their son.

Locke had been making quite the impression on the new staff in the weight room, on the field, in the classroom and everywhere else.

But all those impressions evaporated because of a lost water bottle.

Locke speculates his water bottle fell out of his bag while he was in the players lounge. The missing bottle was found by the wrong person — Herman — who texted the safety and asked him about it.

Players were told to hydrate often and had their urine examined for color. A urine color chart is in the bathrooms, so the Longhorns can see for themselves exactly what coaches and medical staffs are studying.

Locke couldn’t account for the missing bottle. So when Herman texted him about it around 11 p.m., the player told him he was looking for it. As a result, the coach told Locke to meet him the next day at 4 a.m.

Locke was put through a series of air raids, where the player does up-downs every five yards, for 200 yards. He was given a rag and a cleaning bottle to scrub the weight room and chugged water for a hydration test. All of that was before Locke joined his teammates for the scheduled Texas workout at 6 a.m.

“I haven’t forgotten my water bottle since,” he said. “I tied a shoestring on it, hooked it around my neck.”

But that incident illustrates Herman’s intensity and seriousness of how he wants all parts of the Longhorns to operate.

“That’s how he is with everything,” Locke said. “The big difference is the small attention to detail is so big in the program. It’ll help us in the long run.”

Locke sees the life lessons in everything the coach is teaching, too, he said.

That includes the vibe in the safeties room when the players are preparing. Locke said they know they must play a big role for the team. So he is trying to incorporate some the preparation habits of former teammate Dylan Haines. Locke called Haines a student of the game, noting his commitment to studying film to look for opponents’ tendencies and Haines’ communication with the others on the field.

“I always try to focus on being better than I was,” he said.

Locke singled out freshmen Josh Montrell and Kobe Boyce as two who have arrived with plenty of confidence.

“All are competitive and trying to beat us,” the junior said.