40 Acres Sports

Defensive tackle Derek Johnson is a big dude. Can he play as good as he looks? (Image: MBTF)

After nearly two whole months without Texas football, Friday was finally the first day of Spring practice. No tidbits yet (practices are closed to the public) but the official site does have a short video to watch and a nice photo gallery as well.

Probably my favorite press conference every year, Texas head coach is finally able to talk about the incoming recruits and sits down and goes over film of each one of them. Great to hear him talk about the entire incoming class and about the strengths of each player. Definitely worth your time to watch the entire thing:

The first Wednesday of every February is the big one for recruitniks. is the first day high school seniors can sign their National Letter of Intent to play college football. A Letter of Intent is a binding agreement between a player and a school so more changing their mind or flip flopping after their name is on the paper.

The Texas Longhorns don’t expect any big news, they got their big fish last Friday, but this is the day when the members of the Horns’ fantastic 2010 recruiting class can make it truly official. Three players are already enrolled and on campus, so 25 22 young men will be faxing in their letters today.

We’ll have updates throughout the day as the letters come in on Twitter at @40AcresSports and here on this page. Most of the action should take place in the morning so stay tuned.

Confirmed* Letters of Intent

• (first one in at 6am)
• (this one had me a little nervous after weekend rumors)
• (after how long it took to bring him in over OU, glad he was in early)
• (last one is in!)

Spring Enrollees

Updates…

RT @InsideTexas: Aaron Benson has signed his Letter of Intent to play for Texas. 12 to go. #ut (8:25am)

DE Greg Daniels, LB Tevin Jackson & DB Adrian Phillips are in. Daniels came up in recent decommit rumors so good to see his LOI in. #ut (8:40am)

According to @InsideTexas, record setting Cayuga RB Traylon Shead has sent in his LOI. #ut (9:10am)

RT @gkketch: Breaking news in recruiting. Multiple outlets have Dallas Skyline LB Corey Nelson signing with OU instead of Texas A&M today (9:25am)

RT @gkketch: Just spoke with Fort Worth WR Darius White and he told me that he’s signing and faxing to Texas as I type. 19 of 25 confirmed. (9:30am)

Only a few guys left to sign. A little nervous that Jackson Jeffcoat and out of state ATH Demarco Cobbs are 2 of them. #UT (9:37am)

RT @gkketch: 24 of the 25 commitments for Texas have signed and faxed in their letters. We’re only waiting on DeMarco Cobbs, who signs a … (10:44am)

RT @jeff_howe: Just talked with Demarco Cobbs. He has signed and sent his LOI to #ut. Texas has now signed all 25 verbal commitments. #ut (11:20am)

*Information on confirmed LOI from Orangebloods.com and Inside Texas.

WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Oklahoma State.

Curtis Brown and Earl Thomas both returned interceptions for TDs Saturday night. (Image: Statesman)

Pregame WTH Poke Fans?! Wow, the biggest crowd in football history. You packed it in on Halloween night. You recorded 58,516 fans?! You did renovate the stadium with Boone Pickens money, didn’t you?

1st Qt. (5:56) WTH Burks?! Referee Greg Burks and his staff got a few calls wrong at the beginning of the game. The calls did benefit the Longhorns, but the personal foul call on OSU Lucien Antoine for hitting UT going across the middle was a good hard play. I wish the NCAA would get rid of the helmet to helmet hit when it does not involve the quarterback. The officials also missed it (1:19 – 2nd Qt.) when UT was stripped of the ball when they assumed his momentum was stopped but never blew the whistle. Glad that the Horns blasted the Pokes on Halloween like a blue armadillo to make sure that these calls were not an issue.

1st Quarter (3:37) WTH PVC Man?! Oklahoma State degrades one of their own by having him hold a large PVC pipe flash card stand. A player, #23, for the Pokes holds an elaborate flip card that shows a heart, a number and an image on it for the OSU offensive package. The Poke player is auditioning for holding the leader board for the next round at the Masters.

1st Quarter (1:44) WTH Hubert?! Come on Hubert Anyiam from Oklahoma State. You had a gift touchdown pass that was perfectly placed to you by Zac Robinson on 4th down. (14:25 – 2nd Qt.) Then you got the ball ripped out by UT which led to the first touchdown for the Horns. Oh yeah, great job ABC for cutting away and missing most of the play.

2nd Qt. & 3rd Qt. WTH Goonies?! The Longhorn defense played an incredible game especially the secondary which returned two interceptions for the touchdowns ( – 2nd Qt. & – 3rd Qt.). But you need to slow down with all the nicknames. comes up with the defensive nickname the Goonies because they like to goon it up with the opposing offense (Like that one). This week comes up with the name “Texas Swagger” to get the team motivated to close the deal against the Cowboys. Coach got into the act early in the year with giving out T-shirts with the logo .0128 which is the margin that they lost to OU for the Big XII championship. I guess I do not care what ploy is implemented as long as the Horns win.

3rd Quarter (10:27) WTH Case?! is standing next to the lovely Rachel Glandorf (Colt’s girlfriend) and proceeds to spit on the floor right next to her. I guess the upcoming UT commit at quarterback is affecting his better judgment.

Next up for the Longhorn’s is a trip home to face Central Florida at DKR Memorial at 11am November 7th.

Texas commit and possible 2011 commit (and their dads) faced off Friday night when Graham visited Brownwood. Both players had huge games for their teams. Shipley finished with 8 catches for 240 yards while McCoy passed for 370 yards, 4 touchdowns, and led what should have been a game-tying last minute drive.

Oh, and there is rumor that Jaxon and Case’s dads were college roommates or something. We’re efforting to get confirmation.

Link: Brownwood tops Graham, but Shipley-McCoy friendship remains strong

Garland receiver John Harris was the Longhorns' second 2010 commit (PrepTicket)

We’ll have a post up when the dust settles, but 2010 recruiting is underway and the Texas coaching staff has hit the ground running. The first 2010 was today and since last night six commits have pledged to play for the Longhorns. Make sure you’re following @40acressports and you’ll always be up to date on the latest Longhorn news including this huge recruiting weekend.

Here’s the breaking news and commits you might have missed in the last two days:

• Another 2 big defensive pickups confirmed today. Waco Midway S Ahmad Dixon and Cedar Hill LB Aaron Benson are commits 9 & 10. #UT 12:35 PM Feb 9th
• Two more commits from Garland (GHS this time) were confirmed last night. Athlete/safety Adrian Phillips and linebacker Tevin Jackson. #UT 8:02 AM Feb 9th
• Several other rumored #UT commits on Orangebloods, go check it out if you want the scoop: http://tr.im/fce6 ($) 8:26 PM Feb 8th
• DeSoto WR also committed to #UT last night. Another big (6’3″) WR like Harris, Terrell has impressive offer list. 6:31 PM Feb 8th
• Another top state DT has committed to #UT: Alief’s . According to Orangebloods, Cotton and Bible are the state’s top guys. 6:06 PM Feb 8th
• Horns 4th commit of 2010 is a familiar name: QB . Just like in his bro’s class, #UT likely looking to bring in 2 QBs this yr. 6:02 PM Feb 8th
• Denton Guyer DT is the Horns’ 3rd commit. He is Orangebloods’ top DT in the state. Big pickup. #UT 7:32 PM Feb 7th
• 2nd commit is WR from Garland. Should be more to come and we’ll have a recap of what is sure to be a big haul tomorrow. #UT 6:30 PM Feb 7th
• Orangebloods was reporting 2 weeks ago #UT might not take any OL recruits this yr, instead is the 1st commit of the 2010 class 6:24 PM Feb 7th