40 Acres Sports

Texas will enter the 2009 season with national yitle hopes after a stellar 2008 campaign. In fact, was pointing towards 2009 last offseason as the team he was looking forward to taking to his second title. Even with the anticipated success there are a few question marks on the field.

1. Will the offensive line play get better?

Texas struggled to run the ball late in games all of last year. Mack Brown wants that to change. So much so that all accounts point to the team spending most of the spring figuring out what needs to change. Outsiders point to scheme, but this is the same scheme that allowed , Selvin Young, and Jamaal Charles to rack up tons of yards in 2005. The difference is Kasey Studdard, Jonathan Scott, and Justin Blalock won’t be in the starting lineup. The big guys up front have been good, but not great, and with most of them now in their third and fourth year in the program there are no more excuses. Texas’ offensive lineman must play stronger at the point of attack for this offense to be as balanced as Brown wants it to be. The Longhorns may not have a true game breaker in the backfield, but they’re good enough to do damage if given the holes. If Texas can get a running game going the offense could be the best ever at Texas. Guys like , , and need to step up and be as dominant as most think they can be.

2. Who is going to step up at running back?

For most of the spring was running with the first team. Texas is looking to go under center more this year, and Johnson is clearly the best downhill runner on the roster, at least until reports. Unfortunately, Johnson got hurt and will miss the spring game on Sunday. The door could be no more wide open for the likes of , , , and . The staff knows what they have in McGee and Whittaker. McGee is explosive and a hard runner, but doesn’t offer the receiving and/or blocking skills position coach Major Applewhite stresses in his players. A lot of people feel like the staff wants Whittaker to be the guy because of his skill set, but the little guy just can’t stay healthy. There hasn’t been a huge buzz around Hills or Newton but an eye opening spring game could set them up for playing time in the fall. The fact is somebody needs to step up because the running game is the only thing holding this offense back.

3. Who will get to the quarterback?

We all know will be on one side, but who will be the other defensive end? Texas feels like Kindle will replace the production provided by soon to be multi-millionaire , but who will replace Kindle’s? Right now it looks like will get the start with and maybe even freshman getting looks on pure rushing situations. Defensive coordinator has Acho’s brother Emmanuel working at the buck end position along with starting inside linebacker . More than likely it won’t matter who is on the field, Muschamp won’t allow the defense not to get pressure. How much will Texas show in the spring game is a question that can’t be answered, but with a secondary that returns all but one contributor it is likely that Muschamp will unleash the hounds this year. The question is will he apply pressure because of his personnel like last year, or will he have to do it with scheme.

4. Who’ll play in the nickel formation?

For all intents and purposes the Longhorn defense is a 4-2-5. Texas says their base is a three linebacker set, but with the offenses they face in the Big 12 more times than not five defensive backs on the field. Going into the spring there were grumblings about the perceived battle between returning starter and the message board deity and who will get the snaps, but it looks like Muschamp has found an answer, and that answer is both. The speed and versatility of has allowed Muschamp to play him in the slot while keeping the brains of Gideon on the field while not sacrificing the athletic gifts of Scott. The cornerback situation appears to have already settled despite what anybody says. Right now and are locked in as the starters with and backing up. In the past it has been hard for underclassman to jump over guys with more experience but it looks like the talent of Williams is too much to overlook. The true sophomore to be has a chance to be one of the best defensive backs to come through the 40 acres if what the staff thinks about him is true. The whole formation depends on how Thomas does in the slot. If he can stay there, Texas can have three safeties on the field.

5. Who will step up and lead?

We know who the likely candidates are on offense. , , and would figure to take charge on that side of the ball. All three levels of the defense will lose the guy most pegged as their emotional leader. The defensive line lost and Brian Orakpo, the linebackers lost Rashad Bobino, and the defensive backs lost Ryan Palmer. If last year’s team taught us anything it is that leadership or the lack there of can never be overlooked. If you need any other evidence take a look at the Cowboys. From a talent perspective Kindle and would lead the charge, but both of those guys are quiet and low key by nature. has been said to be taking charge in the front seven and Thomas has it locked in the secondary. The team keeping the momentum and mentality of last year will ultimately decide if all the goals are met this season.

Position Rating: C+
Starters: Rashad Bobino, Roddrick Muckelroy, Sergio Kindle
Reserves: Jared Norton, Keenan Robinson, Emmanuel Acho

Linebacker has been a position of much consternation for the Longhorns since Derrick Johnson left the 40 Acres. A good way to ruin a perfectly good time last season was to bring up linebacker play around a bunch of Texas fans. This year might be different as there are guys all over the depth chart that have fans excited.

Probably the player the Texas fanbase is most excited about is starting strongside linebacker . Fans have been awaiting his arrival since the moment he committed to the Horns back in 2005. Injuries have slowed down his career so far but now as a junior he may be ready to explode on the scene. Backing him up is , a redshirt freshman who coaches are incredibly high on.

At middle linebacker is entering his fourth year starting for the Horns. Bobino isn’t the biggest or most athletic guy but he’s smart and plays well in space. Despite Bobino’s experience he’s being pushed hard by his backup, sophomore . Officially listed as a co-starter, Norton is the prototypical middle linebacker who had to lighten up to be able to run with the many spread offenses in the Big 12. Norton will knock your block off and may play more than Bobino against certain teams and in certain situations.

Starting on the weakside is . Muckelroy was a starter back in his redshirt freshman season and has finally earned his spot back late last season in the Holiday Bowl. He moves well but also isn’t afraid to knock your lights out. His athletic potential had Texas fans screaming that he should be in there all last season. Behind Muckelroy is true freshman . Some questioned his recruitment but Sam’s little bro definitely is making the jump from TAPPS to the big leagues look easy.

If I was grading purely on potential this group would be much higher. Bobino is the only player we truly know what he’s capable of, but the talent is most definitely there and if Muck and Kindle come on like they should this unit could actually be a team strength by midseason. This has been a position of weakness for years and a big improvement here would solidify the Horns against both the run and the pass.

Related Links

• Quarterbacks preview
• Running backs preview
• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Offensive line preview
• Defensive tackles preview
• Defensive ends preview
• Cornerbacks preview
• Safeties preview

Football season is so close you can smell it. Less than a week from now the Longhorns will finally take the field for the 2008 season against FAU and today and Co. released the first official depth chart of the year. We wouldn’t be true Texas fans if the first thing we did wasn’t overanalyze and complain about it, so of course we’ve done that below:

General Thoughts

• Lots of OR‘s all over the place like every year. Harder to complain this year because there’s a ton of youngsters on at least one side of the conjunctions.
• Looks like there will also be a lot of situational players as well. There are several places where players (e.g., ) are listed as co-starters with very different complementary players.
• Lots of youth in general, including several true freshmen. There may be some games this year where you’re yelling at the television set because of the mistakes but 2008 and 2009 should be exciting.

Offense

• No anywhere at wide receiver. Not in the top 3 at either flanker or split end. True freshman right behind is encouraging but overall no Williams seems like bigger story. Let’s hope the light comes on.
• Former tackle has been back at the position for less than two weeks but he’s already listed ahead of as the blocking tight end.
• vs. vs. at guard. Everyone has been raving about Huey throughout fall camp but most believed he’d be cutting into Tanner’s reps not Dockery’s. The general opinion (and we all know that’s never wrong) is that Dockery is the better of the returning guards but Huey is listed behind him. Is there a strategic reason the coaches believe Huey should stay at right guard?
• The 12 names and 5 OR‘s confuse me at running back. What exactly is going on there?

(more …)

The big one got away today (under suspicious circumstances) but the 2008 Texas recruiting class is still a good one. Mack Brown and the Horns signed 20 young athletes to letters of intent, nine of which are already on campus for the spring semester.

The class is headlined by defensive backs Aaron Williams and DJ Monroe, who along with safety Nolan Brewster, should anchor the Texas defensive backfield for the next four or five years. On the offensive side WR/RB DeSean Hales is electric with the football in his hands and wide receiver Dan Buckner is huge and will catch anything thrown in his general direction.

Here’s the full list of signees:

Name	Position	Rating	Hometown
	LB		Dallas
	DB		Denver, CO
	OL		Austin
	WR		Allen
	RB		Giddings
	DB		Leander
	WR		Austin
	RB		Klein
	ATH		Mansfield
	RB		Alief
	DT		Cedar Hill
	LB		Nederland
	DB		Angleton
	RB		Southlake
	OL		Brenham
	DT		Beaumont
	RB		Brenham
	OL		Gilmer
	K		Austin
	DB		Round Rock

Congratulations to the newest Texas Longhorns!

Just like last year the 2008 recruiting season is just a few weeks old and the Longhorns have already bagged nine of the top recruits in the state.

The headliners of the group are possible 5-star wide receiver Dan Buckner out of Allen and offensive lineman David Snow from Gilmer. Buckner is big (6-foot-5) and fast (4.5 forty), he could be the next number 4 out at wide receiver for the Horns. Some have Buckner rated as the top receiver in the country.

I’m also excited about Justin Tucker, a kicker out of Austin Westlake. Tucker is the nation’s top rated kicker and the Horns didn’t let this one get out of their own backyard (see Mason Crosby). Tucker will be a redshirt freshman when Hunter Lawrence is a senior, meaning we’re actually stacking the roster and won’t have to rely on a true freshman walk-on kicker for once.

2008 Commits

• LB – Dallas
• OL – Austin
• WR – Allen
• ATH – Giddings
• RB – Alief
• DB – Angleton
• RB – Brenham
• OL – Gilmer
• K – Austin
• DB – Round Rock

Update: Added Emmanuel Acho to the list as his commitment became official this morning. The 6-foot-2 linebacker out of Dallas St. Mark’s is of course 2007 signee Sam Acho‘s little brother. Check out some great video highlights of Emmanuel.