40 Acres Sports

ScoutingOhio.com has posted video of Jordan Hicks’ commitment announcement from earlier today. You can see Jordan’s coach heaping praise on the young man and then watch as he pulls a Texas Longhorn cap from under the table. He then answers questions from reporters, including an idiotic one asking him about turning his back on Ohio State. Watch…

Congratulations to what appears to be a level-headed young man on choosing the good guys. Welcome to the 40 Acres.

For the second time today, a 5-star defender has chosen the Texas Longhorns. Stud Ohio linebacker Jordan Hicks has announced he’s headed to Texas. He chose the Horns over Ohio State and Florida.

Add another one to the incredible 2010 Texas commit list.

Follow along live with 40 Acres Sports on Twitter and below for beat by beat coverage of the two big recruits making their commitments today. We’ll have breaking news and our thoughts during today’s and press conferences. Things start early with Jeffcoat’s announcement from Plano West High School at 10am. We’ll be live here and on Twitter so join us to discuss the next Longhorn greats.

Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ‘em!

(Live threads from Jeffcoat & Hicks commits after the jump.)

Jordan Hicks is a talented, polished linebacker from Ohio. (Image: WLWT.com)

Top linebacker recruit out of Ohio will finally make his college decision known on Friday morning. Hicks, a top 5-star stud out of Lakota West High School in Ohio, will announce his choice of college football programs at a press conference at his high school at 11:30am CST Friday.

Hicks is down to Texas, Florida, and Ohio State. He grew up a Longhorn fan and was long thought to be a Texas lean, but then recent rumors had him headed to Florida before the Urban Meyer waffling. Now, as things have drawn out longer than expected, people think the nearby Buckeyes may have pulled back in front. Hicks has handled the entire process very maturely and no one knows where he’s headed for sure. It may just be bias, but my money is on the good guys.

Can other candidates such as Tim Tebow, Mark Ingram, Toby Gerhart, and Ndamukong Suh catch Texas QB in the Heisman race? Nah….

(via The Sporting Blog)

Thanksgiving night, the Heisman race looked like it might be over with after Texas quarterback put up an incredible show passing and running to a primetime win over Texas A&M. But there were still games to play on a long, wonderful rivalry weekend of college football. Friday and Saturday’s games saw one candidate fall out of the race (Alabama’s Mark Ingram) and two others (Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Florida’s Tim Tebow) put up buzzworthy performances.

So what does it all mean? Well there’s still one weekend of football remaining, but the Heisman Pundit has almost called the race for the good guy:

The weekend’s games are done and here’s how I think the Heisman race looks right now:

1. With one week to go, Colt McCoy is the current front runner and likely winner. Pending a status report on the health of Mark Ingram, I am close to calling the race in his favor.

2. With his monster game against Notre Dame, Stanford’s Toby Gerhart has assured himself of a trip to New York and he has a shot to finish a strong second in the race.

3. Ingram is fading fast, but he could rebound with a heroic performance against the Gators. As it stands, he had his least-productive game of the season at the worst possible time: When Heisman ballots had gone out and many voters were seeing him up close for the first time.

4. With his emotionally-driven performance against Florida State, Tim Tebow might’ve solidified his place at the Heisman ceremony. He won’t win, but he’ll get one last go-around in the Big Apple.
He won’t win, but he’ll get one last go-around in the Big Apple.

If Colt goes out and puts up his typical performance and the Horns win the Big 12 title, the trophy is likely his. Tim Tebow would have to put up incredible numbers (300+ yards, 3 TDs) in an exciting SEC Championship game to win his second Heisman. Colt is likely to get a lot of first places votes across the country, but more importantly he’ll probably snag no worst than second place on most ballots and those votes should carry him over the other competitors.

During an interview this week, Texas head coach clearly states that there should not be a distinction between BCS and non-BCS schools and that all schools should be treated equally. Somehow, ESPN spend the next 36 hours claiming Mack had said non-BCS schools didn’t belong in the national title game. Say what? Watch for yourself below:

Check out this pretty incriminating video of Florida’s linebacker Brandon Spikes sticking his hands into the face mask of a Georgia player. It is of course impossible to discern intent from a video, but to me it is pretty clear that Spikes is trying to gouge the Georgia player’s eyes. Watch and judge for yourself:

(via Barking Carnival)

The BCS standings for the week have been released and the Texas Longhorns are still sitting at number 3. The team’s impressive win over Missouri did earn the Horns a few first place votes and overall points in the human polls, and that gain allowed the Horns to gain ground on both and in the BCS standings.

Iowa and TCU made big jumps in the rankings but Texas should still control their own destiny. As we see every Saturday, anything can happen so just worry about what you can control between the lines. Keep winning and the rest should take care of itself.

SI.com is predicting the second half of the 2009 season and they don’t foresee good things for the Texas Longhorns. Only one out of six of their experts thinks the Horns will end up in the BCS title game and even worse that would mean some awful “no win” matchups in the Fiesta Bowl. Texas better keep winning, because a bowl game against , , or does not sound fun.

Link: SI.com’s 2009 midseason Crystal Ball

A lot of consternation amongst Texas fans but the Horns have debuted at number 3 in the BCS rankings. Not much reason to worry, with #1 Florida and #2 Alabama set to face off later in the year all Texas has to do is win out and they’ll end up in the BCS title game.

Link: Florida No. 1 in first BCS standings
Video: Brad Edwards’ BCS take

Lots of action this weekend in college football, especially in the SEC. Georgia at Tennessee, Auburn at Arkansas, Alabama at Ole Miss, and the big one, Florida at LSU. Luckily the games are perfectly scheduled and you will be able to watch the good ones on the beautiful CBS HD feed. The Texas game starts about 45 minutes before Florida/LSU, hopefully enough time for Texas to gain a big lead so we can switch back and forth between the games. Now let’s get more in depth on the games.

3 Alabama at 20 Ole Miss (+4) – 3:30 PM EST on CBS. Ole Miss definitely has a lot to prove today against Alabama if they want to be taken seriously in the SEC. Alabama is looking to bounce back after probably their worst game of the season. Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead is also looking to rebound, after going 7 of 21 for 107 yards in their loss to South Carolina. With the spread so close, mistakes will probably decide this one. Alabama seems like the more controlled team, and I see them winning the turnover battle. Take Alabama minus the points.

Colorado at 2 Texas (-33) – 7:15 PM EST on ESPN. At the start of the season I would have told you I was a little worried about this Colorado matchup, especially with the big game against OU the week after. Thankfully Colorado has struggled this year and I don’t see them putting up much of a fight. They are outmatched in every way, and have to deal with playing in front of 100,000 opposing fans. Basically there is no chance for the Buffaloes week. Texas wins big and will cover the 33 point spread.

1 Florida at 4 LSU (+9) – 8 PM EST on CBS. Night game at Death Valley, need I say more? LSU has won 32 consecutive Saturday night games, and I don’t see that changing this weekend. Tebow’s status is questionable, and even if he does go I don’t see him being 100%. Florida has had an extra week to prepare, but most of that time has probably been spent coddling Tim Tebow and stroking his ego. LSU is proving to be a good running team, and if you give Jordan Jefferson enough time he is a very capable quarterback. It really doesn’t get much better than this in college football. Florida’s 14 game winning streak ends tonight. Take LSU plus the points.