40 Acres Sports

Probably my favorite press conference every year, Texas head coach Mack Brown 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:

Some great photos of the future Longhorns making their college choice official yesterday. The photos of Taylor Bible from Inside Texas are awesome. His choice of a Texas fishing/hunting choice is perfect if you heard how country he is during Under Armour game interviews. Check out a selection of the photos below:

Reggie Wilson

Darius Terrell

Jackson Jeffcoat

Tevin Jackson & Adrian Phillips

Taylor Bible

Be sure to head over to Inside Texas, Statesman.com, and DallasNews.com for more photos of these recruits and all the future Horns.

Texas head coach Mack Brown talks to ESPNU about the incredible haul of recruits he brought in today and about Garrett Gilbert replacing Colt McCoy. Watch…

The first Wednesday of every February is the big one for recruitniks. National Signing Day 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

• Taylor Bible
• DeAires Cotton
• Ashton Dorsey
• Dominic Espinosa
• Jordan Hicks (first one in at 6am)
• Chris Jones
• William Russ
• Reggie Wilson
• Aaron Benson
• Greg Daniels (this one had me a little nervous after weekend rumors)
• Tevin Jackson
• Adrian Phillips
• Traylon Shead
• Darius White (after how long it took to bring him in over OU, glad he was in early)
• John Harris
• Trey Hopkins
• Darius Terrell
• Bryant Jackson
• Mike Davis
• Carrington Byndom
• Jackson Jeffcoat
• Demarco Cobbs (last one is in!)

Spring Enrollees

• Case McCoy
• Adrian White
• Connor Wood

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.

Round Rock Stony Point defensive end Tevin Mims was the last recruit to join Texas’ 5th ranked 2009 recruiting class but he’s excited to be a Longhorn. Mims exploded during his senior season and went from a relative unknown to a highly sought after 4-star player. When he finally got the offer in January from his boyhood favorite he jumped on it quickly.

Watch Tevin discuss his commitment to UT on National Signing Day below:

College coaches are not allowed by NCAA rules to talk about potential recruits or commits until National Signing Day. With signatures from all 20 commits this morning, Texas head coach Mack Brown finally has a chance to talk about each of the future Longhorns and breaks down each one on film. Mack sits down in front of reporters and talks to reporters for nearly 30 minutes and it is definitely worth your time to sit down and watch.

Watch Mack talking about the class and discussing each of the recruits below:

Many thanks to Statesman.com for again providing embeddable video of Mack’s press conferences.

Garrett Gilbert and Paden Kelley sign their Letters of Intent (Image: Statesman.com)

Wednesday is National Signing Day and we’ll have frequent updates throughout the day on the 40 Acres. This is the first day high school senior recruits can sign a binding letter of intent to play college football. The Longhorns have 20 commits in the 2009 class with 8 already on campus and 12 expected to send in their LOI tomorrow. We’ll have updates when those letters come in as well as the important news on the two remaining targets, linebacker Jarvis Jones and corner Dre Kirkpatrick.

Follow @40AcresSports on Twitter (after the jump) and keep track of other #signingday news as well.

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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
Emmanuel Acho	LB		Dallas
Nolan Brewster	DB		Denver, CO
Mark Buchanan	OL		Austin
Dan Buckner	WR		Allen
Brock Fitzhenry	RB		Giddings
Blake Gideon	DB		Leander
DJ Grant	WR		Austin
DeSean Hales	RB		Klein
Antoine Hicks	ATH		Mansfield
Jeremy Hills	RB		Alief
Jarvis Humphrey	DT		Cedar Hill
Dravannti Johnson	LB		Nederland
DJ Monroe	DB		Angleton
Tre Newton	RB		Southlake
Luke Poehlmann	OL		Brenham
Kheeston Randall	DT		Beaumont
Ryan Roberson	RB		Brenham
David Snow	OL		Gilmer
Justin Tucker	K		Austin
Aaron Williams	DB		Round Rock

Congratulations to the newest Texas Longhorns!

The recruitment of 5-star running back Darrell Scott has been a whirlwind to follow for Texas fans, but that all ends today on National Signing Day as Scott will announce his college choice at 11:50am Central. ESPNU and ESPN.com will carry his announcement live along with those of several of the nation’s other top undecided players.

Rivals.com’s top running back in the country, Scott has narrowed it down to Colorado and Texas but no one is sure (maybe even Darrell himself) which one it’s going to be. Texas threw their hat into the ring for Scott’s services relatively late in the game, really not beginning to recruit him until he show interest early last Fall. At the time the Horns were seen as a long shot against schools such as Colorado, Florida, and UCLA.

The Texas coaches including Bobby Kennedy and Ken Rucker were able to build up a relationship with the young man and bring him in to Austin for an official visit. As always, Darrell left town extremely impressed with the coaches, the facilities, and the city. Texas quickly went from underdog to one of the favorites.

Next came Scott’s trip to San Antonio for the US Army All-American Bowl in early January. While in town Scott was impressed by the love he was shown by Texas fans, tons of people wishing him luck and flashing him the Hook ‘em. And the big news, Jamaal Charles was leaving Texas early for the NFL Draft. Suddenly the depth chart was wide open and the experts were calling the Longhorns the favorites.

In the last 48 hours things have gotten truly crazy. All the inside sources, Darrell’s coaches, and the experts believed that he was clearly leaning towards Texas and would sign with the Horns. Then things went quiet. Family pressure has been pushing him to Colorado all along to play with his uncle (Josh Smith) and it is believed that has intensified in the last two days. Things have gone from Texas being the clear leader Monday, to 50-50 yesterday morning, and now it appears that the family has decided he’ll be headed Colorado. No matter which school he chooses, I hope Darrell is able to make the decision that is best for him and his future.

We all find out where Darrell is headed later today, stay tuned…

Update: According to Geoff Ketchum over at Orangebloods, Texas has “zero shot” of receiving Scott’s commitment today. The poor kid’s recruitment has become a “circus.” (10:40 am)

Update: Here is the link to ESPN’s live feed. Scott is supposed to announce at 11:50. (11:26 am)

Update: It’s official: Darrell Scott is headed to Colorado. He sounds like a well spoken young man, it’s a shame things turned out the way they did because it sounds like there’s some questionable things going on around him. (11:54 am)

Oklahoma recruit Donald Stephenson signed on the dotted line Wednesday like most of the nation’s top prospects, but he didn’t sign with his teammates in front of the local paper’s lone reporter and photographer. And he didn’t fax it in from the coaches’ office or get the school secretary’s help in the front office.

Instead Stephenson faxed in his letter of intent from Office Depot because he’s currently suspended from school. Apparently some “bad luck” made him break into cars and steal an iPod, a purse, and some caramel bars with his friends. He never denies he committed the crime in the article.

To top things off he accepts a favor from the Office Depot clerk because he’s an athlete, a clear violation of NCAA rules:

An Office Depot employee named Jeanne lights up when told she’s faxing copies for Oklahoma’s latest recruit. She doesn’t question why Stephenson’s at her counter at 8:58 a.m. instead of at school.

“Voila! Five pages sent,” Jeanne exclaims, then shows Stephenson the confirmation page. “And the fax is on me. You don’t have to pay for it.”

Stephenson flashes his dimpled smile.

“That’s the least I can do,” Jeanne gushes. “We’ve got a celebrity here!”

Stephenson finishes his eventful day of signing with Oklahoma and NCAA violations by flying through a school zone while driving without a license or proof of insurance. I think there’s an opening at Big Red Sports/Imports in Oklahoma City, sounds like we’ve got a top candidate here.

Open Letter From Your Recruit on Signing Day. Funniest thing I have read all week. Not for the easily offended.

We’ll be updating this list as we get news (mostly from Rivals) of which players have officially signed their letters of intent and if everything goes as planned will be the newest Texas Longhorns in August. The first two players to become Longhorns were Ian Harris out of San Antonio and Cody Johnson from Waller. Keep checking back here because we’ll update this list as we hear more names.

Confirmed Signings

• Ian Harris
• Cody Johnson
• Kyle Hix
• Tray Allen
• Michael Wilcoxon
• Russell Carter
• Aundre McGaskey
• Tyrell Higgins
• Sam Acho
• James Kirkendoll
• Brandon Collins
• G.J. Kinne
• Ahmard Howard
• Keenan Robinson
• Malcolm Williams
• Blaine Irby
• Earl Thomas
• Christian Scott

Early Enrollees

• Curtis Brown
• John Chiles
• Michael Huey
• Andre Jones
• Ben Wells
• Fozzy Whittaker

Update: Just added Blaine Irby and Earl Thomas to the list which leaves only Christian Scott remaining. The stud safety just was the last player to commit to the Horns (just this weekend) and it looks like he’ll be the last one to fax in his letter of intent as well. Hopefully he’s not having any second thoughts. (10:38 am)

Update: Christian Scott’s letter is in and confirmed by both Rivals and Inside Texas (thanks Eric!). That means all 24 recruits, 18 today plus the 6 already on campus, are signed and will officially be Longhorns either this summer or in the fall if their grades are in order. Congrats to the class of 2007 and welcome to the family. (11:58 am)