40 Acres Sports

Robert Joseph and Andre Jones plead guilty to felony charges. Joseph gets time served and probation. Jones will serve 30 days in jail.

Freshman defensive tackle [tag]Andre Jones[/tag] has turned himself in after an arrest warrant was issued for a felony aggravated robbery charge. The charge stems from a July 27th robbery involving former teammate [tag]Robert Joseph[/tag], who was kicked off the team last month. According to the Austin PD, Joseph and Jones entered an apartment in east Austin last Friday. Joseph waved his gun at residents, including a 14 year old boy. Jones never flashed his gun, but made threats to indicate he was carrying a weapon.

Things are getting out of control this summer with 5 arrests in the last 2 months. I think it is clear that Mack Brown needs to take some serious action. Obviously Andre Jones should be kicked off the team, but Mack needs to find another way to prevent things like this from happening in the future. Recruiting efforts need to change. Discipline policies need to be more severe. Something needs to happen.

One thing I don’t understand about all of this is how some of these players can be so dumb. Do they not watch ESPN? Do they not see Pacman Jones losing millions of dollars because of his actions. Do they not see Michael Vick throwing away $100 million? I just can’t understand what makes you think you can pull a gun on people, steal their possessions, and then expect to still be able to play football. Frustrated just doesn’t express how I feel right now.

Promising true sophomore safety [tag]Robert Joseph[/tag] is no longer a Texas Longhorn. Joseph was arrested Saturday morning for apparently breaking into two cars outside the Omni Hotel in Austin. It doesn’t sound like he was trying to steal the cars or anything in them, he was just sitting there. Pretty strange behavior combined with the fact that it was the wee hours of the morning makes me wonder if he was completely in his right mind. Either way, the young man may be in serious trouble.

Head coach Mack Brown wasted absolutely no time in suspending Joseph indefinitely from the team. That indefinite period ended Monday as Joseph announced he would be leaving the University of Texas. He is officially transferring, but I’m guessing just like with a few other former Horns it might not have exactly been his idea to transfer. Either way, the arrest combined with already rumored academic issues have prematurely ended Joseph’s Longhorn career.

As a true freshman Joseph made a quick impact early in the season. He was getting playing time as a backup safety and nickel defensive back. He saw the field in crunch time against Ohio State so you know the Texas coaches trusted him. A shoulder injury ended his season early and I think the secondary suffered. He was going to have a big role in this season’s defense and likely would have been the starter in 2008 and 2009.

Best of luck to Robert wherever he ends up. He’s got enough talent that some school will give him a second chance, hopefully he’ll earn it.

I’ll update this post from time to time today with any news on National Signing Day including who has sent in their letter of intent and any other rumors going around. Most of the guys should be signed by around noon and then we’ll just be waiting around for Jonas Mouton’s decision this evening.

Morgan shocks Aggies and Seminoles

4-star linebacker Michael Morgan was expected to choose between Florida State and Texas A&M last night and surprised everyone when he announced he’d be headed to USC next fall. While the Trojans were in his final three, most experts believed he was headed to FSU or possibly to the Aggies if he decided he wanted to stay closer to home.

The announcement sent the Aggie fans into meltdown mode. He was a critical recruit and one they had been very confident about landing for a while. The Aggies had a down year on the field this season and it’s been reflected in their lack of success in recruiting, Morgan would have been a very nice addition to an otherwise average class.

Latest on Mouton

Seems like most experts are predicting Jonas Mouton will pick Michigan tonight when he announces his decision on Fox Sports West. There’s still people predicting Texas or USC and Mouton has kept things pretty close to the vest, so these are all just guesses and gut feelings. I think in the end Texas just got in too late to have a chance to completely win him over.

Signed letters of intent as of 9 a.m.

According to Geoff Ketchum over at Orangebloods.com, 19 players have already signed their letter of intent to play for the Horns as of about 9 a.m. The following players have been confirmed by the Orangebloods staff:

• [tag]Ben Alexander[/tag]
• [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag]
• [tag]Buck Burnette[/tag]
• [tag]Antwan Cobb[/tag]
• [tag]Dustin Earnest[/tag]
• [tag]Brian Ellis[/tag]
• [tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag]
• [tag]Robert Joseph[/tag]
• [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag]
• [tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag]
• [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag]
• [tag]Steven Moore[/tag]
• [tag]Jared Norton[/tag]
• [tag]Phillip Payne[/tag]
• [tag]Jevan Snead[/tag]
• [tag]Greg Smith[/tag]
• [tag]Roy Watts[/tag]
• [tag]JMarcus Webb[/tag]
• [tag]Montre Webber[/tag]

Steve Moore was the first one in this morning at around 7:30 and there’s been a steady flow since. I’m glad to see Ben Alexander‘s name already on the list as I had a slightly bad feeling about him. He’s out of state and several schools from the ACC and SEC have still been recruiting him since he committed back in June.

All letters of intent are in (11 a.m.)

The last six of the 25 man class are signed and Orangebloods has confirmation on them. Add the following names to the Class of 2006:

• [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag]
• [tag]James Henry[/tag]
• [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag]
• [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag]
• [tag]Josh Marshall[/tag]
• [tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag]

Now just waiting on Mouton…

Mouton to Michigan (4 p.m.)

His press conference isn’t for several more hours but it appears Jonas Mouton has already made his decision. Lloyd Carr’s official press release on the Wolverines’ signees confirms that Mouton has signed his letter of intent and makes tonight’s press conference just a formality.

That wraps up things for the Longhorns today as everybody we knew about is already in and no one new is really left out there. We’ll have an overview of the entire class soon as well as a position-by-position breakdown of next year including the new guys in the coming days/weeks.