40 Acres Sports

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 [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] 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., [tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag]) 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 [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] anywhere at wide receiver. Not in the top 3 at either flanker or split end. True freshman [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] right behind [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] is encouraging but overall no Williams seems like bigger story. Let’s hope the light comes on.
• Former tackle [tag]Greg Smith[/tag] has been back at the position for less than two weeks but he’s already listed ahead of [tag]Peter Ullman[/tag] as the blocking tight end.
• [tag]Michael Huey[/tag] vs. [tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] vs. [tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] 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?

Defense

• Not sure what we’ve got behind starting nose guard [tag]Roy Miller[/tag]. The depth would be less frightening if one of the two guys behind had stepped up and taken the role.
• Aaron Lewis continues to impress with his talent and diversity. It looks like he’ll be on the field a lot this year somewhere. I’m assuming he’ll be at DT in passing situations and DE in sure running situations.
• Just stay healthy Sergio. Please.
• [tag]Jared Norton[/tag] has worked his butt off and earned a co-starting nod along with [tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag]. I still wonder how much he’ll play against teams who spread the field. This is one of those situational spots where I think we’ll see each player used to best utilize their strengths.
• [tag]Emmanuel Acho[/tag] in the two-deep is exciting. Some fans were actually questioning his recruitment but he’s already backing up [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] a week after taking his first college class. He and his brother are impressive.
• If [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] is the team’s fifth best corner then I think he needs to redshirt. How often does your fifth string CB see the field? There’s enough versatile safeties to fill in if needed. Of course the coaches may feel he’ll be in the two-deep sooner rather than later.
• Freshman galore at safety. Wow. Add the top five safeties together and they’re not as old as Quan Cosby. They may be my favorite group of young players to watch though. How bout that two-star true freshman [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] getting the start in his very first game? I actually think the fact that he’s the third team placeholder tells you a lot about what kind of player he’s going to be.

Special Teams

• Just let us find a punter who doesn’t have me closing my eyes when he trots out there, that’s all I ask. Is that so hard?
• I know Mack wants reliable guys returning kicks but can we find someone other than Cosby and Shipley to be those guys? With our complete lack of depth at wideout I’ll have my fingers crossed every time we return a kick. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Cosby on punt returns all year but I’m hoping someone among the three young guys steps up quickly on kickoffs.
• I don’t remember ever noticing Derek Lokey was our deep snapper last year, let’s hope this is the only time all season I mention Greg Smith and snap in the same sentence.

1. reply to  #1

   Position Preview: Cornerbacks » Bevo Sports

   August 30th, 2008 at 12:15 pm

   […] The guys behind the top two should also see a lot of the field as the defense should play a lot of nickel against the many spread offenses they’ll face this season. Sophomores Chykie Brown and Curtis Brown (no relation) are both gifted players that stand over six feet tall. Chykie has performed so well in spring and fall practices that on the first depth chart of the year he was actually listed as a co-starter with Beasley. […]