40 Acres Sports

That noise you hear is thousands of Texans fans groaning & tearing up their season tickets.

A quick look at the Longhorns I don’t think will be going in the first round on Saturday. At different points in their careers (and even at times this year) some of these guys were looked at as first round guys, but most likely Vince Young and Michael Huff will go in the top ten and be the only Longhorns drafted in the first round. Six former Longhorns are likely assured of being taken in one of the seven rounds in this weekend’s draft while three more sit just on the outside with their fingers crossed.

Cedric Griffin, Jon Scott, David Thomas, and Rod Wright

This set of Longhorns will likely all be drafted on the first day in the second or third rounds. Either Griffin or Wright could be the first one off the board. Griffin has good size & strength and the versatility to play either cornerback or safety at the next level. Unlike many of the corners being drafted ahead of him, he also has good cover skills. He doesn’t make perfect adjustments to the ball when it’s in the air, but he’s always in the right place. Better in zone coverage than man, he might end up becoming an excellent safety in the league. Griffin could go early in the second round to Buffalo or Arizona, two teams in need of secondary help but not likely to take a CB in the first round.

Wright also could go early in the second round, I’ve even seen him going as early as to the Steelers as the last pick of the first round in one mock draft. Wright has all the physical tools to make scouts drool, he’s big, strong, quick, and possesses superior athleticism. However, the production just wasn’t there the last two years while he battled double teams and injury and teams wonder about his motivation and effort. He has Pro Bowl ability and if he steps up the increased challenge of the NFL will be an absolute steal in the middle of the second or possibly even the third round. He might work as a defensive end in a 3-4 defense. I see him possibly going to whichever of Cleveland, Baltimore, or St. Louis doesn’t take a DT in the first round. If someone takes Michigan’s Gabe Watson over Wright they’ll regret it in three years.

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3-year deal to endorse service that allows fans to bid on right to purchase face value tickets.

During his recruitment, I thought Sanchez seemed like a good kid, now he’s in serious trouble.

Here’s our projections for how the first round of this Saturday’s NFL Draft will go down. After the first seven picks all hell breaks loose as Matt and I very greatly on who we think goes where. Just one of the many reasons why the NFL Draft is like Christmas and Opening Day rolled into one weekend for both NFL and college football fans.

We’ll have a little further analysis and thoughts on where the other Longhorns like David Thomas and Cedric Griffin will be headed in the next couple of days.

Here’s the picks for the First Annual BevoSports Mock Draft:

The Tennessean asks the three top quarterback prospects fifty useless questions but actually gets some interesting answers…

What’s in your CD player right now?

Matt Leinart: Billy Joel.
Jay Cutler: “I have XM radio.”
Vince Young: Yolanda Adams.

Biggest pet peeve?

Matt Leinart: People chewing with mouth open.
Jay Cutler: Slow drivers.
Vince Young: Losing.

Biggest fear?

Matt Leinart: Failure.
Jay Cutler: Heights.
Vince Young: None.

Leinart’s answer to that first question is really embarassing. Billy Joel? Are you kidding me? Do people still listen to him? Meanwhile Young’s biggest peeve and his biggest fear explain 41-38 in the Rose Bowl nicely. While Leinart was worrying about people with bad manners and thinking about failing, Vince was busy playing the game of his life with no fear. And of course Cutler was at home on his couch watching the game on TV.

Jamaal Charles in the top 5, we’ll see if he gets enough carries to put up big numbers.

They need to be buying ads telling them to trade the pick.

Disappointing. Let’s hope he can keep his head on straight for a year.

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the Texas Longhorns and Arkansas Razorbacks have an agreement for a home-and-home series beginning in 2008. No one has signed on the dotted line yet, but the two SWC rivals would meet in Austin in 2008 and in Fayettenam Fayetteville in 2009.

The two teams are also exploring the possibility of bringing the series to Dallas after the first two years if the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma is turned into a home-and-home. According to Kirk Bohls, that is an increasingly likely situation. The new Texas-[tag]Arkansas[/tag] series would likely take place in the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington.

I’m personally I’m not a huge fan of this decision. I love that we’re scheduling bigger name opponents from a power conference instead of more Sam Houston States, but there’s very little to gain from playing the Piggies. With the current state of their program, there’s absolutely nothing to gain from playing them. It’s a huge rivalry game that if we win it was a game we were supposed to win and if we lose it’s big news. All this does is help them recruit Texas better, especially if the game is played in Dallas every year.

I’d rather schedule opponents like Cal out of the Pac 10, Penn State or Wisconsin out of the Big 10, or Boston College out of the ACC. All those games would bring big national exposure, would be exciting to watch, and expose the program to new recruiting areas. They’re also teams that would usually be tougher opponents and bring more prestige than a win over a team like Arkansas. They’re also teams that I usually think are vastly overrated by the national media.

The Texas-Arkansas matchup should be an interesting game in 2008, we’ll see what kind of team Houston Nutt and Mitch Mustain bring to Austin and if the Horns can bring the kind of fire and hatred the Razorbacks had the last two times the teams met.