40 Acres Sports

Doesn’t have much a ring to it, though you gotta love the already growing legend of Vince Young.

Rumors are circulating that if Kirk Ferentz doesn’t take the Houston Texans job it’ll be offered to Denver Bronco offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. If Kubiak gets the job then he would be interested in adding much maligned (pre-Vince) Texas coordinator Greg Davis to his staff. Davis coached Kubiak when he was the quarterback at Texas A&M in the early 80’s.

I’m actually a [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] supporter when it comes to his teaching and gameplanning, but it would certainly be interesting to see who Mack Brown could bring in to replace him. Greg Robinson and Gene Chizik have infused a lot of excitement into the defense, a hot young offensive coordinator that would stick around for a while could be a good thing. Though breaking in a new QB and offensive coordinator at the same time would be an awful lot of change for one offseason. We can’t however afford to be breaking in a new offensive coordinator/scheme every year, it’s a much bigger transition than on the other side of the ball.

David Carr for Ricky Williams?

In other Texans rumors… Are they trying to set up an opening at quarterback so they can draft Vince Young? Rumors are floating around of a possible David Carr to the Miami Dolphins for [tag]Ricky Williams[/tag] trade in the works. The Texans would get Houstonian Vince Young, Ricky Williams playing for the league minimum, and a third round pick out of the deal while the Dolphins would end up with another average QB.

If the Dolphins are willing to do that deal I pull the trigger in a second.

Get a commemorative hardcover book, t-shirt, and a football when you subscribe.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Vince Young has scheduled a press conference for 3pm today and will announce he is headed for the NFL. Young will reportedly sign with Steve McNair’s agent Bus Cook.

Obviously disappointing news for Longhorn fans but probably the best decision for Vince. His stock is about as high as anyone’s could get right now and he’s probably got a chance for some endorsements coming off his legendary Rose Bowl performance. Also, the hometown Houston Texans are drafting number one overall and his mentor McNair’s Tennessee Titans are sitting at number three. I think things are setting up for him to head to the Titans and spend a year or two learning under McNair (who is unsigned but looks close to completing a deal) while he finishes up his career.

Young’s departure would leave the Horns unbelievably thin and inexperienced at the quarterback position for next season. Redshirt freshman Colt McCoy would be the only scholarship QB on campus right now and he’s never taken a snap. Fortunately, blue chip recruit Jevan Snead will also be on campus this Spring and will have a chance to go through practices with the team. Snead performed very well in yesterday’s US Army All-American Bowl and will compete for the starting job. We’ll have a complete look at the Longhorn depth chart for 2006 sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Again, tough news if true but we wish him the best and will immediately become fans of whatever team he ends up with.

Update

It’s official, good luck Vince.

Update 2

Just to clear something up, I didn’t mention Sherrod Harris, the other QB recruit coming in, because unlike Snead he won’t be here in the Spring and I think that puts him well behind McCoy and Snead. He definitely has the skills and smarts to make an impact at Texas but he’s more of a project and might not be able to compete for the position immediately.

After the back to back embarassing losses, basketball team is playing much better.

Huge promotion for [tag]Major Applewhite[/tag] as he was named as the next offensive coordinator at Rice University. After just a couple of years as a Graduate Assistant at Texas and one year as QB’s coach at Syracuse, the 27-year old former Horn will be taking over an offense that has been running the option for the last 12 years under former coach Ken Hatfield and will be asked to bring the Owl offense into this century.

Pretty tough job ahead for Major but it’s a great opportunity for him. I’ll defninitely be paying closer attention to [tag]Rice[/tag] games next season.

Hey look, a Major Applewhite and Chris Simms post in the same day. I hope this doesn’t create an ex-QB controversy.

I think a lot of non-Texas fans were rooting for Texas because of ESPN’s love for USC.

Maybe his dad will stop making negative, unfounded remarks about the Horns now.

[tag]Chris Simms[/tag] played well this afternoon as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on the Washington Redskins during the first weekend of the NFL playoffs but they came up a little short in the end. The former Longhorn QB was 25 of 38 for 198 yards and looked like a slower, less agile Vince Young on a 2 yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He led the Bucs into position for a game-tying score late in the fourth, but his perfect pass was dropped by Edell Shepherd and they then couldn’t convert a 4th down play.

Simms and Tampa Bay were killed by turnovers today as they gave an offensively inept Redskins team 14 early and easy points. They also had one last chance with 50 yards to go and one minute left on the clock but he had a pass batted at the line result in his second interception of the game. The game made my post about him getting too many passes tipped at the line back in November look prophetic.

Tough way to end the season but it sure looks like Chris has nailed down the starting job in Tampa Bay. Improve the offensive line this offseason, build around him and Cadillac Williams, add a little youth to that excellent defense and the Bucs should be a pretty good team next season.

Vince Young takes his great fortune and succeeds. Vick takes his and washes out.