40 Acres Sports

Defensive tackle Derek Johnson is a big dude. Can he play as good as he looks? (Image: MBTF)

After nearly two whole months without Texas football, Friday was finally the first day of Spring practice. No tidbits yet (practices are closed to the public) but the official site does have a short video to watch and a nice photo gallery as well.

Wow. The kid is huge. The newest Texas linebacker commit Steve Edmond is 6-foot-3 and in the junior highlight video below he is flying around killing people. He might end up at defensive end in college but wherever he plays he is going to make a people fear him. Watch:

The struggling Texas basketball team suffered a setback even in a win Saturday against Texas Tech. Early in the game starting point guard [tag]Dogus Balbay[/tag] went down in a non-contact injury and Monday we learned the junior from Turkey had torn the ACL in his left knee. He will at least miss the rest of the season.

From the Statesman…

“I think it just buckled on him,” coach Rick Barnes said. “As soon as he went down, he knew.”

Balbay, a junior who started 22 of the Longhorn’ 27 games, led the team with 3.9 assists a game. He had a 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He was also the Longhorns’ best defender.

“We’re gonna miss Dogus’ toughness,” Barnes said. “We’re gonna miss his defense.”

With Balbay done, the Horns will need a guard to step up from among the trio of [tag]JCovan Brown[/tag], [tag]Jai Lucas[/tag], and [tag]Justin Mason[/tag]. A week ago Brown would have been the overwhelming favorite to nab Balbay’s minutes, but after starting two straight games the freshman only played 5 minutes against Tech. Hopefully someone steps up on both ends of the court or the free fall will continue.

Despite strong performances from freshmen Avery Bradley and the newly patient Jordan Hamilton, the Longhorns continued their freefall Wednesday night at Missouri. The team fell to the Tigers 82-77 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score. Video “highlights” of the Horns falling to 6-5 in conference play are below…

Before the first Junior Day for the 2011 class even started Saturday, the new commits started rolling in on Friday. Star wide receiver [tag]Jaxon Shipley[/tag] out of Brownwood (not Colt McCoy’s roommate) was the very first one Friday afternoon and the commits didn’t stop until Saturday night when lineman [tag]Marcus Hutchins[/tag] was the 13th high school junior to tell Mack Brown and Co. he wanted to be a Longhorn.

Here’s the full list of future Horns…

• QB [tag]David Ash[/tag]
• FB [tag]Joe Bergeron[/tag]
• OL [tag]Josh Cochran[/tag]
• OL [tag]Taylor Doyle[/tag]
• DB [tag]Sheroid Evans[/tag]
• OL [tag]Marcus Hutchins[/tag]
• DT [tag]Desmond Jackson[/tag]
• TE [tag]MJ McFarland[/tag]
• LB [tag]Chet Moss[/tag]
• WR [tag]Miles Onyegbule[/tag]
• DB [tag]Leroy Scott[/tag]
• WR [tag]Jaxon Shipley[/tag]
• ATH [tag]Mykkele Thompson[/tag]

We’ll have thoughts on each recruits (as well as ratings predictions) soon.

Should Texas retire Colt McCoy's #12 jersey?

As we approach the Davey O’Brien award ceremony on February 15th in Fort Worth, let us think about the legacy that was handed down to Colt McCoy.

Legacy is defined as what is handed down from the past. The legacy and legend that is Vince Young will forever be the heaviest burden that any first year quarterback could have ever faced. Maxwell, Davey O’Brien and National Championship are awards that will forever seal VY’s legacy for all Texas fans. What you do with that legacy in this case is what is truly remarkable. Colt McCoy added another record by becoming the winningest quarterback in history with 45 wins.

Here is a list of accomplishments Colt put up in just his senior year:

• Big XII Offensive Player of the Year
• First Team All American by Associated Press
• Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
• Davey O’Brien Award
• Archie Manning Award
• Maxwell Award
• Walter Camp Award

(more …)

Probably my favorite press conference every year, Texas head coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] 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.

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

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

Spring Enrollees

• [tag]Case McCoy[/tag]
• [tag]Adrian White[/tag]
• [tag]Connor Wood[/tag]

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.

Follow along live with 40 Acres Sports on Twitter and below for our thoughts and analysis during today’s Texas game versus [tag]Baylor[/tag] on the Big 12 Network. We’ll be live right around tip so join us to discuss the game at 3:00pm Saturday.

Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ’em!

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