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Redshirt freshman [tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] may have had the most impressive and important debut Saturday night but nine true freshmen including quarterback [tag]Garrett Gilbert[/tag] burned their redshirts against Louisiana-Monroe. Here are notes on the nine youngsters who played:

• [tag]Eryon Barnett[/tag] – Played on defense late in the game.
• [tag]Marcus Davis[/tag] – Played on defense late in the game.
• [tag]Garrett Gilbert[/tag] – Came into the game to a standing ovation in the 4th quarter. Played one drive and led the backups to a nice touchdown drive. Looked poised in the pocket and moved well, completing 4 of 5 passes for 46 yards. Finished things off with a nice 12-yard TD run that showed he can do things on the ground as well.
• [tag]Marquise Goodwin[/tag] – Fast! The track start became a football scholarship player the moment he stepped on the field on a kickoff return. During Gilbert’s drive Goodwin showed that he can also do things as a receiver. Caught 3 passes for 39 yards, including a short hitch route that he took 29 yards and was a shoelace away from using his speed to take it to the house.
• [tag]Calvin Howell[/tag] – Played on defense relatively early. Got a lot of bad TV exposure as he committed two 15-yard penalties with a facemask and late QB hit. Finished with 1 assisted tackle.
• [tag]Barrett Matthews[/tag] – Played some special teams and was in at tight end on Gilbert’s scoring drive.
• [tag]Alex Okafor[/tag] – Played early and often on the defensive line. Okafor was one of the most active and impressive players on the Horns’ defense regardless of classification. Had 4 total tackles including 2 huge tackles for loss on a goal line stand.
• [tag]Kenny Vaccaro[/tag] – The first true freshman to play as he took field on game’s opening kickoff. Very active and looks like he’ll be key member of kick coverage teams all year. Tied for team lead in tackles with 6 including 4 solos.
• [tag]Mason Walters[/tag] – Came in and played on the line with Gilbert and the second team offense.

Lots of [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] news this week that we’re just now catching up on. When the Horns were coming back to practice earlier this week from Spring Break word was out that he was working hard and impressing the coaches and had risen to the top of the running back depth chart. His performance on the field also had the Texas coaches worrying less about his weight:

Johnson’s personal battle of the bulge has dogged him throughout his college career. But [Mack] Brown is learning to gauge other factors than merely the scales when looking at the 5-foot-11, 255-pound Johnson and his productivity and value for the Longhorns.

“We’ve quit trying to get Cody to lose weight, we’re working with body fat and we think that’s the key to it,” Brown said. “He looks like he’s in good shape. He came back in good shape after the break. We feel like that he’s doing a really good job.”

But then on Wednesday Johnson tweaked his hamstring and threw the whole thing back in the air. The injury isn’t too serious but he will miss the next two weeks of practice including the spring scrimmage on April 5th. This will open things up for [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] and Fozzy Whittaker to get more practice reps and impress the coaching staff, and also possibly may make it even less likely that incoming true freshman [tag]Chris Whaley[/tag] will redshirt.

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?

(more …)

Position Rating: B-
Starter: Lamarr Houston, Roy Miller
Reserves: Ben Alexander, Aaron Lewis, Michael Wilcoxon, ???

Defensive tackle is one of the most exciting positions on the Texas defense going into 2008 but also the spot where depth is the biggest concern. [tag]Roy Miller[/tag] and [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] are the starters and might be the best pair of interior defenders in the conference. The complete lack of both proven depth and warm bodies behind them could mean big trouble if either of the top two goes down.

Miller saw significant playing time as the third member of the tackle rotation last season and was one of the defense’s most consistent performers. This year the big run-stopping DT out of Killeen will be leaned on to be more of a playmaker while also holding down blockers to allow the defensive ends to get after the quarterback. Next to Miller will be the former defensive end Houston, who might be the player that has Texas fans the most excited. It’s been a long time since the team has had a pass-rushing presence on the interior, but the noise coming from insiders is that Houston is going to be a force on the interior. Both players have incredible upside and could be early round NFL draft picks soon.

Behind the starters things get a lot murkier as both on and off field issues have left the cupboard pretty bare at the position. Andre Jones, Brian Ellis, and Tyrell Higgins were all going to be relied on this season and now all are out of the program. The first player off the bench might be another former defensive end in [tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag] who will probably continue to play both positions. The biggest key to the position will be the development of [tag]Ben Alexander[/tag] and [tag]Michael Wilcoxon[/tag]. The team desparately needs two guys to step up from that second group to be able to spell the starters or else promising true freshmen [tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] and [tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag] better be ready in a hurry.

Update: In surprising news, [tag]Tyrell Higgins[/tag] is back on the roster as a walk-on.

Related Links

• Quarterbacks preview
• Running backs preview
• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Offensive line preview
• Defensive ends preview
• Linebackers preview
• Cornerbacks preview
• Safeties preview

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With the first official depth chart released for the [tag]Arkansas State[/tag] we can officially do our first second guessing of the 2007 season. Let’s complain examine the defensive side of the ball first:

It’s just Arky State so I’m not going to get to worked up over anything on this depth chart. It’s the first game of the year so I think guys who have been here longer are going to have the edge over the young guys who have only been on campus a month. It’ll be interesting to see if the freshmen and sophomores battling for spots can show enough against ASU to see increased time against TCU.

The two-deep depth chart for the Arkansas State game has been released and is available on the official site. Like there is every year there’s a lot of co-starters on these early lists. The most interesting notes on here is that we have co-starters at right right guard in [tag]Chris Hall[/tag] and [tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] and also at both safety positions. We’ll look into the depth chart in more detail tonight tomorrow.