40 Acres Sports

[tag]Justin Blalock[/tag], the third Texas Longhorn taken in this year’s draft, was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 39th pick overall and the seventh pick of the second round. And I guess the Falcons tried to jump up into the first round to get Blalock, but were lucky enough for him to fall into their lap in the second round.

Blalock is versatile and durable (51 straight starts), and the Atlanta coaching staff seems pretty ecstatic to have him on the team. Let’s see if he can keep Mike Vick healthy.

The second Longhorn selected of the day, cornerback [tag]Aaron Ross[/tag] was drafted 20th overall by the New York Giants.

I was hoping Ross would fall a couple more spots to the Cowboys but the Giants are a good fit for him as well. The team needed more talent and depth. Ross should be able to contribute in the secondary immediately and could be the starter opposite Sam Madison by the time the season starts. He also should be able to contribute to the Giants as a punt returner as well.

The first Texas Longhorn has been taken in the 2007 NFL Draft as [tag]Michael Griffin[/tag] was selected by Tennessee Titans with the 19th overall pick of the first round.

I’m ecstatic to see Griffin going to Tennessee to join Vince Young. I’m a big Titans fan, as most Texas fans probably are these days, and it’ll be great getting to watch Griffin, Young, Bo Scaife, and Ahmard Hall play together in the NFL. This definitely means I’ll be ordering the NFL Sunday Ticket so I can catch all their games this season here in Dallas.

The Titans had one of the league’s worst defenses last season and lost Pacman Jones, so adding Griffin to the secondary should help them get the ball back in VY’s hands a little quicker.

It’s still early in the NFL Draft and lots of college superstars are finding out which mediocre NFL team they’ll have to spend at least four or five years with, but for Texas fans the only interesting thing so far has been the debut of the new [tag]Vince Young[/tag] commercial for Madden 08:

Decent commercial but not too exciting and no video of the game. EA hasn’t shown any actual gameplay footage at the draft the last few years so we’ll likely have to wait to learn more about the game in the coming weeks.

The Dallas Morning News’ Rick Gosselin has been one of the more accurate draft prognosticators of the last few years and he’s posted his final mock draft this morning. His draft is definitely a bit different than most I’ve seen this week (Amobi Okoye is at 23 but I haven’t seen him below 10 in a while). He’s got two Longhorns in the first round, including cornerback Aaron Ross heading to the Dallas Cowboys at 22.

Here’s how Gosselin thinks of the Longhorns he has going in the first two rounds:

Round 1

22. Dallas – [tag]Aaron Ross[/tag]
The Cowboys need depth at cornerback, and Ross gives it to them. He won the Thorpe Award as college football’s top defensive back in 2006. The Cowboys also need help on special teams, finishing 21st in the NFL in punt returns. Ross has an 11.8-yard career punt return average with three touchdowns.

32. Indianapolis – [tag]Michael Griffin[/tag]
The Colts lost starting cornerbacks Jason David and Nick Harper in free agency. Griffin would allow the Colts to move starting safety Marlon Jackson back to his true cornerback position. Colts coach Tony Dungy likes DBs who hit – and Griffin leaves Texas with 364 career tackles.

Round 2

55. Seattle – [tag]Justin Blalock[/tag]
The Seahawks made a mistake when they allowed Pro Bowl guard Steve Hutchinson to leave in free agency in 2006. A year later, they are still trying to fix it. Blalock started 51 games at tackle for Texas, but the Seahawks project him at guard because of his height (6-3).

IGN has a hands-on preview of NCAA Football 08 up. Still no video of the game.

Tully Janszen and Clint Haney are now competitive bass fishing. Janszen could go in late rounds of draft as deep snapper.

As an NFL fan, this Saturday is the second biggest day of the season and like many fans I’ll be bunkered down in front of the TV to watch the entire first day of the NFL Draft. Make the first round a little more interesting by making your own projections for the first 15 picks.

Use this link to sign up for the ESPN NFL Draft Forecast and you’ll join the “BevoSports.com” group. You’ll need a free ESPN account to play but our group is a public one so anyone can sign up. Feel free to invite your friends to the group. The picks lock in at 10:55 a.m. Saturday morning.

Sign up now and join our group so that my wife doesn’t win this like she did our NCAA Tourney pool.

As a freshman [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] had the best season ever for a Longhorn basketball player. [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] broke Texas passing records despite missing a game due to injury and only being a redshirt freshman. Sophomore baseball star [tag]Kyle Russell[/tag] has set baseball power records with plenty of games left to play in the season; It’s a great time to be a Texas fan and we’re lucky to get a chance to see all three of these guys play for the Horns in a single year.

Vote below on which one of the three amazing Texas athletes has had (is having) the best season:

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It’s not new but I was just found this 2005 national championship season highlight video up on YouTube:

Great use of music and love the black and white and the quotes at the very beginning. I can’t wait for the season to begin (both for the Horns and VY and the Titans.)

Video by WelcomeToAustin on Orangebloods.com.