40 Acres Sports

I know a lot of us burnt orange types are scoffing those little upstarts in Boise right now for being ranked ahead of Texas.  They play in the WAC, which might as well be the Sun Belt of the West Coast.  Well, they’re bringing back 20 starters from a team that beat TCU last season – no small feat, except that those Frogs came out of a weak-sister conference as well. I think anytime a team has gone 26-1 over the last two seasons and returns that many guys NOT placing them in the top 10 is criminal.  I’d be more alarmed at Florida losing Saint Tim and being ranked ahead of UT (they’re 4th, the Horns are 5th) than Boise’s AP ranking.

Bringing back 20 starters from an undefeated BCS win season is unreal.  I can’t bring twenty out of twenty-two socks back from the dryer, yet the Smurf Turf crew is loaded.  Heck, the one guy on defense they lost – Kyle Wilson – is probably going to start at corner for the Jets unless they get the Revis situation under control. Boise State has a little left-handed Major clone with the unfortunate name of Kellen Moore.  If he was in Lubbock last season, he would have worn a practice jersey with “Brock” or “Rusty” on the back.  This kid has lost one game over the past two seasons – some 3rd rate bowl in San Francisco to TCU, later avenged – and put up 39 TD’s to 3 picks in 2009.  I don’t care if he’s playing East Dillon 14 times a year – that’s impressive.  I can’t even do that on varsity mode on NCAA 10 with Colt and Ship.

Most Longhorn fans I know think Boise and remember a bunch of trick plays, a marriage proposal to a cheerleader, a dumbfounded Bob Stoops, and a night in January five years ago where they were every UT diehard on the planet’s second favorite team.  They do have some games this year that don’t involve weak conference play – opening at Virginia Tech and then having Oregon State coming to town two weeks later.  If they win both of those and run the table they can go to the championship game for all I care.  The David versus Goliath matchup against someone like Bama, Ohio State, or even UT will be compelling television and a probable mismatch.  Beating two loss OU was magical, sure.  These guys want to play with the grown-ups now, and they’ll be treated as such when the time comes.  I don’t think they’re the third best team in college football, but they can take a #3 ranking in the preseason when we’re comparing stats, past performances, and predicting the future.  Why not?  The paper is all there – starters returning, 09 won-loss record, and a favorable schedule.

Is it fair that they’ll play one, maybe two (if the Beavers knock off the Frogs in Jerryworld week one) ranked teams all year and Texas has a four game stretch with Tech, UCLA, OU, and Nebraska?  Hell no it isn’t.  There’s a very real chance we get to cheer on the BCS computers after the Horns go to Lincoln and win and the Broncos get San Jose State at home the same night.  The only real injustice a #3 preseason ranking does is if it results in shutting an undefeated BCS team out of the championship game.  If that happens, I’ll get back on my soapbox and whine.

Hell. Yes.

The state’s top player and maybe the program’s most important recruit of the last 5 years has committed to the Longhorns. Cibolo Steele running back Malcolm Brown officially committed to Texas today, causing many Texas fans to step back from the ledge. Once considered a near Texas “lock”, the longer Brown’s recruitment dragged on the more panicked fans became that he might end up choosing Alabama.

Watch Brown’s junior highlight video below to see what they hype is about:

Red Out Around the World

Apparently Nebraska doesn’t like to let things go. Some fans (I assume) are starting a campaign called “Red Out Around the World,” showing the “world” (does anyone really care) how mad they are about the Big 12 Championship. I guess it was all just to much to handle and they had to up and leave the conference.

Nebraska. A place of integrity, family, commitment. Where traditions are forged in the furnace of July. But hardened on Saturday nights in November. A place where the best thing about summer, is when it turns into fall. These last few months, thunderstorms weren’t the only power building over the Great Plains….

Wait? What?!? Forged in the furnace of July? An 85 degree furnace? Since apparently the summers are pretty boring there, it looks like they had nothing better to do than make this video.

And you know what else is sad? I could have made a better video with my iPhone 4.

Updated the video below. The first one was taken down.

Red Out Around the World

Great early coverage of Texas football moving on from Colt McCoy to new quarterback Garrett Gilbert from ESPN. Read Ivan Maisel’s excellent article on Gilbert with quotes from Texas coach Mack Brown, McCoy, and current teammates, and then be sure watch the video of on the story.

Link: Texas moves on with Garrett Gilbert

Finally some of the draft experts are seeing what Texas fans (and anyone who watched Texas games) already knew: defensive tackle Lamarr Houston is one of the defensive lineman in the country. After his incredible season, his performance in the Senior Bowl and in last week’s NFL scouting combine has him on everyone’s list of NFL Draft fast risers. Check out what NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks said:

LaMarr Houston, DT, Texas: Houston continued to build on the momentum generated from his solid showing at the Senior Bowl. The mammoth defender impressed scouts with his exceptional display of speed, power and athleticism while going through drills. Although Houston’s performance may not be enough to catapult him into the first round, it has made the former Longhorn one of the coveted sleepers in this draft.

Be sure to also check out these video highlights and interview with Houston from the combine.

So far I have been pretty underwhelmed with the overall performance of the 6 Texas Longhorns taking part in the NFL combine. Colt McCoy performed pretty well in the 2 drills he took part in, coasting easily to a 4.79s 40 yard dash. Earl Thomas wasn’t among the fastest safties, but got some love from one NFL Network announcer who said he was the most instinctive safety he has seen in the last 8 or 9 years.

Below are the results so far. I will update when more information comes in.

Colt McCoy
40 yard dash: 4.79s (5th)
Broad jump: 9’6″ (4th)

Earl Thomas
Bench press: 21 reps (6th)

Sergio Kindle
40 yard dash: 4.71s (7th)
Bench press: 25 reps
Vertical jump: 36.5″ (7th)
Broad jump: 9’10”

Jordan Shipley
40 yard dash: 4.57s
Bench press: 16 reps (8th)

Lamarr Houston
40 yard dash: 4.85s
Bench press: 30 reps
Vertical jump: 33.5″
Broad jump: 9’6″

Roddrick Muckelroy
40 yard dash: 4.73s
Bench press: 19 reps
Broad jump: 9’2″

Adam Ulatoski
40 yard dash: 5.53s
Bench press: 24 reps
Broad jump: 7’10”

The 16th commitment is in for 2011. David Smoak is reporting that linebacker Kendall Thompson out of Carthage has made his pledge to the Texas Longhorns. From Smoaky…

For the second time this week the Texas Longhorns have received a commitment from an East Texas blue-chip linebacker. This time it’s Carthage linebacker Kendall Thompson (6’3, 232, 4.7) who was offered on Saturday afternoon and committed to Mack Brown when offered, “He asked me if I wanted to be a Longhorn and I said yes sir, this is a dream come true for me, I’ve been a Longhorns fan since I was a little kid so let’s make it official right now.”

Thompson will likely end up at defensive end in college, possibly the next “Buck” defensive end for Will Muschamp’s defense that [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] excelled at this season. According to Orangebloods.com he’s currently slotted as the #34 player in the state and he’s #48 at Inside Texas. The Texas coaches reportedly really coveted Thompson and I expect him to climb the rankings once people get to see more film of him.

Be sure to check out the full 2011 Texas football commit list to see all 16 recruits.

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.

Lineman Sedrick Flowers is Texas' 15th 2011 commit. (Image: Rivals)

Another day, another commit for the Texas Longhorns. The 15th member of the 2011 football recruiting class is Galena Park North Shore offensive lineman Sedrick Flowers.

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Flowers is not only one of the top 5 players in the state but as he’s also the top rated players at one of the team’s biggest positions of need. Flowers is the 4th offensive linemen of this class and has the most upside of any of them. He’s number 2 in the state on Orangebloods.com’s LSR 100 and number 5 on Inside Texas’ Texas Top 100.

Welcome to the 40 Sedrick.

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: