Posted March 21st, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football, Recruiting
Mack Brown’s 2010 Texas football recruiting class just keeps getting better. Top defensive end [tag]Reggie Wilson[/tag] made a surprise visit to Austin Thursday and yesterday word trickled out that Wilson had committed to the Longhorns. He is the 21st commit for the 2010 class.
Wilson is a 6-foot-4, 240 pound pass rushing defensive end from Haltom City, TX. He hasn’t been around football his entire life but he is an incredible talent with one of the biggest upsides in the entire country. He is one of the top players in the entire state, ranked number 4 in the LSR and number 1 by Inside Texas. He has a very good chance to end the season as a 5-star recruit if he puts up a strong senior season.
Wilson’s personal story is an incredible one, an excerpt from InsideTexas.com:
Wilson’s parents fled Liberia at the start of the country’s Civil War while Reggie’s mother was pregnant with him. The family moved to The Ivory Coast to a compound where Reggie’s parents cared for their seven children and other children that had were affected by the war.
When Reggie was seven, his parents, amid financial difficulties, moved to the United States with the hopes of making a better life for their children. Needing the older children to stay and take care of the younger children that could otherwise not take care of themselves, seven year old Reggie Wilson lived without his parents on the Ivory Coast for three years.
When Wilson was 10 his parents had saved enough money to bring him to the United States and after a short stay in New York with some relatives, Reggie was reunited with his parents in Fort Worth.
Congrats to Reggie and welcome to the 40 Acres. Make sure to check out all the commits and stay tuned to the site for all the latest recruiting news.
Great news for former Horn [tag]Cory Redding[/tag] this weekend as he was traded along with a 5th round draft pick from the woeful (both team and city) Detroit Lions to the Seattle Seahawks for linebacker Julian Peterson. The trade sends Redding from a team with historically little talent to… a different team and any team is better than Detroit. Seattle struggled last year after making the playoffs in 2007, but with a healthy quarterback and playing in the NFC West they’re decades closer to being a playoff team. A defensive tackle the last three years in Detroit, Redding will play both inside and outside on the line in Seattle.
With Jay Cutler wanting out, could Chris Simms be the Broncos' next starting QB?
The s-word is hitting the proverbial fan in Denver and it could be good news for former Longhorn QB [tag]Chris Simms[/tag]. Broncos starting quarterback Jay Cutler has had his feelings hurt and is making it known to anyone who will listen that he wants to be traded. Simms, who signed with the Broncos earlier this month, was in line to be the number two guy but could now be the opening week starter if Cutler gets his wish. Denver will likely look for a QB in the trade or via the draft, but Simms would likely have the first shot at the starting job.
Two of my favorite things about Sports Illustrated growing up were the weekly “Sign of the Apocalypse” and “They Said It” bits in ever issue. They were a glimpse at the weird and interesting side of sports that we didn’t get to see much before we had access to the the ubiquitous freak show we call the Internet.
In this week’s issue (with “Up For Grabs” cover) two former Texas defensive linemen were featured, just another sign of the tons of Horns now playing throughout the NFL. Defensive end [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] had an awkward quote about he’ll fit in NFL defenses, “a versatile guy is a guy who can be very versatile.” Very well put Brian. Meanwhile, in this week’s “Sign of the Apocalypse”:
The Browns’ [tag]Shaun Rogers[/tag] reportedly wants to be traded, in part because new coach Eric Mangini didn’t say hello to at the team’s practice facility in January.
I’m sure more there’s more to the Rogers/Mangini story, judging by his quick and unceremonious exit from New York he definitely appears to be a tough person to like. You don’t have to be friends with your coaches or teammates, but someone small and petty enough to intentionally walk past you without saying high doesn’t exactly earn much respect.
The Longhorns are one of the first teams in the country (love that Texas weather) back on the practice fields and preparing for the 2009 season. Before last season’s run at a national title, [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] and Texas fans were actually pointing at this year as the one the team’s best chance to win it all. Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] did an interview with ESPN and talked about the team building on their successful 2008 season and making another run in 2009, check it out:
ESPN’s Todd McShay is one of the best in the business and he’s got Texas’ [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] headed to the Cleveland Browns with the 5th pick in his latest mock draft. He also has some pretty high praise for Rak:
Orakpo exited the combine as the top hybrid DE/OLB in the 2009 class. His pass-rushing skills would be a welcome addition to a Cleveland defense that notched just 17 sacks in 2008.
Some experts aren’t as high on Orakpo as McShay, claiming he’s close to his ceiling and knock him somehow for being a high motor guy. Of the defensive ends that are available he is definitely the best bet, but I could see him falling a little based on team needs near the top of the draft. They’re calling him a hybrid DE/OLB but he didn’t play much without his hand on the ground at Texas so it will be interesting to see if a 3-4 team thinks he could play linebacker in that scheme.
Update: Orakpo goes 3rd to KC Chiefs in another mock draft on NFL.com.
Posted February 26th, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football, Spring Football
Former second string quarterback John Chiles made the switch to wide receiver today.
Football season never really ends in the state of Texas, but the start of spring drills is one of the biggest days for every die hard fan. The team hits the field for their first practice tomorrow and several big pieces of news came out today. Injuries and a huge position switch have Longhorn fans buzzing.
The biggest and most surprising news is that second string quarterback [tag]John Chiles[/tag] went to the Texas coaches today and requested he be moved to wide receiver. This is a move many Internet coaches fans have been calling for for over a year, but not one expected to happen before he gave it at least one more shot during spring practices. Despite struggles, the Texas coaching staff felt Chiles was good enough to be the team’s clear number two quarterback but if he was going to have an NFL future it is clearly as a wide receiver. His position change leaves the Longhorns with only two scholarship players at QB and likely means incoming freshman [tag]Garrett Gilbert[/tag] will not be redshirting for the 2009 season.
It was also announced that 9 players would be missing spring practices due to injury. Sadly, safety [tag]ishie Oduegwu[/tag] has been forced to give up football after several serious injuries and surgeries. He made several starts as a sophomore and missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. Oduegwu, a former academic All-Big 12 selection, is on set to graduate on schedule with a Youth & Community Studies major.
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle [tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] will also miss practices with what appears to be a serious kidney ailment. Team trainers said “that Humphrey’s condition would be watched.” Defensive tackle is one of the team’s greatest depth concerns, but with this news a young man’s health definitely takes primary concern.
The other players that will miss spring drills are P [tag]Trevor Gerland[/tag], TE [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag], DE [tag]Dominique Jones[/tag], DE [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag], WR [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag], DB [tag]Kenny Vaccaro[/tag], and Alex Zumberge.
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Posted February 26th, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Recruiting
The Longhorns just got their 2009 recruits to sign on the dotted line earlier this month, but the coaching staff has already convinced 12 new high school blue chippers to come on board for 2010. Lufkin defensive back [tag]Carrington Byndom[/tag] is the latest commit in what is already shaping up to be another top class of recruits.
The second [tag]Junior Day[/tag] of the year is this weekend and it should be another big haul for Horns. Check out the full list of 2010 commits and stay tuned to @40acressports on Twitter for breaking news on all UT sports.
Texas legend [tag]Noble Doss[/tag] passed away Sunday night at the age of 88. Doss, who played for the Longhorns from 1939 through 1941, still holds two school interception records including his career mark of 17 which [tag]Nathan Vasher[/tag] tied in 2003. Bill Little has a nice write-up on Doss and watch a fantastic tribute to the man from ESPN/ABC Sports below:
Texas announced they were going away from natural grass earlier this month and this week we learned officially that next season Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will be FieldTurf. The modern artificial turf is more durable and reportedly results in fewer injuries, combine that with the embarrassing state of the field last Thanksgiving and this is not a surprising decision.
AAS writer Kirk Bohls has a good article up on the history of FieldTurf and Texas’ decision to move to it.
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