40 Acres Sports

Big 12 is second in CNNSI’s conference power rankings. Might be number one if it wasn’t for Iowa State’s suckage.

Brandon Foster named to ESPN’s All-Bowl team. Senior corner’s big Holiday Bowl getting some deserved notice.

Major’s got his major reasons. Didn’t have enough input over scheme and working for Nick Saban sucks.

It’s not officially a done deal yet but there is a lot of smoke that former Texas QB [tag]Major Applewhite[/tag] will soon rejoin the Longhorn family as a member of the coaching staff. The rumor that the two sides shared a mutual interest has actually been pretty persistent since the middle of week but things really heated up today.

First came the word around lunch time from Orangebloods that despite Applewhite’s denials last week, he was very much still in the picture to join the Texas coaching staff. Then the big news this afternoon out of Alabama, not only was he a candidate but Major was coming in for an interview with [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] on Tuesday. The interview has since been confirmed by several sources.

I’ve got no inside sources but I think Tuesday’s meeting is more of a contract negotiation than a job interview. It’s not like Mack and Major need to get to know each other. This is a discussion about what Major’s role on this staff will be, his future opportunities, and of course money. Applewhite has been an offensive coordinator for the last two seasons and he wouldn’t be moving on, even to Texas, without at least the co-coordinator title and likely a succession plan in place to take over the job completely. By the 2010 season [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] will have retired and Applewhite will be the Texas offensive coordinator.

The people at the AAS apparently agree that only formalities, they’re calling it a “done deal.” I think and hope they’re right. This would be the second huge hire that Mack has made in the last two weeks that not only reinvigorates this team and coaching staff, but possibly sets up the of the program for years to come.

Major is one of the brightest young coaches in college football and a fantastic recruiter, Longhorn fans should be very excited about 2008 and beyond.

NCAA Ban on text messaging recruits will remain in place. Excellent decision that makes Ron Zook cry.

5A Texas Football.com has released their awards for the 2007 season and several future Longhorns have made their list. Just like last year, Leander safety [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] is receiving state accolades and 5A Texas Football.com has named him their Defensive MVP. The kid may not be highly rated recruit but he just makes plays and he’s been one of the best players in the state’s highest classification the last two years.

Here’s the rest of the future Horns who made their list:

Derry, Marcus Griffin, Killebrew, Okam and Sweed will participate in various post-season All-Star games. First one is the Hula Bowl on January 12th.

Muschamp is ready to get the defense going. Watching the video of the press conference got me fired up.

Former running backs coach Ken Rucker is moving into the newly created Director of High School Relations position.

UT, Texas A&M close to moving game to Thanksgiving? Night game on Turkey Day would be incredible. Great idea, hope it happens.