40 Acres Sports

After over a day of back and forth and strained nerves for Texas fans, Phillip Marshall of The Huntsville Times is reporting that [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] has officially resigned his position as Auburn defensive coordinator and accepted Texas’ offer.

Will Muschamp resigned today as Auburn’s defensive coordinator to accept a similar position at the University of Texas.

Muschamp, who interviewed at Texas on Thursday, told Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville shortly after returning from Austin this afternoon that he had decided to accept an offer from Longhorn coach Mack Brown. Muschamp leaves after two years on the Auburn staff.

The Auburn president and Board of Trustees recently approved a raise for Muschamp that would have made his salary $425,000 in 2008.He had a two-year contract with no buyout clause. He would have been the highest paid assistant coach in the Southeastern Conference.

I like the comment from the Auburn fan below the article, “Seems a little like leaving your wife who is a hot 9.2 for a 9.5.” I think Texas is more of a 10 but damn it feels good to be the Joneses. I love the attitude that we can go out there and get the best of the best.

This is big time news for the Texas program, Big 12 offenses are going to have to look out for Mssrs. Kindle, Muckelroy, and Norton next year. It’ll be nice to have some of that swagger we saw in the Holiday Bowl last all season.

Vince Young down 2 of his top 3 targets for the playoffs. Roydell Williams has a broken ankle. Crap.

Larry Mac Duff’s office chair isn’t even cool yet (I didn’t even have time to post the news of him leaving) and already the rumors are flying fast and furious that we may have a replacement.

Orangebloods.com reported just before lunch that Auburn’s [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] was a possible candidate to be Texas’ next defensive coordinator and by five they were reporting he’d been interviewed and offered the job. We should be hearing more tomorrow already, with a final decision possibly being made as early as this evening.

Muschamp is a big name and would make big news around college football. At only 36 he’s already on the fast track to being a head coach. In fact, rumor on the Auburn message boards is that he wouldn’t be going anywhere as a defensive coordinator unless he was promised the head coaching position.

He’s young, fiery, and best of all has experience coaching linebackers. Oh, and like all smart men, he hates the Piggies:

Muschamp played safety at Georgia from 1991 – 1994 (yes Dad, you’re getting old) and has an impressive coaching resume. From Wikipedia:

Stay tuned… if news breaks, we’ll break in.

Update: It is being reported (again by Orangebloods, best $10/month you can spend) that Muschamp was offered a “Jimbo Fisher deal.” The Florida State offensive coordinator was lured away from LSU by the promise that he would be the coach to succeed the legendary Bobby Bowden. If this is true, Muschamp would likely have something in his contract that paid him a large buyout if he is let go or if someone other than himself is selected to follow Mack Brown as Texas coach. Biggest difference, Bowden is 78 and Mack is still a relatively young 56. (9:44 pm)

Update: It doesn’t look an official announcement will come tonight, but multiple sources at both Texas and Auburn are reporting that it’s a done deal. An agreement is reportedly in place between Texas and Muschamp but papers haven’t been signed yet. Don’t want to count chickens yet but it sure looks like Will Muschamp is going to be your next Texas defensive coordinator. (11:14 pm)

Update: The Huntsville Times is reporting the deal is done. Hook ’em! (Friday, 5:09 pm)

Blue chip RB Darrell Scott is interested in wide open depth chart. Charles’ departure definitely is going to help.

Update: In a last minute surprise, Scott committed to Colorado. (2/6/2008)

Ricky Williams contract renewed by the Big Tuna. He’ll be back with the Dolphins in 2008.

Texas junior running back [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] announced today he will skip his senior season and enter the NFL Draft.

This isn’t surprising news but it is definitely disappointing. I was looking for a huge season out of Jamaal next year and thought he might break out as a Heisman contender. It looked like he (and just as importantly Greg Davis) had finally figured things out late in the season and he was really tearing it up. Charles finished with 897 yards and 10 touchdowns in the Longhorns’ final five games.

In just three seasons, including two in which he split time with Selvin Young, Charles was able to climb into the top 5 all time in both career rushing and career TDs. His big play ability will be sorely missed next season.

From his official statement:

“I can’t thank Coach Brown, Coach Rucker, everyone at UT and all of the fans enough,” Charles said. “They gave me a great opportunity and supported me so much. UT is a wonderful place and everyone has been so good to me. But playing in the NFL has always been my dream and when the NFL report came back I was happy with the grade and felt like it was best for me to enter the draft.”

“I had fun playing with a lot of great players and winning a bunch of games. I have so many friends at UT and everyone is close, like a family, so it’s really hard to leave. But, after finishing the season strong, I think I’m ready. I’ve worked really hard and the coaches have done a great job preparing me. I had a lot of success this year but I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything if it wasn’t for the great job the offensive line and all of the coaches did. We got better every game and it showed in how we played so I can’t thank them, especially my O-line, enough.”

“Now, it’s my job to get ready for all of the NFL workouts and make everyone proud. I may be going to the NFL but I’ll always be a Longhorn. I’m definitely going to continue working towards my degree. Finishing school is really important to me because I want to have a good life after football.”

Charles’ draft prospects probably couldn’t get much higher than they are now. The NFL Draft is all about potential and forty times and Jamaal is off the charts in both those categories. After Arkansas‘ Darren McFadden this isn’t a particularly deep draft for running backs and in my opinion Charles is easily one of the top five guys available. Depending on team needs and what other underclassmen declare I can’t see him falling further than the middle of the second round.

Looking forward to next year for the Horns, young Vondrell McGee will have to grow up fast. He showed potential this year in limited time but he’s going to be expected to carry the load next year and we haven’t seen enough yet to know if he can do it. Maybe the newly wide open running back depth chart will entice 5-star Darrell Scott to come to Austin and show his stuff?

What round will Jamaal Charles be drafted?

• Second (48%)
• Third (23%)
• First (21%)
• Fourth or later (8%)

Total Votes: 291

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Titans place Bo Scaife on injured reserve. Out with a lacerated liver suffered when Vince left one a little high over the middle.

Holiday Bowl Marred by Herbstreit and Musberger. I bitched about the awful job they did during my live blog, glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

Aggies eat their boogers. Seriously. This is no school yard taunt, an Aggie fan picked his nose and ate it on national TV tonight during their Alamo Bowl loss to Penn State. Watch below:

I’d rather be Chris Jessee than that guy right now.

(Thanks to Voltronjacko on Orangebloods for the clip.)

It featured one of the wildest and weirdest plays in recent memory, but the 2007 [tag]Holiday Bowl[/tag] ended up being an easier Texas win than anyone expected. The Horns came out fired up and got up on the [tag]Arizona State[/tag] early before finishing with a 52-34 victory.

Here’s how the team did with my keys for the game:

1. Pressure Rudy Carpenter.

The Longhorns not only pressured Carpenter but they eventually knocked him out of the game. Carpenter was rattled early and did not perform well when the Horns were able to hurry him. The team finished the night with four sacks but more importantly was in the quarterback’s face all game long. Defensive coordinator [tag]Duane Akina[/tag] brought blitzes from every direction and every position. Defensive end [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] had a heck of a game (two sacks, tons of pressure) was named the game’s defensive MVP. Verdict: Passed.

2. Don’t turn the ball over.

[tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] didn’t throw any interceptions but did put the ball on the turf with alarming frequency. McCoy fumbled the football four times, but only lost a critical one on a boneheaded play at the end of the first half that could have cost Texas dearly. He also botched two snaps and was bailed out big time (after a great long scramble) when Jermichael Finley fell on his fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. The Horns didn’t protect the football very well but they only turned it over once, so… Verdict: Passed.

3. Don’t forget about the run game.

I don’t think the coaches gave the ball enough to [tag]Jamaal Charles[/tag] early in the game, but as the game wore on he ended up getting more than his share of touches. Thanks to the big second half lead Charles finished the game with 27 carries and 161 yards. Colt McCoy did what he’s been doing this season, finding a way to make big plays with his feet. The team also went to freshman quarterback [tag]John Chiles[/tag] early to spark the offense and he carried the ran the ball very successfully. Overall the team ran the ball 54 times for a whopping 300 yards in the game. Verdict: Passed.