40 Acres Sports

ESPNU is covering the Under Armour All-American practices this week and they’re also doing live blogs as things happen. They’ve posted some video of practice featuring at least one future Longhorn wide receiver. #2 is recent commit [tag]Mike Davis[/tag] from Dallas Skyline and #4 [tag]Darius White[/tag] is one of the Horns’ big remaining targets left out there. Check them out…

Not a lot of video of Davis, but very impressed with the his hands in the two catches they showed. Definitely looks like a natural pass catches and not just an athlete playing wide receiver.

Demarco Cobbs, Oklahoma's best player, is coming to Texas to play football. (Image: TigerRag)

Yesterday the Texas Longhorns received a surprise commitment from Oklahoma athlete [tag]Demarco Cobbs[/tag], the top player in the state and one of the best athletes in the 2010 class. Cobbs was on Texas’ radar earlier in the year but this commit comes completely out of left field. He’s been committed to [tag]Tennessee[/tag] since September and his name had not been mentioned at all recently on Texas recruiting sites in some time.

Cobbs could play receiver, safety, or linebacker for the Horns. Some are wondering with the odd circumstances if Cobbs is a solid commit, but he sounds solid when talking to ESPN’s Gerry Hamiliton below:

“In the beginning, Texas was always my dream school,” said Cobbs, who is the No. 17 player in the ESPNU 150. “I was being recruited by Texas in the beginning and wanted to commit, but it was before they started taking commitments. Then things just didn’t happen then. We started talking about a month ago. I had been talking to Coach (Bruce) Chambers the most. I exchanged e-mails with coach (Mack) Brown and had been talking with a few of the Texas coaches. It’s nothing against Tennessee. Even when I committed, I really wasn’t for sure. I always had Texas in the back of my mind.”

The switch came as a surprise, but Cobbs simply followed his heart in switching to his childhood favorite Texas.

“I grew up watching Texas and wanting to play there,” Cobbs said. “It’s not too far away from home, and I can’t go wrong going to a place that is great every year that also provides a great education too. It’s where I want to be.”

Link: Demarco Cobbs follows heart to Austin

Texas commit [tag]Case McCoy[/tag] and possible 2011 commit [tag]Jaxon Shipley[/tag] (and their dads) faced off Friday night when Graham visited Brownwood. Both players had huge games for their teams. Shipley finished with 8 catches for 240 yards while McCoy passed for 370 yards, 4 touchdowns, and led what should have been a game-tying last minute drive.

Oh, and there is rumor that Jaxon and Case’s dads were college roommates or something. We’re efforting to get confirmation.

Link: Brownwood tops Graham, but Shipley-McCoy friendship remains strong

Texas coach Rick Barnes has brought in some of the best players in the entire nation over the last decade and The Sporting News noticed. He has been named recruiter of the decade for bringing guys like TJ Ford, Kevin Durant, and Avery Bradley to Austin.

Link: Barnes is decade’s No. 1 recruiter

Very interesting article on how star guard Avery Bradley ended up as a Longhorn. Crazy to hear how he went from good to elite in such a short time, and how a few years in Arlington watching TJ Ford tear it up at Texas helped him end up in Austin.

Link: Bradley’s path to Texas carved out of chance

Check out a great, personal video interview with Texas basketball signee [tag]Jordan Hamilton[/tag] as he packs his bags on his last day in Los Angeles before heading to Austin for summer school:

Thanks to mgrads for the link.

Lake Travis' Garrett Gilbert will continue the spread quarterback lineage at Texas.

ESPN has several excellent articles this week on the spread offense in college football and some on it’s origins as well. Their articles feature Longhorn QB’s all over, from several generations. They think the perfect spread quarterback starts with Colt McCoy’s accurate arm and their history article gives a lot of love to future Horn [tag]Garrett Gilbert[/tag] and former Horn and current UNT coach [tag]Todd Dodge[/tag].

ESPN Spread Offense Articles

• Spread concepts around for decades
• Spread traces its roots to Depression-era Texas high school football
• Who runs the spread offense?
• Defending the spread offense
• Andre Ware: ABC’s of the spread
• Crosshairs: Building a spread quarterback
• The 10 most dangerous spread offense QBs (*)
• Is 7-On craze helping?

• RT @InsideTexas: Future Longhorn Marquise Goodwin sets national high school long jump
  record: http://bit.ly/1q5rn5 4:13 PM Jun 28th from Tweetie
• Former #UT recruit, Arky circus, and current 3rd string #USC QB Mitch Mustain is now apparently having grade issues: http://tr.im/q03B 1:13 PM Jun 28th
• Good article on #UT baseball’s 2010 pitching staff from @aTrubow: http://tr.im/q4rv Never too soon to start towards another #CWS run. 1:03 PM Jun 28th from Tweetie
• Ex-Longhorn Brian Robison is pushing for increased playing time & a starting spot in Minnesota: http://tr.im/pZMP #UT #NFL
• RT @nytimes: Farrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer at 62 http://bit.ly/FQ0dz Fawcett was discovered as a #UT student. 2:21 PM Jun 25th from Tweetie
• Connor Rowe strikes out swinging to end it. #UT season over, 1 game short of the promise land. Lose in #CWS 11-4. 9:54 PM Jun 24th
• Jungmann’s 126th pitch is a beauty to end this thing #UT 5, #LSU 1. Horns force a deciding game 3 tomorrow night. #CWS 8:56 PM Jun 23rd
• Maybe I’ve lost my mind, but Hershiser is an idiot right? A balk is an immediate dead ball. #UT #CWS 8:54 PM Jun 23rd
• ESPN hyperbole: “we can say without question that Jared Mitchell is the fastest player we’ve ever seen at #CWS.” Really? Time them? #UT #LSU 6:24 PM Jun 23rd
• During rain delay, ESPN showing last night’s #CWS game. Maybe they can stop it after 8 innings this time?? #UT #LSU 4:07 PM Jun 23rd
• Another good one from Dr Saturday: apparently Miami coaches were relying on Internet msg boards for recruiting decisions: http://tr.im/ppDi 8:30 AM Jun 23rd
• RT @RalphieReport Josh Smith’s Appeal for an Open Transfer Denied, Buff Fans Left to Wonder What’s Next? http://sbnation.com/e/685688 6:43 AM Jun 23rd
• Horns face uphill battle after heartbreaking game, can they rebound and win 2 straight? We’ll find out tomorrow night at 6pm. #UT #CWS 8:22 PM Jun 22nd
• ESPN announcers appear to believe 1-seed #UT is a 3 touchdown underdog in this thing. #CWS #LSU 4:49 PM Jun 22nd

Rumors started swirling Wednesday and on Friday Ahmad Dixon made it official by announcing he had decided to switch his commit from Texas to the Baylor Bears. The 4-star 2010 safety prospect is from Waco and made the decision that he wanted to stay and play for his hometown school. Baylor coach Art Briles was able to convince that he could be a part of turning the Bears into a legit competitor in the Big 12. In an interview with Jason Suchomel of Orangebloods.com Dixon said, “I wanted to be a part of a humongous change that Baylor is about to have in the next couple of years. I wanted to go down as one of those guys in history to go down with these great teams that Baylor is about to produce.”

Dixon’s decommit is a surprising one and hurts the Horns’ 2010 class. Fortunately defensive back has been a team strength and both the 2009 and 2010 classes have been great at the position. It will be interesting to see how the Texas coaching staff uses the freed up scholarship. There are several other 4-star safety prospects that they could pursue in-state or they could hold onto it and go after a national blue chipper. Come back to The 40 Acres for updates on this story and on other Longhorns recruiting news.

After starting talented but diminutive guards [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] and [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] and struggling against teams such as [tag]Memphis[/tag] due to their length. That won’t happen again.

The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Rick Barnes’ incredible recruiting freight train has continued with the commitment of 2011 guard [tag]Sheldon McClellan[/tag]. The 6-foot-5 guard/forward from Houston Bellaire joins point guard Myck Kabongo as the second member of the 2011 class. He has great length and athleticism which he uses above the rim on offense and as an active on the ball defender. Scouts, Inc. gives McClellan high praise when they state that at times he reminds them of Scottie Pippen. In the 2009, 2010, and 2011 classes Barnes has now landed four guards over 6-foot-2 and three wingmen over 6-foot-7.

Congrats to Sheldon and welcome to the Forty Acres.

Scouting Reports

From the Statesman’s Bevo Beat:

McClellan averaged 18.5 points a game as a sophomore. The Louisville-based HoopScoop rates him the 44th-best prospect in the class of 2011. NCAA rules allow McClellan to sign with Texas in November 2010, when he is a senior. “He’s a top-50 type talent,” said Gerry Hamilton of BurntOrangeBeat, who has watched McClellan play several times. “Right now his biggest strength is creating shots for himself and his teammates. He can also catch and shoot three-pointers.”

From his ESPN profile:

McClellan is a long and athletic play maker from the wing position. He attacks the rim in transition where he can finish above the rim with his great length. In the half court he can score off the catch or dribble from three and he also has a strong mid range game with one or two dribble pull ups. McClellan can stop and pop while he elevates over smaller defenders. Making moves off the dribble and defensive rebounding are areas of improvement that are very evident but he is young with time to add this to his game. He is a good on ball defender and plays hard on a consistent basis.