40 Acres Sports

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

WTH?! (What the Heck?) Moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ Men’s Basketball Season.

Rick Barnes' Texas basketball team collapsed midseason.

Pre-Season WTH Mr. April?! April is the month when most high school basketball players sign their letters of intent. Coach Rick Barnes, Mr. April, has out did himself by coming up with an incredible freshman class that includes McDonald All-American Avery Bradley (6-2, 180), Jordan Hamilton (6-7, 226) and J’Covan Brown (6-1, 185) to go along with highly touted transfer Jai Lucas(5-10, 150). These additions with three seniors Damion James (6-7, 225), Justin Mason (6-2, 195) and Dexter Pittman (6-10, 290) had this team starting the preseason ranked #3. An ESPN article reported that Barnes would rather develop players for the NBA than win an NCAA championship. I believe this is a misinterpretation because Mack Brown finally shed his stigma as Mr. February with his national championship, let’s hope that Coach Barnes does the same soon.

Nov. 25th WTH Practice?! The season was starting fast with a win over highly ranked Pittsburgh 78-62, but during pregame warm-ups Varez Ward right knee gave out ending his season. “We not talkin’ bout a game – we talkin’ bout practice” nod to AI. Who knew his backcourt experience (only as sophomore) would be sorely needed throughout the year?

Dec. 22nd WTH DJ?! Damion James was making claims early in the season for player of the year honors with back to back 20+ points and 13+ rebound in wins over #10 North Carolina (103-90) & #9 Michigan State (79-68). DJ also established himself as UT’s all time leading rebounder by surpassing James Thomas. The problems of poor foul shooting and any lack of a half court game was covered up by the Horns posting 17 straight wins through mid-January.

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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:

David Smoak of Smoaky.com is reporting that stud linebacker Steve Edmond has verbally committed to Texas. If it happens in East Texas, you can bet Smoak will know about this so you can pretty much count this as confirmed.

This is yet another huge get for defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Edmond is one of the top players in the state at any position and is rated in the top 10 on both Orangebloods.com’s LSR 100 and Inside Texas’ Texas Top 100.