40 Acres Sports

Just a reminder that spring football practice gets underway today and the first two practices will be open to the public. Today’s practice is scheduled to get started at 4 p.m. and Saturday’s will begin at 1 p.m. These will be the only two practices open to the public and your only chance to see the Longhorns in person until the spring game at the end of March.

If there’s rain or other weather issues Mack Brown will move the team inside the bubble, which is not open to the public so pay attention to the weather reports before you head to campus. There’s supposed to be thunderstorms rolling in tonight but they shouldn’t cause any issues with this afternoon’s practice.

If any of our readers get the chance to attend, please contact us and share any photos (if cameras are allowed) or thoughts from the practice with us. You can also sign up to become a Bevo Booster and make your own posts here on the site.

Former Longhorn Bill Bradley leaves Baylor staff to be Chargers’ secondary coach.

NFL.com writers are frequently updating an NFL Scouting Combine blog.

Former Horns RB Michael Houston charged with stealing a cab.

[tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] is healthy and will be back on the field when spring practice starts this week.

Muckelroy was the Longhorns’ best linebacker on the field through the first three games of the season before he was injured. He had surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his right ring finger suffered against Rice and was forced to miss the rest of the season. I kept waiting for him to be back after a couple of weeks, and it sounds like he was as surprised as I was that a finger injury could be so serious:

“Everything feels good,” Muckelroy said heading into the opening of spring. “Sitting out that long after starting the first three games was a setback, but I understood the injury, and I had to get it fixed because I was worried about using my finger in the future. I think it was the best thing for me, and it’s good now.”

Muckelroy had to come to terms with how a finger injury could cost him the entire remainder season. However, after it was explained, it did not leave much of a decision as to whether or not to have surgery. “When I hurt it, I went to the sidelines and told them what happened,” Muckelroy described. “I thought my finger was just broken. I wanted them to tape it up and go back in because it was fourth down.

It’ll be huge for the Texas defense to have Muck back out there. He was playing incredibly well and he brings speed, nose for the football, and big hit ability to a linebacking corps that was missing all three of those things last season. While Scott Derry played very well in his place, he’s a solid player but not a difference maker like Muckelroy can be.

Muckelroy is just the type of player Duane Akina wants for his more aggressive new defensive attitude.

Cedric Dockery won’t be participating in spring practice but his recovery from ACL surgery is going well.

CBS and the NCAA will be providing live streaming video of the NCAA Tournament for free online again this year. March Madness on Demand allows you to watch (relatively) high quality live video of the first three rounds of the tourney from your computer.

There’s a limited amount of free “VIP Passes” available that ensure you’ll be able to watch games no matter how busy the site gets. Everyone gets put into a waiting room before the video starts and VIP status makes that process move a little faster.

The service is subject to blackouts, which means this is likely not an option for catching Longhorn games in the Texas area. If your local CBS affiliate is airing the game you want to watch, you won’t be able to watch that game online. I’m not sure how they determine your location, but it asks you for your zip code when you log in so if you want a shot at watching the Texas games you might want to fib a little during registration.

Sign up now to be a lot less productive at work next month.

A few behind the scenes tidbits from SI on Kevin Durant that didn’t make their cover story.

Big Red Network is rating Big 12 teams’ recruiting classes and gives Texas high praise.

Five Horns score in double figures as they roll past Texas Tech 80-51.