40 Acres Sports

This is now almost two weeks old but it’s new to me and hilarious.

On February 3rd Texas A&M won a huge game over Kansas for their first victory over the Jayhawks ever. It was a great win for Billy Clyde Gillespie and the Aggies over a top 10 team so it’s understandable that the fans were excited. Heck I even understand storming the court after such a big victory.

There’s only one problem… the game was in freaking Kansas.

Typical Aggies.

Dan Hawkins really wants you to practice more. Hilarious press conference audio.

Kevin Durant’s father says, “There’s a chance he would come back to Texas next year. There’s not a rush for him to go to the NBA.”

More love for KD as player of the year and to be the number one pick in the draft.

Good Knight Aggies! Acie Law was nails again but Texas Tech had too much time and got the upset win.

Name: [tag]John Chiles[/tag]
Position: Quarterback/Wide Receiver
Ranking:

Hometown: Mansfield, TX
School: Summit
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 195 lbs

Background

Rivals stole John Chiles’ fifth star right after the U.S. Army All-American Bowl when he was injured and at a position he hadn’t played in a year. Scout still has him up there at the top where he belongs. Lightning quick athlete who was recruited as quarterback but could play there or at wide receiver for the Horns, but he the football needs to be in his hands as often as possible

Chiles spent his sophomore and junior seasons at wide receiver for Carrollton Ranchview. As a junior he had 694 yards receiving, tacked on 491 yards on the ground, and had 17 total touchdowns. Senior year as a QB he had 900 yards and 12 TD’s passing and another 700 rushing.

Immediate Impact

John Chiles is certainly not going to be the Longhorns starting quarterback this season but that’s not going to stop him from seeing snaps there this season. Texas fans will be clamoring from day one for Chiles to play a little receiver and to line up at QB in a special package designed for his incredible skills. Chiles and Jamaal Charles in the backfield together running the zone read and the option could be special. Put him in the slot and get him the ball on hitches and reverses. Mix in a reverse pass just to mess with opposing defenses.

Future

The sky’s the limit for Chiles. He’ll start his career at Texas as a quarterback spending enough time practicing as a receiver to get him on the field as early as possible. He’ll get every opportunity to take over at QB after Colt McCoy leaves but even if he fails he’s got a hell of a fall back plan. No way of knowing where he ends up but he’s going to make an impact for the Horns somewhere before he leaves.

Name: [tag]Brandon Collins[/tag]
Position: Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Ranking:

Hometown: Brenham, TX
School: Brenham
Height: 6-foot-0
Weight: 167 lbs

Background

Although Brandon Collins isn’t all that highly rated in his position, he was still the 31st ranked player in the State of Texas according to Rivals.com. Brandon is a great athlete, and was a versatile three-sport letterman named second-team 4A all-state by the Texas Sports Writers Association at wide receiver as a senior. Brandon averaged 19.1 yards per reception and a touchdown every 3.4 receptions for his career. Not too shabby.

An interesting fact: Brandon was the ballboy for Brenham as a sophmore when they won the 4A Division II championship. And guess who was a senior on that team? No other than Limas Sweed.

Immediate Impact

I don’t see Brandon Collins seeing that much action right off the bat as a wide receiver. But I do think it is hard to keep someone this athletic off the field. And with Brandon Collins playing a lot of defensive back in high school, who knows, he might just make it in the secondary.

Future

Collins should be able to help Texas on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Not sure he will be a superstar at Texas, but I do see him contributing some good playing time throughout his career.

TexasPreps has great video of Curtis Brown and G.J. Kinne from this season at Gilmer HS.

Ok, well obviously [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] is not yet named the Player of the Year in college basketball, but Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated is already saying that Durant should be. I agree with him 100%. And frankly, who are we to argue with Sports Illustrated? Let’s just give him the award now.

On a side note, it seems like there have been a lot of Longhorns on sports covers over the past year or so. I guess it is a good time to be an athlete down in Austin. So who will be the next Longhorn on a major cover? I will go with the easy choice, Colt McCoy.

The Longhorns finally looked like a complete and dangerous basketball team for the first time since the win over Texas Tech. All five starters scored in double figures and the Texas defense locked down Oklahoma State, holding the Cowboys to 38% shooting and forcing 16 turnovers. OSU star forward Mario Boggan chipped in 16 points but only grabbed three rebounds and had none on the offensive end.

Star of the game for Texas was the much maligned A.J. Abrams who finally snapped out of his shooting slump with 17 points and even added some solid work on defense. Abrams’ shot was falling and he did a much better job of getting open for his shots and not settling for mid-range jumpers on the move. After struggling to get involved in the first half, Kevin Durant did his usual thing in the second half and finished with a game high 21 points and 12 boards. D.J. Augustin was a little rough at the start of the game and turned the ball over carelessly a few times but settled in and contributed 19 points and 8 assists. Augustin’s 3-pointer from the state of Texas emblem at half court to beat the shot clock was the play of game.

Check out highlights from the game below:

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