40 Acres Sports

I don’t know what position QB/athlete recruit John Chiles will end up playing for the Longhorns, but damn that kid needs the ball in his hands somehow. The three and a half minute highlight reel shows why John is headed for 5-star status and why so many teams wanted him regardless of position. Check out the very first play, it really shows just how electric he can be from the quarterback position and why despite John Brantley’s recent commitment he’ll also get his fair shot to be the next great Longhorn QB.

Thanks to The Wizard of Odds for the tip.

It looks like the [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] Sooner basketball program is about to be hit with some serious NCAA sanctions for their many infractions dealing with various recruiting violations. The NCAA isn’t exactly an observant organization, but 550 illegal phone calls is sure to draw some interest:

OU broke rules recruiting James

By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman

We don’t know what the NCAA’s infractions committee asked the Oklahoma basketball brigade Friday. The door to the principal’s office was closed.

But here’s what the NCAA jurists should have asked everyone wearing Sooner lapels: Explain why Damion James should be eligible to play for your school.

OU was in Park City, Utah, on Friday not because of a misunderstanding. Not because of a gray area in the rules. Not because they kept missing recruits on the phone and piled up too many calls.

OU was in Park City, Utah, because it cheated. Kelvin Sampson and his staff broke the rules.

Not a few times. Many times.

Not by accident. Purposely and unquestionably.

Not insignificantly. Significantly.

OU basketball broke the rules and profited, most recently in the form of James, the 6-foot-8 schoolboy star from Nacogdoches, Texas. Transcripts of the NCAA’s investigation show that Sooner coaches began calling James during his junior season.

You can’t call juniors. Not from a box and not with a fox. Not in a house and not with a mouse. You cannot call them here or there, you cannot call them anywhere.

If you call a junior, it had better be to tell him his house is on fire. Otherwise, it’s cheating. Flagrant, blatant cheating. No less cheating than if you handed him $20,000 in cash.

The NCAA found OU guilty of more than 550 impermissible phone calls, including 98 to juniors, over the last several years.

We don’t know who all the recipients were, but we know James was among them.

So how can the NCAA’s enforcement wing possibly allow James to play for the Sooners? Is James not ill-gotten gain?

Every coach in America will tell you that recruiting is about relationships. Building relationships. Nurturing relationships.

How could it possibly not have been a major advantage for OU to be quick on the draw with James? The Sooners jumped the gun and, just like their namesakes in 1889, reaped the bounty.

How can the NCAA pretend to be serious about rules when it asks Texas and Kansas and OSU to compete the next few years against a Sooner team that has James on the roster?

And Sampson’s departure for Indiana should cut OU no slack, for the same reasoning that holds recruits to their letters of intent (ala Scottie Reynolds) even when a coach leaves. Sometimes it’s hard to remember, with the crazy system college basketball has constructed, but the program and the school are bigger than the coach.

In the NCAA transcripts, OU coaches talk of how they thought the phone calls were just a way to outwork opponents. Sampson talks about who turned OU in.

That doesn’t sound like a lesson learned.

None of this is fair to new Sooner coach Jeff Capel. But no one in crimson is in position to talk about fair. And Capel took this job with eyes wide open.

It’s also not fair to James. He was just a kid – a junior, remember – answering the phone. But if the NCAA ruled James ineligible at OU, he would have options and plenty of them (see Reynolds).

And cheating will have gone unrewarded.

I can’t imagine that Kelvin Sampson will escape this without some sort of penalty. He was the one directly responsible for the cheating, he doesn’t deserve to escape punishment just because he skipped town for Indiana. He and his new team should receive equal punishment and Indiana should immediately show him the door. The Hoosiers had to know this was going down, what a terrible hire.

The interesting part of all this for Longhorn fans is that [tag]Damion James[/tag] is an elite small forward who will probably looking for a new school attend soon. The 5-star out of Nacogdoches had Texas on his list of schools before he committed to OU last year and would certainly get a good look from James if he does in fact decide to ask out of his letter of intent. He and Kevin Durant both are best suited for the 3 but could split time at that position and the power forward slot and give the Horns a ridiculously long and athletic team. With LaMarcus Aldridge off to the NBA, PJ Tucker possibly following him, and Craig Winder a transfer possibility, Texas probably would have a scholarship available for Jones if he’s interested.

IGN has the very first preview of NCAA Football 2007 for the Xbox 360 and it looks pretty damn good. Key thing in that last sentence is that it “looks” good because the article actually makes me a little worried about how the game is going to play.

This Xbox 360 version of the game was developed seperately from the current gen versions and it sounds like several features I was most excited by yesterday won’t be making it into the game. The momentum system is different, the cool Home Field Advantage feature from last year is missing, no mention of the spring game in the Dynasty mode, and the new Campus Legend mode is a no show as well. Worst of all, despite the additional capabilities of the Xbox 360 the playbooks in the game will actually be smaller. None of the work they put in to making them larger and more varied will be taken advantage of for this version. And no cool trick plays.

I hope they keep the main gameplay intact from the previous games. There’s just something about NCAA Football that feels different and makes it plays better than Madden. It’s lighter, faster, and more enjoyable. EA has had the atmosphere and everything else just right in previous games and I hope they’re able to continue that while the game improves and evolves. I don’t want to play a skinned version of Madden with college teams.

Excellent thread with some examples of what we could be in store for. Photos coming soon.

Screenshots and a little info on the new momentum system, improved AI, and revamped playbooks.

Original word on Jordan Danks’ injury from this weekend was that it might not be too serious, but the Texas outfielder has a broken ankle and will miss at least six weeks. He’ll have surgery to repair his fractured ankle today but hopes to be back for the Big 12 Tournament at the end of May.

Tough luck for the freshman who had really come on as one of the team’s best hitters. The rest of the Texas lineup will have to pick it up a little to make up for his missing production if they’re going to hold of Nebraska and Oklahoma in the Big 12 race.

Sound it out. Funny, too bad the shirt is kind of ugly.

“I’m telling you, this guy’s John Elway. All those people saying he won’t be good, what are they thinking?”

Vince’s stock is rising again, I guess scouts are actually watching film.

Texas blows 9th inning lead but Hunter Harris’ extra inning RBI single wins it.