40 Acres Sports

The 2005 recruiting season was an up and down one for the Texas Longhorns full of hits and big misses. Nothing had a bigger impact on the future of Texas football than the roller coaster ride that was Ryan Perrilloux. Perrilloux eventually decommitted (after months of lies) leaving the Horns with only a unheralded 3-star QB named [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. Guess that turned out alright after all.

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated takes an interesting look back at the 2005 quarterback class and finds a lot of busts and only a few stars, of course including our own McCoy. Bill Walsh and [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] have a hypothesis on why QB recruiting is full of so many misses, too much focus on arm strength:

Texas offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Greg Davis says most talent evaluators put too much emphasis on a quarterback’s arm strength. Several years ago, while coaching in the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco, Davis got to sit with 49ers legend Bill Walsh at a dinner. He asked Walsh the most important qualities he had identified in the many successful QBs he drafted.

“He didn’t hesitate,” said Davis. “No. 1, he said: ‘Accuracy.’ Then he talked about athletic ability, intelligence. Way, way down on the list was arm strength.”

Davis knows well the importance of digging beyond the recruiting rankings. During his and head coach Mack Brown’s 11-year tenure in Austin, the Longhorns have signed two QBs who were No. 1 in their class — [tag]Chris Simms[/tag] (1999) and [tag]Vince Young[/tag] (2002) — and originally received a commitment from Perrilloux.

However, they found their current star quarterback — three-year starter and 2008 Heisman runner-up Colt McCoy — tucked away at a small school in rural Tuscola, Texas. In the ’05 class, McCoy — then listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds — was ranked just 15th among pro-style QBs, behind Pittsburgh’s Bill Stull, Notre Dame’s Evan Sharpley and Wisconsin’s Dustin Sherer, among others.

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The Horns ran away from the Aggies with a second half run led by forward [tag]Damion James[/tag], who finished with a season high 28 points. Check out the James dunk-a-thon in the highlights below:

Nothing makes Texas fans happier than the misery of rivals [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] and Texas A&M. The Sooners sneaked their way into the [tag]BCS[/tag] National Title game, but as just like they’ve done in five of their last six bowl games they went home as losers. We went to bed happy when OU lost to [tag]Florida[/tag] but one Oklahoma sorority girl could not be consoled:

(Side note, I had no idea the Rooster Teeth guys were UT grads.)

Texas baseball coach [tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] was arrested last weekend for driving while intoxicated, on Friday he was suspended from four games this season by Texas athletic director [tag]DeLoss Dodds[/tag]. The two men spoke in front of reporters yesterday, Dodds expressing his confidence in Garrido and Garrido his heartfelt remorse for his mistake. Watch below:

A four game suspension might not send a strong enough message to Texas athletes but Coach Garrido’s emotions and regret are real. He deserves a second chance and hopefully he takes advantage of it. The 2009 Texas baseball season will be one where both Garrido and the team need to bounce back.

Shane Dronett, 1971 - 2009

Former Texas Longhorn and Atlanta Falcon defensive tackle [tag]Shane Dronett[/tag] was found dead today in his suburban Atlanta home. The cause of death is currently unknown but reports are that a 911 suicide call came in this morning from his residence. Shane was dealing with recovering from brain surgery but was well enough to make two Texas games this fall.

Read more at Statesman.com and AJC.com.

RIP Shane. Our thoughts are with his wife and family.

Update: Dronett’s death has officially been ruled a suicide.

Benbrookhorn has updated his great Texas football roster breakdown for the 2009 season. Every position is broken down by class and it includes the incoming 2012 seniors and even the 2013 targets. Useful.

Go check it out.

Hilarious video posted on Orangebloods tonight of Hitler going off about the state of Texas A&M football:

“Maybe it’s because we don’t have real cheerleaders!” “Wrecking Crew my ass!” Hahahahaha…

Great work by somebody, they took a few good shots at everybody. I’m not sure what they’ve got against Taco Cabana, who doesn’t love that place? I think I know what I’m having for lunch tomorrow.

Lance Zierlein of the Houston Chronicle has posted his list of the five best and worst underclassmen decisions of 2009 draft and I think they’re pretty dead on. He’s one of the few guys out there that really knows his stuff regarding the [tag]NFL Draft[/tag] and Big 12 football.

Zierlein thinks Texas linebacker/defensive end [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] made the right call by returning to Texas for his senior season. Right now Kindle is still relatively raw at both linebacker and as a pass rusher, and with another year of seasoning under [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] he could explode in 2009. I also agree completely with his thoughts on the decisions by players such as USC’s Mark Sanchez, OU’s Sam Bradford, and Kansas State’s Josh Freeman.

The relevant notes from Zierlein are posted below:

Best

3. Sergio Kindle, DE/OLB, Texas – Staying In: Kindle opened up many scouts eyes as a pass-rusher this year at Texas. Will Muschamp recognized that Kindle’s top potential wasn’t at LB but as a pass rusher. Kindle has good straight line speed but needs to become a more fluid athlete and he has a chance to do that with another year at Texas.

Worst

2. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma – Staying In: I say this is a bad decision, but as long as he plays well next year, he’ll be a top 3 pick next season. The problem is that he is losing almost his entire offensive line as well as two of his top targets. Injury is the only real concern for me here, but he probably would have been a top 3 pick this season and maybe the top pick.

3. Josh Freeman, QB, Kansas State – Coming Out – What are you thinking, Josh? You have the size and arm strength that NFL teams would salivate over if you could just put together a big year on the collegiate level. Why not go back and improve on your numbers and then become the hot name in the 2010 draft?

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Texas bounced back from their road loss in Norman with a win in Lubbock over [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] on Saturday. The Longhorns did it with defense, which continues to be the strength of this team. Texas pressures the ball as well as any team in the country. When they cause turnovers or force bad shots, Texas has been able to create quick paced offense on the other end. However, the Achilles heel of this team continues to be half court offense.

Tech had been known as an offensive team this year. The Red Raiders had scored over 150 points in one game earlier in the year. But Texas held them to under 50 in a game that showed even if Texas is “underachieving”; the separation between them and the middle of the pack teams in the Big 12 is still there.

[tag]Justin Mason[/tag] and [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] had good games after struggling for the last few weeks. Mason got back to what he does best, defense and rebounding. The junior guard is not going to wow anybody with his point guard ability and I think at this time in the season it is time to stop forcing a square peg into a round hole and just let him do what he does best. Mason may be the best rebounding guard Texas has had in recent memory. The responsibility for the point guard is to get back after miss shots to prevent easy fast break buckets for the opponent. This took away one of the best offensive rebounders for Texas, so they’ve made the adjustment to get Abrams back unless he shoots from the corner.

To help with the half court offense [tag]Dogus Balbay[/tag] is getting more and more time. Balbay is the best penetrator on the team. And with players like Abrams, [tag]Damion James[/tag], and [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag] having a guard who can drive and kick is invaluable. All three of their offenses have struggled this year because there is no player on the roster that has made their job easier.

The style Texas excels in is not going to allow for many blowouts. Even with the 20 point margin at the end of the Tech game, the Red Raiders kept it close for a while. Barnes’ squad is going to have to fight tooth and nail for everything they get, and because of that the Longhorns are going to lose a few to teams they shouldn’t. It will also make them a very dangerous and unpredictable team in March which in college basketball is all that really matters.

The question going forward is will the Texas defense be enough against the best teams in the country. The answer so far has been, sometimes. If another team’s offense is clicking like Notre Dame’s and Oklahoma’s, the Longhorns are going to struggle to create enough points to stay in it unless Abrams is on fire. If the Texas pressure gets to their opponent like UCLA and Michigan State, Texas is going to be right in it until the end.

Rick Barnes’ teams tend to get better and better as the year goes on. For the first time in years a Texas team appears to be treading water. History suggests the team will snap out of it and make a serious run in March, but at this point I’m not sure anybody knows what the answer is. The simple fact is the answer may not exist and will be up the Texas players to make something happen when the tournament starts. If this was football the season would be over for all intents and purposes. But in basketball Texas still has as much of chance as anybody. Yes, even Oklahoma.

Want to watch the entire [tag]Fiesta Bowl[/tag] in high resolution on your computer? Hulu.com has the game up in remarkably good quality. Enjoy…

I think I could watch Quan Cosby’s game winning touchdown over and over again, and now I can.

The Fiesta Bowl isn’t the only game up on Hulu, you can also watch stuff like the US Army All-American game and the other BCS games as well.