Posted March 6th, 2010 by Brian
Filed under: Draft, Feature, Football

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.

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Posted February 23rd, 2010 by Brian
Filed under: Football

Don’t tell Jordan Shipley, but Texas QB Colt McCoy has a new roomie. As he prepares for the upcoming NFL Draft, Colt is rooming with Stanford running back (and Doak Walker Award winner) Toby Gerhart for workouts out in California. Funny Photoshops on EDSBS ensue.

Link: Toby Gerhart Tickles Lazy Columnists’ Sweet Spot

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Texas quarterback Colt McCoy sits down with ESPN to talk about his shoulder injury, how he’s recovering from the mental aspect of missing the biggest game of his life, and his future in the NFL…

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As was rumored last week, [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] quarterback Sam Bradford announced today through a university release that he would be having season-ending shoulder surgery. If the surgery goes as planned Bradford intends to leave OU and enter the 2010 NFL Draft.

Link: Bradford finally announces surgery plans

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Texas quarterback Colt McCoy can work on his footwork to further improve his accuracy.

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy can work on his footwork to further improve his accuracy.

Yes, Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] was the most accurate passer in the history of NCAA football last season, but a completion doesn’t always mean a perfect pass. ESPN draft guru Todd McShay has a few small changes the McCoy can make to get even more accurate and improve his draft stock this season:

McCoy completed a ridiculous 76.7 percent of his pass attempts in 2008. As crazy as it sounds, there’s no question he can become more accurate by polishing his mechanics.

First off, McCoy has gotten into a bad habit of short-striding many of his passes, which leads to him throwing off-balance. Secondly, he needs to be more consistent with his follow-through as he tries to sling the ball too many times from off his back foot.

After studying McCoy’s passing skills on film, his deep-ball accuracy is underwhelming and he completes a lot of intermediate attempts that take his receivers out of stride. Sure, it goes in the stat book as a completion, but McCoy is leaving too many yards after catch on the field by missing within the strike zone.

The only way McCoy will improve in those areas is by learning to step to his target, lengthen out his stride and follow through on his throws.

If you’re an ESPN Insider read the full article to read more about McCoy and also McShay’s ideas on how fellow Heisman finalists Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow can improve their games.

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Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] has done what many other college athletes with lucrative pro careers ahead of them and taken out a large insurance policy in case of career ending injury. From ESPN:

Brad McCoy, Colt’s father, said Sunday that Colt has a policy that would pay between $3 million and $5 million in the event of a career-ending injury. “The premium is astronomical,” said Brad McCoy. “But the payback in the event of a catastrophe puts the monetary value there. We felt it was the prudent thing to do.”

This type of policy typically covers an athlete if he suffers an injury, on or off the field, that prevents him from playing professional sports. They do not cover injuries that merely cause a player to go lower than originally predicted. If you’re interested in learning more about these policies check out this excellent New York Times article from 2007.

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Posted May 2nd, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Draft, Football

Brian Orakpo will be an 82 rated defensive end for the Redskins in Madden 10.

Brian Orakpo will be an 82 rated defensive end for the Redskins in Madden 10.

Roger Goodell and [tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] were still on stage at last weekend’s [tag]NFL Draft[/tag] and EA Sports already had Orakpo’s Madden NFL 10 Washington Redskins player card ready. The EA experts love his speed and power and rated him as an 82 overall. Both in real life and in the game, Rak is going to have a chance to contribute and flourish early on as a rookie playing next to Albert Haynesworth.

Related Links

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Posted April 27th, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Draft, Feature, Football

After what had to be one of the most difficult weekends of his life Texas wide receiver [tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] has found a new home and signed a rookie free agent deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. Estimated by most draft experts to be a 5th or 6th round draft pick Cosby went completely unselected in the 2009 NFL Draft and also was forced to sit uncomfortable next to the great Bill Cosby wearing a football helmet.

Though he was assuredly disappointed with not being selected, as a free agent he was able to pick the team and contract that was the best situation for him. With TJ Houshmandzadeh gone and Chad Johnson disgruntled as always, Quan has a good chance to make the team and contribute. Cosby chose the Bengals over offers from Detroit, Seattle, Houston, San Diego, Indianapolis, Minnesota and St. Louis.

Texas right guard [tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] also has reportedly signed a free agent deal with the New Orleans Saints.

We will have updates on [tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag] and the other undrafted Horns when they happen. Also follow @40AcresSports on Twitter for breaking Texas sports news.

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Posted April 27th, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Draft, Football, TV

Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach has been very vocal lately that he thinks his quarterback Graham Harrell isn’t getting a fair shake from the media or NFL scouts. He stood up for Harrell at Heisman time and is now upset that his QB went undrafted this weekend. In the process of defending Harrell he took a hilarious shot at former Aggie and future Cowboy backup Stephen McGee: “I’m happy for Stephen McGee,” Mike Leach said. “The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did.”

Ouch.

Cowboys fans should be excited they’re getting a quarterback who couldn’t even start for his college team, just like Dallas legend Quincy Carter. Plus, he’s a jerk:

Video courtesy of utexasclan.com.

McGee actually isn’t terrible and was done in by horrible coaching and mediocre teammates at A&M, maybe he’ll have better success with a poorly run NFL franchise. Dennis Franchione tried to make into an option QB for no reason and then current head coach Mike Sherman decided the team’s future was more important than McGee’s. With good coaching, McGee has the talent to become a decent backup in the league, hopefully he gets an attitude adjustment as well.

Source (Note: Watching Aggies and Tech fans argue on the Internet is hilarious.)

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Posted April 26th, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football, Live

Follow along below with our live thoughts and analysis during today’s second day of the NFL Draft that will take place starting at 9:00am on ESPN and the NFL Network. You can catch our live thoughts by tuning into this page and you can also participate in the conversation.

We’ll also be embedding Twitter posts from @40AcresSports and with the hashtag #UTdraft right in with the other notes. Feel free to leave comments and questions using the live tool, but not all comments will be published. Read below for more notes on comments and how the live blog will work. Hook ’em!

Notes: Comments on the article itself will be turned off till after the game. The Writer can view all comments sent to them but only they can publish your comments for everyone to see. The “autoscroll” feature ensures you’re always shown the newest content without having to refresh or scroll your screen. Subtle sound effects alert you to new content as the writer publishes it. You can turn these features on or off by using the controls at the bottom of the Live Blog.

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