KXAN NBC Austin had a great highlight package of Saturday night’s opening UT win against ULM. Some great field level angles of the game and interviews with coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag], [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag], [tag]Garrett Gilbert[/tag] and others. Don’t miss the blur that was [tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] at about the 1-minute mark.
Check it out below:
Follow along below or with @40AcresSports on Twitter for live updates on the Texas vs. Louisiana-Monroe game tonight at 6pm…
For the returning starters the spring is for retuning and building chemistry with the new faces around on the team. For the new faces and younger guys the spring is about gaining confidence from the coaches and your teammates. The spring game isn’t always about the starters. Players coming off a red-shirt year or three year guys buried on the depth chart can make a statement and jumpstart the summer offseason program. The 2009 Jamboree had the usual faces making plays ([tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]), it had a few missing ([tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag], [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag]), and it had a few emerge. We look at who had the best performances and who may have made a name for themselves in this year’s game.
1. [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag]
The sophomore safety was the best player on the field on Sunday. Thomas had the play of the day when he intercepted Colt McCoy’s pass attempt and then outraced the Heisman candidate to the pylon. The Longhorns played predominately out of the 4-2-5, and it sounds like Earl Thomas is the choice at the nickel spot covering the slot. [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] is also get a look at the slot, but right now it looks like Will Muschamp would rather bring in Christian Scott at safety than [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] to corner. The truth of the matter is Muschamp is probably comfortable with either, but having three safeties on the field will help with run support and blitzing. It all depends on the play of Thomas, and if Sunday is a forecast of what is to come, Muschamp will have a lot of options come the fall. Thomas has a chance to be an All-American type player in his sophomore year. He has the talent and the dedication to do it.
2. [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag]
His stats weren’t that great, two catches for five yards. Nobody on offense lit up the stat book on a day that was brutally windy. But when Williams is on the field he has a chance to beat any corner deep. The guy looks the part. He can run, he can jump, he can catch. Colt McCoy has had his struggles in the deep passing game, he missed Williams twice on throws deep down the field on one Williams caught it out of bounds and on the other one he overthrew the open Williams by a few steps. All summer long these two needs to work on connecting down the field because the ability to get deep is one that the Longhorns lacked last season. It is utterly amazing the success UT had on offense last year considering the lack of true running game or deep ball. It makes what Colt did last year that more impressive. Williams can force double teams on the outside with his ability to beat one-on-one coverage. That will allow more room for Shipley, Brandon Collins, and James Kirkendoll. Williams hasn’t been counted on for a whole game yet so his conditioning is still a concern, but his talent is off the charts.
3. [tag]Alex Okafor[/tag]
The kid should be thinking about prom instead he is getting the start for the first group at the University of Texas’ spring game. [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] did the same thing last year and every one dismissed it as just an able body’s thing and it wouldn’t be the case by fall. Well, Blake Gideon started every game last year and it is too early to say if Okafor will have the same honor, but it is clear he will get some snaps. The true freshman from Pflugerville started where Sergio Kindle is likely to be, but when Kindle plays linebacker that position will be open. Eddie Jones will be back in the fall and the coaches like [tag]Russell Carter[/tag], but don’t overlook the freshman. He doesn’t play like a freshman, and I don’t the coaches are going to treat him like one. If he can add some strength and a little weight in the offseason he has a chance to be a real force this year. At the worst he’s a situational pass rusher and a candidate to be a middle guy on kickoffs and punts.
4. [tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag]
The true sophomore is lost in the shuffle in a crowded secondary group, but this spring he has made a case for some real playing time. Brewster made the first big play of the game, an interception off of a bobbled pass thrown by [tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag] to tight-end [tag]Ian Harris[/tag]. Brewster is an instinctive, hardnosed football player that excels at safety and in special teams. With Thomas, Scott, and Blake Gideon all in line for major snaps it is hard to see where Brewster is going to fit in. But with the offenses in the Big 12 and the three safety formation that Muschamp is going to being the fourth safety may be the defensive equivalent of being the fourth receiver for the Longhorn offense. Brewster is one sprained ankle from being a possible starter for a national championship contender. And he has shown so far he is capable of stepping up.
5. [tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag]
It is unlikely that Mitchell has won a starting spot at right tackle in the absence of [tag]Kyle Hix[/tag] because of injury, but the junior may have cemented himself as the third tackle in the rotation. Texas likes to rotate lineman every third series or so in real game action, and with the injury history of both starters Hix and senior [tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] having quality depth at tackle is huge, especially to a football team that passes so frequently. The offensive line wasn’t dominating on Sunday, but they were more than solid in the passing game. Mitchell held his own against Sam Acho and Alex Okafor and opened the hole for the first rushing touchdown of the game. Tray Allen has struggled to make an impact at tackle, and some think he should be moved inside, with the emergence of Mitchell over the last half of spring practice has made that move a possibility.
6. [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag]
It was pretty clear that [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] was one of the starting corners. He has a chance to be the best corner in the conference. It was unclear, however, who would get the other spot. Would the coaches give the nod to the older player or the most talented player? Aaron Williams, just a sophomore, was thought of the player with the most upside at the position and it looks like that upside is being realized sooner than later. AJ has manned the starting corner spot all spring and has brought rave reviews for his consistency and talent. The former Round Rock McNeil star will be on the field somewhere, either at corner or at the slot in the nickel formation and even showed some return skills in the Spring Game. Williams is in the mold of Nathan Vasher, Michael Huff, and Aaron Ross. He has a chance to be a star.
7. [tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag]
It seems the former Westwood star is the forgotten man at the wide receiver position. He doesn’t get the same hype as Malcolm Williams, Jordan Shipley, and even [tag]Brandon Collins[/tag]. But Kirkendoll just gets the job done day in and day out. He is a great route runner, he has reliable hands, and he can play on the inside and the outside. The junior also proved he can perform in the big games when he made a few clutch catches late in the Fiesta Bowl win over Ohio State. It looks more and more likely that Texas will go to a four wide receiver set for a good amount of snaps because of the problems at the tight end position. That means even more time for Kirkendoll. In the Spring Game he was tied for most catches with three and had a nice 12 yard gain on a reverse.
8. [tag]Ben Alexander[/tag]
The defensive tackle position has to be the most worrisome position on the team. Texas needs someone to step up next to [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] and so far the senior has done a good job. It is now or never for Alexander and he has to realize that. The coaches were thinking of moving Houston, a former defensive end, to the nose tackle position but the emergence of Alexander has allowed him to stay at his more natural three technique. Muschamp has said he’d like to have at least five defensive ends and five defensive tackles to rotate. Right now it looks like the defensive end rotation will not be a problem if everyone is healthy. Texas has three dependable defensive tackles right now with a few more on the roster and two incoming freshman showing up in the fall. Texas is going to need one of those two if not both to come in and provide depth. Alexander needs to do everything he can to improve his conditioning and quickness to handle the Big 12 offenses. He will never be an every down play against those styles of offense but 40 to 50 snaps a game would be huge for this team.
9. [tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag]
The evolution of the Big 12 offenses has required the linebackers to be just as good in pass coverage as they are at stopping the run. Texas has two reliable and proven linebackers in [tag]Jared Norton[/tag] and [tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] (three if you count Sergio Kindle), but Norton is a prototypical linebacker who excels against the run but can look lost at times against the spread offenses. Robinson on the other hand is has the perfect skill set for the Big 12 and Muschamp’s defense. The speed and athleticism he has at linebacker is rare. On Sunday he blanketed tight-ends and running backs. The sophomore can blitz as well. Robinson is a player that could play all three downs in this defense and don’t be surprised if it is Muckelroy and Robinson playing linebacker in the 4-2-5 as the season wears on.
10. [tag]Justin Tucker[/tag]
Not many punters can be considered weapons, but Tucker will be for Texas this year. Last year, he made an impact with his rugby style punts last year, and it looks like he has added another foot to his arsenal. The right footed punter rolled to his left and with his left foot he downed a punt inside the 10 yard line on a rugby punt. He also had a few regular punts that looked good. As a team punting isn’t a good thing, but it is nice to have such a versatile player taking the deep snaps. Besides taking away opposing returners with the rugby style punt, his athleticism combined with his ability to roll both ways will provide huge opportunities for fakes. And with his proficiency with the rugby style Texas can call fake punt options where he can roll one way and if it is open he can run and if it isn’t he can punt at the last minute. It will be huge in close games.
11. [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag]
I know he didn’t play on Sunday, but the play at the running back position proved that Johnson needs to be the guy unless freshman [tag]Chris Whaley[/tag] comes in and impresses. For the first half of the spring Johnson ran with the first team and impressed the coaches enough that [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] and Greg Davis haven mentioned every down back with Johnson’s name. The question on the sophomore bruiser has always been conditioning. The coaching staff has tried to get his weight down, but really the important thing is his body fat. He may not fit perfectly into the current offensive scheme, but Texas has too many negative plays in the run game and Johnson gives you a back that will push the pile forward at the very least. The fact is Texas doesn’t need the run game to be one of the best in the nation; they just need to be able to pick up small chunks of yards when they need to. Johnson being able to stay on the field will be a big part of that.
The Texas Longhorns gave us the first real look at what next year’s team is going to look like on Sunday for the Spring Game. Of course these games need to be taken with a grain of salt because both sides bring vanilla game plans. [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] didn’t play very much, but the defense dominated for most of the scrimmage. Here are five things we learned from the game.
1. The secondary has grown up.
A few months removed from being the perceived weak link of the defense the Longhorn secondary dominated the offense the whole game. The defense played predominately out of the 4-2-5 and showed very little blitzes but they made plays. Last year the group had troubles creating turnovers but the safeties intercepted two passes, the first by [tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] against the second team offense. The second interception was the play of day, a pick six by [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] off of [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. Thomas was far and away the best player on the field on Sunday. The sophomore was everywhere, he showed off his coverage ability, he was a sure tackler, and show off his speed by running down a kick returner. Texas has four safeties that could start and all of them have at least three years of eligibility left. The corners looked good too. [tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] and [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] have an opportunity to leave campus as the best duo Texas has had at cornerback. Add [tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] and [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] and this group is deep and athletic. [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] couldn’t blitz as much as he might have liked last year because of the inexperience in the secondary, but the training wheels will come off this season. And it may just be scary good.
2. The tight end position is on life support.
It is true that this program has been spoiled at the tight end position in recent memory. It didn’t look like that was going to change with the emergence of [tag]Blaine Irby[/tag]. A horrific injury to Irby, a few injuries to the back ups, and a few misses in recruiting later and we’re left with the current situation. [tag]Ian Harris[/tag] bobbled a ball to cause the first interception of the game and [tag]Greg Smith[/tag] almost did the same later on. Right now it looks like Texas may have to use the four or five receiver set as their base offense this year when they really want to move the ball. Mack Brown is hesitant to abandon the run, but having a tight end on the field is becoming a liability. Irby is nowhere close to be being back, and there is no guarantee he will ever be the same if or when does get back. Maybe if [tag]DJ Grant[/tag] gets healthy or one of the two incoming freshman come in ready to contribute the position has a chance. But as we stand right now Greg Davis really needs to think about using the offense he used in the second half against Oklahoma for the majority of the snaps. Luckily Texas has the receivers to play that set with no problem. In fact keeping one of them on the sideline in favor of the current tight end on the roster is a form of football dyslexia.
3. [tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] needs to be in shape
Both [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] and [tag]Foswhitt Whittaker[/tag] found the endzone on Sunday, and each showed a few flashes of their potential with the ball in their hands. But Texas averaged less than 3.0 yards per carry. Before his hamstring injury in the second half of the spring coaches and insiders had been raving about Johnson’s progress both running the ball and dedicating himself to being in shape. The knock on Johnson has always been his weight, but right now the coaching staff has decided to worry more about his body fat. Johnson is going to be counted on as the every down back if he can prove he can handle it. Right now Whittaker offers the team the skills needed in a third down back as long as he can prove he’ll block blitzing linebackers. Where that leads McGee is anybody’s guess, but with a good summer and fall practice it couldn’t be a total shock to see him get the opening day start. The variable in the whole situation is incoming freshman [tag]Chris Whaley[/tag]. The big back from Madisonville just participated in the 100M at the Texas Relays and by all accounts the young man is an athletic specimen. The staff was so high on him as a running back, many experts project him to outgrow the position that they chose not to recruit another one. If he reports in shape and ready to take the punishment he will be given every opportunity to win the job. If all else fails the Texas offense may look like something from Lubbock. Is that a bad thing? I can’t decide.
4. Colt McCoy will have plenty of targets.
Texas’ leading returning receiver, and Colt McCoy’s roommate and fishing buddy if you haven’t heard, [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] didn’t participate in spring practices to recover from injury the Longhorns fielded maybe the best trio of receivers ever at Texas. None of the wide outs are on the level of Roy Williams, but collectively this group may be better than the BJ Johnson and Sloan Thomas group. They weren’t as highly recruited but [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag], [tag]Brandon Collins[/tag], and [tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag] all bring something different to the field and they work great in this offense. The quarterbacks struggled with the wind, and the secondary had seen all the patterns every day in practice, but it was obvious how much big play potential will be on the field at all times. Kirkendoll showed off his speed on a reverse, Collins works the middle beautifully and led the team in yards, and Williams can get deep whenever he wants. McCoy’s bugaboo has been the deep ball and twice he nearly missed huge plays on the outside deep down the field with Williams. One was completed but the ball was too far outside to be kept in bounds and the other was thrown a little too far in front of the streaking Williams. The sophomore just looks the part out there in his number 9 uniform. Williams, fellow receiver [tag]Dan Buckner[/tag], and Aaron Williams just jump out at you from a pure athletic stand point when you look at their physique. Watching this group work has to put a smile on the Longhorn nation’s faces because they will be on campus for a few more years. That’s not even taking into account Buckner, [tag]John Chiles[/tag], and the red-shirt freshman on campus. With the questions at tight end and in the running game the receiver becomes the most important position besides quarterback for this offense.
5. Texas football is in good hands.
Mack Brown has been the best thing that has happened to this program, and maybe to the University as a whole from an athletic standpoint, than anybody since Darrell K. Royal. With as good as Brown has been, head coach to be Will Muschamp has injected an energy into this program that needed a little jumpstart following the departure of Vince Young and the rest of the 2002 recruiting class. With one hire, and Brown deserves credit for making it and then realizing he couldn’t lose his personal energizer bunny on Red Bull, the stigma of Texas being soft or unmotivated was erased for the present future. Just a few years ago these Spring Jamborees were offensive exhibitions. Remember when the opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown every year? That won’t happen anymore. Muschamp has made everything competitive. He has given the defense pride, and more importantly, thanks to Brown he has given them stability. A stability that the offense has had the luxury of since Brown and Greg Davis arrived on campus. For the first time in a decade the defense is going to have a steady hand leading the way. With Muschamp the hand might not be steady, it may be pumping up and down, but I’ll take it.
Position Rating: C-
Starters: Earl Thomas, Blake Gideon
Reserves: Christian Scott, Nolan Brewster, Ben Wells
The Texas secondary has come under a lot of scrutiny after allowing a school record 3,306 yards passing (109th in the nation) last year. And if things weren’t already bad enough, junior [tag]Ishie Oduegwu[/tag] is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury forcing the Longhorns to start two freshman at the safety position, redshirt freshman [tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] and true freshman [tag]Blake Gideon[/tag].
So far this training camp, new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has been impressed with Earl Thomas’ athleticism and explosiveness. When asked to name the most productive safeties of the spring, Will Muschamp said, “Earl Thomas — and then really it’s a toss-up after that.” So for now Blake Gideon has won out, but it looks like redshirt freshmen [tag]Christian Scott[/tag] and [tag]Ben Wells[/tag], along with true freshman [tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] will be competing for that starting spot. Scott, Wells, and Brewster were all high-school all americans, but competing against the offenses of Oklahoma and Texas Tech is a whole other story.
One of the scariest things about starting such inexperienced players is summed up quite well by head coach Mack Brown. Brown said the terms “strong” and “free” have been dropped from the safety position, instead they have been replaced by the terms “right” and “left” so the players know what area of the field to cover. Brown is obviously trying to make things simple back there, but it sounds scary when the players need that much simplification.
Hopefully Muschamp can work his magic back there. At least so far he seems pretty pleased with the progress they are making. “We’ve got guys who can run vertically and judge the ball downfield, which is key. I think we’ve got guys who can tackle in space. I like our speed. We’ve got the tools. I’d rather be working with this than a bunch of experienced guys who can’t play,” said Muschamp.
Obviously this group has a lot of potential to become quite solid over the next few years, but for now I had to grade them on where they are at now.
Related Links
Update: Download named rosters for NCAA Football 10. (7/23/2009)
NCAA Football 09 is less than a month away, the demo is up on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, and player ratings are starting to make their way on to the Internet. EA Sports released the team top 25 and player ratings for all those teams.
I went through the list and put the players’ real names in where possible. I had trouble with a lot of the true freshmen in the game so if you know who any of the blank names are or if I made any mistakes please let me know in the comments. It really looks like EA did a poor job this year on the roster and depth chart. Hopefully it’s a little more accurate when the game is released.
You can download Excel files of the player ratings at the bottom of this post or check out the overall ratings for the Texas team below:
Real Name | Name | Year | Position | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
[tag]Buck Burnette[/tag] | C #66 | Soph(RS) | C | 78 |
C #60 | Fresh | C | 72 | |
[tag]Deon Beasley[/tag] | CB #7 | Junior | CB | 85 |
[tag]Ryan Palmer[/tag] | CB #13 | Senior(RS) | CB | 84 |
[tag]Curtis Brown[/tag] | CB #3 | Soph | CB | 83 |
[tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] | CB #26 | Fresh | CB | 80 |
[tag]Chykie Brown[/tag] | CB #8 | Soph(RS) | CB | 80 |
[tag]Earl Thomas[/tag] | CB #12 | Fresh(RS) | CB | 78 |
[tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] | CB #27 | Fresh | CB | 76 |
[tag]Roy Miller[/tag] | DT #99 | Senior | DT | 90 |
[tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] | DT #96 | Fresh | DT | 80 |
[tag]Brian Ellis[/tag] | DT #90 | Soph(RS) | DT | 78 |
[tag]Ben Alexander[/tag] | DT #92 | Junior | DT | 76 |
[tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag] | DT #88 | Fresh | DT | 76 |
[tag]Chris Ogbonnayya[/tag] | FB #3 | Senior(RS) | FB | 93 |
[tag]Cody Johnson[/tag] | FB #31 | Fresh(RS) | FB | 72 |
[tag]Ben Wells[/tag] | FS #5 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 84 |
[tag]Christian Scott[/tag] | FS #6 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 77 |
[tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] | FS #21 | Fresh | FS | 77 |
[tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag] | HB #2 | Soph(RS) | HB | 85 |
[tag]DeSean Hales[/tag] | HB #30 | Fresh | HB | 80 |
[tag]Antwan Cobb[/tag] | HB #24 | Soph(RS) | HB | 79 |
[tag]Fozzy Whittaker[/tag] | HB #22 | Fresh(RS) | HB | 78 |
[tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag] | HB #32 | Fresh | HB | 76 |
[tag]Tre Newton[/tag] | HB #23 | Fresh | HB | 73 |
[tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag] | K #15 | Junior | K | 82 |
[tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] | K #9 | Fresh | K | 69 |
[tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] | LE #33 | Junior | LE | 91 |
[tag]Aaron Lewis[/tag] | LE #95 | Senior | LE | 85 |
[tag]Henry Melton[/tag] | LE #37 | Senior | LE | 80 |
[tag]Charlie Tanner[/tag] | LG #52 | Junior(RS) | LG | 86 |
[tag]Tray Allen[/tag] | LG #70 | Soph | LG | 82 |
[tag]Chris Hall[/tag] | LG #71 | Junior(RS) | LG | 81 |
[tag]Aundre McGaskey[/tag] | LG #76 | Fresh(RS) | LG | 74 |
[tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] | LOLB #2 | Junior | LOLB | 85 |
LOLB #16 | Fresh | LOLB | 80 | |
LOLB #57 | Fresh | LOLB | 76 | |
[tag]David Snow[/tag] | LT #78 | Fresh | LT | 78 |
[tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag] | LT #72 | Soph(RS) | LT | 78 |
[tag]Rashad Bobino[/tag] | MLB #44 | Senior(RS) | MLB | 90 |
[tag]Jared Norton[/tag] | MLB #11 | Junior | MLB | 85 |
[tag]Trevor Gerland[/tag] | P #17 | Junior(RS) | P | 83 |
[tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] | QB #12 | Junior(RS) | QB | 89 |
[tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag] | QB #17 | Soph(RS) | QB | 81 |
[tag]John Chiles[/tag] | QB #7 | Soph | QB | 79 |
[tag]Eddie Jones[/tag] | RE #32 | Soph(RS) | RE | 92 |
[tag]Brian Orakpo[/tag] | RE #98 | Senior(RS) | RE | 90 |
[tag]Russell Carter[/tag] | RE #97 | Fresh(RS) | RE | 77 |
[tag]Cedric Dockery[/tag] | RG #55 | Senior(RS) | RG | 89 |
[tag]Michael Huey[/tag] | RG #63 | Soph | RG | 81 |
[tag]Roddrick Muckelroy[/tag] | ROLB #38 | Junior(RS) | ROLB | 87 |
[tag]Keenan Robinson[/tag] | ROLB #53 | Fresh(RS) | ROLB | 82 |
ROLB #4 | Fresh | ROLB | 75 | |
[tag]Adam Ulatoski[/tag] | RT #74 | Junior(RS) | RT | 85 |
[tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag] | RT #54 | Fresh | RT | 74 |
[tag]Ishie Oduegwu[/tag] | SS #19 | Junior(RS) | SS | 88 |
[tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] | SS #36 | Fresh | SS | 79 |
[tag]Peter Ullman[/tag] | TE #86 | Senior(RS) | TE | 81 |
[tag]Ahmard Howard[/tag] | TE #13 | Fresh(RS) | TE | 74 |
[tag]Blaine Irby[/tag] | TE #19 | Soph | TE | 73 |
[tag]Quan Cosby[/tag] | WR #6 | Senior | WR | 89 |
[tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] | WR #8 | Senior(RS) | WR | 84 |
[tag]Montre Webber[/tag] | WR #14 | Soph(RS) | WR | 83 |
[tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] | WR #4 | Fresh | WR | 79 |
[tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag] | WR #9 | Fresh(RS) | WR | 78 |
[tag]DJ Grant[/tag] | WR #80 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
[tag]Antoine Hicks[/tag] | WR #81 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
[tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag] | WR #87 | Soph | WR | 74 |
Downloads
The big one got away today (under suspicious circumstances) but the 2008 Texas recruiting class is still a good one. Mack Brown and the Horns signed 20 young athletes to letters of intent, nine of which are already on campus for the spring semester.
The class is headlined by defensive backs Aaron Williams and DJ Monroe, who along with safety Nolan Brewster, should anchor the Texas defensive backfield for the next four or five years. On the offensive side WR/RB DeSean Hales is electric with the football in his hands and wide receiver Dan Buckner is huge and will catch anything thrown in his general direction.
Here’s the full list of signees:
Name | Position | Rating | Hometown |
---|---|---|---|
[tag]Emmanuel Acho[/tag] | LB | Dallas | |
[tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] | DB | Denver, CO | |
[tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag] | OL | Austin | |
[tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] | WR | Allen | |
[tag]Brock Fitzhenry[/tag] | RB | Giddings | |
[tag]Blake Gideon[/tag] | DB | Leander | |
[tag]DJ Grant[/tag] | WR | Austin | |
[tag]DeSean Hales[/tag] | RB | Klein | |
[tag]Antoine Hicks[/tag] | ATH | Mansfield | |
[tag]Jeremy Hills[/tag] | RB | Alief | |
[tag]Jarvis Humphrey[/tag] | DT | Cedar Hill | |
[tag]Dravannti Johnson[/tag] | LB | Nederland | |
[tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] | DB | Angleton | |
[tag]Tre Newton[/tag] | RB | Southlake | |
[tag]Luke Poehlmann[/tag] | OL | Brenham | |
[tag]Kheeston Randall[/tag] | DT | Beaumont | |
[tag]Ryan Roberson[/tag] | RB | Brenham | |
[tag]David Snow[/tag] | OL | Gilmer | |
[tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] | K | Austin | |
[tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] | DB | Round Rock |
Congratulations to the newest Texas Longhorns!
The US Army All-American Bowl is most fans first chance to see the top high school recruits for themselves. Texas fans can see several Longhorn commitments take the field for the West squad as well as take their first look at 5-star stud running back Darrell Scott, who reportedly may now favor the Horns. Tune in now (12 pm Central) to NBC to catch the game.
Here are the Texas commits and targets to watch for:
Name | Number | Position | Commit? | Ranking |
---|---|---|---|---|
[tag]Nolan Brewster[/tag] | 24 | Safety | Yes | |
[tag]Dan Buckner[/tag] | 4 | Wide receiver | Yes | |
[tag]Dravannti Johnson[/tag] | 44 | Linebacker | Yes | |
[tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] | 25 | Defensive back | Yes | |
Rahim Moore | 15 | Safety | No | |
Darrell Scott | 2 | Running back | No | |
[tag]David Snow[/tag] | 76 | Guard | Yes | |
[tag]Justin Tucker[/tag] | 23 | Kicker | Yes | |
[tag]Aaron Williams[/tag] | 7 | Cornerback | Yes |
I’ll post some relevant updates and thoughts below:
First Quarter
- Nice looking punt by Justin Tucker. He’s been recruited as a placekicker but it certainly wouldn’t hurt if he could help out as a punter as well.
- DJ Monroe makes a good break on the football and knocks the pass up in the air for Nolan Brewster to pick it off. A third Texas commit, Dravannti Johnson, was also right there after the play was over. Impressive play by Monroe.
- Fantastic catch by Dan Buckner taking advantage of his size to go up high and grab the ball over a shorter corner. Definitely something I think we’ll see a lot of during his Longhorn career.
Second Quarter
- Good coverage by corner Aaron Williams but he gets beat deep. Williams has reportedly been very impressive this week and may be on the verge of getting a fifth star. He’s got good size but his speed (despite being listed with a 4.4 forty time) may mean he ends up at safety.
- It’s pretty clear where the Terrelle Pryor/Vince Young comparisons come from. The kid is big and natural and makes things look easy. Vince became Vince because of his intangibles and the improvements he made while in school, if Pryor can do the same he’ll be special.
- Monroe doesn’t look afraid of contact. Came flying up on screen and made a solid tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
- Another play by DJ Monroe. Good high punt by Tucker and Monroe gets down the field quickly as one of the gunners and covers up the ball after the East returned muffed it.
- Good tackle by Williams. I love to see secondary guys who can actually tackle.
Third Quarter
- I haven’t noticed Darrell Scott much. I don’t think he’s been in on a ton of snaps.
- Safety Rahim Moore, who is committed to UCLA but is still being recruited by Texas, just made a big hit on a pass breakup then popped up and gave the double hook ’em. Don’t know what our chances are but new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp won’t hurt.