Texas football and academics
Every once in a while, my friends have seen me go off on a rant about various Texas football players failing out (excuse me–I meant to say “transferring to find more playing time elsewhere”). I get ticked about that happening, because I feel like with $70 billion dollar athletic budgets, there’s no excuse for our not monitoring and positively impacting the players on and off the field. I’m all in favor of chipsets akin to the one I put in my dog being installed in each and every scholarship player, and alarms that go off when a player isn’t in class, or is on 6th-street.
I don’t really mean that.
(Yes I do).
Not really.
(Really).
Anyhow, I thought I’d share a few positive things happening in the land of Longhorn academia.
1) Not one player failed out after the Fall. I believe that’s a first over the past 10 years.
2) Every freshman registered this Spring, including Andre Jones. That hasn’t happened in four years.
3) After going through an ugly period with poor graduation rates, I’m seeing a rash of returning non-grads.
Here’s a look at a few guys who came back and finished over the past two years:
Chris Carter, entering class of 1993, finished his BA in Kinesiology & Health in Spring 2006 (after six years in the NFL).
Wane McGarity, entering class of 1994, finished his BS in Applied Learning and Development (Youth & Community Studies) in Fall 2006.
Aaron Humphrey, entering class of 1996, finished his BS in Applied Learning and Development in Fall 2006.
Greg Brown, entering class of 1997, finished his BS in Applied Learning and Development (Youth & Community Studies) Fall 2007.
De’Andre De’Wayne Lewis, class of 1997, finished his BS in Kinesiology (Health Promotion & Fitness) in Summer 2006 during an NFL career which ended, I think, mid-October 2007.
Victor Ike, the first of Mack’s recruits in this list, class of 1998, finished his BA in Ethnic Studies in Summer 2007.
Brock Edwards, class of 2000, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2007.
Phillip Geiggar, class of 2000, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2007.
Tony Jeffery, class of 2000, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2007.
Matt McFadden, class of 2000, finished his BA in Government in Spring 2006.
Aurmon Satchell, class of 2000, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Summer 2007.
Sloan Thomas, class of 2000, finished his BS in Communication Studies in Fall 2007.
Kendall Briles, class of 2001, finished his degree at UH and is now coaching the Baylor secondary.
Now a look at the guys who finished over the past two years without taking time off:
Kaelen Jakes, class of 2001, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Spring 2006.
William Winston, class of 2001, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Spring 2006.
Justin Blalock, class of 2002, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2006.
Clint Haney, class of 2002, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Spring 2007.
Albert Hardy, class of 2002, finished his BA in Ethnic Studies in Spring 2007.
Tully Janszen, class of 2002, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Spring 2007.
Matthew Melton, class of 2002, finished his BS in Kinesiology in Fall 2007.
Dustin Miksch, class of 2002, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Spring 2007.
Marcus Meyers, class of 2002, finished his BA in Economics in Fall 2006.
Bryan Pickryl, class of 2002, finished his BS in Biomedical Engineering in Spring 2007.
David Thomas, class of 2002, deserves a special note here–he is the only member of his class to graduate in 2005, finishing his BS in Kinesiology after 3.5 years.
Neale Tweedie, class of 2002, finished his BS in Kinesiology in Summer 2006, and is currently enrolled in graduate school at Texas.
Tyrell Gatewood, class of 2003, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2007.
Dallas Griffin, class of 2003, finished his BBA with honors in Spring 2007, and is currently enrolled in UT’s MBA program.
Marcus Griffin, class of 2003, finished his BA in Government in Fall 2007. Walking-on worked out well for him, in the end.
Steve Hogan, class of 2003, finished his BBA in Fall 2007.
Erick Jackson, class of 2003, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2007.
Greg Johnson, class of 2003 transfer from Vanderbilt, finished his BS in Communication Studies in Fall 2006.
Robert Killebrew, class of 2003, finished his BS in Kinesiology in Fall 2007.
Limas Sweed, class of 2003, finished his BS in Applied Learning & Development in Fall 2007.
Drew Kelson, class of 2004, finished his BS in Communication Studies in 3.5 years, graduating in Fall 2007.
Derek Lokey, class of 2004, finished his BS in Kinesiology Sport Management in 3.5 years, graduating in Fall 2007.
Frank Okam, class of 2004, finished his BS in Kinesiology Sport Management in 3.5 years, graduating in Fall 2007.
Nathan Jones, Thomas Marshall, and Brandon Foster walked the stage last Fall so I assume they’re very close to graduating.
Commendation also goes out to the following guys still working away:
Rod Babers, class of 1999, is a Senior this Spring
Dakarai Pearson, class of 1999, is a Senior this Spring
Artie Ellis, class of 1999, is a Sophomore this Spring.
Aaron Harris, class of 2002, is a Senior this Spring.
Scott Derry, class of 2003, hasn’t officially graduated yet but that’s because he’s in the Accounting program where you graduate with a Bachelors and an advanced degree (PPA?).
Cedric Woodard (1996 class) has returned to the University after 8 years off and several years in the NFL.
Cedric Griffin (2001 class) has returned to the University after two seasons in the NFL.
Michael Griffin ( has returned to the University after his first NFL season.
And….Vince Young (2002 class) is back in school after his second NFL season. May his influence be profoundly felt.
Summing up Mack’s classes:
1998 class: 22 counters, 10 graduates, 2 others in NFL for 5+ seasons, 1 in MLB, 1 passed away, and 5 transferred.
1999 class: 25 counters, 9 graduates, 3 current students, 4 others are in NFL, and 7 transferred.
2000 class: 21 counters, 10 graduates, 2 others are in NFL, and 2 transferred.
2001 class: 21 counters, 13 graduates, 1 student, 2 others are in NFL, and 2 transferred.
2002 class: 25 counters, 11 graduates, 2 students, 5 others in NFL, and 5 transferred.
2003 class: 19 counters, 8 graduates, 3 students, 3 others in NFL.
2004 class: 20 counters, 3 graduates, 9 students, 4 transferred.
2005 class: 16 counters, 0 graduates, 12 students, 1 transferred.
2006 class: 24 counters, 0 graduates, 19 students, 3 transferred.
2007 class: 25 counters, 0 graduates, 25 students.
January 23, 2008 at 1:45 pm
What the heck is a “BS in Applied Learning & Development” and what do you do with it? Looks like our exes will be dominating the industry in the near future.
January 23, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Old and busted: Youth and Community Studies
New hotness: Applied Learning and Development
January 23, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Nice one HJ.
January 23, 2008 at 3:26 pm
We need more African-American Studies, in honor of the King, ML.
January 23, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Scott Derry is in the PPA program (which is now called the MPA program). He graduates with a BBA and MPA with a tax emphasis.
January 24, 2008 at 10:10 am
From UT’s Website
B.S. in Applied Learning and Development
Major: Applied Learning and Development
Major 1: Early Childhood to Fourth Grade Generalist Certification
This program is designed for students who are seeking Texas certification to teach in a pre- kindergarten to fourth grade classrooms.
Major 2: Early Childhood to Fourth Grade Generalist Certification with Bilingual Education
This program leads to certification to teach in pre-kindergarten to fourth grade classrooms, and an additional certificate to teach in pre-kindergarten to fourth grade bilingual classrooms.
Major 3: All-Level Generic Special Education
This program leads to certification to teach in pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade special education classrooms.
Major 4: Youth and Community Studies
This program is designed for students who are preparing to work with children in a variety of settings and who do not wish to pursue teaching certification. This program does not culminate in a teaching certificate.
January 24, 2008 at 10:22 am
MPA = most pronounced adams apple…
January 24, 2008 at 2:53 pm
My hope, as a Red Raider, is that with the off the field issues endured by the Longhorn program last year, pressure from the Administration on Mack Brown transforms the UT football program into the next Stanford. We don’t have to worry about those kind of academia influences in Lubbock.
January 25, 2008 at 2:34 pm
These majors are a joke. Applied Learning and Development. They are just eligibility majors and thats that.
January 25, 2008 at 6:59 pm
“These majors are a joke. Applied Learning and Development. They are just eligibility majors and thats that.”
thats what you think, but take a moment and think about all those people out there who need to apply the things they’ve learned and how to develop these things as well. where would they be without someone to show them how to do it? thank god for ALP…
January 26, 2008 at 7:03 am
Here’s impressive: http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/pages/releases/2004_05/010/050905_50.htm
Football while working to get into med school. Neither are easy tasks alone, props to those who could do them simultaneously.
January 28, 2008 at 8:04 am
ALP is not near as funny as how many A&M football players major in Animal Husbandry and Poultry Science.
January 28, 2008 at 2:32 pm
“These majors are a joke. Applied Learning and Development. They are just eligibility majors and thats that.”
Maybe they plan to apply some learning to the other students in the same major.