Recruiting:
Well, as HenryJames has already pointed out here Nolan Brewster, Emmanuel Acho and Mason Walters are out for spring practice and there are some interesting details in the comments section including some info from someone who claims connections to Walter's hometown and a depressing diagnoses by Dr. Scipio of "Walton Foot" which you may know as the disease that brought down one of the most talented basketball players in the history of the NBA. Exciting prognosis.
Speaking of Scipio, he finally returned from his trip "scouting middle school quarterbacks for Coach Brown" to provide a late, yet somehow fresh take on the 2010 class. One of the better trends I'm excited about for these last 2 classes is the presence of guys that look mentally ready to go to war for a national championship. Mike Davis, Garret Gilbert, anyone coached by Will Muschamp, they seem to have the Bill Russel sickness for winning. I remember seeing Gilbert crying with frustration after the intercepted shovel pass and early struggles and thinking, "oh no, we've crowned some kansas city faggot as our next star quarterback." Then he came out in the 2nd half and well, I feel confident with him.
We're conditioned to see tears as weakness, but I actually am beginning to suspect that the athletes that cry are the ones you have to watch for, the guys that just cannot stand failure. Except those swishes from Kansas City.
Anyways, to me the biggest news is Mason Walters going down. If I were in charge I would have had him bathing in Left tackle coaching as much as is legally permitted by the NCAA until next season starts. Now? I'm sure Hix will get a look and probably Garret Porter and Luke Poehlmann, maybe others if it looks desperate. Sometimes I tell myself Poehlman can't be too bad if he was the back-up for the National Championship game and by sometimes I mean as an immediate defensive response as soon as I heard Walters was down for the spring.
Losing Brewster is rough as well. Since Texas has lost the best route recognizing rover they've had since I've been watching I wonder if Muschamp is planning a return to a 2 deep base coverage. If so my concern is with Gideon who seems to have one strength and that's as a deep free safety. He's great patrolling the deep grounds (save for maybe lacking phenomenal range) as a solo deep supporter but as a downhill guy making plays on the ball and in the running game, well just ask Trent Richardson for his scouting report. Ben Wells could be good in that capacity if he's finally learned the system yet. Brewster and Scott was really the 2 deep shell I was hoping for but it's not unlikely that Gideon will lock down that spot again this spring and push CTJ one step closer.
Basketball:
There has been plenty of good reading material on this very site that you probably already read but I'll link it anyway. Trips Right previewed the game here, as I understand it we have a chance if we can just stop Najera...
Scipio Tex, in between excited note-taking sessions on Pflugerville middle school tackle prospects (nice base), developed a plan he succinctly presents for Texas' rotation issue he describes as being like something called a 7-11 that seems to maximize the team's talent and offer convenience items at all hours for high prices. That's why we call him Tex.
Now, in another issue of agonizing recalls with Nickel Rover, I call you back to the Kelvin Sampson era before TJ Ford when Texas lost to OU approximately 70 times in a row for one stretch with one particularly bad beat down in Austin where their guards swarmed Texas with ball pressure that seemed to eliminate their ability to do anything resembling the operation of an offense. Anyone remember? Do you recall Ebie Ere? Or Hollis Price who was gushed about by the announcers for his character and then handled himself like a thug on the court? Man I hated those teams, just thought I would try and help inspire the necessary bile before the 3:00 tip-off (on ESPN).
If beating OU has lost it's interest you check out some of the match-ups that interest Trips.
Superbowl:
Focus on the family purchased an additional Tebow ad spot before the game and adjusted the original which apparently has some "humor" injected into it. I'm not sure how they'll manage that exactly, unsuccessfully is my guess. I'll be watching to see if Tebow's magical powers will end the abortion debate in this country once and for all. If he can do this, the possibilities are endless. We should send him back in time to negotiate with Hitler, or send him into the future to negotiate with Roland Emmerich and prevent Independence Day II.
There's an interesting piece about Peyton Manning over at slate that describes him almost like a mix between the rainman and the coworker who tells you that the company isn't paying you to check your fantasy team. What I like about Peyton is his ability to determine what is necessary to win. For instance, in the Bears Superbowl the Colts figured out that the way to beat a Cover-2 team is to run draws that get their linebackers moving backwards before having to reverse momentum and come back to make the tackle. I think Greg Davis missed that game...anyways, Manning insisted to the coordinator that they needed to run the ball in that game and it secured the victory while denying him the glory. That's when I knew I had to stop hating him and labeling him a choke artist at every available opportunity, very difficult for a Tom Brady Patriots fan...