40 Acres Sports

Texas senior defensive end Brian Orakpo was named one of four finalists today for the Lombardi Award, given annually to the nation’s top interior lineman. Orakpo has been incredible this season, racking up 26 unassisted tackles, 15 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, and nine sacks so far. The winner will be announced on December 10th in Houston.

From the press release on the award’s official site:

Laurinaitis, Maualuga, Orakpo, Smith named Rotary Lombardi Award Finalists.

Three defensive players and one offensive player - three seniors and one junior - were named today as finalists for the 39th Rotary Lombardi Award, presented by Wachovia. This year’s award dinner will be held on December 10 at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Downtown Houston. Houston Dynamo President and former Houston Oiler Oliver Luck will be the featured speaker at the event.

University of Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo is the 11th Longhorn finalist. Orakpo is a senior who battled a knee injury for the entire 2007 season but ended the year by earning Defensive MVP honors at the Holiday Bowl. The last winner from Texas was Tony Degrate in 1984.

Founded in the weeks following the 1970 death from cancer of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, the Rotary Lombardi Award has consistently delivered upon the mission set forth by Marie Lombardi when she granted the use of her late husband’s name. Her only stipulation was that all net proceeds from the event be donated to the American Cancer Society. Millions of dollars have been raised since that time.

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has rocketed to the top of every Heisman poll and this week garnered every single first place vote in the poll of ESPN’s experts. But he also has at least one vote from someone that matters, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow:

Tebow, who could become the first player since Ohio State’s Archie Griffin in 1975 to win consecutive Heismans, said Monday that Texas quarterback Colt McCoy is his top choice right now.

“Being smart and just looking at guys who are having a good year, he obviously is someone to look at and would probably be my top guy I’d vote for right now,” Tebow said. “He’s playing extremely well and doing a great job leading his team and handles it with a lot of class, too.”

Like every other former winner, Tebow has a vote in the poll along with 870 media members. If the season ended today, it appears that Colt would receive a ton of first place votes and run away with the award.

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The Rocky Mountain News’ weekly Heisman poll has been going strong for over 20 years and is one of the most accurate predictors of the winner of the award out there. In this week’s poll Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has vaulted to the top of their list. Nine out of the ten sportswriters voting put McCoy in the number one spot, giving him a comfortable lead over Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford

Check out the top five in the Heisman Trophy poll below:

Texas quarterback is up for the ESPN All American Player of the Week award for his week five performance against Arkansas. McCoy was 17 of 19 passing with three touchdowns while adding another 84 yards and two scores on the ground. He’s up against Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford, Alabama’s John Parker Wilson, and Oregon State’s Jacquizz Rodgers.

Text 'VOTE' to '51234' & vote for Colt

UT’s own Colt McCoy is up nominated for AT&T and ESPN’s All American Player of the Week this week. The other three players, chosen by ESPN based on their outstanding performance, include Sam Bradford (QB, Oklahoma), Jacquizz Rodgers (RB, Oregon State), and John Parker Wilson (QB, Alabama). It’s up to fans to now vote for the winner - and after McCoy’s performance, he deserves to win!

Register to vote by texting “VOTE” to “51234″ before Wednesday at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be announced at halftime of the Thursday ESPN College Football Primetime.

Anyone who votes is entered for a chance to win a trip to the 2009 BCS National Championship game in Miami. Each vote counts as one entry & there is no limit on fan voting.

Also, stay in touch with the Longhorns by texting “Horns” to 72645 – you’ll receive text alerts with game day reminders and the latest team statistics, updates and news for all 20 Longhorn sports. You’ll also be able to test your Longhorn knowledge with polls. Compete for a chance to win Longhorn football tickets!

ESPN’s college football talking head (one of the best) Kirk Herbstreit has released his annual list of best players/coaches/etc. in the country, the Herbie Awards. Just a little bit of love for the Longhorns in his awards, including calling the Longhorns his Big 12 South sleepers. Is that a backhanded compliment? And like most Texas fans, he certainly has a serious man crush on defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

Here’s the Longhorn-related notes:

• Big 12 South Sleeper: Texas
• Defensive Ends - Sack Masters: Brian Orakpo
• Top Defenses And The Geniuses Behind Them: Muschamp
• Head Coaches-In-Waiting: Muschamp
• Favorite Restaurant: El Arroyo

Even after a rough sophomore season, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy is getting a little preseason love from the national media. USA Today has McCoy as their number one sleeper QB poised for a possible Heisman Trophy run. Not entirely out of left field, after all McCoy was a legit Heisman contender before his injury in 2006. Anytime Jimmy Clausen makes a list like this you know the guys making it are reaching for some true sleepers.

Read their thoughts on why McCoy has a shot at the Heisman below:

This guy was on everybody’s list after his freshman season in 2006. Now he seems to have fallen out of favor after Texas had a subpar (by their standards) year and McCoy threw 18 interceptions. He also threw for 22 TDs and 3,303 yards. He’s not a Vince Young threat as a runner but he did rush for 492 yards and 4 TDs last year. If the Longhorns are a national contender than this guy is going to get some votes. Playing in the Big 12 will certainly have him in the spotlight.

Maybe my ColtForHeisman.com site will experience a rebirth now. Sweet.

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Soon after the Longhorns took the championship trophy off the field in Oklahoma City the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team was announced. Three Texas players were named to the team and first baseman Brandon Belt was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Belt hit .588 with two doubles, one home run and 10 RBI in four games.

Check below for the full team:

All-Tournament Team

1B – Brandon Belt, Texas
2B – Jake Opitz, Nebraska
SS – Drew Biery, Kansas State
3B – Nate Tenbrink, Kansas State
C – Luis Flores, Oklahoma State
OF – Jacob Priday, Missouri
OF – Jordan Danks, Texas
OF – Russell Moldenhauer, Texas
DH – Rebel Ridling, Oklahoma State
P – Daniel Edwards, Kansas State
P – Andrew Doyle, Oklahoma

Most Outstanding Player

1B – Brandon Belt, Texas

Kevin Durant headlines NBA’s all-rookie team, but one moron didn’t put him on their team. Probably a Hawks writer.

Cedric Dockery and Chris Hall named to trophy watch lists. Dockery up for the Outland and Hall for the Rimington.

Kenn Kasparek named national pitcher of the week. Throwing a no hitter doesn’t hurt.

Hedo Turkoglu named NBA’s most improved player, former Longhorn LaMarcus Aldridge is the runner up with 9 first place votes.

I’m not sure what’s wrong with Mark Jackson, Jon Barry, or Jemele Hill were doing this last basketball season, but they certainly weren’t watching games. Those were the only three ESPN “experts” to not vote for Seattle Oklahoma City Sonics guard/forward Kevin Durant as their Rookie of the Year for the 2007-2008 season. Durant picked up 17 out of 20 votes while Al Horford received the other three. Here’s how the votes broke down:

Kevin Durant Marc Stein ESPN.com	Kevin Durant J.A. Adande ESPN.com	Kevin Durant John Hollinger ESPN.com	Kevin Durant Chris Sheridan ESPN.com
Kevin Durant Chris Broussard ESPN Mag	Kevin Durant Henry Abbott TrueHoop	Kevin Durant David Thorpe Scouts Inc.	Kevin Durant Chad Ford ESPN.com
Kevin Durant Jalen Rose ESPN	Al Horford Mark Jackson ABC	Al Horford Jon Barry ESPN	Kevin Durant Tim Legler ESPN
Al Horford Jemele Hill ESPN.com Page 2	Kevin Durant Scoop Jackson ESPN.com Page 2	Kevin Durant Chris Palmer ESPN Mag	Kevin Durant Dr. Jack Ramsay ESPN Radio
Kevin Durant Maurice Brooks ESPN.com	Kevin Durant Chris Ramsay ESPN.com	Kevin Durant Andrew Ayres ESPN.com	Kevin Durant Matt Wong ESPN.com

Kevin managed to live up to the incredible hype and only got better and better as the year went on. Definitely well deserved. He only spent one season at Texas but Kevin is proud to be a Longhorn and we’re proud of him. This is just the first of many honors he’ll pick up in the coming weeks. Congrats Kevin.

DJ Augustin wins Bob Cousy Award given to nation’s top college point guard. He’ll be presented with the award Monday in San Antonio.

Texas sophomore point guard DJ Augustin and head coach Rick Barnes were both honored by Big 12 basketball coaches Monday. Augustin was named first team All Big 12. He was one of two unanimous selections, along with Kansas State’s Michael Beasley who was named conference player of the year. Guard AJ Abrams and forward Damion James were named to the second and third team respectively.

Barnes’ job taking a Kevin Durant-less Longhorns team to a Big 12 title was rewarded with a coach of the year nod. He’s been to a Final Four and coached two national players of the year, but this season was probably his best coaching job. The improvement of every single player on this year’s squad definitely reflects well on Barnes and his entire staff.

See the full list of Big 12 awards after the jump.

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Augustin, Abrams, and James named to AP All-Big 12 team. Augustin was unanimous first-team choice.

Brandon Foster named to ESPN’s All-Bowl team. Senior corner’s big Holiday Bowl getting some deserved notice.

Leonard Davis named Pro Bowl starter for NFC. Move to guard for the Cowboys has really been great for him.

Ivan Maisel puts Marcus Griffin on the 2007 ESPN.com All-America team. Led the team in tackles but possibly missed tackles as well.

Frank Okam and Jamaal Charles earn All-America honors. Third team and honorable mention respectively.

DJ Augustin named Big 12 player of the week. DJ had 47 points and 17 assists in wins over UNT and Rice.

Colt McCoy and Jamaal Charles in top 15 on CFN’s early 2008 Heisman contenders list. Lots of Big 12 players near the top.

The Texas Longhorns held their annual football banquet Friday night (photos) where they honored team members for their accomplishments on and off the field. Though fans and recruits do attend, the event is definitely a night for the players to look back on the season and to honor the careers of the outgoing seniors.

Quarterback Colt McCoy and running back Jamaal Charles were deservedly named the team MVPs. McCoy didn’t have as good of a season as he did his freshman year but he definitely is the player that made this team go (when it went anywhere). Charles was also named Darrell K. Royal Most Valuable Offensive Player while the Mike Campbell Most Valuable Defensive Players were Brandon Foster and Marcus Griffin.

In a team vote Dallas Griffin, Tony Hills, and Derek Lokey were honored with the D. Harold Byrd Leadership Award. Also, in a shocking development quarterback McCoy was given the Outstanding Quarterback Award.

In a move that infuriated Internet Coaching and Motivational Experts Rashad Bobino, Scott Derry, and Robert Killebrew shared the honor of being the team’s Outstanding Linebackers. I’m not sure what else you can really do though as no linebacker really deserved the honor and it would be pretty embarrassing to not hand out an award for the position.

A list of all the award winners is after the jump.

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Jamaal Charles named Doak Walker semifinalist. He’ll find out next week if he’s a finalist for nation’s top running back.

Kevin Durant nominated for ESPYs for best college male athlete and breakthrough athlete.

LaMarcus Aldridge named to NBA All-Rookie Team. Joined on 1st team by Portland teammate Brandon Roy.