It was immediately obvious after watching the first replay of Blaine Irby’s gruesome knee injury but it is now official that the sophomore tight end will miss the remainder of the 2008 season. According to a press release from the university Sunday evening Blaine suffered a dislocated right knee and will undergo season ending surgery. He’ll be able to seek a medical redshirt and should have a full three years of eligibility remaining when he (hopefully) returns to the field in 2009.
Read the full press release including quotes from Irby and Mack Brown below:
Longhorn sophomore starting tight end Blaine Irby sustained a dislocated right knee in Texas’ 52-10 victory over Rice on Saturday, will undergo surgery and is out for the rest of the season, UT Head Athletic Trainer for Football Kenny Boyd confirmed on Monday.
“It’s going to be a long journey, and I just have to take it one step at a time,” Irby said. “I know the tight end spot and the offense won’t lose a beat because Peter (Ullman) and Greg (Smith) are there to lead the way. I’m going to be there too, helping out Coach Chambers. I’ll be there as a coach and a teammate and ready to help anybody in any way that they need me. Coach Brown told me that I could use a medical redshirt since this happened so early in the season, which would give me three more years, but that’s down the road. Right now, I just need to focus on being patient, taking it one day at a time, getting healthy and coming back stronger than ever.”
The 6-3, 235-pound Irby started all three games and had 10 catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns on the year. He led the Horns with seven catches for 62 yards and a TD in their 52-10 season-opening victory over Florida Atlantic. Irby also posted nine knockdown blocks in that game. He had a 23-yard catch at UTEP and registered two catches for 10 yards before sustaining the knee injury against Rice. He played in 11 games and registered two catches for 29 yards as a true freshman in 2007.
“We have a great history of tight ends and Blaine was quickly developing into the type of player to follow in those footsteps,” said head coach Mack Brown. “He was getting better every week and making a big impact in our offense. Blaine was very productive for us at a key time since we lost Jermichael (Finley) early to the NFL. As much as we’ll miss him this season, thank goodness he’ll get a redshirt year and have three seasons left when he gets back.”
In addition to Finley leaving school early, Texas also lost sophomore Josh Marshall during preseason drills. He sustained a left scapula injury and remains out indefinitely. Senior Peter Ullman and sophomore Greg Smith both have played this season and will compete for the starting tight end job.
Redshirt freshman Ahmard Howard will move up the depth chart and compete for action after playing primarily on special teams this season. Fellow redshirt freshman Ian Harris, who sustained a neck sprain in August, is expected to be cleared to return to practice soon. Offensive tackle Britt Mitchell has been playing tight end in short-yardage and goal-line situations as well.
We wish Blaine good health and determination through his rehab and can’t wait to see him back catching passes again as soon as possible.
Position Rating: B
Starters: Adam Ulatoski, Charlie Tanner, Chris Hall, Cedric Dockery, Kyle Hix
Reserves: Tray Allen, David Snow, Buck Burnette, Michael Huey, Britt Mitchell
The Texas offensive line struggled through the 2007 season due to injuries and inexperience. Injuries to important senior players forced young guys to step in and play before they were ready. Those struggles last year should however prepare the group for 2008, as every starter has significant playing experience and nine of the top 10 guys have seen previous playing time.
Adam Ulatoski and Kyle Hix are entrenched as the starting tackles. Ulatoski is the most experienced player on the line but will be moving from the right side to the left to protect QB Colt McCoy’s blindside. Various serious and nagging injuries have prevented him from becoming the dominant tackle Texas fans thought he would be, but he’s still only a junior and he’s finally healthy so this could be a big year for Ulatoski. On the other side, Hix played in every game last year as a true freshman and started at right tackle in the Holiday Bowl. He was a top recruit in the state and expectations are high for him for this season and his career. Tray Allen and Britt Mitchell will be the primary backups at tackle.
The guard positions aren’t as set in stone. The current starters are Charlie Tanner and Cedric Dockery but there is also a lot of noise about sophomore Michael “Baby” Huey. Tanner and Dockery were the starters for most of 2007 and each is a consistently solid performer. Dockery once looked like he’d follow his brother Derrick to the NFL but missed significant time with a serious knee injury in 2006 and is hopefully finally at full strength now. The three players will likely all see good amount of playing time early on as the coaches see if Huey can unseat one of the veterans. True freshman David Snow is the fourth guard on the depth chart and looks to have a bright future.
Chris Hall looks to have finally found a permanent home. After spending time at all five positions on the line last year as a sophomore he’ll anchor the line this year as the starting center. His intelligence and experience at every position should let him excel as the quarterback of the offensive line. Talented backup Buck Burnette needs to be ready in case Hall is required to shuffle around again this season.
They may not get the pub other positions do, but the offensive line is the most important piece of any good football team. After a rough 2007 season the line should be a strength in 2008. If they stay healthy it’ll mean more time for McCoy to pass and more holes for the running backs to run through, which in turn means a more consistent offense.
Related Links
Update: Bevo Sports is giving away NCAA Football 09, enter to win!
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buck Burnette | C #66 | Soph(RS) | C | 78 |
| C #60 | Fresh | C | 72 | |
| Deon Beasley | CB #7 | Junior | CB | 85 |
| Ryan Palmer | CB #13 | Senior(RS) | CB | 84 |
| Curtis Brown | CB #3 | Soph | CB | 83 |
| Aaron Williams | CB #26 | Fresh | CB | 80 |
| Chykie Brown | CB #8 | Soph(RS) | CB | 80 |
| Earl Thomas | CB #12 | Fresh(RS) | CB | 78 |
| DJ Monroe | CB #27 | Fresh | CB | 76 |
| Roy Miller | DT #99 | Senior | DT | 90 |
| Jarvis Humphrey | DT #96 | Fresh | DT | 80 |
| Brian Ellis | DT #90 | Soph(RS) | DT | 78 |
| Ben Alexander | DT #92 | Junior | DT | 76 |
| Kheeston Randall | DT #88 | Fresh | DT | 76 |
| Chris Ogbonnayya | FB #3 | Senior(RS) | FB | 93 |
| Cody Johnson | FB #31 | Fresh(RS) | FB | 72 |
| Ben Wells | FS #5 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 84 |
| Christian Scott | FS #6 | Fresh(RS) | FS | 77 |
| Blake Gideon | FS #21 | Fresh | FS | 77 |
| Vondrell McGee | HB #2 | Soph(RS) | HB | 85 |
| DeSean Hales | HB #30 | Fresh | HB | 80 |
| Antwan Cobb | HB #24 | Soph(RS) | HB | 79 |
| Fozzy Whittaker | HB #22 | Fresh(RS) | HB | 78 |
| Jeremy Hills | HB #32 | Fresh | HB | 76 |
| Tre Newton | HB #23 | Fresh | HB | 73 |
| Hunter Lawrence | K #15 | Junior | K | 82 |
| Justin Tucker | K #9 | Fresh | K | 69 |
| Lamarr Houston | LE #33 | Junior | LE | 91 |
| Aaron Lewis | LE #95 | Senior | LE | 85 |
| Henry Melton | LE #37 | Senior | LE | 80 |
| Charlie Tanner | LG #52 | Junior(RS) | LG | 86 |
| Tray Allen | LG #70 | Soph | LG | 82 |
| Chris Hall | LG #71 | Junior(RS) | LG | 81 |
| Aundre McGaskey | LG #76 | Fresh(RS) | LG | 74 |
| Sergio Kindle | LOLB #2 | Junior | LOLB | 85 |
| LOLB #16 | Fresh | LOLB | 80 | |
| LOLB #57 | Fresh | LOLB | 76 | |
| David Snow | LT #78 | Fresh | LT | 78 |
| Britt Mitchell | LT #72 | Soph(RS) | LT | 78 |
| Rashad Bobino | MLB #44 | Senior(RS) | MLB | 90 |
| Jared Norton | MLB #11 | Junior | MLB | 85 |
| Trevor Gerland | P #17 | Junior(RS) | P | 83 |
| Colt McCoy | QB #12 | Junior(RS) | QB | 89 |
| Sherrod Harris | QB #17 | Soph(RS) | QB | 81 |
| John Chiles | QB #7 | Soph | QB | 79 |
| Eddie Jones | RE #32 | Soph(RS) | RE | 92 |
| Brian Orakpo | RE #98 | Senior(RS) | RE | 90 |
| Russell Carter | RE #97 | Fresh(RS) | RE | 77 |
| Cedric Dockery | RG #55 | Senior(RS) | RG | 89 |
| Michael Huey | RG #63 | Soph | RG | 81 |
| Roddrick Muckelroy | ROLB #38 | Junior(RS) | ROLB | 87 |
| Keenan Robinson | ROLB #53 | Fresh(RS) | ROLB | 82 |
| ROLB #4 | Fresh | ROLB | 75 | |
| Adam Ulatoski | RT #74 | Junior(RS) | RT | 85 |
| Mark Buchanan | RT #54 | Fresh | RT | 74 |
| Ishie Oduegwu | SS #19 | Junior(RS) | SS | 88 |
| Nolan Brewster | SS #36 | Fresh | SS | 79 |
| Peter Ullman | TE #86 | Senior(RS) | TE | 81 |
| Ahmard Howard | TE #13 | Fresh(RS) | TE | 74 |
| Blaine Irby | TE #19 | Soph | TE | 73 |
| Quan Cosby | WR #6 | Senior | WR | 89 |
| Jordan Shipley | WR #8 | Senior(RS) | WR | 84 |
| Montre Webber | WR #14 | Soph(RS) | WR | 83 |
| Dan Buckner | WR #4 | Fresh | WR | 79 |
| Malcolm Williams | WR #9 | Fresh(RS) | WR | 78 |
| DJ Grant | WR #80 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
| Antoine Hicks | WR #81 | Fresh | WR | 75 |
| James Kirkendoll | WR #87 | Soph | WR | 74 |
Downloads
Posted February 1st, 2006 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Recruiting
I’ll update this post from time to time today with any news on National Signing Day including who has sent in their letter of intent and any other rumors going around. Most of the guys should be signed by around noon and then we’ll just be waiting around for Jonas Mouton’s decision this evening.
Morgan shocks Aggies and Seminoles
4-star linebacker Michael Morgan was expected to choose between Florida State and Texas A&M last night and surprised everyone when he announced he’d be headed to USC next fall. While the Trojans were in his final three, most experts believed he was headed to FSU or possibly to the Aggies if he decided he wanted to stay closer to home.
The announcement sent the Aggie fans into meltdown mode. He was a critical recruit and one they had been very confident about landing for a while. The Aggies had a down year on the field this season and it’s been reflected in their lack of success in recruiting, Morgan would have been a very nice addition to an otherwise average class.
Latest on Mouton
Seems like most experts are predicting Jonas Mouton will pick Michigan tonight when he announces his decision on Fox Sports West. There’s still people predicting Texas or USC and Mouton has kept things pretty close to the vest, so these are all just guesses and gut feelings. I think in the end Texas just got in too late to have a chance to completely win him over.
Signed letters of intent as of 9 a.m.
According to Geoff Ketchum over at Orangebloods.com, 19 players have already signed their letter of intent to play for the Horns as of about 9 a.m. The following players have been confirmed by the Orangebloods staff:
- Ben Alexander
- Chykie Brown
- Buck Burnette
- Antwan Cobb
- Dustin Earnest
- Brian Ellis
- Sherrod Harris
- Robert Joseph
- Sergio Kindle
- Hunter Lawrence
- Vondrell McGee
- Steven Moore
- Jared Norton
- Phillip Payne
- Jevan Snead
- Greg Smith
- Roy Watts
- JMarcus Webb
- Montre Webber
Steve Moore was the first one in this morning at around 7:30 and there’s been a steady flow since. I’m glad to see Ben Alexander’s name already on the list as I had a slightly bad feeling about him. He’s out of state and several schools from the ACC and SEC have still been recruiting him since he committed back in June.
All letters of intent are in (11 a.m.)
The last six of the 25 man class are signed and Orangebloods has confirmation on them. Add the following names to the Class of 2006:
Now just waiting on Mouton…
Mouton to Michigan (4 p.m.)
His press conference isn’t for several more hours but it appears Jonas Mouton has already made his decision. Lloyd Carr’s official press release on the Wolverines’ signees confirms that Mouton has signed his letter of intent and makes tonight’s press conference just a formality.
That wraps up things for the Longhorns today as everybody we knew about is already in and no one new is really left out there. We’ll have an overview of the entire class soon as well as a position-by-position breakdown of next year including the new guys in the coming days/weeks.
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