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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

• Quarterbacks preview
• Running backs preview
• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Defensive tackles preview
• Defensive ends preview
• Linebackers preview
• Cornerbacks preview
• Safeties preview

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:

Downloads

• Texas player ratings
• Full top 25 player ratings

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:

• Deon Beasley
• James Henry
• Lamarr Houston
• Eddie Jones
• Josh Marshall
• Britt Mitchell

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.