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Position Rating: B-
Starters: Deon Beasley, Ryan Palmer
Reserves: Chykie Brown, Curtis Brown, Aaron Williams

If you’ve watched the last few NFL drafts you know the Longhorns have had a lot of talented cornerbacks in recent years, but if you watched games or looked at stats you’ll notice the Texas pass defense has been awful since the 2005 championship season. This year the position is as talented as ever, but hopefully with new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp it will translate to fewer big plays and fewer points on the scoreboard.

The two starting corners both saw significant playing time last season. Senior Ryan Palmer is by far the most experienced player in the Texas secondary. Palmer started every game last year and led the team in pass break-ups while also recording 80 tackles. He is a little undersized but makes up for it with speed and confidence. Palmer might not be the playmaker some of the younger guys are but coaches will be looking to him to provide consistency and leadership in the young defensive backfield.

At the other corner is Deon Beasley. 2008 will be his first as a starter but the junior saw significant snaps last year as the team’s nickelback and in a couple of spot starts. He picked off three passes last year and with more time on the field this season should create even more turnovers for the Texas D. Lean and athletic Beasley has already shown flashes that he could be the team’s next great corner.

The guys behind the top two should also see a lot of the field as the defense should play a lot of nickel against the many spread offenses they’ll face this season. Sophomores Chykie Brown and Curtis Brown (no relation) are both gifted players that stand over six feet tall. Chykie has performed so well in spring and fall practices that on the first depth chart of the year he was actually listed as a co-starter with Beasley.

Behind them is true freshman Aaron Williams who has come in and immediately impressed. Currently listed as the fifth corner there was buzz in the last two weeks that his incredible talent already had him passing some of the more experienced players ahead of him. Look out for him as the season goes on to get more and more playing time.

Cornerback is full of speed and talented depth, but that has been true before and hasn’t resulted in good defense. There are more playmakers in the group than in recent seasons and if the front seven can pressure the quarterback we could see a lot more turnovers created this year. With the big time passing offenses in the Big 12 this group will be tested early and often, but an improved performance will mean a vastly improved defense. We’ll find out soon what Palmer, Beasley, and company are capable of.

Related Links

• Quarterbacks preview
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• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Offensive line preview
• Defensive tackles preview
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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.