Bevo Sports

Position Rating: B-
Starter: Lamarr Houston, Roy Miller
Reserves: Ben Alexander, Aaron Lewis, Michael Wilcoxon, ???

Defensive tackle is one of the most exciting positions on the Texas defense going into 2008 but also the spot where depth is the biggest concern. Roy Miller and Lamarr Houston are the starters and might be the best pair of interior defenders in the conference. The complete lack of both proven depth and warm bodies behind them could mean big trouble if either of the top two goes down.

Miller saw significant playing time as the third member of the tackle rotation last season and was one of the defense’s most consistent performers. This year the big run-stopping DT out of Killeen will be leaned on to be more of a playmaker while also holding down blockers to allow the defensive ends to get after the quarterback. Next to Miller will be the former defensive end Houston, who might be the player that has Texas fans the most excited. It’s been a long time since the team has had a pass-rushing presence on the interior, but the noise coming from insiders is that Houston is going to be a force on the interior. Both players have incredible upside and could be early round NFL draft picks soon.

Behind the starters things get a lot murkier as both on and off field issues have left the cupboard pretty bare at the position. Andre Jones, Brian Ellis, and Tyrell Higgins were all going to be relied on this season and now all are out of the program. The first player off the bench might be another former defensive end in Aaron Lewis who will probably continue to play both positions. The biggest key to the position will be the development of Ben Alexander and Michael Wilcoxon. The team desparately needs two guys to step up from that second group to be able to spell the starters or else promising true freshmen Jarvis Humphrey and Kheeston Randall better be ready in a hurry.

Update: In surprising news, Tyrell Higgins is back on the roster as a walk-on.

Related Links

• Quarterbacks preview
• Running backs preview
• Wide Receivers preview
• Tight ends preview
• Offensive line 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

The big one got away today (under suspicious circumstances) but the 2008 Texas recruiting class is still a good one. Mack Brown and the Horns signed 20 young athletes to letters of intent, nine of which are already on campus for the spring semester.

The class is headlined by defensive backs Aaron Williams and DJ Monroe, who along with safety Nolan Brewster, should anchor the Texas defensive backfield for the next four or five years. On the offensive side WR/RB DeSean Hales is electric with the football in his hands and wide receiver Dan Buckner is huge and will catch anything thrown in his general direction.

Here’s the full list of signees:

Name	Position	Rating	Hometown
Emmanuel Acho	LB		Dallas
Nolan Brewster	DB		Denver, CO
Mark Buchanan	OL		Austin
Dan Buckner	WR		Allen
Brock Fitzhenry	RB		Giddings
Blake Gideon	DB		Leander
DJ Grant	WR		Austin
DeSean Hales	RB		Klein
Antoine Hicks	ATH		Mansfield
Jeremy Hills	RB		Alief
Jarvis Humphrey	DT		Cedar Hill
Dravannti Johnson	LB		Nederland
DJ Monroe	DB		Angleton
Tre Newton	RB		Southlake
Luke Poehlmann	OL		Brenham
Kheeston Randall	DT		Beaumont
Ryan Roberson	RB		Brenham
David Snow	OL		Gilmer
Justin Tucker	K		Austin
Aaron Williams	DB		Round Rock

Congratulations to the newest Texas Longhorns!

5A Texas Football.com has released their awards for the 2007 season and several future Longhorns have made their list. Just like last year, Leander safety Blake Gideon is receiving state accolades and 5A Texas Football.com has named him their Defensive MVP. The kid may not be highly rated recruit but he just makes plays and he’s been one of the best players in the state’s highest classification the last two years.

Here’s the rest of the future Horns who made their list:

For some reason the inaugural Under Armour All-America High School Football Game is going up head to head with the US Army game on ABC. I know there’s a limited window when these kids are out of school, but this game should have been last night when there were other college or NFL games to compete with. Definitely looks lower rent than the other game but there’s still some very good talent in the game including several future Longhorns. The game started at 1 pm but since I’ll have to save any comments till later when I watch the game off the DVR.

Not sure how the teams were determined, there’s Longhorns on both the Silver and Red team. ESPN doesn’t provide jersey numbers, but here’s the guys to watch in this one:

Team SILVER

Name	Position	Commit?	Ranking
Mark Buchanan	Offensive tackle	Yes
Rodrick Davis	Defensive tackle	No
DJ Grant	Wide receiver	Yes
Antoine Hicks	Wide receiver	Yes

Team RED

Name	Position	Commit?	Ranking
DeSean Hales	Wide receiver	Yes
Jarvis Humphrey	Defensive tackle	Yes