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Muschamp brings intensity, impressive resume to Texas’ defense. Good article on the Longhorns new defensive coordinator.

Will Muschamp has made Texas’ spring practices noticeably more physical this season. Love to hear about more hitting, just hope we stay healthy.

It’s barely March but it looks like Mack Brown is close to wrapping up his 2009 recruiting class already. After starting out strong with Garrett Gilbert and six other commits at the team’s first junior day, the Horns have since added eight more of the state’s top football players to bring the total tally up to fifteen.

Two of the biggest commits were at linebacker, where Irving’s Tariq Allen and Grand Prairie’s Patrick Nkwopara made their pledge to play for defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s defense. Both players were top targets of the Texas defensive coaching staff and appear to fit their mold perfectly for a linebacker, speed guys who aren’t afraid to knock your head off. If you’re a Rivals subscriber, watch Allen’s videos and you’ll be very excited about our future middle linebacker.

The team also got help in the defensive backfield by picking up commits from cornerbacks Eryon Barnett from Euless and Kenny Vaccaro out of Brownwood. Vaccaro is one of the state’s most heavily recruited DB’s and held offers from the likes of Florida, Oklahoma, and Stanford when chose the Longhorns. Barnett was a virtual unknown before committing to the Horns but Texas offered quickly and he certainly passes the eyeball test so he looks like a player who will shoot up the rankings once the scouting services get film of him.

Texas also did an excellent job filling needs from the top in-state options. Defensive end and tight end were both positions the Horns needed to fill holes at in this class. At defensive end the two big fish are still out there, Alex Okafor and five-star Devon Kennard, but the Horns added two very capable prospects in Dominique Jones and Kyle Kriegel. The tight end commits look like the two best in the state in Trey Graham and Barrett Matthews. I’m particularly excited about Matthews, whose versatility, athleticism, and toughness allow him to play an H-back role or maybe even end up on defense. It doesn’t hurt that he plays for Galena Park North Shore, a school that has now put out three top Division I tight ends in a row.

The fifteen current commits are listed below:

Name	Position	Rating*	LSR**	Hometown
Tariq Allen	LB		65	Irving
Thomas Ashcraft	OL		13	Cedar Hill
Eryon Barnett	DB		NR	Euless
Marcus Davis	DB		15	League City
Garrett Gilbert	QB		2	Austin
Trey Graham	TE		NR	Waco
Dominique Jones	DE		NR	Kilgore
Paden Kelley	OL		31	Austin
Kyle Kriegel	DE		64	Elysian Fields
Barrett Matthews	TE		59	Galena Park
Patrick Nkwopara	LB		NR	Grand Prairie
Garrett Porter	OL		30	Odessa
Greg Timmons	WR		10	Aldine
Kenny Vaccaro	DB		53	Brownwood
Chris Whaley	RB		8	Madisonville

*Note: Most of the star ratings are just estimates based on the video I’ve seen of the recruits and Orangebloods.com’s state rankings.

**Note: LSR is Geoff Ketchum’s Lone Star Recruiting Top 100. The numbers represent the player’s ranking as of 2/13/2008.

New coaches Muschamp & Applewhite bring new ideas to the Longhorns. Hopefully they also bring new intensity as well.

Muschamp’s fast track leads through Texas. Expectations for the 2008 defense are sky high.

Muschamp is ready to get the defense going. Watching the video of the press conference got me fired up.

Appeal of Texas too strong for Muschamp to resist. He was “blown away” by what he saw and what he experienced when he got to Austin.

Texas tabs Auburn’s Muschamp as defensive coordinator. Official MB-TF story.

After over a day of back and forth and strained nerves for Texas fans, Phillip Marshall of The Huntsville Times is reporting that Will Muschamp has officially resigned his position as Auburn defensive coordinator and accepted Texas’ offer.

Will Muschamp resigned today as Auburn’s defensive coordinator to accept a similar position at the University of Texas.

Muschamp, who interviewed at Texas on Thursday, told Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville shortly after returning from Austin this afternoon that he had decided to accept an offer from Longhorn coach Mack Brown. Muschamp leaves after two years on the Auburn staff.

The Auburn president and Board of Trustees recently approved a raise for Muschamp that would have made his salary $425,000 in 2008.He had a two-year contract with no buyout clause. He would have been the highest paid assistant coach in the Southeastern Conference.

I like the comment from the Auburn fan below the article, “Seems a little like leaving your wife who is a hot 9.2 for a 9.5.” I think Texas is more of a 10 but damn it feels good to be the Joneses. I love the attitude that we can go out there and get the best of the best.

This is big time news for the Texas program, Big 12 offenses are going to have to look out for Mssrs. Kindle, Muckelroy, and Norton next year. It’ll be nice to have some of that swagger we saw in the Holiday Bowl last all season.

Larry Mac Duff’s office chair isn’t even cool yet (I didn’t even have time to post the news of him leaving) and already the rumors are flying fast and furious that we may have a replacement.

Orangebloods.com reported just before lunch that Auburn’s Will Muschamp was a possible candidate to be Texas’ next defensive coordinator and by five they were reporting he’d been interviewed and offered the job. We should be hearing more tomorrow already, with a final decision possibly being made as early as this evening.

Muschamp is a big name and would make big news around college football. At only 36 he’s already on the fast track to being a head coach. In fact, rumor on the Auburn message boards is that he wouldn’t be going anywhere as a defensive coordinator unless he was promised the head coaching position.

He’s young, fiery, and best of all has experience coaching linebackers. Oh, and like all smart men, he hates the Piggies:

Muschamp played safety at Georgia from 1991 - 1994 (yes Dad, you’re getting old) and has an impressive coaching resume. From Wikipedia:

Stay tuned… if news breaks, we’ll break in.

Update: It is being reported (again by Orangebloods, best $10/month you can spend) that Muschamp was offered a “Jimbo Fisher deal.” The Florida State offensive coordinator was lured away from LSU by the promise that he would be the coach to succeed the legendary Bobby Bowden. If this is true, Muschamp would likely have something in his contract that paid him a large buyout if he is let go or if someone other than himself is selected to follow Mack Brown as Texas coach. Biggest difference, Bowden is 78 and Mack is still a relatively young 56. (9:44 pm)

Update: It doesn’t look an official announcement will come tonight, but multiple sources at both Texas and Auburn are reporting that it’s a done deal. An agreement is reportedly in place between Texas and Muschamp but papers haven’t been signed yet. Don’t want to count chickens yet but it sure looks like Will Muschamp is going to be your next Texas defensive coordinator. (11:14 pm)

Update: The Huntsville Times is reporting the deal is done. Hook ‘em! (Friday, 5:09 pm)