Texas commits:

Reggie Wilson - #24

Tevin Jackson - #33

Trey Hopkins - #65

Taylor Bible - #83

Chris Jones - #87

Dominic Espinosa - #98

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http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?SID=880&Year=2010&ra_key=2369

Three of the initial top 6 are from Texas:

Seastrunk at #2, D. White at #3, and Jeffcoat at #6

Texas commits on the list:

Hopkins #48

Bible #68

Jones #70

Espinosa #75

Dixon #86

Benson #100

Others of note to all of the recruiting addicts:

Trovon Reed at #14, Jordan Hicks at #16, Reggie Wilson at #20, Jake Matthews at #62, and DeMarco Cobbs at #80.

For reference, last year's #5 ranked class had 6 players finish in the top 100.  It's such an early list and there will be many more 5 star players on subsequent lists, but it's exciting to think how great this class could be with a few more signings.

http://texas.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=1900

Texas will finish with 5 of the Top 10, and 10 of the top 20.  That will go to 11 of the Top 20 with the expected Tevin Mims signing.

This class will have some big time potential in it, and there is no doubt that Gilbert could be the crown jewel.

In all of the years that I’ve been in this business, Gilbert is right up there with Vince Young and Drew Brees as the best in-state quarterback I’ve seen.

That has me salivating for 2010 and beyond.  This doesn't sound like the type of guy who is going to be beat out for the starting job in 2010 after a year of on the job training with Colt.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3832957

It appears Sam Bradford needs another beatdown from Texas before he leaves for the NFL.  Word is he will return for his junior year. 

This certainly ups the excitement and anticipation for the RRS in 2009.  And it will probably overinflate the Sooners preseason ranking.  Unless Gresham comes back, their offense will still certainly take a huge hit.  An inexperienced O Line makes any QB look much more human.  And the Horns were able to penetrate the legendary O Line this year.

The good news for 2010 is that it does put both programs on equal footing for that year, both starting a new QB.

Two previous Longhorn 5 stars stayed steady:

Alex Okafor at #14

Garrett Gilbert at #18

An upgrade from 4 star to 5 star:

Mason Walters at #29 overall

Calvin Howell at #55, Garrett Porter at #69, and new Rivals 100 entrant Chris Whaley at #91 round out the Longhorns.

Interesting and satisfying note - Jamarkus McFarland was one of five 5 star prospects to drop to 4 star status in the final ranking. 

Whaley is intriguing because of his size.  It will be interesting to see how he is used in the offense next year, if any.

Here's the link:

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=893523

This is a VERY long story... but I wanted to get the link up before I got through it all.  As has been discussed since the story broke, the content and slant present in the NYT article was very evident.

The story has become a big deal and Ketchum awaits a response from Mack Brown and the University.

It's going to be interesting to see how Mack Brown and The University of Texas handle this situation because I believe if this is an institution of principles, they cannot let this situation go without comment.

This is great stuff - a confirmation that most of that stuff was BS.

It is a FREE link at this point.

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=888957

Ex UT and Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik appears to be the next head coach at Auburn.  Chizik was toiling away at Iowa State for the last couple of years.

So after many Muschamp rumors, Auburn goes back to the first D-coordinator that Mack lured away to Texas.

This surely isn't a WOW hire for Auburn.  Chizik was definitely an up and comer at Texas which is why it was so puzzling that he would take the Iowa State job.  He was 5-19 at Iowa State over the last two years. 

This now leaves Iowa State looking for a head coach.  They got pretty lucky when Chizik accepted the position, so I'm not sure where they go from here.

Updated rankings can be found here:

http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=1936

DE commit Alex Okafor was the big mover for the Horns, jumping up to #14 ahead of Garrett Gilbert who slid to #18. 

Jamarkus McFarland is now at #20 which corresponds with a drop in the Lone Star rankings.

Other Longhorn hopefuls Devon Kennard and Dre Kirkpatrick are at #6 and #10, respectively.

I love this quote from the site:

He was so quick at the Fort Worth Nike Camp that the coaches there thought he was an NFL prospect.

Has anyone seen him play in person?  It looks like he could be an Orakpo type DE in the future.  He runs a 4.6 in the 40. 

Interesting results from Sagarin this week:

1. Texas - 93.53
2. Tech - 92.59
3. Ala - 92.38
4. OU - 92.32
5. Utah - 90.45
6. OSU - 87.07
7. UF - 86.93
8. PSU - 86.09
9. UGA - 85.91
10. USC - 85.84

This poll has been very friendly to Texas, but also VERY friendly to Tech.  This is probably the highest ranked they will be in any computer.  2-4 are virtually a dead heat at this point. 

Bad news is that OU, although 4th, took a huge jump from around an 87 or 88 point rating last week.  A win over OSU may push them past the Horns and most likely to #1.  Texas would probably be #2.  It will be close though.

1. Tech - 93.97
2. Bama - 93.34
3. Texas - 92.38
4. Utah - 88.03
5. Florida - 87.94
6. Oklahoma - 87.47

Other Notables:

#8 Oklahoma State, #9 USC, #13 Missouri, #14 TCU, #19 Cincinnati

The Utah buffer is slowly dwindling and would imagine OU would jump them and Florida if they beat Tech next week.  Texas is much closer to first than fourth though, so it doesn't look like OU may have enough to catch Texas even with 2 more good wins.  And as OU moves up, Texas gets a little help since they beat them.

I was at the game sitting in 2nd row about the 10 yard line (sec. 30) and a bunch of recruits with name tags kept strolling through the front row towards the middle of the field before the game.  Not sure where they sat.

I recognized McFarland from afar and then up-close.  Rivals lists him at 6'3 280 but he looked shorter than that.  He was solid though.  Very subdued and expressionless coming by and then on his way back by later.  At halftime he came back by and headed toward the locker room maybe?  Didn't see him again after that. 

Also saw Greg Timmons and Paden Kelly whose names rung a bell obviously because I see they've already verbally committed.

It wasn't a great game to showcase the team and the fans I guess, but I'm sure McFarland was treated to a nice trip.

Bumped. --PB--

The Longhorns are only down to #4 in BCS.  Computers have them a strong #3 behind Alabama and Tech and ahead of Penn State.  USC gets killed in the computers which means they should never pull ahead of us.  Florida is close enough where they will certainly pass us if they win out.

 It shows that we are being rewarded for our tough schedule somewhere.  Win out and have a few things happen and we are right back where we want.