Poll season begins. As players return to the practice field, fans and pundits take to the annual exercise in preseason polling. The Longhorns check in at #10 in the Coaches Poll, right in line with their consensus national ranking. Four opponents on Texas' schedule find themselves ranked in the consensus top 25:

#3 Oklahoma
#6 Missouri
#13 Texas Tech
#17 Kansas

Like SMQ, I'm generally bullish on Oklahoma State as well. Throw in a scary trip to Boulder, a rivalry game against Petrino-led Arkansas, a season opener against the unanimous preseason Sun Belt favorite, and a nighttime visit to UTEP and it's not hard to see why I'm saving my title hopes for 2009.

Further reading: SMQ's preseason vault, T Kyle King's Top 25, national title winners' fate the year after, national title winners' preseason rankings.

It was a... quiet summer. Knock on wood, but Texas looks like it's going to score a zero in the Fulmer Cup this offseason. There's time yet for kids to screw up, but with players reporting to camp on Monday, the highest danger period has passed as kids return to near full-time supervision under coaches.

This is good. Other than the Antoine Hicks academic casualty and a low-profile transfer (Brian Ellis), Texas football has been out of the news, a welcome turnaround after last summer's disaster which included felonies, misdemeanors, and two academic failings. Ken Rucker's earning his paycheck, it appears.

Further reading: Henry James on the loss of Hicks, Oklahoma's summer of thuggery, Josh Jarboe mimics Malcolm Williams (minus the football career).

Beijing bound. BON superheroine Cat Osterman is headed to Beijing for the Olympics and Mother Osterman has fired up a blog to chronicle the fun. Check in regularly for Cat updates galore.

Balbay solid in U20 tourney. Texas point guard Dogus Balbay has been competing on Turkey's under-20 squad in the European Championships, with mixed results. After two strong performances in the first two games of Group B play (both wins), Balbay and Turkey were stymied by Italy 66-63. More info on the tourney here.

DJ Monroe will play wide receiver. Mack Brown announced on Sunday that speed demon DJ Monroe (Angleton) has decided on wide receiver as his preferred position. Highlights of Mr. Monroe:

Monroe recently excited fans who saw him dominate the THSCA game last week. With his addition to the offense, there's no shortage of warm bodies who will compete to emerge as a big play wide receiver. This team desperately needs a shot of Jeremy Maclin, so I'm personally pleased to see Monroe's dynamic talents headed to the offensive side of the ball.