Especially at this time of year, it's nice when the content comes to you. Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about that when I jumped in this Phil Steele thread with a quick, unsubstantiated assertion that "Lamarr Houston is the best player on the team." But I'm glad I threw it in there, as it quickly led to a great topic for tonight's post.

Reader 'texasfan05' replied:

your kidding....

Right?

Lamarr Houston is a great player, and is a solid D lineman, but “best player on the team”??? I don’t think so. He’s not even the best player on the Defense. Kindle takes that slot. This should be Kindles year, I’ve watched him for 2 years now, and when he’s not hurt, everytime he’s on the field he makes a play. When we kick the ball off, me and my friends just watch Kindle because he always takes someone’s head off, whether it be the ball carrier or a blocker.

Soon thereafter, reader 'BMG' took the topic to its logical conclusion, proposing a discussion of the team's Top 10 players. A grand idea, which we'll run with for a couple of reasons. First, it'll be fun: there aren't any right answers (though maybe some wrong ones). And second, I think you'll find that if you sit down to put together a top 10, it's not so hard to see why this year is such a critical development season for the Longhorns.

TEXAS' TOP 10

In the mix: Apologies now to Jared Norton, Eddie Jones, Jordan Shipley, Ryan Palmer, and the dozen or so young kids oozing with talent who may well take this list by storm before the season's over. And to the offensive line, who I'm just not considering for this particular list. Feel free to do so in your own Top 10, but I'll save my line commentary for another post; it needs to be an integrated set of thoughts.

10. Sergio Kindle and John Chiles - I'll include these two at the back end of the list for their difference-making potential. We've seen flashes of sexy from both, but my own list weights production at least as much as raw talent, which is why I'm not in agreement with texaslonghornfan05's position. For Chiles, it was a fine true freshman debut, but (a) his action was very limited and (b) he wasn't allowed to pass (and when he was he missed).

And Kindle? I absolutely see the beast of a player texaslonghornfan05 so enjoys, but there's an enormous gulf between what we think he could become and what he's been. Even setting aside the DUI and the injuries, his production in 8 games last season wasn't anything special: 32 tackles, 4 tackles-for-loss, 0.5 sacks.

I will say this about these two, though: It might well be that no two players could do more to making 2008 a special season. A healthy, breakout season for Kindle would give Muschamp a truly great trio of linebackers to work with. And Chiles may represent Texas' best bet to give the offense an explosive dimension it's desperately going to need.

Continue reading this post »