SI's Andy Staples looks at the state of recruiting. UT still rules in our state.
The competition is just as fierce within Texas. Despite the recent rise of Texas Tech, Texas still rules recruiting in the Lone Star State. Mack Brown and his staff have won at least 10 games in eight consecutive seasons by cherry-picking the best players from the state that produced the second-most BCS-conference signees (974) between 2004-08. The Longhorns had a greater percentage of players from within their state (93.2) than any other school in the nation. Of those, 71.8 percent came from within 200 miles of Austin. For the others, distance is not as much of a factor because of the state's relative size -- class of 2009 commit Mason Walters calls the 400 miles between Wolfforth, Texas, and Austin "close enough to home, but not too close" -- and because of state pride.
Baseball
Practice starts in a week with a coaching question after the suspension of coach Augie Garrido. There will also be some changes this season.
There are going to be some surprises when the Longhorns open the season Feb. 20 against Illinois-Chicago.
"You're going to see a different team than you've seen the past two years," Garrido said last week, prior to his weekend arrest for drunken driving. "You can tell the attitude is different every time these guys are out here. We're going to focus on pitching and defense. That's what you've got to do when you play at this field."
UFCU Disch-Falk Field will sport new FieldTurf, which is expected to slow the ball down more than the old turf.
"The best possible defense needs to be out there because it can do wonders on this field," Garrido said. "And our infield defense is light years ahead of where it was last year."
Football
A name we haven't heard in a while... Rhett Bomar is playing in the Senior Bowl this weekend. Did he follow the Sooners this past season?
Too painful, too strange, too unproductive.
"I didn't really follow them. I didn't watch," said Bomar, once the Sooners' starting quarterback. "It was just kind of awkward and weird."
ESPN's Tim Griffin looks at the recruiting needs of Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri and Colorado.
The San Antonio News-Express thinks Texas A&M needs Mike Goodson to excel in the NFL.
The Aggies need another playmaker at the next level, another guy who can show that players from College Station can still excel in the NFL.
Former Houston Cougars running back Terrance Ganaway will transfer to Baylor.
Ganaway played for Art Briles at Houston during the 2007 season, rushing for 550 yards and scoring six touchdowns as a true freshman.
However, he transferred to Texarkana College last fall and plans to earn his associate’s degree in May. He plans to begin attending summer classes at Baylor in June, and will have three years of football eligibility remaining beginning in the 2009 season.
Nebraska is making a name for itself recruting in Texas.
The Cornhuskers' strategy isn't anything new. Oklahoma traditionally has been a major recruiting player across the state and Oklahoma State has emerged as a major force in Texas over the past 30 years. And Kansas and Missouri have capitalized on attracting under-recruited Texas high school players to start their recent ascension as Big 12 North powers.
"We felt like we had to get into the state, because if we didn't start getting these guys they would be the ones who would end up beating us," said Beck, a former Texas high school coach. "Even being in the North Division, we felt like it was something that we absolutely needed to do."
Husker Extra looks at the next Nebraska quarterback.
ESPN has another brilliant programming idea. There will be a new addition to Sportscenter starting Monday, Feb. 16, The Mount Rushmore of Sports. This will be determined by fan nominations on ESPN.com to identify the top four sports greats in each state. The Houston Chronicle has ideas for Texas' Mt. Rushmore.
ESPN perstige rankings, No. 11 through No. 15.
Dr. Saturday has the Rivals 100 top recruits all mapped out.