Texas Football 2012: Mack Brown's Gameweek Presser Thoughts

The televised portion of Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown's press conference on Monday lasted a mere 26 minutes, but he did share some worthwhile thoughts before moving on to a conversation with the print media.

• In good news, there were no injuries in the scrimmage on Thursday. In bad news, kicker Anthony Fera will miss the Wyoming game, as has been expected for some time, meaning that true freshman kicker Nick Jordan will be the starting placekicker for his first college game.
• Mack Brown turns 61 today, which he called "the new 41." He also said that the media helps keep him young. Not buying that, but at least he was in a good mood.
• Wyoming is the best team in the history of ever, according to Brown.
• David Ash was more confident and accurate in the scrimmage on Thursday and during the last practice than he was last fall, in the Holiday Bowl, or even during the spring. He believes that the competition throughout the summer helped him, but also added that Ash was so overloaded last year that it was hard for him to lead. Now more comfortable congratulating his teammates after a big play. Ash has also been working on checking down rather than attempting to force throws into coverage, as he did last season.
  
• The coaches will decide on Thursday how much Case McCoy will play against Wyoming. It does still appear that he will see action backing up Ash.
• MJ McFarland caught some passes in the scrimmage on Thursday and will see some action, even though he is still not listed on the depth chart.

• The only change in the depth chart is that Joe Bergeron is now listed in front of Malcolm Brown, but still has the -OR- designation. Brown said that Mean Joe B is 236 pounds and has been working on running behind his pads better. Was a bit upright at the start of camp. Scary to think how good Bergeron could be if he manages to start doing that well.
• Bergeron is in the mix for the Wild formation, but the coaches haven't made any final decisions there regarding who will run it and how much it will be used.
  
• Duane Akina is so confident in sophomores Josh Turner and Mykelle Thompson that Brown said his defensive backs coach feels like he can play both "without a drop-off." Significant praise there considering the quality of the starters.
  
• Brown doesn't know if the Longhorns are still a year away, but he did say that the team is much better than it was last year and that he feels comfortable and likes the ideas and energy of his young coaching staff. He does believe the team is headed back in the right direction. Earlier, he had said that he likes where this team is, as the players have done everything that the coaches have asked of them (except Daje Johnson, apparently), which wasn't the case in 2010, when he came out of a scrimmage worried and disappointed, a feeling that carried over into and beyond the Rice game. In other words, the writing was on the wall for that disastrous season in fall camp.
• There will be a new video on the Jumbotron as the team comes into the field. Apparently it's called "A New Day." Bill Little should have some fun with that.
  
• From Kirk Bohls on Twitter -- only Indiana, Colorado, and Rice have fewer seniors than the Longhorns. They each have eight, while the Longhorns have nine. Wow.