The Texas Longhorns football team finished what only a decade or so ago was the second biggest sport in Austin: Spring Football. It wasn’t quite the case this year as it was the day between the Texas basketball team’s win against Stanford and loss to Memphis. However, over 40,000 fans took a couple hours Saturday afternoon to watch the preview for what the 2008 Longhorns may look like. “Tradition” beat “Pride” 17-7, which is essentially meaningless, but some of the position battles were worth looking at.

Quarterback

Junior Colt McCoy was a little worse than his typical self, but did his usual spring game, completing 4-9 for 21 yards. Not much, struggled to move a bit against the D, but the first team D was way ahead of the O during the scrimmage in performance. While McCoy will be safe for a job, a couple of the other QBs put in worthwhile performances. Sophomore John Chiles continued to show he could run (even as he was down when touched, not even tackled) and ran 9 times for 75 yards, but only went 1-6, with the 1 becoming a 22 yard completion to James Kirkendoll. Sophomore Sherrod Harris and redshirt freshman GJ Kinne only played in the final ten minutes, but both played well. Harris ran twice for 25 yards and a TD and made a great fake to make a 17-yard completion to sophomore Blaine Irby. Kinne completed a 39 yard pass to spring enrollee Dan Buckner near the end, though he might have been “sacked” by being touched by redshirt freshman Ahmard Howard. Better days by the backups, though they played against easier defenses.

Running Back

The replacement continues its search on who starts now that Jamaal Charles is gone. Senior Chris Ogbannaya didn’t play much, though Mack said it was because he’s been seen plenty and they know what to expect. Sophomore Vondrell McGee carried most of the 1st-team load, running 8 times for 26 yards, not bad against the 1st-team D. Redshirt freshman Fosswhitt (Fozzy) Whitaker shined for the 2nd-team, running 8 times for 44 yards with a TD. That was especially impressive considering Mack said that wasn’t one of Fozzy’s better days in the spring. Jeremy Hills looked like a backup RB, but Tre Newton showed a good burst in the 4th against the squad players, running twice for 19 yards. Look for a McGee-Ogbannaya-Whitaker triumvirate in the fall.

Wide Receiver

Handful of chances for wideouts to show what they can do, but few really did or really even have a chance to do so. Kirkendoll made a good adjustment on a Chiles pass for the second longest pass play on the day. He started as the 3rd wideout with seniors Jordan Shipley (who had a great 28-yard reverse rush) and Quan Cosby, though none of the three are above 6′1” and none showed they can go deep and make plays. Among the backups, sophomore Brandon Collins had a couple of chances to make plays but was unable to do so, and Buckner made the only deep catch from Kinne late (looking like some other #4’s he happened to be wearing). Not much impressive though. Kirkendoll has the early edge at least right now for the slot spot.

Defensive Line

A bit of intrigue, with the lack of defensive tackles after Frank Okam, Derek Lokey, and Thomas Marshall all exhausted their eligibility. Senior Roy Miller, the only rotation player back, dominated the middle of the line, getting two “sacks” by touching McCoy on pass plays. Surprisingly, the other inside tackle was junior Lamarr Houston, who was impressive at defensive end a year ago. Senior Aaron Lewis is also expected to play defensive tackle this season. There are still a lot of ends that played, with senior Henry Melton and redshirt freshman Russell Carter played quite a bit with senior and 2009 high draft pick Brian Orakpo. Sophomore Sam Acho and junior Ben Alexander also played on the 2nd team. Eddie Jones will add even more depth along with TE convert redshirt freshman Ahmard Howard.

Defensive Back

A lot of new faces, though two of the starters look to be set as senior Ryan Palmer and junior Deon Beasley locked up their respective counterparts throughout the scrimmage. The two sophomore Browns, Chykie and Curtis, look set as the competitors for playing time, perhaps at the nickel. The starting safeties in the game were redshirt freshman Christian Scott (who might be the leader for replacing Marcus Griffin’s safety spot) and spring enrollee Blake Gideon, who Mack said afterwards was starting in place of redshirt freshman Ben Wells, who may have gotten a little pub after whacking Colt McCoy when the cameras were rolling in practice last month. Redshirt freshman Earl Thomas also was highly praised as a nickel/3rd safety type during the scrimmage, leading all players with six tackles. Lots of options in the secondary this coming year and in the future, especially with the big 3 freshman coming in the fall in Nolan Brewster, DJ Monroe, and Aaron Williams.

Lots of good things to look forward to, including a potentially dominant defense, but the O doesn’t look great as of yet, and the expectations for this team as of now is a 10-15 ranked performance in 2008. Lots of time to figure it out though.