Part 1 of 3

Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange Newsletter
The Newsletter for the True Texas Longhorn Faithful

Volume 11, No. 19, July 30, 2001

 Longhorns Enter Fall Football Workouts
With Lofty Ranking, but Several Problem Areas

Coach Mack Brown, speaking at the annual Big 12 football coaches and media
meeting in Dallas Friday, cited "three primary areas of concern heading into
this season."
He also scoffed at pre-season polls, which have UT high in the top 10,
saying, "The only polls that matter are the ones at the end of the season."
Offensively, he said, "We do not have a tailback who stepped out (during the
spring) and showed he is ready to start."
On defense, Brown said, "Casey Hampton and Shaun Rogers were great players at
defensive tackle last year. Casey was a first-round draft choice and Shaun
would have been if he had been healthy. Replacing them  is a real concern."
On special teams, he cited the departure of Kris Stockton, who handled all
the kicking duties last season, and said developing a good kicking game will
be a key to having a succesfful season.
The freshmen report next Monday (August 6) and the varsity on August 9 (a
full practice schedule is on page 3).
My view is that the first two problem areas he mentioned are minor ones
compared to the place-kicking woes.
In the spring, the tailbacks looked solid, if not spectacular, and, with
super recruit Cedric Benson coming in to bolster that spot, it shouldn't be a
lingering problem.
At defensive tackle, sophomore Marcus Tubbs started three games last season
when Rogers' sore ankle limited his availability, and he played extensively
in all 12 games.
Tubbs had 5.5 sacks and 10 other tackles for losses and showed great promise
for the future.
He and most of the other defensive tackles are smaller and quicker than
Hampton and Rogers, which should help the front four show a lot of
improvement in pass rushing.
The tackles this year won't be as good against the run as Hampton and Rogers,
who were run-stoppers deluxe, but they will be pretty good at it, and, lets
face it, the best teams on the UT regular-season schedule are geared to
passing.
So two of the three problem areas Brown cited probably can be handled without
much difficulty.
But let's hope some of the walk-on kickers the UT staff rounded up after the
spring problems surfaced can kick field goals.
If they can't, and if this team is as good as it has a chance to be, Brown
could find himself in the same boat as Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who
lost a couple of national championships in the 1990s because he didn't have
guys who could make a chip-shot field goal when the game was on the line.
I haven't seen any of the walk-on kickers in action, so I'll report on them
in depth in my next newsletter. They are supposed to be pretty good, and they
will need to be.
Brown said the Longhorns will have more experience this year and that will
help the team.
"We've had a lot of participation in the voluntary workouts this summer,
probably the most we've had," he said. "There is more excitement and maturity
on the team and that's always a positive."
When asked if he thinks there is a lot of pressure on him this year, he said
he wants a job where there is pressure because that means people want to win,
but he said some folks are chronic gripers.
"My wife told me when we first got married 10 years ago that if you look at
the gripers that are negative people, they probably griped about the meal
they had for lunch, they didn't like the last movie they saw, and they're mad
at their wife before they get home. So they're just mad at me."
"I don't worry about those folks. I figure when you're selling 55,000 season
tickets and 66 luxury suites and you've sold out 13 straight at home,
somebody's happy."

900 Number Updated Daily

I update my 900 number nearly every day with football and football recruiting
news. The number is 1-900-288-8839. It costs $1.59 a minute. You must be 18
or older to call.

My Big 12 Picks

I think this is the year the Big 12's Southern Division really becomes a
dominant force.
So, instead of picking the Southern and Northern Divisions, I'm going to pick
the way I think the Big 12 shapes up, from top to bottom, as a single entity.
Here goes:
1. Texas                7. Texas A&M
2. Oklahoma         8. Iowa State
3. Nebraska         9. Missouri
4. Kansas State     10. Oklahoma State
5. Colorado         11. Kansas
6. Texas Tech           12. Baylor
Obviously, the way I picked them means I think the winner of the
Texas-Oklahoma showdown in Dallas on Oct. 6 will win the whole thing.

Big 12 Coaches Give OU Edge

The Big 12 coaches picked Oklahoma to edge Texas in the South and Nebraska to
nose out Kansas State in the North.
Since they picked Texas last year and the Sooners won the national title,
let's hope what goes around comes around.
The vote was really close in the South, with the Sooners nipping the Horns,
6-5, with Texas coach Mack Brown abstaining.
Brown says he isn't going to get caught up in pre-season hype this year
because it doesn't make sense to try to predict how a team will do when it
hasn't even started practicing.
The media picked a pre-season All-Big 12 Team and it included four Longhorns
on the first team. They are senior OT Mike Williams, sophomore WR Roy
Williams, junior DE Cory Redding and senior CB Quentin Jammer.
Nebraska QB Eric Crouch was chosen the top pre-season offensive player and
Oklahoma LB Rocky Calmus won the defensive honors.

McClintock Undergoes Surgery

DE O. J. McClintock was released from the hospital Saturday after undergoing
emergency surgery Friday to repair what UT trainer Tom McVan said was
"significant damage to muscles and tendons in his right arm."
McClintock, a 6-2, 250-pound junior, said Sunday he suffered some pretty deep
cuts when a relative stumbled and he rammed his hand and arm through a window
trying to grab the relative and keep him from falling.
"I've got to do some rehabilitation for my hand," he said Sunday. "The
doctors told me I could start working out again in three or four weeks and,
if I miss any games, it shouldn't be more than the first one or two."
The Longhorns were already thin at defensive end, and they could be
critically short if McClintock is out for a significant period of time.
"It's very unfortunate that O. J. was injured," said head coach Mack Brown.
"He did a tremendous job making the transition to defensive end (from
linebacker) in the spring and is a guy we have high hopes for this season."
If McClintock's injury is serious enough to cause him to miss part of the
season, it will leave Texas with only senior Jermain Anderson and incoming
freshman Lance McFarland to back up starters Kalen Thornton and Cory Redding.
Another DE, Adam McConathy, was granted a release to transfer earlier. He
said he wanted to go to a school where he has a better chance to log some
playing time.
If the injury does cost McClintock significant playing time, the coaches will
make some moves to provide more depth. Incoming freshman Eric Hall, who had
been ticketed forfullback, would be a good candidate for a switch to
defensive end.

Mack Brown Notes, Quotes. .

Coach Mack Brown, speaking at the Big 12 coaches' meeting in Dallas Friday,
said the Longhorns "can be really, really good but we've got to do a better
job day to day and week to week. We had three games we let get away last
year. Our goal is always to win every game we play."
He also  said the coaches and players "are proud that our team is being
looked at" as one of the best in the country in the pre-season, but then he
said "pre-season rankings mean absolutely nothing. We have to go out and take
care of business."
He also downplayed expectations for heralded running back recruit Cedric
Benson, saying, "We're not sure if freshmen will be involved in major roles
as early as they have."
"Hopefully," he said, "we can let a freshman grow into it instead of just
throwing him out there."
But he also said the coaches plan to play the best players at each position.
If Benson lives up to all the hype and if none of the other tailbacks emerge
quickly, I think he'll play and play a lot early in the season.

Dollars and More Dollars

Texas and Nebraska far outdistance the other teams in the Big 12 when it
comes to raising and spending money.
The Collegiate Financial Service of Madison, Wis., compiles budget total
every year and here are the most recent ones for all 12 conference members:
1. Texas            $42,212,472
2. Nebraska             $41,206,201
3. Oklahoma         $27,463,682
4. Colorado             $27,293,883
5. Texas A&M        $26,091,278
6. Kansas               $22,211,690
7. Kansas State         $20,347,617
8. Texas Tech           $19,981,852
9. Missouri             $19,945,025
10. Oklahoma State      $18,862,474
11. Iowa State          $18,695,912
12. Baylor              $18,553,621