Part 1 of 3 Parts

Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange
The newsletter and e-mail/fax service for the True Texas Longhorn Faithful

Volume 11, No. 22, September 4, 2001

 Longhorns Zap Aggies (New Mexico Brand);
Freshmen Show Up Raring and Ready to Play

The Longhorns opened the 2001 season Saturday night before a sellout crowd in
Austin with an easy 41-7 victory over New Mexico State that gave positive
answers to most team question marks.
Two super freshmen and a freshman walk-on kicker even gave some hope for
those tough games down the line.
The kicker, Dusty Mangum of Mesquite, kicked two field goals and and five
extra points flawlessly. That might not sound like a big deal, particularly
since the field goals were short ones.
But if you had watched the place kickers in the spring, you would be ecstatic
that young Mangum seemed to be close to dead center on all seven of his first
collegiate kicks.
The other two freshmen are much more heralded, and rightly so, judging by
what they did Saturday night.
LB Derrick Johnson came in a a backup, but he had six tackles and caught
caught slippery RB Walter Taylor for a three-yard loss on a screeen pass that
appeared to be well executed until he sped past the blockers and nailed
Taylor.
Taylor hit the Longhorns for 113 yards rushing on just 13 carries with his
stop-and-go style, and he had only two plays that lost yardage all night.
That was one of them.
While Johnson is a heralded recruit, fellow freshman RB Cedric Benson is even
more highly touted after leading Midland Lee to three straight state titles,
and he gave a glimpse of his tremendous talent in a mop-up role Saturday.
He didn't get into the game until the fourth quarter, and then he did most of
his running behind the second-team defensive line.
But, with all due respect to Victor Ike and Ivan Williams, the top two
tailbacks, Benson showed talents that most running backs can only dream about
For starters, he has acceleration that is off the chart when he takes a
handoff. He also has great vision and knows instinctively where to run. He
also has an ability to make most tacklers miss without appearing to do
anything to make them miss. That means he doesn't have to slow down to do it.
He and Williams tied for top rushing honors with indentical stats - 15
carries for 64 yards and a touchdown.
Coach Mack Brown pointed out that it was easier sledding for Benson than for
Ike and Williams because he entered the game in the fourth quarter after the
Aggie defenders were tired.
But Ike and Williams did all their running behind the first-team line. The
offensive line is not a great run-blocking unit, so it figures that the
backups are even less adept at run blocking.
My nominees for the biggest positive surprises on offense and defense are
easy ones. WR Montrell Flowers and LB Tyrone Jones are seniors who have had
solid, but not spectacular careers.
Flowers caught two touchdown passes Saturday night and Jones had six tackles,
including two for losses.
Here, briefly, is how the game went:

First Quarter
Texas won the toss and deferred, so New Mexico State took the ball. That
turned out to be a great decision for the Horns because New Mexico State
fumbled the opening kickoff and the Longhorns had a 14-0 lead before either
team ran a play on the Texas end of the field. Tony Jeffery and Rod Babers
blocked a punt and Phillip Geiggar covered it in the end zone for the first
Texas touchdown and Mangum kicked his first extra point in college to give
Texas a 7-0 lead with 11:58 left. The Horns drove 50 yards on their second
possession to take a 14-0 lead when Williams scored on a 4-yard run and
Mangum kicked the extra point with 5:40 left in the period. Neither team had
much offense in the quarter - Texas had 30 yards on 16 plays and NM State had
26 on 14 plays - but two Aggie fumbles - the only turnovers in the game -
gave the Longhorns the two touchdown lead.

Second Quarter
Nathan Vasher's 16-yard punt return to the Aggies' 38 set up a field goal
drive. Ike got 15 yards on two strong runs, but then the drive stalled and
Mangum kicked his first college field goal, a 24-yarder, to give Texas a 17-0
lead with 7:24 left. The Horns scored another TD on their next possession,
going 80 yards in 11 plays. Flowers had a 23-yard catch and then a 9-yarder
for the TD. Mangum kicked the point for a 24-0 lead with 38 seconds left in
the half. Texas had 66 offensive yards in the quarter, while the Longhorn
defense was holding NM State to 3 net yards.

Third Quarter
Both teams got their offenses cranked up to start the third quarter. Texas
had a 79-yard drive to set up a 17-yard Mangum field goal to start the half,
but then Aggie TB Taylor's 43-yard run took the visitors deep into Longhorn
territory for the first time in the game. The drive reached the UT 14 before
stalling, and the field goal try was wide. After a Texas punt, NM State drove
85 yards in 9 plays to score and cut the UT lead to 27-7 with 1:02 left.

Fourth Quarter
Benson came in to start the fourth quarter and carried seven straight times
for 45 yards. Simms hit Flowers for 10 yards and the touchdown to cap the
drive. Mangum's kick gave UT a 34-7 lead with 9:28 left. The defense got a
quick stop and Major Applewhite relieved Simms at QB. With Applewhite hitting
four of five passes for 46 yards, including a 17-yard completion to Benson,
the Horns moved to the three and Benson ran over right tackle for his first
collegiate touchdown. Mangum's kick gave UT a 41-7 lead with 28 seconds left.

Recruiting Roundup

The Longhorns still have 12 commitments, but they have a good chance to pick
up another one this weekend.
The North Carolina game has been dedicated to the memory of former Longhorn
defense tackle Cole Pittman, who was killed in a tragic automobile accident
while returning to spring football practice at UT last February.
Pittman's younger brother, Chase, is an outstanding defensive end at
Shreveport Evangel and is one of the nation's top 100 players.
He took an official visit to LSU last weekend and will be at Texas this
weekend with his parents to participate in the events surrounding the game's
dedication to his brother.
LSU and Texas are the only schools he is still considering. He also took an
official visit to Oklahoma, but has eliminated the Sooners from
consideration. Look for a decision next week.
Evangel, one of the nation's top football powers, played Longview in
Shreveport last weekend and took a 27-7 victory on a muddy field.
Longview ran away from Pittman's side of the line all night, but he still had
eight tackles, including two sacks and two others for losses.
LB Marvin Byrdsong of Longview, was another national top 100 player in that
game.
He says he plans to come to the Texas-North Carolina game Saturday. "I like
Texas and will definitely take an official visit to Texas later," he said.
* * * *
DT Marco Martin of Mesquite has a qualifying ACT  score and just needs to
make good grades this year to be qualified in core courses, too.
He has made a lot of progress in the classroom after missing part of last
season because of academic deficiencies.
Martin, a 6-4, 315-pounder with incredible speed and quickness, is on all the
national top 100 lists. He lists the Longhorns No. 1.
* * * *
Top recruits who attended the Longhorns' opener were LB Garnett Smith of
Arlington Lamar,  RB Paul Mosley of Austin Anderson and six players who are
committed to UT - LBs Brian Robison of Splendora and Marcus Myers of
Pflugerville Connally, DL Tully Janszen of Keller, RB/Athlete Clint Haney of
Smithson Valley, WR Dustin Miksch of Round Rock Westwood and OL Brett Valdez
of Brownwood.
Haney scored on runs of 34 and 3 yards and had 99 yards rushing Friday in
Smithson Valley's 27-7 victory over Killeen Ellison. That game was called at
the half because of heavy thunderstorms.
Miksch caught three passes for 45 yards and had a 10-yard run in Westwood's
9-0 loss to Killeen Friday.
Smith said he really enjoyed the game Saturday night and loves the way the UT
linebackers blitz.
"I've seen them play on television," he said, "but being there and seeing it
in person was a great experience. I love the way the bring linebackers on
nearly every play and the way the disquise who they are going to bring.
That's the kind of defense I'm looking for."

900 Number Updated Daily

I update my 900 number 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.

Coach's Corner

Coach Mack Brown worries about openers, so he was particularly happy about
the Longhorns' 41-7 romp past New Mexico State Saturday night.
"We had two areas we really wanted to concentrate on," he said. "Defensively,
we wanted to hit people and force turnovers. Offensively, we wanted to be
physical."
He said the team graded high in both areas.
"We forced three turnovers on defense," he said, "and we hit people and flew
around and made plays most of the time. We had some lapses, and we need to
work on correcting that."
He said he was pleased that the offense did not turn the ball over and was
able to overpower New Mexico State's defenders and run the ball despite a
stacked defense.
"Except for six plays, I though the offense played really, really well," he
said.
Those six plays included three to start the game, when a fumbled kickoff set
Texas up at the Aggies' 23 and the Horns lost 12 yards in three plays and had
to punt.
The other three were on the Longhorns' drive to open the second half. They
got a first-and-goal at the 1 and wound up kicking a field goal.
Brown said the Longhorns gave up on the run in the first two games last year
because of stacked defenses, "and then we couldn't run it when we needed to
at Stanford and we got beat."
"I told the staff before this game that I didn't care if they had 14 on the
line of scrimmage, we were going to run the ball," he said.
"We only ran three plays," Brown said, "but we ran them a whole bunch. We
just wanted to line up and be physical."
The Longhorns ran 45 times for 171 net yards and passed 38 times for 228
yards, and Brown said that is the kind of production he wanted.
He said there were some plays where the quarterback normally would have
audibled and called a pass, "but we wanted to force the run and that's

Coach's Corner . . (continued from page 1)
what we did. We have to be able to run the ball when we want to, regardless
of the defensive alignment."
Brown said DT Maurice Gordon played an outstanding game in his first start
after moving from a backup DE spot.
"Maurice is an outstanding pass rusher," he said. "We already knew that, but
he also stood up well against the run. He runs a 4.5 and he's a defensive end
playing defensive tackle. His speed really helps us in there."
After the game Saturday night, Brown said he felt it was the Longhorns best
opening game in his four years at Texas.
Monday, he said, "After reviewing the film, this definitely was our best
opener at Texas. I was concerned about the kicking game and turnovers. You
always worry about that in openers, and our kicking game was really good and
we didn't turn the ball over."
Brown said WR Kyle Shanahan has been cleared to practice this week, but he
said LB Lee Jackson's turf toe is still bothering him.

Ross Leaves, Plans to Return

Freshman CB Aaron Ross has left the team to clear up some NCAA Clearinghouse
issues.
"I have some Clearinghouse issues I need to get resolved in order to rejoin
the team," Ross said. "I'm  going to get those issues worked out so I can
return to Texas in January."
LB Aurmon Satchell had similar issues last year and he is back on the team
now and is a second-team linebacker. Look for Ross to be able to clear up the
problems and come back in time to go through spring practice next season.