Texas Longhorns

David Ubben says Baylor QB Nick Florence, OSU WR Josh Stewart and Texas RB Joe Bergeron are three players to watch in the Big 12 this year

HornsNation's Carter Strickland stopped by SportsNation for the weekly discussion of Texas sports.

Here is some of the best from Tuesday's chat:

Grecian (Houston, TX)

Any updates on the recent arrests? Likely implications?

Carter Strickland

There is just going to be some extra running and finger-wagging at those guys by the coaching staff. This was not a serious offense and Brown will use it as a teaching tool for the team.

Chase (S.D. )

Texas has 14 commits at this point. Say we add Rhodes, and Collins in the near future to put the number to 16. How many more scholarships will we take in this class and whom do you see getting us to that number? Are Harris or Bell legit options? Can you see any other offers being handed out with such limited numbers available?

Carter Strickland

I think Texas goes to 20 or 21 with this class but could massage the numbers and go up if they needed to by using grayshirts. It's always a very risky numbers game at the end for all these coaching staffs and Texas is going to have some flexibility.Bell I think is a UGA guy. Harris is going to have a hard time not going to Florida.Miles is a guy to watch for an offer in the late stages of the game.

Stephen (Seattle, WA)

What do you expect from the TCU and WVU football games this upcoming year? big win, loss, close game??

Carter Strickland

Both are at DKR so I think Texas has a big edge there.I think they are both wins. If they were road games I would say Texas splits them.

Stephen (Seattle, WA)

If David Ash is the "manageable" qb that we expect this yr..any chance we have 3 1000yr rushers?

Carter Strickland

Nope. Maybe one 1,000 rusher and two other guys who have 750 yards running and catching. That's still pretty good.

To see the rest of the chat, read our chat wrap.

Hit us up on The Tower with more questions and discussion.

Texas

2011 overall record: 8-4

2011 conference record: 4-5 (6th)

Returning starters:

Offense: 9; defense: 8; kicker/punter: 0
Top returners

RB: Malcolm Brown, C Dominic Espinosa, WR Jaxon Shipley, QB David Ash, LB Jordan Hicks, S Kenny Vaccaro, DE Alex Okafor, CB Carrington Byndom

Key losses

LB Emmanuel Acho, LB Keenan Robinson, K/P Justin Tucker

2011 statistical leaders (*returners)

Rushing: Malcolm Brown* (742 yards)

Passing: David Ash* (1,068 yards)

Receiving: Mike Davis* (609 yards)

Tackles: Emmanuel Acho (131)

Sacks: Jackson Jeffcoat (8)

Interceptions: Quandre Diggs* (4)

Spring answers

Quarterbacks maturing: While Texas refuses to name an outright starter before the season, it is clear that both Case McCoy and David Ash have taken strides toward becoming more complete quarterbacks. Ash, who was plagued by indecision and interceptions, matured throughout the spring and has started to become the leader Texas needs him to be. McCoy is still having problems with picks, but has increased the velocity on his throws and, as a result, can make more down the field throws.

Replacements fit: Texas did not have to replace much on the defensive side of the ball -- only three players. But two of those three were the leading tacklers from 2011, linebackers Emmanuel Acho and Keenan Robinson. Still, it appears as if the Longhorns have upgraded at the linebacker with Steve Edmond and Demarco Cobbs. Edmond is bigger and faster than Robinson. Cobbs is faster and more agile than Acho. What neither has is experience and that will be tested early in the 2012 season.

Bergeron pushes Brown: Backup running back Joe Bergeron made his case for more carries in the spring. Despite playing in 11 of 13 games, the sophomore only received consistent snaps in two games as a freshman. During those two games, Bergeron rushed for 327 yards. An injury hampered him the rest of the season, but he was healthy over the spring and showed the coaching staff that he is ready to challenge Malcolm Brown for the starting spot at running back.

Fall questions

Who is going wild? Texas deployed the wild formation to great success under first year co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin in 2011. But headed into 2012, the Longhorns have yet to figure out who will be running that formation. There are several candidates, many of which are freshmen. Johnathan Gray, the most heralded recruit of the 2012 class, should get the first shot. The running back has great speed and instincts but has to prove he can read the linebackers and make the right decisions. Texas also will try two other freshmen, Daje Johnson and Jalen Overstreet. Overstreet was a high school quarterback so he could bring the option of throwing out of the wild as well.

Rotating quarterbacks: Texas could not make up its mind until the last game of the season last year when it came to quarterbacks. In that game Ash took every snap. Whether or not he continues to take the significant snaps for Texas is the largest question surrounding this team. If Ash is at all shaky under center, the Longhorns have no qualms about going with McCoy. But if both finally prove inadequate, Texas might have to make a decision on freshman Connor Brewer. Texas would prefer to redshirt Brewer, but the Longhorns have suffered through two years of poor quarterback play and a third may not be tolerated by fans.

Wide receiver: Mike Davis, Jaxon Shipley and Marquise Goodwin are all back at wide receiver, but beyond those three players, Teas is severely lacking experienced depth. D.J. Monroe has been converted from running back to wide receiver to take advantage of his speed and shiftiness on bubble screens. But Monroe has had problems catching the ball consistently. DeSean Hales showed up in the spring. But the senior has shown up in the spring before and disappeared in the fall. He had two catches in 2011.

That means freshmen Cayleb Jones, Daje Johnson, Kendall Sanders and Marcus Johnson are all going to get a shot. Additionally, Texas will be working with a redshirt freshman M.J. McFarland at tight end.

After a weekend where Texas dropped two of three to Missouri, the Longhorns fell into a three-way tie for second place in the Big 12.

The losses didn't affect the Longhorns placement much in the College World Series bracket, according to ESPN.com's Jeremy Mills.

Mills has Texas slated to play in a Houston Regional with Rice, TCU and Stony Brook. Mills has fellow Big 12 teams Baylor and Texas A&M hosting regionals.

Take a look at the rest of the bracket here.

ESPN.com's Myron Medcalf takes a look Kentucky's run to the title. Freshmen led the way and as Medcalf writes, it changed things for programs and recruits alike.

Kentucky's freshman-led push to the national championship increased the pressure that recruits next season and beyond will encounter as soon as they sign. For next season's top freshmen, reaching Atlanta, site of the Final Four in 2013, won't impress. National championships are the expectations now.

Before Kentucky won the program's eighth national title, freshmen had proved that they were elite and capable of winning it all.

The Fab Five should have done it twice. Carmelo Anthony starred in Syracuse's national title game victory over a veteran Kansas squad in 2003.

But the NBA's age limit changed the bar. Coaches grabbed talented prep kids who had no plans to stay beyond one season. Here, and then, gone. No time to jell. No time to fix the kinks. Only in-season development plans, because they knew these stars weren't coming back.

Some of those young teams came close. Others missed the mark.

(Read full post)

With spring practices finally coming to a close Ivan Maisel and Gene Wojciechowski pick their winners and losers from across the country.

It's Tuesday and we're chatting. Carter Strickland will be dropping by SportsNation to talk Longhorns.

Submit your questions here.

Sean Adams from HornsNation takes a look at the state of the Texas Football program. In this video, Sean looks at what it takes to develop a successful line of succession at the quarterback position.

While Texas' QB questions lingered throughout the spring, it was relatively drame free around the 40 Acres. That can't be said for some other programs. Gene Wojciechowski looks back and says spring is a time for healing:

when you think 2012 spring football, you think, healing process. It's happening in Hogdom. It's happening in Columbus, Ohio. It's happening in State College, Pa. ... And while we're on the subject of rehabs and rebuilding, it was interesting to see how Kansas' Charlie Weis, Arizona's Rich Rodriguez and Washington State's Mike Leach went demo on their new fix-me-uppers. They ordered new everything: offenses, attitudes, culture, etc..

It's going to take some time at KU and Wazzu, but Rich Rod might turn it around faster in Tucson. Then again, Rodriguez is trying to rehab his own coaching image after the three-season flameout at Michigan.

Perhaps the biggest reason for excitment to come out of the spring is the news of real change to the BCS:

Best of all, it's been nice to see the BCS folks putting in some serious conference room time. If ever something needed to become good friends with a wad of C-4 explosive, it's the BCS.

The BCS has served its purpose. It is better than the previous screwed-up "system," but it still has too many uncorrectable flaws. The BCS is a beautifully tailored tuxedo -- except that the zipper doesn't work. And never will.

Soon we'll have a playoff plan in place for the next BCS cycle.