Texas Longhorns

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.

CB Antwuan Davis (Bastrop, Texas/Bastrop) talks with HornsNation's William Wilkerson about his decision to commit to the Longhorns.

College Football Live has unveiled its preseason top 25 poll, as voted on by a panel of ESPN analysts, writers and personalities.

I cast my ballot in the poll, and here's what it looked like. Here's the official poll. I should note, ballots were due before the Bobby Petrino scandal at Arkansas and before I made my spring practice rounds. I'd probably move WVU up a few spots, keep K-State where it is and move Arkansas down about 5-7 spots.

And here's how I voted. (actual ESPN poll ranking in parentheses).

1. USC (1)
2. Alabama (3)
3. LSU (2)
4. Oregon (4)
5. Georgia (6)
6. Oklahoma (5)
7. Arkansas (9)
8. Florida State (7)
9. Michigan State (12)
10. Kansas State (13)
11. West Virginia (11)
12. South Carolina (8)
13. Michigan (10)
14. TCU (14)
15. Stanford (15)
16. Oklahoma State (21)
17. Nebraska (17)
18. Wisconsin (16)
19. Ohio State (20)
20. Boise State (23)
21. Texas (22)
22. Clemson (18)
23. Notre Dame (24)
24. Louisville (NR)
25. Florida (25)

What's your ballot look like?

Bob Bowlsby read the same news that everyone else read. He heard the same gossip in collegiate athletic circles that everyone else heard. The Big 12 is a dysfunctional family. The rest of the league serves at the pleasure of Texas and Oklahoma. Bowlsby knew that Texas A&M and Missouri fled to the Southeastern Conference for, what was the word? Security.

"I, like many people, had a vision of this conference as unstable," Bowlsby said Friday in Irving, Texas, where the Big 12 introduced the Stanford athletic director as its new commissioner. "... I was very quickly put at ease relative to the stability of the group and the ongoing commitment to one another."

The presidents of the Big 12 schools made a believer out of Bowlsby. So now we see if he can make a league out of the Big 12.

Click here for the rest of Ivan Maisel's story.

Everybody, the Kentucky Derby is tomorrow!

Sorry, I can't do it. I really can't stand horse racing. Alas, our boys on the Big Ten blog handicapped the league title race, and for those of you who do like horse racing, here's how I'd slot the Big 12 if all 10 teams were making the nervous walk to the track right now.

We'll take it from the top.

Oklahoma: 8-to-1 odds

As I've written before, this thing is wide open, and nobody's going to walk into the 2012 season feeling too confident about their chances. That said, Oklahoma has the closest thing to a truly complete team. The Sooners have an experienced quarterback with lots of weapons around him at the skill positions, along with a solid offensive line. OU's defense should be one of the league's best, and the Sooners have been in this position plenty of times. They are a narrow favorite in a loaded Big 12, but the Sooners have enough upside to sneak into the national title game, too.

Kansas State: 10-to-1

Deep down, I don't think I truly believe Kansas State is the Big 12's second-best team (WVU), but I do believe in Bill Snyder, and the Wildcats have very, very few variables. That's a far cry from the two new teams in the league, who both have huge questions on defense and bigger questions about their ability to handle a more difficult schedule. That considered, there's no doubt in my mind Kansas State has the second-best chance to take home the league title. Kansas State is the little engine that could -- that keeps on chugging, seemingly oblivious to the spread offenses all around it.

West Virginia: 12-to-1

Speaking of high-powered offenses, West Virginia might well have the best in the entire Big 12. It's loaded at receiver and running back, and Geno Smith might be the best quarterback in the league. He'll get a chance to prove it this fall. In the meantime, WVU's got to make sure its defense is ready to give its offense a chance to outscore folks across the Big 12.

TCU: 15-to-1

TCU has plenty of question marks on a depleted defense without projected starters, but its offense will be as good as any in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs still can't answer their biggest question -- How will they handle the jump from non-AQ to a major conference? -- until they actually do it. TCU's floor seems pretty high, but can it actually win the Big 12 in its first season?

Texas: 15-to-1

Texas has the most upside of any team in the Big 12, but 2012 seems more likely as a set up for a title run in 2013. It's hard to see Texas running the table or going 11-1, but if the top of the league gets muddled and 9-3 is good enough to win the league? These Longhorns will be physical mudders. Pray for losses raining down on everybody, UT fans. There's nobody in the Big 12 Texas can't beat, but does it have enough offense to beat them all?

Oklahoma State: 20-to-1

Oklahoma State's defense, an underrated unit in 2011, will be much better, and its running backs will be some of the best in the league. Emerging weapons like Josh Stewart, Blake Jackson and Charlie Moore will make names for themselves in 2012, but how far can OSU really get with a true freshman at quarterback? Look out for OSU and Texas in 2013, though.

Baylor: 45-to-1

Aaaaand here's your big drop-off from the legitimate Big 12 title contenders. Baylor's a good team. It might even be a borderline top 25 team. But the Big 12 is so, so stacked at the top. You don't win 10 games, lose a Heisman winner, the Big 12's leading rusher and receiver, and then go win the Big 12. I'd be pretty surprised if Baylor didn't make a bowl game, though.

Texas Tech: 55-to-1

Tech wants to prove it's back, but find me a spot where Tech is better than Baylor. The quarterbacks are close, and Seth Doege's been better when he's played, but Nick Florence is due for a big year at Baylor. Tech's focus for now needs to be staying healthy and getting back into bowl games, not fighting for a Big 12 title.

Iowa State: 75-to-1

Iowa State might sneak into a bowl game again, too. They're good enough. This is still a team that's come pretty close to maxing out its talent the past few seasons and won seven games twice. That's legitimately impressive, but not anything close to Big 12 title contention. This season's team should be solid, though. The battle between Baylor, Tech and Iowa State to grab the last bowl bid or two is going to be really heated.

Kansas: 125-to-1

Charlie Weis has made some nice moves to get KU moving in the right direction, but if the Jayhawks go from 2-10 to Big 12 champs, I'll get a three-foot tattoo of a Jayhawk on my chest. That's a promise.

The first batch of players have been selected for the Gridiron Kings event. Among them a Longhorn commit and target were selected for the event pitting 64 of the nation's elite skill players in 7-on-7 competition.

Dallas Jesuit WR Jake Oliver, who committed to Texas on Feb. 15 will join Dallas Skyline's Ra'Shaad Samples as members of the Southwest team.

The event takes place July 28-29 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

Check out the rest of early invitees here.

IRVING, Texas -- The Big 12 introduced Bob Bowlsby as its commissioner on Friday. You can expect plenty more coverage from ESPN.com, including a column from Ivan Maisel on what convinced Bowlsby to leave a comfortable job at Stanford to take over a league that many believe is in turmoil.

"I wouldn't have been interested in (the Big 12 commissioner job) if I had arrived at the interview and found that there was fragmentation. I'm not much interested in having my horse shot out from under me," Bowlsby said. "I came in with some reservations, and those reservations were quickly put to rest. We had some very frank conversations about what the challenges were with the league, and what the opportunities are with the league. I came away feeling very good about it. Not knowing whether or not I was going to get an offer, but feeling very good about it."

As the new face of the Big 12, though, where does he stand on the issues facing the league? Here's a quick rundown.

On possible future Big 12 expansion:

"Expansion will be an ongoing consideration for us. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk with all of the presidents about this issue, and I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to all but a couple of the athletic directors. I certainly am not going to presume a direction that we will go. I think, though, as you consider expansion, it has to be expansion that has, as its roots, the enhancement of the league. There’s nothing magic about 11, 12 or 10."

Later, he added that there is no consensus among the members about a number, but there are a lot of variables to consider.

On a playoff in college football:

I think we're going to end up with some form of playoff. Whether it's inside the bowls or outside is yet to be determined. There's certainly arguments to be made for both. If I would have had to bet on it or guess at it a year ago, I'd have said the plus-one model had the best chance, but I think the commissioners group and the BCS leadership has really gravitated toward a position that has four or five legitimate options, and I think time will tell which will be selected, but I think one of them will be.

On the idea that the Big 12 commissioner is a puppet for the University of Texas:

"I guess I would just suggest that you do a little homework on me. I haven't been very good at being a puppet over the years."

On issues revolving around Texas that affected conference unity:

"I think it's in the past. ... I have found them to be very thoughtful and very team-oriented in terms of how they view the issues. I asked some probing questions along those lines, because the University of Texas is always going to be an 800-pound gorilla in college athletics, and that isn't going to change. But I have been very impressed at the extent of which the folks at the University of Texas are committed to the conference, and committed to the best outcomes -- not only for them, but for the other nine members.

On extending the league's grant of rights:

"The longer we go, presumably the more stable we are."

On equal revenue sharing:

I think the Big 12 can do anything the Big 12 wants to do. I think they're terrific universities and great sports programs, and I think the world is our oyster. The landscape is changing quickly, and we're going to need to change with it, but I'm very excited about the group that we're going to go to battle with. I think we can compete with any conference out there. I think we can compete on the playing surfaces, and we can compete in the marketplace as well.

He later added: "Great competition every Saturday is the best thing you can have. One of the ways you do that is by making sure the rich don't get richer and the poor don't get poorer. I think it's really important to have something resembling equal revenue sharing. It isn't just about the money that makes you competitive, but it is in part about available resources that institutions can use. The best situation you can have is an all-out war on the football field every Saturday or every Saturday on the basketball floor."

On the Longhorn Network:

"I think everybody wishes that they had the Longhorn Network available to them, and not everybody can do that, although there are several in the league that have their own models of third-tier rights utilization. It's a challenge going forward, but I think the presidents have given a lot of thought to how it fits together, and I was satisfied with what I heard from them along those lines.

On having a geographical outlier in West Virginia:

Because of that, we do need to think about how to (make them welcome). It isn't a situation where they're going to have a natural rival in the state next door. their Backyard Brawl with Pittsburgh is natural geographically, but it isn't evident that there's the same geographic vicinity with the Big 12 teams. Having said that, I think it's all about high-quality competition. Football and basketball teams are playing all over the country, so it isn't a particular logistical challenge there, but for some of the non-revenue Olympic sports, it's going to be a challenge. We're going to have to think innovatively about how we don't disadvantage a team that's from some distance away.

The 2012 NFL draft is over, but it's never too early to look ahead to 2013. I mean, we basically have to, right?

NFL draft guru Todd McShay released his first-round mock draft, and there are plenty of Big 12 talents on the list. You'll need ESPN Insider to see it all, but here's who he pegs as a first-rounder for next year.

No. 3, Minnesota Vikings: Jackson Jeffcoat, DE, Texas

My take: This is the first of many times you'll see Jeffcoat's name on draft lists. Jeffcoat came to Texas as the nation's No. 1 recruit in the 2009 class, and next offseason will be the first in which he's available for the NFL draft. He's made good on his potential, but struggled with an ankle injury that slowed an otherwise outstanding first season. He was very solid in 2011, but could be poised for a breakout season in 2012 on the national stage. Either way, I'd be shocked if Jeffcoat wasn't a first-rounder whenever he leaves. If he continues to progress, top five is a near certainty.

No. 12, Seattle Seahawks: Terrance Williams, WR, Baylor

My take: Williams has a lot to prove in 2012. He may have had the quietest 900-yard receiving season in history last season, overshadowed by the Big 12's leading rusher (Terrance Ganaway), leading receiver (Kendall Wright, 1,600+ yards), and Heisman winner Robert Griffin III. Can Williams handle the pressure from defenses as the bona fide No. 1 target for a new quarterback in Nick Florence? You have to love Williams' physical attributes, but can he maintain his production? I'm confidently betting yes, but we'll find out next year.

No. 19, Kansas City Chiefs: Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma

My take: Jones has plenty to prove, too. When Ryan Broyles went down, Jones struggled. He's back, and coaches love what he's done this spring. If he plays well, I could see Jones reinvigorating his stock and rising into the top 10 or top five. If he struggles again, I'd be shocked if he was a first rounder. Of all the Big 12 talents on this list, I'd say Jones' stock is the most volatile.

No. 25, Cincinnati Bengals: Alex Okafor, DE, Texas

My take: Love Okafor's game a whole lot, and admittedly, I regret snubbing him from the Big 12's top 25 players in 2011. The thing with him is, his physical attributes don't wow you like his teammate Jeffcoat's does. That said, he's consistently productive, and that says a lot. He has plenty of help in Texas' defense, and the Longhorns defensive line will be scary this year with Jeffcoat, Okafor and juco transfer defensive tackle Brandon Moore, who teammates pegged as "unstoppable" this spring.

HeismanPundit's already talked Big 12 Heisman candidates, but how many are legitimate candidates when it comes to the national scene?

He pegged four from the Big 12.

The more I see of Geno Smith, the more I like his chances. Call me crazy, but I think there's a case to be made for Big East defenses being better than Big 12 defenses. West Virginia may tell us for sure next season. I may take Geno as the favorite from the Big 12.

Landry Jones checks in as one more from Chris Huston's list of the top 18 prospects. He's my No. 2 or 3 in the Big 12, behind Smith.

Collin Klein could be No. 2 or 3 as well, and he makes Huston's list, too. Ultimately, the games will tell us who's better.

Tavon Austin is the fourth player on the list. He may be the most dangerous player in the Big 12, and could make it to New York for the ceremony, but no way is he better than Michael Crabtree or Justin Blackmon, who didn't get very close to winning the best individual award in college sports.

How would you rank the Big 12 prospects? Did Huston miss anyone?