Texas Longhorns

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Texas A&M looked likely to leave the Big 12 in late August. Rumors and speculation reigned on the topic of who could replace the Aggies.

At least one report placed Pittsburgh on the supposed "Big 12 short list."

West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck saw it, and thus began the Mountaineers' road to the Big 12.

"If Pitt is on the short list, there’s no reason that West Virginia shouldn’t be on the Big 12 short list," Luck told ESPN.com. "That’s when, to myself, I began to think, because normally, you don’t think Big 12 and Pittsburgh. You don’t think Big 12 and West Virginia.

"I remember saying to myself and saying to my wife, 'If that story was accurate, and Pitt used that as leverage to get in the ACC,' I remember thinking: Well, this is certainly a possibility.”

Luck was driving with his family to the Mountaineers' road win over Maryland on Sept. 17 when he got the call. He was just outside Hancock, Md. Pitt and Syracuse were leaving for the ACC.

"We love to hate Pitt, but we have 104 years of history together," Luck said. "When those two schools left, that was a blow to the Big East. I don’t care how you cut it, it was a blow to the Big East."

Weeks later, Texas A&M made its move to the SEC official. The Big 12 plugged its vacancy with TCU, who canceled plans to join the Big East.

"I think it was pretty obvious that the league was going to struggle. We hadn’t added a new member since 2005. Sitting in these AD meetings, there was no expansion committee to speak of," Luck said. "You’re down to five members with no clear-cut expansion candidates, with no activity, so at that point I think people -- and not just me -- realized that we needed to look around and make sure first and foremost that we were going to be in a conference that maintained high standards and high-quality opponents."

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William Wilkerson will join SportsNation to chat about the release of the ESPN 150 and the Longhorns' representatives on the list.

Submit your questions here.

Sure it's only been two weeks since Kentucky was crowned national champs, but that doesn't mean we can't make some early bracketology projections.

Joe Lunardi has done just that and Texas is in the field for, what would be, a 15th consecutive season. Lunardi has the Longhorns as a No. 6 seed facing a No. 11 Purdue team.

By the way, Lunardi's No. 1 seeds are Indiana, Kansas, Louisville and Kentucky.

Check out the full bracket.

William Wilkerson joined Longhorn Extra and Lowell Galindo on the Longhorn Network to talk about the Cameron Ridley signing and Texas' 2012 recruiting class.

I've been inspired by the boys at the Big Ten Blog, and this should be a fun walk-through each week in the new-look Big 12 next season. I'll pick one game a week during the season that I'd attend if it were entirely up to me. I don't make the call, and things change as games are played, of course. But right now, this is how it would look if it were up to me. I'll include road nonconference games, too.

• Week 1: West Virginia vs. Marshall
• Week 2: Kansas State vs. Miami
• Week 3: Texas at Ole Miss
• Week 4: Kansas State at Oklahoma
• Week 5: Texas at Oklahoma State
• Week 6: West Virginia at Texas

Here's what the Week 7 slate in the Big 12 looks like:

• TCU at Baylor
• Kansas State at Iowa State
• Oklahoma State at Kansas
• Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas, Texas at the Cotton Bowl
• West Virginia at Texas Tech

My pick: The Red River Rivalry

Hey, TCU and Baylor should be a great game. West Virginia's trip across the globe to Texas Tech should be fun, too.

That said, let's not act like there's a decision to be made here. You don't follow the Big 12 and not go to Red River. You just don't.

Last year's game was a bit of a snoozer as Oklahoma blew through the Longhorns 55-17, ending a streak of four really great games at the Cotton Bowl. Texas and OU have both been ranked for the past six meetings, including three meetings where each was inside the top 15. Texas is still climbing its way back to the top of the Big 12 after a 5-7 season in 2010, but by midseason, the Longhorns could be finding their footing in a familiar setting surrounded by fried foods and ferris wheels.

The atmosphere is unlike anything else you'll see in the Big 12 as the league's two titans go toe-to-toe in the annual matchup that splits the crimson and burnt orange along the 50-yard line at the renovated Cotton Bowl, which seats almost 100,000 now.

Landry Jones will face the toughest defense he'll see all season, but he shredded the league's best defense last season in this game. Sooners legend Adrian Peterson wrote his legacy in this game. Could one of Texas' young backs -- Malcolm Brown, Johnathan Gray or Joe Bergeron -- do the same? If they do, I'll be there to see it.

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper released his list this week of underrated and overrated prospects in this year's draft.

You'll need Insider to see it all, but here's a few thoughts on the Big 12 talents he pegged.

UNDERRATED

Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma State: It might feel odd to call a guy who is 28 and likely to go in Round 2 underrated. But evaluators agree that if Weeden were younger he'd be far higher. So what's my case? I think Weeden projects as a start-early QB who can help a franchise for 7-8 years, easy. And who in this league has a nine-year plan?

My take: Totally agree. There's no question in my mind that if Weeden were 23 or 24, he'd be a top-10 pick, instead of a player we'll talk about later. I asked WVU coach Dana Holgorsen about that on Wednesday, and he agreed as well. His arm strength and accuracy are rare, and he proved his worth as a decision-maker for the past two seasons. NFL teams may be hesitant to spend a high pick on him if he's not a 10- or 15-year guy in the league, but whoever gets him will get a gem for however long he plays.

OVERRATED

Ryan Tannehill, QB, Texas A&M: I love Tannehill's upside, and I think he has a great shot to be a good starter, but the market on him has gotten a little out of hand in some respects. Remember, if Matt Barkley, Landry Jones and perhaps Tyler Wilson were in this draft, we're talking about a likelier bet for late-first or second round for Tannehill. Again, he can be a good one, but a lot of it is projecting, because while his physical abilities are so impressive there is much work to be done.

My take: Like Kiper, I don't quite understand how Tannehill has inexplicably floated into the top 10 as demand for quarterback grows and Tannehill looks like the third-best quarterback on the board. He's inexperienced at QB, which could steepen the learning curve, even though there's no question in my mind about his physical skills. Additionally, he raised tons of questions about his decision-making as a big part of A&M's second-half struggles in 2011. Tannehill may have a great career, but he looks more like a second-rounder or late first-rounder to me.

Keenan Robinson, OLB, Texas: Robinson belongs closer to the middle rounds than as high as the second, where I've seen him for some teams. A good outside backer who can hold up against the run, he doesn't take great angles. Robinson can develop but still needs some work.

My take: I'm not sure I agree quite as much here. Robinson's really athletic, and showed some capability to be a serviceable cover man. He probably won't have to do as much of that in the NFL, but I've always loved what he brought to Texas' defense in terms of a physical presence.

It was with muted enthusiasm that Nick Jordan watched Justin Tucker beat Texas A&M one last time.

It was with mixed emotions that his parents, both Aggie grads and seated on either side of him at Kyle Field, watched both Nick’s reaction and experienced their own.

“I didn’t want to rub it in,” the Texas signee from Coppell said. “But they were OK with it. They were happy that Justin made it because it was Justin. And they know someday that could be me.”

Someday is coming real soon.

Walking out of spring practice, Texas coach Mack Brown was practically shouting that he doesn’t have faith in his kickers.

“We will go into the fall with competition in both kicking positions,” Brown said.

Jordan, given the performances of Ben Pruitt and Will Russ, will be squarely in the middle of that competition. He might even be at the forefront of it, and he knows it too.

Pruitt, who was the odds-on favorite to replace Tucker, was too inconsistent from short range and nonexistent from deep. Russ has a big leg but it is better suited for punting and kickoffs.

Jordan watched and listened all spring as Brown lamented the loss of Tucker and the plight of the current kicking game. And with each passing comment he knew the reality of becoming a true freshman kicker in the Big 12 was closer to becoming a reality.

“Really when I first started thinking about (playing in college) I thought that I would redshirt or not really get on the field for the first year or two,” Jordan said. “Now I know I have the opportunity to play right away.”

Here’s the thing though, that opportunity hasn’t pushed Jordan into some impossible workout regimen with unrealistic expectations. He just stuck to what he was doing, because he knew that was more than good enough.

“Before any of this happened, I was already preparing myself to be ready to play right away,” Jordan said.

No over-kicking. No paralysis by analysis. Instead, Jordan decided to take the methodical, intelligent and measured approach to being in prime shape by June. It’s that same approach that led him to be one of the top kicking recruits in the country.

“He has got a really strong leg,” said Brown, who first evaluated Jordan at a Texas kicking camp. “We saw him kick out on a 60-plus-yard field goal, and he pulled it a little bit left.”

OK, it was 60 yards, so a little bit of a pull is understandable. He did make a 65-yarder to win the field goal portion of the National Underclassmen Challenge last year. And at more realistic yardages, Jordan usually is pretty true. Ditto with pressure situations: Like with the 34-yarder he made to put Coppell into overtime against Hebron as a sophomore. Or the four field goals he made in the fourth round of the 2010 playoffs against Trinity.

Now he is stepping into an entirely new and more pressure-packed situation. Texas has had guys thrive -- Texas is 8-for-8 on game-winning kicks in Brown’s 14 years -- but only one has been by a true freshman, Dusty Mangum in 2001. He finished the year 18 of 26 on field goals that season. The most crucial miss coming from 49 yards in the third quarter in a 39-37 loss to Colorado. He made three other field goals in that game.

But that was way before Jordan’s time. What he and Texas have to figure out over is if 2012 will be his time.

AUSTIN, Texas - - A funny thing will happen at UFCU Disch-Falk Field Friday.

The No. 25 Longhorns, wait for it, will be the home team in a conference series for the first time this season.

Texas (18-12) hasn’t actually played a true home series since March 11 when it played a doubleheader against Loyola Marymount.

“I’m not really used to this,” Longhorns ace Nathan Thornhill said. “It’s a Friday night at home … it’s supposed to rain so we play a doubleheader on Saturday. That’s how it usually happens now.”

The weather actually calls for sunny skies tomorrow, which could mean doom and gloom for Oklahoma State (17-14).

Texas, which came out of those three road series in a second-place tie with Texas A&M at 7-2 in the Big 12, owns a 1.43 ERA in 12 games at home this season. Thornhill, who is scheduled to pitch the series opener, has tallied 16 1/3 shutout innings at home, allowing nine hits and three walks while striking out 15.

“It’s going to be really exciting,” he said. “I think it will be a different atmosphere than what we have seen so far this year by having a conference series at home for the first time. We got a little feel for it when we played Cal at the Dell Diamond [in Round Rock] because the fans were a little bit louder than what we’ve seen on Tuesday nights here.”

Home might be where the heart is, but success was definitely found on the road with Texas sweeping Oklahoma and winning series against Kansas State and Texas Tech.

“I feel like we did extremely well on the road,” first baseman Alex Silver said. “It’s pretty tough with the young team we have to go on the road, especially at Tech and OU.”

Thornhill echoed those sentiments: “I’d say we came out pretty good. You never want to lose any games but going 7-2 in the Big 12 is good so far. You want to get out of them with sweeps but getting out of Texas Tech with only one loss with their fans the way they are. After dropping the first one at Kansas State and winning the last two is big too.”

Texas won those seven games in large part to the continued success it has had at the plate. The Longhorns were hitting .212 entering their midweek game against No. 20 Texas State on March 13, but have since raised their average 69 points in their last 16 games.

That is in large part to reigning Big 12 Player of the Week Erich Weiss, who is hitting (.464), Jonathan Walsh (.403) and Mark Payton (.362). Silver is currently riding a 16-game hitting streak.

The Longhorns can only hope that they’ll find similar success at a place they feel extremely comfortable with.

“I’ve talked to other people that have played here on away teams and they say the environment is really tough to play in,” said Silver, who owns a .972 fielding percentage since becoming the starting first basemen 13 games in. “All of us become very comfortable here. It’s going to be really nice having everyone here to cheer for us. We know how the ball bounces here. It’s going to be nice.”

Oklahoma State swept Kansas last weekend in Stillwater to move to 4-5 and in fourth place in the Big 12. The Cowboys, like Texas, are young and boast 18 different players who have made their debuts this season.

“They are going to be good,” Thornhill said. “They are the only team to beat us two out of three times last year so they are going to be a scrappy team. We are just going to have to come out and play some scrappy Texas baseball.”