Tag: horns

Texas ex Kenny Vaccaro retires from the NFL after eight seasons

Former Texas safety Kenney Vaccaro retires from the NFL, announces the launch of a new gaming company.

After spending eight seasons with the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans, former Longhorns safety Kenny Vaccaro announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday.

Vaccaro was drafted by New Orleans in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft. The safety spent five years with the Saints before signing a free-agent deal with Tennessee, where he played the last three seasons. Vaccaro totaled 110 starts, 10 interceptions and over 600 tackles in his professional career.

Upon his retirement, Vaccaro is also launching a new Esports organization called “Gamers First.”

Vaccaro explained why gaming has always been important to him in this statement.

“I’ve been a gamer for even longer than I’ve played football, and I’ve always thought of myself as a gamer first. So this is the realization of a long-term dream for me. And while football has been how many have defined me, G1 is evidence for other athletes as well that life doesn’t end just because you put down the helmet. You can reinvent yourself.”

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CFB Analyst Joel Klatt: Texas has a ‘great chance’ to knock off Oklahoma

Joel Klatt is confident that the stars are aligning for Texas to finally knock off Oklahoma as the Big 12 Champions.

The hype surrounding Texas football this season is real. Continue reading “CFB Analyst Joel Klatt: Texas has a ‘great chance’ to knock off Oklahoma”

Two Longhorns listed among college football’s top 50 players

Two Longhorns are listed within 247Sports’ top 50 college football players this season.

The 2020 college football season is rapidly approaching. Continue reading “Two Longhorns listed among college football’s top 50 players”

Austin health official thinks 25,000 fans at DKR is ‘too much’

According to a report from KXAN in Austin, Dr Mark Escott of the Travis County Health Authority believes it is too much.

The Texas Longhorns are preparing for the upcoming season and athletic director Chris Del Conte has stated there will be fans in attendance. In an email to season season ticket holders, Del Conte proclaimed they were ready to “rock n’ roll.” The plan around most major colleges participating in the fall season falls around 25 percent capacity. At Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium that means 25,000 screaming fanatics.

However, not everyone agrees with the sentiment of having that many fans in the stands. Recently KXAN, a NBC affiliate in Austin, had an interview with interim Austin-Travis County Health Dr. Mark Escott. Escott was not a fan of moving forward with 25 percent or 25,000 fans at DKR.

He spoke with local schools about their upcoming football season and even wants to start slow with them.

Let’s see if we can play, lets see if we can have two healthy teams play one another and then let’s talk about introducing parents of the athletes into the stands and again move gradually towards more people as we can prove success.”

When discussing fans at the stadium, Escott wants UT to limit the number even beyond the 25 percent being announced across the remaining FBS schools.

Packing 25,000 people in, even in a 100,000 seat stadium, introduces a lot of risk, not only to the people who are there but to the community as well,

While you can understand the sentiment behind the doctors thoughts, it really doesn’t hold much weight. The city of Austin holds zero authority over the University of Texas.

Texas football’s highest-graded returners on defense per PFF

New DC Chris Ash will have a ton of returning talent to work with. Here are the highest-graded returners on Texas’ defense per PFF:

Texas’ defense struggled last season, being the reason for a couple of the Longhorns’ losses last season. However, there is hope and optimism for the defense going into 2020.

Most of that is due to how many contributors are returning this season. Texas is expected to have nine starters back, including Caden Sterns, B.J. Foster, and Joseph Ossai. The roster is full of studs.

However, the implementation of defensive coordinator Chris Ash will be the biggest reason for the hoped success. Former defensive coordinator ran a base 3-3-5 defense and Ash will be switching over to a base 4-3 defense.

Ash will have a ton of returning talent to work with, hoping to make the Longhorns’ defense one of the best in the Big 12.

Here are the highest-graded returners on Texas defense per PFF:

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Longhorns Profile Snapshot: No. 68 Derek Kerstetter

LonghornsWire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Texas roster. Today, we will be looking at senior C Derek Kerstetter.

Going into the 2020 football season, LonghornsWire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Texas roster.

Heading into the season each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for Tom Herman this season.

Today, we will be looking at senior center Derek Kerstetter.

Derek Kerstetter, Center

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

Height: 6-5 / Weight: 293

Class: Senior

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

High School: Reagan

HS ranking (247Sports): Three-star / No. 27 position / No. 52 in-state

HS ranking (Rivals): Three-star / No. 45 position / No. 59 in-state

Analysis: Derek Kerstetter played right tackle for the Longhorns last season, forming an outstanding duo with left tackle Samuel Cosmi. Now, the senior will be moving to the interior offensive line, playing center.

Coming out of high school, Kerstetter was just a three-star prospect and outside the top 50 in the state of Texas. Offensive line coach Herb Hand has done an excellent job in turning Kerstetter into a good offensive lineman to one of the best in the Big 12.

Zach Shackelford was a leader of the football team last season from the center position. Kerstetter will have major shoes to fill, having to keep Texas’ offensive line at an elite level. They will be protecting quarterback Sam Ehlinger, the most important player on the offense.

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Thursday Big 12 Morning Rush: Headlines from around the conference

Each morning, LonghornsWire will provide the top headlines in the Big 12. Today, BR, Twitter, and TexasTech.com provide the headlines.

Each morning Longhorns Wire will share the top stories from around the Big 12 Conference. For this edition of the Big 12 morning rush, Bleacher Report, Twitter, and TexasTech.com provide the headlines.

Continue reading “Thursday Big 12 Morning Rush: Headlines from around the conference”

WATCH: Former Texas WR Devin Duvernay impresses at Ravens camp

Former Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay is turning heads at Ravens camp.

Former Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay was selected by the Baltimore Ravens with the No. 92 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Continue reading “WATCH: Former Texas WR Devin Duvernay impresses at Ravens camp”

Report: NCAA Division I Council agrees to freeze eligibility in the fall

The NCAA Division I Council has agreed to freeze eligibility for the fall. This ruling will need to be approved by the Board of Governors.

One of the big questions surrounding the upcoming season revolves around the eligibility of student-athletes. The idea that athletes shouldn’t lose a year of eligibility has been kicked around. Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger was supportive of the idea when he spoke to media on Tuesday.

My personal opinion is I do think that eligibility should be frozen, regardless. I think that it’s unfortunate that everybody has had to go through this, and I know it’s not the college’s fault by any stretch of the imagination. But the college experience is such a short-term thing in people’s lives and I think everybody should be able to get the most out of it.

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, the NCAA Division I Council agrees with the Texas quarterback.

Provided the NCAA Board of Governors approves the ruling on Friday, then we will have a unique situation on campus. Especially for those players who are playing the schools that went forward with a fall season. It could mean that Sam Ehlinger could ideally come back for a fifth season if he chooses.

For the incoming freshman this could be a full season redshirt opportunity for the freshman class. The original ruling being that players couldn’t appear in more than four games to maintain their redshirt status. With this amendment for the 2020 season, there would be no cap on games with player eligibility being frozen.

Head coach Tom Herman would be able to get a better look at some of their underclassmen in the fall season. Now we await the Board of Governors decision on Friday.

Report: OU leaning towards discontinuing the season, Texas not with them

According to a report from Sports Illustrated, Oklahoma wants to discontinue their fall season. The Texas Longhorns want to move forward.

There has been much said about the two remaining Power Five conferences cancelling their season in hopes of spring football. Some might say it was too early to pull the plug, while others think it was the right call bases on scientific evidence. Now you can add Oklahoma to the schools wanting to punt on the season.

According to a report from Mark Blaudschun of Sports Illustrated, the Sooners want out.

While that was going on on Tuesday, the Big 12 was dealing with a different issue involving Oklahoma, which reportedly is leaning against the sentiment of its brethren who want to continue with the season.

Normally this would result in a stalemate.

Not so much this time because Texas is leading a charge to continue, with or WITHOUT Oklahoma as part of the conference for football this season.

Every sign out of Austin is that the Texas Longhorns want to move forward with the season. Even if Oklahoma pulls the plug such as is suggested, one should expect the Longhorns to push forward with a season. Much like what we have seen with Big Ten and teams discussing a fall schedule, Oklahoma seems discontent with the decision made by the Big 12 Conference.

With just over three weeks remaining before the start of the 2020 season, it seems like a bad time to be having this discussion. It likely should have been brought up during the Big 12 Conference’s Board of Directors meeting. Should Oklahoma opt out of the season while the Big 12 continues, they would lose out on approximately $42 million in TV revenue.

The conference has stated that they were moving forward with preparing for the upcoming season. There hasn’t been an announcement yet that the season would go on as planned as of yet. It will be interesting to see how Texas handles the situation moving forward.