In three days, the Texas Longhorns football season opens, and the Garrett Gilbert era begins. While we received a taste of what he brings in the National Championship Game against Alabama, Gilbert has now been working as the starting quarterback since spring practice, and has an offense designed around his traditional, drop-back-quarterback, strengths.

But make no mistake, the Longhorn season rides on the shoulders of Gilbert’s 6′ 4″ frame.

With the departure of Sherrod Harris from the team, true…

I made it out to DKR-TMS Thursday evening for the Texas Longhorns second open practice. Of course, I took a few pictures.

The big takeaway from the practice was the reminder that Garrett Gilbert has a cannon. The pleasant surprise was that his timing with the receivers was quite good. If we can muster anything resembling a decent running game, the offense will be in good shape.

Technical Notes: All pictures taken with my Nikon D200 with the Nikkor 300mm…

As the social network Twitter continues its growth, more and more current Longhorn players are joining. Below is a list of the 2010 Texas Longhorns I could find on Twitter.

Let me know who I’m missing (or if any of these are fake).

I discovered this little picture when searching PicApp for a Texas Longhorns picture to use on an upcoming blog post. The Longhorn Nation reaches quite far…

As they do just about every summer, the Texas Longhorns are having a pair of open practices for the fans this week. Wednesday (August 11th) and Thursday (August 12th) the Horns will be practicing at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium from 7-9 p.m.

Gates 14 and 16 in the north end zone will be open, and parking will be available in the Manor, San Jacinto, and Trinity garages.

If whether ends up being a problem, the practice will be moved…

This morning, Texas Longhorns backup quarterback Sherrod Harris, a fifth-year senior, announced that he will not return to the team this season. He will instead focus on finishing up his corporate communications degree in hopes of graduating in December.

Said Harris in the statement released by the team:

I’ve had a couple of tough semesters in school and I really need to get back on track academically so I’ve decided to focus most of my effort on academics for what is possibly my last semester in school. This was a very tough decision because I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time on the football field, running out of the tunnel on game day and being a part of the team.

One of the annual rites of each year’s upcoming Texas Longhorns football season is the release of the Preview Magazine from Inside Texas. I won’t comment on the advertisement for grape flavored vodka, but as usual, Clendon and the guys have put out a quality product.

The Big 12 Conference is dead; it just doesn’t know it yet.

There is no question that the Big 10 Conference intends to grow. The only question is how many they add, and who they take.

On the first question, they want to add at least one team, which will give them twelve (they actually have eleven teams right now). This allows them to have a conference championship, increase their revenue, and still be part of the conversation on the…

Going into the BCS championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns, if you had told me that with four minutes left in the game, we would be down by three points and have the ball, I would have said I liked our chances. If you had told me that we would get there with our true freshman quarterback, I would have told you that you were nuts.

After a very ugly first half, most of America thought the Longhorns would be blown off the field in the second half. I’ll admit that I was worried it was going to get ugly.

Instead, the Longhorns dug deep and were playing for the win late in the game. And while the final score differential as seventeen (thanks for showing your ass, Coach Saban), Texas proved their strength of heart and depth of talent on that field.

BCS National Championship Game
Texas Longhorns vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
January 7, 2010, 7pm Central
Pasadena, California
Network: ABC/ESPN Radio

I’m the first to admit that I’m biased when it comes to the Texas Longhorns. But after countless hours spent reading online articles, blogs, and forms, watching sports broadcasts, and listening to podcasts, I’m having a hard time predicting tonight’s outcome.

Part of that is because both teams have been inconsistent this year. Everyone talks about Texas’ close game with Nebraska because it was the most recent game. The Texas offense was essentially shut down in that game and against Oklahoma. And the Texas defense was totally absent for the Texas A&M game.

Don’t forget that if Tennessee had a halfway decent field goal kicker, Alabama wouldn’t be in the championship game. And that they barely slipped by a four loss Auburn team. But when Alabama struggles, people say that is just what happens in the SEC.