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Part 1 of 3 Parts
Jerry Scarbrough's True Orange The newsletter and e-mail/fax service for the True Texas Longhorn Faithful Volume 11, No. 22, September 4, 2001 Longhorns Zap Aggies (New Mexico Brand); Freshmen Show Up Raring and Ready to Play The Longhorns opened the 2001 season Saturday night before a sellout crowd in Austin with an easy 41-7 victory over New Mexico State that gave positive answers to most team question marks. Two super freshmen and a freshman walk-on kicker even gave some hope for those tough games down the line. The kicker, Dusty Mangum of Mesquite, kicked two field goals and and five extra points flawlessly. That might not sound like a big deal, particularly since the field goals were short ones. But if you had watched the place kickers in the spring, you would be ecstatic that young Mangum seemed to be close to dead center on all seven of his first collegiate kicks. The other two freshmen are much more heralded, and rightly so, judging by what they did Saturday night. LB Derrick Johnson came in a a backup, but he had six tackles and caught caught slippery RB Walter Taylor for a three-yard loss on a screeen pass that appeared to be well executed until he sped past the blockers and nailed Taylor. Taylor hit the Longhorns for 113 yards rushing on just 13 carries with his stop-and-go style, and he had only two plays that lost yardage all night. That was one of them. While Johnson is a heralded recruit, fellow freshman RB Cedric Benson is even more highly touted after leading Midland Lee to three straight state titles, and he gave a glimpse of his tremendous talent in a mop-up role Saturday. He didn't get into the game until the fourth quarter, and then he did most of his running behind the second-team defensive line. But, with all due respect to Victor Ike and Ivan Williams, the top two tailbacks, Benson showed talents that most running backs can only dream about For starters, he has acceleration that is off the chart when he takes a handoff. He also has great vision and knows instinctively where to run. He also has an ability to make most tacklers miss without appearing to do anything to make them miss. That means he doesn't have to slow down to do it. He and Williams tied for top rushing honors with indentical stats - 15 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown. Coach Mack Brown pointed out that it was easier sledding for Benson than for Ike and Williams because he entered the game in the fourth quarter after the Aggie defenders were tired. But Ike and Williams did all their running behind the first-team line. The offensive line is not a great run-blocking unit, so it figures that the backups are even less adept at run blocking. My nominees for the biggest positive surprises on offense and defense are easy ones. WR Montrell Flowers and LB Tyrone Jones are seniors who have had solid, but not spectacular careers. Flowers caught two touchdown passes Saturday night and Jones had six tackles, including two for losses. Here, briefly, is how the game went: First Quarter Texas won the toss and deferred, so New Mexico State took the ball. That turned out to be a great decision for the Horns because New Mexico State fumbled the opening kickoff and the Longhorns had a 14-0 lead before either team ran a play on the Texas end of the field. Tony Jeffery and Rod Babers blocked a punt and Phillip Geiggar covered it in the end zone for the first Texas touchdown and Mangum kicked his first extra point in college to give Texas a 7-0 lead with 11:58 left. The Horns drove 50 yards on their second possession to take a 14-0 lead when Williams scored on a 4-yard run and Mangum kicked the extra point with 5:40 left in the period. Neither team had much offense in the quarter - Texas had 30 yards on 16 plays and NM State had 26 on 14 plays - but two Aggie fumbles - the only turnovers in the game - gave the Longhorns the two touchdown lead. Second Quarter Nathan Vasher's 16-yard punt return to the Aggies' 38 set up a field goal drive. Ike got 15 yards on two strong runs, but then the drive stalled and Mangum kicked his first college field goal, a 24-yarder, to give Texas a 17-0 lead with 7:24 left. The Horns scored another TD on their next possession, going 80 yards in 11 plays. Flowers had a 23-yard catch and then a 9-yarder for the TD. Mangum kicked the point for a 24-0 lead with 38 seconds left in the half. Texas had 66 offensive yards in the quarter, while the Longhorn defense was holding NM State to 3 net yards. Third Quarter Both teams got their offenses cranked up to start the third quarter. Texas had a 79-yard drive to set up a 17-yard Mangum field goal to start the half, but then Aggie TB Taylor's 43-yard run took the visitors deep into Longhorn territory for the first time in the game. The drive reached the UT 14 before stalling, and the field goal try was wide. After a Texas punt, NM State drove 85 yards in 9 plays to score and cut the UT lead to 27-7 with 1:02 left. Fourth Quarter Benson came in to start the fourth quarter and carried seven straight times for 45 yards. Simms hit Flowers for 10 yards and the touchdown to cap the drive. Mangum's kick gave UT a 34-7 lead with 9:28 left. The defense got a quick stop and Major Applewhite relieved Simms at QB. With Applewhite hitting four of five passes for 46 yards, including a 17-yard completion to Benson, the Horns moved to the three and Benson ran over right tackle for his first collegiate touchdown. Mangum's kick gave UT a 41-7 lead with 28 seconds left. Recruiting Roundup The Longhorns still have 12 commitments, but they have a good chance to pick up another one this weekend. The North Carolina game has been dedicated to the memory of former Longhorn defense tackle Cole Pittman, who was killed in a tragic automobile accident while returning to spring football practice at UT last February. Pittman's younger brother, Chase, is an outstanding defensive end at Shreveport Evangel and is one of the nation's top 100 players. He took an official visit to LSU last weekend and will be at Texas this weekend with his parents to participate in the events surrounding the game's dedication to his brother. LSU and Texas are the only schools he is still considering. He also took an official visit to Oklahoma, but has eliminated the Sooners from consideration. Look for a decision next week. Evangel, one of the nation's top football powers, played Longview in Shreveport last weekend and took a 27-7 victory on a muddy field. Longview ran away from Pittman's side of the line all night, but he still had eight tackles, including two sacks and two others for losses. LB Marvin Byrdsong of Longview, was another national top 100 player in that game. He says he plans to come to the Texas-North Carolina game Saturday. "I like Texas and will definitely take an official visit to Texas later," he said. * * * * DT Marco Martin of Mesquite has a qualifying ACT score and just needs to make good grades this year to be qualified in core courses, too. He has made a lot of progress in the classroom after missing part of last season because of academic deficiencies. Martin, a 6-4, 315-pounder with incredible speed and quickness, is on all the national top 100 lists. He lists the Longhorns No. 1. * * * * Top recruits who attended the Longhorns' opener were LB Garnett Smith of Arlington Lamar, RB Paul Mosley of Austin Anderson and six players who are committed to UT - LBs Brian Robison of Splendora and Marcus Myers of Pflugerville Connally, DL Tully Janszen of Keller, RB/Athlete Clint Haney of Smithson Valley, WR Dustin Miksch of Round Rock Westwood and OL Brett Valdez of Brownwood. Haney scored on runs of 34 and 3 yards and had 99 yards rushing Friday in Smithson Valley's 27-7 victory over Killeen Ellison. That game was called at the half because of heavy thunderstorms. Miksch caught three passes for 45 yards and had a 10-yard run in Westwood's 9-0 loss to Killeen Friday. Smith said he really enjoyed the game Saturday night and loves the way the UT linebackers blitz. "I've seen them play on television," he said, "but being there and seeing it in person was a great experience. I love the way the bring linebackers on nearly every play and the way the disquise who they are going to bring. That's the kind of defense I'm looking for." 900 Number Updated Daily I update my 900 number every day with football and football recruiting news. The number is 1-900-288-8839. It costs $1.59 a minute. You must be 18 or older to call. Coach's Corner Coach Mack Brown worries about openers, so he was particularly happy about the Longhorns' 41-7 romp past New Mexico State Saturday night. "We had two areas we really wanted to concentrate on," he said. "Defensively, we wanted to hit people and force turnovers. Offensively, we wanted to be physical." He said the team graded high in both areas. "We forced three turnovers on defense," he said, "and we hit people and flew around and made plays most of the time. We had some lapses, and we need to work on correcting that." He said he was pleased that the offense did not turn the ball over and was able to overpower New Mexico State's defenders and run the ball despite a stacked defense. "Except for six plays, I though the offense played really, really well," he said. Those six plays included three to start the game, when a fumbled kickoff set Texas up at the Aggies' 23 and the Horns lost 12 yards in three plays and had to punt. The other three were on the Longhorns' drive to open the second half. They got a first-and-goal at the 1 and wound up kicking a field goal. Brown said the Longhorns gave up on the run in the first two games last year because of stacked defenses, "and then we couldn't run it when we needed to at Stanford and we got beat." "I told the staff before this game that I didn't care if they had 14 on the line of scrimmage, we were going to run the ball," he said. "We only ran three plays," Brown said, "but we ran them a whole bunch. We just wanted to line up and be physical." The Longhorns ran 45 times for 171 net yards and passed 38 times for 228 yards, and Brown said that is the kind of production he wanted. He said there were some plays where the quarterback normally would have audibled and called a pass, "but we wanted to force the run and that's Coach's Corner . . (continued from page 1) what we did. We have to be able to run the ball when we want to, regardless of the defensive alignment." Brown said DT Maurice Gordon played an outstanding game in his first start after moving from a backup DE spot. "Maurice is an outstanding pass rusher," he said. "We already knew that, but he also stood up well against the run. He runs a 4.5 and he's a defensive end playing defensive tackle. His speed really helps us in there." After the game Saturday night, Brown said he felt it was the Longhorns best opening game in his four years at Texas. Monday, he said, "After reviewing the film, this definitely was our best opener at Texas. I was concerned about the kicking game and turnovers. You always worry about that in openers, and our kicking game was really good and we didn't turn the ball over." Brown said WR Kyle Shanahan has been cleared to practice this week, but he said LB Lee Jackson's turf toe is still bothering him. Ross Leaves, Plans to Return Freshman CB Aaron Ross has left the team to clear up some NCAA Clearinghouse issues. "I have some Clearinghouse issues I need to get resolved in order to rejoin the team," Ross said. "I'm going to get those issues worked out so I can return to Texas in January." LB Aurmon Satchell had similar issues last year and he is back on the team now and is a second-team linebacker. Look for Ross to be able to clear up the problems and come back in time to go through spring practice next season.
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