College Confidential

Texas to focus on up-tempo offense when spring FB drills open Thursday #Longhorns

Texas football coach Mack Brown seeks to speed up the Longhorns’ pace of play during spring drills, which begin Thursday in Austin.

But only the team’s tempo is expected to change, not its focus on a physical ground game that is expected to incorporate more carries from quarterback David Ash to complement the efforts of running backs Johnathan Gray, Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron.

The Longhorns, who will be the first Big 12 team to open spring drills, will cap their spring session with an Orange-White game on March 30 in Austin (6:30 p.m., Longhorn Network).

“We want to run a similar offense, but do it from no huddle and try to keep the same personnel on the field,” said Brown, whose team is coming off a 9-4 season. “We changed so much personnel over the last couple of years that we felt like it gave defenses a chance to match with us in packages. So we’re trying to get a group on the field and keep them on the field and run a lot of different plays and formations from the same personnel so the defense cannot rest.”

Ideally, Brown said the Longhorns would like to snap the ball every 15 to 18 seconds, which was not possible the past two seasons under former offensive play-caller Bryan Harsin, now the head football coach at Arkansas State. Harsin used multiple personnel packages tailored to the strengths of individual players, a practice Brown will alter under offensive coordinator Major Applewhite, who made his debut as the team’s play-caller during Texas’ 31-27 victory over Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl.

In terms of tempo, Brown said the Longhorns seek to emulate what Oregon has done in recent seasons while playing in four consecutive BCS bowl games under former coach Chip Kelly.

“We’re not going to be the option-type team like Oregon, but we’re going to run their tempo,” Brown said. “You still want to be physical. But we’re going to do it without huddling and try to do it with the same personnel.”

Ash, a junior and third-year starter, returns to lead a team that will be one of the more experienced squads in the Big 12 after two consecutive seasons in which Texas has played a large number of freshmen. But Brown stressed there will be in-house competition at all positions.

“All of our jobs are always open,” Brown said. “Very honestly, we’re going to play the best players.”

Below is a look at the spring football dates for all Big 12 schools:

 
Big 12 spring football dates
Baylor: March 1 start, spring game April 6
Iowa State: March 26 start, spring game April 20
Kansas: March 5 start, spring game April 13
Kansas State: April 3 start, spring game April 27
Oklahoma: March 6 start, spring game April 13
Oklahoma State: March 11 start, spring game April 20
TCU: March 1 start, spring game TBA
Texas: Thursday start, spring game March 30
Texas Tech: March 24 start, spring game April 20
West Virginia: March 10 start, spring game April 20

_ Jimmy Burch 

No. 5 Florida installed as slight favorite to win 2013 NCAA Tournament by oddsmaker

Florida, the No. 5 team in this week’s Associated Press poll of men’s college basketball teams, did not earn a single first-place vote from participating panelists. But the Gators (21-3, 11-1 in SEC) have been installed as the favorite to win the 2013 NCAA Tournament, based on odds released today by Bovada Sports Book (www.Bovada.lv).

Florida, which plays tonight at Missouri (18-7, 7-5) received 5/1 odds to win the national title among a very balanced group of favorites. Other teams given the best odds of cutting down the nets in Atlanta, listed with this week’s AP poll ranking, include No. 1 Indiana (11/2), No. 2 Miami (11/2), No. 7 Michigan (15/2), No. 6 Duke (9/1), No. 4 Michigan State (10/1), No. 3 Gonzaga (12/1), No. 10 Louisville (12/1) and No. 9 Kansas (14/1). All other teams received odds of at least 20/1.

Odds given to other Big 12 schools include No. 14 Oklahoma State (50/1), No. 13Kansas State (60/1), Baylor (150/1), Oklahoma (200/1) and Iowa State (200/1).

Below is a breakdown of schools that received individual odds to win the 2013 NCAA Tournament:

Odds to win the 2012-2013 Men's NCAA Basketball Championship    
Florida                             5/1
Indiana                             11/2
Miami FL                              11/2
Michigan                              15/2
Duke                             9/1
Michigan State              10/1
Gonzaga                       12/1
Louisville                              12/1
Kansas                            14/1
Arizona                            20/1
Syracuse                              20/1
Ohio State                    30/1
North Carolina State      40/1
Butler                                40/1
Pittsburgh                            40/1
Cincinnati                             50/1
New Mexico                        50/1
Oklahoma State            50/1
UCLA                            50/1
VCU                             50/1
Wisconsin                            50/1
Georgetown                        60/1
Kansas State                60/1
Marquette                            60/1
Minnesota                            60/1
Creighton                      66/1
UNLV                            66/1
Colorado State              75/1
Missouri                               75/1
North Carolina                    75/1
Notre Dame                  75/1
Oregon                             75/1
Illinois                               100/1
Kentucky                              100/1
Memphis                              100/1
San Diego State            100/1
St. Louis                              100/1
Baylor                           150/1
California                             150/1
Colorado                              150/1
Virginia                            150/1
Wichita State                 150/1
Iowa State                     200/1
Oklahoma                            200/1
Mississippi                          200/1
St. Mary's                     200/1
Villanova                       250/1
Alabama                               300/1
Arkansas                              300/1
Arizona State                500/1
Davidson                      500/1
Iowa                                  500/1
LSU                              500/1
Maryland                              500/1
Stanford                       500/1
Harvard                         1000/1
St. John's                     1000/1
Temple                             1000/1

_ Jimmy Burch

NCAA committee chairman expects smooth run in Cowboys Stadium debut as tourney site

Although the chairman of the NCAA men’s basketball committee anticipates “more madness than we’re used to in March” in a parity-filled season, he stressed today that officials anticipate a smooth logistical run during Cowboys Stadium’s debut as an NCAA venue when it hosts the South Regional, March 29-31.

The key, said tournament chair Mike Bobinski, rests with the experience of the administrative staff from the Big 12, which will oversee the regional site.

“We feel like Cowboys Stadium will be a tremendous regional host and an equally tremendous Final Four host,” Bobinski said. “The Big 12 has hosted a number of regionals before ... For teams to play in one of the iconic venues in the country is great. We’re excited about being there.”

Bobinski said the setup of Cowboys Stadium at the South Regional will be used “as a dress rehearsal” for the 2014 Final Four, which also is coming to the facility.

_ Jimmy Burch

TCU golfer Julien Brun included on 2013 Ben Hogan Award watch list

TCU golfer Julien Brun, a sophomore from France who won an event as an amateur on the 2012 European Challenge Tour, is one of 27 players on the watch list for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award, given to the nation’s top college golfer.

Brun, who won in September at the Allianz Golf Open Toulouse Metropole on Europe’s developmental tour, was joined today on the watch list by three fellow Big 12 golfers: Texas’ Brandon Stone, Oklahoma State’s Talor Gooch and Iowa State’s Scott Fernandez.

California had the most golfers on the watch list, with four:  Brandon Hagy, Max Homa, Michael Kim and Michael Weaver.

A list of 10 semifinalists, which could include individuals not on today’s watch list, will be released April 18. The list will be trimmed May 8 to three finalists, who will be in Fort Worth for the May 20 announcement of the winner as part of tournament week activities at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

A full list of players on the watch list is below:

 2013 Ben Hogan Award Watch List

(in alphabetical order)

Daniel Berger (Florida State, So.), Julien Brun (TCU, So.), Albin Choi (North Carolina State, Jr.), Corey Conners (Kent State, Jr.), Scott Fernandez (Iowa State, So.), Steven Fox (Chattanooga, Sr.), Ben Geyer (St. Mary’s, Sr.), Talor Gooch (Oklahoma State, Jr.), Brandon Hagy (California, Jr.), Max Homa (California, Sr.), Michael Kim (California, So.), Jace Long (Missouri, Sr.), Tyler McCumber (Florida, Sr.), Cheng-Tsung Pan (Washington, So.), Kevin Penner (UNLV, Sr.), Thomas Pieters (Illinois, Jr.), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, So.), Trevor Simsby (Washington, Jr.), Brandon Stone (Texas, Fr.), Julian Suri (Duke, Sr.), Ben Taylor (Nova Southeastern, Jr.), Justin Thomas (Alabama, So.), T.J. Vogel (Florida, Sr.), Michael Weaver (California, Jr.), Pontus Widegren (UCLA, Sr.), Chris Williams (Washington, Sr.) and Bobby Wyatt (Alabama, Jr.).

 

_ Jimmy Burch 

 

Big 12 ADs support seeking alliance with other leagues, have not ruled out expansion

IRVING _ Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said league athletic directors expressed unanimous support for exploring a scheduling and marketing alliance with the ACC and other conferences during a Monday meeting but did not close the door on the possibility of future expansion.

Bowlsby said Big 12 administrators seek to prepare themselves for “any eventuality” on the realignment front and discussed multiple options during a three-hour discussion about the league’s future. But he stressed that league officials would not rush to expand from the existing 10-member configuration unless it makes financial sense.

Based on a recent Forbes projection for the current school year, the Big 12 is expected to have the highest average payout of any conference in terms of television, bowl and NCAA Tournament revenues _ roughly $26 million per school. Prospective new members would have to bring a comparable amount of value to the table to trigger voluntary expansion.

“Anybody we would look at would have to bring pro rata or a very high likelihood of sustained growth that would bring benefits to the league,” Bowlsby said. “We are never going to get bigger just for the sake of getting bigger.”

Bowlsby acknowledged expansion by other leagues could force the Big 12’s hand and said officials “have to be prepared to respond to that changing environment.” Speculation has centered on Big 12 interest from Florida State and Clemson, with Connecticut and Cincinnati among the most desirable remaining assets in the crumbling Big East.

But the league’s favored option, expressed in a unanimous vote at Monday’s meeting, would be an alliance with the ACC and two other leagues Bowlsby declined to name. Commissioners from the Pac-12 and SEC said Monday they are not part of the discussions with the Big 12, ACC and other leagues.

“Our group said these alliances have merit and we’re willing to support it,” Bowlsby said. “The discussions are probably furthest along with the ACC, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what we’re going to end up doing.”

Big 12 athletic directors deferred questions to Bowlsby but indicated they joined him in considering Monday’s session a step forward in solidifying plans for the league’s future.

“I think we did gravitate around some principles that will guide us going forward,” said Bowlsby, who declined to offer details. “I think we created some filters that we all agreed on and I think there was a fair amount of unanimity in the room.”

The two-day meeting continues today, with discussions about future football schedules and bowl partnerships.

 Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch

_ Jimmy Burch

Big 12 ADs to discuss expansion, scheduling alliances with other leagues during meetings this week

Big 12 athletic directors will meet Monday and Tuesday in Irving for talks about the future of the league, with topics to include the pros and cons of expansion as well as the viability of future scheduling alliances with other leagues. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has said league officials could be proactive on the expansion front, if necessary, but stressed that most administrators remain satisfied with the league’s 10-team configuration “until we’re persuaded that larger is better.”

Entering into a scheduling agreement with the ACC and other leagues could offer financial benefits without expanding the league, in Bowlsby’s estimation, and will one of the discussion topics. League officials also will deal with future football schedules and other issues during the regularly scheduled meeting.

_ Jimmy Burch     

Bowlsby says Big 12 "could be proactive" on expansion front but still not sure bigger is better in college landscape

GRAPEVINE _ Although stressing that bigger does not always mean better, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Wednesday that league officials “could be proactive” on the expansion front and will address the topic in league meetings later this month.

Big 12 athletic directors will meet Jan. 28-29 in a regularly scheduled meeting. Bowlsby said one topic will be to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of conference realignment in an era when the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Pac-12 and ACC will each have 12 to 14 members when the latest round of realignment becomes official with the moves of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten for the 2014-15 calendar year. League presidents could discuss the topic at a later date, Bowlsby said. 

The Big 12 has only 10 members. That is not enough, under NCAA rules, to have a conference championship game in football. But the configuration does maximize per-school revenues from television rights fees, a financial advantage Bowlsby said league officials will weigh during discussions about the future of the Big 12.

“We continue to watch the landscape,” Bowlsby said during the first day of meetings at the NCAA Convention at the Gaylord Texan Resort. “Until we’re persuaded that larger is better, we feel pretty good about right where we are. Part of what we’re going to do during the meetings … is talk about what the advantages are of getting bigger and what the disadvantages are.

“If you get bigger, do you have to get to 16? Do you get all the benefits at 14? Do you get them at 12? I just think there’s a real shortage of empirical evidence that can guide our decisions.”

Hence, the desire for exploratory talks at a time when the Big East is losing members, rival leagues are expanding and college football is preparing for the start of its playoff era following the 2014 regular season. Expansion targets clearly exist if the Big 12 seeks to grow to recapture a conference championship game as part of the playoff era.    

In terms of expansion, Bowlsby said: “We could be proactive. I think there are some ways we could.”

Bowlsby even cited the possibility of adding a Big 12 championship game under the league’s current configuration if NCAA rules, which allow such games only in conferences with 12 or more members, are tweaked. The topic surfaced during a meeting of commissioners after last week’s BCS National Championship Game in Miami and Bowlsby said the idea “is worthy of consideration,” particularly at a time when the NCAA seeks to streamline its rule book and will vote on measures to do so at this convention.

“In a period of deregulation, does it make sense that the association is describing the manner in which we create our champion?,” Bowlsby said. “Does it make any difference if we have 10 members and we take our two highest-ranked teams at the end of the year and have them play off one more time in a repeat and the champion goes on to the post-season? It’s just another area of deregulation that we think is worthy of consideration.”

Bowlsby said league officials “haven’t talked much” about the possibility of initiating a championship game under its existing 10-team configuration but expect to address that issue later this month. He also cited the Big Ten’s recent additions of Maryland and Rutgers as examples worth monitoring as league officials consider expansion.

“Look at Maryland and Rutgers. They don’t bring programs that are of the ilk of the others in the Big Ten,” said Bowlsby, a former Iowa athletic director. “But the philosophy clearly is, ‘As members of the Big Ten, we can grow them.’ So, you can apply the same thinking to any possible addition.”

Asked what the league needed in terms on a mandate for expansion, Bowlsby said: “A clear mandate only comes from a clear set of data that says this is the right thing to do. I’m not sure that intuition is the best reason to leave (a conference)."

Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch

_ Jimmy Burch

 

TCU set to hire former Auburn assistant as WR coach

TCU is set to hire former Auburn running backs coach Curtis Luper as its wide receivers coach, two sources said.
Luper is the father of Cameron Echols-Luper, a recruit who announced he committed to TCU over Texas A&M several days ago. Luper was Auburn’s running backs coach and recruiting coordinator since 2009. He attended Sherman High School before playing three seasons at Oklahoma State. After five years working as an air traffic controller for the U.S. Army, he played his last year of eligibility in 1993 at Stephen F. Austin. He graduated in 1996 and earned his masters degree from SFA in 1998. Before Auburn, he coached running backs at Oklahoma State for four seasons.
Luper replaces Trey Haverty, who took the same job at Texas Tech last month. TCU coach Gary Patterson is also looking for a linebackers coach to replace Randy Shannon, who left last month for the same job at Arkansas.

-- Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs 

Former Aggie commit chooses TCU

TCU picked up the 18th commitment of its 2013 class Sunday.
Athlete Cameron Echols-Luper said he connected so well with current TCU wide receiver Cam White and the TCU coaching staff he committed this weekend before taking his other scheduled visit to Texas Tech.
“Like honestly we are almost alike,” Echols-Luper said of White via text. “We connected great but it was the same with the coaches.”
Echols-Luper and White previously met on the Auburn, Alabama native’s unofficial visit to Fort Worth last summer. Echols-Luper said TCU plans on using him at wide receiver. Earlier this week, the Rivals.com three-star athlete decommitted from Texas A&M citing too many wide receivers committed in the Aggies 2013 class. When he previously committed to A&M, Echols-Luper said he chose between the Aggies and Frogs because he wanted to play close to family he has in Ennis, just southeast of Dallas.

-- Travis L. Brown

 

TCU Baseball Coaches Clinic Jan. 10 open for coaches from all skill levels

The TCU Baseball Coaches Clinic is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday at the Sammy Baugh Indoor Practice Facility. The clinic costs $45 and includes a gift for the first 250 attendees and lunch from Spring Creek Barbeque. It’s open to coaches from all skill levels.
Speakers include head coach Jim Schlossnagle and assistants Tony Vitello, Kirk Saarloos and Chuck Jeroloman, and strength and conditioning coach Zach Dechant.
For questions, email coach Jeroloman at c.jeroloman@tcu.edu or call 817-257-6962.
The Horned Frogs' season begins Feb. 15 at Mississippi. TCU begins a three-game series at Lupton Stadium Feb. 22 against Cal State Fullerton. 
-- Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs