No fear in young Horns - San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN — The kid ran into everything.

Twelve years before he enrolled at Texas and started pummeling wide receivers and running backs and every other moving object on the practice field, Quandre Diggs wreaked the same kind of havoc in Major Applewhite's apartment.

Back then, Applewhite was playing quarterback for the Longhorns and shared a place with cornerback Quentin Jammer. Diggs, Jammer's younger brother, became a frequent visitor. And his favorite activity as a grade-schooler was racing around the furniture and knocking things over.

Texas Longhorns vs. Rice Owls preview: What you need to know before the opener | Texas Longhorns News - Sports News for Dallas, Texas - SportsDayDFW

Rice (0-0) vs. Texas (0-0), 7 p.m. on the Longhorn Network

On the line: Pride. This is the Longhorns’ first chance to get last season’s bitter taste out of their mouths. The game could serve as a barometer for how the rest of the season will go. Head coach Mack Brown admitted that after last year’s lackluster 34-17 win over Rice, he feared that his team might be lacking something. Texas fans will be keeping an eye on starting quarterback Garrett Gilbert, as well as the new offensive and defensive coordinators.

2011 Super Sleepers

I’m known as Mr. Sleeper around this college fantasy football compound. This is partially because I have a tendency to doze off during our conference calls. But it is also because I have a knack for picking fantasy sleepers. Michael Crabtree, DeMarco Murray, Mikel LeShoure, Isaiah Pead and Bobby Rainey are all players that I stuck my neck out for in the preseason, well before they became household names. I also loved Case Keenum before his battle with Blake Joseph a few years back. Of course, we won’t mention the number of times I’ve deemed a player can’t-miss only to see the guy eventually go all Harry Houdini and disappear.

Sports

With his 401-135-3 career record, will 2011 by JoePa's last at Penn State?

IsOklahomathe team to beat in 2011? How willOhioState andMichiganreact to new head coaches? Can a senior win the Heisman Trophy for the first time in five years? As always, there’s no shortage of tantalizing questions, storylines and subplots on the minds of college football fans as the 2011 season rapidly approaches.

Burnt Orange Nation

football team holds its annual spring scrimmage today at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium beginning at 2:00 p.m. CT.  The scrimmage is open to the public and seating will be open. Fans who cannot attend in person can catch coverage of the spring scrimmage live on ESPN. Play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore will be joined by analysts Urban Meyer and Chris Spielman.

Texas overhauls its coaching staff

At last check, Bevo is still employed as the mascot for Texas football.

Otherwise, Longhorns Coach Mack Brown has cleaned house this offseason, rebuilding his coaching staff from scratch with nearly wholesale changes on both sides of the ball since UT’s 5-7 season came to a merciful end.

With last week’s hiring of Georgia’s Stacy Searels to coach the Texas offensive line, here’s the final rundown of the Big 12’s biggest staff shakeup: Longtime offensive coordinator Greg Davis is out, replaced by co-coordinators Major Applewhite, also UT’s running backs coach, and Boise State coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bryan Harsin. Searels replaces offensive line coach Mac McWhorter, who was nudged into retirement. Kansas receivers coach Darrell Wyatt replaces Bobby Kennedy, who left to coach receivers at Colorado.