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Texas Longhorns freshman safety Jason Hall has been spending time working with the first team over the last week, senior cornerback Quandre Diggs confirmed on Saturday morning in a media availability. Head coach Charlie Strong has questioned his senior leadership multiple times since the start of fall camp, but Diggs said that he's spending time coaching up Hall, who just arrived on campus during the summer. "I'm telling him, you have got to stay focused," Diggs said. "You can't settle. I started since I got here, so I am able to talk to him and tell him things like that." Diggs and defensive coordinator Vance Bedford traded nicknames once the Texas alum arrived on campus with Strong in January and the freshmen defensive backs have acquired some of their own. At 6'2 and 207 pounds, Hall is one of the biggest safeties on the Texas roster, so it's no surprise that he's earned the moniker "Big Horse." Read more: http://www.burntorangenation.com/football/2014/8/18/6029363/jason-hall-texas-longhorns-fall-camp-starter

North Texas --- which is picked to win the West division of Conference USA (Louisiana Tech, Rice, Southern Miss, UTEP and UTSA) --- returns only nine starters. That’s the second-fewest in the FBS, so it’s hard to see them coming to Austin and spoiling Charlie Strong’s Texas coaching debut. The Mean Green are replacing three-year starter Derek Thompson at quarterback with veteran backup Andrew McNulty or junior college transfer Josh Greer. A decision is expected in the coming days... Also gone is Brandin Byrd, who rushed for 1,000 yards as a senior. The battle in the trenches will be the one to watch in this game. Four offensive linemen return for the Mean Green. The last time the Longhorns and Mean Green played (Sept. 2, 2006), it was a 56-7 stomping for Texas to open the 2006 season, and it pushed the defending national champions’ winning streak to 21 games. This was Colt McCoy’s first college start --- and his very first pass was a touchdown to Limas Sweed. Texas bottled up North Texas’ running game, surrending only 28 yards. Talk after the game centered on a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Columbus the next week against top-ranked Ohio State. Read more: http://www.statesman.com/weblogs/bevo-beat/2014/aug/12/texas-schedule-talk-north-texas/

Question: There's some scuttlebutt that North Texas is going to beat Texas in their first game of the football season. What say you? Also, how disastrous would that be for Charlie Strong? Gosselin: I doubt that's the scuttlebutt in Austin. Maybe in Denton. I'll be attending and columnizing from that game, by the way. I think North Texas will be competitive with Texas. We saw how competitive the Mean Green could be a year ago at Georgia. But the schools from the power conferences tend to wear down the smaller schools with their depth in the second half of games. Texas has better players than North Texas, and the better players win most games. But Dan McCarney has it up and running at North Texas. Charlie Strong is trying to get the program up and running again at Texas. A loss to North Texas would rankle the Orangebloods to no end. But I'll go with the Longhorns in a closer-than-you'd-expect game. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20140811-gosselin-why-unt-texas-in-week-1-will-be-closer-than-you-expect.ece

The difference between a player returning to play from a broken bone or a pulled muscle or even a ligament tear is that there are medical tests that can be done to prove a player is ready to return. When it comes to concussions, you never know until you know. Ash said the concussion he suffered against BYU last Sept. 6 is the kind that can linger for a long time. It forced Ash to be away from the team for most of the fall and to be on his own, but he said he's put it all behind him and he's moving forward. Longhorn fans unfortunately don't have that luxury of being able to forget what happened to Ash last season, and even the coaches don't know how he'll react until he takes that first big hit of the 2014 season. Read more: http://texas.247sports.com/Article/30-in-30-Should-David-Ash-be-hit-in-Texas-Longhorns-practice-30189353

DENTON — Dan McCarney was in the midst of a rousing summertime speech in front of a room full of pumped-up boosters when North Texas’ head coach acknowledged that even he didn’t know how tough the task of resurrecting a lifeless program would be. UNT had gone six seasons without winning more than three games in a year when McCarney arrived at UNT before the 2011 campaign. After three years and a lot of hard work, McCarney and the Mean Green finally broke through with a slump-busting 9-4 season that concluded with a win over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. That win changed the face of the program and left the Mean Green facing a new challenge this fall — proving last season was beginning of the program’s rise and not just a fluke. “The challenge ahead is this — are we a real program, which means no matter who you lose or who gets injured or who graduates can the next group come in and replace them?” McCarney wondered. “Or do we just disappear off the college football landscape for another 10 years?” Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/unt-mean-green/20140807-mean-green-football-preview-unt-will-find-out-if-it-s-a-real-program.ece

1: Over the past two seasons, Louisville was 1st in its conference in time of possession per game. Over this same span, Texas ranked fifth in the Big 12. It’s safe to assume the Longhorns will look to run more clock with the new coaching staff. Read more: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2014/08/05/longhorn-football-by-the-numbers-preseason

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas quarterback David Ash settled in to his seat and was quickly surrounded by a throng of reporters that included nine television cameras and even more microphones pushing toward his face. “It’s good to be back,” Ash said as if he loved the attention. “Did you miss me?” Ash never used to look comfortable facing all the cameras and the questions that come with them, but the relief that comes with knowing that he will be playing football again was clear Monday, even if he still had to talk about his head and whether he should have quit the game after concussion symptoms wiped out most of his 2013 season. Ash hadn’t spoken publicly since before Texas lost at BYU in the second game last season when he suffered concussion in the second half. He tried to return two weeks later against Kansas State but lasted only one half before he was sidelined again. He spent much of the rest of the season watching from afar. Sometimes, Texas officials wouldn’t even let him stand under the bright lights of the stadium. Now Ash has been cleared by team doctors for full participation — hits and all — in training camp. “I’m so thankful I get to do this. Nothing’s guaranteed and I for sure learned that. I feel so blessed that I get another opportunity to play this game,” Ash said. read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140804-texas-qb-david-ash-giving-up-football-was-suggested-but-i-didn-t-consider-it.ece

Charlie Strong is changing the culture at Texas. We keep hearing that. But change the culture from what? What was the culture? I’ve spent hours talking to those inside the program when Mack Brown was the coach, and I can boil it down to this: Everything about accountability in the program changed after the loss to Alabama in the BCS title game of the 2009 season. From the time Mack Brown arrived at Texas in 1998, even as a CEO who delegated a lot to his coaching staff when it came to football, he was always side-by-side with his assistants and players. When something went horribly wrong in the form of a blowout loss to OU, etc., Mack would say, “I need to do better job” or “We, as coaches, need to do a better job.” Even though Mack had a reputation for coddling players, earning Texas a soft label, the Longhorns were usually always talented and showed resilience. Texas almost always bounced back after a loss. Mack's teams won close games. Ultimately, Texas went 69-9 from 2004-09, winning a national title, playing for another one, with victories in two other BCS bowl games. That reign made Texas the centerpiece of realignment in 2010 and caused ESPN to put up $300 million for 20 years and create the Longhorn Network. But the mindset of the entire Texas program changed after Texas’ crushing loss to Bama in the BCS title game. In 2010, Mack turned on his staff and ultimately his players. The result was confusion at the top, lack of accountability at the bottom and a steady creep of selfishness and entitlement inside the program. **** I’ve said this before, but Mack Brown was convinced Texas would have won that game if Colt McCoy hadn’t gotten hurt. I was standing there when Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com said to Mack after his post-game press conference that night, “Well, Mack, we’ll never know.” And Mack looked at Dodd with a glare and said, “It wouldn’t have been close.” After that, Mack went scorched earth on his assistants, especially his offensive assistants for not having a running game to fall back on against Alabama. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis and offensive line coach Mac McWhorter were set to join Tim Brewster at Minnesota, because things got so heated between Mack and the staff. Then Mack talked them into staying, but still told them to change the offense to feature a pro-style running attack (without the personnel to execute it). The overall tone of the conversation between Mack and his assistants basically changed at that point. They were no longer working side-by-side. Mack was now above them, dictating to them and showing a general lack of respect. Read more: http://texas.scout.com/story/1429468-why-did-ut-s-culture-need-changing?s=110

Courtesy Brant Croucher: http://www.brantcroucher.com/ And Marty! This post has been promoted to an article

Sept. 7 of last year is when the 2013 started to unravel for the Texas Longhorns. On that fateful night in Provo, Utah, the Longhorns allowed a school record of 550 rushing yards to BYU, including 259 yards and three touchdowns by Cougar quarterback Taysom Hill. The 40-21 loss put an end to any talk of Texas being a national champion sleeper and signaled the problems the Longhorns would spend the rest of the season trying to fix. In the beginning of the game we had an edge, but when we came back out I just don't know what happened, said senior defensive end Cedric Reed, referring to the weather delay prior to the game. I don't know if BYU drank a lot of Gatorade or what. Whatever they did worked. Daje Johnson was injured after just two touches on offense, David Ash suffered a concussion in the second half that ultimately played a role in him missing significant action during the 2013 season, and the defense was a complete mess. As such, that was the game was the last for Manny Diaz as the Longhorns' defensive coordinator. Diaz was fired the next morning by Mack Brown and replaced by Greg Robinson, which is one of the many reasons why the Longhorns are amped up for when the Cougars visit Austin on Sept. 6. As a pride factor that ought to be something you have circled on your calendar, if you're a man, senior defensive back Quandre Diggs said. We got beat down that day. You want me to keep it real? Those guys played a better game and beat our tail. We lost a man his job, his way of earning money for his family. As a man you want to go out and beat those guys. Team sources have told Horns247 that Charlie Strong has spent a lot of time watching that film in the offseason. The new Texas head coach reportedly becomes furious whenever he watches the Longhorns being trampled by the Cougars, which is an accurate description of his emotions given how the players say Strong talks about that game with them. That's all we hear about is BYU, Reed said. We're ready to play BYU. For these Texas players, particularly those who have been on the roster since 2011, this will be the rubber match in the series with the Cougars. Texas defeated BYU, 17-16, in Austin in 2011. Read more: http://texas.247sports.com/Board/21/Contents/Longhorns-already-amped-up-to-face-BYU-29966518

Link to text: http://www.texassports.com/news/2014/8/3/FB_0803141633.aspx This post has been promoted to an article

That list includes running back Joe Bergeron, defensive back Chevoski Collins and running back Jalen Overstreet. Also bounced from the program, Strong said Sunday, are receivers Montrel Meander and Kendall Sanders, who were charged with second-degree felony sexual assault in July. Two other players were dismissed last spring. Combined with the departure of linebacker Kendall Thompson, a senior who was shifted to a medical scholarship because of recurring injuries, the Longhorns 2014 roster looks a lot thinner at receiver, running back and defensive back than it did last month. A case could be made that Strongs team has enough concerns that Texas, an 8-5 squad last season, will be hard-pressed to retain its No. 24 ranking in the coaches preseason poll through its nonconference schedule of North Texas (9-4 last season), Brigham Young (8-5) and UCLA (10-3). The UNT game, in fact, could be a rude awakening for Texas new regime if oft-injured quarterback David Ash is not on top of his game in the Aug. 30 opener. Just dont try to sell that idea to Strong, who will not embrace lack of depth, in light of recent player departures, as an excuse for poor play in August and September. Its not like, because we suspended guys, were going to walk into this camp like we dont have anybody. We have players, Strong said. Now, its a matter of us developing them. Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/03/6015994/strong-optimistic-longhorns-can.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

read more: http://northtexaspigeon.com/articles/5-Reasons-to-Get-Your-Ass-to-Austin-on-August-30th

The Texas Longhorns will begin preseason practice on Monday Aug. 4. In an effort to get you ready, Horns247 will take a look at the depth chart at every position on the roster. Today, we take a look at the wide receivers and tight ends. Wide Receivers Projected Starters: Jaxon Shipley, Sr., Brownwood; Marcus Johnson, Jr., League City Clear Springs; Daje Johnson, Jr., Pflugerville Hendrickson Projected Backups: John Harris, Sr., Garland Naaman Forest; Jacorey Warrick, RS-Fr., Houston Cypress Falls; Armanti Foreman, Fr.-HS, Texas City Other Players: Jake Oliver, RS-Fr., Dallas Jesuit; Lorenzo Joe, Fr.-HS, Abilene Cooper; Dorian Leonard, Fr.-HS, Longview; Garrett Gray, Fr.-HS, Marble Falls The Lead Dog: Jaxon Shipley His 159 catches rank seventh all-time at Texas and his 1,933 receiving yards are the eighth best total ever for a Longhorn. He's productive, reliable and has knack for making the big play. Shipley might be under-appreciated by the media and people who follow football in the Big 12, but there's no denying his importance to the Longhorns as one of the few guys on this team who is truly indispensable. Read more: http://texas.247sports.com/Article/Texas-Longhorns-2014-preseason-depth-chart-breakdown-WRTE-30039459

AUSTIN After dismissing seven players in his first seven months on the job, Charlie Strong will coach his opening game at Texas without three more potential starters. Offensive tackle Desmond Harrison, wide receiver Daje Johnson and safety Josh Turner each will miss at least one game after breaking an unspecified team rule, Strong said Sunday. All three will be allowed to practice when preseason camp begins Monday, but will sit out the Longhorns Aug. 30 opener against North Texas and possibly more, Strong said. We have core values, Strong said. And we expect players to abide by them. Before Sunday, Strong already had dismissed fullback Chet Moss, defensive back Leroy Scott, tailback Joe Bergeron, defensive back Chevoski Collins and tailback Jalen Overstreet. Strong confirmed Sunday that Bergeron, Collins and Overstreet have been granted a release from their scholarships and can transfer anywhere they choose. Read more: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/longhorns/2014/08/ut-football-strong-suspends-three-more/#25599101=0

The news hardly comes as a surprise, but former Newton all-purpose back Kevin Shorter will be put on medical scholarship for the Texas Longhorns this season, Shorter told ESPN on Monday morning. After taking a hit to the neck in a football game last fall for Netwon, Shorter was diagnosed with a narrowing of the spinal column that resulted in bruising and swelling following the hit and put him at risk for paralysis if he played again. The 6'0, 185-pound consensus three-star prospect held out hope for some time that he would be able to play football again, but it appears as if that's not the case. He was rated as the No. 56 athlete and the No. 106 player in the state of Texas and signed with the 2014 class after both former head coach Mack Brown and current head coach Charlie Strong opted to honor Shorter's scholarship. Read more: http://www.burntorangenation.com/football/2014/7/28/5944847/kevin-shorter-medical-scholarship-texas-longhorns

In the midst of all the reports of Texas Longhorns players being dismissed from the football team, there has been a notable lack of any type of confirmation from the school, especially an official release. It's possible that Texas could still issue a release late Friday evening, as such timing isn't terribly uncommon, especially for injury reports, but it may not be until Monday that anything becomes official. Read more: http://www.burntorangenation.com/football/2014/7/25/5938301/charlie-strong-dismissals-monday-meetings-texas-longhorns

Projected Starters: Quandre Diggs, Sr., Angleton; Duke Thomas, Jr., Copperas Cove; Mykkele Thompson, Sr., San Antonio Stevens; Josh Turner, Sr., Oklahoma City (Okla.) Millwood Projected Backups: Bryson Echols, Soph., DeSoto; Antwuan Davis, RS-Fr., Bastrop; Dylan Haines, Soph., Lago Vista; Adrian Colbert, Soph., Mineral Wells Other Players: Sheroid Evans, Sr., Fort Bend Dulles; Kevin Vaccaro, Soph., Brownwood; Jermaine Roberts, Fr.-HS, New Orleans (La.) St. Augustine; Jason Hall, Fr.-HS, South Grand Prairie; Edwin Freeman, Fr.-HS, Arlington Bowie read more: http://texas.247sports.com/Article/Texas-Longhorns-2014-preseason-depth-chart-breakdown-DB-30028076

Read more: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/7/30/5951147/american-aac-football-conference-power-playoff

Is Texas going to be Michigan or Florida State? Everyone loved Bobby Bowden, but his phenomenal run went a bit stale at the end as his Seminoles slipped off their ridiculously high perch. Jimbo Fisher took over and brought more youth and energy to the program, and it showed with elite recruiting class after elite recruiting class. The results have been tremendous with three trips to the ACC championship in four years, two conference titles, an Orange Bowl win and a national championship. All Florida State needed was a little remodeling. All Michigan needed was a little rebuilding. Lloyd Carr won a national championship, came within a hair of playing for another in his second-to-last season, won nine games or more in five of his last six years, and won five Big Ten titles, but it wasn't enough. Maize and Blue fans wanted more, but to get there, it required a change in how things were done with a new style and a new look. So far, the move back into the world of the elite hasn't exactly been smooth. And then there's Texas, a superpower program that's an interesting crossroads blend of 2009 Florida State and 2008 Michigan, needing a little bit of an attitude and energy burst, while at the same time needing to undergo an overhaul to go from very good to national championship great again after the Mack Brown era crawled across the finish line. New head coach Charlie Strong appears to have realized this from the start, and now playtime is over at Texas. He's doing everything possible to get the most out of the team he inherited, and his Longhorns are being put through the ringer to get the right mindset right away -- spring ball was far, far tougher this year. While Brown was fantastic at being the backslapper, Strong has come out as a butt-kicker. Everyone liked Brown, and that was sort of the problem. His teams were never short on talent since losing the 2010 BCS championship to Alabama, but there just wasn't any nastiness -- it's hard to win with an offense that can't block and a defense that can't tackle. Brown's biggest issue over his final four years was an inability to get his teams to play up to its talent level -- a knock from the start of his time in Austin, but the results weren't there like they were early on. Read more: http://campusinsiders.com/news/preview-2014-texas-longhorns

Strong didnt go from Louisville to Austin to charm the media, glad-hand boosters or bluff about what kind of program he intends to run. We thought that all along, but we found out for real in the last 24 hours. During his time with the media here Tuesday, Strong said, You cant trust one another until you can trust yourself. The Longhorns are looking at themselves in the mirror right now, and if they dont like what they see, they can expect to be gone. And for those who stay, they may be building trust with fewer teammates than they expected to see next month. If there is an immediate football-related benefit to this weeding out of players before the Aug. 30 opener with North Texas, Mean Green coaches might not be sure who the heck to be studying on tape. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/columnists/tim-cowlishaw/20140725-cowlishaw-this-was-perfect-time-for-longhorns-coach-charlie-strong-to-clean-house.ece

It has been said everywhere over and over that legendary Longhorns head coach Mack Brown wasn’t pushed out of a job at the end of last season. We heard every one from the cleaners of the Texas locker room to the president of the university, and they all said that Brown elected to call time on his illustrious career. To tell the truth, I’m not sold. The fact that the Longhorns haven’t won a Big XII title since 2009 is a major reason why there’s been so much change in Austin over the summer. I mean, this is a league that the Longhorns used to dominate. In recent years, they’ve been dominated. Regardless of the reasons why, the move has been made and highly-touted ex-Louisville coach Charlie Strong comes into Austin to take over a Longhorns squad that hasn’t exactly been at the top of their game lately. Strong upset a lot of the Texas faithful at the recent Big XII media days, admitting that the Longhorns weren’t going to figure in the National Championship hunt this year. Read more: http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/07/25/five-college-football-programs-under-pressure-in-2014-4-texas/

Just one day after he was cleared to return to full practices, David Ash was named the starting quarterback of the Texas Longhorns by first-year head coach Charlie Strong on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days, reports Taylor Gaspar of Rivals. Ash was the starting quarterback going into last season, but his campaign was cut short by a concussion. He played in only three games, throwing for 760 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions. After the season was complete, Ash was granted a medical redshirt. Read more: http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/07/22/texas-football-david-ash-starting-quarterback-charlie-strong