This Week in Texas Sports: Football Is Back!

By Chris O'Connell in Sports on August 31, 2018 at 10:18 am | No Comments

There’s so much Texas sports news happening every day, it’s hard to keep up. That’s why we’re rounding up everything you need to know about the Longhorns from this week.

Football

🚨 🤘 Longhorn Nation, here are your 2018 Texas Football Captains as voted on by the players. #ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/B0YjFEDPsK

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) August 25, 2018

Oh, Captains!

On Saturday, Tom Herman announced his five captains for the 2018 football season, all seniors, as voted upon by their teammates: TE Andrew Beck, DL Breckyn Hager, DL Chris Nelson, OL Elijah Rodriguez and LB Anthony Wheeler. Beck is the only returning captain, having held the position in 2017 despite missing the entire season with a broken foot.

Hager, who had a well-documented difficult relationship with Herman last season, has mended fences with the second-year coach, to the point that Herman called the two “Bonnie and Clyde” earlier this summer. “This is the biggest honor I’ve ever got in my life, to have you guys vote on me,” Hager said. Hager’s father, Britt, captained the 1988 team, making this the first father-son duo of captains in school history.

After announcing the captains, Herman personally called all of their parents to make them aware, the only time you ever want the coach calling home.

Going Deep

Texas released its depth chart for the season opener against Maryland. Sam Ehlinger, as expected, will start over Shane Buechele. Grad transfer Tre Watson and Daniel Young are listed as either/or starters, so that’ll be a gameday decision. Collin Johnson, Devin Duvernay, and Lil’Jordan Humphrey are your starting wide receivers, with Jerrod Heard a trio of true freshmen in Brennan Eagles, Joshua Moore, and D’Shawn Jamison spelling them.

There are a couple of noticeable “co-starters” at positions of interest, meaning the position battles haven’t yet been settled. At right tackle, both Derek Kerstetter and redshirt freshman Sam Cosmi are listed, and at kicker, senior Joshua Rowland and true freshman Cameron Dicker, a Lake Travis native, are still competing for the job. Too many kickers? Sign me up.

There are no surprises on defense, and the only true freshman starter is safety Caden Sterns.

Check out the complete depth chart here.

Ow!

Texas Athletics announced that freshman LB Ayodele Adeoye (knee) and freshman DB DeMarvion Overshown (knee), and senior WR John Burt (foot) would not be available against Maryland on Sept. 1.

The Other Football

Heating Up, Cooling Down

The first 500 fans into Mike A. Myers Stadium on Thursday evening received a commemorative cooling towel, which is a real thing. The other 375 people in attendance had to deal with the August heat, however they did witness Texas extend its unbeaten streak. Freshman Mackenzie McFarland’s first career goal in the 61st minute pushed Texas to 3-0-1 on the season. That’s cool.

Oh, Canada!

Freshman midfielder Julia Grosso was called up to the Canadian Women’s Senior National Team for a friendly against Brazil on  Sept. 2 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Canadian national team took the bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Honorifics

After scoring all three Texas goals last week during a tie against North Carolina and a win over Central Florida, junior forward Cyera Hintzen was named United Soccer Coaches Division I Women’s National Player of the Week for Aug. 28. On Tuesday, the Big 12 Conference named her Offensive Player of the Week and she was also an honorable mention choice to Top Drawer Soccer’s National Team of the Week.

Junior goalkeeper Nicole Curry received Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors for seven crucial saves during last week’s road trip, including one on a penalty kick in the first half against UNC.

Volleyball

Spike!

At the Vert Challenge in Omaha, Nebraska last weekend, Texas went 2-0 to open the season, defeating Oregon and Florida, 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.

Honorifics

For her part in helping the Longhorns cruise to an undefeated opening weekend, senior Morgan Johnson was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. She posted 14 blocks and 17 kills, including four digs and one ace. This is the fourth such award of her career.

Junior Micaya White was named ESPNW Player of the Week after finishing opening weekend with 30 kills, 23 digs, and 7 blocks.

Women’s Basketball

Bracketology

The bracket for the Gulf Coast Showcase tournament in Estero, Florida has been unveiled. Texas will take on the MAAC powerhouse known as Quinnipiac on Nov. 23 at 4 p.m. Other teams involved include Fordham, Ball State, Duke, Washington, Missouri, and Michigan. Five of the eight teams in the tournament participated in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and two made the Sweet 16. Texas will play either Missouri or Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 24, and on Sunday is the championship, third place, and fifth place games.

Getting Defensive

Washington Mystics guard Ariel Atkins was named to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team. Atkins was the seventh pick in this year’s WNBA draft after a stellar career at Texas. Atkins averaged 11.3 points per game, 2.4 rebounds per game, 2.1 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game this season.

Stay Tuned

Here’s what to watch for this weekend (all times Central):

Friday

Nothing! Spend time with your family or something.

Saturday

Football: Texas at Maryland, 11 a.m.. TV: FS1; Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network

Volleyball: The Hotelred Invitational in Madison, Wisc. Texas at Wisconsin, 7 p.m. TV: Big 10 Network

Sunday

Volleyball: The Hotelred Invitational in Madison, Wisc. Highpoint at Texas, 1 p.m. Streaming on BTN2Go

Soccer: Stephen F. Austin at Texas, 5 p.m. TV: Longhorn Network